Everyone knows the old saying, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. That’s why if you want to lose weight quickly and keep it off, it’s best to have a plan.
Everyone knows the old saying, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. That’s why if you want to lose weight quickly and keep it off, it’s best to have a plan.
This is your driving force. It’s the reason you want to lose weight. Maybe you want to move away from something and avoid it. Maybe it’s because you don’t want a health condition to get worse. Or maybe you just want to feel good about yourself and feel confident. Whatever your reason is, you should write it down. Have a visual reminder that you can see every morning when you wake up or that you can look at when you need a gentle reminder and some motivation.
At some stage in the next few weeks you will be tempted to break your 6 week plan. But you need to be confident in saying no. Try coming up with 2-3 ways of saying ‘thanks, but no thanks’ when people tempt you off track. Often those who will try to tempt you will be loved ones. So stay strong and don’t give in!
It’s so easy especially for couples to get into bad habits around using food to show love and affection. So rather than a Saturday night takeaway, find other ways of spending time together that don’t just revolve around sharing culinary delights. Try getting outdoors. Go for a long walk or cook a healthy meal together.
Don’t be too strict on yourself. Let yourself have a few ‘free passes’ each week where you can allow yourself to go ‘off track’ a little. This can help you maintain the diet plan for longer and make sure you don’t totally throw in the towel before the six weeks is up.
There are some great apps available to help you reach your fitness goals. Try tracking your calories on my fitness pal. It can be shocking at first to see how many calories are in that chocolate biscuit, or ‘small’ chip. Download it for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
You’re going to be working up quite a sweat over the next six weeks, so you want to make sure you’re fuelled up enough to do so. That doesn’t mean loading up on snacks for a quick energy boost. You need to remember that you cannot out train a bad diet. Here’s what you should be adding up your shopping list, along with fresh fruits and vegetables.
A healthy portion of oats with berries and any grated nuts will ensure your metabolism and energy is at its peak. If you don’t like oats, eggs are another good option for you.
One of the easiest things you can do to improve weight loss from a nutritional perspective, is to replace carbs with good quality protein and healthy fats. This encourages the body to use fat as its main energy source instead of using the carbs you consume for that purpose. You can add lots of salmon, chicken, turkey and other lean cuts of meat to get your protein target.
After a workout it’s important to have a post training meal. Make sure you refuel with carbs and protein to encourage muscle growth and fat loss. Good sources of carbs include brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato and butternut squash.
Make sure at every main meal, half your plate is raw green salad. This will increase the amount of fibre in your diet, making your gut healthier.
Snacking is important as it maintains your metabolic rate and keeps away any hunger pangs, which often lead to temptation. The key is to snack often, but ensure that you are eating healthy snacks in small portions. For example, mid-morning have a small handful of nuts. They are a rich source of protein and will help you stay fuller for longer. Then mid-afternoon, have an oat biscuit or two. Keep a few snacks like nuts, seeds, fruit and water in your car or handbag in case you get cravings while I’m on the go.
When we’re taking in less calories and working the body harder with exercise, you need additional nutrients to keep energy levels high. A good multivitamins can contain good levels of iodine as well as all essential vitamins and minerals. Check out my website for my favourite supplements.
You’ve limited time so your exercise programme is going to harder for you. Which means that you will need to choose workouts that are going to up the after burn effect so you burn extra calories even when your session is over.
HIIT workouts and classes like my Cardio Pilates will increase the amount of calories burned both during and after exercise through a process called EPOC – excess post exercise oxygen consumption. This means the body continues to burn calories for hours after the training session, leading to greater weight and fat loss. The blend of functional movements such squats, lunges, push, pull and twisting, combined with high intensity intervals using weights, resistance bands, bodyweight, spin bikes, kettlebells and more, means you get a full body workout and there is no reduction in muscle mass, which can happen if you do lots of long runs or bike rides.
Boxing is becoming more popular either outside with a partner (or trainer) or in a gym with punch bags and ther is a good reason for this. Boxing is an all-body workout and a real heart-rate raiser, which can boost your metabolism all day.
Pilates strengthens and stretches the body from the inside by activating the deeper postural muscles that wouldn’t otherwise be activated during harder or more dynamic workouts. Regular and consistent Pilates training can lead to an increase in fitness levels and muscle tone by improving the muscle tone of both the deeper and more superficial muscles. Here is a full list of my Pilates classes. Or, if you are interested in joining one of my NEW 6 week online programmes, please fill in this form to register your interest and please ask me any questions that you have about the online programme.
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