caloriescount – Page 109 – Every Step Fitness

Estimating amounts is hard…

December 9, 2020 Dr Nancy P

Estimating amounts is hard…. 🥪

I’m always telling my clients to try to be as accurate as possible when they’re tracking their food and calories. This means actually weighing things – particularly anything that is calorie dense.

Very often people tell me that they’re “pretty good” at estimating the amounts they’re having, that they have the same thing each day so they know what it looks like now, that they can estimate pretty well etc. I’m sure some can, but I know I can’t. I can at first but then often amounts creep up without you even realising it.

In this example on the left is 5g butter on an 80 cal slice of white toast, on the right is the same toast with 15g butter!

As you can see they look pretty similar to the naked eye, yet the calorie difference is significan. It would be very easy to assume you were using around 5g butter but actually be using closer to 15g or more! It may not matter now and then but these calories do add up. And if that’s just butter, what about other things? With less calorie dense foods it won’t matter as much but with calorie dense foods (e.g. nut butters, spreads, cheese, avocado etc) when you get it wrong you’re adding a large number of calories. This is also why measure like “a scape of butter are no good – what’s a scrape? my scrape may not be your scrape etc

So if you are trying to lose fat/watching your calories maybe it’s time to go back and get those scales out and double check those estimates and see if you really are as good as you think you are.

🤗

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Calorie Budget

December 8, 2020 Dr Nancy P

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 🤗

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

A healthy snack of dried fruit…

December 2, 2020 Dr Nancy P

A healthy snack of dried fruit… 🍇

Fruit makes a great healthy snack and we’re encouraged to swap chocolate and biscuits for fruit instead… but be careful about the fruit you’re actually having.

Many people will happily snack on dried fruit thinking it’s a great way to lose weight. Now whilst there’s nothing wrong with dried fruit at all, as it’s full of fibre and vitamins, it’s also much higher in calories (mostly from sugar) than fresh fruit. And you’re far more likely to over eat it. It’s easy to eat a whole packet of raisins for example but you’re a lot less likely to eat an entire bunch of grapes (and in fact you could eat 4 bunches and still be consuming fewer calories.

The reason the raisins are so much higher in calories is because they’ve lost 95 percent of their water content leaving mostly sugar and fibre, in a much smaller package. This ramps up the sugar and calorie content, so 100g of dried fruit can be more than 4 times more calories than fresh fruit, and less filling.

So if fat loss is your goal consider the type of fruit you’re snacking on, and be mindful of how much dried fruit you’re consuming and don’t be afraid of fresh fruit.

🤗

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Re-train your brain

December 1, 2020 Dr Nancy P

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 🤗

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Swaps to save calories….

November 25, 2020November 16, 2020 Dr Nancy P

Swaps to save calories…. 🥤🍟 🍫

When I’m working with clients for sustainable fat and weight loss one of the big things I try to encourage is making some ‘easy’ swaps that they can incorporate into their diet. to save calories. It’s not about replacing something you love with something you hate (that will never work and will make you feel like you’re deprived) but there are some swaps you can make which you may not even really notice. Or they may be compromises which you’re willing to make.

This is a selection of some of the common ones and although individually some of the calorie savings may seem small it’s amazing how they all add up. Some involve similar tasting but lower calorie products, others are a portion size thing too. Obviously there are loads more – but I have tried to present a few of the main ones that my clients have used and enjoyed. Let me know about your own swaps too!

Here’s the list:

⁃ Oven chips (100g) 157cals vs 100g potatoes and oil spray (ten sprays) 83 cals

⁃ Lean beef mince (250g) 313 cals vs meat free mince (250g) 225 cals

⁃ 15ml olive oil 125 cals vs fry light olive oil spray 1 cal per spray (so even using 25 sprays is still a massive saving)

⁃ Bacon rashers (3) 180 cals vs Turkey Rashers (3) 72 cals

⁃ Cheddar cheese (20g) 85 cals vs babybel light (20g) 42 cals

⁃ Kettle Chips Small bag 205 cals vs pop chips 94 cals

⁃ Ben and Jerrys tub 1125 cals vs halo top tub 320 cals

⁃ Mars bar 228 cals vs curly wurly 118 cals

⁃ Grab bag Haribo 649 cals vs 3 mini bags 162 cals

⁃ Medium whole milk latte 237 cals vs skinny Americano 25 cals

⁃ Gin and tonic (single) 93 cals vs Gin and slimline tonic 64 cals

⁃ San pellegrino Lemonade drink 71 cals vs 7up zero lemonade drink 0 cals

⁃ Pint of London Pride Ale 199 cals vs Michelob Ultra 95 cals

Remember as part of a balanced diet it’s not a problem including some lower calorie options, especially if they mean you actually stick to it! If you want any help with making swaps just shout!

🤗