Has your weight crept up over the last few months? Feeling like your life would be a lot easier if you dropped the 5kg “extra” you have been carrying the last few years? Not sure where to start?
First things first – understand the key element to get under control is your energy balance. Very simply – where our energy intake (from food and drinks) is higher than our energy output (what we expend going about our day) – we will gain weight. Where they are in balance – we maintain our weight, and when our intake is less that our output, we lose weight.
Therefore we have 2 variables to play with to address our situation. We can look to reduce our energy intake (easier to implement into our routines and generally the more efficient route) or increase our output. (requires more time each week that you may not have)
A balance of adjustment against the 2 variables is most likely the best outcome for your overall health in the scheme of things, either way though, dropping 5kg of excess weight will have a positive impact on your health, so let’s focus on that.
When my clients come to me with weight loss goals, we start by gathering as much data as we can. This data will cover nutrition in the form of food logs across several days (including weekends) to understand total intake, and existing activity levels (step count, gym visits, other forms of exercise) and the flow of their week to understand best opportunities to move them towards their goals.
The more accurate this data, the better. We encourage our clients to use an app like MyFitnessPal to record their food and drink consumption – as our energy intake is the preferred variable to manipulate. Rather than setting arbitrary step count targets, we review current activity levels and come up with both a training plan to cover their gym training and set some incremental targets for increased activity across the rest of the week. Your smart watch/phone can give you some baseline data here.
The reaction we get from most people when they start monitoring their intake is one of surprise – be it across snacks they “forgot about”, the number of calories in certain foods, the extra calories on weekends, what 150g of protein physically is when they weigh their food etc. Building some awareness around all those things is an important step and gives you knowledge that will serve you for the long haul.
Once you get an average intake, look at your day in more detail and consider what you could do to drop your intake by 20%. You may be able to swap some things out for lower calorie alternatives (leaner cuts of meat are a great option, reduced fat dairy products will save you calories), reduce things like alcohol consumption and replace soft drinks with water.
Weigh yourself every day for the next 2 weeks and see what happens. Understanding that daily weight fluctuations are normal depending on water retention it’s important to remember we are just looking at what happens to your average weight over that period. Tracking it daily will give you a better picture.
Looking at your weekly activity (energy output) – can you take some opportunities to get some extra steps in, say 2-3,000 each day over what you do now? Walking is the most under-rated form of exercise there is and is good for your mind as well as your body – do it in instalments if you need to – just look to push your average up. Perhaps you can add another gym session in each week, or chase your dog around the dog park, kick the footy with your kids – it all helps.
2-4 weeks of consistent application of these methods will kick start your weight loss journey. CONSISTENT application is the key, so find yourself some accountability – be it family, co-workers etc to help keep you on track. Be mindful of your environment, will power only gets you so far, sometimes you are better off removing yourself from situations that will likely take you off track. (skip the pub for a little while for example)
From there, you rinse and repeat. Rate of weight loss can fluctuate a little, averaging around 0.5kg per week is generally maintainable for most people for a few months at a time. Maintain your calories at a consistent level moving forward, most people find over time their eating continues to improve as they consume a lower proportion of processed foods which will improve the way you feel, giving you a better quality “fuel” which carries over to better sleep and recovery, which also makes day to day life easier, and often leads to increased activity, which improves the equation further.
Tried this and still stuck? Hit a plateau with your weight loss? Reach out and we’ll gladly help you!