Holiday Survival Guide

It’s that time of year again where everything gets more difficult.

Tempting food is everywhere you look – at the office, out and about, Christmas parties and get-togethers, social drinks with friends and family.

Not to mention the stress and lack of time to get to the gym thanks to all the shopping you need to get done.

Sticking to your diet and training plan really is difficult at this time of year. Yes, it may be an excuse, and your trainer may tell you you just need to be stronger and more determined, but none-the-less, it’s difficult.

But with a little effort, you really can make it through the holidays without gaining weight.

The key here is to focus on maintaining weight, not losing it. Trying to lose weight at this time is going to stress you out even more and more than likely end up with a blow-out and the “I’ll start in January” attitude – not that it isn’t possible for those with an iron mind and will, but for us mere mortals, now is the time to focus on maintenance.

And if you’re someone who struggles to lose weight the rest of the year, chances are losing it in December will be too big an ask.

The small amount of effort it will require to maintain your weight  (compared to trying to lose weight amidst all the temptation) will be worth it on January 1^st when you have no regrets and a head start on your new-year’s weight loss regime.

So your main goal is just to not gain weight. A much easier task than depriving yourself of the treats surrounding you.

So how do you do this?

Since your goal is now maintenance, for the most part you’re going to focus on just getting your normal routine done.

Don’t skip workouts. Plan things around your training. I know things get busy, but if you plan your diary well, there’s no need to skip any workouts, especially when you will be indulging in the festive treats.

Keep a food diary. By writing down every morsel of food you eat (and everything you drink) you can better track your eating. People who keep food diaries tend to get better results than those who don’t as seeing what you eat written down is sometimes an eye-opener. You’ll tend to eat less because you know you have to write it down!

Plan ahead. Never turn up to a Christmas gathering hungry! It’s like going shopping hungry – you’ll make all the wrong choices. Eat before you go, and then you’ll be less likely to run for the indulgent food the moment you get there.

Weigh yourself regularly. Normally I tell people NOT to focus on weight, but for the holidays, weighing yourself twice a week is a great way to monitor how you’re doing. Keep track and if you see the scales going up, pay more attention to what you’re eating and drinking, and maybe try to fit in a little extra exercise. We don’t need weight loss; we’re just avoiding weight gain.

Watch your portion sizes. The classic problem at this time of year is overflowing plates and “seconds”. Don’t starve yourself and do enjoy the food, just don’t over-do it. Keep your goals in mind and remember, you’re not missing out by not having extra portions! Enjoy the food you do eat and don’t obsess over missing out.

Remember drinks have calories too. Many people forget that it’s not just their food that provides calories. Cutting back on Doritos only to drink a bottle of wine and double cappuccino is a sure-fire way to overdo it and lose your way.

Deal with leftovers quickly. Unhealthy leftovers are too big a temptation for most people. Any food that’s left, either throw away, give away, or freeze for another time. DON’T leave them in the kitchen/fridge where you can snack on them just because it’s there!

Check in every day. Every day, first thing in the morning, remind yourself what your goals are. Focus on today (not yesterday or tomorrow) and what you’re going to do to avoid tricky food situations, and keep your eye on the prize (i.e. jumping on the scales in January and NOT seeing a huge weight gain). Plan ahead and keep your priorities at the front of your mind (or a cheeky drink and mince pie will temporarily take priority!).

Go public. Accountability is a great way to keep yourself in check. Tell people what you’re doing. Let them know your weigh-in results. Get someone (preferably a nutrition coach, but anyone will do) to look through your food diary and pull you up on anything that’s way over the top. Sounds scary, but it works. This is the basis behind many weight loss clubs; not that fear and shame are the best way to go about it, but they are good motivators!

It IS possible to make it through the holidays without gaining weight. Just keep these tips in mind and don’t get too ‘wrapped up’ in the details. Focus on how you want to feel after Christmas and don’t get caught up in short-term pleasures. Have the odd indulgence and enjoy yourself, but avoid the blow-outs.

If you need help with your training and/or nutrition, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for more information on Nutrition Coaching, Personal Training, Bootcamp, and other classes.

Enjoy the holidays :)

Going too fast is slowing you down

If you’re like most people trying to lose weight, you want the world.

20 years of bad food choices and on/off dieting has left your body unsure of how to deal with food and how to burn fat efficiently. Of course, you want to reverse those 20 years in 2 weeks; and the “insert name’s” 28 day rapid fat loss metabolic shred belly blast toning program has told you that you can do it, and it must be true because a well-paid celebrity is vouching for it.

They have their own branded foods in the supermarket, Jean down the road done it and lost 5 stone and looks great (in a gaunt, tired sort of way).

So what’s the problem? How can it fail? They even offer a free sign-up and a bunch of goodies to get you started!

The problem of course is that you can’t follow the plan! Maybe for a week, or if you’re really good, a few weeks. Then you crack… and eat everything under the sun because “today’s ruined” and you “may as well” make the most of it today and start again tomorrow… or Monday.

Even if you manage to stick to it and lose the weight, you feel like s*#! and you’re left clueless as to what to do now it’s over. You go back to eating how you normally would, maybe replacing the worst culprits with an “insert name’s” approved snack, and you gradually (or maybe not so gradually) start to gain weight again. After all the hard work you put in, why are you getting fatter again?!

The problem is if you’ve gained weight over a period of years it’s going to take more than a few weeks to undo all of the damage you’ve done to your body. You can cheat the system and shred it in that time (some of these systems DO work after all), but there’s a cost to that and it’s likely to be a short-term result.

I’m guessing you’ve been trying to lose weight for a while now. How far have you gotten in the last 12 months? Lost some and put it on again? Tried and failed 4 different diets and are back where you started (or maybe the diets failed you)? Feel like you’re chasing your tail?

If you could sit down a year from now at, or at least a lot nearer to, your ideal weight would you be pleased? Would more have changed for you than in the previous year?

The key to weight loss (and health) success is to find an approach that suits you personally. Something that you can follow easily, without crazy restrictions, that makes you feel great, gives you energy, helps you sleep better and relax, de-stresses you, and you can do without fail every day, even on holiday and on nights out.

Doesn’t even sound like a “Diet” does it?

THIS is the key to success.

It really is that simple. Making healthier choices, changing your habits, and integrating it into your daily life will get you where you want to be.

You can spend the next year going from diet to diet, scales going down, then up again, frustrated, stressed, tired and angry, or you could chill out and take it one step at a time, tweak things to suit you as you go, and make steady progress.

Which do you choose?

If you’re over-weight and just want to get to a “normal” size that you’re happy with, maybe a size or two less than what you are now, then the steady approach is best for you. Nothing complicated, no following a bodybuilder’s contest-prep meal plan and workouts, just a sensible approach to eating and a little bit more activity day to day.

THIS IS ALL POSSIBLE!

If you’re currently 30% body fat, what do you need to do before you get to 10%?
…you need to get to 29%.

If your current diet is about a 5 on a scale of 1-10, what do you need to get to before you get to 10?
… 6.

If you’re currently gaining weight, what do you need to do before you lose weight?
…just STOP gaining it!

Small, simple changes will get you a little bit further forward. Drastic changes may get you quicker results to begin with, but then you’ll bounce back to square one and the trade-off is you have to go through hell to get there. Why punish yourself for 12 weeks if you can relax for 24?!

Think of one simple, small change you can make right away that would be an improvement on what you’ve been doing; and do it. Maybe swap just one of your cups of coffee for a glass of water; or buy ONE chocolate bar instead of 3 “because they’re on offer”; or swap to dark chocolate instead of milk. Whatever your guilty pleasure is – how can you make a small, manageable improvement to it?

Instead of focussing on what you can’t eat, focus on what you can eat and work from there. As you increase the amount of “good/better” foods you eat, you’ll naturally decrease the amount of “bad/worse” foods you eat.

If you’ve tried and failed at dieting before, take a look at my new Nutrition Coaching program. We take a long-term approach to your nutrition, making small changes one at a time to improve your diet.

 We’ll track your progress (no dingy halls to “weigh-in”), monitor your consistency (the part we’re crap at), and explain how you can enjoy the foods you like, guilt-free but without “saving up for it” all week or “making up for it” next week (that is not a healthy relationship with food!).

The program is delivered to you DAILY via e-mail and you can log-in on your smartphone, tablet or computer to read the day’s lesson (takes about 5 minutes to read or you can listen to the audio version).

The daily “nudges” will keep you focussed on what you’re doing and why, and make you think about your food and why you’re eating it.

The daily reminders are what keep people on track, and the successful dieter is the consistent one. How much easier do you think it would be to follow your program if you had someone reminding you every day what to do and why?

The power of this program is in the sustainability of the changes, and the constant monitoring of your success.

If this sounds like it would help you then get in touch. I’m currently charging just £30 a month for this program.

If you’d like more information visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com/Nutrition-Coaching and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Together we’ll work on improving your diet, health, body composition, energy levels, stress levels and lifestyle; one step at a time.

A year from now you’ll be able to look back with no regrets (diet-wise anyway) and will know what works for you. No more Diets, no more guessing games, no more fads. Just a bunch of new habits that require no extra effort to do, that keep you fit, healthy and well-nourished.

Can you say that about the last 12 months?

Go to www.DartfordBootcamps.com/Nutrition-Coaching now to find out more and sign up.

I look forward to working with you!

Mark 

Improving your eating and health without “Dieting”

For most people “Diets” are too difficult. The healthy recipe book or diet plan is great for about a week, then compliance drops off and the excitement of trying something new wears off because you haven’t lost 10 lbs in a week.

Gradually the “Diet” goes out the window and old eating habits creep back in.

For some people, the traditional method of following a strict diet for a few weeks, or the points systems or calorie-counting that have been relied on for so long do work, but for most, they don’t quite get the results you’re after.

Enter Habit Based Nutrition.

The reason people fail at dieting is because their new actions go against ingrained habits. It’s your behaviour and habits that need to be addressed rather than a strict plan telling you what you can or can’t eat.

You don’t need to be told what you can or can’t eat as this is the failing point in most diets, and most people know what they should and shouldn’t be eating. You need to be able to enjoy the foods you like, but still eat in a way that works for your body and delivers the results you want.

By addressing your daily habits, you can make small, healthy changes easily; gradually improving your diet over time so it changes for good, not until “the end of your diet”. Every couple of weeks you should introduce a new habit that you can scale up or down to suit your current level – if it’s too hard, make it easier. If it’s too easy, make it more challenging.

By introducing one achievable habit at a time, you’ll build up step by step to a healthier lifestyle.

Progress should be tracked in a number of ways, not just with weight on the scales (which is useful, but not ideal); photos, measurements, compliance and any other specific markers you feel will be helpful are essential in keeping you motivated.

DAILY reminders will help you stay on track; and learning why you’re doing what you’re doing will help you understand and commit to your habit changes more easily. 

Remembering why you’re making the changes (what your goals are) will also keep you motivated.

One of the main reasons slimming clubs work is because you’re making yourself accountable. Tell someone what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and ask for their support (it doesn’t have to be a facebook announcement to the world, but someone you trust who will hold you accountable and give you a hard time if you slack off – like a trainer or coach). 

The aim is not to embarrass you when you fail, but to motivate you to try harder and boost your pride and confidence when you succeed.

Now you can do all of this yourself, but there’s so much nutritional “information” out there that it can be difficult to work out what you need to do next, or even where to begin!

As a Precision Nutrition certified coach, I can now offer you access to ProCoach, a habit-based nutrition coaching program that will help you to easily integrate healthy eating into your lifestyle.

It covers all of the above – teaching you new habits in a structured way to ensure you start at the beginning and build up slowly, one success after the other. While there’s no right or wrong way, certain foundations need to be laid before you can build on them, so getting the right habits under control first will prevent you from falling off the wagon by trying something you’re not ready for.

This is an entirely new approach to dieting for most people, (in fact, for the first couple of weeks we don’t even talk about food!) but it’s effective and it works. By helping you think about and focus on your goals, it will help you make better choices that will ultimately lead to your desired result.

If you’d like more information on ProCoach, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com/nutrition-coaching where you can watch a video of people who’ve done the program, and contact me with any questions you might have.

If your current efforts aren’t working for you, it’s time to try something new! 

Visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for more information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, Bootcamp, and other classes.

And follow us on Facebook and Twitter (do it now……) for extra tips, advice and motivation.

Weight Loss 101

In their attempts to lose weight and get fit people often turn to the latest “Diets” to solve their problems for them.

From the most recent trends and Instagram gurus to the well-known weight loss clubs that have been around for years. These multi-million pound businesses have a vested interest. While it is in their interest to get people results, the efficacy of their programs is irrelevant once they’ve sold you their product, so clever marketing is their number one concern.

Before your health and successful weight loss, comes your money.

People buy into things based on what they believe from the marketing and word of mouth/popularity.

Before and after pictures bombard every advertisement for these products because they’re convincing and people want the results they see on the ad, but here’s the thing – no one diet works for everyone!

If 1,000 people follow a diet, it WILL work for a proportion of them, maybe 10%; maybe more, maybe less, but it will work for some.

10% of those 1,000 people is 100 success stories and THOSE are the stories/pictures they’ll use for the advertising. The ads wouldn’t be so convincing if under the fantastic transformations it said “you have a 10% chance of achieving these results”.

I’m not saying that all of the diet plans out there are bad, in fact most of them are very good… for some people.

But how do you figure out which plan is right for you?

The key here is not to follow a specific plan.

While this may sound illogical, let me explain…

A “Diet plan” is set, minimal room for variation or flexibility. Since everybody is different, and what works for you won’t necessarily work for the next person, any plan set out in writing will fail the majority of people.

Instead, you need to look for the common factors in all of the successful diet plans. Trends and patterns, guidelines and rules of thumb.

The most successful diets (and I don’t mean for short-term results, but for lasting, “keep the weight off” results) have a few things in common, they:

● get people preparing their own meals

● get people eating fresh, whole foods as opposed to pre-packed ready meals

● help people build healthy habits into their lifestyle rather than tell them “you can’t have this”

● help people establish their own eating rules and guidelines suited to them specifically

● help people determine how much they should be eating, how often, and when

● look at exercise as a form of calorie reduction rather than just cutting down food intake

● improve the HEALTH of the person, instead of simply looking at their weight

If the main focus is purely on weight loss, you’ll likely do your body harm and end up, long-term, with a failed attempt.

If you make HEALTH the main goal, weight loss will follow and you’ll feel fantastic for it. Long-term success is much more likely.

In order to have success in dieting, you need to look at many factors and create your very own diet plan that works for YOU (and no-one else).

No-one looks the same, no-one acts the same, no-one has the exact same problems; everyone is individual. Your diet needs to be too.

The above listed rules and guidelines do apply across the board, but to tailor a diet to suit YOU, you need to figure out exactly how to integrate all of these things into YOUR lifestyle; kind of like your very own “Owner’s Manual”.

The bare bones of weight loss (or weight gain if that’s your goal) is energy balance, or calories if you will.

While I hate the whole process of counting calories (or allocating points to calories), there’s no escaping the fact that you cannot create energy from nothing.

…meaning you cannot gain weight without eating more than your body needs, and you cannot lose weight if you’re eating more than your body needs.

What your body needs is unique to you and there is no equation or formula that can tell you specifically what you need. There are formulas that will give you a ballpark figure of what someone your height, weight, size needs, but it doesn’t take into account the myriad other factors, like stress, diet history, hormones etc., therefore it needs refining to suit you.

If you’ve slowed your metabolism by following a low-calorie diet for a long period of time, your daily calorie goal according to the calculations will likely be much higher than your actual need (since your body has become more efficient and shut down anything that requires energy that it deems non-essential to survival).

So following a diet that uses these calculations will mean you’ll gain weight.

As an example,

A 35-year old female, weighing 80kg (176lb, or 12 ½ stone), and 162cm (5’4”) tall, who exercises 3 times a week would require 2,030 calories per day to maintain that weight, and any reduction in that number should see her lose weight.

But if our example has been following a low-calorie diet, say 1,200 calories per day for a long period, chances are weight loss has stopped despite being 800 calories below her daily maintenance level.

What’s happened? Her body has stopped all non-essential energy consuming activities and slowed things down to survive on 1,200 calories per day (which is far too low for this individual anyway).

So if, having “failed” at her current weight loss attempts (now it’s stopped working) she started a new diet that used the standard formulas and said that to lose weight she needs to eat 1,800 calories per day (a reasonable assumption given that her maintenance level is 2,030 calories), she would gain weight; because her body has adjusted to burn only 1,200 calories per day. So we now have a 600 calorie surplus!

This is why the standard calculations don’t work. They do not take into account diet history and current eating habits.

For long term success, you need to start your nutrition plan right where you are. Assess your current eating habits and make adjustments from there.

Anyone who is overweight due to over-eating will have success using these formulas because their body is burning as much energy as the calculations would suggest (maybe even a bit more if they’ve been over-eating for a long time). So for them, a simple cut in calories will result in weight loss.

But for anyone who’s been dieting, not over-eating, and has cut calories already, the equation will fail you every time.

As a coach, I rarely see food diaries with excessive amounts of food on them, but regularly see food diaries where people are under-eating yet still not losing weight.

In order to achieve successful and healthy weight loss (or gain), you need to establish what you’re eating now and what results it brings i.e. if you’re gaining, losing, or maintaining your weight.

Once you’ve established your current calorie intake and its results, you can make adjustments from there to get the required outcome.

Be aware though that if you’re already below your daily calorie intake (i.e. maintaining weight at a calorie count below your BMR as in our example before), further reducing calories is NOT the way to go.

You’ll need to find a way to increase calories without gaining weight to get back to a healthy calorie intake and to increase your metabolism to burn more.

This is the real basics of weight loss/gain, and it can’t be cheated. There is no shortcut and there are no supplements that enable you to bypass this simple fact. Energy cannot be created out of nothing, or burned without the required effort – a pill will not burn fat!

The pyramid below shows the order of importance for weight loss (or gain). 

There is a hierarchy here, and trying to utilise any of the sections before you’ve mastered the section below will result in failure.

This, if you read between the lines, tells you exactly what you need to do.

Anyone, be they a trainer in the gym or on the internet, a fitness “guru”, or a huge trusted company, selling you supplements for weight loss without first covering all of the other factors involved are either after your money, or lacking the knowledge to help you. Be VERY cautious who you listen to.

I’ve mentioned in previous articles to be careful who you listen to, and if something doesn’t make sense, it’s probably not right. Find someone who speaks sense and you trust, and follow their advice over hearsay.

There are many “Diets” out there to choose from, but finding your own will be the best move you ever make. It won’t be one you can find online or buy in a book, or one you can share with someone else once you’ve found it, because it will be YOUR diet, and yours alone.

It will also never be static and will change as you do. As your body changes, so will your dietary needs. If you change your exercise habits, lifestyle habits, or even your job, your nutritional requirements will change too.

So before you choose your next ‘Diet’, think about these things and look over the proposed Diet. Does it tick all the right boxes and does it make sense? Or does it sound easy and too good to be true?

And perhaps most importantly, does it start with you establishing your baseline and work from there (most likely through either a food diary or a number of questionnaires, or both)? Or just ask for your basic details (gender/age/height/weight/goal weight) so it can punch them into an online calculator and generate a program from that.

Or even worse, does it not even ask for any of those and simply give you healthy recipes to eat?! (Which is great – but is just a cook book, not a diet)

Tread carefully and think through your decisions when making dietary choices as they will affect not only your weight, but your health and your sanity too!

www.DartfordBootcamps.com

www.MarkOneFitness.co.uk

What is a Good “Diet”?

These days everyone’s an expert. 

Your over/underweight friend, your mum who’s been to a slimming club, your work colleagues, the magazine you read… But what they’re telling you is often contradictory and conflicting.

The truth is there’s no one, perfect diet that works for everyone. LOTS of these things will work… for some people.

They key things to embrace are not the differences, but the common ground between all successful “Diets”.

For weight loss, yes, you will need to eat less calories than you burn (but that doesn’t necessarily mean eat less!)

All successful, healthy diets (you can have a successful unhealthy diet, but the results are short-term and you’ll feel terrible doing them – think “juice detox”, or powdered meal replacements!!) have a few things in common...

A good diet will address energy balance (calories in vs calories out) without a drastic reduction in calories, but through good nutrition and switching from high-calorie/low nutrient foods, to low-calorie/high nutrient foods. By making this switch you may be surprised at just how much you can eat and remain within your calorie goal, whilst also getting lots of nutrition from what you're eating.

It will look at health, nutrition, hydration, body composition (body fat % vs. lean/fat-free mass) and performance, not just weight.

The healthy diet will not be set, but flexible and constantly changing to meet your needs. This relies on you monitoring your progress and making appropriate adjustments to suit. If weight loss is slow, you’ll need to alter the diet in some way; if you lose weight, but your body fat % increases, you’ll need to immediately re-evaluate and make the necessary changes to make sure you’re losing fat and not muscle. A mistake many calorie-cutting diets make by dropping calories too low.

The point is – you can’t follow an “exact” plan permanently; the diet will change as your body does, and you’ll need to stay on top of this. That’s why your skinny friend can eat junk and not gain weight and you just need to look at a cake… It’s because their dietary requirements are DIFFERENT to yours, and in a year’s time, so will yours be!

The diet needs to be sustainable, not something that ends when you lose x-lbs, or go on holiday; not something that you suffer through for 3 weeks, and then revert to your old ways. You don’t “Go on a diet”, you change your eating habits.

And finally, the “Diet” will look outside of just food! Exercise is a crucial part of the energy balance equation, and if you want to burn more calories than you eat, this should be your first port of call before you start reducing food intake and restricting your nutrient intake. 

The bonus of doing it this way (as long as you don't overtrain) is that you may not even need to restrict your diet or eat less- if you burn more calories, you may be able to carry on as usual and still benefit; although exercise without a healthy diet is not likely to work wonders.

The key here is to change over to healthier foods that nourish your body. By restricting food intake, you also restrict nourishment, leading to ill-health rather than the vital, healthy body you want.

Use diet and exercise together to build a better, stronger you.

If you need more help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, and Bootcamp classes.

Elimination Diets

Food sensitivities are more common than you might think; and they can cause acne, allergies, migraines and more.

Elimination diets are a great and simple way to find out if you need to adjust your regular menu.

The idea of an elimination diet is to remove certain foods from your diet for a given period (3-4 weeks), and then re-introduce them in a controlled manner, one at a time, to see if you have any adverse reactions to them.

As a basic guide (and it really doesn’t need to be more complicated than this), here is what to do if you suspect you may have a food sensitivity, or have a chronic condition that you can’t figure out the cause of.

Cut out the following foods for 3-4 weeks (completely!):

Citrus fruits; 

Tomatoes; 

white potatoes; 

eggplant; 

wheat/corn/barley/oats (and all other gluten-containing products); 

Legumes (all beans/tofu/soy/peas/lentils); 

all nuts and seeds; 

Beef; 

Chicken; 

Pork; 

Eggs; 

Bacon; 

all processed meats; 

Milk; Cheese; Cream; Yoghurt; Butter; Margarine and other spreads; 

mayonnaise; 

Alcohol; 

Caffeine; 

Chocolate; 

Ketchup; 

Mustard; 

Sugar;

Honey; 

Syrup; 

and anything else you suspect may pose a problem for you, or anything you eat on a regular basis (you can actually develop a sensitivity if you overeat something) .

I know this is a big, scary list! But focus on what you CAN have, and remember it’s only for a short time, and the benefits will be well worth it if you find something that’s been causing you grief for years.

What you CAN eat:

Almost all fresh fruit; 

Almost all fresh, raw, steamed, sautéed or roasted vegetables; 

Rice; 

Fish; 

Turkey; 

Lamb; 

Wild game; 

Unsweetened rice or coconut milk; 

Olive Oil; Coconut oil; Flaxseed oil; 

Fresh water; Herbal teas; 

Sea salt; Fresh pepper; Fresh herbs and spices.

Follow this strictly for 3 weeks and monitor your symptoms/how you feel.

In week 4, introduce a single food/food group for ONE DAY ONLY, then monitor your symptoms for 2 days. Continue this process with different foods and food groups until you figure out what is causing you issues. The fewer foods you re-introduce at one time, the more accurately you’ll be able to pinpoint the problem, but it will take longer.

Pay attention to your mood, concentration, gut/bowels, joints, skin, insomnia, headaches, sinuses, and energy levels.

This is not a restrictive diet (calorie-wise) – do NOT use it as a weight loss tool, but be aware that by eliminating foods you are sensitive to you will allow your body to detoxify more efficiently, and weight loss may occur.

Give this a try and see how you get on.

If you need more help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.comwww.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, and Bootcamp classes.

Overfed and Under-nourished

The general belief these days is that if you cut calories, you’ll lose weight.

Whilst this IS true, it’s not as simple as that. Where your calories come from is, in fact, much more important. Hormones dictate whether you’ll burn fat, store fat, build muscle, or lose muscle (as well as myriad other things). And what you eat will have a huge effect on what your hormones do.

Most people who eat too many calories and gain weight are in fact still under-nourished. If you’re eating the wrong foods it’s easy to over-consume calories, and still get very little actual nutrition.

A typical junk food meal from any well-known fast food restaurant could easily clock up 1500 calories yet you’ll get very little if any nutritional value from the meal.

This is why you can put away so much food and still be hungry; because your body is still crying out for fuel and nutrition even after you’ve eaten a huge meal. And also why it’s so easy to gain [the wrong kind of] weight.

Given that many people make bad food choices and over-consume calories whilst under-consuming nutrients, cutting calories (i.e. going on a “Diet”) will lead to even fewer nutrients being eaten. This WILL lead to muscle loss, a drop in energy levels, and poor health, as well as slowing down your metabolism and leaving you malnourished (and no, a smoothie/juice/shake WON’T make up for this deficit!).

The key is to select nutritious foods over the less nutritious foods. Fresh vegetables are high in nutrients and low in calories – eat more of these – a LOT more. Fill up on low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods and you’ll struggle to over-eat or surpass your calorie requirements, and you’ll also get the many benefits of giving your body all the nutrition it needs (along with, obviously, fats and protein).

Avoid calorie-dense, low nutrient foods – mainly sweets, cakes, biscuits, fast-food, fizzy drinks etc.

It’s possible to “under-eat” (i.e. drop calories) and still get adequate nutrition IF you choose the right foods. But keep your calories up, with nutritious foods, and you’ll reap far more benefits than you would from dropping calories! Weight loss will be from fat rather than muscle, and your energy levels and mood will improve dramatically. And you won’t have to deal with the usual post-“Diet” weight (re)gain afterwards.

If you need more help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, and Bootcamp classes.

Some simple tips to help with your healthy eating

To start with, note that I didn’t say “Diet”. If there’s an intended end to your Diet (i.e it’s for 30 days, or until you go on holiday etc.), then it’s not healthy eating, it’s a short-term fix and you’ll end up right back where you started or worse (you’ve heard the term yo-yo dieting and are probably familiar with it!).

So for healthy eating, you need to form new habits and break old ones, for the long term. Slim, fit and healthy people don’t gorge out because they’re slim, they eat healthy to stay healthy. Yo-yo dieters eat healthy(ish) to lose weight, then eat crap again once they’re slimmer, and gain it all back again.

If you want to be healthy, act like a healthy person. Every time you come to make a decision about what to eat ask yourself “Would a healthy person eat this?” If the answer is “no”, don’t eat it!

What would they choose…?

Same for exercise. Would they skip this workout? Or would they push through and do it anyway?

BE that person.

Just that one tip alone [Act like the person you want to be] could be enough for you to see massive improvements in health, and off the back of that, weight loss.

So what else can you do?

Here are some of the things people struggle with (and I know this because they told me), and a couple of tips on how to improve on them:

Snacking in the evening

This is common, and tends to happen regardless of whether you ate dinner early or late. So if you’re still snacking after dinner then it’s probably not a hunger thing, it’s out of boredom/habit. In this case there are a couple of things you could do;

1.       Be strong. You know you’ve just eaten dinner, and you’re not hungry – don’t eat for the sake of it, simply say no. For what it’s worth, snacking after dinner will release hormones that should naturally be dying down in the evening. This will lead to poor quality sleep, and prevent hormones from balancing out, which will lead to excess fat storage. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING after dinner until breakfast.

2.       If it IS hunger then maybe you didn’t eat enough protein/fat at dinner or ate too many starchy carbohydrates. Change your dinner to include more protein (meat, fish, eggs etc.) and more veg. Ditch the pasta, bread, rice, potatoes (you can have them in your post-workout meals).

3.       If you ate a good dinner and still feel hungry, drink a large glass of water (about a pint).

4.       Keep yourself busy/distracted. Sitting on your arse watching TV is boring. You’ll want to snack. Read a book, go for a walk, play with the kids… just keep busy. And before you say you’re busy all day and need to relax – stop making excuses! A nice walk or reading a book IS relaxing; you don’t need to be sat down doing F’All!

Eating Out

Another common slip up. Yes, you’re out for a nice meal. No, that doesn’t mean you have to treat yourself to whatever you want PLUS dessert, and gulp down a bottle of wine with it.

This goes back to acting like the healthy person. Pick the healthier option on the menu. If there really are no healthy options, go somewhere else – plenty of nice restaurants to choose from.

If what you want comes with chips, ask them to change the chips for extra veg. You’re paying for you food, so order what you want! They won’t spit in your dinner for asking for veg instead of chips (unless you send it back to change it after!)

Choose a meat/fish dish and have it with vegetables. Sip some water with your meal. And if you HAVE to have dessert, choose the fruit salad instead of the chocolate fudge brownie with ice cream!

Healthy snacks

A LOT of people struggle with snacking. Most people don’t realise just how much they’re eating throughout the day. Keep a food diary for a week and see how you do!

Personally, I’m not a fan of snacking. Eat your 3 square meals a day, and leave it at that. If your meals are full of nutrition, plenty of veg, protein and fat, your need to snack will more than likely be boredom/habit. (See the snacking in the evening section above).

If you absolutely must have a snack, (maybe you worked through lunch, which is bad by the way – hormones levels again…) then stick to the same rules; nutrient dense foods with protein and fat, not crisps, sweets, biscuits, cakes, bread, crackers, weight watchers snack bars or Go Ahead bars! (And seriously, since when has it become acceptable to have biscuits for breakfast Belvita?!!!)

Options include: Boiled eggs, nuts and seeds, protein shake (NOT SlimFast etc.), cold meat. If you want fruit, make sure you have it with one of these.

Oh, and this seems obvious, but make sure there are no unhealthy snacks around for you to eat! Don’t have a bar of chocolate in your bag, or a stash in your desk drawer, and tell you co-workers NOT to offer you cake or any other shit because you DON’T want it!! (Chances are you’ll be doing THEM a favour – they’ll feel guilty eating junk if you’ve turned it down, so you might even help them lose weight too!) Like the loving grandparents of your kids – they are NOT doing you a kindness offering you junk food! (Grandparents/parents take heed – there’s a hint there for you!).

In fact, look at them in disgust when they offer you sweets. They’ll soon get the hint.

Getting bored of meals

This one is so easy to action it’s ridiculous, yet 90% of people stick to eating the same bland crap day in day out. Ironically, this is usually an excuse not to eat healthily (despite the fact most people probably eat the same 6 or 7 junk meals over and over anyway).

Find a good recipe book and start cooking. It’s not as quick a nuking a frozen lasagne no, but you won’t be slaving in the kitchen for 3 hours a night either. And how much do you want to lose weight/get healthy?!

Buy a full rack of herbs and spices and plan your meals in advance so you know what ingredients you need to buy.

Not having the ingredients for different recipes should NOT be an excuse to be lazy!

And when you cook, MAKE EXTRA. You can have it for breakfast/lunch the next day, or freeze it so you’ve got a healthy meal there ready when you don’t have much time or haven’t been shopping yet. Much better than resorting to takeout or microwave meals.

Portion control

Another easy fix. If your goal is weight loss or maintenance then portion size DOES come into it, but don’t fall into the calorie restriction trap or you’re in trouble.

Focus on nutrient-dense foods like fresh meat and veg. Protein and fat (basically meat) are slower digesting and trigger your “I’m full” hormones. Meaning you won’t eat as much, and you’ll feel full for longer.

Switch to a smaller dinner plate and load it up with veg and meat first. Then if you’re eating other carbohydrates, you’ll be limited to how much you can fit on the plate. Don’t go back for seconds or have a spare plate for your bread!

And if you find you’ve cooked too much – brilliant! There’s tomorrow’s breakfast again!

Alcohol

This is one of the biggest insults you can throw at your body. It’s loaded with sugar and calories with NO nutrition whatsoever. It disrupts your hormones (find you wee a lot when you’re out drinking?!). And it’s a poison (yes, POISON) to your body. If you feel like shit after a night out, then it’s because you’ve poisoned yourself. Your body is now toxic. And all efforts (on your body’s part) will be going to detoxing that poison, leaving all other body functions in standby mode until it’s out of danger. Fat storage here we come!

Avoid drinking during the week (seriously, where’s the need to drink at home in the evening?!).

If you’re out with friends: 

1 – it’s quite possible to order a non-alcoholic beverage when you’re out (I’ve heard most places DO do that).

2 – Drive. That’ll limit you. 

3 – Don’t give in to peer pressure, weakling. 

4 – If you MUST drink, go for a light spirit with soda water and some fresh lime, or a glass or two of red wine (not a bottle ladies!). At least it’ll be less of an insult to your body than cocktails and beer.

Some of these things may seem obvious and simple, but it’s often the smallest changes that add up to the biggest results. And by doing just ONE thing to improve your health, there’s a knock-on effect into other areas.

So if any of these are things you struggle with, tackle just that ONE thing and see how you go. Chances are it won’t stop at just that one change, but focus on one thing for now and let the rest follow.

Contact me if you want any help with your diet or training.
www.DartfordBootcamps.com

Mark :)

Breakfast

Well known as being the most important meal of the day, many people tend to skip breakfast or opt for something quick and convenient in their morning rush, but what is this doing to your body?

Eating breakfast not only helps you to make better food choices throughout the day, but studies have also shown that those who skip breakfast tend to overeat later in the day, contributing to higher body fat levels and BMI. So skipping that all important meal in a vain attempt to lose weight is actually doing the complete opposite and helping you to store excess body fat!

As important as actually eating breakfast (if not more so), is what you eat. This is the same for any meal, but even more so for breakfast, and needs highlighting since the typical “breakfast foods” are so out of sync with what we need to kick off our day.

Toast or cereal seems to be the popular choice for adults and kids alike, no doubt because it’s quick and easy; but this is possibly the worst breakfast you can have! Worse even than skipping it altogether!

Forget your “wholegrain goodness” and “keeping hunger locked up ‘til lunch”, or how “grrrreat!” they are, these processed, refined carbohydrates are majorly lacking in nutrition (they actually have to add synthetic vitamins/minerals to these cereals to be allowed to sell them as “food”). Not to mention the insulin response of eating a high-carb, low fat, low protein meal!

Add to that the fact that wheat and processed dairy are two of the biggest culprits for food intolerance, and sugar sends energy levels sky-rocketing, then crashing back down again, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Erratic energy levels, hunger well before lunch, poor concentration and weight gain follow.

So what should you eat for Breakfast?

It’s important to “break your fast” with nutritionally rich foods, providing the nutrients your body needs, and keeping you satisfied right through until lunch-time. Contrary to what the cereal producers tell you, that’s NOT carbohydrates! The foods that satiate us and keep us from feeling hungry again soon after are protein and fats. These have a low insulin response – meaning no energy spike then crash. They are digested more slowly and your brain actually registers that you’ve received some nutrition – so you won’t be hungry again for a while.

One of the best things you can do is remember that food is food; there are no “breakfast foods”, “lunch foods”, or “dinner foods”.

I highly recommend the “Meat and Nut” breakfast. Simply rotate daily between different meat (not processed) and nut combinations. Chicken breasts and a handful of Almonds; Steak and a handful of Cashews; Turkey and a handful of Brazil nuts… you get the idea.

Tea, coffee and herbal teas are acceptable, but avoid processed milk and fruit juices.

This will set you up for the day, prevent you from overeating and making poor food choices, and ensure more steady energy levels.

Give it a try