weight loss – Every Step Fitness

What you need to do after the Xmas excess? 🤔

At this time of year, after the Christmas and New Year inevitable excesses it’s natural to want to ‘get back on it’ and you may well think the way to do this is to go into overdrive – exercise excessively, slash your calories down to under 1000 a day, maybe do a ‘detox’/ ‘cleanse’ or throw money at a diet fad, cut carbs or other food groups… You may be beating yourself up and calling yourself a failure for eating so much over the holidays … Or you may just think ‘f*ck it’ and give up completely and continue over eating…

None of this will actually make you feel better or get you where you want to be.

Exercising excessively will only make you tired, prone to injury and probably likely to eat more in the long run. Slashing calories down to unsustainably low levels may work initially but it won’t last and you’ll end up rebounding and probably overeating even more – and you’ll be miserable! ‘Detoxes’ or ‘cleanses’ are just an expensive way to cut calories/replace meals – they result in rapid initial weight loss from water loss but aren’t sustainable… and they definitely do not ‘remove toxins’ – your liver and kidneys do that for you just fine! Cutting food groups out has a similar effect – yes you’ll reduce your calories but unless you plan on never eating those food groups again it’s not sustainable and it’s frankly pretty sad to cut foods you love totally out of your diet for life.

Saying ‘f*ck it’ will definitely be very liberating but if it results in you continuing to over eat then long term it probably won’t feel that good! Whilst you definitely do not need to lose weight (no one does unless medically advised) if you aren’t happy with your weight then longer term then you’ll certainly want to regain some control right?

Beating yourself up is definitely no good. It’s so hard not to – we are often our harshest critics – but let’s be honest here – you enjoyed a few weeks of good food and drink with family and friends, is that really a bad thing? Does it make you a ‘failure’ or a bad person? No! It makes you a human being – and it’s not something to feel bad or guilty about!

So what should you do?

Go back to your normal exercise /walking routine, eat balanced meals at a sensible number of calories, Avoid all detoxes/cleanses/ diet fads and save your money! Enjoy all the things you enjoy eating, but in moderation – skip the expensive fads and focus on these fundamentals! Oh and remind yourself you’re a brilliant human being!

Happy New Year!

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Say No to ‘Detoxes’

January 9, 2024January 3, 2024 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Say No to ‘Detoxes’ 🥗

It’s January and predictably across social media people are peddling “detoxes” and “cleanses”. We’re told our bodies are full of toxins from overeating at Xmas, and if you follow plan X / buy the pill/tea/shake you’ll get rid of them and lose weight/ feel/look amazing. You don’t need it, your liver and kidneys do a great job of “detoxing” you, and these products can make your health worse. But we still fall for it.. why?

# Post holiday detox

Over holidays we eat and drink more, so we crave simple, nutrient dense food like salads. Physically it feels good, and psychologically it feels good too; drawing a line under all the junk. This sort of “detox” isn’t silly, it’s just a word we use to say “lets get back to eating well”

# Bloat

Over-indulging, or eating certain foods makes you bloated e.g. rich foods, alcohol, beans, or foods high in salt, certain starches and sugars. If it’s a chronic issue see a Dr. If you’ve been eating lots of salt you will retain water, making you look and feel bloated, reduce the salt for a few days and you’ll be fine. Overdo the food and drink? You don’t need to do anything just eat normally for a few days.

# Constipation

If you’ve been eating badly you may be constipated. Most detoxes /cleanses are laxatives, which can permanently damage your intestines. So first of all, increase water and fibre intake, then increase fruits, veg, and whole grains, but do it gradually; a sudden fibre increase can make you feel worse. If that doesn’t help, see a Dr, not a Facebook ‘expert’.

# Fat loss

No, just no. A juice/pill/shake won’t do that! Sometimes just buying something is a powerful psychological message that you’re making a change and acts as a kickstart; which is why we fall for it. Sadly it won’t last, and you’re left out of pocket and likely to rebound. The more radical approach to losing weight, the more likely it is to fail. Slow and steady wins the race; make small, sustainable habit changes and you’ll reap the rewards.

It’s normal to want to reset, feel better and make changes, but you don’t need a “detox”. Just try to get some sleep, drink more water, eat veg and get moving. You’ll look and feel far better for it!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Don’t rely on the scales

August 11, 2020 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Don’t rely on the scales 🤗

I tell clients not to weigh themselves too often, or worry about short-term weight fluctuations, but why? Your body is 60% water and it’s one of the first things you lose (or gain). Fat mass can’t change overnight so being 1-2kg heavier in a day won’t be fat. Average water loss/gain over 24hrs ranges from 0.5 – 2.5 kg. To lose a 1/2 kg fat in a day you’d need to burn approx 4,500 cals; a massive extra calorie burn for one day! Water however is lost (and gained) due to:

#1 Low-carb diets – when you cut carbs you lose water as the body uses glycogen for energy. It’s stored with water so using it releases water which you pee out.

#2 Increased protein – Protein breakdown creates urea and nitrogenous waste which need water to be removed from the body – the water flushes them out, so more water is lost.

#3 Salt – If your diet is high salt your body retains water to dilute the excess sodium e.g. a particularly carb heavy, high salt meal will lead to greater water retention. In addition high salt results in high blood pressure which can cause cardiovascular damage long term.

#4 Caffeine – is a mild diuretic i.e causes water loss and increased urination. This is more pronounced if new to caffeine. If you regularly drink it the effect will be small, but a very heavy coffee day could impact your water weight.

#5 Alcohol – this prevents the release of vasopressin, a pituitary hormone that regulates water loss. Water loss (dehydration) is a side effect of alcohol (hence the hangover) so this will reduce your water weight too.

#6 Exercise – if you exercise intensely, or in hot weather, you will sweat more and lose water. Try it – weigh yourself pre and post a really intense session and see how much water you’ve lost.

So it’s normal for weight to fluctuate which is why weighing daily or multiple times a day is pointless (unless you are using them for weekly averages). Long term weight changes result from changes in fat and lean muscle so if you’re seeing big losses in only a day or so then you know it’s water loss, and if you wake up a few kg’s heavier than the day before you know that’s not fat either!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Fitness and Exercise

All 20 Ten Min Bodyweight workouts (pdfs and full playlist)

August 9, 2020November 5, 2020 Dr Nancy P

Here are all 20 of the pdfs of the ten minute bodyweight workouts below and the link to all the videos on YouTube (click on the 1/20 to move through all workouts) or go to the main page and the playlist is there (https://youtube.com/user/ukphd)

Ten exercises, ten mins in total and no equipment required – just yourself, a watch/iphone to time it, and a mat if you want one for your knees/hands.

If you have more time then you can always do it twice or three times, if you don’t have ten mins then just do half! Get everyone involved! 🙂

Bodyweight Circuit 10

Bodyweight Circuit 11

Bodyweight Circuit 12

Bodyweight Circuit 13

Bodyweight Circuit 14

bodyweight circuit 15

Bodyweight 16

Bodyweight Circuit 17

Bodyweight Circuit 18

Bodyweight Circuit 19

Bodyweight Circuit 20

Have fun! 🙂

Fitness and Exercise

Bodyweight workout number 20!

July 29, 2020July 30, 2020 Dr Nancy P

Workout 20!

This marks the 20th of my ten minute workouts – that’s 200 mins if you fancy doing them all together (any takers? nope – thought not lol!). With the gyms now all open or about to open this seems like a fitting time to make this the last one – and it’s a nice round number!

So we finish with a few faves – seagulls (fast feet), basket ball shots, burpees!! What more could you want?

Ten exercises, ten mins in total and no equipment required – just yourself, a watch/iphone to time it, and a mat if you want one for your knees/hands.

If you have more time then you can always do it twice or three times, if you don’t have ten mins then just do half! Get everyone involved! 🙂

If you want to do it “with me” then the video is below.

Or you can use the pics below or download a pdf of the workout here: Bodyweight Circuit 20

Have fun! 🙂