Tag: tuesdaytip

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Weights won’t make you bulky

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Weights won’t make you bulky 💪🏼

Many female clients often tell me they don’t want to lift weights because they’re afraid of getting too big or bulky. What they mean when they say this is that they don’t want to put on too much muscle mass – they have visions of chunky thighs, thick necks, huge biceps, heavy set shoulders etc.

The reality is that it’s actually extremely hard to put on significant muscle mass. To get to a bulky or body-builder level of muscularity, you’d not only have to train and diet in an extreme fashion, but you’d have to keep at it for years. I’ve got clients actively trying to ‘bulk’ and it’s a slow process that requires dedication to weight training and to eating … a lot! Body builders and those types of athletes work extremely hard to look the way they do; you won’t end up there by accident, I promise. If you want to gain significant amounts of muscle mass, you’re looking at five to six days of heavy lifting a week, every week for months and months. Doing a few weights workouts a week, or a few pump classes will not make you bulky.

As I always, say you don’t lose weight/fat from exercise – it’s from a calorie deficit. In the same way you can’t put on significant muscle mass without eating a calorie surplus – and a large one at that! Gaining muscle mass comes from a combination of heavy weight training and an excess in calories.

So if you are aiming to lose fat and are at a calorie deficit (or even maintenance/ slight surplus ) then doing weights workouts 3-4 times a week won’t result in large amounts of muscle growth. What it will do though is increase your lean body mass. This has two benefits – it increases your metabolic rate which means you’ll burn more calories at rest. It will also help provide the ‘sculpted’ or ‘toned’ look many people want. By working those muscles you’ll create a solid muscular base so that as you lose fat you’ll start to see the shape you’re looking for. It will also make you feel strong – and that’s a great feeling!

So don’t be afraid of lifting weights – they’re an important component of any fitness program. They’re also vital – especially for women as we age – as a way to help protect against osteoporosis.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Just do it!

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Just do it! 💪🏼

It’s a pretty simple Tuesday tip today – whatever it is you’re hoping to achieve or progress – just do it! We spend a lot of time looking for motivation or wondering how others are so motivated. When it comes to weight loss particularly there is a misconception that people who achieve their goals are super motivated. There’s an idea that you need to wait for motivation to hit before you can even begin to hope to achieve those goals.

The reality is that people who achieve their goals do so through consistency- consistently just showing up and doing what needs to be done. So in terms of weight loss they ‘show up’ by consistently tracking their calories, or they consistently show up to whatever their chosen exercise is etc. They don’t wait until Monday to start again if they’ve fallen off the wagon, they don’t wait until after that social event to start getting on track etc – they just do it! What you see is the end result of that!

I guarantee the people you think are the most motivated probably aren’t all the time – but they are consistent and they show up and do what they can each day. That’s how

progress is made!

So stop looking for motivation as something that powers your routines when times get

hard. Motivation comes and goes – it’s consistency that brings results. So don’t wait, start today – just do it! And keep doing it!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Are Fat burners worth it?

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Are Fat burners worth it? 💊

The idea of taking a pill to burn fat is a really enticing one and it’s not surprising people are eager to take them. But let’s not forget the basics – in order for fat loss to happen in the first place you HAVE to be in a calorie deficit. So the bad news is that fat burners don’t actually burn fat. Sorry.

So what do they do? Well they actually aim to increase energy expenditure. They do this because they contain stimulants – like caffeine. The idea is that they could aid fat loss because you would burn more calories and end up in a greater calorie deficit. However in reality they do little to increase your energy expenditure on a day to day basis. They may give you a little extra energy for your workouts but the difference in calories burned will probably only be 100 or so at the most. A cup of black coffee would have the same effect. Most importantly if you’re taking fat burners but are in a calorie surplus then they’re not doing to do anything other than create a deficit in your bank balance.

A review of studies of the use of fat burners found their effects to be insignificant when compared to diet and exercise alone. In addition, some fat burners can cause health issues. Hepatic and renal issues (liver and kidney) have been associated with some

fat burning supplements, as have strokes and sudden cardiac arrests. There is also the risk of psychiatric and cognitive issues with many fat burners too.

So all in all fat burners aren’t really worth it, and could even cause adverse health issues. They could be used as stimulants which may help with energy levels but other stimulants like coffee or caffeine containing products will have a similar effect. So you’re much better saving your money and focusing your efforts on sustainable lifestyle changes in diet and exercise that will provide long term changes and overall health.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Focus on food for fat loss

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Focus on food for fat loss 🥗

I often tell my clients who are trying to lose weight/fat to divorce the exercise from the weight loss side of things. Whilst exercise obviously has many health benefits, and

everyone should certainly be exercising, it’s actually not what you should be focusing on for fat/weight loss.

To start with the amount of exercise you would need to do to create a substantial calorie deficit isn’t really sustainable or feasible for most. We are also all really terrible at estimating how many calories we burn through exercise. We always over estimate and think we’ve burnt more calories than we actually have so we end up consuming more calories and eating back the deficit and more.

Studies have also shown that large amounts of exercise also lead to compensatory behaviour – you begin to move around less, sit and lie down more. In addition excessive exercise increases hunger, and tiredness which leads to further eating and often reaching for higher-calorie foods to increase your energy.

There is an exception. IF however your primary goal is gaining muscle then the exercise takes priority and your diet needs to support that. Strength training (lifting weights) is the stimulus that tells your body to increase muscle mass and get stronger. You need the food to support this but more food doesn’t equate to more muscle (as there’s only so much extra calories that can be used for muscle synthesis – the rest is stored as fat). Building muscle is a slow process – it can take months/years to see significant progress so focusing on improvements and progression in workouts is a good way to stay motivated.

SO, for weight/ fat loss, prioritize your diet and focus on a calorie deficit, and ignore any calories you burn exercising. It’s

much easier to cut a few hundred calories from your diet than it is to try and burn an equivalent amount through exercise every day.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Will that day of overeating make you fat?

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Will that day of overeating make you fat? 🍔

We can all relate to that feeling of eating way too much and worrying we will instantly gain fat. But is this really a cause for concern? Can one ‘binge’ really make you gain fat overnight? In the main – no!

It takes approximately 3500kcal extra calories to gain 1 lb of fat. That’s about

500kcal extra per day over the week. Even if you did that for a week that still wouldn’t guarantee that you’d gain 1lb of fat immediately because your energy expenditure is never the same each day.

But what about if you eat it in one day?When we overeat, we think that all that extra food is going to turn into fat, but that’s not necessarily true. But then why do the scales go up the next day? And why isn’t it stored as fat?

Some of the calories are used for digestion and absorption of food itself. When you’ve overeaten your body temperature also rises and you get more ‘fidgety’ as your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) inceases (all the subconscious movements increase e.g. respiration, blinking, etc ). Some of the extra food will be used to replenish glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. For each 1g of glycogen 3g of water is retained. Even if the glycogen stores are full the body still doesn’t prioritise converting carbs into fat. This only happens if you’re consistently eating more cals than you burn. Storing carbs as fat is the body’s least preferred method of using excess carbs. Sodium also increases water retention so if part of what you overate was carb and salt heavy then there’ll be significant water retention – not fat! In addition you have the weight of the actual food in your digestive system.

So one single day/meal probably won’t lead to too much fat gain. The weight gain you see is mostly fluid and glycogen stores. It’s longer term overeating that leads to fat gain. If you get right back on track you’ll be ok! If however your average daily cals are consistently over your calorie requirement over the course of days/ weeks then that will lead to fat gain.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx