What food should you be eating?

The million dollar question.

What should you be eating?  What will suit your body?  Should we all eat the same and follow the same rules?

Great question. It seems few, if any, have the answer.  I don't; that's for sure.


Using my own health and body as an experiment I have been up, down and sleepy all at the same time! Just as I seem to find one answer, another health issue crops up.  Yet there are positives, there do seem to be a few consistent pieces of advice.

Drink water

We all know this one don't we.  Frequently I can be found guilty as not drinking the recommended 2 litres per day.  Yet seldom do you see one diet plan or piece of advice that suggests ignoring water.
So do it.  And see.  

Track your food

A few gurus say just eat.  A few say you can control your weight with your mind.  Whatever you do with your mind, nothing happens without action being taken.  Without tracking your food you are unlikely to be mindful of what is likely to go on in your body.  I always recommend www.myfitnesspal.com to all clients as a great app to pop every single thing that goes into your body on.  You can log weight too! More about that in another post. 

Without tracking you are likely  to eat 'imaginary' or 'invisible' food.  You know, the type that you will away from your hips  - playing make believe that you ever ate that in the first place!

Of course, this is not all about weight loss.  Should you have some symptoms or other, tracking is a fantastic way to keep an eye on what is making you feel really quite lousy.  As an example, I had gone hard and fast keto lately to aim to bring blood sugars down.  It hasn't been working and I have been feeling terrible.  Working with my Dr to see if this is something else or if indeed I need to change my diet, tracking has helped amazingly.

Should you prefer pen and paper, get a jazzy book (small one to fit in your bag) and carry it along with you.

You're welcome :)

The best way to lose weight

This is a question asked by many over and over.  How do I lose weight successfully?

Every magazine you see on the shelves seems to have the answer.  So you buy it, apply the methods, lose a bit of weight then carry on eating in the same patterns that made you gain the weight in the first place.  

True?

Ok, so this post is to help you make the first step.

What is the first step?  This is going to sound easy and insulting..

Decide that you want to lose weight.  

Let nothing stop you.  Let nothing get in your way.  Make the decision and stick to it.  

If you are a person always making excuses and looking for the magic answer then try stopping that for a while. 

Fads and 'diets' seem to be a quick fix which is so tempting.  Especially when you have left it to the very last minute to try and squeeze into that dress.  

Are you nodding in agreement?

Have you been trying to search for a reason that despite not eating much, you are still gaining loads of weight.  Perhaps you work hard at the gym and still nothing is working. 

I have tried it all.  I've also seen my clients try it all.  Only one way works.  It's very old fashioned and you might not like it when I tell you that there is no magic pill that will allow you to wake suddenly and be that perfect size 10.  

Calories in needs to be less than calories out.

You need to get moving.  Get the lymph system taking out the junk, toxins and all the other 'stuff' that causes your body to under perform.

A long term approach is the one that works.  Without deprivation. If you feel deprived you will be feeling negative.  Negative feelings will encourage you to quit.

However,  here is the good news.

Nutritional experts encourage treats!!!

Yes, thats right.  If you apply the 80/20 rule,  you can have treats.

So,  what is the 80/20 rule?

This is where for 80% of the time you will eat nutritionally balanced meals.  And enough of them (and frequently enough) to make your body burn energy effectively, but also under your output of calories.

For 20% of the time,  you are able to eat 'treats'.  Those things you go without when you are on a crash diet.  

If you follow this rule for several weeks, you will be amazed at the difference you see in your heath and fitness levels, and in the numbers on the scales!

Let me know your stories of weight loss and successes.  

Do you have a Youtube channel where you share your stories?  I can pop a link on this blog for you to encourage others.

Personally, I love to recommend to all my clients that they download an app called My fitness pal.  This will calculate your perfect calorie intake for you and you can keep track of everything you eat on there too.  You can even set goals and congratulate yourself when you meet those goals.

Good luck!