Now this is one very common question, people ask me. I hear things like:
“I don’t eat much”
“I eat only twice a day”
“I’m exercising five times a week”, and the list goes on and on.
So my next question usually is, “What are you really eating?” The saying, “You are what you eat” is very true, food doesn’t lie! Now I am not saying there are not medical reasons for putting on excess weight, such as hypothyroidism and PCOS and even using certain medications. This article will be focusing on individuals who are not managing such conditions.
I’ll be outlining a few things that might be wrong with what you are currently doing and I hope you learn a thing or two
All you are doing is working out. Weight loss is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. You cannot out-exercise a bad diet, so if you think hours on a treadmill or running round your estate will do it, you are really in for it. You’d get very frustrated, it just doesn’t work. But when you combine the right nutrition with those exercise, my oh my, you’d amazed!
You are eating high calorie foods. Weight loss involves a little math. You have to eat calories less than what your body needs to maintain its current weight, that’s how you’ll start to burn fat. However, most people eat all they should in the entire day in just one meal!!! Yes, it’s very easy to go overboard without even knowing it, and I’ll show you a typical example.
Firstly, let us determine your daily caloric allowance. Use this calculator to determine how much you need to maintain your current weight and also lose weight. Most people will lose weight on a 1500Cal diet, and I’m about to show you how you could easily consume almost all of this in one seating. Here is a typical breakdown of a meal at KFC
- Large fries- 450 calories
- 2 pieces of crispy chicken- 400- 1000 calories (depending on the part of the chicken)
- 1 bottle of coke- 210 calories
- Total– 1,060 to 1,660 calories
The sad part is that you might not even feel so full, but you’ve just eaten probably all you should eat that day.
The awesome small chops, is another example, about 1000 calories in that.
Even inside your house, you could easily go overboard. When it comes to starchy foods you should have only a small amount, and make vegetables the main part of the meal. Unfortunately most people make the rice, yam, eba the main focus and have too much of them. A cup of cooked rice is 240 calories, and most people would have at least 3 cups, that’s 720 already, minus the “oyel” in the stew and then the meat or chicken you’ll use to complete it.
For a guide on creating a meal plan for your caloric needs, you’ll find my book ” What Should I be Eating?” of great help.
You snack on the wrong things! Let us assume you were not doing so badly with your diet, but then you sneak in bites of this an that in between. A donut here, some groundnuts there, a bottle of coke and a few bites of coconuts, and the calories start to add up against you. Small fruits are great as snacks, so a small orange apple or pear for example. Vegetables like cucumber, carrots and garden eggs are great too as they are low in calories.
You are eating a lot healthy calorie dense foods. Some foods are healthy, but you need to control their amounts because you they contain a lot of calories in a small amount. Examples include nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds and so on), coconuts, all cooking oils, butter and magarine. That a particular oil is healthy does not reduce it’s calories.
Oil is a very common culprit, it can easily render all your effort worthless. I shared how to reduce the amount you use in cooking here.
Expecting only slimming teas, coffees and shakes to do the magic. This one is unfortunately very common, especially considering the amount of money you spend. These products help people lose weight in various ways, they help reduce cravings, increase your metabolism and so on. However, if you don’t couple this with the right nutrition, you’ll lose very little weight, and even if you do lose something significant, you’ll gain it back once you stop using it, why? You can’t cheat food, it’ll show again with time.
So there you have it, I hope you find something of use to you. Be sure to follow us on Instagram @optimumfoodie and Facebook at OptimumRx MTM Services, there’s so much more to learn.
If you need professional help shedding the excess weight, we are only a call or chat away (08066900652), contact us here now.