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One of the reasons that I’ve I championed the Cambridge Diet is that every day you know that you’re getting all the nutrients that you need and that the calorie count is also consistent. Sometimes dieting is easier when you don’t have the annoyance of having to choose what you eat – taking ages in Tesco while you read the backs of packets. With diets such as Slimming World and Weight Watchers, the premise is the same – You’re given an allowance of ‘syns’ or ‘points’, this is either a daily allowance or a weekly allowance – but the point of these diets is that you don’t count calories. Since a calorie is a unit of energy, it’s always been my personal opinion that ensuring a calorie deficit – this is something I’ve banged on about for ages now.
Personally, I describe myself has having an addictive nature when it comes to food. I go through periods when I’m restrained and then reward myself with a calorie binge. For me, these binge times are usually at the weekends – a little treat.. which turns into a.. well, you know the story.
So 7 days ago, I started badly and continued to binge on Saturday and Sunday; the problem with weekends is that it’s hard to be consistent with calorie intake, especially when you’re not in a routine – so from Monday – Thursday this week, I was really good. I had low calorie ready meals and stuck to coffee in the day. I did get the “half spoon” sugar which adds a super sweet 8 calorie hit to my tea and coffee. I have though been skipping breakfast and lunch most days – I did manage to loose 1lb this week, which I’m not going to turn my nose up at – but I wont pretend like I’m not disappointed in myself.
So, with a 1lb loss, it seems that this week, I’ve only really working at a 3,500 calorie deficit, – I think. Actually, I’m not to sure. I’ve been thinking about the process of calories becoming that horrible wobbly mess that surrounds my mid section and I found this on Livestrong
“Once food is consumed, your body either uses calories as energy to fuel your body, or stores these calories in fat cells to be called upon at a later time. Dr. David Katz, reports in “O, the Oprah Magazine,” that the body begins to store consumed calories as fat within four to eight hours from the beginning of the meal. As you consume these calories, the body automatically stores the first 1,000 calories within the liver and muscles for immediate energy reserves. This calorie storage is known as glycogen. Once the glycogen calories are utilized for energy, the body then activates stored calories within fat cells, known as triglycerides, to replenish the depletion of glycogen calories.”
So I guess one thing to try and ensure a consistent loss while staying in control, is well.. by following the same thing that people have been telling you for ages – and this is the “little and often” Set alarms to ensure that you eat the same time each day – then try and have the same number of calories. eg.
7am – 100 calories
9.30am 200 calories
11am 30 calories
1pm 400-500 calories
3pm 30 calories
6pm 600-800 calories
total calories = 1360 to 1660
Now this is approximate, and it really doesn’t matter how these calories are made up. So instead of having a rice cake at 11am, you can have a piece of toblerone from duty free (just the 1 bit though – put the rest in the fridge!)
My point is that it doesn’t matter how the calories are made up, just know that you’re going be have a lot less if you opt for something fatty than something leafy. I’d like to follow my own advice, but be all know that aint going to happen 🙂