Column: See yourself as you want to be

Where to start...

You will have seen and heard the word DIET all over the place with clever marketing campaigns which are already urging us to get in shape for summer. However the English Oxford Dictionary defines diet as “The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats”. So rather than looking at what you can’t, or shouldn’t have why not start to look at what benefits your food will give you? If you eat healthily and with a balance of Protein, Carbs, Vegetables and fruit, Dairy, oils and fats as well as drinking plenty of water, you won’t go far wrong. https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/the-eatwell-guide.aspx

So diet will be what you eat for the rest of your life rather than just the next 12 weeks until your jeans fit better or you drop a couple of dress sizes. It’s about lifestyle rather than trend or to put it another way, a knee jerk reaction.

74% of the population of Doncaster are overweight or obese and this figure is growing. Sadly, this puts Doncaster as the 2nd most overweight town in the country.

So how will you make the changes that will last longer than a week or two?

One way is to reduce how much you’re eating, maybe use a smaller plate or bowl than your usual one.

You could also start to do a bit of physical exercise, go for a walk, try jogging, swimming or cycling.

The gyms are usually rammed at the beginning of the year, with sweaty, heaving bodies everywhere. Bottles of water and protein mixes, people taking selfies etc. Now, this can be intimidating to some, and if you fall into this category, I’d suggest joining a small walk/run group like the ones that are promoted by Let’s get Active DMBC.

Whatever you decide to do, start off at an easy level, maybe just a couple of times a week. Then do more as your body adjust to the new demands.

How hard should you work?

Ideally keep your heart rate low, if you don’t have the luxury of a heart rate monitor use your breathing as your guide. You should be able to maintain a conversation without having to stop to talk. The reason you should work at this “Easy” level is because your body will choose to burn Fat first, therefore it’s the most efficient way to get to your ideal weight.

Don’t be tempted to weigh yourself every day this can prove to be very demoralising, as your weight will fluctuate a lot.

Weigh yourself once per week, at the same time and day if possible. But it is probably better to take your waist measurement’s to monitor your progress. As this shows fat loss, rather than fluid loss. You should be wanting to become a lean, mean fighting machine.

Have fun doing what your doing, remember that it is a lifestyle and not just a fad, and make your life so much better in almost every way.

Balanced Coaching