be snack aware – Page 91 – Every Step Fitness

A snack or loads of snacks…

February 16, 2022 Dr Nancy P

A snack or loads of snacks… 🍫

There are lots of strategies you can use when trying to stick to your calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. Being aware of the calories in the foods you choose to consume and swapping to lower calorie foods which you also enjoy is an obvious option. As well as the calories though it’s worth considering the quantity and volume of the food you’re choosing.

Snacking is a common problem and an easy way to extra calories to sneak in. If you were to snack on a chocolate tiffin bar you’re looking at a substantial 400 calories of food. That’s quite a lot for a snack, and it will be gone in a few bites. However for only 259 calories you could have a curly wurly, a light babybel, some raspberries and a packet of popchips. This combination not only has the advantage of fewer calories overall, but also higher protein overall which will help to keep you fuller for longer, and they contain more fibre (mainly from the raspberries) and other micronutrients which will also help. But an often overlooked aspect is that there is also a greater volume of food in the lower calorie option. It will take you longer to eat the 4 snacks than the muffin, which will also increase feelings of satisfaction. You may also even find you don’t even need to eat all 4 snacks.

Obviously if you fancy the tiffin and can fit it into your calories then go for it but this is just another strategy to add to your toolkit to help you stick to those calories.

Enjoy

Enjoy 🤗

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

‘What you think you had…..’

February 9, 2022 Dr Nancy P

‘What you think you had…..’ 😬

We all know that to lose weight/fat you need to be eating and drinking at a calorie deficit. Often the problem though is our awareness and perception of what we are actually consuming. Portion control is a massive part of this – specifically underestimating serving sizes and what you’ve consumed.

It doesn’t help that we are continually marketed to to choose larger sizes at better value. More food/drink for less money – of course we want that right? But it doesn’t help when you’re trying to eat and drink less!

Studies repeatedly show that almost everyone, even those who are trained dieticians and nutritionists (and therefore should be ‘experts’ on portion sizes etc) significantly underestimate what they’ve consumed. This is even more so when recording in hindsight. We forget things, we underestimate what we’ve had, we don’t even know we’re doing it.

For example, having a couple of glasses of wine and some crisps with friends before dinner. You may think you’ve had 2 small glasses and a portion (40g) of crisps – that would be approx 381 cals. That’s not bad and can be easily factored into your daily cals. In reality though you probably had 2 large glasses, and much more than the portion size of crisps – closer to 150g (a grab bag size) for example- which comes in at 1,121 cals! That’s not as easy to fit in, and you probably barely noticed the crisps.

So if you’re struggling to lose weight and can’t work out why, try being totally honest with yourself and see if you may actually be underestimating things. The best way to do this is you get out the kitchen scales, weigh the portion and track the calories – before you eat them! You definitive do not need to cut these things out completely – that’s totally counter productive and unsustainable long term. So instead work on becoming more aware of the actual quantities you’re eating / drinking and fit them into your diet accordingly. Knowledge is power!

Enjoy 🤗 xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Slow metabolism preventing weight loss?

February 8, 2022 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Slow metabolism preventing weight loss? 🍏

I often hear people complaining that their slow metabolism is why they can’t lose weight. Is this really the reason they can’t make progress?

There are variations in metabolic rate e.g. someone with a larger body will have a higher resting metabolic rate. This is the absolute metabolic rate and is related to your age, height, gender, muscle/fat mass etc. In addition two people with the same body composition, age, gender etc may well have some differences in metabolic rate. Aha I hear you cry – so that must be it? That variation must explain why some people find it harder than others to lose weight?

Unfortunately the variation isn’t as much as we think. Once you account for age, gender, fat and muscle mass, height etc you can predict about metabolic rate with about 80-85% accuracy. This leaves around 15-20% of the differences unexplained.

What does that mean in practical terms? Well if you predicted someone’s metabolic rate using their body composition etc at 1800 kcals you would see people ranging from 1600 – 2100 kcals per day. On average it’s a difference of 200-300 kcals above or below the expected rate i.e. you might be burning 200-300 calories fewer per day than expected. Whilst this isn’t ‘nothing’, it’s really not as great as many people think it is. It’s also not enough to justify why you aren’t losing weight if you’re eating 1000 kcals a day etc.

A recent study also found that these variations in metabolic rate were not related to weight gain. Those participants with ‘low’

metabolic rate did not gain more weight than those with a high rate. Why?

Well because resting metabolic rate is only part of the equation. It’s the behaviours you adopt that determine your progress – not your resting metabolic rate. If you have a higher metabolic rate but are sedentary and overeat calorie dense foods you will put on weight. If you have a lower metabolic rate and are conscious of what you’re eating, and active you’ll maintain or lose weight.

Focusing on something you can’t control won’t help – instead focus on what you can control – eating at a calorie deficit and moving more.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Brown Bread is healthier…Or is it?

February 2, 2022 Dr Nancy P

Brown Bread is healthier…Or is it? 🍞

Most people feel like they’re being healthier if they’re having brown bread rather than white. However is it actually that much better?

White grain products have just had the outer layer of the grain removed – in most cases this doesn’t remove that much in terms of nutrition. In terms of calories both products tend to be the similar, although sometimes the white version is actually lower in cals so if you’re tracking your intake then it can be a way to cut some cals. In this example you can see that the brown bread is marginally more calories for a standard 40g slice.

But what about fibre I hear you cry? Well as you can see, the fibre content is actually not that different. The brown bread does have more fibre but only 1.6g more. If you’re already having a balanced diet, which includes fruit, veg and other grains, then you’re better off simply choosing the one you prefer the taste of and not worrying too much about the fibre. If you’re trying to reduce calories then pay attention to the calories in the bread you choose as they do vary!

🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Doing something is better than doing nothing

February 1, 2022 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Doing something is better than doing nothing ⭐️

One of the keys to losing weight and maintaining it is consistency, and one of the key things that help with consistency is learning not to throw in the towel and say f*ck it every time things don’t go to plan.

Life is full of unexpected obstacles. Just when you think you’ve got things under control something will happen to potentially derail you – it could be small or large obstacles – unexpected illness, stress, unplanned socialising, etc etc. You can either let it defeat you and use it as an excuse to come off the wagon completely , or you can change your mindset and accept that it’s not about being perfect every single day. It’s about doing the best you can in the circumstances – that day.

So maybe you can’t fit in your planned 45 min workout, but could you do ten mins instead? Not going to hit that step goal – could you do a 5 mins walk anyway just to get a few more steps in? Not tracking your calories like you planned – ok well can you focus on making some different choices, fill up half your plate with veggies, cut back on a the dessert or booze; unexpected fish and chips takeaway – go for a lighter option of small chips and a small piece of fish, instead of the large cod, large chips, curry sauce etc that you usually have? Had a rubbish day and ate half a packet of biscuits? Stop stressing and just make sure the next thing you eat is back on track.

Even doing something, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is better than doing nothing! At least then you can look back on the day and say – it didn’t go to plan, but it was a lot better than it could have been.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx