Thursday, March 10, 2011

Losing weight

Losing weight is a common goal for many of my PT clients. Of course what clients mean is that they want to lose excess body fat, fit into last year's clothes and look better.

How do you shed excess body fat? It should be as easy as Eat Less, Exercise More but we are bombarded with all sorts of diets and exercise tips which confuse the matter.

1. Eat Less
Have less, or cut out altogether these high energy foods: alcohol, soft drinks (even the sugar-free ones - ask me why!), cakes, biscuits, chocolate, icecream, deep fried food; and use less salt, sugar and animal fats in your food preparation.
Have a look at The Dietary Guidelines for all Australians for how to eat well. These guidelines have been developed from research done by the National Health and Medical Research Council to give you an idea about how much of what types of food to eat for good nutrtion. Both West Island and Home Island Health Clinics have easy to follow brochures.
The National Heart Foundation's campaign Draw the Line has some great resources about eating less too.

2. Exercise More
Basically, cardio-vascular (aerobic) exercise will burn fat and resistance (weight) training will build lean muscle which will help keep the fat off, so you should do both regularly. And try and do something active every day, even household chores like cleaning and gardening count.
If you drive everywhere get a bicycle or walk instead. If you already walk or ride, either go further or longer or faster or add another walk or ride in to the week.
Start a weight training regime. You don't need any equipment other than yourself and the ground. Push ups and squats (you don't need to use extra weights) are two great basic exercises to start with. If you have a bar then you can also try chin ups. All these exercises use your own body weight so you don't need to add extra weights. Get a PT session with me if you're not sure about technique or for modifications on these exercises.
For more ideas have a look at The National Heart Foundation's campaign Find Thirty

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