I am eating less but still gaining weight – help! You know the drill; “I skip breakfast, leave food on my plate and I still weigh the same…..” You eat low fat food, you exercise, you are consuming fewer calories than you used to, but you are not losing weight, in fact you have put on a few pounds since your last weigh-in. It’s frustrating, but this is a far more common problem than you might think. There are a number of reasons for this gain in weight, and one, some or all of them might apply to you. But, don’t lose heart as most problems can be reversed.
1. Give it time
All too often people embark on diets and exercise regimes and expect to lose weight immediately (anyone seen the Peter Kay sketch “lost 14st in a day”?). This will not always be the case. For example your muscles will be working harder, and so may be retaining water. Your body will take time to adjust to your new regime, and so you will not see the benefits of your new regime for at least four or five weeks – do not expect miracles overnight.
2. Look at your shape not your weight
You might be developing muscle – which weighs heavier than fat – so you will look toned and slimmer, but weigh more. Rather than looking at the scales, look at your clothes sizes – you might find that you have gained a pound but lost an inch. Don’t become a slave to the scales!
3. Beware starvation
If you are eating too little in a desperate attempt to lose weight, then you will not only be putting your body under dangerous stress levels, but you can also send it into ‘starvation’ mode. This means your metabolism will slow down and your body will try to store any calories it does get for survival. Your body does not know the difference between dieting and starving.
4. Watch out for hidden calories
Your meals might be low calorie, but are you really counting everything? Fruit juice is high in sugar, dried fruit is a great energy source, but it is also high in calories. Even that cup of coffee has calories in it. And fizzy drinks are full of sugar.
5. Eat little and often
If you eat small amounts of food throughout the day, your metabolism will be fired up and working efficiently, so you will burn the energy as you need it. If you skip breakfast and then eat a huge meal at lunchtime your body will take a long time to process the food, and anything it cannot process it will store (as fat). Likewise, if you eat breakfasts at 10am, then a snack at 11am, then eat lunch at 12 noon then your body will not have time to process each meal and so will go into storage mode. Space your meals out so your body has time to digest each meal.
6. Don’t forget to exercise
It is all very well only eating 800 calories a day, but if you lead a totally sedentary life you will not see the benefits. The only results will be a tired, lethargic and grumpy you. Build a daily exercise routine into your schedule and you will soon feel full of energy and vitality – and you will look great too.
7 Accept yourself
Many people have unrealistic expectations. If you were born with wide hips and broad shoulders you will never look waif-like. What you can do is look great for your shape. Be proud of your curves, celebrate your muscles and be happy when you reach your ideal weight for your shape and fitness requirements.
Additional information
The following foodstuffs are low in calorie content, and because they take time to breakdown and process they make your metabolism work harder than usual – which keeps your metabolism efficient and helps keep you slim. These foods are known as negative calorie foods, but there is no such thing as negative calories, instead they are foods that, when eaten raw or slightly cooked, cause the metabolism to work at a high intensity:
Apples, cranberries, grapefruit, lemons, mangoes, oranges, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines, asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chili and peppers, cucumber, garden cress, garlic, green beans, lettuce, onions, papaya, radishes, spinach and turnips
Come and see us and we can help you put a healthier eating plan together to start making a difference to you.
There seems to be a continuing struggle with our weight (and obesity levels). We know it’s bad for us – we know we should be eating healthily… but we clearly aren’t managing quite as well as we could.
Why?
Junk food temptations
Part of the problem is that we are constantly bombarded with tempting high fat and sugar, heavily processed foods – which can, let’s face it, taste delicious. With such temptations, it’s difficult to resist. If we try, though, we can find equally delicious foods that are much healthier. However, that’s the crux. If it takes more effort to find those foods, then we revert to the default less-healthy options especially if we are in a rush, hungry or in need of a quick energy fix.
Confusing health food messages
The second problem is that we are confused by conflicting health messages. Not a day goes by without a new announcement on what we should, or shouldn’t be eating. Despite efforts by many medics and nutritionists to cut through this confusion, it seems that the message just isn’t getting through.
The Grocery Eye survey, from Future Thinking, which provides an annual update on the attitudes of supermarket shoppers, has just reported that the UK population is still struggling to understand whether they should be cutting out sugar, fat or both. These findings come despite some pretty big marketing campaigns by groups such as Action on Sugar, and recent World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations on the amount of sugar we should be consuming.
So how much sugar should we be consuming?
The WHO recommends that we have no more than 12 teaspoons (preferably six) of added sugar per day. Added sugar is any sugar other than that found in whole fruit or milk so don’t go thinking that ‘natural honey’, ‘sweetened with pure apple juice’ or all those other nice sounding labels are ok! We’ve been subjected to all of that publicity on the harmful levels of sugar in certain food and drink – and yet more than half of over 2000 consumers surveyed have not changed their eating habits as a result. It’s just not getting through … or perhaps the lure of those sweet treats is just too great to avoid?
Diets vs. Healthier Eating
It was shown that half of respondents to the survey had been on a diet in the past year and just under half reported that they had tried to be healthier… but there was a difference between these two groups. ‘Dieting’ tended to be associated with avoiding ‘bad’ food (eating less but not losing weight??), whereas being healthy was related more with eating greater amounts of fruit and vegetables, lower salt and sugar… a far better goal to aim for and much easier to sustain.
Fats – a worthy villain?
Only a third of people surveyed felt that they have a healthy diet… and many still focus on fat content as the most important indicator of a healthy product. That’s despite a lot of recent media focus on fats not being the total villains that they were once portrayed to be. What many people don’t realise is that ‘low-fat’ products may be bulked up with other ingredients, including sugar, to make them more palatable. They may be low-fat, for sure… but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are any better for us at all.
So what is the answer?
The report’s final comment sums it all up very well….
“There continues to be confusion as to what being healthy really means and what foods you should and shouldn’t eat. Consumers are bombarded with extensive and often contradictory messages, which are leaving them feeling unengaged and helpless. There is still the need and, more importantly, the desire for more education around what is truly good for us.”
There is no one easy solution; making that healthy choice easy, quick and blindingly obvious to find is the key! We sit down with all of our clients and help them put a plan together to improve their health and make progress to reach their goals.