Tag: tuesdaytip

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Easy calorie cuts

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Easy calorie cuts 🍽

Trying to lose some fat? Cutting just 100 – 200 calories a day can help you drop those pounds. Here are some easy ways to cut a few calories.

# Ditch the soft drinks

Switch to water, calorie free squash or zero calorie soft drinks – cutting just one soft drink a day at roughly 140 cals is over 50,000 cals over the year!

# Go naked

Not you, your burger, sandwich etc. Ditch the bread and do yourself a favour by cutting about 150 cals. Have an open sandwich instead or a salad, or use portobello mushrooms for burger buns etc.

# Drink before you eat

Have a big glass of water before you eat. Studies have shown this results in a 13% reduction in calorie intake.

# Switch to cauliflower rice

There is nothing wrong with rice or any other ‘carbs’ so I’m not suggesting you cut them completely but a switch to cauliflower rice now and then is an easy switch to reduce cals. It’s tasty too and will save you approx 160 cals.

# Go black

Try ditching the milk in your coffee or tea – or at least switch to skimmed milk or a low cal non dairy alternative (e.g oat milk). We forget all the extra calories from those dashes of milk in our coffee and they can soon add up!

# Be careful with condiments

Lots of condiments are calorie heavy – mayonnaise and sugary things like ketchup and bbq sauce can easily add in sneaky extra cals. Mustard on the other hand has almost no cals, so try making the swap or go for vinegar, salt and pepper to spice things up.

# Chew the cud

Taking longer over your food helps the body realise it’s fuller sooner, which tends to reduce over eating and means fewer calories are consumed. Studies have shown that individuals reduced their calorie intake by an average of 88 – 100 calories when eating slower. That may not sound much but over a year that can add up to over 95,000 cals! Try to take at least 20 mins over your meals.

Try these tips and see how you get on!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Always hungry?

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Always hungry? 🍔

Is hunger sabotaging your weight loss attempts? Here are a few reasons why and ideas to help you manage it

#1 thirst

The hypothalamus regulates both hunger and thirst. When you are dehydrated, it sends the same signals as hunger so make sure you’re drinking lots and when you start to feel hungry drink some water first before eating.

#2 Too much last night

If you ate too much the night before you will wake up hungry again. This is due to the impact on blood sugar and insulin levels, and because your stomach will be stretched and “expecting” a greater food volume making you hungry.

#3 Cutting calories

If you’ve just started reducing your calories by 300 or more cals a day then of course you will feel hungry. It’s a good thing. Try to ensure you fill up with lots of fibre (e.g broccoli) and protein to help you stay fuller for longer or have frequent but smaller meals.

#4 Food porn

If you’re spending hours scrolling through posts of delicious food then it’s no wonder you’re hungry. Recent studies show that the mere sight of food increases ghrelin levels (hunger hormone) making you hungrier.

# Not enough sleep

Sleep deprivation reduces levels of leptin (hunger suppressing hormone) and increases ghrelin – making you eat more. This is why lack of sleep is often associated with weight gain.

#7 Skipping meals

Racing to work skipping brekkie, or working through lunch means by the afternoon you’re so hungry you’re likely to over eat. There is only one solution: eat regularly! Aim for 3 main meals and 1-2 snacks a day to keep your hunger in check.

#8 Bored

Ask yourself if you are hungry for an apple or a handful of nuts – if the answer is no – you’re not hungry. Find a distraction – work out, go for a walk, read a book etc.

#9 Eating too fast

If you’re eating too fast  your stomach can’t keep up and still sends hunger signals, meaning you will eat more. Slow down, chew properly and spent at least 20 mins on your meals.

#10  Eating too little

ok finally – if none of that applies you could be eating too little…but if you’re not losing weight then this option is probably the least likely I’m afraid!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Starvation Mode Myth

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Starvation Mode Myth 🥗

I am often asked whether consuming too few calories causes your metabolism to slow down so that you stop losing weight, and even gain weight, as the body “hangs on to fat”. People say that to get out of this “starvation mode” you need to eat more. One small problem – starvation mode is a myth!

As long as you have a calorie deficit (eating less than you burn) you will lose weight – regardless. Calories in vs calories out is what matters. A long term calorie deficit does cause adaptive thermogenesis (metabolic rate slow down) BUT it is not significant enough to stop weight loss and can’t cause weight gain! It just slows the rate of weight loss down, but what slows it even more is the fact that you’ve already lost weight so the body isn’t burning as many calories as it did initially. That’s why you need to adjust your calorie intake as you lose weight and why plateaus are common. In one famous large scale study – the Minnesota study – 36 men were put on a 24 week low calorie diet (1560 cals) and also had to complete physical tasks. ALL the men lost approx 25% body weight and ended up at approx 5% body fat. No one stopped losing weight, no one gained weight. You can’t defy the laws of thermodynamics – you need energy to fuel your body, you can’t magic it out of thin air, if you don’t eat enough you will lose

So what’s the moral of the story? If you’re not losing any weight/fat or your shape isn’t changing over a significant period of time, it’s not because your calories are too low, or because you’re in starvation mode. It’s because there is no deficit. Even if you think there is… there isn’t. If there was, you’d be losing weight!

Happy Tuesday🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Finding time to workout

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Finding time to workout 🏃🏼‍♀️

I understand being busy – and I understand how it can feel like you barely have time to eat and sleep let alone workout but we’re rarely actually as busy as we think we are and you can probably find time to workout – you just need to be a bit creative! You won’t regret it.

Here’s some ideas.

# 1 Something is better nothing

5-10 mins while you’re waiting for dinner to cook, or between chores etc is enough – so a few mins skipping, some squats, jump jacks, push ups? Or do a mini circuit as you get out of bed in the morning? Push ups, squats, lunges, sit ups – done!

# 2 Social media time

I bet you spend at least 20 mins on social media a day? And much of that is mindless scrolling. Replace that time with a short workout instead.

# 3 Work it in to your day

Just ramp up your daily activities – walk instead of driving, speed walk instead of ambling, dance while you clean the house, take the stairs instead of the lift, do a few squats while you’re on the phone, march up and down while you brush your teeth..

# 4 Use your break time

Studies have shown you’re most effective when you focus intensely for 25 mins and then take a 5 min break. So in that break take a walk around the halls or a quick one outside if you can. In your lunch break take a slightly longer walk if possible.

# 5 Analyse your time

If you really can’t use any of these tips then make a detailed, honest, log of your time for an average week. Is there anywhere you could be more efficient or something you could cut or do differently to enable you to make some time to get active? This is a great exercise anyway to make your life a happier, healthier and more balanced one.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: The Spot Reduction Myth

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: The Spot Reduction Myth 🔍

A common thing I hear from people is that they want to lose fat from one particular area, usually stomach, thighs, butt or arms. Often they’re trying to achieve this by focusing on that area; so if it’s belly fat – lots of ab exercises, thighs – squats, lunges, hip abductor machines etc, arms – loads of bicep and tricep work etc.

There’s just one problem: it’s impossible to target fat loss! Spot reduction (i.e. losing fat from specific areas) is a myth. You can’t magically lose fat from a specific body part just by doing exercises on that area. Our bodies can only lose fat from the entire body as a whole and where it comes off first is down to genetics and can’t be changed. Some people lose fat first from their thighs, others from their belly etc. No workout or exercise, or magic slimming drink can change this.

What does happen is that the muscles underneath get worked and get stronger, so when you do lose fat from that area you will look muscular/toned/ shapely etc. So ab exercises will target your abdominal muscles, but not the fat that sits above them. Studies in the “Journal of Strength and Conditioning research” and “Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport” confirm this. They had participants doing ab exercises and found no effect on abdominal fat. Another study on professional tennis players looked at the impact on fat of the extra use of one arm and found no difference between the playing and non-playing arm.

So if you can’t spot reduce fat what do you do? You lose fat from your whole body! At some point the fat will also come off from the body part you wanted to lose fat from in the first place. Sadly you can’t influence when that happens. How do you lose body fat? By eating fewer calories or burning more calories (or a combo of the two) – all you need is a calorie deficit and you will lose fat. So you can stop those hundreds of sit-ups and focus on the food side of the equation instead!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx