This time of year comes with a list of usual suspects. Christmas related weight gain, NYE hangovers and of course, half-arsed resolutions. The two main ones being quitting smoking and losing fat. Using a date on a calendar as a reason for change is a shitty way to shape up*.
There are two main factors to losing fat, exercise and nutrition. I'll cover the latter briefly today, as it's arguably more important. I'm not a nutritionist, so don't take what I say as gospel. Everything below is from my own experience, but is widely accepted as sustainable and healthy.
Given that this is such a huge subject, I'll make a few key points:
1) Think long term: Eating properly is an ongoing necessity. Once you get to your goal weight, you still have to eat healthy. Remember, your old ways got you fat - don't go back to them.
2) Think natural: With all the weight loss gimmicks out there, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Just remember that as humans, all we need to survive is meat and vegetables. Monkeys don't need Celebrity Slim, dolphins don't need multivitamins. Why do humans?
3) Think positive: When people try to eat healthy, they often avoid things which are deemed at unhealthy. They'll eat things which are 'low in fat' or 'low in salt'. I call this negative nutrition, because their focus is on removing bad foods from their diet. Try exercising positive nutrition by eating food that will nourish you. Eat your fill, and don't starve yourself.
4) Think sober: Cutting out alcohol will lead to dramatic fat loss. If you must - go for spirits served neat. Soda and citrus is good too. Vodka, lime and soda is a personal favourite. Low carb beers are ok, Hahn Super Dry is a good compromise. Avoid cola, lemonades or juice with your alcohol.
Eat a high protein, low carb diet. Here's an example of a day's worth of eating:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach and ham
Lunch: Chicken stirfry (refer to my Lodawg Stirfry which I posted a few weeks ago)
Dinner: Steak and broccoli
In between those meals you can have nuts, natural yoghurt, berries, green tea and protein shakes.
Your body will take about a week to adapt to your new way of eating. It's not easy, but if you hang in there - you'll get the result.
Next week, I'll cover the exercise component. If you have any questions in the mean time, feel free to ask.
- Loic
*My catalyst was a horribly awkward encounter with a checkout chick at the local Coles a few years ago.
I lined up, saw this cute girl. She was librarian cute. Brunette, skinny and a pair of black glasses hiding the sexiest blue eyes. I couldn't resist, I had to have a crack. I was too shy to make a direct proposition, as I was fat. I asked her to give me a piece of receipt paper and a pen. I wrote "Hey, you're really pretty. We should have a coffee." I left my number on it. I passed it to her, she read it and promptly turned bright red. She said she would.
We completed the rest of the transaction, except I didn't have enough money in my spending account to pay for my groceries. So I had to transfer the money from my salary account, whilst standing there awkwardly. It was excruciating.
I bumped into her a few weeks later and she gave me her number. I played it cool and called a couple of days later. We had a ten minute chat, but it wasn't really going anywhere. I knew then and there that she wasn't interested at all. I knew at that point, being a fatty wasn't for me anymore.
Oh, Amy.
