Tag: healthy snacks

Pizza night …. 🍕

If you’re trying to lose fat/weight or just improve your nutrition then it’s really important to find ways to incorporate lall the foods you enjoy but to find ways to do this that still fit within your lifestyle and goals.

Nutrition and fat loss is always a game of trade offs. Rather than being all or nothing about it try to go for a trade off instead. Pizza nights are something many people enjoy and a pizza can be a really handy, quick and tasty meal. Pizzas are tasty but also calorie dense and low in fibre. That means it’s easy to eat a lot, and in doing so, a consume a lot of calories.

No pizza is going to be low calorie per se – they’re usually fairly large, they’re bread based, with cheese, veg and often meat on top so you’re always going to be looking at a fair few hundred cals. However many are well over 1000 cals. If you’re trying to lose weight and tracking calories then it’s hard to accommodate that many calories for one meal. So instead of going for a pizza to yourself have half (save half to cook another evening or share with someone) and add a side salad. You’re still going to be looking at over 600 cals for most standard pizzas – but that’s still a calorie saving, without massively impacting taste or enjoyment! And as a bonus it won’t leave you feeling over stuffed and you get the extra nutrients and fibre from the salad.

By making small swaps and compromises you can easily fit everything you enjoy into your lifestyle long term. I guarantee you’ll feel just as satisfied and you’ll probably feel a lot less guilty the day after (not that I’m suggesting you should ever subject yourself to guilt for what you eat but the reality is most of us do feel that way).

Enjoy!

🤗

Xx

What we think makes up calorie expenditure .. 🏃🏼‍♀️

When people think about energy expenditure (calories burnt) most people focus on exercise as being the most significant factor. Exercise obviously contributes to our calorie expenditure but for the majority of people, it is not a large percentage of total expenditure.

In reality exercise actually forms a small percentage of our total calorie burn. The majority of your calorie expenditure is from your basal or resting metabolic rate (BMR)- calories burned at rest for the body’s basic functions. A small portion comes from the thermic effect of food (TEF) – calories burned through the process of eating and digestion (this is 10% max). Exercise forms the smallest contribution – it’s dependant on how many workouts you do but usually less than 15%. The most significant contribution, aside from resting metabolic rate, comes from non-exercise activity thermogenesis – calories burned through movement that isn’t formal exercise. This includes fidgeting, standing, walking, house work, gardening etc) and accounts for 15 – 50% depending on how sedentary you are.

These percentages vary between individuals of course. For somebody who is mostly sedentary, then calorie expenditure from exercise and NEAT are much lower. Someone very active or with an active job will burn a large amount from NEAT.

For most people whilst your calorie expenditure might vary a bit day to day depending on whether you workout it’s not going to make a significant difference overall and is far less than a lot of people think.

What does this mean?
Well for a start it means it’s not the end of the world for your weight loss journey if you miss a workout. It’s also a reminder that exercise isn’t a great way to try to lose fat as it would take a huge amount of exercise to produce a significant calorie deficit (which is why what you eat is more important).
It’s also a good reminder that you don’t need to eat a lot less on days you don’t workout or a lot more on days that you do. You just need to have a sustainable calorie deficit on average. Separate the two – focus on food for weight loss, and exercise for health and well being.

Enjoy 🤗
Xx

Some days vs most days.. 🥓

A reminder today to try to get rid of the guilt around food. I talk about this a lot but losing weight really is all about balance. You really don’t need to demonise or shun your favourite foods to hit your goals. If you use a flexible approach then any food is fine in moderation.

Breakfast doesn’t always need to be a nutritionally balanced meal of yoghurt, muesli and fruit (as delicious as that is). Some days you may fancy a Greggs bacon roll – and that’s absolutely fine. You can fulfil your emotional needs with the bacon roll and fulfil your nutritional needs in the rest of your diet. Calorie wise it’s not even that bad! Plus a bacon roll is also likely to keep you nice and full as it’s a great combo of protein, carbs and fat.

So you can have that bacon roll – just be aware of the calories and account for it. Then make sure you’re getting a range of micro nutrients in your other meals and that you’re still within your calories on average over the week.

Balance occasional indulgences with more nutritious daily decisions: enjoy the bacon roll every once in a while, but not every day

Enjoy 🤗

Xx