In a world obsessed with quick fixes and overnight results finding the right diet for you can be more than a little overwhelming. In all honesty, all diets are the same, just labelled differently and boiled down to making sure that your consumption of calories in are less than your calories out.
Carly Rowena
Diets
When we hear the word diet we think short-term, yet when have you only wanted to lose weight or tone up for a short period of time? Instead of planning to lose weight for that party next month how about planning to improve and change your body for all those years to come! Yes, this might mean you don’t lose 13lbs in a week but it will mean you lose 1-2lbs consistently per week and you won’t have to worry about putting it all back on again after that holiday!
Low Fat, Lite, Calorie Free, Fat-Free, O%, let’s just call it a chemical shit storm.
The food industry has a lot to blame for the fact that we’re all so confused about the right foods to eat. We’re overwhelmed with diet specific foods and in all honesty, they’re so much worse for us than the original product. Your body is a simple machine, it understands Fats, Proteins, Carbs, Fibres and Sugars, and it doesn’t understand synthetic products created using chemical processes. Remember, fat does not make you fat and if you don’t understand the ingredients, don’t let it enter your mouth!
Skipping meals
For some reason, we’ve all decided that eating less means we’ll have the body we desire. Not true. Think of your body like a beautiful car, it needs fuel to keep it going and so does your body. We burn around 120 calories per hour just simply functioning; add in any exercise and general day-to-day activities and you could be burning far more. By skipping meals you miss your daily calorie target making your body panic and use up its safety stores. This means it won’t reduce your muffin top and in actual fact, it’s far more likely to head towards that muscle you so proudly created. You should aim to eat at least three balanced meals and one or two snacks per day.
Calories
Apps like MyFitnessPal are great ways to monitor how much you are consuming but make sure you don’t get too bogged down with it. I advise, on week one to pop in everything you consume and ignore the outcome, at the end of that week take a look at your average daily calories and your weekly amount. Once you have done this take a look at the macro split pie chart and see which is higher or lower, a good aim is around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats.
Drinks
Quite often we forget how calorific our drinks really are, with some being higher than an actual meal. I always advise people when changing their diet to start by concentrating on drinks - swapping creamy drinks for black coffees or herbal teas. Not only is this a simple and effective change it leaves space for a far more satisfying sweet treat later in the day!
Tagged in Diet Weight loss