Tuesday tip: Think outside the gym 🏋🏼‍♂️

Whilst you can’t out-exercise your diet and diet is undoubtedly king when it comes to fat loss it’s obviously still important to be active and to exercise for lots of reasons – not least of which is health and well being.

It’s very hard to create a meaningful calorie deficit via exercise and activity alone. You have to work extremely hard to burn more than a few hundred calories in a workout. Studies show we usually over estimate cals burnt and how active we are. Even if you’re working out every day you may not be as active as you think if you spend the rest of the day sat down. So we are likely to perceive a workout as burning more calories than it actually does. There’s also a tendency after a tough workout to eat more- either because we reward ourselves for the perceived effort or because we’re hungry. There’s also a tendency to be generally less active too if you’re exhausting yourself in workouts.

The end result is that by being focused on workouts as the only source of calorie expenditure we can end up moving less generally and eating more.

So as well as workouts try to think beyond the gym. The calories you burn in a 45 min workout will be considerably fewer than what you burn being generally active for the rest of the day. So think about how you spend the rest of your day. Do you find yourself sitting more than perhaps you need to? Do you amble instead of walking with purpose? Do you take the lift instead of the stairs. Think beyond the gym and focus instead on making yourself more active – get up, stand instead of sit, walk faster, walk more!

Also don’t be tempted to eat exercise calories back – just treat them as bonus cals rather than something to eat back.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Preventing weight regain ✋🏻

Preventing weight regain starts from the moment you start trying to lose weight in the first place. Believe it or not the most important aspect of weight loss isn’t actually weight loss – rather it’s maintenance. Most people underestimate the importance of both maintenance and learning to live at your new goal weight (maintenance).

Maintenance is harder than losing the fat in the first place and it’s one of the main skills people ignore. The reality is the habits and behaviours that help you lose weight are the ones that will help you maintain it as well. You can’t expect to keep the weight off if nothing has changed. I often tell my clients they need to behave like the ‘slimmer’ / ‘fitter’ / ‘stronger’ (whatever THEIR goal is) version of themselves . What would that person do? That person probably can’t get away with 3 takeaways a week, or boozy lunches at the weekend etc. It’s about finding things you enjoy (both food and exercise) that fit into your goal/maintenance lifestyle. Swapping behaviours and habits for new ones. For example – not restricting foods you enjoy, but learning to include them as part of your eating plan, trying to be as physically active as possible for you generally and doing exercise you enjoy etc

In addition research shows that for each kg of weight lost there’s an increase in appetite and a drive to consume an extra 100 cals per day that a person that hadn’t lost the weight doesn’t experience. This means you are dealing with not only trying to establish new habits to help you maintain a lower weight, but you’re also experiencing more hunger than a similar weight person who hasn’t lost weight. It’s important to be aware of this – recognise that a little hunger isn’t always a bad thing and be prepared for it.

So don’t waste your money on fads and quick fixes. Instead look at how you’re approaching your fitness and diet goals and ask yourself – is this something I can maintain for the long term? Because if it isn’t, you’re going to struggle to make (and later maintain) progress.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Are all calories created equal? 🤔

You may hear that calories from certain foods are ‘better’ for weight loss than others. But is this really the case?

Food is made up of macronutrients – protein, carbohydrates and fats and the energy is contained in the chemical bonds of their molecules. When the bonds are broken, energy is released – measured in calories. We commonly call them calories but they’re actually kilogram calories (kcals- the amount of energy required to heat 1kg water up by 1 degree).

So are all calories equal? Well yes, in theory they are. In absolute terms a calorie is a calorie; it’s a unit of measurement, just like a kg of soil is the same as a kg of feathers.

In reality it’s more complex. All foods contain calories but those foods may be metabolised (digested and absorbed) in different ways e.g. the metabolic pathway for protein is less efficient than carbs and fat. Protein contains 4 calories (kcal) per gram but a large portion of the protein calories are lost as heat when it is metabolized (up to 30%).

Different foods also have different effects on the gut-brain axis meaning differing results on appetite and satiety. The desire to eat (appetite) can change depending on the composition of a meal/food. Protein-rich foods reduce appetite more effectively which may reduce overall intake of food.

Some foods affect satiety (feelings of fullness) more than others. This in turn has an impact on how many calories are consumed. Foods high in protein and fat make you feel fuller for example.

Large amounts of refined carbohydrates can lead to greater spikes in blood sugar which can lead to cravings and increased food intake and reduced feelings of fullness. So you’re likely to overeat.

So whilst all calories are the same, the foods containing calories are very different and this can have an impact when trying to lose weight. This doesn’t mean certain foods are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for weight loss – they just may affect your ability to stick to a calorie deficit in different ways so it’s worth being aware of how they impact you.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: It isn’t failure 😖

How often do you start on a new weight loss ‘diet’ only to give up because you have a bad meal/day/weekend and think you’ve failed? Is it really failure though? Or could it be reframed?

Lots of things we do are hard to start with – learning a new hobby, learning a musical instrument, starting a new job, learning to drive a car, and so is making changes to your food and lifestyle. And just like you might make mistakes when learning to play the piano etc then you’re quite likely to make mistakes in your nutrition too.

Some people are more likely to be prone to perfectionism then others and may find mistakes harder to manage. When it comes to weight loss years of following diet fads where there are strict ‘rules’ about what you can eat can make you fear these mistakes even more.

Accept that mistakes are a normal part of life and learning. The next time you make a mistake, instead of labelling yourself a failure, ask yourself what you can learn from it instead? Why did you make that mistake? Do you need more support? Were there specific barriers/issues/situations that you need help overcoming? Does the approach you’re taking at the moment need tweaking? Are your goals as important to you as you thought they were? Was it a specific situation that triggered it and how can you change that next time? Etc

Instead of labelling yourself or your ‘diet’ a failure when you make a mistake, ask yourself what you can learn from it, and you’ll be better equipped the next time you face a similar situation.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx