fitnesstip – Page 134 – Every Step Fitness

Convenient, comforting desserts for150 cals or less!🍨

If you are trying to lose weight/fat then things like desserts are often one of the ‘easier’ things to cut down on to save calories. When I say easier I mean it’s an easily identifiable part of your diet which you can choose to either consume or avoid, not that it’s necessary an easy habit to change.

But there’s no reason you have to give up dessert to lose weight as it ultimately comes down to whether you’re in a calorie deficit. However as many desserts are 400 cals or more and will be on top of whatever your main meal is it’s very easy to rack up extra, unwanted calories.

However sometimes we just need or want a dessert and we may also not have the time to put together something from scratch. So if you do fancy a pud, but want to stay within your calories then here are a selection of lower calorie options. I can vouch for all of these being delicious too (especially the oppo cheesecake!). They’re also all very convenient – which helps when we’re all busy rushing around!

This list is by no means exhaustive – but it’s just a range of sow of the options out there.

Muller chocolate fix – Mint choc – 97 cals

Ambrosia rice pudding – 147 cals

Coconut collaborative choc pots – 100 cals

Muller corner – 105 cals (varies with flavour)

Oppo Sicilian lemon cheesecake – 150 cals

Alpro dessert moments chocolate hazelnut – 100cals

Coconut collaborative double chocolate paradise pots – 150 cals

Pots & co mango and passion fruit pot – 150 cals

So you can still have your pud and enjoy it without worrying it’s going to derail your progress!

Enjoy 🤗

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: No Excuse

December 3, 2019 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: No Excuse 🚫

At this time of year it’s easy to find excuses to ditch healthy eating or fitness plans . But most excuses don’t really cut it and here’s why:

# 1 Too Busy

We’re all busy with work, family etc, but that’s no excuse to eat badly. A lower cal dinner takes the same time as ordering a takeaway. Make life easier by buying bulk frozen veg, healthy ready meals or soup.

# 2 Bad day

After a stressful day it may seem like a takeaway/glass of wine etc will make it better. But it will only make you feel guilty, bloated and more stressed. If you’re an emotional eater find a non-food way to deal with your feelings e.g. exercising, calling a friend, or watching a movie.

# 3 I deserve it

It’s tempting to reward yourself for your workout / work performance / weight loss with a “treat”. You do deserve a treat, but don’t celebrate with calories, have a non-food treat instead e.g. massage

# 4 Genetics

Why bother starting a diet when it’s in your genes to have a big bum or muffin top? While genes do determine where and how easily fat is stored, you’re not powerless to shift those pounds! Research suggests that regular exercise outweighs the effects of “fat genes”.

# 5 Diets don’t work for me

If diets leave you lacking energy, or you’ve never achieved results, it’s probably the approach that’s the problem. Fad diets, or cutting food groups etc aren’t sustainable. Instead, adopt a sensible, balanced approach focussing on a calorie deficit.

# 6 Slow metabolism

Some people do have a slower than expected metabolism but the variation is small. You might need slightly fewer calories to lose fat but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Plus regular exercise to build muscle will increase your metabolic rate.

# 7 I’ll start after X, Y.. Z

Rather than putting off your diet until tomorrow or after a big event start right now; at the next meal. Remember, a little blip isn’t the end of the world, put it behind you and carry on.

# 8 I love food

You don’t need to make yourself miserable and eat things you hate to lose weight. You can have everything you’re having right now; just less of it!

If you need any help or advice just ask me! Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xxx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Why you shouldn’t eat back your exercise calories….

November 27, 2019 Dr Nancy P

Why you shouldn’t eat back your exercise calories…. 🏃🏼‍♀️

Many of us use activity trackers / fitness watches; they’re fab tools to monitor activity and motivate us to get fitter, but they can also cause some issues.

The main issue is the figure they provide for calories burned, particularly when linked to food logging apps. Apps like myfitnesspal give you a daily calorie target or budget to spend, based on your current stats, goals and activity levels. If you have a tracker linked then it automatically adds any calories burned to this figure e.g if your goal is 1700 cals and you burn 500 cals in spin it gives you 2200 cals to ‘spend’ (eat).

Great! So you can eat more right? Wrong! You shouldn’t be eating back those exercise calories. Aside from the fact that you have already accounted for your activity level in the daily calorie goal, the main issue is that the tracker is overestimating calories burned. Recent studies found that, despite being pretty accurate for heart rate readings, devices overestimated calories burned by 27 – 93% ! If we assume a 40% error rate you can see on the graph how much it overestimates (blue is actual burn, red is the tracker reading) e.g. a long walk burns 1500 cals on the tracker, but if you ate those back you’re actually over eating by 300 and 1450 cals!

This is why if you’re eating back those exercise calories you could easily wipe out the calorie deficit. Best-case, it slows progress, worst-case you overeat and put on weight. Also, as you get leaner and fitter the calories burnt in general activity and exercise decreases, so you’re burning even fewer calories than the device is reporting.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t record workouts and steps; it’s a great way to look at your relative effort and fitness. Use them as a way to encourage more activity but not as a reason to eat more. In the paid version of myfitnesspal you can choose not to add those extra calories, or simply un-link your tracker so it no longer gets that info.

So if you workout as a way to increase your calorie expenditure, that’s fine, just don’t eat back those calories, as it defeats the entire point of increasing activity in the first place.

🤗 xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Why Wait?

November 26, 2019 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Why Wait? 🤗

The festive season is rapidly approaching which is fun but also a time when eating and drinking can take priority over getting to the gym and watching calories.

We inevitably start to slack off over the next 4-6 weeks – often because we’ve convinced ourselves that once we get through the festive period and things ‘settle down’ we will refocus on our diet and exercise and lose weight then, usually in January.

But once we’ve got this mindset we often lose all control, eating and drinking as much as possible… because it’s Christmas right?! On average we put on between 2-5 pounds over the festive period. So when the festivities are over we’ve got that extra weight to lose on top of whatever we wanted to lose already.

Once the New Year hits we are all filled with motivation for the first few weeks, but then enthusiasm wanes and by February we’ve not really progressed towards our goals. This false belief that we will start on those weight/fat lose goals once Christmas and the New year are over is part of what leads us to over eat in the run up. It’s almost like we think there’s no point even trying to watch what we’re eating or start a new fitness regime during the holidays.

The thing is, there will always be something that makes it ‘difficult’ – in the New Year there will be other things making our lives busy or stressful, or other reasons to drop those goals. So why give in? Why not make a decision to start now? Just like you don’t need to start on a Monday, you don’t need to wait until the New Year to set some fitness or fat loss goals. Yes of course it could be tough at times but if you’re already committed to starting the process then you’re far less likely to put on excess fat which means instead of moving away from your goals you will be moving towards them!

So what are you waiting for? If you want to lose fat or improve your fitness start today! If you need any help just ask! 🤗

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xxx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Being ‘good’ and having the weight watchers digestive biscuit instead of the ‘bad’ normal version…

November 20, 2019 Dr Nancy P

Being ‘good’ and having the weight watchers digestive biscuit instead of the ‘bad’ normal version…🍪

Most people would assume that the weight watchers (or other weight loss brand foods) are automatically a more virtuous choice of biscuit. Whilst tucking in to a couple of normal chocolate digestives would be considered ‘bad’. In reality they’re almost the same in terms of overall calories per 100g and have similar sugar levels. The main difference is the price and the actual serving size itself. The weight watcher’s biscuits are much smaller – so you get less calories per biscuit BUT it’s so noticeable that you’re likely to end up having more biscuits to compensate. So it’s just a way to trick you in to thinking they’re better. The other major difference is price – over twice the price for the weight watchers biscuits!

So if you really love a chocolate digestive you’re probably better off getting the real ones, enjoying one or two, within your calories and feeling like you’ve had what you actually want. If you actually like the weight watchers ones then obviously go for it, but don’t automatically assume these weight loss branded foods are always the better option. Sometimes they’re the same or worse than other brands. If you enjoy them then definitely have them, but if you’re only having them because you think they’re ‘good’ then think again.

Read the labels and look at the calories and then make your choice.

No foods are good or bad, enjoy the ones you actually want to eat, and just be aware of the calories! 🤗xx