For far too long the fitness industry, media and so-called experts have pumped out diet after diet, telling us we need to go to extremes to lose weight or be healthy. The number of clients over the years I have had who embrace disordered eating as a way of life is staggering. Despite all my best efforts to steer them away, their old belief system is hard to let go of.
Have a healthy approach to fat loss – rewrite your belief system when it comes to losing weight. It won’t be easy, but you may finally get the breakthrough you have been looking for, rid yourself of the guilt and start to feel more positive and free.
The need for cheat meals only increases your likelihood of binging. Labelling foods as bad or junk, again leads to negative emotions around eating them. We need to start redefining how we perceive food and work on having a healthy relationship with all food and being more realistic and sensible in our food choices.
You can do it
It’s hard work but there is a freedom that you get when you can eat in a healthy, normal way that removes guilt and shame. If you want to drop some weight, tighten the belt around your normal eating. Look at the things you enjoy and want to keep in your diet, then set boundaries around them and adjust your other meals to allow for it while still maintaining a calorie deficit.
It does require more planning, being diligent to stick to what you planned (as you still want to lose weight) but the result is enjoying your food more, not feeling bad about having a drink or takeaway meal and feeling less stress about the whole situation.
Start small, start where you’re at, take it one meal or day at a time.
It’s a learning process and you will make mistakes as you improve.
Give yourself permission to have things you enjoy.
Set boundaries to keep you on track.
Don’t listen to what friends and family are saying about how this diet is the best or that you are doing it wrong. (Who made them experts in the first place)
Speak to a qualified and experienced personal trainer or nutritionist for support
Take it one day at a time, and if you mess up, don’t feel bad, just do better for the next meal.
Remove the extreme beliefs and find a happy medium.
What works for you won’t work for everyone, that’s the beauty of being human and one of a kind.
After being overweight, losing weight and then spending 5 years in physique competitions my eating was very disordered. I took quite an extreme approach to look good and picked up some bad beliefs and habits about eating and nutrition along the way. It took me at least 2-3 years to regain normal eating habits and still to this day that old belief system rears its ugly head when I decide I want to drop a few kgs. Times have changed and I have a new more balanced way of looking at food, a new belief system, but the old one is still there, I just choose to ignore it as it only leads to stress, shame, guilt, and me being unhappy.
Disordered eating is rampant and socially accepted as normal from the person looking to lose weight to professional sports people.
There has been a shift to promote and educate us on eating a balanced diet to lose weight and stay healthy, looking to shift our beliefs on what is healthy eating or normal eating; however, we have yet to embrace these habits and still hold old beliefs about what you need to eat to lose weight and idea of health is often ignored.
We are led to believe by the media, books, friends, family, and so-called experts that we must eat all the junk in the house before we start our diet, it tells us carbs are bad, sugar is bad, fat is bad and eating chocolate or a biscuit or even a piece of fruit will set us back. We are told to cut out whole food groups, to try to exist on 800 kcals a day. We are told we must be perfect and abstain from the things we love. We are told bad food is a sin or a cheat, even if it’s healthy. No wonder we are all messed up and don’t know what is right or wrong.
What is Normal Eating?
It depends on who you speak to and how they normally eat. Everyone has a different view on normal eating which is shaped by our family, our culture, race, environment, and social influences to name a few.
So, let’s look at what normal eating is not… and some things may surprise you because they are just accepted as normal. They aren’t.
It’s not takeaways every day
It’s not extra-large meals
It’s not eating entire packets of crisps, a whole cake, a whole block of chocolate.
It’s not eating massive portions every meal
It’s not drinking daily.
It’s not eating so much we feel sick
It’s not eating so little we starve
It’s not eating so clean you’re boring
It’s not living off diet bars or powdered food devoid of any nutrition
It’s not being scared to eat fruit because of the sugar content.
It’s not taking your meals to a friends’ house because you’re keto
It’s not only eating low fat
It’s not only eating low carbs
It’s not only eating high protein
It’s not living on processed meals and snacks
It’s not eating gluten free because you think it’s healthier (unless you have a gluten intolerance)
It’s not avoiding going out for dinner because that one meal will make you fat.
It’s not eating like a child even though you’re an adult
It’s not tracking and weighing your food 52 weeks a year
It’s not eating to extremes
We must be sensible and find a way of eating that improves our health, helps us lose weight if that’s the goal and stops us feeling guilt, shame, and other negative emotions when we over-indulge.
Yes, if you want to lose weight you need to cut back in some areas, you have to be more attentive to what you eat, you have to re-evaluate and negotiate with yourself what you will and won’t eat. You have to sacrifice BUT you don’t have to demonise food, cut out whole food groups, never drink alcohol again, decide never to eat sugar again or carbs, or fats or sweets or chocolate. THAT’S NOT NORMAL.
Normal eating is not bingeing on the whole chocolate bar today, so you finish it to start your diet tomorrow – there is no difference between eating the whole chocolate bar over a week than eating the entire bar in a day, except for the fact that you labelled it as bad so felt the need to binge on it.
Normal eating is having days where you eat more and days where you eat less – you don’t have to stick to a set number of calories a day to lose weight. I like to look at calories over a week and eat to how I feel over that week. This may mean some days I eat less and save more calories for the weekend to allow me to eat more – without the guilt and shame.
Normal eating isn’t tracking your calories all the time, if you eat normally, you are less inclined to binge, and less inclined to over consume calories as again the guilt and shame is removed.
Normal eating is eating a wide range of fruit and veg, a variety of good quality fats. It includes eating all the food you enjoy without labelling it as good or bad. Its finding a balance that gives you the outcomes of fat loss and improving your health.
If you aren’t losing weight, adjust what you eat, decrease portions, cut back on a few of the finer things in life but you don’t have to cut them out altogether.
You can still enjoy food and lose weight, you must set your boundaries and stick to them – see how that goes, readjust, and keep going.
For anyone with eating disorders/disordered eating or anxieties about their body shape/weight, Christmas and New Year can be a pretty stressful time. There is lots of talk about ‘holiday weight gain’ followed by talk of weight loss resolutions everywhere you turn, making you even more aware of your diet and body.
With articles and social media posts about mad weight gain and ‘burning the excess calories’ all over the internet and magazines, it is easy to overestimate how much extra we have eaten than usual. Although you may consume slightly more– a mince pie here and there, a few extra glasses (or bottles..) of wine, and some obligatory chocolates, it is unlikely that you are eating enough of a calorie surplus to gain the few kilograms you think you might gain. Fat gain requires a fairly long-term period of eating in a calorie surplus, not just a few days over Christmas. Remember, to gain one pound you need to eat a calorie SURPLUS of 3,500kcals.. that’s 3,500 calories over your maintenance amount (roughly 600-1000 calories a day extra for a week).
You may however experience bloating due to eating more carbs and salty foods than usual (e.g. those delicious roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings). Bloating will make your clothes feel tighter and have you feeling heavy and sluggish, but you haven’t actually gained any fat and as soon as you go back to your normal eating pattern you should feel much better. Make sure you keep hydrated (with water!) throughout the holiday as this may help reduce your bloating.
The fear you may have about weight gain over the holiday may also lead to you gaining weight which you wouldn’t have done in the first place. For some people, feeling like you have ‘indulged’ can trigger urges to over-eat or binge – an ‘all-or-nothing’ mindset. If this sounds like you, it’s important to reassess how you view the food you are eating. If you have subconsciously labelled it as ‘bad’ or ‘off limits outside of Christmas/celebrations’, eating it may create this feeling of guilt or anxiety. Try to think of all foods as acceptable in moderation and remember that no food by itself can make you ‘fat’.
Having said all this – if you do gain weight there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. You have celebrated with family, and enjoyed some well needed down time after a stressful year. Weight fluctuates, and spending time with loved ones is far more important than the number on the scales.
So often I see clients who struggle with their nutrition, and are constantly sabotaging their fat loss efforts without realizing it. Below I have listed a few things to help you take control and stop getting in your own way in your journey to losing fat long term
1. Over eating on weekends – So often clients are eating well through the week but completely come undone at weekends. They go way off track and wonder why they aren’t getting anywhere. I am not saying you cant’ indulge a little but too often will slow down results.
For me I try to eat near perfect Monday to Friday so that I can plan out a few things I like on the weekends.
Always be mindful of your weekend eating and plan out your social activities so they don’t derail you.
2. Skipping meals – So often we think that by skipping a few meals we will eat fewer calories that will lead to greater fat loss. However skipping too many meals can lead to you over eating either mid afternoon at the office or at the end of the day (especially after dinner) if you haven’t planned out your meals it will leave you reaching for whatever is floating around.
You don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight. Plan out your meals ahead of time, don’t skip meals and don’t be scared of eating 3-5 times a day if you are following your eating plan properly.
We often think we need to suffer to lose weight, be it in training or by following a ridiculous diet that restricts everything. YOU DON”T fat loss should be about health and nutrients and making sure you are getting enough of what you need to function better, have more energy, sleep better, train better and think better
3. Reward yourself with food after exercising – This is a big one and I see it so often. You cannot out train a bad diet!!!! Just because you train doesn’t mean you can eat what you want. We somehow think we are exempt and this can be a big reason why you aren’t getting the results you want. Like always stick to the eating plan your coach has provided you with, try to get out of this way of thinking so you can finally move forward
4. You don’t give your eating plan enough time to work – So often a client starts a new eating plan and only sticks to it for 1-2 weeks before declaring it doesn’t work and start making their own changes based on what they think. I have learnt that you need to be patient and really commit to the plan to test how effective it is for you. As a coach if my client follows the plan they always see results, and I can make changes as and when they are needed as I know they have the foundations spot on. Be patient and trust that your coach knows what they are doing (providing they are following evidence based nutritional guidelines).
5. One slip and the whole day is ruined – In terms of self-sabotage this is a big one. You eat some cake mid morning and immediately declare that you ruined the day so proceed in eating whatever you want and declare to start again tomorrow.
If you eat the cake, it’s done, you can’t take it back, but you can control the rest of the day and stay on track. We need to rid ourselves of the guilt associated with eating something not in the plan and look at the bigger picture. One piece of cake in a week will not ruin your fat loss results, but constantly losing a day because of one slip will definitely have an impact on your goals. Try to keep things in perspective, you are only human, you just have to pick yourself up and keep going
6. You don’t keep track of your food portions – I don’t expect clients to stress over weighing everything but your portion size can play a big role in long-term fat loss. It’s easy to over eat even if it’s healthy.
To combat this you should weigh or portion your meals, use a bowl instead of a plate, use cup measurements to portion rice and veg, use the palm size of your hand to measure protein etc.
When I was trying to lose fat I switched to a bowl for my main meals as it stopped me over eating. I found this very useful and successful in sticking to my calorie goal and use it to this day
7. Not reading the label – We are so often tricked into believing something is healthy for us because it is what the front label says. It could be labeled as low fat, low sugar, low carbs etc. and we immediately think its ok but you have to look a little deeper.
Most things low sugar may contain artificial sweeteners; low fat generally has higher sugar etc. Be careful and read the ingredients, if things contain more than 5 ingredients and I can’t pronounce the names I don’t touch it. Look at the serving size then times it by how big your portion will be – after this I usually realise it’s not worth it. Food companies want you to buy their product so make it look as healthy as possible.
If your still not sure – stick to real food, make it yourself and don’t trust what companies say
8. Trying to do too much at once – When starting out on your fat loss journey so many people try to do everything at once – food prep, training, lifestyle changes etc. Unless you are one of the few who can make a lot of changes without much of a challenge – you will soon become overwhelmed and feel like you are failing and not good enough.
What I do with clients is set weekly goals; we sit down and chat about where they are at in their journey, work out how stressed they are, how much time they have for training and food prep etc. Then I work out what 1-2 big changes they need to make first before overloading them with a long list. You need to prioritise what you need to do first to get you started on your journey, then as you build better habits you can make more changes.
If you currently feel overwhelmed – sit down and work out what big changes need to happen first. If getting to the gym is too hard and you are not exercising – aim for 10000 steps a day. If you are bored of the gym – go find a personal trainer or local boot camp. If you can’t get your eating right – cut out sugar and lower your white starches down and eat more vegetable. Make 1-2 changes that make the biggest difference in helping you reach your goals.
9. Letting the scales be your guide – to be honest I don’t really weigh myself, as it always leads to misery. Constantly jumping on the scales every day can turn your fat loss goal into an emotional rollercoaster. You might feel great until you jump on the scales and your disappointed, which in turn ruins your day, it effects your food choices and you don’t even feel like training anymore.
Don’t weigh yourself too often – once a week maximum. I use girth measurements with clients over weight, and even then it’s not always accurate. Forget the scales, stick to eating plan, train your butt off, stay positive, be consistent and you will drop fat – trust me
10. You are too hard on yourself – No one is perfect and there is no perfect diet, perfect training program, or perfect plan for fat loss. Your journey is just that…. it’s a journey, it will be filled with highs and lows, good choices and bad choices, great training sessions and poor training sessions, good days and bad days.
Don’t be so hard on yourself when you mess up…………………
IT HAPPENS.
You just have to learn from it and move on. Don’t worry about being perfect; but instead focus on doing your best each day, be consistent and enjoy the journey.
Vary fruits, vegetables, fats and protein sources to expose your body to as many nutrients as possible
LOW GI FRUIT – 2-3 X A DAY MAXIMUM
Apples
Plums
Grapefruit
Cherries
Prunes
Peaches
Grapefruit
Strawberries
Coconut
Pears
Blueberries
Kiwi fruit
Raspberries
Oranges
BREADS AND GRAINS – ELIMINATE WHERE POSSIBLE OR MAKE THE BEST CHOICES
Spelt or rye bread – for most its better to eat a couple of times a week
Brown, wild or red organic rice
Oats – soaked in water overnight and cooked in the morning
Buckwheat
Pearled Barley
Quinoa
FATS – use a variety to provide the body with more nutrients
Organic cold pressed Coconut oil – (good for high heat)
Organic cold pressed olive oil – sainsburys do a good one
Organic cold pressed hemp seed oil – Sainsburys (keep in the fridge)
Avocados
NUTS – SOAK IN WATER OVERNIGHT
Brazil
Pecans
Almonds
Hazelnuts
Macadamias
Walnuts
VEGETABLES – NOT LIMITED TO THESE, EAT A WIDE VARIETY
Asparagus
Cucumber
Celery
Cauliflower
Beans
Chard
Carrot (raw)
Broccoli
Chives
Okra
Eggplant
Brussel sprouts
Garlic
Olives
Lettuce
Kale
Leeks
Spinach
Fennel
Mushrooms
Onion
Artichoke
Tomato
Watercress
Peas
Peppers
Cabbage
Rocket
Eat1.2-2g/kg a day, keep it varied and avoid any foods that bloats you or upsets your stomach
PROTEIN CHOICES – NOT LIMITED TO THESE, EAT A WIDE VARIETY
Chicken
Beef
Mince meat
Eggs
White fish
Lamb
Gluten Free sausages
Smoked salmon
Oily fish
Prawns
Turkey
Halloumi
Feta
Cottage cheese
Shellfish
Pork
LISAS TOP 10 RULES
If you eat breakfast make sure its healthy – Lean protein, fruit and vegetables, maybe jumbo organic oats. E.g. 2 chicken thighs and 1 apple, 40g oats and 2 eggs, 2 egg omlette with mushrooms, tomato etc.
Eat 2-4 meals a day spaced out (whatever number you desire)
Eat a variety of vegetables, good fats and protein in each meal.
Favour real carbs like grains, vegetables and fruits over refined and processed carbs.
Eliminate or greatly reduce (1-2 times a week max) processed foods.
Eliminate completely trans fats or hydrogenated fats from your diet (they are found in most processed cakes, biscuits and bars etc).
Train 3-4 times a week (weights or intervals).
Have a permissive meal 1-2 times a week – provided you are eating well. It will keep you sane.
Work on ways to reduce stress levels – epsom salt baths, yoga, sauna etc
Be in bed by 1030-11pm every day (8hrs sleep)
For maximum health I aim to eat more vegetables and fruit, increase my protein intake and choose better choices of carbs to help fuel my workouts
8 HEALTHY HABITS TO LIVE BY
Plan your meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks)
Get good sleep (length, quality, routine)
Think positive thoughts about yourself and how you look – replace the bad thoughts with good ones
Say positive things to yourself – change your self talk, be grateful
Improve your digestion – increase knowledge of how to improve it and small steps we can make to improve it
Is your training where it should be – number of sessions a week, intensity, need to stretch, strengthen etc in order to be healthier and fitter
Drink enough water – are you drinking too much alcohol, tea or coffee
Have a social life and enjoy yourself – get a hobby, go out with friends, go for a walk etc
GETTING YOUR PRIORITES RIGHT – MAYBE ITS TIME TO SHIFT YOUR THINKING
I think New Years is a great time to reflect on the year that’s passed and set some goals for the year ahead.
For most people its weight loss and it’s a cycle they repeat year in and year out with no real success.
We focus so much on weight loss that we forget about our own health.
Dieting is hard, and most of the diets are so restrictive you can’t sustain them. Dieting doesn’t teach you about Optimal Health; It’s main goal is losing weight on the scale and sometimes it comes at the expense of our health.
Optimal health comprises 6 main areas –
Mental
Social
Emotional
Physical
Environment
Spiritual
These areas often aren’t considered when starting a diet to lose weight – the main focus of a diet often focuses on losing weight at all costs and ignores the importance of these 6 areas in our lives. At times the diets we go on start to compromise these areas of health that we should be nurturing and growing.
Yes; losing weight is important for emotional stability, our state of mind, how we look and feel, how we socialise with others etc it’s the method of how we do it that needs to change.
Find a way of eating that fits your life, extreme dieting works but the end result is usually weight gain and a rollercoaster of yo yo eating that leaves you emotionally and physical drained and they take you away from your social circles as you can’t enjoy yourself.
If you seek health first you will start to eat healthier, you will eat less junk food and processed snacks. You will look for healthier options and drink less alcohol. You will want to exercise as it will improve your strength and fitness. You will find a balance that works, that you can maintain; and you learn what works for you so that you can sustain it.
I am not saying it’s easy, sometimes the crash diet is a great kickstart; but you can’t be on a diet 12 months of the year.
You need a base plan and structure, you need to educate yourself and take responsibility for your own journey.
Making these changes to seek health will build on the 6 areas above and make you a more rounded healthy person AND you will more than likely lose weight at the same time.
We aim to help our members in these areas, we are available to work on a structure that fits them, to support them on their journey and if needed move into healthy eating plans based on calories and optimal health.
Contact us for more information on our 30 day trial
This time of year is renowned for new year resolutions
You decide you have had enough and want to lose weight, get fit or tone up.
Each year you make the same promises to yourself. You get really motivated (which is great) –
You join the gym.
Do a detox.
Go running.
Go on the latest fad diet.
You start off so motivated.
But then the motivation wears off.
The diet becomes harder to stick to.
You start to compromise and become complacent.
You come up with excuses for not training.
And soon enough you are back to your old ways.
Struggling to see how everyone else can do it but why can’t you!!
A lot of the time you fail before you even really got started.
You set your ambitions too high. Going from zero exercise to training 6 days a week, which is unnecessary!!
You try to stick to a diet that restricts everything 24/7 which is also unnecessary to lose weight.
You go on a detox, spending loads of money on shakes lose a bit of weight but again is unnecessary – but if it kickstarts your fat loss you need a plan post detox so you can continue what you started (planning is key)
To get it right you first have to make a plan that fits around you and that you can stick to month in and month out.
The plan may need to be flexible; or may need to be altered or adjusted as you progress (hence the need of a coach and training community).
At Fitness Hub 21 we aim to help you set realistic goals based on what you need to change and are willing to change.
You don’t have to suffer to get results.
You need to enjoy the process and see a result.
You need to understand how fat loss works and have a diet built around you that you can sustain.
You need to train consistently 2-4 x a week and move more in your day to day lives.
You need coaches who can work with you and help you along the way. Who get it and understand how you feel.
You need people to train with and share the journey with.
You need to do this for you.
You are worth it.
You have it in you to achieve.
You just need the right environment to allow you to do this.
At Fitness Hub 21 –
We don’t judge you.
We support you.
There are no egos.
Just a great community that know exactly how you feel.
We don’t humiliate you if you can’t do something.
We teach you how to do it and help you become more confident in your ability.
This New Year.
Do something different to get a better result than last year.
Join us for our 30 day trial and see why we are the best fit for you.
For more info email hello@fitnesshub21.com or check out our website www.fitnesshub21.com
The build-up to Christmas is usually filled with parties, lots of celebration drinks and meals out. Running around sorting out presents, wrapping them, organising the food, prepping it, cooking it and eventually sitting down to a meal with family and friends.
It can all seem a bit much even though the time invested is usually worth it.
While I don’t suggest following a diet over the Christmas and New Year period (although sensible eating is advised), the stress and frenzy of the season can see your exercise fall away as your days become busier in the build up to Christmas Day.
Add to that the extra alcohol and food you consume you may feel like you have undone all your hard work; but can I assure you that a few days of over eating won’t undo 12 months of hard work. The time we spend with our family and friends is more important than sticking to your calories over this period. Laughing and enjoying yourself is so important to your state of mind and social wellbeing.
If you haven’t been exercising regularly up to this point then maybe you should consider starting now so that you don’t repeat the same cycle in 12 months time. So that you can wake up after Christmas and just get back into it; so you wake up after Christmas not feeling and looking heavier than you did 12 months ago.
Right about now you’re feeling bloated, maybe your joints are achy, maybe a bit hungover, tired, lethargic and a bit like a couch potato from eating and drinking too much.
So what can you do??
Get back to training.
Go for a long walk.
Get some fresh air.
Start being more active especially if you’re not working between now and the New Year.
Start seeing exercise as a way to improve your health and lifestyle and not just as a means of losing weight.
Stop making excuses and just start where your at.
Exercise should be a positive activity in your life – not something you dread or hate doing.
So get up off the couch, leave the dishes and mess from Christmas and get out and start moving.
The hardest part of the year to be trying to lose weight is the 2 weeks from Christmas to New Year. It’s getting colder, the days are shorter, you crave stodgy warm food and leaving the house to exercise seems like the hardest thing to do.
Add to that Christmas Parties and celebration drinks after work. The meal you eat Christmas day and the rest…. The New Year’s Eve celebrations and pretty soon your gaining weight not losing it. You feel depressed that you failed and indulged in things you wouldn’t normally do, you feel fat, lethargic and not motivated to move.
BUT
It doesn’t have to be that way. I am not saying you should be counting calories on Christmas day and that you can’t drink and enjoy yourself. I think being able to enjoy ourselves socially without guilt is so important for our emotional and spiritual health. What I am saying is that you can navigate this season well and come out of it still on track and motivated to keep going.
If you want to avoid excess weight gain this Christmas season, but still enjoy yourself without the guilt here are a few tips.
1. Planning– like anything you need to look at your calendar and mark down the social events you are committed to. If it’s a restaurant, look at the menu and pick the best options. Maybe switch your alcohol to sprits to reduce calories. Maybe have just a starter and a main and leave the dessert. Or if you have a sweet tooth opt for a main and a dessert.
You could share a dessert with a friend which halves the calories and allows you to enjoy eating it at the same time.
All you need to do is be mindful, think about it a little more and you can still enjoy your night out without compromising too much on the goal you made.
2.Be Realistic – This time of year is one to celebrate so weight loss may just have to be put on hold for 2 weeks to allow yourself to enjoy the season. If you can’t take time out to indulge a little once a year, then maybe you need to rethink your priorities.
2 weeks of relaxing, indulging and socialising will not undo 12 months of effort and hard work. What it will do is make you happier.
Do away with the guilt and just enjoy the moment and the people you are with.
You have 50 other weeks in the year to work on losing weight.
3.Increase your training – If you know that you will be eating more than try to combat it by increasing your training. It will help keep you in a positive mindset and lessen the guilt you feel from all the parties and food you will consume.
4.Be on it with your meals – Another way to offset the social activities is to eat well around them. Plan your meals so you are spot on and don’t deviate from them. When you can be good be very good. This allows you to enjoy going out and spending time with family and friends – No Guilt.
5.Go walking more everyday – Another good way to increase the calories you burn is to go walking every day – Aim for 10000-15000 steps at least every day over December and January. Walking increases the calories you burn but it doesn’t increase your hunger like other exercise can. If you burn 300 more calories a day from walking on top of what you already do; that’s 2100 kcals more a week you burn which goes a long way to helping you out with the added parties and food.
6.Don’t be on a diet Christmas Day– One sure way to ruin your day and leave you with a whole bunch of guilt is to stick to your calories on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve. Is it really that important in the grand scheme of things that you count calories on these days?
Can you eat less on other days to allow yourself to eat more?? YES
Can you forget about weight loss for 2 weeks and just chill out and have fun?? YES
Can you still be sensible and not over indulge and still enjoy yourself?? YES
Don’t burden others with your clean eating ways and perfect calorie intake – let them enjoy the food even if you want to sit there eating food from a Tupperware container.
It’s time to chill out, enjoy yourself but not go too crazy – use the tips above to your advantage that way instead of piling loads of weight on you can maybe stay the same but you will look back on this Christmas and New Year as a great time – GUILT FREE.
You don’t need to worry about being on weight watchers, slimming world, intermittent fasting, a juice detox or any other diet method.
You don’t need to worry about how many carbs you need to lose weight, is breakfast important or not eating too late at night.
You don’t need to go to diet extremes and cut out everything you love.
You don’t have to give up alcohol.
You don’t have to train 5 x a week killing yourself in the gym.
You don’t even have to go on a diet to lose weight.
You just need to follow a few principles and key areas
Successful fat loss and optimal health come from
Being in a calorie deficit
How you create this deficit is down to the individual.
The method of low carb, high carb, fasting etc. is specific to each person and what they prefer.
How you achieve your deficit is up to you but don’t sacrifice your own health to lose weight.
Don’t create too big a deficit as it will leave you with low energy and less strength for training.
Find your optimal deficit where you are losing weight, function well, sleep well, train well and are satisfied by the food you eat.
Sleep
King of recovery is in the quality and quantity of your sleep. If you are eating well and training but struggling to lose weight, then maybe you need to address your sleep.
This is so overlooked as a way to get great results but so so important for fat loss and our overall health.
Increasing your training
Exercise alone won’t cause you to lose loads of weight.
Yes, you will increase your energy expenditure from training and burn more calories, but it can also help with creating a more positive and motivated you.
It will get you fitter, stronger and more confident.
It can help you be more positive and feel in more control of your life.
It can help you to be more mindful of what you’re eating; especially if your trying to lose weight and you’re working hard in the gym.
The benefits of exercise go far beyond just weight loss alone. Look down the road a few years and ask yourself if I can make exercise part of my life where will I be in 2 yrs, 10 yrs etc.
How much better will you be by taking care of yourself now.
Increasing your neat
Your NEAT is Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis – in other words it’s the calories you burn when you’re not in the gym or exercising.
If you want to lose weight quicker; you need to move more outside of your training at the gym.
Walk 10000 steps a day or 15000.
Take the stairs or get off the train 1 stop early.
Just move more and increase the calories you burn.
Being consistent
Whatever you decide to do to create a calorie deficit, add to your life in the form of exercise or the healthy habits you create for yourself – stick to it.
Be consistent, give it time to work.
Don’t stress about it just be diligent and do each day what you set out to do and after a month test how you have gone.
If it’s working well then just keep going. Why change it if it’s working.
Trust the process and be patient.
Finding joy in the journey
Smile and smile often, losing weight shouldn’t be boring or a chore all the time. Yes, you have to make changes and create new lifestyle habits and it can be uncomfortable but after a while you adjust. Find joy, find people who understand and can help you along the way, people who make the journey fun and worth it.
Creating healthy habits
The cornerstone of successful weight loss and improved health is developing healthy habits over time. Your relationship with food and how mindful you are of what you eat needs to change.
You can’t follow a strict diet, lose weight then go back to how you ate before you started the diet and expect to keep it off. You have to change your lifestyle and approach to healthy eating; your habits need to change otherwise you will be dieting for the rest of your life.
We start by working on 1 thing at a time. Eg Could be late night snacking, if you have a tendency to over eat at night then you need to work on ways to change this. If it’s that bad, then changing this one habit could be the thing you need to start losing weight. You could opt for lower calorie healthier snacks to replace what you currently have, eat less in the day to allow for some snacks at night or portion out your snacks to keep you in a deficit.
If late night snacking is what leads you to over eat and gain weight over all your other eating habits, then start here. Replace the action of snacking on high calorie, low nutrient food late at night with a healthier, lower calorie portioned option.
This is just one example, but it shows how losing weight doesn’t have to be complicated or boring, it’s about being smarter and changing the big things that will lead to the best results.
Realising there is no quick fix or short cuts
I won’t lie but losing weight can be hard work, it takes daily commitment and time and It involves changing your lifestyle to develop healthy habits.
There is no quick fix, no secret we aren’t telling you – just hard work and a rewarding result at the end of it.
Adherence is key
No matter what you do or how perfect you’re eating plan is if you can’t follow it you won’t lose weight. There is no perfect plan that fits everybody.
The method of your weight loss needs to suit your lifestyle, food choices, likes and dislikes and social life.
If you prefer low carb and you can be consistent doing this then maybe that’s the option for you. Others may prefer higher carbs or opt to eat a balance of carbs and protein.
There is no right or wrong way – just the right way for you.
ONGOING SUPPORT
Our members have nutritional support built into their training memberships that they can access when they need help to stay on track.
Rather than just giving you a cookie cutter meal plan we aim to personalize the nutritional approach to each member.
We keep it simple and use what you’re already doing as a starting point.
You are involved in process and lead the way in terms of what you want to change.
Losing weight will have its ups and downs, it’s never linear and life will always throw us curve balls.
It’s how you react, get back up and keep going that counts.
For more information about our 30-day trial contact us on 07923471006 or hello@fitnesshub21.com
