Tag: cut calories

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

‘Healthy’ rice cakes vs ‘naughty’ chocolate….

Dr Nancy P

‘Healthy’ rice cakes vs ‘naughty’ chocolate…. 🍫

We all have cravings for certain foods or drinks at certain times. It may be for chocolate, biscuits, cheese, toast, wine – etc, whatever it is it’s usually perceived as a “naughty” food.

If you’re trying to lose fat/weight then when a chocolate craving hits you may avoid it at all costs. Why? because it’s “naughty”. It’s not a snack packed with protein or fats, or vitamins or all those things we know we should be eating. It’s full of sugar (omg!) so it is definitely evil and must be avoided at all costs…..So you avoid it. But you’ve heard rice cakes are a healthy snack and there are some dark chocolate covered ones so you have 3 of them instead and feel virtuous.

Whilst they’re pretty tasty you didn’t really

went a dark chocolate rice cake – you wanted some dairy milk! But it’s ok cos at least you’ve made a good decision in terms

of your weight loss goals…. Or have you ?

A 45g bar of dairymilk is 240 cals, whereas 3 dark chocolate rice cakes are 243 cals (and they come in a packet of 6 so if you’re anything like me you’d probably have the whole packet). So you haven’t actually saved yourself anything by avoiding the chocolate – you’ve just made yourself miserable for no reason.

So, if you are craving chocolate then maybe just have it! You don’t need to earn it. You don’t need to justify it. Funnily enough, the more you label foods as ‘naughty’ and try to avoid these foods, the more power and the more the craving you’ll have for them. When you enjoy the foods you crave or want to eat without guilt, they begin to lose their power over you and your urge to overeat them diminishes. Over time, you’re able to eat anything, without eating everything.

Enjoy 🤗 Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: It isn’t failure

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: It isn’t failure 😖

How often do you start on a new weight loss ‘diet’ only to give up because you have a bad meal/day/weekend and think you’ve failed? Is it really failure though? Or could it be reframed?

Lots of things we do are hard to start with – learning a new hobby, learning a musical instrument, starting a new job, learning to drive a car, and so is making changes to your food and lifestyle. And just like you might make mistakes when learning to play the piano etc then you’re quite likely to make mistakes in your nutrition too.

Some people are more likely to be prone to perfectionism then others and may find mistakes harder to manage. When it comes to weight loss years of following diet fads where there are strict ‘rules’ about what you can eat can make you fear these mistakes even more.

Accept that mistakes are a normal part of life and learning. The next time you make a mistake, instead of labelling yourself a failure, ask yourself what you can learn from it instead? Why did you make that mistake? Do you need more support? Were there specific barriers/issues/situations that you need help overcoming? Does the approach you’re taking at the moment need tweaking? Are your goals as important to you as you thought they were? Was it a specific situation that triggered it and how can you change that next time? Etc

Instead of labelling yourself or your ‘diet’ a failure when you make a mistake, ask yourself what you can learn from it, and you’ll be better equipped the next time you face a similar situation.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

If you want to lose weight… be boring!

Dr Nancy P

If you want to lose weight… be boring! 🥱

I know this probably isn’t what you want to hear – but to be totally honest, the best way to actually see long term sustainable results when it comes to weight loss is to be really… boring!

When we start a new weight loss journey we expect it to be super exciting – and the act itself is – it’s exciting to be investing in yourself and your health – no question! But we also expect the day to day aspects of it to be exciting too – which is one reason trendy diets are so enticing. Exciting new meals, an exciting complex exercise regime full of weird and wonderful new exercises, exciting special supplements/drinks etc.

The reality is though that what really works is consistency and the best way to achieve that is by becoming more ‘boring’! And no I don’t mean you can’t go out and have fun or socialise – that’s still totally doable. What I mean is you need to eat roughly the same things at roughly the same times, do the same basic exercises/classes at the same times, go to bed and wake up at the same times, have the same morning routine etc (i.e. build habits and routine). So for example those that have most success will tend to have a base of say 10-20 meals that they like and enjoy that fit within their calories and they’ll stick to them. They’ll have a straightforward workout schedule of say 3/4 classes/sessions a week, focusing on the same basic exercises, they’ll have a similar sleep routine and morning routine most days. Obviously they’ll be days they go off piste but 80-90 percent of the time they are sticking to their routine.

Consistency over time is what achieves and sustains results. If you want to lose weight you have to work on habits and routines that support the new lower weight goal. Also by being ‘boring’ you also remove the ‘decision fatigue’ – so it becomes second nature. You don’t need to waste energy and time figuring out what to do all the time. You can focus your energy elsewhere.

So have a think – if you’re at the end of January and don’t feel you’re progressing maybe you need to embrace being ‘boring’ instead and simplify things!

Enjoy!

🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Don’t go too low

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Don’t go too low 📉

It’s tempting when you start trying to lose weight to panic and cut calories drastically – because surely a bigger deficit means quicker results right? To a degree yes but…. It never really works and this is why.

Our bodies are designed and have evolved to essentially make losing weight and fat hard. Fat loss goes entirely against our main drive to survive so conserving energy and maximising fat storage is a good evolutionary strategy. If energy consumption (calories) are reduced drastically the body will adjust processes to ‘fit’ the calories you consume. Now this doesn’t mean you can put on weight if you eat too little – that’s just a myth. What it does mean though is that the body compensates for a lower energy intake by reducing energy expenditure.

It does this in two ways. Firstly it reduces NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis), – these are the subconscious incidental movements and processes in your body e.g. your heart rate may slow, body temperature may change, and hormones such as leptin, T3 and T4 adjust to reduce energy expenditure. As a result your BMR may decrease.

In addition you will subconsciously move or fidget less than you usually would. So you may find you don’t stand up or tap your feet etc as much, you may be less inclined to take the stairs and take the lift instead, you may find you drive instead of walking places as much, you might not get up to go get things you’ve left in other rooms (e.g. not going upstairs to get the hoodie you want to wear and grabbing whatever is handy downstairs instead), not getting up to get a glass of water if you’re thirsty, feeling generally low motivation to exercise/walk etc. You probably won’t even notice you’re doing any of this.

So as you’ll be expending fewer calories the deficit you think you have becomes smaller. In addition you’ll feel low, hungry, tired and tend to obsess over food. This means the tendency to binge/overeat either when you have a ‘cheat’ day or when the diet ends is high. This is why you often find any weight you’ve lost will come back quite quickly.

So rather than heading straight in to an aggressive 800-1000 calories a day diet (for the umpteenth time in the past few years) try aiming for a higher number of calories with a smaller deficit. A smaller deficit allows you to thrive and stick to the newly acquired habits you need to stick to, consistently, to move towards your goals. Work more on delayed gratification. Something that takes longer but feels easier is far more likely to work out the way you want it to.

If this resonates but overwhelms you at the same time, that is also completely normal. We are designed to want instant gratification and results so it’s ok if it feels counterintuitive to start with. But trust me, stick with it and you’ll reap the benefits – play the long game!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Eating certain foods doesn’t make you a ‘bad’ or a ‘good’ person…

Dr Nancy P

Eating certain foods doesn’t make you a ‘bad’ or a ‘good’ person… 🍩

I lose count of the number of times I hear clients tell me they’re ‘bad’ because they’ve eaten something they feel they shouldn’t have. How often do you eat something and label it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and by extension consider that you’ve been ‘good’ or ‘bad’?

If you succumb to a doughnut at coffee you tell yourself you’ve been ‘bad’ and that you’re a ‘bad’ person. Yet if you have an apple and some almonds (30g in this example) you’d be feeling very virtuous and like you’re a ‘good’ person.

It’s really time we stop labelling foods as good or bad. There are no good or bad foods. There are simply foods which contain a greater or fewer number of nutrients. The foods themselves aren’t bad – the quantities may be though. You are also not a bad person for eating those foods. It’s time we stop attributing some form of morality to snacks etc. What you eat or don’t eat has absolutely no bearing on your worth as a person. You’re not a bad person for snacking on a doughnut. You’re also not a good person for choosing an apple and almonds.

Yes the apple and almonds will have more fibre, more micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and and more protein. The doughnut undoubtedly has fewer vitamins and minerals, but it will provide you with energy and joy! If you were trying to hit a certain number of calories then the doughnut may even be a better choice as they’re fewer calories but neither is inherently good or bad. They both have a place in a balanced diet. The only reason to describe either as good or bad is in terms of how you think they actually taste! And personally I think they both taste good!

Enjoy!

🤗

Xx