While many would prefer there to be a magic pill or a machine that you simply lie or stand on while it vibrates your fat away, the harsh reality is that you need to eat less and do more, if you want to burn up your fat stores!
While many diets proclaim to have the “magic” balance of nutrients whether it be low GI, low carbohydrate, low fat or high protein, the facts are that it is the total energy you take in, regardless of the distribution of protein, fat and carbohydrate versus the energy you burn up that determines whether you gain or lose weight or stay the same.
Excess weight is caused by too much food and too little exercise or activity.
To maintain weight, we need a balance:
ENERGY IN = ENERGY OUT
To lose weight we must eat LESS and exercise MORE.
Even small increases in energy intake and less activity or exercise can lead to large long-term weight gain. For example, eating just 1½ plain sweet biscuits above your energy requirement daily can lead to a 5kg weight gain over a year!
Look at the energy content of the nutrients:
1g PROTEIN 17 kJ or 4 kcal
1g FAT 37 kJ or 9kcal
1g CARBOHYDRATE 16 kJ or 4 kcal
1g ALCOHOL 29 kJ or 7kcal
As you can see, fat is more than twice as “fattening” as protein and carbohydrate. So when trying to lose weight we must check our intake of fatty foods and watch alcohol consumption!
In fact, it is important to watch what we drink because it is easier to drink on body fat, than it is to eat it on. So, even though fruit juice and cordials and soft drinks are nearly half the calories of alcohol, it all adds up rather quickly. Drinking fluids doesn’t make us feel as full as when we eat making it easier to drink more.
We were designed to “eat to live” not “live to eat”, although many of us tend to do more of the latter than the former. Regardless of where our calories or kilojoules come from, the body will deposit any excess energy as fat once it has tended to all its daily energy needs from the food you eat.
Science tells us that to lose ½ kilogram or 1 pound we must burn 3500 kcals or ~ 800 kjs of energy more than we consume as food. Most weight management programs then will cut your calorie or kilojoule intake by 500kcals or 2000kjs a day to enable you to lose ½ kilogram or 1 pound a week, or by 1000kcals or 4000kjs to enable you to lose to lose 1 kg or 2lbs per week.
To lose weight you don’t need to starve yourself. Little changes will assist you with weight loss, for example:
· Eat smaller portions
· Put your food on a plate, not a bowl because it less looks more
· Don’t eat from the takeaway container be it a noodle box, or pizza box
· Skip supper
· Eat one course meals, and especially skip dessert
· Swap higher energy foods with lower energy options, eg cake or pastry when out for coffee have a scone, or have fruit for mid-meals instead of biscuits
· Wait 20 minutes after eating before deciding you are still hungry; it takes time to shut off the feeding centre and turn on the satiety centre after you start eating.
Instead of this | Energy K cal/kjs | A better option is | Energy K cal/kjs |
Caffe latter, full cream milk | 224/940 | Cafe latte, skim or lo-fate milk | 128/540 |
Scotch and Dry | 120/500 | Scotch and Soda | 70/290 |
Black Forest Cake | 611/2555 | Scone, buttered | 141/580 |
Meat Pie | 450/1881 | Pita with ham, cheese, salad, no fat | 332/1389 |
20 medium, dry roasted cashews | 191/797 | Apple | 54/224 |
Movie Popcorm-Large | 541/2260 | Bottle of water | 0/0 |