KEEPING IT SIMPLE! Blog

It seems that so many people out there are completely confused as to what they should be doing to lose weight. The weight loss industry has become bigger than ever and more and more money is getting spent on weight loss although it doesn’t really seem to be working!

Just last week it became very apparent at just how misguided the general population is. I had a couple of experiences that left me truly amazed at peoples simple lack of knowledge when it comes to simply eating well and losing fat.

My first experience was on the aircraft and I was happily sitting in my jump seat waiting for takeoff and I happened to be sitting in front of two ladies reading a Women’s Fitness mag. As I was sitting so close and had no where to look but at them I couldn’t help but hear what they were talking about. One lady was commenting on how the article was stating how you should eat berries and this fruit, these grains, take this, do that etc and she just stated that there was no way she could remember to do all of those things and it was just too hard. Then the other lady started commenting on how she just didn’t have time for exercise right now although when her ankle is better she’d be straight back into the yoga and back into it, the two ladies just went on and on basically justifying why and how they didn’t have time and it was just too hard to lose weight (I seriously had to bite my tongue!)

My, second experience was just the next day and I was back home and doing my grocery shopping, when I got the checkout there was a young girl on the register who started commenting on my food choices. Then she picked up my Slim Secrets bar and asked me if they worked? I was a little confused and asked what she meant? She wanted to know if they stopped me from eating too much and helped me lose fat. Then she went on to tell me how she had tried doing Tony Fergusson although couldn’t survive on the shakes as she was just too hungry and that it was all too hard. Again I didn’t want to say too much and just nicely mentioned how it’s definitely better to eat real food and that my little Slim Secrets bar was just a better option for me than having a chocolate bar and left it at that.

The two experiences really made me realise the complete lack of general knowledge that people have when it comes to weight loss or maybe it’s just that everyone wants a quick fix and doesn’t really want to do what they know they should be doing????

At the end of the day weight loss doesn't have to be that complex. Generally if you are overweight you are consuming too many calories – TOTAL ENERGY IN than your body needs. If you want to lose weight then you need to ensure that you either reduce your total energy in so that you are in a calorie deficit rather than surplus. This doesn’t mean you need to starve yourself or go on some radical fat melting plan, it just means you might need to reduce your food intake a bit or increase your daily activity (a bit of both would be perfect).

Right now if you are trying to lose fat and it’s not working it might be time to GET HONEST with yourself! Try keeping a food diary for a full seven days and actually see what you are eating (and when I say keep a food diary I mean details, extra mouthfuls, beverages, correct portion sizes etc). Also record your daily activity and at the end of the week sit down and have a look at it all. Can you either cut back on your food intake or maybe you can increase your activity. Without getting complicated and getting into counting calories (although this can give you a REALLY good idea of what you are actually consuming), simply reducing your food intake and moving a bit more or moving more intensely will help!

So start being honest with yourself and if you’ve been plodding along walking the same route for a while now, pick up the pace and start jogging for a few minutes at a time. If you are eating lots of takeway cut it in half and cook more. Just making some small changes will help but until you stop with the excuses and start taking control you will continue to get nowhere fast.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS, get back to basics, less processed foods, smaller portion sizes, more water, less alcohol and MOVE MORE.

Have a great day everyone!

Cheers, Hilds