OMG I’ve ruined my diet ?….. 🍦🍪

We all know the feeling, it’s mid afternoon, we’re a bit peckish but we’re ‘being good’ so don’t want to reach for a biscuit. Instead we grab a couple of slices of toast – nothing wrong with that right? It means we’re still on track with our ‘diet’ and all’s well….

But some days you may not have that will power… sun’s out, so you grab a cornetto out the freezer.. then have just one Jaffa cake… which becomes 2, 3, .. or maybe just one more – so that’s 4 and perhaps a final one… so you finally stop at 5! Now you’re wracked with guilt! How could you be so stupid? You’ve totally ruined your ‘diet’! Why don’t I have any self control you say to yourself?!

Hold on just one second! Perception is a wonderful thing… and it can also be a terrible thing. That toast that seems ‘ok’ may not be that much better. Two slices of sourdough toast with butter is up to 424 cals. That cornetto and 5 Jaffa cakes… a mere 384 cals! So neither is a great choice if you’re trying to stick to a particular calorie goal, but in most cases you’ll view the cornetto/Jaffa cake saga as a total disaster on the diet front, whilst probably overlooking the toast completely.

It pays to be aware of the calories in what you’re eating. That way you can choose with knowledge rather than your preconceived or conditioned ideas about what’s ‘bad’ or ‘good’. Being aware of the calories in different foods empowers you to make that choice and can help remove the guilt. Knowledge is power!

🤗
Xx

“I’m being good and choosing the healthy steamed seafood…” 🥗

Restaurant dining can be a bit of a minefield if you’re trying to watch your calories or lose weight. As I’ve said before, we often have a number of preconceived ideas about which the ‘healthier’ option is and equate that with lower calorie. In reality sometimes things aren’t quite as you’d expect.

Another great example of this is T his particular example is from a Thai restaurant . If you were out for dinner you might assume that something like the steamed seafood is the better choice. It sounds healthy doesn’t it? It’s just steamed squid, sea bass and prawns – no rice or noodles. Tamarind duck noodles – which is a crispy duck leg served on a bed of noodles with a tamarind sauce and the choice is obvious isn’t it?

However that’s not the case. The seafood dish comes in at approx 651 calories, while the noodle dish is approx 520 cals. That’s only 69 cals different – but the seafood dish comes without any accompaniment so chances are you’d want something with it – rice, noodles or some veg or something.

Neither is a large amount of calories for a dinner so both can easily be accommodated within a daily calorie goal. However, this is a great example of how food marketing and naming can shape our assumptions. Dishes that sound fresh, wholesome or fish-based are often automatically labelled as ‘healthy’ and therefore assumed to be lower calorie whereas the natural assumption would be that duck and noodles are high calories (and often they are!).

Now if you want the seafood because you like it then definitely go for it, but if you’re choosing it when you’d prefer the noodles then maybe stick to what you like! That’s why checking the calories can be so important and illuminating! Knowledge is power!

Enjoy 🤗

xxx

Stop exercising to lose weight… 🏃🏼‍♂️

Whenever someone wants to lose weight inevitably they place a huge focus on exercising to burn more calories. Exercise appears to be the holy grail of weight loss behaviours. Exercising to burn calories and lose weight becomes the main goal. And yes, of course it’s important to exercise and yes of course it does increase your energy output but, as I’ve discussed before, you will never ever be able to out-exercise food.

So whilst I wholeheartedly support people exercising more (I’m an instructor so obviously I do!) it’s not with the sole purpose of losing weight. That’s last on my list of reasons for anyone to partake in exercise and it should be last on yours too!

Instead, move your body to improve your mental and physical well being. There are so many reasons to exercise that go beyond burning calories.

• Exercise improves muscle mass, bone and joint health and keeps you functioning independently into old age.
• Whilst excess exercise can down-regulate immune function, regular exercise serves to improve the resiliency and expression/activity of immune cells and mediators so it improves immune function and helps protect against disease.
• It makes you feel stronger and more empowered
• It improves mood, can reduce anxiety and some symptoms of depression and relieves stress.
• It improves cardiovascular health and reduces disease risk
• It increases self confidence

Above all – exercise to celebrate that you can! Not to lose weight!

🤗xx

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