Brake – Tips for weight loss
B – Beware! Or even Be Aware 😀. That is to think before you eat. Don’t eat on the go. Don’t eat the snacking leftovers. Don’t eat without enjoying your food. Beware of your portion size, guilty reasons and mindless eating. Heighten your awareness of what you eat in terms of time of day, food choices and any feelings you have with what you have eaten or how much.
R – reduce. Eating less is of course the best and easiest way to lose weight. No need for faddy diet or shakes or buying special food. Simply serve your normal portion and then reduce it a little – a quarter or half away of the main part, including the pasta or potatoes. Then fill the space with additional veg.
A – allowance. No, not food portions again, but an allowance and acceptance that we are human. That sometimes we mess up. That sometimes we are not perfect. The key to losing weight is to find something that works and stick at it. If for some reason you have a “bad day” don’t chuck everything in and think it “doesn’t matter”. Just take a deep breath. Allow yourself to have wavered off the course that you want to be on and get back on it. Exercise can help off set your bad day, but really it’s the food that matters – so try to balance out your week of eating and then increase your energy burn with some exercise.
K - knowledge. Get inspired by the millions of exciting recipes that you can find on the web. Find inspiring stories and look at how long it takes people to make change. Be armed with realistic facts and figures. Don’t be a fool for easy weight loss projects. Start with an educated and well informed idea of the basic foods that we need to keep fit and healthy. Go to charity shops and get some of the second hand books. Read. Absorb.
E – energy. Losing weight should not be seen as a punishing trial with low energy and lethargy. We eat food for energy. We burn food for energy. More exercise means you can eat more. Some foods have more energy in one mouthful than others. Think like a concentrated version of food. Energy from food can be realised quickly or slowly. Food stuff with more fibre takes longer – think apple not apple juice. 🍎 so get your energy throughout the day from slow realising foods which tend to be unprocessed. If you do have quick energy foods such as sugar then remember it doesn’t last and you will feel hungry again soon plus it is a high concentration of food in one small mouthful.
Finally – Brake – as in putting the breaks on. Slow down and think about what you are doing. Put a brake on your portion size. Put a brake on and slow down your sugar intake, including alcohol. Put the brake on not caring about what you eat. Put a brake on your negative self talk that says “it doesn’t matter “ – it does. YOU matter. You are important enough to take care of. You are important enough to be the best you can with the healthiest diet you can manage. Take the brake off punishing yourself and be kind. Brakes off for unlimited fruit and veg, plain iced water, beans, grains and legumes. Br brave. Be aware. Be honest. Be kind. Always be kind to yourself. Xx
Ps. This is a story of the hunger monster 👾. When you feel hungry, I want you to see your hunger as an actual thing – like a gremlin 🤖. I want you to picture how far away your hunger is. Is it close by.? Is it a mile away? Or is it grabbing you by the sleeve. You need to picture your hunger in terms of distance and not give in to the craving i mmediately. There is nothing wrong in feeling hungry and in a modern society we sometimes think that the first craving for food is an immediate indication for gratification. Learning to understand degrees of hunger not only helps us to understand appetite but actually prompts the body to start to get ready for food with some super helpful enzymes. Train your monster well 👹
