Guest post: Diet and weight loss

by Mollie Millington | Apr 23, 2020 | guest post, weight loss

I, like Mollie am a Personal Trainer, and I love her philosophy, because it’s about small, effective changes that lead to a happier lifestyle. Some people exercise for aesthetic reasons only, but Mollie and I exercise for how it makes us FEEL, which makes it much more enjoyable.

Be aware of calorie intake

I just want to start by saying, I think it’s important not to relentlessly count calories and beat yourself up about going over your daily allowance. However what I would advise anyone to do, no matter what stage of their fitness journey, is to increase your awareness about calorie intake in general. How many calories are you eating or drinking on a daily basis? Have you tried keeping a food diary? Or tracking your diet by using My Fitness Pal? This is such a simple yet effective tool which can help whether your goals are to bulk, cleanse or lose weight.

Re-learn what a treat is

Diet and exercise go hand in hand, but the word DIET doesn’t need to mean that you can’t treat yourself. I like to just re-teach my clients what a treat is. For me a treat might be a flat white, because I usually drink black coffee. A flat white with full fat milk is 179 calories or 93 if you get it with skimmed milk. Some people are mindlessly drinking 2 or 3 coffees a day and that could be 537 calories. If your average woman needs to consume about 1,500 to lose weight then your 3 meals a day will have to be very low in calories to shift a even a pound. Maybe you have done that spin class, already burnt 300 calories, so you can justify those 3 coffees? Or maybe you only eat 1 meal a day so that you can have those 3 coffees, but that sounds like a pretty restrictive diet to me and does not sound like fun to stick to, So are there other ways?

Here is a round-up of a few ‘diets’ I have tried myself to shift a few pounds or reboot my gut health:

Mind Body Green – The definitive 3 Day Gut Reset Diet

Based on Ayurveda science this 3 day Gut reset Diet works on the principle that your body needs periods of rest and rejuvenation to operate as effectively as possible. I have learnt on various nutrition courses that your body uses up to 60% of it’s energy to digest food, so if there is nothing to digest you will have more energy to spend on other things.

In short; This is a 3 day cleanse, you start by drinking water in the morning, have a sugar free breakfast, broth for lunch and adding in prebiotics to your evening meal. The hardest part is not to snack during meals and instead have a cup of Chai, add prebiotics in the evening and get lots of sleep.

I tried this cleanse and recommend it to a few clients too. Mainly because I have found that long laborious meal plans are just too hard to stick to for most people with normal lives, and near impossible to stick to for those with demanding jobs where you are always on the go.

The results:

Me: Lost 0.9kg overall but weight tends to fluctuate about half a stone depending on when I weight myself anyway.

Client 1: Women, Age 50+- Over 3 days she lost 1.6kg, but reported feeling more energized.

Client 2: Man, Age 60+, Over 3 days lost 0.8kg but enjoyed the fact that it was an easy diet to stick to. Has tried diets before and found them too complicated.

Conclusion: Short but effective! We would all highly recommend for a short-term gut fix, but this is not a sustainable weight loss solution.

Intermittent Fasting as a Dieting tool

I have fasted for years. I find that when I wake up, as long as I don’t leave it too long before I exercise, I can usually fend off hunger until lunch time. I personally have terrible bowel movements and have found this really effective in giving my body a break from digestion. But I tried every method and cut out every food group in order to find this method. It wasn’t until the 5:2 diet became mainstream that I really thought of fasting as an option.

In short: If you don’t consume any calories until lunch time, you can have larger meal portions for lunch and dinner. Once you get used to this, you can also try fasted cardio – Hit the gym or go for a run on an empty stomach the “British Journal of Nutrition” found that you burn up to 20% more fat if you exercise on an empty stomach, but some critics have been sceptical of this.

The results: I find this great if you are trying to maintain weight and it works if you have low body fat to start with but starting from a high % body fat for some reason doesn’t have the same effect. I believe this is because your body needs to kick start the metabolism before burning off anything and with any diet, your body either likes it, or doesn’t like, I would certainly say this approach is not for everyone. However, I do just want to add that ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ was apparently created by cereal companies wanting people to buy cereals, so another great marketing ploy has helped attribute to our countries problem with obesity.

Conclusion: You have to try it, it might not agree with you, but you might find it easier than you think. At the end of the day all diets will only work if you

If your new to fasting, this page has some great tips.

Hypoxi

This is not a diet as such, this is marketed as a quick and targeted weight loss solution.

We all know too well that it’s very hard to target where you want to lose weight, Yes there are exercises that can help but the reality is, if you work one area too much the muscle will increase and it if you want to lose weight in your face or your inner thighs then no amount of full body or targeted exercises will just take it from that area you desire. You might lose a bra size, a chin or an inch on your waist when all you really wanted to do was lose a bingo wing.

How it works: You exercise within your fat burning zone for 30 minutes either seated or lying down. The machines are exercise bikes and a vacuum is applied once you lock yourself in. The vacuum is created around your legs using a Neoprene skirt and air locked container.

The results: According to measurements which were taken before my first session (fasted) and after 3 Hypoxi sessions, my overall loss was 9cm from thighs and stomach. I had also lost 0.4kg in just a few days. I am not convinced the 9cm loss was just the measurements being taken from a slightly different angel but having spoken to a few girls who had signed up to longer programmes know that having paid for something like this they were inclined to eat a much healthier diet because they know otherwise it was a waste of money. But trying to lose weight can be as much a mindset thing as it is a physical thing from some people, so if this worked and they didn’t even have to get on a treadmill then so be it. We are all different.

The conclusion: I would recommend this is you struggle to exercise because of impact on knee and ankle joints. There is something a little weightless about the experience and the vacuum makes you work hard whilst not exerting too much downward pressure. You do certainly sweat and you do manage to maintain in your fat burning zone so I’d recommend it for that but overall it’s quite a lazy approach to shifting a few pounds and inches. I wouldn’t really feel like I had deserved or earnt any weight loss results from this approach, but if you just need a little nudge to help you on your way then what have you got to lose? Overall this is venue is quite nice, the staff are very welcoming, it’s clean and well-kept but it’s not a the 5* luxurious studio you would expect in the middle of Knightsbridge.

At the end of the day there has been absolutely no evidence that’s proves any diet is a one size fits all diet, but what I do know is that there is a direct correlation between losing weight and how religious you are about sticking to a diet. Try not to overcomplicate a diet. Find what works for you, find what is sustainable and just burn more calories than you put in.

As Lauren says, and experienced, there isn’t one practice for loosing weight that works for everyone.  You have to find something that works for you and your lifestyle.  If you would like to talk through some of your options, send me or Lauren an email to discuss.