If there is one thing I have known my whole life:
I Need Food,
I NEED FOOD!!!
The main difference now is that I have learnt why I need food. What is it that I need from food? What types of foods and most importantly, when is the best time to eat different types of food.
I think the first and best lesson I learnt about dieting, is to not bother. I knew diets didn’t work but I really didn’t know why. I learnt that I should incorporate a diet change that is manageable and sustainable through life (it must suit my life style). For me, what really worked a treat was a diet of high protein and low carbohydrate; meaning that I no longer eat starchy carb’s. I just found that it was the pasta’s, breads and rice’s that were killing me.
I found out it was a simple equation that would cause me to lose weight and although this might sound stupid I had never thought about it properly. Here it is:
Food is energy, so the magic formula is that you need to consume less of the energy (food) and use or burn up more energy.
Two points of advice that I cannot stress enough, if you are wanting to make a dietary change, lose some weight or just manage your food:
- Keep a food diary, each day write down what you eat and when, including fluids; basically everything that goes into your mouth. The main reason for this is so that at a glance you can see where you could improve, alter or pinpoint trouble spots. For example - Friday afternoon at work or Sunday at mums.
- Get a calorie counting book and learn the calories of most of the foods you eat.
These two tools will be all you need to take a common sense approach to managing food. It wont take very long to at least learn the foods you eat all the time. Then using the BMI (Body Mass Index) & BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculator you will know what calories your body burns or is able to burn each day without any specific or regular activity.
The BMI calculator can be a handy tool to learn a little more about your weight range. I only recommend using it as a rough guide.
One very important thing which is not rocket science:
Do not eat fatty fast foods any more!!!
This is a must if you want to achieve successful long term weight loss or at the very least get yourself to a healthier point then you are at now. Try to avoid take away but if you do there are a few takeaway’s, if eaten sensibly that are ok: Subway, BBQ Chicken and of coarse Salad bars. You are always better off to prepare your days food before you leave the house so that you are in control of what you have available to eat.
Prevention is better than cure and this applies to your food as much as anything. So making sure that you pack, or have readily available, everyday, things like fresh fruit and low carb protein bars, or protein style shakes. You need the right weapons to fight the battle.
I had a chat with a friend about eating a particular food and about knowing that it would take an hour on a treadmill to burn it off. We’ve all heard of this, right? Let’s say, for example, a chocolate takes an hour on the treadmill to burn . My friend did not have a problem with the theory of walking an hour to have the chocolate and I asked her if she did just that. She said she didn’t but it didn’t bother her. So to put it into perspective I asked her if she would walk an hour to the shop to get the particular chocolate. Would she walk that far to get it? Probably not! The main reason for sharing this is because a lot of times, even when we know something, we often don’t put it into perspective. There is an old saying:
‘To know and not do; is to not know’
The last thing that I would like to share with you, is mastering the art of substitution. That is, learning to substitute things that are lower in fat or lower in calories and therefore better for you. Such as, trade white bleached products like breads and rice for whole grain products.
A lot of people will disagree with this one, substitute sugar with artificial sweetener. There is a big debate on the dangers of these products so please do your own research. My argument is, ‘I would rather die of chemicals in diet products then die of obesity’(or even live another day as obese).
If you would like more ideas and tips from me then please check out my e-store and keep an eye out for my coaching book for more sound advice.
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