Many people seeking exercise programs from me for general health and wellbeing also often ask for nutrition advice for weight loss.
I am qualified to give basic nutrition advice (Bachelor Exercise & Sports Science). More importantly, as a chef for over 20 years, a mother for 28 years and an enthusiastic eater my whole life, I understand the familial, societal, cultural and religious complexities surrounding food.
Experts agree that diet; food selection and quantity is the key to weight loss, rather than exercise (Roberts et al. 2017).
Telling someone to just change their diet to lose weight is simplistic and unrealistic. Losing weight is complex, too complex to be solved with fad diets and quick fixes. The good news is there are some basic guidelines for those who choose to make real and lasting change.
More good news is that there are experts who post free, evidenced-based, peer-reviewed, safe, current and realistic dietary information on social media. (See my list below). So although I can’t offer my clients specific dietary advice or a magic weight-loss pill, I can point them in the direction of reliable information available at their fingertips.
Social media excels at this! Health and fitness information is constantly being reviewed, revised and updated but you must choose who to follow carefully. There are just as many or more, shamans, influencers and crack-pots out there posting their version of snake oil remedies quicker than you can swipe left or right. Choose wisely, and you will have current, peer-reviewed, valid, scientific information to place you firmly on a tried and tested path to weight loss.
If an influencer’s diet of fasting tea and good vibes sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Calories in-calories out remains the most proven method for weight loss to date. So whether it is keto, low-fat, high-carb, low-carb, vegan, carnivore, intermittent fasting or a grazing diet, to succeed in providing weight loss it also has to provide a caloric deficit. Where some may swear any one of these diets has helped them lose weight, it is because the eating regime they have selected has placed them in a caloric deficit.
While recent studies suggest high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts can positively affect weight loss with reports of reductions in all body fat measures and burning up to 300 kilocalories per session (Heydari, et al. 2012; Zhang et al. 2017) unfortunately, physical activity accounts for only a third of total energy expenditure. So, regardless of how hard you exercise, most calories are used up via thermogenesis, which is simply our bodies maintaining all our internal systems and staying warm.
Behaviour change, how?
So it turns out, weight loss, like other human conditions, could be more about attitudes to behaviour change than any diet chosen or the exercise undertaken.
I have just finished Feb Fast. Spending a month alcohol-free provided lots of sober conversations about how to successfully change habits. Why is it so difficult to make personal change? Why do we self-sabotage well-considered plans? Why do we thwart our own good intentions with relapses and excuses???
During these discussions about the complexities of behaviour change whether it be staying off the booze, ditching the takeaway or getting some regular exercise, some important common threads appeared:
- Acknowledging the immediate good and positive responses to the behaviour change by verbalising or journaling them is very motivating at the start. It reinforces your intention and makes you feel good about what you’re doing.
- Feelings of accomplishment for ‘getting it done’ fuels the effort behind the change. The old ‘one day at a time’ motto really works. It provides the fortitude to carry on the next day and the next.
- Good feelings; a clear head, focus, better sleep, muscle adaptation, fitting into jeans or being less out of breath walking upstairs, are all positive physical changes that reinforce the drive to succeed.
- All positive external responses from friends, family, and colleagues feed into self-satisfaction and pride and boost self-esteem.
- Responding quickly to any lapses by picking up and carrying on without excuses, shame or judgment makes for a quick shift to being back-on-track.
- Time must be spent doing the thing. Time must pass for actual behavioral change to occur and stick. Nothing happens overnight. It takes commitment and effort.
Then, and only then, when we have successfully changed our behaviour for some time, can we start to unravel the reasons for our original behaviour patterns and identify potential triggers going forward. This will ensure, the change, be it diet, abstinence or exercise or whatever the desired behavior-changed is, becomes sustainable and maintainable.
When we do all this and experience the daily benefits, we build on the positive and productive change we’ve made to ensure our outlook is stronger, healthier and happier!
RECOMMENDED INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS:
All are evidence-based, some are general weight-loss others are performance-based, plant-based, gut health, calorie focused, etc. follow a couple that resonate or suit your goals.
REFERENCES
doi: 10.1155/2011/868305
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2012.01012.x.
doi.org/10.1155/2012/480467
doi.org/10.1155/2017/5071740
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