Tuesday Tip: Booze 101 🍸

Many people are trying ‘dry January’ at the moment or considering cutting back. I never tell clients to give up booze, life would be miserable without that if it’s one of your go to ‘treats’ – I do however suggest it could be one way to ‘easily’ cut calories by reducing the amount they consume. Mainly because it’s a discreet, easily identifiable thing to reduce, but also because alcohol can affect weight loss in other ways.

Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram (vs 4 cals for carbs and protein,and 9 for fat). More alcohol means more calories. So alcohol by volume, or ABV, is a good guide for how calorific your drink is relative to others. Drinks that are sweeter will also generally pack more calories (and remember mixers too!).

Unlike food, alcohol contains little to no nutritional value. Alcohol calories don’t fill you up like food calories do, or provide many micronutrients. This isn’t an issue in a balanced diet but just worth remembering when prioritising what you choose to consume.

Alcohol calories are processed differently too. Alcohol is a toxin so the cals are used immediately to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to detoxify it. This detoxification is a labour intensive process so the liver ‘shuts down’ and stops processing fat, carbohydrates and protein because it needs to deal with alcohol. Hence why you get the munchies, because the detoxification of alcohol inhibits gluconeogensis (breaking down of our internal food stores). So not only does alcohol inhibit fat burning it also encourages over eating. The lack of inhibitions associated with alcohol also make it more likely you’ll ‘stuff the diet’ and eat more than you intended; so it’s a triple whammy!

In addition many alcoholic drinks aren’t labelled with calories and they can vary widely so it’s almost always an estimate e.g a can of beer ranges from 100 – 320 cals. If you’re consuming a lot it could impact on whether you manage to maintain a calorie deficit.

Tips to help:

– Alternate drinks with water.

– Use small glasses to make it easier to keep track.

– Swap to spirits with low or zero cal mixers or a dry white wine/ rose etc

– Eat first to keep hunger at bay and make you less likely to overeat later.

– download the ‘Try Dry’ the dry January app if you’re a fan of tracking – it gives you the cals and money saved etc

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: A few home truths 🏠

A few things you might need to read this January.

#1 Absolutely any food or drink can fit into your diet – if you control the amounts you eat.

#2 There are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods – stop moralising food itself. It’s all about quantity – anything in excess is bad.

#3 Weight loss and health are not the same thing. Your health is a result of lots of factors over time. You can eat for health and you can eat for weight loss, or you can do both! Your health expands beyond what you eat though so take a holistic approach.

#4 Exercise is for physical and mental well being – not to burn calories / lose weight. Separate the two.

#5 Fat loss happens when you’re consistently in a calorie deficit over time – not days, not weeks but months. How you achieve that calorie deficit is up to you but if you want it to be something you can sustain long term then the best approach is to include all the stuff you enjoy eating, just in smaller quantities.

#6 Beware of following ‘meal plans’ to

lose weight without changing your habits and behaviours to help you maintain that loss long term.

#7 You don’t need to be starving to be losing fat but you do need to expect some

hunger if you’re genuinely eating at a calorie deficit. You can help by prioritising high volume foods and including plenty of fibre rich foods, proteins and fats to keep you full. However don’t cut out the carbs as you need them for energy.

#8 If you want to be successful long term then don’t focus on calorie and exercise targets, you need to change your mindset too. Be kind to yourself and try to stop the the all or nothing mentality

#9 Before you rush to follow the advice of some fitness/nutrition guru ask yourself what do they have to gain? Are they selling a book? Are they marketing supplements? Are they touting for online clients? So before you jump on another diet fad stop and consider who actually benefits from it. The basic information you need to lose weight is simply a calorie deficit. Eat less. If you’re not losing weight you’re not in a deficit. Simple. Whether that’s because your target is incorrect, or your calculations of what you’re eating are incorrect, or whether a medical condition is impacting your calorie requirements.. the basic principal remains. No weight loss means no calorie deficit.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx