Category: Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Why am I burning fewer calories?

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Why am I burning fewer calories? 🏃🏼‍♀️

If you wear an activity monitor / heart rate monitor / smart watch you may have noticed that over time you burn fewer calories when exercising.

These monitors measure calories burned based on your heart rate during exercise.

There are wrist and chest strap versions. The chest strap ones measure electrical impulses from heart (like an EKG). The wrist based ones use an optical sensor to measure heart rate based on blood flow. When your heart rate increases blood flow increases so the sensor uses this change to estimate heart rate. Due to this any exercise that impacts blood flow to the wrist will reduce the accuracy of the heart rate measure e.g raising arms above the head, burpees, planks etc. So there are already inaccuracies in the measure anyway.

Regardless of which method you use over time you will find you burn fewer calories than you used to. The body is designed to adapt and hardwired to be as conservative as possible with energy output (it’s an evolutionary adaptation to survive). If you stimulate it with physical stress (exercise) it’s gets better at handling that stress. The heart itself is a muscle and it strengthens. As it strengthens it can cope with more physical stress at a lower heart rate.

So whilst you may view it as a bad thing that you’re burning fewer calories in your spin class / Hiit workout etc it’s actually a fantastic measure of progress and fitness. It takes you less effort over time to perform a task that used to require much more physical effort. This should be celebrated!

It’s also a great reminder not to get too obsessed with those calorie burns. Aside from the fact that they’re not very accurate anyway, they will decrease over time and that’s a good thing! Yes you’ll burn fewer calories, but as I’ve often said you shouldn’t be eating back those calories anyway, they’re just a great measure of activity levels and progress! So if you’re exercising regularly and noticing this pattern don’t be sad – be proud! You’re getting stronger!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Beat the Autumn Blues

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Beat the Autumn Blues 🍂

So Autumn is well and truly here; cooler, darker evenings and mornings. For me, and many of my clients and class members this is a tough transition. It’s hard to find motivation to continue regular exercise, and we crave warming, comfort foods.

Low energy, low mood and low motivation makes us want to hibernate rather than work out. So how can you keep that summer mojo going? Focus on shorter workouts if you’re struggling to find motivation for long sessions. Aim for 30-45 mins of high intensity exercise 3 x week: a class, a home hiit workout, or a cycle or run. On other days do something less intense that you enjoy: walk, jog, swim, or do pilates/yoga.

Find a gym buddy; it’s harder to skip that workout when you’re doing it with someone else. Join a colleague for a lunchtime run, or meet up with a friend at the gym or at a class. The social side of fitness plays a massive role in keeping you on track.

Try to sneak exercise in whenever you can: park further away, take the stairs, walk over to speak to colleagues in the office rather than phoning or try a walking meeting with colleagues. If you’re watching the kids play sport then walk the sideline instead of standing still.

Exercise isn’t just for losing weight, it’s great for stress relief and at this time of year when things can be a bit manic it’s a great release. The endorphins will lift your mood and help energise you. Make the most of those bright autumnal days and go for a walk outside.

Focus on warming, filling foods like soups and casseroles. I also like to stew up a load of fruit (apples, pears, plums, berries – whatever!) and use it as a snack or pud. Warm it up, sprinkle some oats or a little cereal on it and a dollop of Greek yoghurt – a great comforting dish!

Oh and just because it’s not baking hot you still need to be drinking plenty of water. It’s even more important to ensure you’re properly hydrated at this time of year as it’s when most of us forget – so get sipping while you workout!

Don’t let the changing seasons get you down – embrace it – enjoy it and have some fun this Autumn 🍁

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Menopause and fat loss

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Menopause and fat loss ❤️

Menopause and peri menopause are unavoidable for all women and bring lots of new challenges when it comes to weight loss and maintenance. There’s a lot of fear and misinformation surround menopause and fat loss, and many women believe it’s impossible to achieve their goals post menopause. It couldn’t be further form the truth – and loads of my clients are proof of this.

So yes menopause/peri menopause causes a number of challenging symptoms and changes in the body. Aside from a whole range of general symptoms, when it comes to fat loss specific issues include:

⁃ lack of sleep (as a result of hormone changes and hot flushes etc )

⁃ Irritability/mood changes

⁃ Change in areas of fat deposition (increased belly fat)

⁃ A reduced bmr/ calorie requirement

⁃ Reduced muscle mass

Now whilst all of these are very real issues that do impact fat loss, none make it impossible and none change the basic premise and approach to losing fat – which is creating a calorie deficit. Lack of sleep will affect appetite, as will emotional changes, these both mean you may find it harder to control your calories and be more likely to overeat /drink. A reduced bmr and age related reduction in muscle mass also impact the number of calories you need. Changes in fat deposition mean more likelihood of fat gain around the mid section.

However none of these change the basic laws of thermodynamics – if you create a calorie deficit you will still lose fat (you just have to make sure you’re targeting the right calorie goal!).

But there are some things that will help enable you to create and stick to this deficit

⁃ prioritising sleep – try meditation apps, fans, cooling sprays etc

⁃ Resistance / weight train – this will help preserve /build muscle mass, protect bone density, increase calorie expenditure

⁃ Enjoy any food you want of course but ensure you’re including high fibre and high protein foods to help keep you full and satiated.

⁃ Be aware of hunger and try to learn whether it’s true hunger or emotional hunger. Real hunger tends to build slowly, and is ‘cured’ with any food. Emotional hunger tends to come on suddenly, drives you to your ‘comfort’ foods and isn’t satisfied.

⁃ Most importantly talk to your gp or a menopause specialist and don’t be afraid to use HRT to help manage symptoms.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Get back on track

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Get back on track 🚂

One of the most important things about trying to lose weight/fat is to accept that you’re not always going to be perfect. There will always be days when you end up eating more, when you can’t control your choices easily, when you just crave a takeaway or chocolate or whatever it is. If you go over your calories it doesn’t mean your whole progress is lost, it doesn’t make you a bad person, it doesn’t ‘ruin your diet’. Just get back on track. Draw a line under it, and get back on it the next day. One day of over eating won’t ruin weeks or months of work.

However on the flip side, if you really want to make progress you can’t do it every week. If you find you’re in the habit of letting it all go out the window over the weekend, but thinking it’s ok because you’ll get back on track on Monday then it might be worth stepping back and thinking about what you’re doing. Yes it’s vital to get back on track but it’s also important to maintain some consistency. You can’t use every weekend, every social situation, every bad day as an excuse to over eat on the basis that you’ll get back on track on Monday. If you’re doing that 2 or 3 days a week you won’t make progress. At the end of the day there has to be some sacrifice. Yes you can enjoy whatever you want to eat or drink, but it does have to be in moderation, if you want to lose weight/fat. You’re going to have to make some changes somewhere.

So just be careful – yes, be kind to yourself and if you have a blip then you definitely can and should just get back on track. But if you’re doing it every weekend and using it as an excuse then you may need to rethink your approach to those days. You definitely don’t need to be perfect, but you do need to aim for some level of consistency. Or perhaps you need to accept that now isn’t the time to be trying to reduce your calories to lose weight and make peace with that. Which is also totally ok too!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: The Blame Game

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: The Blame Game 🤷🏼‍♀️

So some of the reasons I often hear from people about why they’re off track or can’t reach their goals is because of their friends or family. Sometimes it’s because their friends expect them to drink/eat certain things and apply pressure, sometimes it’s because they don’t want to appear ‘rude’, sometimes it’s because they have to cater for others and don’t think that’s compatible with losing weight.

This is a tricky one and I know this will seem quite harsh but at the end of the day if your goal is to lose weight and to achieve that you need to modify what or how much you eat/drink then YOU need to be in control of that. No one is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to eat or drink anything. YOU choose what to put in your mouth. Yes it can be hard to be in social situations and yes it will test your will power, maybe you’ll even have to refuse some kindly offered drink or dessert, but I promise you, if they are really your friends and family then they love you and will forgive you!

You can go to social situations and not drink and eat huge amounts. You can refuse a dessert, or make a lower calorie choice or alternate booze with water, but YOU have to want to. I promise you, you will still have a great time! And in years to come it’s the memories with people you’ll remember, not what you ate or drank.

You can cater for the rest of the family or your friends and still stay on track. It’s entirely possible to cook delicious, hearty, lower calorie meals – that often your family/friends won’t even realise are lower calorie. My clients do this every day!

One thing you can do to help is to actually explain to your friends and family what you’re doing, why it’s important to you and that you’d appreciate their support. You’ll probably find they’ll help! And if they don’t… well at the end of the day – it’s your body and your life. I guarantee that those who really care about you will celebrate with you when you reach your goals, and those that don’t… well it says far more about them than you. You don’t have to be unkind or thoughtless, you don’t have to be selfish, you can still be the kind, loving person you are – and achieve your own health goals. So stop blaming others, take control and responsibility for you body and actions.

Happy Tuesday

🤗

Xx