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weight management

Britain is in the grip of an obesity epidemic. This is widely understood, but the question is "why?", considering we are surrounded by weight loss exercise gimmicks, diets slimming clubs and entire television schedules devoted to programs about losing weight!

In fact, since supermarkets began to stock "low fat" products on their shelves (which often contain more sugar than their normal fat counterparts) adults and children in the UK have started to become heavier.

It has to be recognised that losing weight is not simply about waking up one morning and deciding to lose a few pounds. There are far more issues to consider, such as why you are in the situation where you need to lose weight in the first place.

Only once you have looked at your overall lifestyle can you begin to seriously (and permantly) lose weight and obtain the healthy body you have always dreamed of.

At Kinetic Health and Fitness, we often take the approach of trying to set goals that don't directly involve weight loss. For example, training to run a 10k race or half marathon, or complete the London to Brighton bike ride give more focus, are more enjoyable, and generally yield better results.

Here are Kinetic Health and Fitness's top ten tips for weight management

  1. Don't skip breakfast
    Breakfast kick starts your metabolism for the day, ensuring you are burning calories rather than holding on to them!
  2. Don't leave big gaps between meals and healthy snacks
    Your body needs a constant supply of energy, and leaving long gaps between food intake leads to a redution in your body's ability to burn fat for fuel.
  3. Avoid refined carbohydrate (sugar, white pasta, white bread etc.)
    These foods contain high levels of sugar, which quickly raises the blood sugar level, causing the body to produce large amounts of insulin. High levels of insulin flowing around your system draws fat back into the cells rather than out of them ready for burning for energy! There is also a very low level of nutrients associated with refined carbohydrates, so your body does not get any real benefit from it.
  4. Avoid eating carbohydrates after 6pm
    In the evening you want to try and avoid too much insulin production (see above), so avoiding excessive carbohydrate consumption will mean you are more likely to be burning fat at the end of the day.
  5. Drink plenty of water
    Your body is between 60 and 80% water, so it makes sense that you should be drinking a lot of it through the day! You will lose approximately 2 lites of water a day through breathing, sweating and going to the loo, so it is essential that you replace this by drinking at least 2 lites of water every day. Further more, in order for the body to burn fat for fuel, it must be in a state of hydration!
  6. Avoid processed foods
    Processed foods tend to contain a stack of unwanted preservatives, additives, colourings, emulsifiers and other chemicals used in their manufacture. Your body is having enough of a hard time trying to deal with breaking down your excess fat without giving it even more work with all these chemicals to process!
  7. Increase your daily activity
    By becoming more active you can burn up to 20% more calories through the course of the day than if you were sedentary. The more calories you burn, the more fat you will lose so start taking those stairs!
  8. Take some regular low intensity exercise
    The health benefits of regular exercise are well documented, but by keeping the intensity low and extending the period to 90 minutes once or twice a week will increase your body's ability to burn fat for fuel. This long duration exercise doesn't have to be in a gym, it could be a long walk at the weekend, or a cycle ride with the family for example.
  9. Minimise alcohol intake
    Alcohol contains 8 Calories per gram, compared to 9 Cals for fat, and 4 for protein and carbohydrate. Cut down your two glasses of wine a night and you could save yourself over 3000Cals per week. That is the equivalent of nearly 1lb of fat!
  10. Avoid diets at all costs!
    Diets tend to encourage excluding a particular food group, or reducing energy intake dramatically in some way or another. As soon as you have achieved your results and go back to eating the way you were before the diet began your body will pile the pounds back on again, probably with some extra to boot as your metabolism is now lower. Get set for your next diet, and you find yourself falling into the classic yo-yo diet state that much of the country follows! Ask yourself the question, if a particular diet was a miracle cure, why would there be any need for other diets?!