One of the first questions we ask new members at Reset Fitness is:
“What’s your main goal?”
While we are seeing a huge shift towards people wanting to look fitter, feel healthier and move better, we still get a lot of people saying:
“I want to lose weight.”
Why Weight Gain Happens
The total amount for calories your body burns of each day is called your T.D.E.E.- Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
Consume a few hundred calories more than this each day on a regular basis through food and liquids, and your weight gets driven up.
eg. If you burn 2,000 calories a day, but consume 2,500 calories a day, you’re going to gain weight.
Modern life makes it very easy to over-consume because high-calorie foods and drinks are convenient, normalised and available everywhere.
They’re also highly palatable which makes us want them more.
Other factors like addiction, stress, poor sleeping habits, mental health, education and medical conditions can all feed the cycle.
So how does your body burn calories?
These are the main way our your body burns calories, and you’re limited to how many calories you can burn through them.
These activities alone won’t balance out overconsumption of calories, which is why cutting back on your daily calories you needs to be your main focus.
1. B.M.R.
Big words…. Basal Metabolic Rate
The energy needed just to keep you alive, accounting for 60 to 70% of daily calories.
Breathing, blood circulation and keeping your organs functioning all require calories, even if you spent the day lying in bed in a dark room!
2. N.E.A.T.
More big words….. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
NEAT is the energy you burn through everyday movement outside of exercise.
This includes:
- Cleaning the house
- Hoovering the car
- Walking around
- Putting out the bins
- Standing up from your chair
3. E.A.T.
Ready for it….. Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
This is the energy you burn during planned exercise such as:
- Strength training
- Cardio classes
- Running
- Yoga
- Sports
4. T.E.F.
Last of the big words….. Thermic Effect of Food
Your body also burns calories chewing, digesting and processing the food you eat.
The Five Big Habits that Drive Weight Gain a.k.a. The 5 Fatteners
You can burn 4,000 calories a day through crazy training routines, but if you consume 5,000 you’ll still gain weight- despite your gruelling training routine!
This why calories control is king when it comes to weight loss.
The good news……..
By cleaning up the 5 big drivers of excess calories consumption, The 5 Fatteners, you can reduce your daily calories without having to track everything you eat.
The 5 Fatteners make it super easy to consume bucket loads of excess calories, with no chance of burning them off.
1. Takeaways and Convenience Foods
Takeaways, deli counters and petrol station food are quick, convenient and often packed with calories.
Packed full of rubbish and calories- a lethal combo
2. Random Snacking
A packet of crisps when making the kids lunch.
A chocolate bar while paying for petrol.
A fizzy drink and biscuits to get you through the midday slump.
These can easily rack up hundreds of unneeded calories each day, and people don’t even register them.
3. Calorie-Rich Drinks
Coffees loaded up with cream and sugar.
Fizzy drinks.
3 sugars in your 4 cups of tea a day.
These can ‘help’ you consume as many calories as a meal, while doing very little to satisfy your hunger.
Making calorie poor drinks your norm, and occasionally choosing calorie-rich drinks, is a game changer for you health and weight.
As the ancient proverb goes, you can’t go wrong with a glass of water!!
4. Alcohol
This could easily be included in the calorie rich drinks category, but deserve one of their own.
Most alcoholic drinks are packed full of calories and often lead to consuming more indirect calories through food (eg. eating junk the next day), so you get the added benefit of even more calories for your efforts.
Excessive alcohol also reduces your body’s ability to burn fat. So it makes it easier to gain weight, and harder to, fights back when you try to lose it!!
5. Excess Carb Consumption
Rice, pasta, potatoes and bread can all be part of a healthy diet- nothing wrong with them at all.
But excess portions on a daily basis can quickly push your calorie intake beyond what you need because they’re so easy to consume….. and are delicious!!
Add butter, oils, mayonnaise and sauces and your consuming enough calories for 2!
When you add in the calorie rich drinks, random snacking, alcohol and take-aways, all roads lead to this destructive lifestyle habit that drives people weight up and ruins their health…… massive carb consumption = massive calories consumption!
Can You Still Enjoy These Foods?
Absolutely.
Nobody ever got unhealthy and overweight from a few drinks, a takeaway or a bar of chocolate.
Having these as part of your life keeps you sane and makes it easier to stay on track.
What gets people in trouble is the compounding effect of the 5 fatteners when they become your norm.
The key is keeping them as occasional, conscious choices, rather than everyday norms.
Final thoughts
Weighing your food and tracking calories can be a great tool to lose weight, but it’s not for everyone or even needed.
Reigning in the 5 Fatteners will improve your energy, confidence, health and weight over time.
We’ve seen clients lose 4, 5, 6+ stone through this approach without every giving anything up completely, so we know it works!!
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this, so leave them in the comments below.