We procrastinate, promise ourselves we’ll lose weight and get fit but then put it off for another day because we are just too busy.
Weight loss expert Vickie Cummings shed 27kg and kept if off by educating herself about healthy food, sticking to her 10 principles and ditching the faddy diets.
The Australian healthcare worker shares her philosophy in Diet Tips for Busy Chicks.1. Commit to change
Unless you start to take charge of your life, you will never get rid of that unwanted fat — remember, a little can change a lot.
2. Know your approximate daily energy requirements
If your daily energy intake exceeds your body’s daily requirements, it will store the excess as fat. Likewise, if your energy intake is too low, your body will slow your metabolism and store the unburned calories as fat.
3. Know where your excess calories are coming fromHigh-calorie processed foods and alcohol tend to make up a major part of our modern diet. My daily intake is made up of 55 per cent whole carbohydrates, 20 per cent fat, 10 per cent refined carbohydrates and 15 per cent protein.
4. Reduce your daily intake by 500 to 1000 caloriesJust making one small change each day can mean a calorie reduction of at least 500 to 1000, which should result in a loss of half to one kilogram of unwanted fat per week (that’s one or two tubs of butter — a lot of fat off the hips!).
5. Don’t ban foods or food groups
I enjoy a mainly plant-based diet, but I still love my treats. The key is to enjoy them in moderation. Don’t start and stop restrictive diets that ban or heavily reduce whole food groups because once you return to normal eating or old eating habits when ‘the diet is over’ the weight will return, and you could find your body fat percentage is higher than before.
6. Enjoy plant-based meals at least two or three times a weekThere is mounting evidence to support long-term fat loss and health benefits based on plant-based nutrition.
7. Focus on fibreMaking plant-based foods the mainstay of your diet will ensure a healthy, varied diet that allows for lots of low calorie foods to be eaten, with some of the calories speeding weight loss.
8. Move moreWe’re moving less than ever. Increase your activity to decrease your unwanted fat.
9. Drink plenty of water and herbal teasWe all know that drinking water is beneficial but we tend to overlook this fact. Good food and plenty of water are the perfect prescription for a lean, healthy body.
10. Don’t be a slave to the bathroom scales
Weight alone can be misleading. Busy chicks who are scale-watchers can be sent into an absolute frenzy, despite the fact normal fluctuations in body composition can take place many times throughout the day. For true validation of your weight loss and healthy lifestyle changes, take body measurements and keep watch of how loose your clothes are becoming and how different you look when you see yourself in the mirror.
14 Comments
The stronger your body, the easier it is to kick stress to touch. Stress is a feeling your EGO gives you as a warning that you are not strong enough or skilled enough to handle something in your life. Cardio is good for you, but strength building gets the fastest result in melting fat and looking good on the beach. It can take 100 kms of walking or running to melt a kg of stored fat if you weight 80kgs, so it pays to do some weight training to speed up losses.
ReplyShovel in the food and your (steam train ) firebox creates huge amounts of energy and your day goes well. A crash diet dehydrates you rapidly and you feel sluggish and unable to perform your daily tasks. When you are fueled up for the day, you have "more energy in your day" so do heaps more work. The more you do, the stonger your body gets and more fat is melted and released from your fat stores. Triathletes burn 6,000 calories, "doing more" and slim down.
ReplyMurray, you cholesterol is too low at 2.7. So you should write down everything you eat and drink into a notebook for 6 weeks, then give it to a food nutritionist so she/he can look at whether you need to tweak your eating habits. Body weight is controlled by hormones, and you need to eat the right foods so the body can make all the hormones it needs to regulate your health properly. A food diary for 2-3 weeks is not long enough.
ReplyIf you have been running 7 kms a day, your body has got used to that. Try increasing to 8, 9 or 10 and see if your weight goes down to the next notch. 7 kms can be TOO EASY after a while.
ReplyWell done The Demon.
Reply