Category: Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Motivation vs habit 💪🏼

One of the most common things I hear clients say is that they’ve lost motivation or they just aren’t motivated. If they have a few

‘bad’ weeks it’s because they’ve lost motivation. The reality is that if you want to achieve your goals you need more than motivation. Motivation will always rise and fall. When life is busy or hard then your motivation may wane, when you’re unwell or stressed then motivation may wane and that’s normal. Motivation fluctuates, the key to still making progress when it does is habit.

Instead of focusing on being motivated , instead focus on the habits you need to employ in order to reach your goal. So when motivation is high then that’s the time to get those habits in place. Then when motivation wanes you will have the habits there already. Sticking to those habits will get that forward momentum going again.

Focus on the small habits that all contribute towards your goal. Whether it’s tracking your next meal, filling half your plate with veggies, hitting 1000 extra steps today etc.

Incorporate foods you enjoy! This has to be a long term lifestyle change – so cutting out foods you love won’t allow you to do that. Find ways to include the food and drink you love – just moderate the amounts and frequency if you need! As well as this be sure to choose exercise you enjoy! There is literally no point in trying to build exercise habits based on things you hate. You’ll never stick to it! Join a class, try swimming, focus on walking, or resistance training , or join a local sports club. You’re more likely to keep at it if you enjoy

what you’re doing.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Don’t exercise to earn food 🍫

With the recent Easter weekend there will undoubtedly be a lot of talk of exercising to ‘burn off’ those Easter eggs. In fact the media usually produces a list of activities and the equivalent amount of Easter chocolate it would burn. This is actually totally misguided and a really bad way to approach food and weight loss. Aside from the fact that it’s almost impossible to out exercise diet (mainly because we grossly over estimate the amount of calories we burn exercising) it’s also an extremely unhealthy relationship to foster between food and exercise.

If you are choosing to eat something you enjoy, that you want to eat and that fits into a balanced, flexible diet then eat it! You do not need to earn or burn your food with exercise. Food and exercise do not exist in an exchange-based system.

Choose exercise that you enjoy – if running isn’t your thing then walk, if you hate spin classes then try a different class etc. Eat to
nourish and fuel your body, it will then use that fuel as needed on a daily basis. So don’t skip lunch because you missed a workout that day or avoid dessert because you skipped the gym. Remember that your body still needs fuel to function – to fuel the brain, to fuel your muscles to get you from A to B, to fuel all your bodily functions. And remember that you won’t have actually burn as many calories exercising as you think anyway so it’s a futile effort.

So the next time you workout think to yourself – why am I exercising? Is it to feel good? Is it to relieve stress? Is it to move my body in a way that feels good? Or is it punishment or to earn/burn food?

Eat to fuel your body, and exercise because you enjoy it. In regards to that Easter chocolate you may have eaten – view it as fuel to help you workout IF you want to – not something you have to exercise to burn off!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Reasons to eat Carbs 🥖

When trying to lose weight, thanks to diet culture out there on social media, people often feel they need to stop eating carbs. To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit – and yes of course, reducing carbs may well result in weight loss if it reduced your calories but you definitely don’t need to. In fact there are lots of reasons why you should be sure you are eating carbs.

If you enjoy bread, rice, potatoes, fruit, veg then cutting that out is not going to help you stick to lower calories or sustain that diet long term. Carbs really aren’t the devil and there’s nothing inherently fattening about them (many scientific studies support this).

It’s vital that you do eat carbs – for one they’re the main source of energy for the body – cutting them out will result in reduced energy and focus. They’re particularly important for brain function. Carb consumption helps promote better sleep, improve gut bacteria, and digestive tract health and they are only 4 calories per gram (compared to 9 calories per gram for fat). Possibly most importantly they taste good and the emotional impact of foods should never be underestimated.

So please, don’t cut carbs, you can lose weight and eat them!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Fat burning ≠ Fat loss 🚫

It’s quite common to see things described as fat burning. Sometimes it’s in reference to specific diets, modes of eating or certain types of exercise. Low carb diets are often promoted as fat burning on the premise that because there are fewer carbs to burn for energy, fat burning will increase. The same rationale is used by those promoting working out before eating (rather than after) or fasting for periods of time.

You’ll find certain types of workout described as fat burning or you may find your activity monitor describes your workout in terms of the percentage of time in the ‘fat burning’ zone. The argument is that the body burns a greater percentage of fat with lower-intensity exercises than higher intensities because the body doesn’t require ‘fast energy’ from glycogen. As such, this theory promotes longer and lower-intensity workouts that maintain your heart rate within the ‘fat burning zone’. However, while the body does burn fat during low-intensity workouts, the rate remains low and you have to exercise longer to burn the same amount of calories you would at higher intensities.

The main issue is that burning fat is often confused with losing body fat. Fat burning or oxidation refers to the use of fat as a fuel source by the body. This doesn’t equal body fat loss. Eating low carb (and therefore high fat) does mean you’ll burn more fat as fuel because there is more of that available to use. But if you need 1800 cals a day and are eating 2000 cals then you have an additional 200 cals of fat. This won’t increase your fat burning. In a calorie surplus more fat is available in the bloodstream due to a higher intake, so the rate of fat storage is also greater. Research shows that whilst low-carb diets increase fat oxidation, they don’t actually result in

superior fat loss in comparison to higher-carb diets when calories are matched.

This same concept applies to ‘fat burning workouts’ or fasted cardio vs fed cardio. Yes fasted cardio BURNS more fat in the session (because fewer carbs/glycogen are available) but if total calorie intake for the day is in surplus to your needs then you won’t lose body fat.

“Fat burning’ and “fat loss” are not

interchangeable concepts.The biggest priority for fat loss is a calorie deficit. If eating fewer carbs, or eating after your workout etc help you to maintain a calorie deficit and therefore make weight loss easier then fab! But going low carb / fasted workouts / fat burning workouts will not inherently be better for fat loss when calories are matched. The overall goal is to find a sustainable way for you to consistently achieve a calorie deficit.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Habit prompts ✅

Part of losing weight is about creating new habits around food and activity. Building new habits is hard though! So how can you make it easier?

Environmental cues play an important role in building habits and your environment is extremely influential in decision making. So setting up your environment in a way which reminds you of the habits/behaviours you want to start incorporating will help.

The main idea is having something visible which reminds you to do that specific habit or which makes that the easiest choice. Do this by putting a cue in a spot where you can’t miss it and won’t forget. Conversely you make the habits you want to ditch harder by making things associated with them less visible.

For example for habits you want to encourage you could;

– Place hand weights next to the sofa to remind you to do 5-10 mins of exercises each evening in the advert breaks,

– Have a snack box on the kitchen side containing lower calorie snack options and fruit for the day.

– Have a bottle of water on your desk to encourage you to stay hydrated.

– Pop a post it note on the bathroom mirror reminding you to stretch your calves while you brush your teeth.

– Ensure when you open the fridge the first thing you see are easy lower calorie snacks – vegetables sticks, mini light babybel, yoghurts, berries and other fruit etc .

– Move the calorie tracking app on your phone to the home page next to WhatsApp or a frequently used app to remind you to track.

For habits you want to break make it harder to do them;

– Store chocolate in a sealed tub at the back of the cupboard.

– Keep the bottle opener upstairs so it’s more of an effort to ‘just open a bottle’ after a stressful day.

– Leave your phone in another room/place when working so you’re forced to get up to get it regularly to avoid sitting for long periods.

Try setting up your environment for success today!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx