Tag: new year new you

What you need to do after the Xmas excess? 🤔

At this time of year, after the Christmas and New Year inevitable excesses it’s natural to want to ‘get back on it’ and you may well think the way to do this is to go into overdrive – exercise excessively, slash your calories down to under 1000 a day, maybe do a ‘detox’/ ‘cleanse’ or throw money at a diet fad, cut carbs or other food groups… You may be beating yourself up and calling yourself a failure for eating so much over the holidays … Or you may just think ‘f*ck it’ and give up completely and continue over eating…

None of this will actually make you feel better or get you where you want to be.
Exercising excessively will only make you tired, prone to injury and probably likely to eat more in the long run. Slashing calories down to unsustainably low levels may work initially but it won’t last and you’ll end up rebounding and probably overeating even more – and you’ll be miserable! ‘Detoxes’ or ‘cleanses’ are just an expensive way to cut calories/replace meals – they result in rapid initial weight loss from water loss but aren’t sustainable… and they definitely do not ‘remove toxins’ – your liver and kidneys do that for you just fine! Cutting food groups out has a similar effect – yes you’ll reduce your calories but unless you plan on never eating those food groups again it’s not sustainable and it’s frankly pretty sad to cut foods you love totally out of your diet for life.

Saying ‘f*ck it’ will definitely be very liberating but if it results in you continuing to over eat then long term it probably won’t feel that good! Whilst you definitely do not need to lose weight (no one does unless medically advised) if you aren’t happy with your weight then longer term then you’ll certainly want to regain some control right?
Beating yourself up is definitely no good. It’s so hard not to – we are often our harshest critics – but let’s be honest here – you enjoyed a few weeks of good food and drink with family and friends, is that really a bad thing? Does it make you a ‘failure’ or a bad person? No! It makes you a human being – and it’s not something to feel bad or guilty about!

So what should you do?
Go back to your normal exercise /walking routine, eat balanced meals at a sensible number of calories, Avoid all detoxes/cleanses/ diet fads and save your money! Enjoy all the things you enjoy eating, but in moderation – skip the expensive fads and focus on these fundamentals! Oh and remind yourself you’re a brilliant human being!

Happy New Year!

Xx

What you need to lose fat/ get fit… 🏋🏻‍♀️

At this time of year, and even more so during lockdown, social media is FULL of “guaranteed” ways you can lose weight/fat and/or get fit. You’ll see plenty of self proclaimed fitness/health/well being “coaches” and influencers trying to suggest you really need to do whatever it is they’re selling. For example:

Replacing whole foods with Juice Cleanses / Shakes / Supplements can result in fewer calories and rapid initial water loss and a possible calorie deficit from meal replacement. Supplements provide a laxative effect or promote excessive bowel movements etc which result in water loss.

“Detoxes” (cutting certain things from your diet (like meat or carbs) or taking certain products) allegedly remove toxins from your body and cause fat loss. Fad diets/ diet clubs (5:2, intermittent fasting, slimming world, WW etc) often restrict the window of time you can eat, what you eat, or assign points/labels to certain foods. They usually involve regular weigh ins or rewards of some type.

Diet or fitness based challenges are also very popular, 7 day, 21 day, 30 day etc e.g. 30 day squat challenges etc. They can be great fun, but more often than not they’re just a hook to get you into a ‘private’ group or to sign up for longer term plan later.

All of these things can result in fat loss, but how many of them are sustainable long term, educate you on managing energy intake, fit your lifestyle and build new long term habits? Some are actually damaging: laxative supplements and fasting can cause bowel damage, kidney damage and development of silent acid reflux etc, as well as promoting disordered eating. And almost all require you to spend money.

Obviously if you want to do any of these things then go for it, but you really don’t need to. All you need is a calorie deficit, to move a bit more than you do now (any way you enjoy), to have functioning organs (if you didn’t you’d be hospitalised so don’t fret!) and to eat a balanced diet. That includes all the things you enjoy eating, but in moderation. So skip the expensive fads and focus on these fundamentals! 🙂

Xx