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.

You, 2015

Without repeating the usual January advice about goal setting, a new exercise regime, whatever new diet is trendy at the moment; I’m going to attempt to give you the basics (again) in hope that this year, rather than starting some crazy new plan that you’ll never stick to, you’ll just make a few small changes and focus on being consistent with them.

Changing your entire lifestyle takes time, and if you try to do it all at once or too quickly it’s a recipe for disaster. So, what you need to do is simplify and streamline.

Attack the weight loss demon from two angles.

Firstly, eliminate the junk. Surprisingly, most people don’t gain weight from eating too much; but from eating the wrong things, at the wrong times. So step one is to eliminate all the processed, sugary foods and drinks (don’t forget drinks!).

For the time being, don’t worry about calories, fats, points or sins. Just change from convenience foods to fresh, single ingredient foods. If it’s got a list of ingredients on the packaging (especially ingredients you can’t even pronounce), don’t eat/drink it.

Don’t worry for now if that seems like it’s not a big enough change. If you can do this, and stick with it, you’ll notice a difference.

Secondly, exercise. This is another one people tend to overdo and burn out. If you already exercise regularly, DO NOT increase how much you do, just increase the intensity that you’re working at.

If you’re not already exercising regularly, do no more than 3 workouts a week to begin with, but again, work HARD when you do them. Keep them short and high intensity; always under an hour.

I’m purposely keeping this simple because most people overthink or overdo things at the start of their program, only to end up getting sick of it and giving up, or just failing.

DON’T over-complicate things. Make a positive change (no matter how small) and be consistent with it, and you’ll have improved your health. Once you’re consistent (that word again!) with that change, make another positive change. And repeat. Gradually, you’ll be improving your healthy lifestyle with almost no effort. One small change is easier to stick to than multiple drastic changes. 

One step at a time and this time next year, you won’t be “dieting” or starting a new regime – you’ll have it covered!

Yes, exercise and nutrition can get a LOT more complicated than this, but the simplest changes are often the most powerful; don’t get sucked in to marketing hype and magazine diets. Keep It Simple.

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

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

Cheat Meals

Anyone dieting has probably heard of or used a “cheat meal” or even a “cheat day”!

So is this good or bad?

My personal opinion – don’t do it! Certainly not every week.

For most people trying to lose weight, it’s really NOT just a case of calories in vs. calories out (i.e. eat less, move more); it’s a case of an inefficient hormonal profile.

If you’re lean, and weight loss isn’t a goal, chances are you’re able to handle a “cheat meal” without any negative effects because you have an efficient system (balanced hormones, efficient digestive system, good carb tolerance, good insulin sensitivity etc.). In this case, ‘calories in vs. calories out’ is far more likely to work – because you have an efficient system.

But if you’re overweight, chances are high that your hormones have, over time, become imbalanced. Insulin resistance is likely an issue, reducing carb tolerance; and digestion may be compromised. And it will take time to rebalance them, through both diet and exercise.

If you put in all that effort to follow a diet for a few days, and then have a cheat meal (read: blowout) it WILL, almost certainly, undo all your hard work and send you right back to the start hormonally. You may lose some weight initially, but you’re setting yourself up for failure. The weight loss will soon stop and your hormones are still out of balance (possibly even more so).

It’s like giving an alcoholic a drink a week. Will they have one and stop? Or go overboard and have more than a few?!

If you’re following a healthy diet, you can use a “re-feed” day, but you still need to follow the same rules. There’s never a good reason to have junk food. On your re-feed days (maybe once every 4-6 weeks depending on the individual) it should be with good, clean, real foods. It means you can eat more of the good stuff for a day, not binge on crap and expect it not to have an effect.

Your aim here isn’t to eliminate all the things you enjoy forever, but to eliminate them temporarily until you get to the point that you CAN indulge occasionally without any negative effects. When you’re in this position, there’s no need to feel guilty about the odd night out. You won’t gain a stone on a one-week holiday (that took you 6 months to lose!).

When your system works efficiently, you can enjoy the foods you want, when you want them (within reason). But until then, you need to rebuild your system, and that means spending some time being good, cutting out the foods/drinks you know you shouldn’t be consuming, and following a good training plan.

As you get leaner, you’ll be able to introduce more of the foods you love, but until then – fight on!

If you want help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition coaching or Bootcamp Fitness classes.

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

Mark Broadbent