If you want to succeed then you have to find ways to maintain a calorie deficit over the long term. That means you have to engage in moderation. Depriving yourself of all the foods you love and enjoy won’t result in success. But equally saying ‘f*ck it’ every day and not being willing to make some sacrifices won’t result in success either.
In this example – the coffee on the left is a large caramel oat latte – and costs 305 cals. On the right is an oat milk flat white with skinny caramel syrup and is a mere 66 cals. Sometimes you can definitely have the latte but most people won’t be able to accommodate 305 cals of coffee into their day every day. So find that alternative and enjoy that most days, then have the more expensive one as a ‘treat’. Your calorie budget is yours to spend however you like but this is just one way to help make it go further.
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 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? Is it to feel good? Is it to relieve stress? Is it to move my 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!
When trying to lose weight, thanks to diet culture out there on social media, people often feel they need to stop eating carbs. To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit – and yes of course, reducing carbs may well result in weight loss if it reduced your calories but you definitely don’t need to. In fact there are lots of reasons why you should be sure you are eating carbs.
If you enjoy bread, rice, potatoes, fruit, veg then cutting that out is not going to help you stick to lower calories or sustain that diet long term. Carbs really aren’t the devil and there’s nothing inherently fattening about them (many scientific studies support this).
It’s vital that you do eat carbs – for one they’re the main source of energy for the body – cutting them out will result in reduced energy and focus. They’re particularly important for brain function. Carb consumption helps promote better sleep, improve gut bacteria, and digestive tract health and they are only 4 calories per gram (compared to 9 calories per gram for fat). Possibly most importantly they taste good and the emotional impact of foods should never be underestimated.
So please, don’t cut carbs, you can lose weight and eat them!
Are you focusing on the small stuff instead of the big stuff? 🫣
One of the biggest weight loss mistakes I see people make is a focus on the small details. We often spend a lot of time and energy on things that don’t really matter that much. Meanwhile we overlook things that actually matter the most. People often get hung up on things like specific foods they should or shouldn’t eat, obsessing over what time they should eat, tracking ratios of protein to carbs etc, wanting to take supplements, worrying about which specific workout they should do or thinking it’s the end of the world when they can’t do the workout they planned etc.
When it comes to weight/fat loss none of that actually matters – at all! Focusing on all these small details just serves to complicate things, and potentially cause you to not make progress, Instead pay attention to the big things. The most important thing to focus on is a calorie deficit (how you achieve this is up to you but it can be achieved via ANY diet or eating regime) and secondly this needs to be maintained consistently- over weeks and months (not days). Cultivate healthy habits – drink water, get some sleep, eat fruit and veg etc and learn to manage social events/booze and weekends and don’t fret about what exercise you do – just be generally active and do whatever exercise you can fit in that you enjoy.
It’s quite common to see things described as fat burning. Sometimes it’s in reference to specific diets, modes of eating or certain types of exercise. Low carb diets are often promoted as fat burning on the premise that because there are fewer carbs to burn for energy, fat burning will increase. The same rationale is used by those promoting working out before eating (rather than after) or fasting for periods of time.
You’ll find certain types of workout described as fat burning or you may find your activity monitor describes your workout in terms of the percentage of time in the ‘fat burning’ zone. The argument is that the body burns a greater percentage of fat with lower-intensity exercises than higher intensities because the body doesn’t require ‘fast energy’ from glycogen. As such, this theory promotes longer and lower-intensity workouts that maintain your heart rate within the ‘fat burning zone’. However, while the body does burn fat during low-intensity workouts, the rate remains low and you have to exercise longer to burn the same amount of calories you would at higher intensities.
The main issue is that burning fat is often confused with losing body fat. Fat burning or oxidation refers to the use of fat as a fuel source by the body. This doesn’t equal body fat loss. Eating low carb (and therefore high fat) does mean you’ll burn more fat as fuel because there is more of that available to use. But if you need 1800 cals a day and are eating 2000 cals then you have an additional 200 cals of fat. This won’t increase your fat burning. In a calorie surplus more fat is available in the bloodstream due to a higher intake, so the rate of fat storage is also greater. Research shows that whilst low-carb diets increase fat oxidation, they don’t actually result in
superior fat loss in comparison to higher-carb diets when calories are matched.
This same concept applies to ‘fat burning workouts’ or fasted cardio vs fed cardio. Yes fasted cardio BURNS more fat in the session (because fewer carbs/glycogen are available) but if total calorie intake for the day is in surplus to your needs then you won’t lose body fat.
“Fat burning’ and “fat loss” are not
interchangeable concepts.The biggest priority for fat loss is a calorie deficit. If eating fewer carbs, or eating after your workout etc help you to maintain a calorie deficit and therefore make weight loss easier then fab! But going low carb / fasted workouts / fat burning workouts will not inherently be better for fat loss when calories are matched. The overall goal is to find a sustainable way for you to consistently achieve a calorie deficit.
Every Step Fitness 