Weight loss or changing shape? You decide!

Just a quick poll to see what you all think which is the most important to you!

Hooray! Back on track

Very pleased to report that my weight is going down again! I lost 0.9kg/2lbs last week so definitely back in the game again.

Not succumbing to the temptation of sweet desserts and chocolate has help me refocus and so has making sure I’m eating enough and am recording what I eat – so easy to forget those extra calories!!  More about this in a blog later this week.

The other factor that has made a real difference is making sure that I’m drinking enough water – always more of a challenge in the very cold weather and snow we’ve had this week.

I’m off the gym as I was very lucky to win a year’s gym membership in a competition right at the end of last year.  Have just got going as I am a very definite gym novice but starting to enjoy it now I’ve got the hang of how the machines work. I will need to be aware that as I build muscle it will weigh more than the fat it is replacing but I know the change in shape will help me look much better in my clothes.

What do you think?  Is it about weight loss for you or changing shape?  Think I’ll run a poll to find out!

I did watch UK “The Biggest Loser” last night when they were in Florida and am constantly amazed at how little some of the contestants are losing when they work out 4 times a day and, according to the introduction, are “on a strict calorie controlled diet”.  I do think they need more help and support with their eating habits.

Three Weeks over – mustn’t yield to temptation!

Managed to maintain my weight loss this week, keep to my target and even lose just a bit which after something of a blowout weekend (well, Sunday really) was a great result! My 2kgs/5lbs a month target is now looking eminently sensible as it does allow me to occasionally indulge.

It was of course entirely my own fault as I had my brother and sister round for lunch and made a fairly evil dessert rather than a health fruit salad!  But that’s life and my weight loss regime does have to fit around all the normal things that I do.  There’s always going to be birthdays, anniversaries or special occasions and the key is to learn to cope with them.

If you do fall off the wagon or, as in my case this weekend, fall off your horse (yes, I actually managed to do that too – probably why the dessert was so tempting as comfort food!), in the words of the song “just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again”!

I’ve learnt not to let one bad meal become a bad day, then a bad couple of days, then a bad week and finally a bad month and give up.  I accept it as just that meal (or day if it’s that kind of occasion), don’t beat myself up over it and get right back into my routine the next day.

Now it’s the start of a new month and I have my target all set again and feel really positive about achieving it because I’ve learned the benefit of just sticking to that level.

After plateau period weight now on the way down again!

Muscle versus Fat!

I watched the UK Biggest Loser this week and found the weigh-in concerning as it isn’t very clearly explained why the contestants who appear to have worked so hard  lose very little weight.

My own theory, based on both my own experience and coaching my clients through their weight loss journey, is that it’s the muscle versus fat conundrum.

The Skinny on Fat & Our Body

Basically, fat is lighter than muscle but takes up more volume.  A poor “diet” leads to depletion of Lean Body Mass and increase in body fat so you have to reverse cycle by losing fat and maintaining and increasing lean muscle mass.

MRI of fat stored around the body

Why increase lean body mass (LBM)?

• Every 1lb/0.9kg of LBM burns 14 calories per day
• Every 1lb/0.9kg of fat burns only 2 calories per day
• Muscle occupies less space (smaller trouser or dress size)
• More muscle = more calorie burn
• Fat is unhealthy and undesirable, studies now show fat releases health damaging hormones into your body

Our bodies use the food we store in the following order:

1^st            Sugar

2^nd           Protein

Finally      Fat

So we need to keep our lean muscle mass healthy and growing – every 1lb/0.9kg  of muscle burning 14 calories – sounds like a great reason to ensure that we have the right amount of lean muscle mass to me!! By increasing our daily intake of good nutrition we get our bodies out of starvation/survival mode.

Help your body become a “lean mean fat burning machine”

In order to effectively burn fat, we must use it as a source of fuel. To do this in a healthy way, we need to decrease quick sugars and increase protein and good nutrients. This will keep the body working at optimum and help steady and increase metabolism.

So there are three quick ways to make your body a fat burner:

1. Eat enough of the right calories (good nutrition)

2. Eat enough protein

3. Starve your body of the ‘quick sugars’ found in starches and processed foods

TIP:  Don’t obsess with the scale. Instead, look at/focus on your inch/cm loss and how your clothes fit as what matters. What your measurements will tell you is how your resting metabolic rate and fat percentage are responding to your changing habits. You WILL ‘eventually’ lose ‘weight’ if you are burning body fat.

Setting Realistic Goals

I read several really great and inspiring books while I was away over the Christmas period.  They have really helped me look at the “baggage” I’ve been carrying around and get my head in the right place to deal with my current challenges in life.

They weren’t anything particularly to do with weight loss but were about setting clear goals and focusing on achieving them in every area of your life.

One particular book, Stop Talking Start Doing by Sháá Wasmund with Richard Newton and subtitled A Kick in the Pants in Six Parts, was originally intended for people thinking about setting up their own business.  As the authors say, “But it changed.  The impetus needed to start a business is the same as anyone teetering on the brink of anything…”.

I have my goal weight that I want to achieve this year, which as I’ve said in previous blogs is losing 2½ stone/16kgs (35lbs), but perhaps here “want” is the key word!  For those fans of Blackadder what we now need is a plan, though it doesn’t necessarily have to be cunning.

The first step in that plan has to be to restate my goal as “I plan to lose…” and then move swiftly on to the next step of chunking it down.

Again to quote Stop Talking Start Doing, “losing 2 pounds a month sounds far more focused than losing 2 stone in a year” which, of course, is what you’ll have achieved. But 2 pounds a month sounds too easy!  Where’s the sacrifice? The punishing exercise programme? The deprivation? The martyrdom to your weight loss cause?

We all want the quick fix in today’s fast moving, instant society but stop and think about how long took you to put on the extra weight in the first place.

My usual approach is that I have no particular monthly goal or plan but really want to lose 1 stone/14 pounds in a month or even my whole target! But this is just demotivational and not necessarily realistic or healthy. Instead of feeling good about whatever I lost, I would just feel depressed, a failure and want to chuck the whole thing in and give up!  Sounds familiar?

My own plan is now to lose 5lbs/2kgs a month which I feel really comfortable about and happy with.  When I achieve it, I will feel successful, really pleased with myself and motivated to do it again the next month.  And if I overachieve it, it will be absolutely brilliant and truly fantastic!!

Feel free to join me in planning and, of course, doing!

I’ll let you know how I get on.

On Surviving the Weekend!

In common with a lot of my clients, I usually find the weekend the most challenging time on any weight loss programme.

A different routine, out and about so seeing more temptations, the weekly supermarket shop, visiting friends and relations and anything else that didn’t get done during the week.

Instead of being a recovery break in your working week, the weekend becomes a pressured and stressful rush to fit everything so that you can finally sit down and relax and watch Strictly or X Factor.  If you plan to go out with friends this presents a whole new food challenge to deal with which I’ll cover in another blog.

Apart from the usual things to do, my weekend takes on the additional chore of looking after my horse – known as DIY.  I do try to hack out or school my horse each weekend morning, which gives me a great chance to catch up with my friends at the livery yard while burning calories.  Then it’s mucking out the stable, cleaning tack, filling hay nets and preparing feeds.  At this time of year, with the light fading fast, the horses are ready to come back in from the fields again by 2:30pm so it tends to be a mad rush to fit everything in.

The two main challenges that I face are making sure I drink enough and the additional exercise making me think I’m hungry so wanting to eat more!

The reality is that they are probably one in the same as the brain can’t tell the difference between genuine hunger and thirst.  I always recommend my clients drink a glass of water first if they think they’re hungry as, unless their stomach is actually growling, it’s probably thirst.

In my case, I have to make sure I drink enough water otherwise I get really painful night cramps in my legs!

I was also really pleased when I found some calorie information on the Horse & Hound forum:

Hacking out at walk burns approximately 40 calories per 10 minutes or 240 calories per hour, trotting 75 calories per 10 minutes and cantering 85 calories per 10 minutes. Schooling a horse burns up 70 calories per 10 minutes or 360 calories per hour. Mucking out burns up 80 calories per 10 minutes or 480 calories per hour and even vigorously grooming your horse burns 45 calories in 10 minutes!

The Calorie Control Council – Fit Facts state that the total calories used per hour by a 150 pound person during horse riding were similar to those used during jogging (6mph) and cycling (9mph) (315-480 calories per hour).

So much for all those who think the horse is doing all the work!