Tag: caloriescount

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Pizza night!

Dr Nancy P

Pizza night! 🍕

Socialising is a really important part of a healthy lifestyle and often that will involve eating out with friends or family. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going out and eating whatever you want – be it a massive pizza or anything else.

However if you are trying to lose fat or weight then you may wish to limit these extra calories. One option is simply to avoid social situations. That’s not ideal – life will be full of social situations and if you’re trying to make sustainable changes then you can’t just avoid everything for ever! Or you could of course say “f*ck it” and just have whatever you want. Nothing wrong with that – but if you’re then likely to spend the next few days feeling guilty or being angry with yourself for not making progress etc then that’s not a good option either.

The final option is to simply switch what you have for something that’s essentially the same but just a smaller portion. In this example there’s a Garlic bread with mozzarella and caramelised onions, and a large, “rustica” Gamberone and Chorizo pizza, washed down with a couple of large glasses of wine. That could rack up over 2700 calories -which for most people is more than their daily calories. And let’s be honest, that’s an awful lot of food. No one actually needs a pizza that large… or garlic bread aswell… instead you could swap it for a “skinny” or small version of the same pizza (which almost all restaurants offer nowadays), some olives to nibble on, and a small glass of wine. Same taste, same enjoyment, you can socialise, and you’re consuming less than a quarter of the calories. And you can stay on track!

So no need to avoid pizza night, or blow the diet, to still be able to enjoy yourself. Consider simply having smaller portions.

Enjoy 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Eating too little to lose weight?

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Eating too little to lose weight? 🥗

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

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

‘Diet’ red flags

Dr Nancy P

‘Diet’ red flags 🚩

Diet culture is full of ‘solutions’ for weight loss. People pray on people’s desire for ‘guaranteed’ fixes and social media is FULL of “guaranteed” ways you can lose weight/fat. You’ll see plenty of self proclaimed fitness/health/well being “coaches” and influencers trying to suggest you really need to do whatever it is they’re selling.

There are a number of red flags to look out for when thinking about ‘dieting’.

Replacing whole foods with Juice Cleanses / Supplements or going on a ‘detox’ can result in fewer calories and rapid initial water loss and a possible calorie deficit from meal replacement. Supplements may also provide a laxative effect or promote excessive bowel movements etc which result in water loss. None of which are sustainable or healthy long term aproaches

to weight loss.

Labelling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or having ‘cheat’ meals are other terms to be wary of.

No food is good or bad – all foods are good, it’s just about quantity. Food and morality have nothing to do with each other and we shouldn’t attach guilt to eating certain types of food which we enjoy.

Excluding whole food groups (carbs/sugar/ etc) is also unnecessary and unsustainable. Unless you have a medically diagnoses reason to exclude a food then all foods can fit into a healthy diet.

Labelling foods and taking about diets and foods in these ways that cast judgment just leads to increased anxiety and confusion. Allow yourself food freedom, remove the guilt from certain foods and accept that all foods are permitted – it will lead to a far healthier relationship with food and a far happier path to weight loss. It also means you can save your pennies and avoid paying people for these products which make promises they can’t deliver.

🤗

xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips, Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Just Eat Less

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Just Eat Less 🍟

If you want to lose weight/fat but don’t know where to start the simplest thing to do is – just eat less! No I’m not being facetious – just bear with me here.

As you will no doubt have realised from my posts the key to losing weight/fat is by being in calorie deficit. Obviously one really good way to do this is by counting calories. But this may not be something you want to do or feel ready to do for whatever reason.

So the simplest way to achieve a calorie deficit, without following some unsustainable diet trend, going on a ‘detox’ or excluding food groups is to eat exactly what you’re eating now…. But just eat less of it!

So instead of having seconds at dinner, just have one plate of food, instead of having 2 pieces of chicken thigh, have 1, instead of snacking on 4 biscuits, have 2, drop to one milky coffee a day instead of three… etc etc.

Just these simple changes will probably save you at least 400-800 calories a day (if not more). Best of all you probably won’t notice the changes either.

You could also try some lower calorie swaps – you still don’t need to count calories to do this. You can swap cooking oil for a one cal

spray, swap crisps for pop chips, swap chocolate digestives for custard creams, swap red wine for a slimline gin and tonic etc

Trying to lose weight/fat can seem really overwhelming and complicated at first but it doesn’t need to be. Keep it simple and you’ll see progress!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

What you think weight loss involves…and what it actually involves…

Dr Nancy P

What you think weight loss involves…and what it actually involves… 🥗

There are many misconceptions about what you need to do to lose weight or fat. You’ll hear lots of people saying you need to ‘eat clean’, cut out carbs, do a detox, have a juice cleanse, avoid sugar and bad foods, and stop snacking etc. However it’s really far more straight forward than that.

There are no magic pills, no secret cleanses or detoxes. There’s definitely no need to exclude food groups. There is no such thing as ‘clean’ food – it’s a totally meaningless term – and bears very little relationship to weight/fat loss. No foods are inherently bad – rather it’s the quantity of them that you eat that makes them better or worse than others. Snacking is also not inherently bad or a barrier to weight loss, in fact strategic snacking can help you lose weight.

Ultimately it all comes down to calories. However you choose to achieve it you need a calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. Now it may be that reducing certain foods in your diet help you achieve this e.g. reducing the portion size of pasta, swapping some snacks for lower calorie options, or reducing alcohol intake. But you don’t need to cut them out completely. You also can’t guarantee weight loss via ‘clean’ eating – as often those ‘clean’ foods are high in calories (e.g. avocado, nuts, smoothies etc). That’s not to say they’re ‘bad’ – they obviously have lots of benefits in terms of nutrients but the calories still count.

If you want to achieve life long, sustainable weight loss then no diet fad /pills/ detoxes or exclusion diets will work long term. Instead focus on moderation, calorie awareness and incorporating all the foods you enjoy within a balanced diet!

🤗
xx