Watch the fat fall off by utilising a combination of a sensible eating plan, our 2009 exercise programme and a generally active lifestyle. Fitness expert Gary Dawkins has got us up and running with his weekly series. Today, he looks at healthy eating habits.
Healthy eating tips
-Eat breakfast to kick start your metabolism and improve memory, mood and energy levels.
-Fruit and veggies are your friends - full of antioxidants, dietary fibre and phytochemicals that can reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.
-Enjoy occasional snacks. Nibbles such as fruit, nuts or wholegrain crackers between meals boost the metabolism and energy levels.
-Go low fat. Some fat is necessary in the diet to provide essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins.
We need to limit the saturated fats such as fatty meats, full cream dairy products, cakes, pastries and deep fried foods. Unsaturated fats, such as Omega-3, found only in oily fish, offer benefits for the heart and immune system.
Mono-unsaturated fats, found in olive oil and avocados, are rich in antioxidants.
-High fibre foods help us feel full, which is great for fat loss. Soluble fibre can lower cholesterol absorption.
-Often we think we are hungry, when we are really only thirsty. We need at least 8 glasses of water a day. Limit fruit juice, soft drinks and alcohol.
-Slow down your eating time so your body has a chance to tell you it is full before you over feed it.
-Eat smaller meals more often rather than one or two extra large meals a day.
Try eating your evening meal three or more hours before going to bed.
-If you really enjoy complex carbohydrate foods such as white rice, potatoes and bread - try having them for lunch rather than your evening meal.
These foods are fast releasing foods and if not burnt up will go directly to fat stores.
The well-known 80/20 rule certainly applies when dealing with fat loss, fitness and nutrition - 80% of fat loss and fitness improvements comes down to what we eat for 80% of us 80% of the time.
For fitness improvements we must have the appropriate energy before completing the exercise so the body can work at the required effort level to overload and therefore improve fitness levels.
The body must have the appropriate fuel so it can recover quickly and be ready for the next session.
And the body needs to have enough antioxidants in the form of vitamins and minerals to keep the immune system strong so the excess load we are putting on it can be managed.
For fat loss, the equation is simple - if calories in are greater than calories out - we put on weight in the form of body fat.
If calories in are less than calories out we lose weight in the form of fat loss.
The body mass of most adults fluctuates only slightly during the year.
In the United States, the annual intake of food averages nearly 900kg and includes 280 eggs, 7kg of breakfast cereal, 84kg of meat, 91kg of fruit, 114kg of vegetables, 31kg of bread, 429 soft drinks, 8 litres of wine, 96 litres of beer, and 8 litres of liquor. (source McArdle, Katch, Katch).
Because the body mass of most adults remains fairly stable over a year suggests our body is good at showing regulatory control at balancing caloric intake with daily energy expenditure.
It is only when the number of calories ingested as food exceeds the daily energy requirements that excess calories are stored as fat in adipose tissue.
Most of us are aware of the bad foods, sort of bad foods, ok foods, and good foods.
Without getting too much into the exact foods to eat (we will be discussing this in detail in a couple of weeks), it's time to have a look at the output side of the equation.
There are three ways to unbalance the energy balance equation to cause fat loss.
They are:
•Maintain caloric output and decrease caloric intake below daily energy requirements.
•Maintain caloric intake and increase caloric output through additional physical activity.
•Combine methods one and two by decreasing daily food intake and increasing daily caloric expenditureFor most of us the third option is the desired method to achieve lasting fat loss.
By no means do we need to take a fad diet approach to reducing our caloric intake. In fact, this is the worst way to acquire lasting fat loss.
There are hundreds of fad type diets out there - water diets, drinkers diets, fruit or vegetable diets, egg diets, meat diets, fast food diets, ice cream diets, eat to win diets and a number of potentially dangerous varieties of high fat, low carbohydrate, and high protein diets.
Some diet designers have even told us that it is not total calories that contribute to weight loss, but the order in which foods are eaten.
That is ludicrous. We need to take a long-term approach and eat sensibly without going hungry.
As long as a food plan is nutritionally sound, it really is not important what we eat, but rather how many calories are consumed.
Once we combine a sensible eating plan with our 2009 exercise programme and a generally active lifestyle we can easily achieve a negative energy balance and subsequent fat loss.
Let's have a look at the caloric output we are achieving with certain activities.
Walking up stairs: 250 calories/hour Walking at a moderate pace (about 6/10 on our effort level scale): 235 calories/hour.
Cycling at a moderate pace: 560 calories/hourPlaying activity with children or pets: 490 calories/hour.
Shopping: 190 calories/hour.
Hanging out the washing: 260 calories/hour.
Mowing the lawn: 440 calories/hour.
Gardening: 330 calories/hour.
Housework: 440 calories/hour (Source: McArdle, Katch, Katch)This is brilliant news.
If we consume say 2150 calories (about 8000 kj) each day then look how easy it is to burn off fat stores - given that our resting metabolic rate, plus the thermogenic effects of things such as eating already make up a significant portion of our daily energy expenditure.
Therefore, if we combine this with the additional calories burnt through our exercise programme plus normal daily activities then our fat destruction goals seem a lot more within our reach.
And remember, there are no magic potions, trick diets, special formula foods or exercise pills.
No magic metabolic mixture will give us more effective weight loss than can be achieved with a well-balanced, low calorie food plan combined with a progressive exercise programme.
So keep adhering to our programme and remember; effort only fully releases its rewards after you refuse to quit.
Muscle is the engine that burns fat!
The aim of our week-three and week-four programmes is to keep developing our aerobic fitness levels while still achieving the destruction of body fat.
It is important to know that when losing body fat (and weight) that the body will lose the fat where it chooses.
It is for this reason we are unable to achieve spot reductions on specific areas of the body just by exercising those areas.
For example, the mid region and upper legs are common areas people want to lose fat from.
Simply doing countless exercises using these areas will do nothing (other than demoralise you) in your attempt to lose fat from them.
So for the time being, put your abdominiser and thigh-working machine back in the cupboard.
Instead, we are going to continue completing cardiovascular body-weight exercises such walking, stair climbing and soon, certain body-weight resistance exercises, to achieve our fat-loss and fitness goals.
Resistance exercises put the muscles under more pressure than the lighter forms of cardiovascular exercises we have been performing to date.
Soon we will start incorporating fun and effective body-weight resistance exercises to complete at the beach and park to complement our other forms of cardiovascular exercises.
This will have several major benefits for us.
Firstly, it will allow the underlying muscle (underneath the fat) to be put under more pressure and in response it will become a leaner and more toned muscle.
Secondly, it will allow us to develop some more lean muscle that will act as an engine to burn more body fat.
Muscle is the engine that burns fat! In this sense, muscle is our best friend.
So the more lean muscle we can develop, the more fat the body can burn 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Thirdly, it will allow the heart muscle, bones and joints to become stronger as we will be shocking the body out of its normal cardiovascular routine.
So keep going and don't wait for the light at the end of the tunnel - instead go down and light your own.
-Gary Dawkins is the director of Creative Conditioning in Dunedin.