Weight Loss
Many people want to lose weight, either for health or performance reasons. However, rapid weight loss can have serious health consequences leading to a marked reduction in performance. Since 95% of dieters fail to maintain their weight loss within a five-year period, lifestyle management is the key to long-term weight management.
In layman's terms, nutrition is about calories in and calories out. If you expend more calories than you consume then you will lose weight.
Here are our top tips for losing weight this year:
Throw the scales away.
Go by how you look and your clothes fit.
"Muscle is heavier by volume than fat."
A woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 150 pounds with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is more dense than fat the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller.
Trim the fat
Cut down on foods high in saturated and hydrogenated fats- butter, hard margarine, fried foods, fatty meats, burgers, pastry, cakes, biscuits, puddings and chocolate. Choose leaner meats, skinless poultry and fish instead of fatty meat, and use less oil in cooking.
Start the day with breakfast
Don't even think about skipping breakfast. People who do so are more likely to overeat later in the day and pile on unwanted pounds. When you start your day off with a healthy, filling breakfast, you dramatically increase your chances of eating healthily throughout the day. You also fuel your body, so you feel happy and energised for the rest of the day. Studies show that when you eat a filling high fibre breakfast you'll eat 100-150 fewer calories for breakfast and lunch.
Pack Lunch
Take your own lunch to work- you'll have more control over how many calories you eat. A study found that people who eat in restaurants daily consume 300 more calories a day than those who prepare their own food.
Plan ahead
Plan your meals for the whole week. Making a shopping list before you go shopping means that you're more likely to stick to it, and planning ahead means you won't get home from work tired and hungry, only to discover there's nothing healthy in the fridge.
Be size-wise at mealtimes
Stuff yourself with carbohydrates before bedtime and you will definitely won't burn all the calories you've taken in. Go easy on the pasta and potatoes and increase the vegetables, fresh fruit and lean protein. Replace half of your usual portion of pasta with veg and you won't eat any less food, just fewer calories. As a guide, a healthy serving of pasta or rice should be around 60g (dry weight) and a serving of potatoes 150g, or the size of two eggs.
Veg out
Aim for 3-5 portions of veggies a day. Vegetables help you feel full without boosting your daily calorie intake. Three generous sprigs of broccoli contain just 45 calories, about the same as one square of chocolate.
Get fruity
Eating more fruit is one of the best things you can do for your health. Aim for 2-4 daily portions. Place at least two portions of fruit on your desk at work and promise yourself to eat them before you leave work.
Slow down
You'll eat 15% fewer calories if you sit down and slow down your meal rather than eating on the hoof. Studies show that people eat up to 15% more calories when they rush at mealtimes. Scoffing your meal means that your hypothalamus- the part of the brain that senses when you are full- doesn't receive the right signals and explains why you might feel hungrier sooner.
Drink wisely
Unsurprisingly, alcohol is the diet downfall of many people. A bottle of wine totals about 500 calories, so you can undo a whole day's good behaviour in just one boozy night. Alcohol can encourage fat storage. It's high in calories and puts undue stress on the liver. Alcohol calories can't be stored and have to be used as they are consumed- and this means that calories excess to requirements from other foods get stored as fat instead.
Take part in regular exercise
Exercise between 3-5 times per week. This will catapult your calorie expenditure and help you reach your ideal weight. The reason BMF members see better results than many other fitness regimes is variety. By having different instructors with different expertise you are constantly keeping your body guessing and avoiding the 'plateau'.
Water
Drink a glass of water every morning as you spend 8 hours every night without a drink you naturally wake up dehydrated. Try it for a week and see how much more energy you have, how much better your skin feels in the morning and how much quicker you wake up. Forget energy Drinks stick with council house pop, Its Cheap its effective and it does what it says on the tin. Also try and drink between 2-2.5 litres a day. Your body needs water for every thing it does. A loss of just 2% in your weight will effect your performance and your aerobic capacity can fall by 10-20%.
