Tuesday Tip: Average Calories 📊

You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight but that doesn’t mean you need to be in a calorie deficit every single day. This is where people often get confused and struggle. It’s averages over weeks and months that count.

If you’ve determined that you need to eat 1700 cals per day to give you a deficit to lose weight most people assume that means they have to have 1700 every single day to get results. But of course it doesn’t work like that – in reality you just need to average 1700 cals per day. Some days you could eat more calories, and some days you could eat fewer, but if you’re averaging 1700 cals by the end of the week, you’ll be on track.

E.g.

Monday – 1700 calories

Tuesday – 2200 calories

Wednesday – 1400 calories

Thursday – 1700 calories

Friday – 1500 calories

Saturday – 2000 calories

Sunday – 1500 calories

Weekly Average – 1714 cals (basically on target)

Now, let’s say that you hit 1700 cals every day for a week, but then you have a day where you have a bit of a blow out at the weekend.

Monday – 1700 calories

Tuesday – 1700 calories

Wednesday – 1700 calories

Thursday – 1700 calories

Friday – 1700 calories

Saturday – 2600 calories

Sunday – 1700 calories

Weekly Average – 1828 calories.

So yes in that second example you’ve gone over but your weekly average is still not far off the deficit goal and long term that small amount of extra cals won’t stop progress. So many people will have a bad day and think they destroyed their progress for an entire week, but that’s not the case. You’d have to have that blow out Friday, Saturday and Sunday to have any meaningful impact.

You will have days where you go over your calories – intentionally or unintentionally. When that happens, don’t panic and think f*ck it and then ruin the next few days. Just put it behind you and, most importantly, get back on track the next day. Do that, and you’ll still be moving in the right direction.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Magnesium and sleep

There’s been lots of talk about the benefits of magnesium for improving sleep quality so what’s the evidence actually like?

Magnesium increases our gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels by binding to GABA receptors in the brain. GABA is the neurotransmitter responsible for quieting down nerve activity. When GABA levels are low, the brain feels like it is constantly switched on, which makes it very difficult to relax and can lead to increased stress and anxiety which can lead to poor sleep. Magnesium, in theory, helps you “wind down” and prepare for sleep.

Studies have shown a possible association between low magnesium and poor sleep but there are few studies actually testing the impact of increasing magnesium. Studies on insomnia found that on average people got to sleep 17.36 minutes quicker and had an increase in total sleep time of 16.06 minutes with increased magnesium intake. In terms of general sleep the results are less clear but they did find an association between higher magnesium intake and better sleep for those with very poor sleep but there wasn’t anything suggest that magnesium supplements help sleep in the average person. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence from people measuring their sleep who have found some level of improvement with magnetism supplements but these aren’t proper studies so need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

The standard recommendation is 300-400mg ~1hr before bed. You can get magnesium from dark leafy greens, nut, seeds, fish, bananas, oats and tofu etc. I’m a fan of a food-first approach but there may be a case for taking a supplement too. Most people don’t get enough magnesium from their diet and it may not be realistic to get it from food, in addition there is evidence that the acute dose of magnesium matters i.e. getting 300-400mg in one hit – hard to do from food alone. There are plenty of options of supplements but magnesium glycinate is recommended.

So in summary, whilst the evidence isn’t conclusive it could be worth increasing magnesium intake if you struggle with sleep as it’s relatively cheap and safe when used in appropriate amounts.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Aspartame and Cancer 🥤

You may have seen some headlines recently about the World Health Organisation cancer agency reclassifying aspartame, a key sweetener in diet drinks, as possibly carcinogenic. So is this a sign to panic and stop drinking diet drinks/eating foods with sweeteners? Well let’s just look at this a little closer.

The WHO cancer agency reclassified aspartame as a class 2B carcinogen, which means it’s “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” based on limited evidence, including animal studies. They’ve specifically said that it needs more research. For reference other substances in this category include pickled vegetables and aloe vera (coffee was, too, before being reduced to 3 in 2016.). Now this only considers whether something could cause cancer, but importantly not at what dose it’s dangerous.

Another WHO group, the JECFA, is an international scientific committee that evaluates the safety of, and the risks associated with, food additives, contaminants, and naturally occurring toxins in food. They concluded that the data evaluated indicated no sufficient reason to change the acceptable daily intake of 0-40 mg/kg body weight for aspartame. A 355 ml can of Diet Coke contains ~ 200 mg of aspartame. If you weigh 70 kg, you would need to drink ~15 cans of Diet Coke per day for it to even begin to have any negative effects.

Most notably if this info is concerning you and you’re worried about consuming aspartame as a result then you also need to consider the other foods in that category – pickled veg etc. More importantly the first thing you should do is stop drinking alcohol; an actual toxin the WHO has classified as a Group 1 carcinogen (“there is sufficient evidence the agent causes cancer in humans”). In fact, the WHO even states there is NO safe amount of alcohol consumption that doesn’t affect health : “We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.”

So if we’re talking about relative risk, you’re more likely to get cancer drinking even the smallest amount of alcohol than you are drinking a few cans of Diet coke or any other artificially sweetened drink/food a few times per week. So I’m summary – don’t panic and if you enjoy a diet beverage continue to do so!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Start when you’re busy ⏰

One common thing I hear from people is that they want to start losing weight/ getting fit etc but they’re just going to wait until they’re less busy/have fewer social commitments going on etc. Now whilst I understand this completely, in actual fact it’s not the best approach. If you’re waiting until you’re less busy/less social to start a new habit/program then it sort of assumes that when you are busy again you’ll stop or revert back to your old ways. If you have to be less busy to do it then surely you can’t do it when you are busy right? In reality the best time to do it if you want a long lasting change is when you’re busy! Learn how to make it work in the worst conditions so you can easily stick to it long term.

It doesn’t need to be all or nothing, it doesn’t need to be perfect… it just needs to be something … consistently. If you are unhappy and wanting to make a change then you need to stop making excuses or using being busy/having lots of social events on etc to justify not starting to make a change. The reality is you will always have busy or sociable periods and waiting for the ‘perfect’ time to start is not a realistic way to make long term sustainable changes, because the moment you get busy etc again then you’ll struggle to stick to it.

So if you want to make a change but you’re telling yourself you’ll just wait until this week/month/holiday/event is over then stop. Today is the perfect time to choose change regardless of the what else is going on in your life. Take a small step today – consistency over perfection right?

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx