HOW TO LOSE FAT AND LOOK GREAT

1.   Gain muscle. When you gain muscle, you are more metabolically active. This means you use more energy from your food than you store. Muscles don’t mean looking big and bulky; those big muscley folks you’re thinking of have worked very hard for decades to get that look and have very likely used drugs to enhance their appearance. It does not happen by accident. The way to gain muscle is to do resistance training and ensure adequate quality and quantity food intake. Lifting weights is the easiest way to accomplish this.

2.    Eat more of the good stuff, less of the bad. Good means more protein (lean meat, eggs, whey protein), good fat (nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, real butter) and healthier carbs (vegetables and fruit). Bad foods would be meat with ingredients such as modified maize starch or breadcrumbs, margarines or the so called “heart healthy” spreads, or rice, pasta, bread sweets etc.

3.    Drink more water, soda water and green tea. Three reasons: First; a well hydrated body functions better metabolically to burn more fat. Second; we don’t differentiate too well between hunger and thirst. Many times when you think you’re hungry, you are probably thirsty and don’t know it. Last; our bodies don’t process calories from fluids as well as from food so these calories are more likely to be stored as fat and less likely to be used for energy. Yes this includes smoothies. Diet and zero calorie drinks have their own problems which I will explain in next week’s article. Try cutting out all drinks except water, soda water and green tea for a few weeks and see the difference yourself.

Dinner

Dinner can often be a very social event. While you’re busy chatting away about the events of the day, you can lose track of exactly how much food you’re eating. A simple entry in your food log of homemade stew and green veg might look harmless and even healthy, but if you eat too much of it, those extra calories will add up to sabotage your fat loss efforts. Healthy eating (as advised in my previous articles) will stimulate the metabolism to utilise food more efficiently and make the calorie restriction so much easier. Also, it’s not as easy to over eat protein and fat as it is to over eat carbohydrates.

The quality of your food is as important as the quantity. Portion control is very important when it comes to dinner. It is very easy to eat too much when you come home from work feeling hungry. There is a delay between the food entering your mouth and hitting your stomach so it can take up to 20 minutes to feel like you’ve eaten enough food. By this time, you may well have overeaten. The key to this is to eat slowly. You could take a small portion to begin with and if you’re still hungry 20 minutes later, take some more. Most of the time, you will be surprised with how much you normally eat that you don’t need.

This surplus is costing you more than the prices you pay in the supermarket for food you don’t need: diabetes, depression, heart conditions and obesity are expensive conditions to treat. An unhealthy diet also puts pressure on your immune system which could result in extra sick days from work due to colds and flu.

Remember, taking in more calories than you burn off will lead to consistent weight gain. The only way to lose fat is to eat fewer calories than you burn off. While doing an hour of exercise will burn off more energy than, say, sitting on the couch, the amount can often be overestimated. Exercise without addressing unhealthy eating patterns will not yield any noticeable results. I have seen friends think that starting an exercise program gives them a license to eat everything they want and they ended up putting on fat and then they blame the exercise.

There is good news. Once you’ve lost the excess weight, your eating need not be so restrictive. As I’ve already mentioned, to lose fat you need to eat less calories than you use but to maintain and keep your weight steady, you match calories in with calories out. At this stage, the odd glass of wine here or a few chips there won’t make too much difference to your weight but to get to that point, you will have to make the effort and be very strict with yourself.

So start eating healthier today. Who cares if you had a cream bun and all the chips in the world for lunch? You can’t help that now but you can make sure that your next meal is healthy and nutritious. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say “I’ll start tomorrow” but why not start today? If you start today, you’ll reach your goal weight a day earlier than if you started tomorrow! If you slip up and give in to temptation, don’t worry about it. What’s in the past is gone and you can’t do anything about it but you can control what you do next. You are in control of what you eat so do yourself justice and decide to eat for health.  See below for healthy dinner ideas.

A good dinner is a balanced dinner. You will need:

A source of protein e.g. lean meat (there are hundreds), cottage cheese, whey protein, eggs, cheese

A source of healthy fats (necessary but use sparingly) e.g. avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, butter, nuts (not peanuts!)

A source of carbohydrates e.g. a small bit of starchy veg (e.g. butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot, turnip, parsnip, NOT POTATOES!) and some green veg (e.g. spinach, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green beans etc)

My dinner generally looks like this: small piece of meat, a small bit of starchy veg (e.g. butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot, turnip, parsnip) lots of green veg, and a small bit of avocado or a spoonful of olive oil drizzled on the veg. There are literally hundreds of combinations of meat and veg you can use and each one can be made more interesting by using various quantities of onions, garlic, chilli, coriander, basil, oregano etc... The list is endless.

If you get bored of that format, then you can make it more interesting by putting the above basic healthy building blocks into stews, curries, salads, soups, coddle, chowder... Use the opportunity to be imaginative and keep your food interesting. Drop into the Asia market on Drury Street once every few weeks and experiment with some new veg or spices or meat. They sell frozen seafood mix in there very cheaply which can be a surprisingly delicious addition to a homemade curry.

 I follow two blogs for healthy eating ideas: www.cavemancook.blogspot.com and www.theirishpaleo.blogspot.com the former one is great for healthy dessert alternatives and the latter documents an Irish girl’s food transformation journey. I wrote some articles back in January and February myself documenting my 9kg weight loss (that was 12cm off my waist) and these can be seen at www.projectabz.blogspot.com in the January and February archives.

Another great addition to your food is sides such as guacamole and salsa.

Guacamole 1 tomato 1 ripe avocado juice of one lime 2 cloves garlic 1/2 tablespoon chopped coriander 1/2 large chilli (or less depending on how hot you want it) Optional: 1/4 finely chopped red onion. -mash garlic and avocado, remove pulp and seeds from tomato, chop as small as possible, add everything in a bowl and mix or use a food processor Salsa 5 tomatoes juice of one lime 2 cloves garlic 1/2 large chilli 1/2 tbsp chopped coriander 1/4 finely chopped red onion -same again, chop and mix everything or just throw in food processor.

If anyone wants some more exciting healthy recipes, I can forward some links to you via email.

Rules of Nutrition

1.       Eat more protein (meat, fish, eggs) and avoid breaded or coated varieties. Be wary of meat with lots of ingredients. Protein leaves you fuller for longer and will help curb hunger cravings. A source of protein should be eaten with every meal. If you are exercising, protein will help to alleviate a lot of muscle soreness and promote recovery. Soya and tofu is not healthy.

2.       Eat less refined carbohydrate (bread, pasta, potatoes, sweets, fruit juices). When you eat these foods, you raise your blood sugar quickly and when it drops again soon after, you will be hungry again. Also, when your blood sugar is high, you do not burn fat. Fruit, sweet potato and rice in moderation have adequate carbohydrate for your energy needs and are infinitely more nutritious. A small piece of fruit before training can help raise your energy levels. Eat all the green vegetables!

3.       Eat little and often and never get hungry. It is very difficult to make good food choices when hungry. Eating small amounts of good food often will ensure your metabolism is working as effectively as possible. A good guideline is three light meals and two snacks a day.

4.       Avoid foods labelled as low fat or fat free. Fat tastes good. Low fat and fat free foods typically have more sugar and salt to replace the fat and make them taste better. The full fat version is almost always healthier and if you are eating it in moderation, then it should not affect your waistline too negatively if at all.

5.       Avoid processed foods. These are foods that generally have a lot of ingredients in them. If you don’t know what it is, probably best to avoid it. This goes for low cal and heart healthy cooking oils, spreads and margarines. The fats in these are far from “heart healthy”. You are better with coconut oil (Asia market), olive oil and real butter.

6.       Drink more water, green tea and soda water. The body finds it difficult to distinguish between hunger and thirst. Food is also metabolised more efficiently when you are properly hydrated. Green tea helps you burn fat and is a great alternative to coffee and tea which both lead to dehydration. Rooibos tea is another great tea with tons of antioxidants but no caffeine so suitable at night.

7.       Prepare food in advance and bring it with you in a lunchbox. If you always have something healthy to hand, you will have no excuse to eat badly.

8.       Eat slowly and serve yourself small portions. It can take up to twenty minutes from the time the food goes in your mouth until your brain gets the signal that you have eaten. By this time, you may well have overeaten. If you have a small portion and are still hungry twenty minutes later, have another small portion until you feel satisfied.

9.       Everything in moderation. Avocado, olives and nuts (not peanuts- they are unhealthy) are a great source of healthy fats and I would recommend a small amount with every meal. More could be counterproductive. Healthy foods are only good for you in certain amounts. For this reason, try to add variety to your diet. Experiment with different combinations of meats, fish and colourful vegetables.

10.   Enjoy your food. Ask me for some delicious healthy recipes and have fun playing with different herbs and spices.

WHY I PREFER RESISTANCE TRAINING TO CARDIO

The term “cardio” generally refers to aerobic exercise. Typical examples are long distance running, dance and well, aerobics.  Cardio can be fun and it definitely has its place in a balanced training programme but unfortunately, the fitness industry currently places too much emphasis on its importance. Cardio on its own can raise cortisol levels and cause a hormonal imbalance that actually causes you to store fat around your middle. Also, cardio while dieting can result in reduced muscle mass which will put you in a position to gain fat more easily and mean you’ll have to work harder to reach fat loss goals. The simple antidote to this is to do resistance training as well as or instead of cardio.

Examples of resistance training would be lifting weights or doing exercises using bodyweight as resistance such and push ups, pull-ups and squats. Such exercises help to build and maintain lean muscle mass (provided nutrition is adequate). More muscle requires more energy to maintain and so the food you eat is used more efficiently and less of it is stored as fat. I won’t go in to detail about how women don’t build bulky muscles as that article has been done to death but if you want more information on the topic or proof, email me, call/ text me or just ask me. I’m more than happy to chat about the topic!

Resistance training is recommended by health professionals the world over to treat a myriad of health problems such as heart conditions, diabetes, osteoporosis, Multiple Sclerosis, arthritis, depression, insomnia, eating disorders, low self esteem and much more. The benefits cannot be overstated.

Now that we have discussed why resistance training is so important, the next step is to determine what kind is the best. The answer is whatever kind you enjoy doing the most and will stick at. The best exercise programme in the world is useless if it is not followed regularly. 

For me, the best exercise is weightlifting. Since I started weightlifting over two years ago, I have gained lots of lean muscle and lost a lot of fat (meaning I am now two dress sizes smaller). I now eat more food than I used to and I can enjoy more treats without worrying that I won’t fit in to my favourite jeans.  I have more energy, I sleep better and I really look forward to training. The feeling of lifting more weight this week than I did last week or last month is very empowering and the confidence boost from it really does transfer to all aspects of my life. I feel ready for any challenge whether it is playing football with friends, helping a relative move house or helping a stranger when their car gets stuck.

The best way to find out what works for you is to try many different things. Give each new thing a chance and stick with it for a few weeks to a few months and if you don’t like it, move on and try something else. It doesn’t have to cost the earth. You can get a very effective resistance training workout at home using everyday objects such as chairs, steps and even tins of food. 

If you want more information about anything I’ve mentioned above, call, text or email. 0877915646, info@deelynch.com