Tuesday Tip: Will that day of overeating make you fat? 🍔

With the Easter weekend on the horizon I’m sure there will be lots of chocolate eggs and family roasted etc. We can all relate to that feeling of eating way too much and worrying we will instantly gain fat. But is this really a cause for concern? Can one ‘binge’ really make you gain fat overnight? In the main – no!

It takes approximately 3500kcal extra calories to gain 1 lb of fat. That’s about 500kcal extra per day over the week. Even if you did that for a week that still wouldn’t guarantee that you’d gain 1lb of fat immediately because your energy expenditure is never the same each day.

But what about if you eat it in one day?When we overeat, we think that all that extra food is going to turn into fat, but that’s not necessarily true. But then why do the scales go up the next day? And why isn’t it stored as fat?

Some of the calories are used for digestion and absorption of food itself. When you’ve overeaten your body temperature also rises and you get more ‘fidgety’ as your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) inceases (all the subconscious movements increase e.g. respiration, blinking, etc ). Some of the extra food will be used to replenish glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. For each 1g of glycogen 3g of water is retained. Even if the glycogen stores are full the body still doesn’t prioritise converting carbs into fat. This only happens if you’re consistently eating more cals than you burn. Storing carbs as fat is the body’s least preferred method of using excess carbs. Sodium also increases water retention so if part of what you overate was carb and salt heavy then there’ll be significant water retention – not fat! In addition you have the weight of the actual food in your digestive system.

So one single day/meal probably won’t lead to too much fat gain. The weight gain you see is mostly fluid and glycogen stores. It’s longer term overeating that leads to fat gain. If you get right back on track you’ll be ok! If however your average daily cals are consistently over your calorie requirement over the course of days/ weeks then that will lead to fat gain.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday tip: Strategic Snacking 🍪

Often clients tell me they ‘just need to stop snacking’ and they’ll lose weight, but that’s rarely the solution. Snacking has a bad rep, but there’s nothing wrong with a snack in itself. Many of us need smaller intakes of food spread across the day rather than 2 or 3 large ‘meals’, it’s mindless snacking that’s the real issue.

Remember whether you call something a meal or a snack is basically meaningless; some snacks are more cals than meals anyway! It’s just a window of time when you eat. So try to view them all as part of your overall daily food intake, they’re just names! The key is planning them in. If you don’t then you will end up feeling guilty every time you have a snack and that can lead to the f*ck it mentality and then overeating.

Identify first of all when you tend to or want to ‘snack’ and then allocate some calories for it; the same way you might for breakfast or lunch etc and adjust your meals to accommodate. By factoring it in not only are you ensuring you’ll be within your calories, you’re also managing your expectations and giving yourself permission to have that snack. It doesn’t matter what it is, choose snacks that work for you; if it’s biscuits fine, if it’s fruit that’s also fine, within the context of a balanced diet you can have anything you want!

If you find the problem is that once you start you can’t stop then try getting your snack item out at the start of the day and having it on show and somwhere easy to grab. That way hopefully you’ll be more likely to stick to it rather than rummaging through the cupboards or heading to a shop to get it at the time you’re most ‘snacky’ and will power is lower.

Everyone is unique and the desire and need to snack are influenced by age, emotions, activity, main ‘meals’ etc so you have to work out what’s best for you. One good approach is strategic snacking at around 3/4pm to help stave off evening hunger, and there is some scientific evidence to suggest a plan of three balanced meals and one snack (4 windows of time where you eat) works well for weight loss.

Happy snacking! 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Fat Loss Habits✨

Fat loss is often sold as extreme diets, detoxes, or punishing workouts. In reality, the habits that work best are usually the boring ones; the ones that are repeatable, sustainable, and support your body rather than fighting it.

1. Stop the All or Nothing Cycle
Avoid swinging between being completely ‘on it’ and completely ‘off it’. Fat loss works best when habits are consistent most of the time, not perfect for a week and abandoned the next.
2. Build Meals Around Protein and Fibre
Structure meals around protein and fibre first, especially at breakfast. This helps stabilise hunger, improve satiety, and support better blood sugar control across the day. But you still need carbs too – no cutting them out!
3. Strength Train Consistently
Lift weights to build and maintain muscle, not just to burn calories. Muscle supports metabolic health and helps maintain fat loss long term.
4. Walk
Use walking as a simple daily habit to support movement, recovery, and stress management. It’s not about ‘earning’ food, it’s about supporting overall health.
5. Prioritise Sleep
Poor sleep increases cravings, disrupts appetite regulation, and raises stress hormones. Consistent, quality sleep is vital.
6. Take Stress Seriously
Chronically high stress can influence hunger, water retention, and fat storage. Setting boundaries, reducing overcommitment, and limiting late-night scrolling can help reduce daily stress load.
7. Don’t Punish Overeating
If you overeat, avoid extreme restriction the next day. Return to your normal structure and routine instead.
8. Address Emotional Eating
Rather than constantly battling snacks, focus on addressing the underlying stress or emotions driving the behaviour.
9. Accept That Fat Loss Won’t Always Be Fast
During busy or stressful periods, progress may slow. That’s normal — forcing aggressive dieting often backfires.
10. Eat in a Way You Can Sustain
Build habits that work during busy weeks, not just ideal ones. If it isn’t repeatable, it isn’t sustainable.

It’s all about consistent habits you can sustain – forever.
Happy Tuesday 🤗 xx
Xx

Tuesday tip: Strategic Snacking 🍪

Often clients tell me they ‘just need to stop snacking’ and they’ll lose weight, but that’s rarely the solution. Snacking has a bad rep, but there’s nothing wrong with a snack in itself. Many of us need smaller intakes of food spread across the day rather than 2 or 3 large ‘meals’, it’s mindless snacking that’s the real issue.

Remember whether you call something a meal or a snack is basically meaningless; some snacks are more cals than meals anyway! It’s just a window of time when you eat. So try to view them all as part of your overall daily food intake, they’re just names! The key is planning them in. If you don’t then you will end up feeling guilty every time you have a snack and that can lead to the f*ck it mentality and then overeating.

Identify first of all when you tend to or want to ‘snack’ and then allocate some calories for it; the same way you might for breakfast or lunch etc and adjust your meals to accommodate. By factoring it in not only are you ensuring you’ll be within your calories, you’re also managing your expectations and giving yourself permission to have that snack. It doesn’t matter what it is, choose snacks that work for you; if it’s biscuits fine, if it’s fruit that’s also fine, within the context of a balanced diet you can have anything you want!

If you find the problem is that once you start you can’t stop then try getting your snack item out at the start of the day and having it on show and somwhere easy to grab. That way hopefully you’ll be more likely to stick to it rather than rummaging through the cupboards or heading to a shop to get it at the time you’re most ‘snacky’ and will power is lower.

Everyone is unique and the desire and need to snack are influenced by age, emotions, activity, main ‘meals’ etc so you have to work out what’s best for you. One good approach is strategic snacking at around 3/4pm to help stave off evening hunger, and there is some scientific evidence to suggest a plan of three balanced meals and one snack (4 windows of time where you eat) works well for weight loss.

Happy snacking! 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Aspartame & Insulin 🥤

Aspartame, an artificially sweetener common in diet drinks etc, has been around for nearly 50 years, yet it’s still blamed on social media for everything from diabetes to ‘spiking’ insulin just because it tastes sweet.

The idea is that because it tastes sweet it mimics sugar and results in insulin being released, leading to fat storage, diabetes, metabolic damage etc. However the research doesn’t support this. Studies using human randomized controlled trials find that aspartame does not raise blood glucose or insulin when compared with water, placebo, or other low-calorie sweeteners. There’s no spike and therefore no crash. When aspartame is compared with sugar or other carbs, it shows a much lower glucose and insulin response with aspartame. In other words, replacing sugar with aspartame improves—not worsens—glycemic control.

What about longer-term studies? It’s the same story, even at high intakes aspartame shows no effect on fasting glucose, insulin, insulin sensitivity, or HbA1c, even in people with type 2 diabetes. Appetite hormones barely change, adverse effects are rare, and energy intake is often lower when aspartame replaces sugar.

So where does the fear come from? Mostly from misreporting animal studies using massive doses (we would need to consume hundreds of cans of diet drink per day to replicate it), or observational studies that confuse cause and effect.

Aspartame doesn’t circulate in the blood intact—it’s rapidly broken down into amino acids and tiny amounts of methanol, all at levels far below anything shown to cause harm. If aspartame truly triggered insulin without glucose, we’d see hypoglycemia. We don’t.

Replacing sugar with aspartame consistently lowers glucose and insulin exposure and the best evidence we have says it’s metabolically neutral or beneficial, not harmful. The benefits of losing weight (which swapping sugary drinks to diet drinks can help with) vastly outweigh any negatives – the biggest driver of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and mortality is obesity.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx