Tag: feelbetter

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

‘Healthy’ brekkie on the go vs ‘naughty’ brekkie….

Dr Nancy P

‘Healthy’ brekkie on the go vs ‘naughty’ brekkie…. 🥐

If you’re rushing in the mornings you may need to grab something to eat on the go. You may really enjoy a pain au chocolat but avoid it because you feel it’s ‘naughty’ and instead go for a ‘healthy’ nut bar.

You may view the pain au chocolat as bad as you don’t feel it’s packed with protein or ‘good’ fats, or vitamins or all those things we know we should be eating. It’s an ‘all butter’ pain au chocolat (omg!) so it is definitely evil and must be avoided at all costs…..So you avoid it. But nuts are healthy right so you can have a nut bar and feel virtuous.

Maybe you didn’t really fancy a nut bar or maybe you think it’s ok cos at least you’ve made a good decision in terms of your weight loss goals…. Or have you ?

A pain au chocolat from a supermarket multipack is 210 cals and actually has less fat and sugar than the 218 calorie nut bar (and only a little less protein). So you haven’t actually saved yourself anything by going for the nut bar.

So, if you are a fan of the pain au chocolat or need to grab something from home to eat on the go then go for it! And if you’re having the nut bar just because you think it’s ‘heathy’ and by extension lower calorie then maybe rethink that. I would add though that a pain au chocolat from a cafe is likely to be somewhat larger (eg Starbucks is 314 cals) so just be mindful to check the cals! As always knowledge is power!

Enjoy 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Think outside the gym

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Think outside the gym 🏋🏼‍♂️

Whilst you can’t out-exercise your diet and diet is undoubtedly king when it comes to fat loss it’s obviously still important to be active and to exercise for lots of reasons – not least of which is health and well being.

It’s very hard to create a meaningful calorie deficit via exercise and activity alone. You have to work extremely hard to burn more than a few hundred calories in a workout. Studies show we usually over estimate cals burnt and how active we are. Even if you’re working out every day you may not be as active as you think if you spend the rest of the day sat down. So we are likely to perceive a workout as burning more calories than it actually does. There’s also a tendency after a tough workout to eat more- either because we reward ourselves for the perceived effort or because we’re hungry. There’s also a tendency to be generally less active too if you’re exhausting yourself in workouts.

The end result is that by being focused on workouts as the only source of calorie expenditure we can end up moving less generally and eating more.

So as well as workouts try to think beyond the gym. The calories you burn in a 45 min workout will be considerably fewer than what you burn being generally active for the rest of the day. So think about how you spend the rest of your day. Do you find yourself sitting more than perhaps you need to? Do you amble instead of walking with purpose? Do you take the lift instead of the stairs. Think beyond the gym and focus instead on making yourself more active – get up, stand instead of sit, walk faster, walk more!

Also don’t be tempted to eat exercise calories back – just treat them as bonus cals rather than something to eat back.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Ways you could be subconsciously over eating…

Dr Nancy P

Ways you could be subconsciously over eating… 😋

When it comes to losing weight /fat it really is true that you get out what you put in. So often we subconsciously consume more than we realise. Sometimes it’s due to lack of time, sometimes it’s because our focus is elsewhere e.g. being distracted by work and absentmindedly grabbing a snack, sometimes it’s because we perceive things to be fewer calories than they are, and sometimes it’s denial – we don’t want to admit to what we’ve eaten or it feels too overwhelming to try to track it all.

So if you’re not seeing progress maybe it’s worth just having a think and seeing if you’re perhaps subconsciously consuming more than you think. Common ways this happen include:

  • Estimating rather than measuring. Are you actually weighing things or are you using estimated weights? Eyeballing things and saying that’s probably about 30g? Or you using inaccurate measures like ‘cups’ or ‘medium banana’ – how big is ‘medium’?
  • Are you honestly tracking everything you’re actually eating – what about the odd bite/ spoonful here and there? The odd chocolate/crisp etc? They can really add up!
  • Are you including liquid calories? If you drink a lot of coffee/tea are you including the milk?
  • Alcohol – are you underestimating the calories from alcohol? It’s easy to rack up a couple of thousand calories over a weekend in booze.
  • Sauces / dressings / condiments – again it’s easy to overlook these but over a week they can easily add up to several hundred/thousands of calories.
  • Oil in cooking – a drizzle /slug of oil is at least 100-200 cals! Swap to a 1 cal oil spray – 30 sprays is only 30 cals so you’re still saving!
  • Secret snacking / picking – are you actually snacking more than you realise? That biscuit with coffee, the sweet you grab when you pop to the kitchen to make a cuppa etc.

We all do this. You’re not a ‘bad’ person if you’re not tracking everything, but you will only make progress if you can be really truthful and honest with yourself about what you’re consuming. At the end of the day it’s your body, your goals and your decision.

🤗
Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: ‘falling off the wagon’ at night

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: ‘falling off the wagon’ at night 🍪

A really common issue lots of us face is being ‘good’ all day but then falling off the wagon in the evenings and over eating. There are a number of reasons for this.

# Skipping meals/ v small meals – it’s tempting to skip brekkie or lunch, or make it v small. During the day you’re busy and it’s easier to get by on less cals as you’re focused elsewhere. The problem then is you’re so hungry by the evening that you lose control and overeat. Aim for balanced meals – including protein, fats and carbs. If brekkie doesn’t work for you that’s fine, but make sure your lunch is sufficient.

# Avoiding carbs – you skip carbs during the day, but then what is it you end up snacking /overeating with in the evenings… carbs or those foods you’ve eliminated during the day. So stop cutting them out – include them in your day.

# Avoiding snacks – maybe you need to eat in between meals. If you’re up from

6am and not going to bed until 10 then the gaps between meals are probably going to be too long. Factor in snacks!

# Not enough protein or fibre. Both these nutrients help to keep you feeling satisfied.

# Erratic eating schedule – if your meal times vary a lot day to day you will find it harder to manage hunger and cravings. ‘Big’ weekends will also set you up for challenging weeks as your stomach is ‘expecting’ more food etc. Aim for as consistent eating schedule as you can.

# Eating fast / distracted – pay attention to the food and to own hunger/satiation signals. Slow it down!

# No plan – if you’re prone to evening snacking (I am!) then plan it in! Plan in a post dinner snack!

# Habit – sometimes it just becomes a habit. Whilst hard to break it’s not impossible. Try to introduce a different evening habit to help – eg a bath, reading, adult colouring books, knitting etc

# Boredom / emotional eating – this is obvs a much bigger topic but the first step is identifying it. Plan in some alternatives so if you recognise the boredom/emotional eating kicking in you have a plan in place – distraction techniques (using your hands for other things – like knitting etc), go for a walk etc

So if evening snacking is something that tends to derail you just have a think if any of these reasons may be contributing towards it and then see if you can address them and ask me if you need any help!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Reverse lent!

Dr Nancy P

Reverse lent! 😇

Today is the first day of Lent! Regardless of your beliefs or faith Lent has traditionally become a time when people give up various things they consider ‘bad’. Now whilst there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that at all sometimes it can become more of a negative rather than positive experience.

So how about instead of giving up things, you turned it around and tried taking something up or giving something to others?
You could do some voluntary work, or you could give things to charity. For example, try setting up a box and popping one item of clothing or something you don’t want anymore in it every day for each day of lent, then donate to charity at the end!
You could give your time to someone – it could be something simple like helping a friend or neighbour, or calling someone for a chat. Or you could take up a new hobby or challenge during Lent – try something new like gardening, knitting, drawing, or perhaps a fitness based challenge – trying new classes, walking every day, working out 3 times a week etc.

What do you say? 🤗
How about a reverse lent?
Xx