Whether you are well into or starting out on your fitness journey, more than likely you will come to terms and realised that it takes more than just a few gym sessions to get you a six pack abs or tone thigh or plain and raw even just to shift a few pounds. It’s worth remembering that you’ll get out of your body what you put in, so if you’re fuelling up on crisps, fried foods, high sugary foods and chocolate, then you’ll probably start to struggle pretty quickly. Your body needs a wide variety of different nutrients to function properly and provide you with the energy for conquering those tough gym sessions and your goals. If you’re starting to think that your diet might slightly lacking on the healthy front, then it’s time to fix up — my top 5 best ways to get you started on eating healthily. Healthy Eating Habits If you are having trouble curbing your grazing habits, that’s completely normal. Instead of focusing on the snacking fails — we’ve all been there — try to focus on making little changes that eventually replace the not-so-good habits. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone by leaving it all to willpower when a little bit of planning and strategy will save you the stress. Eating habits are just that: a habit and habits can be hard to break. The answer is to find an approach that works for you and block out all the noise of suggested diets that work well for the person next to you. First of all, identify where you can make your cuts to start eating healthily. Referring to our previous points, can you cut the soda and sugar drinks and find your energy from healthier food sources? How many takeaways and frozen meals can you replace with a protein-rich alternative that you’ve made from scratch? Or even a good quality meal replacement You could also try swapping out unhealthy snacks for healthy (but still satisfying) options. Go for an almond or soya yoghurt lower in fat and sugar, or opt for dark instead of a milk shake. If you’re worried that you’re over-snacking, then this is where tracking what you eat can work wonders. Keep a journal of simple notes on what you eat throughout the day. At first, it needn’t be too detailed, just an outline of what you’ve had so that, at a glance, you can see if on the surface it seems to outweigh what your body needed. If so, see where you can cut, especially between meals. As your drive and motivation increases, you could add the protein, fats and carbs, along with the number of calories in each meal and snack so that you may address your levels accordingly. Smart Drinking When you begin analysing what you are putting into your body, it’s important to look at everything and not just the food. While water may constitute the majority of your fluids, especially during a workout, you might be surprised to learn how many calories are in your favourite fizzy drinks. It’s no good counting calories, protein and carbs in your meals if you are not counting the nutritional value of what you drink. It’s also not about cutting out all drinks except water, though, it’s just a matter of being conscious of how healthy they are. After all, drinks are an easy place to start if you’re trying to cut your sugar intake as people often find edits to their eating more difficult to adjust to. Juice, milkshakes, alcohol and fizzy drinks are full of empty calories that could be contributing to your waistline as well as having a detrimental effect on your exercise and recovery capabilities. If you’re a fan of fruit juice, avoid ‘from concentrate’ and go organic and natural where you can and swap out the sugar for water or tea for a healthier alternative. Caffeine and sugar-loaded energy drinks may feel like your best ally when you’re trying to keep your energy and motivation up to tackle a workout along with everything else you need to do that day, but it’s also a good way to burn out your motor. Have your caffeine sparingly, and choose water where you can. Kill The Sugar Sugar: it’s everywhere, in everything, but do you need it? Glucose makes up an important portion of your energy stores that you can’t exercise without. However, too much sugar can result in health problems and, in the short term, has a detrimental effect on your energy levels. When it comes to cutting sugar, your enjoyment of food needn’t suffer. It can be as simple as cutting it from your tea and coffee or opting for a sugar substitute. Natural food sources tend to have all the sugar you’ll need so it will be mostly in your sweets and snacks that you may need to find low sugar substitutes. You should cut these out or limit them if you’re looking to start eating healthily. Its best to, stick with natural, organic sugars: get you’re five a day of fruit. Stay Low On Fat and If you don’t think that you’re eating too much and have already managed to stick to a pretty regulated eating pattern, the next question is then what you are eating that isn’t doing you any favours. Not all fats are bad, but there are good and bad fats. A good place to start is limiting the amount of processed food and refined carbs. That means cutting down on frozen food, fast food and takeaways. It’s a safe bet that by choosing a low-fat or fat-free option you’ll be getting all of the joy and none of the bad fats that are best avoided. However, some low-fat options are filled with sugar or some other substitute to compensate, so be careful. Best advice: always check the label. Down Size Your Potions This is one thing we all hate most, however it is the most obvious calorie saver of all: put a little less on your plate. Skim on the sides and cut the carbs, first so that you’re filling up on proteins and greens, taking only what you need for energy and fuel from carbs and very little fats. Here you should refer back to my advice on keeping track of what you eat with a journal and make a note of how much you’ve cut your portion by and how you’ve felt as a result. It’s most certainly not about starving yourself or suffering low blood sugar, just getting what you need to do all that you have to do in your day to day.
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If you're struggling to lose fat, you probably feel like the odds are stacked against you. You're not necessarily wrong, it is the naked truth The thing is that, there is so much great-tasting food, and it's abundant and in your face all the time. To me it's kind of a miracle that people aren't even heavier than they are. In addition to an abundance of food, most people today also have a far more sedentary lifestyle than past generations. Even active people who exercise a lot aren't expending the calories their ancestors did. So, while losing weight is simple in theory reduce your calorie intake — it's not easy in practice. "If you put people into a locked metabolic ward and feed them only 60% of their usual caloric intake, they will lose weight. But for free-living people that's really hard. But as hard as it is to shed pounds, the bigger challenge may await if you are successful. "It is relatively more difficult to maintain the loss. This is particularly true for women after menopause. "When people get older, it becomes difficult to dissipate the energy from foods. They need to modify their eating habits — to follow healthier patterns. It's challenging to change any habits, including eating habits. People today view food as far more than just sustenance. Eating is a source of gratification; it's a social activity; it's a reward. This is why many diets work in the short term but fail later on. "Many diets are a radical shift from what people normally eat, and this is not sustainable. But don't throw your hands up and resign yourself to keeping those extra pounds yet. There are strategies that can help you chip away at excess weight. Tranquillity 360 Fitness have some simple tips that you can use to get the scale moving in the right direction and keep it there. Don't diet; improve your diet. The trick is simple don't just focus on your eating solely and fat loss; focus on overall health. Follow a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. "Even today, after all the data that we have, people still think that eating fat makes them fat, and they try to find low-fat products, that has been very well debunked. Eating fat doesn't make you fat. There are good studies that show eating healthy fats helps people control their weight better than diets than exclude them." Over all, choosing a sustainable diet or get a dietitian to help you focused on health and not just weight can help you make lasting improvements. "Adopt a healthy diet, and eat just a little bit less. Exercise regularly. This has been said a million times, but it can't be emphasized enough: boosting your activity level can help you lose fat and keep it off. "For most people, long-term fat control is hard without some physical activity, but they are plenty of ways to get that in with the rise of online personal trainer and home based exercise. Your metabolism slows with age, which means you burn fewer calories to keep basic body functions going. At the same time, bone and muscle mass decline and fat mass increases. This insidious pattern happens naturally as you get older unless you take steps to avoid it. I'm a strong advocate of not just aerobic activity but also weight training and calisthenics, muscle building can not only bring up your body's metabolic rate, but also bring its own distinct health benefits that are often not as well appreciated as those associated with aerobic activity. Try a variety of strategies. Different diets work for different people. Sometimes finding the right strategy takes trial and error. One approach that holds promise for many is mindful eating taking the time to stop and really focus on and enjoy your food. "The scientific evidence to my eye is meagre, but I like the concept," s. We've all had that experience of eating a bowl of something and not even remembering having eaten it." Another simple trick is to put your fork down between bites instead of holding it in your hands. Pick it up when you are going to take the next bite. Persevere. Losing fat is really hard to do, and many people fail many times before they succeed. Don't give up. Each day, commit to eating a little bit less and get stuck into a good workout program. If you go off track, recommit the following day and keep at it over time. If you speak to any fitness professional today, regarding weightless or muscle gains, one of the first thing they will let you know is that your meal plan is one of the most essential piece of the puzzle towards your fitness goal. I mean each and every last one of them will tell you that one of the most important key to your success is having a meal plan. It is one of the easiest things you can do to make your life healthier and better in general, but is one of the first things we neglect when life gets busy and this why they are so much fast food and pop up restaurant every you go today. One prime example I can give to you from a personal experience, I work in central London, and no matter what time of the day am travelling on the train I can see people just stuffing down fast food; burgers, fries’ sodas and energy drinks. All which damages your hard work gym, why people do this because its quick easy and available, thing about if you do your own meal prep and bring your own food with you, the benefits you will gain. The Advantage of meal prep If one should look at advantages of meal planning, you could easily go down a rabbit hole, as there is no ending. Planning meals helps you manage your time better and makes meal preparation easier and keep your fitness game on point. It can turn a hectic week into one that is nearly stress-free. It also helps you improve your own personal health. Meal planning is so important, fitness experts and those preparing for fitness competitions consider it a must, there is no order way of life. They not only plan their meals down to the ounce, they spend better part of at least one day each week prepping those meals. TIPS FOR MEAL PREP
Keep in mind that the first time that you sit down and plan meals to lose weight/build muscle the process will take a little longer. But once you have your system in place, you'll breeze through the ritual you might even start to enjoy it. Getting organized feels good and reaching your weight loss goals feels even better. So take the prep steps to stay on track. Its no secret that supplements are key components to achieving a healthy lifestyle and better body composition. The body crave all necessary nutritional needs it for goals such as muscle gains, weight loss or even mental focus, which can be difficult to be obtain from just food intake. Although there are many supplements you can take that will support your goals, it is important to have a daily plan of essentials to take in which you can continue on a long-term basis, as some supplements are not meant to be taking on a long term basis. Three basic food supplements you should try to consume on a daily basis are: 1. Omega 3 Capsules Omega 3 fatty acids are known as healthy fats which help with cognitive function, joint and bone health. It is also found to have other huge health benefits such as decreasing risk of certain cancers and diabetes. 2. Daily Vitamins (Multivitamins) Vitamins such as B vitamins, thiamine, Zinc, Magnesium, vitamins A and E are all key nutrients that can be taken together with a good quality multivitamin. They all play huge parts in helping maintain normal energy levels and daily defence against illness. 3. Meal Replacement (Protein Powder) Tight restrictions and regulations on the food industry, as causes the food we consume goes through a very high processing procedure weather it is by pesticide or heavily fortified with additives, these process not just affect the quality of the food but also affect the nutritional values. Therefore, when certain foods are consumed you don’t get the full benefits or the full number of nutrients required. IE most human body only ever digest and used 18g of protein at any giving time, consuming less or more protein is really damaging to the human body. Its recommended that one consume at least one serving of good quality protein supplement per day to help the body meets that daily healthy quota. |
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