Adapting a healthy lifestyle that can be enjoyed and practised in perpetuity is the wise path to follow for permanent weight control and successful control of stress.
Exercise, becoming more active, combined with a balanced nutritional programme, eating sensibly, represents the key to self-empowerment.
Remember the following principles:
It is the TYPE, rather than the AMOUNT of food that is important,
as is the DURATION, rather than the INTENSITY of exercise, that
will have the major impact on energy balance.
Muscle is the most metabolically active tissue.
Exercise creates more muscle tissue, burning more kilojoules daily.
Aerobic activity stimulates the burning of stored adipose tissue.
Combine latter with muscle toning exercises for greatest change
in basal metabolic rate (BMR).
DON’T fast. DON’T diet. Going on one means coming off it sometime.
Food restriction, without exercise, reduces the body’s metabolic rate.
Losing muscle tissue while dieting reduces metabolism, saving fat.
Estimate your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) for a day, the number of
kilojoules needed at rest:
Males, 30-60 years (48>< weight kg)+3653, divided by 4,2, to =calories
Females, 30-60 yrs (34>< weight kg)+3538, divided etc.
To this figure, add more according to the activities of your day, which can vary by a multiple of up to 2,4 times the RMR. Example:
A 40 year old female weighing 60 kg (34>< 60=2040)+3538, divided
by 4,2=1328 calories daily to maintain weight.
NEVER eat fewer than 1200-1500 calories a day
Be a FLEXIBLE eater; restrained eating is never effective;
Deprivation is not the route to take.
GRAZE don’t GORGE. Eat every 4 hours, 5 varied, smaller meals a day.
The wider the range of foods eaten, the more you force your metabolic rate up, through thermogenesis (energy used to digest your meals).
Avoid saturated fats and keep fat content of all meals at max. 30%.
Eat good fats, from canola and olive oils, plus fish rich in omega-3 and 6
polyunsaturated fats. Learn to do less with butter or margarine. Both
are high in fat, whatever the form it takes. Peanut butter is 50% fat!
Eat fibre-rich foods: Fresh fruit, vegetables grains and cereals.
Complex carbohydrates should constitute 60% of your diet.
Lower glycemic carbohydrates (lower than 55) are particularly good
as they take longer to be absorbed and keep blood glycogen levels
constant. These include:
rye bread (50), All Bran (30), oats porridge (42), noodles (47), pasta-
spaghetti (41), ravioli (39), carrots (49), sweet potato (54), baked
beans (48), butter beans (31), kidney beans (27), soya (18), chick peas (33), bananas (53), oranges (43), grapes (43), grapefruit (25), popcorn
(55), skim milk (32), low fat yoghurt (33).
Eat the whole fruit for fibre; fruit juice is too concentrated
and kilojoule high.
MODERATION is the fundamental principle. Don’t deprive
yourself of the pleasures of food and drink.
Simply moderate intake. A beer-belly does not come from drinking
beer; it’s the fat-filled snacks, such as peanuts, pork rinds and crisps
that swell the waistline.
Keep protein levels constant. Exercise requires amino acids (protein foods) to maintain and develop muscle tissue. 15% of dietary intake should consist of low-fat protein foods. Your last small meal of the day should prominently feature protein. Your body uses this to repair and maintain muscle and not convert this meal into stored fat. Carbohydrates, the body’s energy foods, are not required at your last meal as you are least active at this time and the energy will be converted and stored as fat.
Maintain liquid levels at all times. Water is the most essential nutrient.
Drink water regularly throughout the waking day and especially
before, during, and after exercise.
Only 45 minutes after training, take a carbohydrate boost (energy
drink or food), to raise glucose levels in the blood. Enable the body
to use the fat that is still in the bloodstream for energy, before
replacing this with your carbo boost (hence, the wait).
Increase your levels of incidental activity, as well as the formal
exercise done.
Become less efficient in conserving energy. Use stairs, not lifts.
Park further away from supermarket entrances. Hide the remote.
Walk more. When tempted to snack needlessly, walk away from the
fridge or the snack stash! Frequent, short bouts of activity all
increase the metabolic rate.
Make Exercise part of your daily routine for life. Cross-train:
get as much variation as possible to avoid monotony and boredom.
N.B. The treadmill has been shown to burn more kilojoules (some-
times double the number) than cycles, climbers, rowers and other
machines. Use them all.
MOVE more. All forms of movement are an opportunity to burn
energy and maintain fitness.
Whatever the eating or exercise programme you try, recognise that:
If you don’t work, it won’t work
Any food that reduces energy input can decrease weight
temporarily
If you can’t imagine doing this for the rest of your life,
it won’t work.