Tag: newyearnewyou

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Understanding Metabolism

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Understanding Metabolism🤓

Despite what you might think most of your daily calorie burn doesn’t come from gym workouts. Calorie burn is driven by your metabolism (converting food cals to energy for your body). Your metabolism determines the number of cals you need to maintain your weight.

Your calorie burn consists of:

#1 60-70% Basal metabolic rate – the cals you need at rest, to survive; breathing, digesting, filtering waste, nothing more. It varies with body size (bigger = higher bmr), composition (more muscle = higher bmr), age (younger = higher bmr), genetics, hormones (thyroid hormones) and health (ill = higher bmr).

#2 10% is from food thermogenesis (digesting food). Protein requires the most to digest. 0-3 percent of fat cals are used to digest it, 5-10 % for carbs and 20-30 % for protein. But as food thermogenesis only accounts for 10% of daily burn, eating more protein will only have a small effect on your metabolic rate.

#3 20% is from physical activity – walking, workouts, and day to day activities; typing, carrying heavy loads, standing, fidgeting, shopping, singing etc.

So if you aren’t seeing the results you want, but are tracking your food right, then maybe you’re overestimating your calorie burn? There’s lots of tips out there to boost metabolism e.g. eating more frequently, or not eating late at night etc but few have studies to back them up.

Some tips which are backed by science include:

# including strength training in your workouts. Boosting your muscle mass increases your BMR and burns more calories at rest. You don’t have to lift big weights – pump classes or body weight exercises are also effective.

# increase intensity in your workouts; short bursts of intense effort increase afterburn e.g. intervals when running, swimming or cycling, or doing workouts that naturally include it like hiit/ bodyattack/ circuits etc.

#3 Eat enough protein. You’re still only contributing a little extra burn, but by ensuring you have protein with every meal you will not only burn a little more digesting, but more importantly you’ll feels fuller for longer, and you’ll have amino acids to support muscle recovery and repair.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Calories Count

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Calories Count 📝

There’s so much info out there about what you ‘need’ to do to lose weight. Across all the fad diets, magic pills, super shakes and eating strategies only one method stands the test of time. It’s not trendy or marketable, has no fancy name, but it’s the core of why these diets work; energy management (calories in vs out).

All these diets appear very different on the surface; Low carb, paleo, Atkins, 5:2, bodycoach, slimming world, weight watchers etc all ultimately function on these principles. They restrict calories indirectly, giving you a list of foods that make it improbable you’ll be in a calorie surplus. Although you’re not counting calories, you’re often restricting them; cut carbs- you’re likely to end up cutting calories; follow a ‘syns’ or points system – you’ll cut calories; go paleo – you’ll be cutting food groups and calories.

If you manage your calorie intake to create a deficit, you WILL lose weight. This is supported by hundreds of scientific studies. It’s not coincidence or magic. Yes there are different ways of doing this – and yes there are things that influence how easy or hard it is to create that deficit eg hormonal differences impact on how food is digested and utilised, metabolic adaptations to training and dieting make accurately estimating energy requirements and expenditure difficult, and there are errors in both how we log the food we eat and the databases of calorie values we use. BUT that doesn’t change the fact that if you consume less energy than you expend – you will lose weight!

Does this mean you have to count and track calories? No, not if you don’t want to, but of all the methods out there it’s got the best chance of helping you understand what your energy requirements are and how much you need to consume. You can still do any diet that works for you, and choose to log or not log your calories – but when weight loss stalls it’s a great place to start. It’s still an approximation, and although you need to do some experimentation to find the perfect balance, it’s a verified way to approach your goals.

Happy Tuesday 🤗 xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: How to get back on the Wagon

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: how to get back on the wagon 🍟🍔🍕

Last week I told you calories count, which they do, so what happens when you splurge and blow your calories? Should you just throw in the towel and write the day off? Before you beat yourself up for blowing it, or find yourself stuck in a day of over eating , try these tips to get back on track.

#1 Chin up

Stay positive – do you’ve fallen off the wagon? So what – one meal or one calorie splurge isn’t the end of the world. Refocus and think about why you’re trying to lose weight – what’s your goal? Marathon? Wedding? Holiday? Keep up with the kids in the park? Remember why you’re doing this – and remember there are peaks and troughs – the journey can still be down even with those bumps on the way.

# 2 Make the next meal healthy

Make the next meal you have after a splurge a healthy one. Don’t start tomorrow, start now. You’ll feel better for it and it will get you back on track.

#3 Bank some calories

Do not starve yourself or severely restrict your calories after a blip as you’ll only end up ravenous and more likely to splurge again – but you can bank a few calories by just eating 100 – 200 cals less for the next few days. You’ll hardly notice that cut and it will just help to buffer the effects of over eating.

# 4 Get active

You can’t put exercise bad food but you can burn a few extra calories and make yourself feel better but getting active. So go for a walk, cycle, swim, grab the skipping rope and do a 2 Min skip – anything!

# 5 Think!

Have a think about what drove the calorie splurge? No need to beat yourself up about it but it is worth thinking through why you binged. Did you end up filling the cupboards with junk that you know you can’t resist? Were you bored? Hungry? No healthy options to hand? Emotional? Did your friends persuade you to have that extra drink? Just try to workout why? If the junk in your kitchen is too tempting stop buying it, if you’re eating (or drinking) for social reasons embracing the power of “no”, or ask for your friends’ support etc.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx