Tag: be snack aware

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Lost motivation?

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Lost motivation? 🤔

Do you feel like you’ve lost motivation? I hear this a lot – clients tell me they’ve just lost their motivation and don’t know how to get it back. But the fact they’re even thinking that means they haven’t lost motivation and neither have you. You’ve just lost momentum. The forward motion has just stalled temporarily – that’s all!

Here are some things you can do to ‘get back on the wagon’ and regain that momentum.

#1: Start small – with one small step and one small win. When you first started you took one step at a time – so go back to that. Whether it’s tracking your next meal, filling half your plate with veggies, hitting 1000 extra steps today etc. Small wins for the big wins!

#2: Take one day at a time. It takes time to rebuild habits so just focus on getting back into some of those habits – like tracking cals, reducing alcohol intake, doing a workout a week etc. Set yourself some daily and weekly, achievable goals.

#3: Try to remember what motivated you to start originally – maybe it was a specific event you wanted you lose weight for, or maybe it was to ensure you’d be a fit and healthy for your children/grand children, maybe it was a goal to take part in a sporting event. Got back to that and write it down your goal and why it’s important to you.

#4: Tell someone! Communicating your intentions and goals to someone will increase your chances of success of sticking to it! Find an accountability buddy!

#5: 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.

#6: 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!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

TV Snacks…

Dr Nancy P

TV Snacks… 📺

It’s Sunday afternoon, you’re about to settle down in front of a movie with some snacks. So you grab a few biccies, packet of crisps, bag of chocolate, some sweeties and a drink. You know it’s not exactly low calorie but it doesn’t seem that bad… plus you won’t eat all the chocolate and sweets (except once that bag is open who are you kidding – they’re gone right?). This may sound like a lot but actually it’s pretty easy to stack up this sort of snacking without realising it and the calories really add up.

A few biscuits (3 Jammy dodgers at 78 cals each), a packet of hula hoops (120 cals), bag of haribo (548 cals), grab bag of giant buttons (636 cals) and a Pepsi (120 cals). That’s a whopping 1673 Cals! Of snacks!

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying some

snacks with a movie but maybe try a few swaps to reduce the cals without reducing the enjoying. You could have a bag of mini jammy dodgers (88 cals), a packet of hula pufts (72 cals), two mini haribo bags (55 cals each), two treat size bags of buttons (152 cals) and a Pepsi Max… for only 422 cals. Which not only is still quite a lot of cals for a snack but is a lot of food full stop – you’d probably find you were satisfied with all that anyway and not miss the larger bags!

Enjoy!

🤗

Xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Protein snack…

Dr Nancy P

Protein snack… 🤔

I often talk about the marketing power of “protein” and how snacks (and other products) are often promoted or perceived as “healthy” or better because they contain X amount of protein. The reasoning behind this is the fact that increased protein can help with improved satiety (feelings of fullness) so CAN help to prevent overeating. Also those working out may want to focus on protein to help with muscle building. Unless you’re a bodybuilder or athlete you probably don’t need to go out of your way to take in extra protein as most balanced diets contain far more protein than the average person needs. However you may still wish to focus on higher protein foods and snacks to help keep you feeling full.

So you may well see these lentil chips/crisps and think it would be a good snack option – it’s something that feels like a treat (crisps) and it’s says it’s 15% protein – win win! It’s 175 cals which is actually not bad for a snack at all and contains 6g protein – also not bad.

Oh but this is awkward… the humble baked bean snack pot is a mere 158 cals and it will actually provide you with even more protein – 9.4g in fact! Aside from the fact it’s lower calorie, and has more protein, it’s also far greater volume – which also helps to keep you full. It will take longer to eat, and has a higher amount of fibre too which will aid with the feelings of fullness. You also get the bonus of added micronutrients. It is also considerably cheaper!

Enjoy!

🤗

Xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

‘Just a seasonal coffee and snack…’

Dr Nancy P

‘Just a seasonal coffee and snack…’ ☕️ 🎃

At this time of year all the coffee shops bring out their range of seasonal coffees and snacks. The pumpkin spice latte even has somewhat of a cult following. So if you’re out and about you may well decide to grab a quick seasonal drink and a snack to go with it.

This particular example is a large Pumpkin spice latte (with semi skimmed milk) and a pumpkin loaf. You’d probably think this was a reasonable thing to have as a snack and you might realise it’s a few hundred calories but it can’t be that bad. It’s just a coffee right? And the pumpkin loaf is basically a healthy snack right?

On the other hand if you grabbed a large KFC fries you may be berating yourself for ‘being bad’.

In reality that season coffee comes in at around 422 cals, and the pumpkin loaf is 360 cals per slice. That’s a total of 782 cals. In comparison a large KFC portion of fries is a mere 345 cals! Whilst there’s absolutely nothing wrong with spending nearly 800 cals on coffee and a snack you may find that if you’re trying to watch your calories that you can’t accommodate that many cals for a snack. In addition if you don’t realise how many cals they are you are likely to go over calorie budget that day.

Knowledge is power so being aware of the calorie content of things, and also of our own perceptions of the things we consume is always a good thing. If you want the seasonal drink and snack – have it and enjoy it. If you want to some large fries then go for it. Just be aware of the calories so you’re making an educated choice!

🤗 Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Fat burning ≠ Fat loss

Dr Nancy P

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