Category: Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Calorie Budget 💰

As we head into the festive period it’s easy to overdo food and drink. If you want to stay in control it’s useful to think of your calories the same way you think about your Christmas spending budget.

With a budget you have a set amount you can spend so you can’t spend ore, but If you are trying to save too much you may deprive yourself of things that make you healthy and happy. Budgetting your finances is never something to be ashamed of right? It’s a good thing and shows responsibility. As it’s YOUR budget you can also choose to spend extravagantly on certain things if you’ve saved up some extra money.

For calories, you know how much you can eat per day to lose fat and if you eat more you will gain fat. If you eat too little, it won’t prevent fat loss but you will probably be miserable. Budgeting your calories isn’t something to be self-conscious or embarrassed about; it shows you’re looking after yourself. And, as with a budget, you can always choose to spend more for certain things, as long as the overall calories stay in budget over the week/month.

There are a few ways to do this:

1. Track food and drink as you go along, then stop when you reach the calorie limit. This works as you won’t overeat and it shows where you’re spending your calories. BUT you have to stop when you hit your target which can be tricky if you use up the cals early in the day. Fat loss may take longer but you’ll be learning along the way so will naturally get better at hitting your calories.

2. Pre-set Budget – plan ahead to meet your calorie budget by tracking in advance. This is the best option as you’re likely to hit your target, but you might find it too restrictive depending on your personality and lifestyle

3. Wing it! This only works if you happen to have a small appetite naturally and rarely overeat (a naturally frugal person), so only works if you already have those habits. Of course it teaches you nothing about calories.

Happy budgeting and Tuesday 🤗

xx

Tuesday Tip: Re-train your brain 🧠

One trap many of us fall in to is treating food as a reward, and exercise as punishment; “i’ve had a really good week, I deserve a dessert” or “I’ve had such a bad weekend I need to really work hard at the gym tomorrow”. This cycle is self-defeating and creates a negative relationship with food and exercise. The key is trying to view both food and exercise as ways to fuel and care for your body, so you can sustain a healthy lifestyle long term. Here are some tips to help:

#1 Non-food rewards:

Instead of food, reward yourself with other things that are calming/relaxing or fun e.g. massage, manicure, new smellies, a bath, a walk, time reading your book, watching your favourite show etc. Or try things that encourage the healthy habits -new workout clothes, a new experience (e.g. rock climbing) or recipe books. Having nice things to go along with a behaviour makes that behaviour more fun, so your reward motivates you to do better

#2 Try not to justify food:

When you think, “I can have this because I’ve been good all week” etc then pause and remind yourself that your behaviour doesn’t determine what you can eat e.g. don’t reward yourself with cake because you went to the gym. Think about what food you want and decide why you want it e.g. you want cake because it tastes good – that’s fine. Re-train your mind to disassociate food from your behaviour. Have cake because you like it, not because you “deserve” it.

#3 Find fun workouts:

If the workout you’re doing isn’t enjoyable then change it. Try something new – if you usually run on the treadmill try doing a class, if you do classes have a swim etc – find something you actually like doing.

#4 Remember the good times:

Recent research in the journal “memory” has shown that recalling times when you had fun working out can help you look forward to future workouts. So reminisce about a workout you really enjoyed – it could be a fun class, or a race you took part in, or a game of football with your friends, or a walk or cycle outside – anything!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx