Tag: cut calories

Tuesday Tip: You snooze, you win! 😴

Whilst fat/weight loss always comes down to maintaining a calorie deficit there are things which help make this easier – sleep being one of the biggest ones.

Sleep is one of the most underrated contributors to overall health and body composition. Chronic lack of sleep has negative effects on the immune, endocrine, nervous and cardiovascular systems and increases risk of illness and injury. Studies have shown an association between increased BMI and those with a chronic lack of sleep (under 7hrs a night). Studies also show that reduced sleep is associated with an increased energy intake – sleeping under 5.5 hrs a night was linked to an average increase of almost 250 cals per day. A further study investigated the impact of improving sleep length on energy intake and found that extending it to 8 hrs a night led to a decrease in energy intake of 270 cals per day. There was also a link to weight loss in this group (unsurprisingly given the reduced calorie intake). For each extra hour of sleep energy intake decreased by 162 cals per day.

Lack of sleep also impacts your exercise resulting in reduced reaction times, accuracy, strength and endurance. It also results in longer recovery times.

So how can you improve your sleep?

⁃ Aim to set aside approx 30 mins before bed to wind down and destress.

⁃ Aim for consistent sleep and waking times – so try to avoid the pattern of early wake ups during the week and very late wake ups at the weekend.

⁃ Reduce consumption of caffeine, alcohol and nicotine in the 2-3 hours before bed

⁃ Studies have also shown that reducing screen time before bed leads to improved sleep quality, falling asleep faster and waking up less during the night. So aim to put your phone away 30 mins before bed, and avoid viewing potentially stimulating content like social media/news as it can impact your mood/anxiety levels which will result in less sleep.

So put the same effort you do into your diet into your sleep to maximise results!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Don’t exercise to earn food 🍫

With the recent Easter weekend there will undoubtedly be a lot of talk of exercising to ‘burn off’ those Easter eggs. In fact the media usually produces a list of activities and the equivalent amount of Easter chocolate it would burn. This is actually totally misguided and a really bad way to approach food and weight loss. Aside from the fact that it’s almost impossible to out exercise diet (mainly because we grossly over estimate the amount of calories we burn exercising) it’s also an extremely unhealthy relationship to foster between food and exercise.

If you are choosing to eat something you enjoy, that you want to eat and that fits into a balanced, flexible diet then eat it! You do not need to earn or burn your food with exercise. Food and exercise do not exist in an exchange-based system.

Choose exercise that you enjoy – if running isn’t your thing then walk, if you hate spin classes then try a different class etc. Eat to

nourish and fuel your body, it will then use that fuel as needed on a daily basis. So don’t skip lunch because you didn’t missed a workout that day or avoid dessert because you skipped the gym. Remember that your body still needs fuel to function – to fuel the brain, to fuel your muscles to get you from a to b, to fuel all your bodily functions. And remember that you won’t have actually burn as many calories exercising as you think anyway so it’s a futile effort.

So the next time you workout think to yourself – why am I exercising l? Is it to feel good? Is it to relieve stress? Is it to move your body in a way that feels good? Or is it punishment or to earn/burn food?

Eat to fuel your body, and exercise because you enjoy it. In regards to that Easter chocolate you may have eaten – view it as fuel to help you workout IF you want to – not something you have to exercise to burn off!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: What happens when fat is lost? 😅

There are widespread misconceptions about what happens when we lose fat. It’s important to understand the process of how fat is actually lost to be able to set realistic goals and expectations.

So what we think of as body fat is actually adipose tissue, which is essentially excess energy that is stored for future use. Fat is lost when we create a calorie deficit – usually via reducing the number of calories you consume. When you’re in a calorie deficit the body utilises the stored fat. Triglycerides contained within the fat cells are ‘burnt’ or oxidised to release energy. This involves many enzymes and biochemical processes but the end products are water, carbon dioxide, with energy being released at the same time .

84 percent of the fat becomes Carbon dioxide which is then excreted by the lungs

as we exhale. The remaining 16 percent becomes water and is excreted from sweating, urinating, breathing, Bowel movements, tears etc.

Before you get too excited – breathing faster, or sweating more isn’t going to result in more fat loss! Fat loss happens as a result of a long term, consistent change in your dietary habits abs lifestyle. So sadly, as always, the answer for fat loss isn’t flashy or sexy, but rather dull and rooted in science – a long term calorie deficit achieved mainly via eating less and moving more!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx