9 weight loss tips that always work
By Hannes Loubser on March 26, 2017
Weight loss tips that are tried and tested and never fail.
It’s very easy to be overwhelmed with all the nutrition and fitness overload on the internet. I’ve been involved in fitness education, personal training and sports conditioning now this past decade and I still hold to these ageless truths about weight loss as they just work time and time again.
- You MUST have carbohydrates
Your brain needs carbs. Not all carbohydrates are bad for you. Root vegetables and green leafy vegetables like spinach, carrots, pumpkins, cauliflower, and broccoli are ideal as they provide essential minerals but have limited amounts of energy. The danger is with refined carbs that are packed with high quantities of energy and low nutrient value. Bread, pastries, sweets, sugars and sodas are the ones to stay away from.
- A Colourful meal = a colourful life
Don’t be boring and predictable. You need to mix it up on consecutive days. Cutting down on your serving portions is great, but you need to ensure that you are providing your body with all the building blocks it needs. Ensure your plate looks different on consecutive days. Don’t have red meat every day, alternate your days with fish, chicken, eggs and red meat. Same goes for veggies. Ensure your plate has different colours of veggies throughout the week. It’s impossible to provide your body with all it needs in 1 day alone.
- We are all Italian
Preparation is key, learn to appreciate it. We all love convenient foods. Unfortunately they tend to be stacked with sugars and man manipulated fats. If you don’t prepare your meals for the day you will end up living on unhealthy food. The solution is to prepare a few extra servings for dinner and use the left overs for lunch and snacks the next day.
A good tip is to put time aside to make preparation for dinner a family event so that prep can be a family activity instead of a chore.
- Be a meat head
A protein with every meal. Your meals should be 60% of either fish, red meat or chicken. And ensure you eat the protein portion first as to weigh down in the tummy. You cannot gain excessive unwanted weight by eating meats. This is the best rule, so if you are hungry and over eating celery sticks, have a juicy steak or chicken breast instead. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be punishment.
- Two lunches a day
Conventional breakfast like commercially produced muesli and sport cereals are loaded with sugars. STAY AWAY! If you fancy a piece of steak for breakfast with a single fruit or veggies than go ahead. Nothing wrong with having a meal that resembles a lunch more than a breakfast. oh and have full cream milk in your coffee, throw that low fat milk away as you need the energy from fat when cutting out carbs.
- If man made it don’t eat it
Mother Nature made it as it was intended, leave it at that.This is the single best rule in my book, if you understand this well you will never have weight issues – If you feel bombarded with internet nutrition overload then this is the rule for you. Next time you prepare a meal ask yourself – if I lived 100 years ago, would I be able to find any of what is on my plate right now? If the answer is no because you are eating microwaved goodies or indulging in crisps, soft drinks, sweets and chocolates you should rethink what you think is acceptable. There are numerous recipes to make fish, chicken, meats and veggies very exciting, so keep it simple.
- No need to joliver and gramsay
You don’t have to be a chef or master cook to look good. All you need to remember is this : if you want to look better than ever, then you have to do things you have never done before. Small portions, more training and more disciplines.
Establishing a new lifestyle in preparing your meals daily or ordering veggies and proteins at business meetings is a very handy tip to get started.
- Slowly increase frequency in training.
You don’t have to train an hour each and every session. 20-30 minutes of elevating the heart rate and building up a sweat to get rid of toxins in the body is all you need. Start off 3 times a week, slowly progress to daily training over time. The slower and more constant the changes are, the better chance of success.
- live just above ‘hungry’.
You can’t skip a meal. You need to have breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is the bare minimum. Simply having half a hand full of nuts, veggies or a small serving of protein is enough to make a difference. The main idea here is to shrink your tummy over time. Your tummy is smart and stupid at the same time, and you need to reprogram it. Your tummy sends signals to the brain letting it know that it’s shrinking in between meals. You perceive this shrinking feeling as ‘being hungry’. Keeping the tummy constantly half full won’t just reprogram this feeling / misconception of ‘being hungry’, it will also help you keep your energy levels more constant and prevent you from overeating on the next meal.
Coach Hannes
CrossFit Duo, Dubai Marina
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