Okay, I know you’ve been working hard to get your mind in place for losing weight. If not, head back to last weeks blog and get that underway. This week we move on to the start of the dietary measures you need to make weight loss a reality.
Stop eating so much
As an Exercise Physiologist and Personal Trainer I’d love for exercise to be the secret key to weight loss. But, diet really is where you need to be looking next. The old adage ‘you can’t out-train a bad diet’ is true. If your diet is poor training is a waste of time.
Here’s how to get your diet on track:
Firstly let’s get to the root of the problem. What is really holding you back from losing weight? Fill out this form, truthfully, to reveal all.
Barriers to Weight Loss Checklist
Barriers | Yes | To some extent | No |
Do you keep a food diary? | |||
Do you measure your portions? | |||
Do you eat regular meals and snack throughtut the day? | |||
Do you go for long periods (greater than 3hours) between meals? | |||
Are your portion sizes on the large size? | |||
Do you always finish everything on your plate? | |||
Are you prone to eating energy rich (high fat) foods? | |||
Are you someone who eats very rapidly? | |||
Do you eat while watching TV? | |||
Is your eating planned in advance? | |||
Are you prone to stress related eating? | |||
Do you eat when you’re bored? |
Now, any answers that you marked in boxes that aren’t highlighted yellow are the areas that need changing. In weight loss near enough is never good enough. To see real results you need to be doing everything right.
Recording Your Eating
The importance of recording what you eat can’t be stressed enough. Recording will further highlight the areas and behaviours you need to change. Start today!
Here’s a sample food diary:
Time Food and Drink Consumed Place Excessive Calories Comments
Note: The place is for the room or location in which you ate or drank. In the Excessive column mark whether or not you ate or drank something that you viewed as over-indulgent. To accurately enter the calories you’ll need a calorie counting book and in some cases you’ll need to weigh your foods. Remember, near enough isn’t good enough.