Weight Loss Facts

Weight Loss

• Your goal weight should be no lighter than your lightest adult weight
• The best rate of weight loss is about 0.5 to 1.0kg/week. Therefore you need to leave yourself sufficient time for this rate of weight loss.
• Weight loss at a faster rate can impede training and result in easier weight regain! It is not really sustainable. Timing is everything!
• Plan to shed about 2000-4000KJ (500-1000kcal) per day from your current intake
• FLEXIBILITY! Make sure that your new eating plan fits in with your lifestyle and uses foods that are readily available
• ENJOYMENT! Make sure that your eating plan has room for special treats every now and then. Have them in smaller amounts than usual or save them for special occasions.
• Avoid letting yourself get too hungry before you eat. A nutritious well-timed snack can stop you eating everything in sight!
• Eat slowly so you can enjoy food and stop before you overeat
• Make your meals as filling as possible. Choose high fibre options. Drink water (or a low calorie drink) before and during your meals.

What is a healthy weight for me?

Health professionals do not like to recommend a particular weight for an individual. Instead we use a healthy weight range. This is because body weight is dependent on a number of factors including muscle mass, height, genetic potential, body frame etc.

One method used by health professionals to determine a healthy weight range is to use the body mass index (BMI).

To calculate your BMI divide your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared

Example

Jane weighs 62 kilograms and her height is 1.65metres

Jane's BMI

A BMI is considered healthy if it falls between 18.5-25.

WHO report on Overweight and Obesity

Limitations of the BMI

The BMI is not useful for all groups of people. For example athletes with a large muscle mass may have a BMI which indicates that they are overweight or obese when it is obvious that this is not the case.

Certain ethnic groups such as Polynesians may have a higher lean body mass and therefore a higher BMI.

Other Important Measures

Another Important measure of overweight and obesity is the waist circumference.

Rate of Weight Loss

The most effective rate of weight loss is approximately 1-2kg per month. Research has shown that this rate of weight loss is associated with better maintenance of weight loss.

Weight loss may begin a little quicker than this. It is important not to lose weight too fast as this may result in loss of muscle mass as well as body fat!

Energy Balance

In order to lose weight it is important to keep in mind that you have to achieve a state of negative energy balance. This can be done in 3 ways:

1. Increase physical exercise/activity
2. Decrease food/calorie intake
3. A combination of increasing activity and reducing food/calorie intake

Most people find that the combination approach is most useful long-term.

Nutrition Education

In order to lose weight and maintain the weight loss, most people have to change the way they eat and modify their behaviour.

It is important not to look for a magic cure. After all, if it were that easy to lose weight, everyone would be slim!

You will most probably be bombarded with different and often conflicting evidence. Use your common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!

You want to make a life long change. So if you have changed your diet and it seems too restrictive, this is not going to last forever. Make changes that you can honestly say will last forever!

Behaviour

Food is associated with many aspects of life. It has a huge social involvement. It is often entangled with emotion. You may find for example that you tend to eat more high calorie foods when you are emotionally upset or under some kind of stress.

If you use food for emotional wellbeing, things have to change. Food is associated with many emotions. A common emotion is guilt. You need to stop the cycle of eating, feelings of guilt, followed by more eating. Eating should be a pleasurable experience.

Appetite

MAKE EATING A DELIBERATE ACT.

You need to recognise when you are hungry and when you are full. DON'T eat just because you are bored.

You need to treat eating as a pleasure. Eat slowly and savour each mouthful. You will soon realise that you don't actually need the VOLUME of food you are currently eating.

Do not eat on the run. Make eating a deliberate act. For example, don't prepare a snack and gulp it down while you are standing in the kitchen. Instead, try making your snack, then go and eat it sitting comfortably and savour the snack. You are more likely to recognise cues of "fullness" when you eat deliberately and you will be less likely to over-eat.

Recognise the cues which make you overeat and rely on high calorie foods. These may include work stress, relationship issues etc.

It is sometimes helpful to keep a food diary so that you can identify times when you may overeat. You need to recognise these cues and put in place coping strategies.

These may include:

• Choosing more appropriate snacks and having them available at times of increased stress (see snack options)
• Keeping busy with other activities

Serving sizes

Watch your serving sizes of all foods.

Often when people are trying to lose body fat they concentrate only on reducing the amount of fat in their diet, and very often have extra large servings of carbohydrate (eg. a big bowl of pasta or rice). Watch your carbohydrate servings. If they seem very large, and you are actively trying to lose body fat, make them a little smaller. Try reducing your portion sizes by about 20-30%.

A way of adapting to smaller serving sizes is to use a smaller plate. This gives the appearance of a usual sized meal.

Food Preparation

Changing the way in which you prepare food can make a huge difference. You can make tasty, low energy alternatives with a bit of know-how.

Here are a few hints to reduce the energy content of your meals:

• Cut visible fat off meat
• Choose low fat dairy products eg. Trim milk, lite-blue milk, low fat yoghurt
• Use natural yoghurt in recipes in place of cream
• Use yoghurt for dressing for salads and pastas. Even try natural yoghurt on baked potatoes instead of sour cream. You may be surprised!
• Try tomato-based pasta sauces in place of creamy sauces
• Use lite evaporated milk in place of cream for curry recipes
• Use lite evaporated milk with a couple of drops of coconut essence in place of coconut cream for curry recipes
• Use ricotta and cottage cheese in recipes
• Use oil sprays
• Filo pastry is an excellent low fat substitute for both sweet and savoury pastries. Use the spray oils in conjunction with filo pastry
• Watch your serving sizes of pasta and rice
• In dishes such as lasagnes, try and use less cheese and pasta than the recipe suggests.

Spicing up your meals:

• Use an array of herbs and spices in your cooking to make it tastier
• Add tomato-based sauces to meat and vegetable dishes to increase the palatability of your meals
• Use spray olive oil when cooking meat and stir fries so that you use a small amount of fat
• Wrap meat and vegetables in filo pastry using spray olive oil. Filo pastry is a light, low fat pastry which can be used for both sweet and savoury dishes
• If you use cottage or ricotta cheese during cooking, add nutmeg to spice up the flavour
• Char-grill vegetables using olive oil spray to enhance their flavour
• Stuff vegetables such as kumara, peppers and marrows with cottage cheese, lean bacon/ham/meat, chive, pineapple etc to add flavour

Reading food labels

When you are choosing foods it is important to read food labels. Many people will note that the product is 95-99% fat-free and will read not further, not realising that it may be packed full of sugar. Although a product may be low-fat, this does not necessarily mean that the product is low-energy.

Fruit and Vegetables

All weight loss programmes should include adequate intake of fruit and vegetables. You should consume at least 2 serves of fruit per day and at least 3 serves of vegetables. A serve is about equal to the size of your fist.

Having optimal intake of fruit and vegetables will ensure that your body will continue to function optimally.

Meal Frequency

Contrary to popular belief, the amount of energy you expend does not change if you eat 2 meals a day compared to 5 meals.

Meal frequency works more on the intake side of things. If you have a mid-morning and/or a mid-afternoon snack then you may be less likely to over-eat.

If three main meals per day suit you, then carry on this way and see how you feel.

If you have a weak time, at say 4pm, where you are likely to over-eat, introduce a suitable mid-afternoon snack to your eating regimen.

Glycaemic Index

Basically the glycaemic index (GI) of a food is the blood glucose response to the ingestion of that food. To maintain more stable blood glucose levels try to consume foods with a lower GI. Low GI foods may keep you fuller for longer and so help with weight loss. Several nutritional factors affect the glycaemic index of foods. For example, the addition of fat, protein and fibre decreases the GI. The following is a list of some foods and their GI. For a comprehensive list, there are pocket guides available at bookshops on the GI of a variety of foods.

Low GI foods are best for blood glucose control, sustained release of energy and increasing satiety (feeling of fullness).

Snacks

Some well-chosen snack foods can really make a difference in terms of meeting your goals. Some snack foods can be very high in calories.

Example:

High calorie Lower Calorie

Cookie time cookie (1600KJ) Yoghurt (300-400KJ per pottle)

Potato chips (1050KJ per 50g packet) Fruit (about 250-300KJ)

Muffin (1500KJ) 3 gingernuts (639KJ)

Scone (1100KJ) 4 low fat cheese & crackers (550KJ)

Chocolate bar (1110KJ)

A Variety of Snacks

• Fruit
• Tinned fruit in natural fruit juice
• Tinned fruit in natural fruit juice and yoghurt
• Pita bread chips (see recipe) dipped in salsa or served with hummus
• Rice crackers and salsa
• Low fat crackers and tuna
• Low fat crackers, tuna and pickled onion
• Low fat crackers, tomato and gherkin
• Low fat crackers, ricotta cheese, tomato and gherkin
• Low fat crackers and hummus
• Crispbread
• Pretzels
• Popcorn
• Add rhubarb to yoghurt to make it a more substantial snack. (1 cup of stewed (without sugar) rhubarb only has 72KJ.
• In winter, soups are a filling snack
• Jarrah Hot Chocolate with 3 marshmallows (346KJ)
• Handful of dried fruit
• 4 plain biscuits with a cup of tea or coffee
• 4 plain biscuits with a glass of trim milk
• Fruit smoothie - homemade
• Yoghurt
• Creamed rice

Protein-based foods

Protein-based foods can fill you up and satiate you for longer.

Some examples of some higher protein snacks include:

• Yoghurt fruit smoothies milk-based drinks Yoghurt drinks
• tuna salmon lean meat Eggs
• low fat cheese dairy food Red 8 pancakes Sardines
• Red 8 Three protein food

Organisation

Organisation is an extremely important component of any weight loss regimen. If you do not have suitable food available, or you run out of time, your weight loss goals can fly out the window!

Here are some hints to help you get organised:

• Make a shopping list each week of appropriate foods to reach your goals. Decide what meals you are going to cook for the week and make sure you have the ingredients on your shopping list. Knowing what you plan to cook ahead of time is a real time saver!
• If you have a busy lifestyle, prepare twice as much food at dinner time and take left-overs for lunch the following day
• Always have suitable snacks available. Never let yourself get so hungry that you are likely to overeat. Have suitable snacks available at home, at the office, in the car.