Tips to gain a healthy body & lose some stubborn weight
I thought it maybe about time I put these common mistakes and often obvious answers down on paper to help any of you who are struggling with the weight loss battle.
At times you may just feel that drastic measures are needed to be made, when you are in this circle of incorrect behaviour you don’t often see beyond your cloud of doubt, what you are doing as wrong but just so eager to fix your past unhealthy mistakes you continue down this road of unhealthy decision making and making it harder for you to fix.
You maybe thinking to yourself, what are these drastic measures or incorrect behaviours? You may already know them. Lets face it, we all know what is right and what doesn’t work, there are loads of books on this but sometimes its good to stop and re-assess, Lets take a look…
We need to think long term, not a quick fix!
You need to think for your future, for your body’s future and for your future lifestyle to be a total change for the better – your future’s health relies on it. But by that, we must only do this slowly, change things little by little, no big steps, little tiny changes slowly chipping away at the old habits to create new, healthier habits.
You may think about starving yourself to lose a couple of kilos or go on a liquid diet, or reduce your meals to half their size because the last few days you over indulged. This is dangerous in the beginning, as your body will think there is something wrong. Fight or flight mode (think caveman days), Survival mode. Your body will hold onto all its resources – fat and all just in case there is some danger ahead. It will store everything you have as it doesn’t understand why you keep yo-yoing up and down with your intake. But even more so, you won’t cope with these dramatic changes, you will end up binge eating again at some point and then the cycle just keeps going on and on. This only means you put on more and more weight and your goal slips further out of reach.
Sleep!!!
This is underestimated. Sleep is one of the major factors in not being able to lose weight. We need to ensure your sleep patterns are regular and around 8hours each night. By sleeping at odd hours your body can’t regulate nor metabolise properly, thus slows down. Our bodies require a routine, a schedule to keep the balance and to ensure an effective metabolic rate. The hunger hormones: leptin – tells the brain to stop eating, reduces & ghrelin in the tummy – stimulates hunger – increases. Meaning inadequate sleep lowers levels of leptin and increases levels of ghrelin.
Meal time portion sizes:
If you like cereal for breakfast, it’s very easy to double the amount of what a normal portion is supposed to be. A normal portion is actually very small! However if you choose a boiled egg or egg and grain toast, or low fat yoghurt with fruit, this is very nutritious and filling and you will be less likely to over dose on the quantity of cereal poured into a bowl with too much milk. Try to use smaller bowls and plates for all meals and use the palm of your hand as a guide as to the amount of protein your meal should contain. Opt for grilled or poached or baked protein with vegies, salad or legumes for dinner and you will heading in the right direction.
Snacking:
This is okay so long as they are a healthy snack just to help the hunger until next meal time. Snacking on a piece of fruit or some low fat yoghurt is a good choice or perhaps boiling some eggs, peeling them and storing them in a container in the fridge for a high protein snack. A small tin of tuna in springwater on a Corn Thin or Cruskit is a great hunger stopper too. Nuts are good but be careful. Only one handful once a day – they are great oils for your body but too much will not help the weight come off! The best nut snack is Walnuts or Almonds or Flax Seeds, as these contain omega 3 oils which the body can breakdown effectively.
Reduce then lose BAD FATS in your diet:
Minimise saturated fats from your diet (fatty meat, dairy & coconut, palm, peanut oils) as they raise blood cholesterol putting us at risk of heart disease and stroke. No more battered fish and chips – they maybe tasty but also evil and will not help your waist-line! Good oils (poly & monounsaturated) such as small amounts of olive oil, avocado, omega 3 oils in salmon, tuna and walnuts – much better alternatives. These fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and also boost our immune systems.
Limit Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates are not bad as they are essential for energy, however it is easy for us to overdose on these. Limit your carbs by aiming to only have carbs once or twice in a day (grained toast or muesli for breakfast or sandwich or rice or pasta at lunch time) – depending on your exercise schedule. If you are more sedentary, less carbs are required if not at all. If you are more active, your body will need them for fuel. But aim to have no carbs after 4pm and only salads or vegies with your protein for dinner – but don’t over do it on the protein just because the carbs aren’t there! Of course, If you are doing an endurance training session in the morning then carbs are essential at dinner time. In time your body will feel great and you will crave them less and less.
More whole foods:
Aim to purchase and consume natural foods and less refined or processed foods. Straight from the source – Fruits, vegies, grains– the land or when buying packaged foods check the labels – if the ingredients are not from a natural source then put it back! Stay clear also of foods with sugar added. This is usually the case with yoghurts that say low fat. Low fat is good but only if the packaging states that sugar has not been added. In particular stay clear of any product that contains corn syrup, fructose or sucrose. Fructose can only be metabolised by our liver and our liver is already overloaded therefore these sugars end up being stored as fat. Glucose is the only sugar that many parts of our body can break down or metabolise i.e. brain, kidneys, and muscles for energy/fuel.
Don’t eat at night:
If you are a night owl or just coming home late from a night out, go straight to bed with a glass of water, do not open the fridge or pantry – these late night snacks are a big disaster to your metabolism. See sleep!!
Water intake:
Water is an essential part of our diet, our body contains approximately 60% water therefore we need to maintain and rehydrate to allow our body to process and function effectively. Rule of thumb is for every kilo of body weight you should consume 30ml of water. i.e. 60kg person should drink 1.8litres of water daily. Big note – this does not mean fizzy or soft drinks – water intake only!!
Alcohol and Coffee:
Most of us love coffee or alcohol of some sort. Best guidelines for not over indulging is a little each day is healthy but too much is not. Aim for 1 coffee a day and 1 – 2 glasses of wine a night. Red wine is of greater benefit to our bodies due to the antioxidants it contains for a healthy heart. If you prefer white however aim for dry wine – it contains lower alcohol, therefore lesser calories. Dry wine such as Hunter Semillon or Australian Riesling – better for weight loss as much less sugar and fewer chemicals – stay clear of Sauvignon Blanc – loads of sugar!!
Exercise without distraction:
What I mean by this is that it is quite common for people to go for a run or exercise with an ipod, listening to music. What this can do is distract your body and mind into tricking it that it is not exercising at all! I know you must now be thinking – come on don’t be ridiculous – sometimes this can actually be the case. So when you exercise, be present and accept what you are doing, embrace the pain, move through it, build on your endurance, your threshold will improve and your body will start to show results.
Consistency:
This is my most important tip!!! You must schedule your exercise time into your diary, and make it a priority. If you just plan in your head, mostly always something will override this plan. But if it is scheduled in your diary, you will see it there, clear and simple, ensure nothing else gets scheduled over the top and stick to your diary! Every week, every few days, do what is written and your chore will start to become a normal part of your life, just like brushing your teeth.
My last but not least tip would be to invest in a Pedometer:
These are brilliant. The best ones I have heard of our myfitnesspal or Fitbit. Cheaper ones can be bought, but please don’t go for the cheapest – they are not reliable and will break or give you false information. Basically by using a pedometer each day, you can see how many steps you actually take each day. If you work in an office or drive, you will realise how little steps you take. Your aim is to achieve 10,000 steps each day. Firstly, see what you currently do. It may only be 2,000 steps but that is okay. All you need to do is increase this little by little such as an extra 500 steps each day until you reach the ideal quantity. 10,000 steps is what is required to help keep you fit and active! This is a lifestyle change for the better, to ensure you live a long, healthy and injury free life – especially preventing premature ageing and early onset of old age injuries.
