Feb 14, 2019 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

If you are not following us on Facebook, then you are missing out. But don’t worry, we put the latest posts together in this collection of weight loss tips.

Gratifying Greek 

Are you struggling to choose good protein sources for snacks?

We love the versatility of Greek or Icelandic yoghurt. They are much higher in protein than standard yoghurts. That means they will provide all the protein you need for a decent filling snack.

If you choose the 0% yoghurt then you won’t get that many calories either.

One of those 170g pots of 0% Greek yoghurt will give you over 17g protein and fewer than 100 calories. Throw in a banana or a load (and I mean a load, not the measly amount in the photo) of berries, maybe a few seeds, and you’ve got a healthy, balanced snack with less than 200 calories. Nice! That’s  a great weight loss tip right?

And….. bonus… good amounts of calcium in the diet has also been shown to aid with weight loss.

So what’s not to love? Go and shovel the stuff in today!

 

Log for lasting weight loss

 

Do you log your food?

If you want to be successful with your weight loss efforts, then you might want to start.

Take a look at this article:

The results in this study show that those who logged their food most of the time were successful with long term weight loss. Those who didn’t log or who logged inconsistently were not successful.

Take a look at the graph in the study. The green line – the only one showing long term weight loss – shows those who logged their food consistently.

Logging not only reveals the calorie content in your food, it helps you learn about better food choices and portion sizes, so you develop better eating habits.

We use the Fitbit food app with our clients but you can use MyFitnessPal or other apps.

 

Movement improvement

 

What does the acronym ‘FMS’ stand for?

If you Google it you’ll find lots of possibilities. The one we are talking about is ‘Functional Movement Systems’.

FMS is an internationally renowned method of assessing movement and creating programmes of movement correction. We are certified Functional Movement Systems practitioners.

All our clients have a functional movement screen before they start the training programme. This allows us to select the safest exercises while we work on improving their movement.

In the early part of a programme we will blend movement correction with strength training. The correction programme will improve your movement, reduce pain and straighten up your posture.

Once movement is good enough and safe enough, we can focus on strength and muscle maintenance.

That means our programmes not only address weight loss, but also movement, for a thorough, holistic body overhaul.

Not all sugar is sweet

Do you know how much sugar you’re eating? It may be more than you think.

First let’s define sugar: any food that raises blood sugar quickly. For argument’s sake, we’ll say anything with a Glycemic Index greater than 70.

So, with that definition, let’s list some common foods that, as far as the body’s response is concerned, are essentially sugar:
– All breakfast cereals – and I mean ALL – it includes Bran Flakes, Weetabix, Shredded Wheat, Special K
– Sugary drinks and sweets
– White bread, wholemeal bread….pretty much ALL bread
– Pastries, cakes, biscuits, crackers
– White potato (flesh)

As a rule of thumb, a carbohydrate source that has been processed and/or stripped of its fibre will act like sugar on the body.

Has this changed your answer to the question above?

Most people’s view of sugar is the granulated stuff you put in your tea. But that stuff – otherwise known as sucrose – has a Glycaemic Index of 65. That’s because it’s a disaccharide of glucose (GI=100) and fructose (GI=25). That doesn’t mean you can pile the stuff in – at 65 it’s still going to raise your blood sugar pretty quickly.

If you’d like regular enlightenment on healthy food choices and weight loss tips, then follow us on facebook.

Beneficial Brussels

Do you normally turn your nose up at Brussels sprouts on Christmas Day?

Learn to love this impressive veggie. Here are some of the benefits:

– Support for cancer prevention through their DNA protective effect and antioxidant properties.
– Anti-inflammatory properties helping to combat chronic inflammation and heart disease.
– Cholesterol lowering – so have some sprouts with your pigs-in-blankets!
– Detoxification support.
– Help in maintaining a healthy gut.
– Packed with fibre and slow to digest so they will give you slow release energy.

– 80g of sprouts would give you four times more vitamin C than you’d get in an orange.
– Calorie sparse, so they’re going to fill you up without filling you out. I bet you were wondering if there was a weight loss tip amongst all these benefits, well this is it!

Any downsides? Well they contain a lot of sulphur which gives them a reputation for….. well…. I’m sure you know what for.

 

Is sitting making you stiff?

Feeling a bit lethargic and creaky after a few days of down time?

Maybe you’ve been sitting on the sofa a bit more? Or sitting more than normal.

Sitting too much is going to stiffen you up! It chronically shortens and tightens the hips and you tend to hunch over whatever you are doing – eating, driving, using the computer, playing video games. It’s worse on the sofa, which actually moulds you in to a hunched position.

In the short term, try and get up and walk about, mobilise the joints and stretch the muscles every hour or so.

Longer term, you’ll probably need to make mobility and flexibility part of your lifestyle if you don’t want to end up permanently stiff and crooked.

If you’re not sure what to do, we can help you. We are Functional Movement Systems practitioners. We’ll straighten you up and get you moving better. Come and see us and find out how we integrate movement improvement within our weight loss programmes.

 

Why we get fantastic results!

If you visit our testimonial page, you’ll see some of the fantastic things our clients are saying about us.

Why are they saying those things, why do we get results? These are the things that set us apart:
1. You commit to a programme of the right duration.
2. You get 3 prongs: training, nutrition and lifestyle.
3. You work on keeping your muscle.
4. Our methods are backed by proper credible science.
5. You are measured, monitored and motivated.
6. You get accountability in many guises.
7. You’ll be assigned an empathetic wordly-wise coach.

All these things contribute to improving your results. If you don’t get these things from your fitness provider then you may be heading for disappointment and frustration.

Come to our open door every Monday and Thursday and talk to us. We’ll explain how and why our programmes work.

 

An apple a day…

 

… you all know the rest.

Why is this such great advice?

Well for starters, they are a handy size for eating on the go and don’t generally spurt juice all over your top like some other fruits.

But mainly we love them because they are good for you and they have proven to be a desirable fruit choice for several weight loss tips:
– They are chock full of goodness – phytonutrients and antioxidants that can help protect against cancer
– They have lots of soluble fibre and water, which helps to fill you up. That makes them great for weight loss because they’ll stop you getting hungry.
– They are slow to digest, another reason why they are good for weight loss, but also helps to reduce the risk of diabetes
– All that soluble fibre is great for gut health
– They have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, high cholesterol, stroke, dementia and cancer.

Do you eat the whole apple including the seeds? You might want to think again – the seeds contain cyanide. Don’t eat them!

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Banish back pain

Do you suffer from lower back pain?

It might be easy to fix.

A lot of back pain is simply caused by the body not working in the way it should. It becomes stiff where it’s supposed to be mobile, and mobile where it’s supposed to be stable.

The lower spine – lumbar – is not designed to move much, it’s supposed to be an area of stability. In contrast, the two areas above and below the lower spine are supposed to be mobile – the hips and the mid (thoracic) spine.

We all do a lot of sitting in our lives. Our hips become stiff in the seated position, and our mid spine becomes stiff due to hunching over keyboards, steering wheels, plates… and from sofa sitting. When the two ‘mobile’ regions above and below the lumbar spine get stiff, guess what happens? The body inappropriately mobilises the lower back to take part in movement. The result? Pain from over recruitment of lower back muscles that are not designed to be primary movers.

The good news is it’s usually easy to correct. So what’s the solution? Loosen and mobilise the hips; loosen and mobilise the thoracic spine and stabilise the lumbar through proper core training.

The bad news is the longer you leave it the harder it will be to correct.

We do this stuff with ALL our clients because we want them to stand tall and look better and we want them to move well so we can prescribe a full range of beneficial exercises.

 

Muscle maintenance 

What should be your number 1 training goal when losing weight?

Keep hold of your muscle!

How? Train and eat in the right way.

Research suggests each lb of muscle you carry burns an extra 6 to 10 calories per day. Doesn’t sound a lot does it? But over time it all adds up.

It’s easy to lose half your weight as muscle if you adopt the wrong approach. If you’re losing 3 stones, that’s 21 lbs muscle you would lose. You’d be losing out on a calorie burn of between 46,000 and 77,000 a year. That’s equivalent to between 13lbs and 22lbs of fat! Over two years that’s between 1.9 and 3.2 stones!

Let’s say you lose weight and ‘get back to the weight you were when you were 25’, but you lost a lot of muscle whilst you were losing weight. The reality is that you are fatter than when you were 25 because, although you are the same weight, less of it is muscle. Logically then, more of it must be fat. You won’t look as good as when you were 25. Worse, you’ll be less resilient to excess calorie intake and will find it harder to keep the weight off. You could yo-yo.

One of the worst things you can do if you want to hang on to your muscle is to lose weight too quickly. If you do this at the same time as adopting the wrong eating approach and the wrong training approach then…..well, you could end up ‘skinny fat’.

This is probably our number one weight loss tip – take the right approach and you’ll get the results you want and be able to maintain it for life.

 

Shape up for summer – start now

Are you thinking about your summer holidays?

No, really. You may well need to be. If you’re looking to get in shape so you can feel proud when you are on the beach, then now is the time to start your weight loss programme.

You should assume a weight loss of 1 lb a week if you want to look your best. That means, if you want to lose a couple of stones, you need to start now.

Don’t leave it too late. If you start after Easter, it’ll be too late. Start now and give yourself the best chance of looking your best.

Take the first step to fitness today

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