Tag Archives: diet

Why Diets Don’t Work……..Ever!

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muscle-building-foods

You’ve all been there. You look in the mirror and sigh, try to pull on a pair of jeans or skirt you haven’t worn for a while and mysteriously can’t get the zip done up no matter how hard you tug. “That’s it, I’m going on a diet” you say. On a Diet, those three words sum up the problem with diets and the reason they just don’t, won’t, can’t work….not in the long term anyway. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Atkins, the Cabbage Soup or the Caveman diet, ultimately they will fail and you will gain back any weight you lost. Why? Well because the whole phrase going on a diet implies that at some point you will come OFF of that diet, and what happens then? Inevitably the bad habits come back and the weight starts to creep back on.

Also the whole psychology behind dieting creates a negative mindset. It’s all about denial. Denying yourself the foods you’d like to eat, being hungry all the time, forcing yourself to do something you aren’t mad keen about in a desperate drive to lose some weight. If you have that mind set how does it make you feel. Anxious? Depressed? Stressed? At some point you are going to crack. No matter how much will power you have you can’t keep that up for the rest of your life.

Wouldn’t it be soooooo much better to feel positive about your food, what you eat and how you eat? Wouldn’t it be better to east tasty, fun foods, eat decent sized portions and also NOT to feel guilty or beat yourself up when you occasionally tuck into something bad like a sticky toffee pudding with cream. “What, how can i eat that on a diet?”.  Well on a diet you can’t, but if you follow what I’m about to say you CAN!

What you need to do is change your whole outlook and attitude to food. You need to change how you eat and what you eat FOREVER. You aren’t going on a difficult diet, you are going to change your lifestyle and become a HEALTHY EATER. This really isn’t rocket science, in fact it’s absolute common sense and to be honest our grandparents generations and the ones before that did it as a matter of course.

It’s really really simple to do. Basically you just need to eat fresh food. That’s it. “It can’t be that simple?”  Well actually it pretty much is with a couple of rules. The key is to avoid processed and packaged produce as much as you possibly can. Avoid sweet or packaged snacks as much as you can and avoid fizzy or sweetened drinks as much as you can, and cut back slightly on Carbs such as potatoes, bread and pasta. That is pretty much it. Other than that you can still eat 2 to 3 meals a day and for your main dinner you can eat pretty healthy/large portions.

So what do i mean by processed foods? Again it’s simple. Anything that comes in a packet or packaging that has a list of ingredients needs either to be avoided or the label carefully studied. ALL ready meals, most childrens meals, ALL fizzy drinks, anything that has lists of chemicals, sweeteners or E numbers on the label. “Hmmmm, so what can i eat?” As i said, basically it is fresh stuff. Meat, Fish, Poultry, Eggs, Beans, Nuts and Vegetables / Salad / Fruit. Within reason you can eat as much of these as you like. Throw in some exercise and you will either lose weight (if you are currently overweight), or maintain a healthy weight (if you are not really that overweight).

Is it a bit more difficult, less convenient in this busy modern world. Yes it is slightly but would you prefer the slight inconvenience of having to buy and prepare fresh food and healthy meals that you can eat a lot of and enjoy, or suffer the misery of continually being on a deny yourself everything type diet?

So what does this mean in practical terms? The best way to illustrate that is probably to tell you what I’m eating at the moment. I am on a drive to lose some weight and strip some blub from around my middle area. I’m not overweight at all really. I was about 12 stone 5 pounds  and want to get down to about 11 stone 10 if possible. Why? Well because as I’ve already told you I’m vain and would love once in my life to have some proper 6 pack abs. So I’m training quite hard and want to lose some weight but at the same time don’t want to lose any muscle and therefore need to eat well and decent portions. So here is what i ate yesterday and will eat today.

Yesterday: Went to the Gym first thing. When i got back i had a medium bowl of Greek Yoghurt (the real stuff, not Greek style) with a large handful of blueberries thrown in and a drizzle of honey over the top. This was washed down with a double scoop protein shake. Late morning i had a Banana. At lunch i had 2 eggs, simply cracked into a bowl, salt and pepper and microwaved for 1 minute. Mid afternoon a large handful of mixed nuts. Then for dinner we sat down as a family and smashed into 3 beautiful lamb cutlets (with the lovely crispy fat as well) and a large salad. The salad was mixed leaves, loads of tomato’s, red pepper, spring onion and a large avocado. It took ten minutes to make the salad and about 7 minutes to cook the chops, what’s hard about that? I was full and very happy.

Today is a no Gym day. So far I’ve had the same bowl of Yoghurt, Blueberries and Honey plus one banana. For lunch i plan a couple of Ryvita’s smeared in delicious Nut butter, probably another Banana and some Melon I’ve got in the fridge. Mid afternoon I’ll probably break cover, be bad and have a cup of coffee with a biscuit. Then for dinner it will be similar to last night. We have some marinated spicy turkey breast steaks with a different type of salad and maybe some couscous.

Is it working? Absolutely! I’m down to 12 stone 1 pound. Feel great and am seeing some Abs appear (although long way to go yet). Also the trick here is that I don’t deny myself. We have got a few social nights out coming up in the next few weeks and on those nights I’m going to eat and drink what the hell i like, no denial whatsoever. Can you do that on a diet? No. However on a lifelong healthy eating plan you can cut yourself some slack and break loose now and then.

To just go back over this and make things very clear. The critical thing you need to change is not just your diet, it’s your attitude to food and eating. Be proud of the fact that you are changing your life for the better. In the book I’m writing I talk about pride as being a big motivating factor and maybe my next post will be about pride and other tools you can use for motivation. Your attitude needs to be “I am going to eat well, eat healthily, prepare my food myself instead of letting the supermarket do it, and I can eat big portions and be bad now and again”. It’s just common sense, it’s just going back to what our Grandparent did and adopting their “meat and two veg” lifestyle but making it more fun.

Future posts will start to give recipe advice, tips on how to prepare food in advance to cut down on time and if you want I’m happy to give more examples of what I’m eating.

Take Care,

John

 

Setting achievable Goals – 5 ways not to fail.

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Mountain GoalsWe all have dreams and aspirations of some sort. Every one of us at some stage has lain in bed at night and thought “if only” or “i wish i could…”. So why do some people seem to be able to achieve those aims and make them reality, and others just don’t.

Setting goals is a bit of a cliché. We have all worked at companies or in jobs where tired bosses sit us all in a room and we “brainstorm” a set of goals that we’d like to achieve. However the trick is to get away from that negative mindset around goals and bring them back into a sense of reality. What is a “goal”? Very simply it’s just something you’d like to do or an aim you’d like to achieve. So how can you turn that goal or dream into reality. Use the 5 tips below and by implementing these simple techniques you WILL achieve your health and fitness goals.

  1. Be Realistic: This is THE most critical point of all. We may all have dreams but look at yourself in the mirror and genuinely ask yourself “is this possible?”. I’m all for setting high standards and reaching the top of the mountain, but we do also have to look at our limitations and be real. If you currently get out of breath running 50 yards for the bus then setting yourself a goal of running the Marathon in under 3 hours is too big a leap. You have to make a realistic assessment of where you are now and set a challenging but achievable target of where you would like to get to. So if you are struggling to run to the bus stop, set a target of running 3 miles without stopping. If you are 6 stone overweight, don’t commit to losing all 6 stone immediately, set a target of losing half of that weight in a set period. That brings me onto the next point….
  2. Change and reset your goals regularly. People seem to think that if they set a goal it is cast in stone. Life isn’t like that. Life throws you curve balls all the time. Your circumstances change, your health, job, family situation may all change for the better or worse and you have to be flexible enough to accommodate those changes and the effect they may have on your goals. Similarly as you work towards the goal you may surprise yourself and need to reset the goal. If your aim is to run 3 miles and you suddenly find you have an aptitude for running then push it out to 5 miles or 10 miles. If the weight falls off of you very easily change the time period you are looking at. I’d also suggest that the best way to set goals is to take it in small chunks. If you do want to run a marathon you don’t go out and hit 26 miles on day one. You aim for 5 miles, then 10, then 15 and work your way towards the end goal. That should be the same in all areas of your health and fitness regime. Constantly appraise yourself, where are you at, what can you change and are you making progress towards the ultimate target?
  3. Make sure your goal is measurable in some way or that you can keep track of it. If it’s just about appearance then take a selfie in front of the mirror once a week. You will be amazed at how motivating it is to see and be able to detail those small incremental changes. Keeping a record of the improvements you are making whether that is more weight you are lifting, kilo’s you are losing, dress sizes you are dropping or just how much more toned you look in photo’s will inspire you to keep up the good work. Sometimes progress is slow or moves forward in almost unseen steps. if you can document it, however small, it will keep you on track and moving forward.
  4. However the flip side of point 3 is this. Don’t panic if you have a setback or it isn’t working. At some point in whatever it is that you are trying to achieve you will hit a plateau, a point where you get stuck and don’t seem able to make any more progress. You may stop losing weight, just can’t improve your running times or can’t get your bench press above 100kg no matter how hard you try. It’s really important at those points not to be become negative or demotivated. Cut yourself some slack, step back and take a look at a)how far you have come already and b) what you might be able to change to continue moving forward again. In many cases just taking a week off, recharging your batteries and giving your body and mind some time off is all you need. Start again after the week off and see what happens. If that doesn’t work you may just need to change your routine a bit. Your body is very clever and if you do the same thing all the time it adjusts and stops making progress. That’s why changing your approach and making small changes to your goals on a regular basis is so important.
  5. Make your goals public and put a time frame on them. That doesn’t mean you need to put an advert in the local newspaper, but DO tell a few of your loved ones and close friends what your aims are. “Why would i want to do that?” you ask, “that’s embarrassing!” Well for two reasons really. Firstly if you tell other people your aims then almost everyone i know will feel the same way. They feel that by publicly committing to something you are letting not only yourself down but other people as well if you stray away from your target, and that can be a very powerful motivator. Secondly however, those people can and will help you. If you have a bit of a blip, fall off the wagon or just start to struggle then those close to you can give you the support and help you need to pick yourself back up and keep going. They can push you towards your targets and give you the impetus to keep going even when it becomes tough.

So to summarise what i have said very briefly. Set realistic targets that are achievable based on where you are now. Set a time frame and a way of measuring your progress. Appraise and if need be change those goals on a regular basis and finally tell some of your closest friends and relatives so that they can help you out (and give you some friendly stick if you start to wilt).

Don’t hesitate, start now. Get a piece of paper, write down 5 things you’d like to achieve and then pick one that you want get started on. Set a date, figure out how you are going to go about it and get cracking. Climbing the biggest mountain starts with the very first small step, so do that RIGHT NOW!!

Take Care,

John

8 Easy ways to start losing Weight NOW!!

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Lose weight text with measure tape and fruits

You’ve tried every weight loss trick and diet out there from the Atkins to the Paleo and it just doesn’t work. You can’t stick to it for long and no matter how hard you try after a while the weight just creeps back on.

I could be wrong but you are probably just over complicating things and making your life too damn hard. Below is a list of 8 quick tips that if you follow, or even adopt just some of them you WILL lose weight. I’m not saying they are easy but they are simple. Follow them for a couple of months and watch the inches fall away just in time for Summer.

  1. Cut Out Sugar as much as possible: Sugar is a killer both in health terms and from a calorie and weight gain perspective. Stop putting sugar in your tea and coffee, stop eating cakes, sweets and chocolate and watch the rapid change in your body.
  2. Stop Drinking Fizzy or Sweetened Drinks: We all love a nice refreshing coke now and then but it is loaded with sugar and loaded with calories. In fact almost ALL artificial drinks and even many fruit juices are packed with calories. Wherever possible stick to water, black coffee, green tea’s or other completely natural drinks. Even be careful with fruit juice which is often full of sugar.
  3. Cut Out White Carbohydrates: What are white carbs? Well most  breads, pasta, potatoes, white rice. Believe me, if you can cut back heavily on these ingredients, especially the bread, then you will notice a rapid difference. Stick to sweet potato, brown rice, beans (all types) and veg for your carb sources.
  4. Cut back on Alcohol consumption: Yep unfortunately folks booze contains loads of calories. Beer, wine, mixers, even spirits are a) not great for you and b) pile on the pounds. You don’t have to stop completely but cut back as much as you can.
  5. Ditch processed and packaged foods: Generally speaking if it comes in a packet, has pictures and a label with ingredients on it, it won’t be good for you. Almost ALL processed food contains chemicals, preservatives, hidden sweeteners and processed fats. Just avoid them. Buy  fresh fish, meat, poultry and vegetables. You may need to spend a bit more time (not much) but if you cook it yourself and don’t eat from packets i GUARANTEE you will lose weight.
  6. Fill your house with healthy snacks: We ALL get the munchies from time to time and you are lying to yourself if you think you can be good 100% of the time. So when you want a snack you grab a choccy bar and worry later. However if you have bags of nuts, banana’s, apples, a small bar of high cocoa dark chocolate within easy reach then you can satisfy your short term craving and not feel too guilty about it.
  7. DON’T skimp on food or miss meals: I know this sounds strange but cutting back on food and missing meals will not help. If you cut calories too drastically and too quickly your body will start to store fat…and you don’t want that. Eat regularly and eat well BUT make sure it is healthy. Fresh fish or meat/poultry and LOADS of veg, salads, beans.
  8. Move it, Move it: It’s pretty obvious really but the more exercise and activity you do the more calories you burn. Of course working out is important but actually it’s the small things that add up over a period of a lifetime. Always take the stairs, not the lift or escalator. Walk the 10 minutes home instead of jumping on the bus. If you are going somewhere walk quickly don’t stroll. Carry stuff from the DIY store don’t get a trolley. It’s an attitude of mind really. Always try to use your body and take the harder option, it really really pays off.

That’s it. 8 simple things that you can start to implement in your life that WILL make you lose weight. Now I am a realist and this is a blog for Ordinary people. I can visualise the large “GULP” you are all taking at the thought of all those things you need to give up. However this is a long term plan and the odd blip or weekend break out is not going to harm you. Read this previous post here which explains why if you are consistent in your approach you can allow yourself the odd naughty moment. If you can regularly adopt 5 or 6 of the points above and use them 80% of the time then you will be well on the road to a slimmer, lighter, healthier and better version of yourself.

Take Care,

John

 

Drink Beer & Get Fit – What do You Want?

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Hi Again Everyone,

I’m in the process of writing a book, the title of which will be “Drink Beer and Get Fit”. I can sense fitness professionals around the world throwing their hands up in horror at that title and castigating me for setting a bad example. If you’ve followed my blog you will know that I am approaching Health and Fitness from the perspective of an ordinary person and the truth is that most ordinary people will not live the life of a fitness model or a monk and WILL sometimes indulge in a beer or three or bottle of wine. Below is an extract from the first chapter of the book. I hope you like it and it strikes a chord with you. If it does then please let me know in the comments section.

Chapter 1. The First Step-Knowing what you Want.

So I’m guessing that if you’ve bought, borrowed or possibly even stolen this book you must have a reason. Maybe you just love Beer, saw the word in the title and couldn’t resist. Maybe it made you curious “can I really drink Beer and get fit? How does that work?”

More likely however you are unhappy with some aspect of your health, weight, shape or fitness and want to do something about it? Right? It must be or why else would you be here.

It’s important though that you really think about what it actually is that you want to achieve. You can change your lifestyle and change or improve your health, fitness, size, shape and weight in many different ways. What you actually want to achieve is important because it will to some extent dictate what you need to do and how to go about it.

So let’s break down some of the most basic needs and desires that might be driving you.

Weight:

Most people are slightly overweight to some degree but the changes you need to make to your lifestyle will be to a large extent dictated by just how much weight you want to lose. It is possible to become much fitter without actually losing much weight. You will still be healthier, stronger, fitter, but may still be carrying some extra blub around your middle, chest, arms and backside. You may be happy with that. Losing weight may not be that necessary, either because you are already close to where you want to be, or because you are comfortable the way you are. That’s fine, be true to yourself and certainly don’t be led by the images you see in magazines and the media.

However there are a few points to bear in mind. Carrying an extra stone around won’t do you too much long term harm but two, three stones or more, anything bordering on or straying into the territory of obesity will definitely have long term health effects as you get older. Diabetes, Heart problems, knee and joint issues and just general length of life are all directly linked to being heavily overweight and without wishing to lecture you, you really should think about doing something about it.

If weight loss is your key aim then the food and dietary parts of this book are the bits you should pay attention to and actively try to incorporate into your lifestyle. That is not to say that you should ignore the fitness chapters completely, in fact they go hand in hand. Following the tips and tricks around food and diet will 100% help you lose weight, however if you incorporate that alongside the fitness advice in other chapters two things will happen.

Firstly it will be easier to lose the weight and you will lose it faster. Not only that but it will be easier to keep it off. Why is that? It’s very simple really. Exercising burns calories, the more calories you burn the more weight you’ll lose. It really isn’t a Stephen Hawkingesque concept. Not only that, but the exercise will help to fire up your metabolism. Certain types of exercise which I’ll explain later not only burn up calories whilst you exercise but light a forest fire under your metabolism which mean that your body will continue to burn calories at an increased rate for many hours after you stop exercising. How cool is that? You can be sitting on the sofa watching Masterchef and lusting after all the food you can’t eat (only kidding) and still have a firing metabolism that is eating calories and weight hours after you left the Gym or got off the bike.

Secondly and more importantly the exercise itself will start to repair, improve and counteract the adverse health effects that we already discussed. Your heart and lungs will become healthier and work more efficiently, your joints and muscles will become stronger thus improving your mobility and the likelihood of Diabetes and other similar diseases will decrease.

Fitness:

Again this is an area where you really need to give some thought to what it is that you are seeking to achieve. Are you trying to get fit for a specific reason or event such as doing a 5/10k charity run, playing for a 5-a-side football team or climbing Everest? Or are you, as most people are, just seeking to be a fitter, stronger, leaner version of your current self. It’s also very important to be honest with yourself. We may all have grand dreams (I still cling to the hope of becoming world Middleweight boxing champion) but the reality is that was never ever a possibility let alone now that I’m 47.

That is not to say you should set your sights too low or not too dream, but do be aware of your initial limitations and set yourself some goals that for an initial period at least are achievable. What do I mean by that? Well you know yourself far better than I possibly can. If you currently get out of breath walking to the bus stop a little too fast then quite clearly your initial aims need to focus around improving your general fitness and aerobic capacity so that you can walk and do some decent exercise without getting out of breath or collapsing at the bus stop. In fact if you are very unfit, have had health problems or are very overweight it’s always sensible to have a quick chat to your doctor before starting any exercise regime.

Alternatively if you are already reasonably capable and can run, or possibly already play some sport then absolutely set your eyes on the horizon and have some ambitious goals. I have a friend who is a fantastic Personal Trainer and he has achieved some amazing things with some of his clients. Taking them from injuries and disabilities or extreme obesity, to running marathons, losing half their body weight, transforming their body shape. It can be done, anything is possible, but you need to have a plan and be realistic at the outset. In a later chapter I will cover the subject of your mindset, mentality and how one of the most critical things you can do is alter how you think about challenges and your attitude to your life, your health, your diet etc…..but that’s for later. All good things come to those (that read the chapters in order).

Shape:

If you eat better over a period of time and also exercise then inevitably your shape will change, and for the better. So why am I giving this a separate category? Well because when I refer to shape and people who want to change their shape I guess I am talking more about the people who have some sort of a goal in mind. We may not be talking Arnold Schwarzenegger type ambitions but certainly you’d like to add some muscle, possible reveal some abdominal muscles, even achieve that wide shoulder , v tapered look that athletes and superhero’s have.

So can that be done? You bet. Of course it depends to a degree on your starting point but you CAN get there. To lose weight and become fitter as outlined in the two sections above you need to work hard and be reasonably dedicated. To dramatically change your shape and become muscular and/or lean and sleek you need to do exactly the same thing but just work a bit harder and change how you exercise slightly.

Again a degree of realism is the key here. If you are 55 years old and carrying an extra four or five stone around with you then sculpting a six pack and arms that Hercules would be proud of is a big ambition that is going to take a great deal of work and some serious dedication. However I am not here to put you off, in fact I’d positively encourage you to think positively, set goals and work your butt off to achieve them.

That’s it, that’s part of the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. There is much more to come and I hope to have the book done and published by the end of the year. As i said earlier I’d welcome your comments. If you like the sound of it then please subscribe to my emailing list on the website. That way you won’t miss any more posts and all subscribers will get the first notification of availability as well as fantastic chances to get freebies of the book and other offers to follow. Once again, thanks for reading.

Take Care,

John

Healthy Easter Freebies….for everyone!! Subscribe Now!!

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Hi Everyone,

I posted this (see below) a few days ago and had a great response. However it’s Easter and I’m in a good mood spending the time off with my kids etc. So I’ve decided to extend the offer to EVERYONE! Yep that’s right, everyone who goes onto my Blog website www.ordinaryguyfitness.com and signs up onto the email subscription service will be sent a free Pdf on how to eat, what to eat and when to eat to stay lean, mean and shed fat. Don’t hesitate, do it now. 

Hello again Ladies & Gents,

As you may know this is a relatively new venture for me but I am really passionate about spreading knowledge and information on how to be more healthy, fitter, stronger and leaner. I want it to grow and as I’ve already said on my website www.ordinaryguyfitness.com I am completely honest about the fact that at some point I’d hope to earn some money from this venture. I see nothing wrong with that. I spend my time and provide you guys with some knowledge, tips, motivation and hopefully some entertainment. In return at some point in the future I will hopefully earn some money for my efforts. If that doesn’t float your boat or you disagree then don’t read the rest of this post, i totally understand. However if you feel that is fair then please do read on.

In order to grow my websites presence and build it’s following i need to attract as much traffic to it as possible. That means you, your friends, your friends friends and as many people out there in the big wide world as possible. I’m also very keen to make sure that those of you who enjoy my posts don’t miss out.

So with that in mind I have a new feature on the site which is an email subscription service. Simply go to the main page on my site ,look at the menu on the right hand side and you’ll see the email subscription box. Enter your email, hit subscribe and follow the instructions. You will then receive a simple email each time a new post comes out so that you don’t miss out. Don’t worry I’m not going to bombard you. I do have a real life and two to three posts a week is about all I will manage so i won’t be filling up your inbox.

As a little incentive I’ve come up with a fantastic FREE GIFT for the first 20 subscribers. You will receive a short healthy eating tip sheet and blueprint that tells you how and what to eat, when to eat and what to avoid to stay lean, mean and lose flab in time for summer.

I haven’t done this before and hope it works so watch this space. You’ll never know unless you try right????

Anyway, i hope you appreciate me being honest and up front about my motives and as always i welcome any comments and will do my best to answer.

So come on don’t hesitate, go to the website and Subscribe now….Please!

Take Care,

John

I need HELP….Now! – Comments, Ideas, what do YOU want?

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IdeasHello from the other side…..

No seriously, i do need your help. It’s all very well me writing these posts, offering advice and giving opinions but it’s all coming from me. What i really want to know is what EXACTLY would you like to see on a site like this, what are your ideas. When you are scrolling Facebook or Twitter, rummaging around on the web, looking at other fitness, health or diet sites, what is it that really GRABS your attention.

Tell me, i really want to know. What are your interests and what would stop you in your tracks for 5 minutes from your busy days and make you read an article. Do you want more specific training routines? Tips on losing weight? Specific diets? Ways to incorporate health and fitness into your daily routine? I’m here to help and keen to provide the information that you want.

Would you be interested in my daily routine (what i eat – good and bad-, how i train, how much booze i drink etc? Do you want tips on equipment to use, training techniques, specific exercises? Do you want more focus on alternative health and fitness themes? Give me some ideas.

This is a call to action. Please, pretty please, tell me what that one thing you’d love to see is. If you could wave a magic wand and think “if only someone could show me how to….” or “If only someone would tell me….”. Just ask and it’s yours…….well maybe, depends on what you ask, but I’ll definitely try.

The whole purpose of this is to be interactive. It’s for ordinary guys and ordinary girls who are going about their daily lives and just want to improve, to be better, fitter, healthier, stronger BUT who also do have a life and need to work around that.

So come on, take 2 minutes, hit the comment button or email me. Tell me “what you want, what you really really want” (Ok no more song jokes i promise).

I’m sitting at my laptop waiting, DON’T disappoint me!

Take Care,

John

Daily Eating Tips to Guarantee you Lose Weight!!

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Scales

Yep that’s right, if you follow most of these tips I Guarantee you will lose weight. I’m going to stick my neck out and personally promise you that if you follow this guide for 4 weeks you will have lost weight, possibly even a significant amount of weight depending on your starting point.

Firstly, to allow me at least some chance of being right, there are a few rules here that you need to stick to.

  • You MUST exercise. By that i mean at least twice a week you need to do some form of energetic exercise that gets you blowing hard and works your muscles. That could be running, a weight session in the Gym, some form of exercise class, or even just a vigorous home work out. The other 5 days you need to do at least 20 minutes of some form of activity that raises your pulse and brings on a mild sweat. That could be a brisk walk, a 20 minute home circuit as detailed in one of my previous posts here, or a quick session with some dumbbells in your garage.
  • You MUST attempt to eat healthily and stick to the plan for a minimum of 4 days and ideally 5 days of each week. If you go to less than 4 full days you will negate all the positive effects and to be honest may as well not bother (I will cut you some slack if you have a lot of social activity but for one week only)
  • You MUST be hardcore about cutting out the big evil in your kitchen…..SUGAR! That means on your good days, No biscuits, No chocolate, No fizzy drinks (or any other juice or sugary drinks) and if possible cut out or definitely cut back drastically on any alcohol from Monday through to at least Friday evening.

Got That? Gonna stick to it? Of course you are. So here we go…

Breakfast! We all know that old saying “The most important meal of the day”. Well i hate to break it to you but that ain’t necessarily true. Many people now believe that intermittent fasting (going for lengthy periods without food, or only eating at certain times) is the way forward. I have to say that i do believe it works but it’s probably a bit unfair to drop you newbies straight in at the deep end. So here are a few simple ideas for breakfast that will satisfy your overnight cravings but won’t break the Calorie bank.

A boiled egg, or two if you insist (No soldiers to dip in it), followed by a banana. Black coffee, no sugar.

A medium sized bowl of Greek yoghurt or Skyr yoghurt with a large helping of blueberries thrown in. Drizzle with some organic honey if you need a hit of sweetness.

A small bowl of oats and nuts with the same yoghurt as above, again with some honey to sweeten.

A small portion of scrambled eggs (2 eggs is fine) with some flakes of smoked salmon broken into it. Add pepper and you have a breakfast for kings.

One slice of wholegrain toast smeared with Nut butter/peanut butter and if it floats your boat also add sliced banana on top.

That’s it. 5 breakfasts and I’m sure you can conjure variations on these themes. The key is not having big volumes and avoiding crappy sugar filled cereals and loads of bread. So what about lunch?

Lunch to some degree depends how active you are. If you hit the gym in the morning or have an active job that involves physical exertion then you are allowed a little bit more. If not then be good and stick to the plan and remember it’s only for 4 to 5 days.

Crack 2 eggs into a small bowl, sprinkle some salt, add a fair bit of pepper and microwave for between a minute and minute 30 seconds. Get a spoon and eat. It’s surprisingly filling and has lots of protein and not many calories.

Get a ripe avocado, mash it up with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and some chopped chilli until you have a rough paste. Spread it on a piece of wholegrain toast or ryvita, drizzle with lemon. Job done.

If you are training hard and want something more substantial try this. I make a batch up on a Monday and it lasts me 3 days. Boil a decent amount of brown rice for 20/25 mins (until soft). In another pan fry (coconut oil) some chicken, onions, peppers, carrots, Garlic and a LOT of fresh chopped ginger. Mix the rice in with the chicken, give it a good stir and drizzle with some light soy sauce as you stir it. Let it cool down, put in some Tupperware and stick in the fridge. Microwave for 2 minutes when needed and easy to take to work with you.

How about a chicken drumstick – cooked or cold with a mix of salad leaves , drizzle of Olive Oil and some balsamic vinegar. Again just use your imagination, stick to meats, proteins, veg, eggs or maybe small portions of cheese and you’ll be fine. The idea of lunch is just to fill a hole and fulfil your nutritional needs, NOT fill you up!

Right, most people’s main meal….dinner. Here you have a new best friend….salads! “Whaaaat? Salad, that’s rabbit food”. Not true. You can supercharge salads and make them hugely enjoyable. Use  the standard ingredients and then add the extra’s that add flavour. These include blue cheese, feta cheese, parmesan, walnuts, grapefruit (yep), basil, coriander, olives, chopped/sliced chilli, chopped/sliced ginger. Exciting dressings using lime/lemon juice, different types of vinegar, a drizzle of soy sauce. You can easily have a variety of salads 3 to 4 nights a week. Don’t panic though because alongside the salad you will have one of the following: Grilled or pan fried chicken with whatever spices and herbs you fancy, sweet chilli turkey breasts, a couple of lamb chops, grilled or pan fried salmon, mackerel or pretty much any fish you fancy.

Or if you don’t fancy a salad one night how about some chicken, turkey, fish or pork, a big serving of Brocolli and some sweet potato mash with added spices, olive oil and loads of pepper.

What about snacks? Well if possible try to avoid them but we all know that ain’t gonna happen. So have a bag of mixed nuts in the cupboard and grab a handful a couple of times a day. Always have banana’s on hand and peel one if you feel the need. A bag of carrots in the fridge and grab one (unpeeled) to munch on whenever you want. Of an evening 2 or 3 squares of genuine full cocoa dark chocolate won’t break the bank.

The other key as I’ve said is what you drink. Wherever possible it’s going to be water (add lemon, lime, mint, ginger if you need some flavour). Otherwise black coffee, a glass of milk a day is fine and if you really must a glass of red wine a couple of times a week is also fine of an evening.

Then what happens at the weekend. Well that comes down to you. It would be stupid to spend every weekend deliberately cramming bad things down your neck. Try to be good. Avoid the processed crap we have talked about, try to stick to good snacks and not bad ones, but otherwise reward yourself. If you want a few drinks, have them. If you are going for a meal, have what you want, fancy a good breakfast, have a healthy fry up. The key is to be sensible. If you go for a big curry and beers on Saturday night, why not skip breakfast on Sunday. You’re a grown up (hopefully) so just be sensible and stick to what you know is right. Enjoy your weekend and reward yourself for your sacrifice in the week, but unless its a big event keep thinking about the long term goals.

There will be a lot more recipe’s and details on food and eating patterns in the weeks to come. As always, any questions or comments please fire them at me, I’m ready and willing to answer.

Take Care,

John