Tuesday Tip: No Progress? 🤔

Are you stuck and not making progress? When things aren’t going the way you want it’s easy to give up, here’s a little kick up the backside to hopefully prevent that happening!

# 1 ‘I just need to find my motivation’

You don’t need motivation, you need action. Motivation isn’t going to magically appear; you have to decide to make a change. That will be what motivates you, not a pretty Insta quote (but we love them anyway 🤣).

#2 ‘It’s not my fault…’

It may not be your fault but it is your responsibility. We can all find reasons why we can’t do things. Yes it may be harder for you; you might have a health condition or responsibilities that affect your ability to exercise/lose fat etc. But what’s the option? Not bothering just because it’s going to be harder? Of course not! Anything is better than nothing! 🤗

#3 ‘I’m just not prepared to give up….’

Some things are going to have to change if you want your body to. The ‘you’ who has lost 10kg fat isn’t doing what you’re doing now, so if you want to get there you need to make changes. You have to decide what you’re willing to sacrifice; switch your 1200 tub of ice cream for a 320 cal one? Cut back on meals out? Switch tv time for a 30 min walk? The choice is yours.

# 4 ‘I just can’t say no…’

The main reason people don’t lose fat is because they can’t say no. ‘Fancy a cake with coffee?’, ‘want another drink?’, ‘how about a take away?’. Try saying no and choose something nice but lower in cals! Prove to yourself that you have the ability to choose!

#5 ‘It’s been 3 days and I’ve lost no weight…’

The body you want is the sum of all the small actions you do today. Eating 300 fewer calories today, or going to the gym when you don’t want to, doesn’t seem like it’s getting you that result today, but do it consistently for 1, 2, or 3 months and it will.

Life happens, things get stressful – it happens to everyone. Don’t let that stop you doing something. Can’t make it to the gym? Do a 15 min walk, Blown your cals? Get straight back on it tomorrow. Do something, no matter how small, every day that takes you closer to your goal.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Under-reporting food 📝

The sad truth is that people are terrible at accurately reporting how many calories they’re eating and multiple studies demonstrate this time and time again. For example in a couple of recent studies participants were convinced they were eating 1200 cals or less a day but on average they were eating over 2200 cals! In other studies it’s been shown people under-report by an average of 1500 cals.

It’s not that surprising – if you’ve never tracked your food intake, why would you have any idea how much you’re actually eating? This is even harder when we are surrounded by calorie dense, easily accessible foods which are easy to over eat.

It’s quite fashionable at the moment to disparage calorie tracking (ironically often by those social media ‘experts’ who’ve spent years tracking their own food) but it’s still something that’s actually really important. Aside from providing a reality check on how much you’re eating it also helps as it gives you a better idea of not only calorie content but also other nutrients. You learn what actual portion sizes look like and how many calories some of those restaurant meals actually contain but equally you may find other things you’ve avoided through ‘fear’ are actually fewer cals than you thought. It also dispels the marketing myths around foods and the assumption that ‘heathy’ foods are naturally low calorie etc.

Tracking isn’t so much about tracking but more about increasing knowledge and awareness about your diet and habits and then how you can make positive changes. Not everybody has to track, but most people could benefit from tracking for a short period of time.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: How to get back on the wagon 🍟🍔🍕

After the summer holidays and a bank holiday weekend, you may feel as though you’ve overindulged and completely fallen off the wagon. So, what now? Should you throw in the towel and write the whole week off? Absolutely not! Before you beat yourself up or get stuck in a cycle of overeating, try these tips to get back on track.

1. Chin up

Stay positive. So you’ve eaten or drunk more than planned? One weekend or calorie splurge isn’t the end of the world. Refocus on why you want to lose weight or feel healthier. There will always be peaks and troughs—the overall journey can still be heading in the right direction, even with a few bumps along the way.

2. Make your next meal healthy

Don’t wait until tomorrow, Monday or when the children go back to school. Make your next meal a healthy one. You’ll feel better for it and immediately start getting yourself back on track.

3. Bank a few calories

Don’t starve yourself or severely restrict your calories after a blip. You’ll only end up ravenous and more likely to overeat again. However, you could eat around 100–200 Cals less for the next few days. You’ll barely notice the reduction, but it can help buffer some of the extra calories.

4. Get active

You can’t out-exercise a consistently poor diet, but being active can burn a few extra calories and help you feel better. Go for a walk, cycle, swim, take a class or grab a skipping rope—anything that gets you moving!

5. Think!

Consider what led to the splurge. There’s no need to beat yourself up, but it’s useful to understand why it happened. Were you away from your normal routine? Surrounded by tempting food? Bored, hungry or emotional? Did friends persuade you to have another drink?

Once you recognise the reason, you can plan for it next time. Most importantly, don’t let one indulgent weekend turn into an indulgent week. Draw a line under it and move on!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Lemon water 🍋

Social media claims lemon water aids digestion, detoxifies the body, rejuvenates skin, promotes weight loss, boosts metabolism, balances pH, reduces inflammation and even prevents cancer. So, is it really an elixir of life? Nope!

1. Weight loss

Lemons contain pectin, a type of fibre that can help with fullness but a squeeze of juice contains virtually none. Water may fill you up or replace a higher-calorie drink, but there’s no magic effect from the lemon.

2. Detoxification

Your liver and kidneys remove waste products from your body. They don’t need ‘detoxing”’ certainly not by lemon water. No food or drink flushes mysterious toxins from your system.

3. Balancing pH

The claim is that our bodies are too acidic and need “alkaline” foods. In reality, your body tightly regulates blood pH. If it moves outside its normal range, that’s a serious medical problem not something fixed by breakfast! Food may alter the pH of your urine, but it cannot meaningfully change your blood pH. There’s also no evidence that an alkaline diet or lemon water prevents or cures cancer.

4. Boosting metabolism

Lemon water has no meaningful effect on metabolism. Many so-called ‘metabolism-boosting’foods produce, at most, a tiny and temporary effect.

5. Digestion

Good hydration supports normal digestion and helps prevent constipation. Adding lemon isn’t necessary it’s the water doing the work.

6. Immunity

Lemon provides some vitamin C, but the small amount used in lemon water is unlikely to “boost” your immune system or make a meaningful difference if you already eat a reasonably balanced diet.

Lemon water isn’t harmful per se, but regularly exposing teeth to acidic drinks can contribute to enamel erosion. It may also aggravate heartburn or reflux in some people.

So drink it if you enjoy the taste or the ritual but don’t expect it to detox your body, melt fat or transform your health!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Do you need electrolytes? 💧

Electrolyte drinks are all over social media at the moment: tablets, powders and expensive little sachets promising ‘better hydration’. But does your 45-minute workout really require a this? Probably not!

Electrolytes are minerals including sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and magnesium. They help regulate fluid balance and are involved in nerve signals and muscle contractions. They are essential but that doesn’t automatically mean you need to buy a supplement. Your body is great at keeping these minerals within a narrow range, and most of us replace what we lose through ordinary food. For everyday life and a typical gym class, walk, run or workout, plain water is usually absolutely fine. Electrolytes become more useful when losses are genuinely high; prolonged or intense exercise (over 90 minutes), very hot conditions, unusually heavy sweating, endurance events, or significant fluid loss through vomiting or diarrhoea. Just because you sweated that means you need them, we all sweat during exercise!

Also sodium is the main electrolyte lost in sweat, but many of us already consume enough, if not too much, in our diet. Regularly adding more ‘just in case’ isn’t better and can be damaging , particularly if you have high blood pressure, kidney or heart problems. Some products are also rather high sugar. So after your workout class, drink some water and eat your usual balanced meal. You almost certainly don’t need a brightly coloured drink, a salty sachet or a monthly supplement subscription to recover!

Electrolytes aren’t nonsense but they are marketed as necessary when they really aren’t. Save them for when the duration, heat or sweat loss genuinely warrants them. As a personal note- I’ve not taken any electrolytes at all during this hot summer and I do tonnes of exercise a week teaching classes (and had no ill effects!).

Save your pennies! Save your blood pressure and and if you are using them encourage you to drink by making your water taste nicer then

go for squash instead.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx