Some weeks are tougher than others

The last couple of weeks have been busy at work so I knew I’d struggle to do loads during this time.

I’ve managed to run a few times though and as soon as I was quieter at work I got myself back to classes and did a step and cycle class on Wednesday. Generally I’ve felt pretty lacking in motivation though so I’ve also skipped workouts I could have got myself to.

I’ve been eating a lot too, I really find the food side so much harder than exercising! I’ve also struggled to regularly stick to healthy habits which is something I need to be more consistent with.

It’s starting to get a bit lighter though now so I’m hoping that will lift my spirits a bit so I can get outside more. Not looking forward to this week much but hoping that I can at least get to the gym and eat a bit better so I can look back on the week and be happy with my progress.

Small Steps

So since my last blog post I’ve been to Malta.

One of my non fitness goals was to travel more so that was my first trip of the year. I stayed in St Paul’s Bay and visited Valletta, the Island of Gozo and the uninhabited Island of Comino. Whilst I was there I ate what I wanted but did do a fair number of steps and I used the hotel gym twice.

So I feel in terms of exercise I’m getting back on track, I can’t run as far or lift as heavy as I used to but I’m feeling goo about the positive habits. I even did my first Park Run of the year this weekend, a 39 minute 5km at Fletcher Moss in Didsbury (first time doing that one and it’s pretty), then I went a did a gym class after that!

I’m a bit gutted because I didn’t manage to get a place on the challenge I wanted at the end of the year but I’m going to keep aiming for it an it might have to be a start of 2025 completion for that.

I’m still struggling with my diet though, I’m eating better since I got back from Malta but still not quite in a calorie deficit. I have about 6 weeks until my next adventure so I need to see if I can sort this before then.

January is almost over

Wow, January is almost done and I’ve not written a blog post this year yet (or even since the start of the December). How have you found January? Have you managed to get started with resolutions for 2024 or has the month just slipped away? In my head I’ve been thinking well we’ve just got started with the year and I’ve loads of time then all of a sudden one month is almost over and I feel like I haven’t really achieved much yet. If I’m fair to myself I have though, but I think to realise that I need to properly reflect on what I have actually done.

My goals this year are:

Lose some weight – ideally 10kg
Regain strength (deadlift 120kg, Hip thrust 200kg, unassisted pull up, press up on toes as basic markers to aim for)
Improve mobility so I don’t become the actual tin man
Get better and more consistent at running – aiming to get closer to a 30 min 5k, 60 min 10k, 2.5 hour half
One (staying secret for now) physical challenge
Grow this blog and business
Travel more
Try new things and tick things off my bucket list

So at the stat of the year I worked out what I needed to do to reach these targets,

I have a rough, subject to change, plan of my strength and running training for the year. Focusing on different aspects of strength training at different points in the year and building up running with my first target being a half in May.
Getting to Park Run consistently.
Stretching weekly.
Attending classes as a participant.
Sticking to a calorie deficit.
Writing blogs regularly.
Plan and book some trips for across the year and look to book things oon my bucket list and other things to do that are new.

January hasn’t been perfect. I have been going to the gym, although I feel like I’m not in a habit with this. I’m starting from scratch – light an getting back into the habit so I can start to rebuild the weight. I have been getting to classes though, I’ve found two I really enjoy- a step class and a strength class that I’ve been pretty consistent with. Running has been harder, the weather (ice and wind) is a challenge and I’ve not made a Park Run yet. I also haven’t really stretch much (mentally I have such a block here as I don’t enjoy it). I’ve also really struggled with my food intake, I’ve over eaten most weeks. So in those terms I’ve made a start with moving more but need to turn my attention to my diet now and just be more sensible because my weight won’t shift without doing this. At the same time I need to remember that I’m never going to be perfect and instead of pressing the f**k it button when I slip I just need to be better than I have been at these things even when it’s not ideal.

As well as trying step, which was new to me (in the past when I’ve tried I’ve never kept up) I’ve started a beginners Sala course and it’s fun! I’ve also got my first trip of the year coming up, I’m off to Malta on Monday for an exploring holiday (and a bit of sun) and I’m umming and ahhhng about where else I want to go. I’m weighing up an epic trip that I think would be amazing but would be scary to do on my own.

How have you done in month one of 2024? I think the thing to remember is that we can’t do everything straight away and as much as I’d like to say oooh I can already see results and like I’ve made loads of progress the fact of the matter is that January is cold and miserable and that makes things harder, so I’m taking January as laying the foundations and February will be where I want to actually feel things starting to take shape.

Nutrition Pyramid Base

The Energy Balance Equation (Calories in v out) is the one aspect of your diet to master before you look at anything else. It is effectively the base of the pyramid that is your diet.

Calories in v. Calories out: You want these two things to be equal (to maintain your current weight) or for Energy Out to exceed Energy In (to lose weight).

Whether you eat nothing but crisps or nothing but vegetables if you eat more calories than you burn you will gain weight – regardless of what you eat, when you eat it or how you eat it.

Your Objective:

Understand how many calories you should be eating, how to work that out and why that’s important.

To workout how many calories to eat you need to know your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). This gives you an idea of roughly how many calories you burn in a day INCLUDING your normal activity… this means that you don’t need to add on exercise calories to this number. That’s important because who has time to work out a different daily calorie expenditure? You want an overall figure you can use every day.

The equation is

M24/F22 X Bodyweight in KG = BMR

e.g.

24 X 90kg = 2160 calories per day.

This is the BMR – Base Metabolic Rate. The absolute minimum calories the body needs to wake up, do nothing all day except for breathe.

To find how many calories you should eat for your activity levels multiply this figure by 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4

1.1 – lightly active – moderate exercise but sedentary job

1.2 – moderately – active intense exercise but sedentary job

1.3 – Very Active – Moderate exercise and active job

1.4 – Extra Active – intense exercise and active job

e.g.

2160 X 1.3 = 2808 calories per day

Now…If you are here for fat loss you need to get in a calorie deficit by around 10- 20% the sweet spot!

e.g.

2800 calories X 7 = 19,600 calories per week!

80% of this is 15,680 calories per week OR 2,240 calories per day.

If you want to lose weight this is the absolute foundation of doing so. Without this, anything else you do is a bit pointless as the foundations just aren’t there to support it.

Now it’s important to understand here that the figures above are rough numbers. Of course everyone’s bodies and metabolisms are different and this figure isn’t claiming to be exact. It does however provide a guide that you can use and adjust slightly as you go, and for the purposes of the average human provides a pretty good base to start with.

Calories in 1 minute

The Energy Balance Equation = Calories in V Calories Out
You burn a certain amount of calories just existing (Your BMR)
You burn some calories depending on your activity levels through the day
This combined is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
This is your Calories Out
Everything you eat has a calorific value, everything you eat in a day gives you Calories In.
If Calories In and Calories Out are equal consistently you will maintain your current weight
If Calories In is more than Calories Out consistently (creating a surplus) you will gain weight
If Calories In is less than Calories Out consistently you will lose weight
Calories In being less than Calories out is the definition of a Calories Deficit
Consistently is the key word, one day in surplus or deficit will not make a difference
If you want to lose weight and are not you need to review Calories In
You could keep Calories In the same and look at increasing Calories Out but this may be difficult to do depending on your current activity levels
It may be ideal to look at both reducing Calories In a little and increasing Calories Out a little
Calories are calories regardless of whether they come from fat, carbs or protein. Different amounts of calories make up different foods but when it comes to being in a calorie deficit how those calories are made up is not relevant.
The type of foods you eat will affect how you feel, and some foods have more nutritional benefits than others but until you master consistently hitting the right number of calories a day for you looking at other things is like learning to run before you can walk.

I want you to know

What’s something you believe everyone should know.

If you want to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit.

If you make your diet up of fast food and processed food you might not feel your best, but as long as the calories within in it equates to less than you burn for a consistent period of time you will lose weight.

Weight loss and optimum health aren’t one and the same so you don’t need to stress because you ate a load of chocolate last night, the food in itself isn’t going to detail progress.

Why aren’t the scales going down?

Are you’re tracking calories but not losing weight. Why? Here’s a few things to consider as you evaluate what isn’t currently working.

You aren’t logging everything. Sauces, the odd biscuit, left overs, these all have calories too.
You’re underestimating your portion sizes. Apps like MyFitnessPal will bring up various portion sizes when you search and what you’re eating may be more than this amount. That’s going to mean you’re eating more than you’re logging and so not actually in a deficit even though you are logging everything.
You’re free pouring things. Again this comes back to portion size, you could be roughly working out your portion but underestimating it. That one bowl of cereal your tracking could in reality be more like 2.5 bowls in MyFitnessPal
You don’t log your drinks. Alcohol, coffee shop coffees, these can have more calories than a full on meal at times so if you aren’t logging them your stats aren’t going to be acurate.
You have cheat meals. Calling something a cheat mean doesn’t mean it’s calorie free, it does mean you’re more likely to go over board and consume way more calories than you think because it’s a ‘free meal’. I’m not saying don’t have it but you should log it so you know where you stand.
Your eating your ‘exercise’ calories. Your watch is telling you you’ve burnt 500 calories so you’re adding an extra 500 calories to your daily allowance. Instead calculate your TDEE which will include your rough calorie expenditure including your normal exercise anyway..
Your picking the ‘best’ version of a food in MyFitnessPal. Be honest, when you search a food on MFP you will see some questionable entries. As tempting as it might be to go with that really low one to make your data look better the food doesn’t have fewer calories in real life because you’ve done this.
You track daily rather than across a week and scrap a day if it’s ‘bad’. It’s what we do over time that matters not one really good or really bad day. If you stop tracking on days where you know you’re going to end up ‘over’ calories and then start again the next day you won’t see you’re true picture of how you did over the week. In the plus side the strategy of averaging over a week allows your more freedom on certain days.
Food on other people’s plate doesn’t count. In my head I live by this rule but it is of course bollocks
Your calorie goal isn’t right for you. Maybe it’s too low and restrictive so you keep ending up ‘binging’. Maybe it was right for you but you’ve lost weight and now it’s just a bit too high or you’ve changed your activity level and it needs adjusting.

The thing to remember is that if you are eating less than you are burning on a regular basis your weight will reduce. Regardless of what and how you track, if this isn’t happening you are going wrong somewhere with tracking. We all under or over estimate our food intake at times but if you are serious about creating change you need to have an honest look at your habits and see where you are cutting corners and look to rectify those little habits.

It was a donut

‘That looks like 20 minutes in the gym’.

Someone said that today as I ate an ice donut.

Now apart from, in reality I probably wouldn’t burn the amount of calories in the donut within 20 minutes (ever realised how much we over estimate calories burnt during exercise?), the notion that we have to earn our food is a horrible mindset to be in.

When we think in terms of ‘if I do this, I can have that’ or I’m going to have to exercise for this long because I’ve eaten this’ we effectively put a negative narrative on certain foods and make exercise a form of punishment.

Of course when we are more active we will burn and therefore be able to eat more calories to maintain our weight. Of course if you want to lose weight you need to understand the balance of calories in and out. So being aware of calories you are consuming or your TDEE isn’t unhealthy or obsessive.

But thinking of food as something that needs to be earned instead of enjoyed makes it a chore instead of a part of life. Thinking of exercise as something we have to do to eat instead of something we get to do to feel good and be healthy makes it something we may well end up resenting.

A donut should always look like a donut (tasty) not 20 minutes in the gym.

Does what you eat matter?

I write a lot about calorie deficits to lose weight and how what you make those calories up of doesn’t matter in terms of dropping weight.

Of course that doesn’t mean that what you eat doesn’t matter. How you actually structure your diet to meet these calories will have an impact on how you feel.

The fact remains that you can eat foods in any combination, eat specific foods, eat at certain times. If you aren’t in a deficit you won’t lose weight, but once you’ve got the deficit thing nailed looking at what you actually eat can help you progress further and feel better with it.

Increasing your protein intake for instance, that can help you feel more satiated, which in turn makes calorie deficits feel easier.

Swapping out some of your sugary snacks for fruit will make you feel better over time and also reduce the calorie value of your snacks.

Looking to fill up on denser lower calorie foods (piling your veggies high for instance) will keep you full but also help stay within your calorie goal.

Focusing on eating homemade food with lots of salad and veg included will make you feel better than takeaways and grab a go sandwiches, probably be lower calorie and reduce your spending.

So of course how you chose to make up those calories does have an effect.

Why do PTs tend to say calories matter more as a headline theme then?

Because our nutrition is like a pyramid and you need to have the foundations right before you build on them.

If you aren’t yet in a deficit then looking at changing everything about what you eat and worrying about the specifics of what certain foods do for you is going to feel overwhelming. Quite simply if you can hit a calorie deficit by cutting a snack out, reducing your portion size, changing your McDonalds order from Large to regular, making your takeaway coffee an Americano instead of a Pumpkin Spiced Late every day, well that’s going to make sticking to a calorie goal easier. Once you’ve adjusted to that then you can look at some more small changes bit by bit.

Generally speaking we are better at adjusting to small changes over time rather than overhauling our life all in one go, we are much more likely to stick with small changes consistently and consistency is what is needed to reduce weight and keep it off.

Does Coffee Halt Weight Loss?

Do you want to lose weight? Do you like drinking coffee? Do you sometimes think you’d get better results if you drank less of the good stuff?

Well maybe that’s the case.

If you normally drink it with milk and (or) sugar and cut back on either the milk or the sugar (or both) you’ll reduce your calorie intake naturally and you may see an effect on your weight.

If a lot of your coffees come from a coffee shop and are laden with creams and syrups reducing the number you buy will almost certainly help reduce your calorie intake.

Even with black coffee you may find you sleep a bit better if you cut back and as getting enough sleep is helpful when it comes to both weight loss and training intensity you might see a small benefit there.

But it’s not all clear cut.

Coffee can sometimes act as an appetite suppressant so cutting back may affect your appetite a bit at first, if you’re also adding in pre workouts to replace a pre gym black coffee you might even end up consuming slightly more calories.

If you’re using caffeine for energy in lieu of actual food you might want to look at how you’re fuelling your body rather than using coffee as a lifeline. It might be low calorie but it’s nutritional value is never going to rival that of real food.

Essentially, whilst there may be benefits they might well be minimal and if you like the taste of coffee and are drinking black coffee or coffee with milk and no sugar the benefits of cutting it out might just not be worth it.