With the Summer holidays fast approaching, you’ve probably started to panic about wearing a bikini on the beach and now thinking about going on a weight-loss diet. If so, please read this before you start.
With 3 months to go before your holiday, you don’t want to do anything too drastic (i.e. cutting out food groups or slashing energy intake in half) unless you know you can keep it up for the full 3 months? Instead, keep a food diary for 3-5 days and commit to showing it to your partner, work colleague or personal trainer. That activity alone will really help you to see how much you are eating and it will get you thinking ‘do I really need that?’ before you put something in your mouth – especially if you know you’ll have to justify why you ate that extra biscuit later!
After you’ve done your food diary you should highlight the 3 main things that you need to change for example:
1) start eating breakfast
2) stop buying snacks from the vending machine at work
3) cut back on coffee
You might need some advice from a nutritional advisor to help you identify the 3 main action points, but usually they are pretty obvious once you face up to the facts.
Your challenge for the 1st of 3 months is to make those 3 changes and kick the habits.
If you usually skip breakfast because you don’t have time then start getting up 10 minutes earlier. If you don’t have breakfast because you can’t stomach it then try eating a banana for the first few days and gradually increase to something more substantial. Alternatively, you could take some natural yogurt or sugar-free muesli to work and eat mid-morning.
If you usually buy snacks from the vending machine because there’s no alternative then you need to start being more prepared and take your own snacks to work. Buy a bag of brazil nuts and some fruit to last you the week. If you eat chocolate or sweets from the vending machine because you need the sugar fix then you need to start removing sugar from your diet and break the cycle. The more sugar you have, the more sugar you’ll crave so start swapping sweet snacks with savoury hummus & carrots or rice cakes or crisps if you find yourself at the vending machine again!
Cutting back your coffee intake won’t be easy because caffeine can become very addictive, however, it can be done so start by reducing your intake by 1 cup a day. You can swap to decaf, herbal teas or normal tea with a splash of milk and no sugar, which has less caffeine than coffee. If you are find it difficult to get to sleep at night you need to stop drinking caffeinated drinks after midday (that includes Coke & Red Bull too).
Following a personalised food plan will help you lose weight and keep it off. You’ll also feel healthier, more energised & more motivated to keep it up. Want to try it for yourself? Contact us here to get started today with our Nutritional Analysis service.