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Gaining weight is very easy. Losing weight can be slow and disappointing and it doesn’t seem fair! I wonder how often we have murmured those words.
At this time of the year, whether we are still trying to shed the excesses of the festive season or are determined to make 2024 the year we shape up and slim down, for many of us, losing weight, and then maintaining it, is important to us. We also want to become fitter and healthier.
In fact, losing weight is a matter of physics: if our energy input (calories we eat) is higher than our energy spend (calories burned by our body being active and by being alive), we will gain weight. Annoying and frustrating though it may be, we must be honest with ourselves.
But you are not alone. Many years ago, when I was recording for a TV programme at a metabolic research centre, the professor in charge explained that in one trial, where a team of trialists were all given identical servings of food, they were asked to guess how many calories were on their plate. On average, the number of calories they estimated they had eaten was in fact around half the actual calories their serving contained. Then they were each asked to exercise on a static exercise bike for 20 minutes. Each was asked to guess how many calories they thought they had burned. Their average estimate revealed that they thought they had spent twice as many calories as their actual calorie spend!
So, if we are not losing weight as we feel we should, then it is likely that we are eating more than we think we are. On top of that, the chances are, we are also doing less activity than we think we are! So where might we be going wrong?
Here are five likely areas where you may be eating more than you think:
- Portion size. This is probably the biggest culprit. But the good news is that this is a simple area where we can take action. If we give ourselves just one potato rather than two or three, or one less spoonful of bolognese or chilli con carne, it makes a difference. Maybe a spoonful less of rice or pasta or one slice of toast instead of two for your lunch. Are you measuring your portion of breakfast cereal? Or are you just guessing? (This is where our Portion Pots are so helpful) Reducing our portion size is undoubtedly the first step to take.
- Nibbling. Whether it be leftovers after a meal or finishing the packet - ‘there’s just one left so I’ll eat it and get it out the way’ - they all add up. Eating an extra piece of fruit; a handful of cereal; sweets or chocolate; a biscuit; or a piece of cheese – they all count! They may be little things when looked at individually, but it doesn’t take much to jeopardise our weight loss efforts. And the only person who suffers is ourselves! So, the only way we will get our weight to shift is to just STOP NIBBLING!
- Making your own bread. Much as I applaud making our own ‘anything’, the problem is homemade bread is very moreish and doesn’t stay fresh for long and we often eat too much of it. Also, if we have it in sandwiches, we end up with door-step slices because it is almost impossible to cut a slim slice off a fresh loaf. If you are serious about losing a few lbs, be careful and maybe buy a ready-sliced wholemeal loaf.
- Alcohol. Whilst drinking alcohol can have its place, it adds loads of calories and offers no goodness or nutrition. The other problem is that we always underestimate how much we are drinking resulting in our consuming many more calories than we think! Only last week it was in the news that research was suggesting that pubs should stop serving wine in large wine glasses. A 250ml wine glass is double a normal measure of wine! Alcohol also weakens our willpower so we eat more!
- Not realising what we are eating. If we eat homemade meals, we know what we are eating. Ready-made and branded products are full of additives and often much more salt or sugar than we ever would eat if we prepared our own. With yogurt for instance, choose plain yogurt and add fresh fruit rather than a branded one. It is so much healthier. For our health, it is about goodness not only about the calories. Home-made fruit yogurt is healthy. A low-fat, low-sugar branded yogurt probably isn’t
So that is the food side but what about exercise? The fantastic news is that we can see ourselves getting fitter in just a matter of days! Not only do we see fast fitness results, physical activity speeds up our weight loss by burning lots more calories. By combining eating less and exercising more, we discover a winning formula!
Now for my five top tips to increase our calorie spend so that we shed more lbs!
- Change your pace. When we go for our daily walk, increase the speed of our walk rather than sauntering along. Walking with purpose burns many more calories and we cover more ground. If you are up to doing a few jogging steps along the way, brilliant! More calories burned! Park further away from your destination. Every little helps and just walking the extra steps from the other side of the car park makes a difference. These little ‘activity habits’ really do add up.
- Find a hill. Walking uphill is so good for us and drastically increases our calorie spend and it also increases our leg strength as well as our heart and lung fitness.
- Use the stairs. Never leave anything on the bottom stair. Let’s take it up every time. And let’s use stairs rather than a lift when shopping in a large store. Stairs mean more strength work for our legs and extra calories burned!
- Strength exercise. Stronger muscles increase our fat-burning capability. Stronger muscles increase our BMR - basal metabolic rate - so we burn more calories even when we sleep! Whether we are doing a full Strength Workout or some exercise ‘snacks’ when the ads come on TV, such as tabletop press-ups, they all add up!
- Find your old Fitbit. If you haven’t worn it for a while, charge it up and start again. Let’s aim for a goal of 7,000-10,000 steps a day. It motivates us to move more – it really does!
So, there we are. Just 10 top tips to get things moving so that we can shift those unwanted lbs and feel fabulous! When we put them all into practice, we will see amazing results! Trust me, it works!
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Serves 2
Per serving: 414 calories, 4.8% fat
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
2 salmon steaks
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 tsp garlic sauce
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
310g pack beansprouts
100g watercress
150ml pineapple juice
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, Gas Mark 6.
- Place the fish on a non-stick baking tray and season on both sides with black pepper.
- In a small bowl, mix together the lemon zest, garlic sauce and chilli sauce and then drizzle it over the steaks.
- Bake the steaks in the oven for 8 – 10 minutes until just cooked.
- Meanwhile, heat a non-stick wok or frying pan and, just before the salmon is cooked, stir-fry the beansprouts and watercress until just wilted, adding the pineapple juice.
- Transfer the wilted vegetables to serving plates and top with the salmon . Serve hot or cold with a green salad.
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Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.
I have been inspired by the recent documentary on Channel 4, headed up by Dr Michael Mosley, regarding what we put in our supermarket trolley every week.
During my many years of helping people with their fitness and weight management I have always been interested to hear what people put in their shopping trolleys because it is the first port of call for what they will end up putting into their mouths!
Often inappropriate foods might be mentioned, such as packets of biscuits, with the reasoning that they are bought ‘only for the kids’. (I won't go into what the kids should be eating!)
If you are overweight yet eat a largely healthy diet, the chances are you are simply eating too much healthy food, and the amount of food on your plate is something you need to look at. Rosemary's Portion Pots are an ideal tool to help you with that. But in my experience many people are genuinely not aware of which foods cause them to gain an unhealthy amount of weight and therefore they find it so hard to shift it.
But this week I am not focussing on weight as I know Rosemary has already covered that so I am focussing on WHAT we are eating. Even if we are a healthy weight, we all need to be more mindful of what goes into our shopping trolley in order to create and maintain a healthy body and one of the most important areas is our digestive system which should be free from damaging inflammation.
The evidence is now perfectly clear that a diet of too many Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) will be high in saturated fat, salt and sugar, all of which are known to be bad for us.
A shocking statistic is that a whopping 56% of the calories that the average person in the UK consumes comes from Ultra-Processed Foods! Also, the definition of a UPF does not make for good reading:
- 'Processes and ingredients used to manufacture ultra-processed foods are designed to create highly profitable (meaning low-cost ingredients and a long shelf life), convenient (ready-to-consume) and highly tasty foods that promote over-consumption'.
Not good for the waistline then.
There has been much research on the high levels of consumption of ultra-processed foods and the effect this has on the human body. It will be no surprise to find that the rise in these foods happened at the same time as the enormous rise in obesity levels in this country. So, let's look at the detail so that our shopping trolley can be the best it can be.
Understanding Processed Foods
There is something called the NOVA food classification that divides food into four groups and this is currently used worldwide in any research. As a quick guide see the chart below to help you differentiate between the groups.
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- Group 1 - Unprocessed and Minimally Processed Foods
This group should make up the bulk of our trolley to ensure that we are consuming plenty of unprocessed foods. These include fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains, beans and pulses. Also, natural animal products such as eggs, fish, milk and unprocessed meat.
Minimally processed foods can also be put into this group and still considered very healthy. These are foods that have been dried, crushed, roasted, frozen, boiled or pasteurised but contain no other added ingredients. Frozen fish for example or no-added-sugar yogurts and spices or dried herbs.
- Group 2 - Processed Culinary Ingredients
These include oils, fats such as butter, vinegars, sugar and salt. These foods are not meant to be eaten alone but used in the cooking process with Group 1 foods.
- Group 3 - Processed Foods
Processed foods are products that are usually made using a mix of Group 1 and 2 foods. They include smoked and cured whole meats (such as Parma ham), cheeses, fresh bread, bacon, salted and sugared nuts, tinned fruits, beer and wine. The main purpose of this group is to enhance the taste or prolong the food's life.
- Group 4 - Ultra-processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods usually contain ingredients that we would not add when cooking home-made food. Chemicals such as emulsifiers, colouring, sweeteners and preservatives. The most commonly eaten ultra-processed foods in the UK are:
- Industrialised bread. Try to find a local craft bakery that produces daily baked fresh bread without any of the additives of supermarket bread. At least check the nutrition label of a supermarket bread to see what it contains before you buy.
- Pre-packaged meals. I am often amazed at the variety and volume of ready-made meals available on British supermarket shelves. In France and Portugal for example there are practically none! Just look at the list of ingredients and you will be shocked!
- Breakfast cereals. Look for those with the fewest added ingredients, with no added sugar, flavourings or colourings.
- Sausages and other reconstituted meat products. Read the labels to see what they contain!
3 Ways to Recognise Ultra-Processed Foods
- A long list of ingredients, especially if it includes things only used in factory-made food. If there are more than five ingredients it is likely to be ultra-processed.
- Unrecognisable ingredients, or words like emulsifiers or flavouring.
- High fat, sugar and salt content is common in UPFs. Look out for the red traffic light labels.
So, let's take a long and hard look at what we choose to put in our shopping trolley each week! Of course, some proportion of our shopping may fall into Group 4 but let's do the single most important thing we can that will minimise it and cook meals from scratch with fresh wholesome ingredients. Then we won't go far wrong
The "NOVA" Food Classification system is so named as it was developed by researchers from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and the term comes from the Portuguese 'nova classificação' which translates as 'new classification'
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This Week's Fitness Challenge
- Still burning off the festive excess? Up your Daily 30+ minute walk (or slow-jog) this week. Every day try to add an extra five minutes to your time and seek out those inclines! Remember to do your Post Walk Stretches.
- Do more exercise 'snacking' this week: 2 minutes on-the-spot stepping, 10 slow press-ups and 10 slow squats. Also do two Strength Workouts.
- Keep working on your ability to balance and stand on one leg. Under 50? You should manage 45 seconds on each leg. Over 50 – then 30 seconds is your goal.
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Did you know... 
For millennia, bread had been hand-made from wheat flour by manually kneading dough with a raising agent (typically yeast) leaving it to ferment before it was baked. In 1862 a cheaper industrial-scale process was developed using water with dissolved carbon dioxide instead of yeast. This method developed by the Aerated Bread Company dominated commercial bread baking for a century until the yeast-based Chorleywood process was developed.
The Chorleywood bread process (CBP) is a method of efficient dough production developed at the British Baking Industries Research Association at Chorleywood in 1961 to make yeasted bread quickly, producing a soft, fluffy loaf. Compared to traditional bread-making processes, CBP uses more yeast, added fats, chemicals, and high-speed mixing to allow the dough to be made with lower-protein wheat, and produces a loaf of bread from mixing the base ingredients to packaging the finished sliced loaf in about three and a half hours.
Flour, water, yeast, salt, and fat (if used) are mixed together, along with minor ingredients common to many commercial bread-making techniques, such as vitamin C, emulsifiers and enzymes. The dough is then mechanically mixed for about three minutes. The high-shear mixing generates high temperatures in the dough, which is then cooled. The air pressure in the mixer is controlled to keep the gas bubbles in the mix at the desired size and number as this determines the fineness of crumb texture in the finished bread.
In typical high-volume bread production, the dough is cut into individual pieces and allowed to "recover" for 5 - 8 minutes (intermediate proving). Each piece of dough is then shaped, placed in a baking tin and moved to the humidity and temperature-controlled proving chamber, where it sits for about 45 - 50 minutes. It is then baked for 17 - 25 minutes at 230°C. After baking, the loaves are removed from the baking tin and then go to the cooler, where, about two hours later, they are sliced and packaged.
 While very cost-effective and efficient, sadly, somewhere along the way, a loaf of industrially produced sliced white bread seems to have lost the special taste of the home-made bread that Grandma lovingly made!
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And finally...
With all these tips and interesting information on ultra processed foods, let’s make an extra special effort this week to eat super-healthily and moderately, become fitter and shed some of those unwanted lbs that may be lingering. Let’s also be realistic about how much we are eating and actually exercising!
Once we see our waistline loosening and notice that we are able to breathe more easily as we go up the hills and enjoy a feeling of being in control, it is amazing what it does for our confidence and resolve. Then we feel much more motivated to keep going. So, what are we waiting for…? Let’s do it!
Have a great week.
With love and best wishes,
Rosemary Conley CBE DL
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LIVE LONGER | LIVE HEALTHIER | LIVE HAPPIER
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