Tag: caloriescount

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Easy calorie cuts

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Easy calorie cuts 🍽

Trying to lose some fat? Cutting just 100 – 200 calories a day can help you drop those pounds. Here are some easy ways to cut a few calories.

# Ditch the soft drinks

Switch to water, calorie free squash or zero calorie soft drinks – cutting just one soft drink a day at roughly 140 cals is over 50,000 cals over the year!

# Go naked

Not you, your burger, sandwich etc. Ditch the bread and do yourself a favour by cutting about 150 cals. Have an open sandwich instead or a salad, or use portobello mushrooms for burger buns etc.

# Drink before you eat

Have a big glass of water before you eat. Studies have shown this results in a 13% reduction in calorie intake.

# Switch to cauliflower rice

There is nothing wrong with rice or any other ‘carbs’ so I’m not suggesting you cut them completely but a switch to cauliflower rice now and then is an easy switch to reduce cals. It’s tasty too and will save you approx 160 cals.

# Go black

Try ditching the milk in your coffee or tea – or at least switch to skimmed milk or a low cal non dairy alternative (e.g oat milk). We forget all the extra calories from those dashes of milk in our coffee and they can soon add up!

# Be careful with condiments

Lots of condiments are calorie heavy – mayonnaise and sugary things like ketchup and bbq sauce can easily add in sneaky extra cals. Mustard on the other hand has almost no cals, so try making the swap or go for vinegar, salt and pepper to spice things up.

# Chew the cud

Taking longer over your food helps the body realise it’s fuller sooner, which tends to reduce over eating and means fewer calories are consumed. Studies have shown that individuals reduced their calorie intake by an average of 88 – 100 calories when eating slower. That may not sound much but over a year that can add up to over 95,000 cals! Try to take at least 20 mins over your meals.

Try these tips and see how you get on!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Starvation Mode Myth

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Starvation Mode Myth 🥗

I am often asked whether consuming too few calories causes your metabolism to slow down so that you stop losing weight, and even gain weight, as the body “hangs on to fat”. People say that to get out of this “starvation mode” you need to eat more. One small problem – starvation mode is a myth!

As long as you have a calorie deficit (eating less than you burn) you will lose weight – regardless. Calories in vs calories out is what matters. A long term calorie deficit does cause adaptive thermogenesis (metabolic rate slow down) BUT it is not significant enough to stop weight loss and can’t cause weight gain! It just slows the rate of weight loss down, but what slows it even more is the fact that you’ve already lost weight so the body isn’t burning as many calories as it did initially. That’s why you need to adjust your calorie intake as you lose weight and why plateaus are common. In one famous large scale study – the Minnesota study – 36 men were put on a 24 week low calorie diet (1560 cals) and also had to complete physical tasks. ALL the men lost approx 25% body weight and ended up at approx 5% body fat. No one stopped losing weight, no one gained weight. You can’t defy the laws of thermodynamics – you need energy to fuel your body, you can’t magic it out of thin air, if you don’t eat enough you will lose

So what’s the moral of the story? If you’re not losing any weight/fat or your shape isn’t changing over a significant period of time, it’s not because your calories are too low, or because you’re in starvation mode. It’s because there is no deficit. Even if you think there is… there isn’t. If there was, you’d be losing weight!

Happy Tuesday🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Calories Count

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Calories Count 📝

There’s so much info out there about what you ‘need’ to do to lose weight. Across all the fad diets, magic pills, super shakes and eating strategies only one method stands the test of time. It’s not trendy or marketable, has no fancy name, but it’s the core of why these diets work; energy management (calories in vs out).

All these diets appear very different on the surface; Low carb, paleo, Atkins, 5:2, bodycoach, slimming world, weight watchers etc all ultimately function on these principles. They restrict calories indirectly, giving you a list of foods that make it improbable you’ll be in a calorie surplus. Although you’re not counting calories, you’re often restricting them; cut carbs- you’re likely to end up cutting calories; follow a ‘syns’ or points system – you’ll cut calories; go paleo – you’ll be cutting food groups and calories.

If you manage your calorie intake to create a deficit, you WILL lose weight. This is supported by hundreds of scientific studies. It’s not coincidence or magic. Yes there are different ways of doing this – and yes there are things that influence how easy or hard it is to create that deficit eg hormonal differences impact on how food is digested and utilised, metabolic adaptations to training and dieting make accurately estimating energy requirements and expenditure difficult, and there are errors in both how we log the food we eat and the databases of calorie values we use. BUT that doesn’t change the fact that if you consume less energy than you expend – you will lose weight!

Does this mean you have to count and track calories? No, not if you don’t want to, but of all the methods out there it’s got the best chance of helping you understand what your energy requirements are and how much you need to consume. You can still do any diet that works for you, and choose to log or not log your calories – but when weight loss stalls it’s a great place to start. It’s still an approximation, and although you need to do some experimentation to find the perfect balance, it’s a verified way to approach your goals.

Happy Tuesday 🤗 xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: How to get back on the Wagon

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: how to get back on the wagon 🍟🍔🍕

Last week I told you calories count, which they do, so what happens when you splurge and blow your calories? Should you just throw in the towel and write the day off? Before you beat yourself up for blowing it, or find yourself stuck in a day of over eating , try these tips to get back on track.

#1 Chin up

Stay positive – do you’ve fallen off the wagon? So what – one meal or one calorie splurge isn’t the end of the world. Refocus and think about why you’re trying to lose weight – what’s your goal? Marathon? Wedding? Holiday? Keep up with the kids in the park? Remember why you’re doing this – and remember there are peaks and troughs – the journey can still be down even with those bumps on the way.

# 2 Make the next meal healthy

Make the next meal you have after a splurge a healthy one. Don’t start tomorrow, start now. You’ll feel better for it and it will get you back on track.

#3 Bank some calories

Do not starve yourself or severely restrict your calories after a blip as you’ll only end up ravenous and more likely to splurge again – but you can bank a few calories by just eating 100 – 200 cals less for the next few days. You’ll hardly notice that cut and it will just help to buffer the effects of over eating.

# 4 Get active

You can’t put exercise bad food but you can burn a few extra calories and make yourself feel better but getting active. So go for a walk, cycle, swim, grab the skipping rope and do a 2 Min skip – anything!

# 5 Think!

Have a think about what drove the calorie splurge? No need to beat yourself up about it but it is worth thinking through why you binged. Did you end up filling the cupboards with junk that you know you can’t resist? Were you bored? Hungry? No healthy options to hand? Emotional? Did your friends persuade you to have that extra drink? Just try to workout why? If the junk in your kitchen is too tempting stop buying it, if you’re eating (or drinking) for social reasons embracing the power of “no”, or ask for your friends’ support etc.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx