Stop Making Excuses & Start Losing Weight

A challenge with a twist! Do you make excuses in order to justify making unhealthy food choices? e.g. It’s only a small piece, I’ll make up for it tomorrow, I’m too tired to cook, there’s nothing else to eat, I’ve had a stressful day, I’ll start fresh on Monday, ….I know I have a tendency to do this particularly when I’m tired or busy! Whilst it’s perfectly ok to treat ourselves to foods we enjoy and allow ourselves to overindulge from time to time, it’s important to keeps things in an 80:20 balance if we want to look and feel our best i.e. make healthy food choices at least 80 percent of the time and allow yourself to indulge a little the other 20 percent of the time. If you allow this to get out of balance you’ll likely gain weight and not feel great, I know this from personal experience and from working as a nutrition consultant for the last 8 years.

Who are you fooling?
For many of us trying to maintain a healthy weight, making excuses for why we cant stick to a healthy diet or exercise plan on a consistent enough basis is often our greatest barrier to long term weight management. It’s an exceptionally common form of self sabotage. We all do it from time to time, myself included, but I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is how often are you doing it? And, Is your ‘excuse making’ habit holding you back from looking and feeling your best and living your best life? This may sound a touch dramatic, but so many of us ‘put off’ doing things we’d like to do UNTIL we reach our weight/health goals…’I’ll book that holiday/join that club/go for that promotion/go swimming/feel happy WHEN … I’m slimmer/I’ve more energy/I feel confident enough…blah blah…you get the gist…

Take Back Control
The good news is that the solution to this particular form of self sabotage lies entirely within your own control. As with most bad habits, the first step to overcoming an ‘excuse-making’ habit is firstly to acknowledge that you do it in the first instance and secondly to recognize WHEN & HOW you do it so that you can CHALLENGE your own excuses and show them who’s boss! The 5 steps below will help you do this:

1)Recognize Your Own Excuses

Excuses usually start with ‘permission giving thoughts’. These thoughts often start with the phrase, “I probably shouldn’t eat this, but it’s ok because…

• It’s only a small piece
• I’ll make up for it tomorrow
• It won’t matter just this once
• I’ll burn it off
• I’m stressed
• I’m starving
• There’s nothing else to eat
• It’d be rude not to
• I’m celebrating
• It’s the weekend
• It’ll go to waste
• It’s free
• I’ve paid for it
• The label says Low Fat
• I deserve it
• I need it
• I’m tired
• I have PMS
• Everyone else is eating it
• I’ll start fresh on Monday/January

2) Write em down

Do any of these thoughts/excuses sound familiar to you? If so, write down the ones you’ve used in the past and/or are likely to use in the future. Seeing an excuse in writing helps you see it for exactly what it is….an excuse!.  It also allows you the opportunity to reflect upon and challenge your excuses whilst in a rational state as opposed to when you’re in the craving moment and in an irrational state. So, the next time an excuse from your list pops into your head, part of your rational brain will recognize it for what it is even if you’re craving at the time and having irrational thoughts. As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.

3) Challenge your excuses

When we’re in the moment of really wanting to eat something, we often don’t think with our heads and use rational reasoning, instead we allow our taste buds and our emotions to do the reasoning for us. So, for example, convincing yourself that it’s ok to have a second chocolate croissant for breakfast because ‘it’s Sunday’, is not using rational reasoning.

Think of a common excuse you use to overeat/make less healthy food choices and challenge it:

• Will eating this help me reach my goal and desired outcome?
• Am I allowing my emotions to dictate my food choices?
• Has this rationale served me well in the past?
• Is there anything else I could do to comfort myself or feel good?

It can also be useful to come up with some helpful responses to your own excuses, write them down and refer to them when temptation strikes. Here’s an example

Excuse: I know I shouldn’t snack at night but I’ll just allow myself to enjoy it tonight and then I’ll stop doing it from tomorrow onwards!

Helpful Response:  I know from experience that my ‘just for today/tonight’ excuse will lead to another and then another.  Every time I give in and snack at night, I reinforce bad habits and am more likely to do it again tomorrow. Every time I resist and make a good choice, I reinforce good habits that will take me closer to my goal. Every good choice I make strengthens my willpower muscle. 

Excuse: I’ve had a tough day, I need to relax and reward myself with a cup of tea and a big bar of chocolate bar

Helpful Response: I do need to relax but do  I really need to eat a big chocolate bar in order to relax? Could I be satisfied and still feel good about my choice by having a smaller amount or a healthier alternative? Would reading a good book, watching a movie, going for a walk, meditating or having a bath help me to relax & feel good with an added bonus of taking me closer to my goal?

4) Create/Select An Eating Plan And Stick With It!

Pick an eating plan/style that is practical & sustainable for YOU and stick with it! Most of us know what healthy eating looks like but just struggle to do it consistently for all the reasons listed above! :)To overcome this you’ll need to do a little planning & organisation to put your healthy eating plans into action! I recommend planning out your meals in advance and stocking up on the ingredients needed so you have no excuse! If you fail to plan, you plan to fail! Some people do better with more structure and following an actual meal plan with recipes etc. If this is you, then check out my online nutrition & weight management programs for some inspiration & guidance that’ll help you change your eating habits and get lasting results!

 There is a smoothie shop next to my gym that sells all kinds of protein-enhanced smoothies and shakes. It is generally filled with Spandex-clad exercisers drinking from sippy cups of nutritionally enhanced produce, and they look happy about it.

First, a brief primer on protein. There is a reason everyone is so crazy about the stuff: Protein is essential for all kinds of body functions — as in, pretty much all of them — including repairing and rebuilding body tissues. That’s particularly critical for athletes, since their body tissues are undergoing more trauma than most. You’ve heard this before — when you exercise, you end up with microscopic tears in your muscle fibers. To repair those fibers (and, in the process, make them stronger) you need protein.

What a Sedentary Person Needs vs. an Athlete

Based on the behavior of the protein-shake people — and internet message boards — it would seem that the more you work out, the more protein you need, which is true (sort of).

“It depends on how you look at protein intake,” says Jamie Cooper, associate professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition at the University of Georgia. Most people, regardless of activity level, should be getting between 10 and 15 percent of their daily calories from protein, she explains. But here’s the thing: Athletes need more calories in total than their sedentary peers. “If you look at it on a percentage basis, it’s not that different between a sedentary person,” Cooper says. If you look at the absolute amount in grams, though, “it’s definitely higher in athletes.” So yes, athletes need more protein than competitive Netflixers, but they also need more of everything else.

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So yes, athletes need more protein than competitive Netflixers, but they also need more of everything else.

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The recommended daily amount of protein for a healthy but fairly sedentary person is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, which means the average 150-pound person needs about 54 grams of protein. For athletes, that number is a little higher, depending on what type of sport they’re doing, and how much they’re training.

Generally, though, the recommendation is anywhere between 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight all the way up to 2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight. Which, one might note, if one is mathematically inclined, is a lot more. If the same hypothetical 150-pound person — man or woman, it doesn’t matter — decided to take up triathlons or rowing or body building, they’d need somewhere between 81 grams of protein and 136 grams of protein.

The Goal of Your Workout Is the Most Important Factor for Added Protein

Where in that range you fall depends less on what particular activity you’re doing — though that matters, too — than it does on what your goals are for doing it. If you’re serious about putting on muscle mass, increasing strength, and boosting power (you’re a wrestler trying to cut weight, or you’re a powerlifter), you’re going to be at the upper end of that range, closer to 2.0 grams. If you’re more of an endurance athlete (running, cycling, swimming) then you fall in the middle, Cooper says. Someone in the middle needs more than the casual gym-goer, but you don’t need as much as someone doing hard-core strength training. Most serious amateur athletes fall in that middle range.

If you’re more of a casual exerciser — let’s call your athletic efforts “respectable but normal” (i.e., you play recreational soccer, you go to the gym several times a week, you are reasonably committed to your yoga practice), you’re at the lower end. Most likely, you should be aiming for 1.2 to 1.4 or 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight.

What Time You Eat That Extra Protein Is Important

While getting enough protein is important, so is getting enough protein at the right time. “If someone is wanting to get the most benefit out of a strength training session,” Cooper says, “then the optimal thing to do is to get a small amount of protein before the training session, and a small amount of protein after the training session. That will lead to the biggest increase in protein synthesis.” Not only will it help you put on muscle mass, but it will also help you recover better. The only downside is convenience.

If you’re able to eat before and after a workout, about six to 20 grams each time is ideal. The second best thing you can do, if that’s not an option for you, is to focus on your pre-workout snack, contrary to popular wisdom. “Most people focus on the recovery nutrition and getting protein in after they exercise,” Cooper says. Actually, though, it’s the protein you get before you work out that seems to have the most benefit. So, in order of best-case scenario to worst:

• Pre-workout protein and post-workout protein
• Only pre-workout protein
• Only post-workout protein
• No protein at all

Not All Protein Is Created Equal

Here is the twist, though: Not all proteins are created equal. What you’re looking for is a complete protein (one that contains all of your essential amino acids). And while animal products might be the easiest way to get that, they’re hardly the only way. Soy and quinoa are both complete proteins, and — if you’re thoughtful about it — you can also get complete proteins by combining different foods. “If you combine legumes with grains or legumes with nuts and seeds, then you’ll get all of your essential amino acids,” she explains.

Worth noting here, too is that six to 20 grams of protein isn’t all that much. A cup-and-a-half of low-fat chocolate milk will do it. So will a Cliff bar. A three-ounce serving of chicken is more than enough. Meredith Price, sports dietician at the University of Washington, is a big proponent of peanut butter, which has the advantage of being both cheap and fast, as well as Greek yogurt, tuna, and cottage cheese. And yes, protein shakes are fine, too, if perhaps less ideal. “The more we can do whole food, the better, but there is definitely a benefit to having a quick, easy, ready-to-drink protein source from a protein shake,” Price says.

Read more: How Protein Shakes & Bars Stack Up Against All-Natural Protein Sources

The key is to tread lightly. “You don’t have to go out and eat, like, an eight-ounce steak,” Cooper says. And, in fact, it might be better if you don’t: “Your body can’t handle that much [protein] at one time, so it’s better to get smaller amounts more frequently.” In an ideal world, you might aim to get six to 20 grams of protein right after your workout — ideally within 30 to 45 minutes post-gym — and then another dose an hour later, and maybe another a few hours after that. The goal, Price agrees, is to be getting a steady influx of protein throughout the day, with a boost around your workouts, not a binge.

Don’t Replace Carbohydrates with Protein

“I think people focus more on protein and are afraid of carbohydrates,” Cooper says, “and really, for an athlete, it should be the other way around.” Ten to 15 percent of your daily calories coming from protein is fine — maybe 20, for some athletes, in some cases. Higher than that is unnecessary — and potentially counterproductive. For an athlete, the main risk is that excess protein is replacing carbs — there is only so much eating one can do — and, from a performance standpoint, that could be a problem. “If carbs are our primary energy source, and you’re not getting enough of those, then your workout or training sessions tend to suffer a little bit.”

As for more serious consequences of hard-core protein intake? Scientists suspect that overdosing on protein could put extra strain on the kidneys and liver, but so far, “we don’t really know what a high chronic protein intake for 20 years will do to somebody,” Cooper says. For most of us, though, the point is moot — that’s a lot of protein shakes.

  One of the best ways to reduce your risk of getting heart disease is to focus on your abs. At least scientists suggest so! According to recent studies, keeping your waist little has a positive effect not only on your mood and appearance - it can actually protect your health.

When people generally think of a "six-pack", this is the muscle that they are talking about. The rectus abdominis is positioned between the ribs and the pubic bone at the front of the pelvis.

This muscle can be worked out in 2 different ways:

• By bringing the chest towards the pelvis
• By bringing the pelvis towards the chest
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• 1. Crunches, 15 time

Crunches are a classic core exercise for defining the abdominal muscles and are ideal for toning the rectus abdominis and oblique muscles.

Exercise technique:

• Lie on your back on the floor or on a comfortable mat.
• Bend your knees.
• Lift your shoulders toward the ceiling using your abdominal muscles and pause at the peak.

The double leg reach is a very effective abdominal exercise, working both the upper and lower abdominals.

Exercise technique:

• Lie on your back with your legs stretched and your arms facing upward.
• Lift your feet back off the ground at a 45-degree angle using your abdominal muscles and pause at the peak.
• Then slowly lie back down keeping your arms and legs stretched.

3. Arm plank with knee dip, 15 times

This exercise works not only your abdominals, but also your arms, glutes, shoulders, and legs.

Exercise technique:

• Position yourself in the plank position with your weight relying on your hands.
• Then bend your left knee forward toward your waist, curl it, and hold it for a few seconds.
• Pull your leg back and repeat it again with the right one.

4. Roll-ups, 10 times

Roll-ups strengthen the abdominals while increasing flexibility of the spine.

Exercise technique:

• Lie on your back with both your arms and legs stretched.
• Lift arms up and forward and use your abs to slowly roll up to a sitting position.
• Squeeze your abs again and slowly lower down to the starting position.

5. Plank hip dips, 20 times

Plank hip dips are ideal for beginners trying to strengthen the abdominals.

Exercise technique:

• Begin in a push-up position with your elbows on the ground while resting on your forearms. Keep your arms at a 90-degree angle.
• Arch your back out slightly.
• Raise your glutes toward the ceiling, squeezing your abs tightly to close the distance between your ribcage and hips.
• Lower back down to the starting position.

6. Boat pose aka Navasana, 1 time

Navasana strengthens the abdominal muscles, the legs, and the lower back.

Exercise technique:

• Sit with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Lean back slightly and lift your feet off the floor.
• Extend your arms straight out in front of you.
• Keep your knees straight for 30 seconds to 1 minute with your body weight relying on your abdominal muscles.

7. Windshield, 10 times

This exercise is ideal for strengthening your entire body and should be done toward the end of your workout.

Exercise technique:

• Lie on your back with your knees stretched and your legs straight up.
• Straighten your arms by your sides.
• Scoop out your lower abs.
• Drop your legs slowly to one side.
• Repeat with the opposite side.

8. Mountain climbers, 15 times

The Mountain Climber is an advanced, high-intensity exercise that will get your heart rate up. It's perfect to incorporate into your daily routine for some cardio.

Exercise technique:

• Get into a plank position, on your hands and toes.
• Position your hands at about shoulder-width apart from each other.
• Then, pull the right knee into your chest as far as you can.
• Switch and do the same thing with your other knee and remember to keep your hips down.

These exercises are ideal for a home workout. You do not need any special equipment to perform them, just your own body and your own will. Please feel free to share with us in the comments which exercise is your favorite and which one you think has helped you the most.

Have a happy workout!

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