Category: Diets

Imperfect

Did you over do it over the bank holiday?

Changes to our routine can disrupt how we feel about our fitness levels. Long weekends and breaks are great but when you feel like you didn’t eat healthy enough or move enough it can make you feel like you need to be extra good in the days after to make up for it.

Did you say I’ll start Monday then realise you were off work Monday so now you’ll have to wait until next week?

The idea of the perfect week often means we decide to start again at the point things don’t go to plan, meaning we never quite get to the end of a week and just keep starting again.

Are you thinking I’ll start next year now because there’s only 4 months left and what can I do in that?

The idea of a perfect starting point, like January because then we’ve been good for a whole year can be tempting but when you start healthy habits doesn’t really matter, we won’t all reset back to zero on December 31st.

Do you have loads of things coming up so you think I’ll just wait until after to get started because there’s no point?

Well you might see slower results if you can’t be super consistent for the next few weeks but you’ll see more results from just doing what you can than you will if you just wait.

You’re never going to have a clear path, no distractions, no obstacles. You’re never going to be perfect for a whole week, month or year.

Being consistent and doing what you can when you can and more importantly getting back to your routine as soon as you can after any little changes (be them blips or planned occasions) is going to bring much better results than trying to be perfect.

80%

I wrote yesterday about how I felt better for eating more sensibly and cooking more from scratch, even though I wasn’t really tracking my calories or weight. I also mentioned how I’ve not been cutting anything out so I’ve eaten plenty of chocolate and had a few things like McDonalds.

One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve not felt guilty about this. Generally I’ve felt better after days where I’ve made food from scratch and had plenty of fruit and veg but the days where it’s not been as good as that or evenings where I’ve had chocolate before bed I’ve still gone to sleep feeling good. Previously I’d feel guilty about these kind of things even if I knew I wasn’t over my calories, like mentally, foods like takeaways made me feel a bit bleugh, and I really do mean in my brain not just that I felt a bit sluggish.

I think that kind of mindset shift, where the 80/20 rule really does feel like it’s ok, rather than being ok in theory but still feeling a bit like a failure (if we’re honest) has done wonders for me, because now those meals that weren’t planned aren’t derailing the rest of my day of week.

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.

Rules are Rules

If calories in is less than calories out you will lose weight.

I’ve done no exercise in the last couple of weeks because I’ve been ill. I’ve also eaten, in terms of nutritious food, poorly. Essentially I’ve eat what I can a) stomach and b) make or buy with minimal effort. That has been food, most people would generally consider ‘bad’ and pretty high calorie in comparison to density. But I’ve not eaten much of it because I’ve been ill.

I lost weight, quite a bit quit quickly.

Because even though the food wasn’t low calorie or ‘healthy’ I ate fewer calories than I was using to exist (I was ill, I was literally just existing!).

Remember that even if you aren’t doing everything you think you should or being perfect, if the basic principles of a calorie deficit are being adhered to the results will still come. Your body doesn’t over rule a calorie deficit because you didn’t eat enough fruit or veg that week.

Weight Loss is Simple

Losing weight is easy.

Like literally all you need to do is consume fewer calories than you burn. Simple.

If that were the case why would a large proportion of the population be on a diet almost constantly.

Now factually it is correct that the actual mechanism for losing weight is ridiculously straight forward, the fitness industry over the years has created all these rules and systems for creating a calorie deficit but the actual principle remains remarkably simple.

Losing weight isn’t easy though is it?

Because people aren’t machines, we all do things that aren’t optimal for us, we have emotions and whilst we might know what would be best for us doing it doesn’t always seem quite so straight forward.

So the notion that losing weight is simple because the actual method of losing weight is simple doesn’t really help much. What we need to be able to do is work on our own obstacles and find ways to overcome them.

Depending on how much weight you want to lose and where your starting point is, those obstacles will be very different and some much harder to overcome than others. That’s why someone looking to lose a couple of pounds before their holiday is going to have a very differ net weight loss experience to someone with health issues who is looking to lose a couple of stone or more.

Understanding that just because something is theoretically simple doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy or straight forward in real life is the first step to being able to actually work towards weight loss.

Control the Controlables

You can’t control what happens but you can control how you react to it.

This applies to all aspects of life, things around us, decisions of others, other people’s actions will have an impact on your own life and change things, whether it be for the better or worse. Sometimes you might be able to influence them a bit but sometimes things really are beyond your control. When that happens how you decide to respond to it is the only thing you do have control over. You could ignore something, hide your head in the sand, decide to take the best curse of action available and so on. You can be angry and frustrated or decide no to stress about things you can’t control or anything in between.

This applies to your diet and exercise too.

Things will happen most weeks that stop you doing what you planned. Kids get sick, work deadlines, a cold, a birthday, the list is endless. Some of these things you can plan for and work round. Some will pop up and mean plans have to change and there’s not much you can do.

How you react to that is what matters here. You could press the f**k it button. Think well this weeks messed up so I may as well just do nothing and eat a load of junk and start again next week. Or you could think well, I can’t do what I planned but I could focus on doing what I can. I might not be able to cook the meal I planned but I could pick up something quick and easy and still healthy instead of ordering a takeaway. I might not be able to go to the gym after work now but I could still go for a quick walk when I get in and get some steps in and some fresh air.

Not only do these actions effectively act as damage limitation, they’re also more likely to make you feel more positive about yourself and the situation, less frustrated, and therefore not only just better about whatever happened in the first place also more positive about keeping working towards your goals.

Focusing on what you can control over what you can’t isn’t a magic wand. It won’t stop you being annoyed or frustrated about situations but it can help you reign those emotions in a bit and help you get the best possible scenario for yourself.

It’s OK to be Uncomfortable

Something to remember about losing weight, or mastering a new lift or sport or class or starting anything new fitness releated.

I often write that it needs to be sustainable and allow for breaks and blips and not be super prescriptive.

Too often though we can take that message to mean that we shouldn’t feel any discomfort.

The fact is if you need to consume less or move more it is, at first at least, going to be a little uncomfortable. You will feel hunger or achey or a little deprived or tired.

If you stop as soon as you hit this point because, YOLO, you will never create the changes required to change your body and fitness.

When we say it’s about balance don’t forget balance has two sides to it and as well as giving yourself freedom within your diet and exercise you also need to be able to exercise restraint and spend some time in discomfort too.

In or Out

Why is it easier to create a calorie deficit by tracking and reducing your calorie intake as opposed to increase your calorie burn?

In theory you can create a calorie deficit in both ways, you can eat less or move more (or meet in the middle and do a bit of both). Generally though, I’d tend to push people to focus on calorie intake over what your burn and here’s why.

It’s pretty hard to track how many calories you have burnt a day. You can get idea of your TDEE across the week based on your general activity levels, but how many calories your burnt in that specific HIIT class or on that run is difficult to put a number on (smart watches calorie burn figures are normally massively inaccurate). Beyond that you need to remember that your TDEE will take into account your normal activity levels, so those calories have already been accounted for, so at what point do you know you’ve done ‘extra exercise? The answer is in reality you don’t. So how much you expend is a rough figure, but you can track how much you consume with much more accuracy. Of course it’s never going o be spot on to the nearest calorie but with apps like My Fitness Pal you can track your intake for free and to a reasonably accurate level. The fact that trying to monitor what you eat allows you more accurate data to sue means you’re more likely to be successful sticking to a calorie deficit if you try to adjust what you eat instead of trying to increase what you burn. If on top of this you then also look to move more (which I’d full encourage) you will find you can increase your calorie deficit a bit more and maybe assist your results.

The other aspect of creating a calorie deficit by burning more calories instead of eating less comes if you are already quite active. If you currently do nothing and then start walking daily and maybe doing planned exercise once a week, then you will probably find that you can eat the same and lose weight. You might also find though that you’re more hungry because you’re doing more so you end up eating more too. Without tracking this is a very hit and miss approach.  Now if you are already quite active and want to create a deficit through exercise the issue comes from how much more can you do in reality?  Unless you want to spend all your time in the gym how realistic is this going to be for you?  

The one time I’d be mindful of making a deficit a mixture of reducing intake and increasing output is when someone is quite small and already quite light. This is going to give them a smaller TDDE to start with and so creating a calorie deficit by food alone might leave them with a very small daily calorie amount. In cases like this a missed approach could be beneficial, however equally, it might be that a review of goals and a decision of whether weight loss if the best goal here or whether body recomposition might be a better focus.

Ultimately there are multiple ways you can create a calorie deficit. Using one which allows you to track accurately will allow you to assess progress and when you start to plateau or are noting getting results as you think you should be you have real data to use to assess why and what you can do to change that.

Calories Aren’t Bad

How often have you heard about calorie counting being restrictive / bad / creating obsessive eating habits? It’s the anti diet movement’s tagline.

Now the notion that you haven’t got to be a certain weight or size is great. But if you do want to lose eight because you want to and you will feel better then you are allowed to.

If you are going to do this you have to eat less than you burn. There’s literally no other way.

So if you are keeping track of your calorie intake in order to sensibly lose weight because you will feel better for that why would that be bad or unhealthy.

Of course, like anything, it can be taken to extreme. If you are refusing to do things because it would take you over your daily calories, skipping meals, finding yourself obsessing over your diet, severely restricting your food intake for quick results, cutting our food groups or anything like that then there’s an issue. If that’s you, those are signs it may be helpful to seek a medical professionals advice. For most people though, keeping a track of how much you’re eating doesn’t create such issues.  It does allow you to sensibly work towards your goals with data you can use to see what is and isn’t working.

What are the alternatives? You could use an eating systems where calories aren’t counted. Slimming World, Weight Watchers, maybe Intermittent Fasting.  They might take the counting away but they don’t prevent restrictive habits or a bad relationship with food.

You could eat intuitively. Which is great if you are happy with your body as it is, but in reality if you want to lose weight then what you eat now isn’t working and without a mean to measure your food intake how do you know what changes to make?

The upshot is, there are so many reasons you might have a bad relationship with food. Calorie counting might not be for you because of that, but calorie counting in itself doesn’t create bad relationship with food, there are so many factors in play when such a thing happens. Making a process, that is pretty factual when you take our emotional relationship with food out of the equation, into a negative idea is dangerous, not least because it’s actually the easiest, least faddy and cheapest way to lose weight out there.