Bikini season is fast approaching and it will be here sooner
than you can say “I’m on a diet”.
Anything
weight, diet and exercise related are often hot topics for discussion between
my friends and I, as we prepare our bodies for more revealing attire for the summer months.
In a bid
to say goodbye to bingo wings and welcome toned tummies we can often get
twisted and caught up in a whirlwind of crazy diets and vigorous exercise
regimes that leave us feeling exhausted, bored, undernourished and craving comfort
foods leaving us in a vicious cycle.
Diets are
temporary so what we really need to do is make lifelong nutritional changes,
for a healthier diet and way of eating that won’t make you feel deprived so
that you can stick to it for life.
So
here's my list of diet Dos and Don'ts to help kick start the process to a healthy way to manage your weight.
DON’T
Skip Breakfast
They
don’t say breakfast is the most important meal of the day for no reason and
skipping it isn’t going to help you lose the weight either. Twenty five percent
of your daily calorie intake should be from your breakfast and an astonishing
five million of us don’t bother eating it at all. Avoiding breakfast can cause
poor concentration, irritability and low blood sugar levels, the reason for the
majority of your food cravings throughout the day and the reason you may have
trouble losing weight. So skipping breakfast or not having a substantial amount
for breakfast is a massive DON’T.
In the
famous words of Michael Van Straten my dad has always said to me ‘Breakfast
like a King, lunch like a prince and dine like Pauper’. I make breakfast my
biggest meal of the day packed with slow energy releasing carbs.
A typical
breakfast is a slice of gluten free brown bread with marmalade and a
bowl of gluten free oats plain with a mix of semi-skimmed and skimmed milk. I
realise some people just don’t have big appetites in the morning so skip the
toast and make yourself a manageable bowl of oats for breakfast. On the move? there's still no excuse, the supermarkets are filled with alternatives for those with busy lifestyles with Just Add Hot Water porridge oats pots or better yet, keep a stash at work.
Eating
Oats can help you lose weight in two ways, it’s packed with fibre, keeping you
feeling fuller for longer and secondly, a recent study in the Journal of Nutrition reported that
eating a breakfast made with slow-release carbohydrates 3 hours before you
exercise may help you burn more fat. Slow energy releasing carbs also won’t
spike blood sugar like the refined kind (such as: white bread) and In turn,
insulin levels don’t spike as high. Insulin plays a role in signalling your
body to store fat, so having lower blood sugar levels will aid in helping you
burn fat!
DON’T
cut out carbs but DO cut down on the starchy kind
Many
people think that in order to achieve weight loss results carbohydrates should
be the first thing to go. But eliminating an entire food group is never a good
idea especially one that is crucial for our bodies to function properly.
People
often take to the Atkins diet in order to shed the pounds by removing a vast
amount of food from their diets by eating large quantities of proteins and very
little amounts of carbohydrates as the ingredient for weight loss – as though
losing weight were all about avoiding carbs. Not only is this unhealthy for our
bodies, as our bodies need carbohydrates. We convert carbs into glucose and we
need it for energy. But we are also teaching ourselves unnecessary disciplines
creating a negative relationship with food.
And a
little tip, since cutting out carbs from your diet forever is virtually
impossible the moment you start eating them again you will just watch the
weight pile back on. So switching from starchy, simple carbs such as white
breads, pasta and rice and switch to complex carbs in the form of brown breads,
brown pasta and brown rice is the best way forward if you want to see results that will
last. The reason simple carbs are ‘bad’ for you? Because we process them too
easily into stored fat. Also, try to get your last carb sitting in before 3pm in order to give your body enough time to burn them off before your body prepares itself for rest, when your metabolism is at it's slowest.
DON'T be
fooled
Don’t be
fooled in to thinking you will lose weight solely from taking the stairs or
getting off the bus a stop early and a common favourite to ‘just drink lots of
water’.
Because
advice like drinking water isn’t going to do it alone. Water is essential for a
healthy balanced diet and important for your body and brain to function
properly and of course aiding in weight loss. Certainly if you’re drinking
calorie infused drinks daily, then no doubt you are going to lose a little
weight simply from switching from sugary drinks to plain water. I often read
advice that drinking ‘ice cold water’ can also help you lose weight because it
speeds up your metabolism. While all of this may be true, don’t be fooled into
thinking that this is all you need to do to manage your weight. Losing
weight healthily is a combination of a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise.
Remember: consistency is key. start as you mean to go on if you drink 3 litres of water one day and only drink half a litre the next isn't going to get you anywhere as what will happen, is your body will begin to retain every little bit of water it receives. Resulting in you feeling and looking bloated and won't have any effects to weight management whatsoever.
DO get moving
Yes,
unfortunately we do need to get up and get exercising as part of managing our
weight. But you’ll be glad to know that the key rule to weight loss is 80% diet
and 20% exercise, but don’t put those trainers down just yet ladies! It is
important to remember that exercise isn’t just for weight loss and that all
important toning, it is essential for health and wellbeing. Exercise is great
for preventing heart disease, high blood pressure and is also a great way of
relieving stress. So this is in essence is great news. You can now stop
worrying that you have to put in hours at the gym 7 days a week if you eat properly. For example; if you train 7 days a week, but when you come home you
fill up on sugary carbs, snacks and drinks you would have completely undone all
of the work you have just put into that gruelling exercise regime. That’s why
the 80/20 rule is imperative.
DO allow
yourself a treat
Depriving
yourself of the foods you enjoy is one the reasons people pack in healthy
eating in feeling they have become slaves to their own diets.
When I
first started out with making permanent changes to my diet, I decided I would
eat ‘clean’ during the week then when it came to the weekend I would allow
myself to have that Chinese I’d been craving all week. Just remember
‘everything in moderation’ and not go over board and OVER-indulge. Or maybe try swapping for healthier
alternatives, if you are a chocolate addict try switching from milk to dark;
you never know you might even end up liking it. However, just because you’re
going for the ‘healthier’ version doesn’t mean you can eat double the quantity,
these things are still high in sugar and fat!
And
finally,
DO keep
going
Unfortunately,
looking like a Victoria’s
Seceret Model won’t happen over night and sometimes you may feel like giving up
at the first hurdle. If you do find yourself struggling remind yourself why you
are doing this, go shopping , look at bikinis or whatever it is that’s
inspiring you. As the weeks go by and the days draw in closer to your summer
holiday things will get easier, you will find yourself adjusting into a new
routine you will soon have forgotten about the one that was fuelled with sugary
snacks and channel surfing. So do keep going, you haven’t done all of that hard
work for nothing!
Don’t
stress too much, food is essential and for enjoying. Leave the faddy diets at
the door and I promise you, making these key little changes to your diet and
changing your relationship with food will go a long way. I lost the half a
stone in two months last year before my holiday just by changing my diet and
the way I thought of food. What’s even better is that I have kept those extra
lbs off and stuck to a healthier eating pattern. Just follow these easy rules,
stay committed and enjoy it, go on you can do it!
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