Hot 5 tips to fat-loss success

"An objective without a plan is a dream" (Douglas McGregor)

Like anything else in life, the key to achieving your weight loss goals has to start with a plan. Try this step-by-step guide to ensure fat loss success!

1. Create a partnership. Yes, it's always good to workout with a friend as it can help boost  motivation but what you really need to do is create a partnership with your body, rather than battle against it. Do you ever look in the mirror and think means things about your body parts that you're not happy with? If so, you may be sabotaging your own health and fat-loss efforts. Instead flip negative thoughts into positive ones. Think about what you love about your body and focus on that instead.
2. Never go out hungry when shopping for groceries. You'll ALWAYS buy more than you need. Fix yourself a protein rich snack first - try half a cup of plain, low-fat yogurt with blueberries and nuts on top.
3. Navigate your way around the supermarket aisles to avoid temptation. Go around the perimeter of the supermarket first so you get your lean meats and fresh fruit and veg. Only go into the middle aisles to get 'clean' ingredients like oatmeal, whole-grain pastas or brown rice, low-salt canned beans and veg, nuts, olive oil, spices and tea. Avoid 'buy one get one free' offers as research shows that shoppers are likely to buy 30 to 100 per cent more than they thought they would!
4. Sit and slow down when you eat. Put everything on your plate that you want and put leftovers away in the fridge BEFORE sitting down to eat. Set the fork down after every bite to help slow yourself down and eat what you most want to eat first, instead of saving it until last. That way, you won't feel the need to rush through your meal to get to it.
5. Forget dieting - don't deny yourself food. Just find healthier alternatives for your fatty faves. Instead of salty chips, choose rice crackers or popcorn (minus the salt and butter!). Instead of biscuits and cakes, choose fruit, rice cakes, or toast with fruit jam. Choose a handful of dried fruit and nuts instead of lollies.

And reward yourself - for your fat-blasting efforts...but not with food. Choose manicures or pedicures, a facial, new playlist - anything that you love and consider an indulgence, but has nothing to do with food!

Top 7 tips to lose the baby weight

It doesn't matter whether you've just had your first baby, second, or have school-age kids, we all desperately want to fit back into those pre-baby clothes. And the good news is that you most certainly can and it's never too late to start - you just have to get started!

After I had my second baby I couldn't wait to get back into pre-pregnancy clothes - but it wasn't as if I could just walk out of hospital wearing my favourite pre-baby jeans: I was still lugging an extra 8 kilos and I had to work to get it off. Here's my top 7 tips to getting back into shape and feeling even better than you did before having your baby.

1. Ditch the mother's guilt. No-one ever tells you about the guilt that comes with being a Mum, but  realise that it's OK to spend sometime on yourself. After all, looking after yourself is the best gift you can give to your kids - if you're happy and healthy, then they are likely to be too! So if it means spending 30 minutes a day doing something that's just for you, then it's OK to make this happen.
   
2. Set some realistic goals for yourself. Take some time to think about what you really, really, want and work out a plan for how you can achieve it - and how to measure your success. After having a baby you might have a lot of weight to lose, for example, which can seem really daunting. So you need to break it down into small, achievable goals (like 500g per week for example).
   
3. Schedule exercise into your diary as morning appointment. Re-gaining your fitness and losing weight after having a baby is all about being consistent over time. Having a routine, especially if you have a baby, is going to be tricky but work out when your baby is most likely to be happiest, and slot in some exercise so that it happens most days of the week. Even if you have to break it down into three lots of 10 minute sessions!
   
4. Include your baby or your kids. Don't wait until your baby is asleep to exercise - chances are you'll find something else to do, and it's far better that they learn healthy habits early in life. When babies are very small, they're most happiest when with you so you can easily pop them on a mat next to you while you're doing your routine. As they get older, they love to get involved and do running, and jumping and squatting with you. Be creative!
   
5. Know that your eating habits will have the biggest impact on your weight loss goals. It's the 80-20 rule: losing weight is 80 per cent what you eat and 20 per cent exercise. Like any new Mum, sometimes you're going to be struggling to find the time to exercise (let alone find the energy), so even if you can't fit in much exercise - try to control what you eat (particularly portion sizes).
   
6. Eat smaller, regular meals throughout the day and drink lots of water. This is really important for new, breastfeeding Mums as you'll be constantly tired, thirsty and lacking in energy. Eating small, regular meals throughout the day will help stabilise your blood sugar levels and control those sugar cravings!
   
7. Plan ahead, organise yourself and just keep going. Take some time out to plan your weekly meals and exercise for the week - you can save a lot of time and focus on getting through one day at a time and doing the best you can for that day. Yes, you're going to have days when the baby is sick or screams a lot, or Miss Toddler whinges and hangs around your feet, or you dive into a whole packet of biscuits. But forgive yourself! Tomorrow is another day - you just have to keep going, and never, EVER give up!

The lowdown on cravings

A craving for a specific kind of food can be like an evil leprechaun sitting on your shoulder, constantly nagging you to over-indulge. And going on a 'diet' to restrict what you eat can make things worse.

A study in the International Journal of Obesity found that 91 per cent of women said they had cravings when they weren't on a diet, and once they started restricting their kilojoules, that figure went up to 94 per cent.

But if you give in to your craving more often, then this is going to push you further away from your fat loss goals! The good news is that you CAN fight the cravings if you understand a little more about them.

1. Cravings are all about your blood sugar. TRUE. If your blood sugar levels stay pretty consistent throughout the day, then your eating patterns should too. It's when you're starving yourself for hours that the cravings start - and blood sugar can drop way too low even after about four hours of not eating.
2. Chewing gum can help reduce cravings. TRUE. A 2009 study showed that chewing gum after eating lunch can help to reduce snack cravings, and decrease the consumption of sweet food.
3. Cravings are the body's way of saying that it needs certain nutrients. FALSE. Researchers have found no evidence that this is the case for the vast majority of the most commonly craved foods. Beware of those 'hunger imposters'. If you've eaten an hour ago but crave Tim Tams or a packet of chips - it could be that your brain is playing tricks on you. If this sounds like you, then try a visual distraction. Researchers from the Flinders University of Adelaide have found this may help to reduce the urge rather than just 'thinking about something else'.
4. Eating the same thing everyday can increase your cravings. TRUE. Its seems that variety could really be the spice of life. A study in the journal Obesity found that always eating the same kind of foods can actually increase your number of cravings.

Is guilt the 'new' stress?

Women have pretty much made guilt a way of life.  As a busy Mum struggling with work and family commitments, who hasn't wrestled with not being 'good enough' or leaving a toddler crying at childcare, or for eating the entire contents of the choc biscuit packet straight from the kitchen cupboard, or (heaven forbid) taking time out for yourself!

While the big MG (affectionately known as 'mother's guilt') has probably always been around, it's really one huge cause of stress we could all live without - especially when you consider that your body's stress hormone (cortisol) is already working overtime while you adjust to life as a busy Mum surviving on very little sleep!

And guess what? Abdominal fat cells have four times as many receptors for cortisol than anywhere else in your body. So if you're continually stressed-out, your abdominal fat cells will be calling out for cortisol and encouraging your body to store more fat around your belly. Now who needs that!!!???

So what you really need is to stop stressing and starting ditching the guilt! How? Here's my top three tips:

1. Be a sane Mum, not a 'Super Mum' and cut yourself some slack. Don't waste energy beating yourself up over something you did or didn't do, just forgive yourself and move on. So what if you ate a whole block of chocolate - just face facts and move on.
   
2. Allow yourself to dream. All Mums need a life beyond 'being a Mum'. What have you been putting off? It's time to act - take whatever small steps are necessary to fulfill those dreams. A personally fulfilled woman makes an amazing Mum.
   
3. Remember that small acts can have big pay offs for you and your family. The key is consistency: instead of working out one hour every fourth day, try 10 minutes three times a day, on most days of the week. The smaller acts are more likely to become a routine. And when fitness becomes a part of your life, your children want to be involved too. When I returned to running after pregnancy (in between breastfeeding and sleepless nights), my then Miss Toddler would greet me at the front door on my return with a water bottle in hand and then proceed to do her own 'running races'.

So next time you feel the tugs of mother's guilt as you're out kicking goals for your own health and happiness - push that thought aside. What you're REALLY doing is passing on all the benefits to your family: good nutrition and exercise habits to last a lifetime, protection against certain lifestyle diseases, positive self-esteem and above all, a happy, healthy Mum - bring it on!

Kilojoule burn in heat vs cold

A pram camper finished her outdoors workout on a warm Spring morning, with a pointed question: "do you burn more calories (or kilojoules) working out on a warm day compared to a cold one?"
"Hmmm, I replied, that's a tricky question." And here's why.

• Cold weather itself doesn't increase kilojoule needs. BUT your body does use a lot of energy to warm and humidify the air you breathe when exercising outside in the cold. According to sport nutritionist and author, Nancy Clark, if you were to burn 600 calories (equivalent to about 2,500 kilojoules) while cross-country skiing for an hour in zero degree weather, you may use an estimated 23 percent of those calories to warm the inspired air. But you use the heat you generate with exercise to warm the air you breathe and help stop your lungs from getting chilled. 

• You don't burn extra kilojoules in cold weather unless your body temperature drops and you start to shiver. And even then, what you may 'burn' depends on a number of different factors. When a person is shivering, the body needs to work harder to maintain body temperature). And studies have shown that shivering can burn about 400 calories (or 1680 kilojoules) per hour and it depletes glycogen stores and leaves you feeling tired. In this situation the energy expenditure in cold weather is greater than in warm weather, but the actual amount of additional calories burned due to shivering depends on the temperature, how long the person was exposed, and the type of clothing. (And considering that at pram camp you're not likely to be wearing a lot of layers or even shivering for much more than a few minutes, the extra 'burn' would probably be non-existent).
  
• If you sweat more, particularly during your workouts in summer, you won't burn extra kilojoules.You burn kilojoules when your muscles perform work. Sweating is just the way your body uses to regulate excess heat.
  
  
  

Tweaking workouts to burn more fat

Some comebacks (like leg warmers) should stay in the past. But your return to exercise, whether it's after a having a baby, or after any long lay-off (including hibernation over winter), is different.

Any break in a regular exercise routine, including after giving birth, can result in a loss of lean muscle mass and cardio strength. Once you do start to ease yourself back into regular exercise, over time you can also start to tweak your workouts to burn more fat. Here's how:

...while walking
Walk your regular route the opposite direction, so your body doesn't know what to expect.

...while running
Typically run for 30 minutes? Try this: day 1 - go slower than usual, but jog for 40 mins. Day 2 - speed up, but jog for only 20 mins. Day 3 - jog fast for 1 min, easy for 2, repeat 6-10 times.

...don't run but want to start?
While out walking add short bursts of running into your routine - run to the next tree or lamppost and walk (recover) for two lamp posts. Repeat 4-6 times. Build on this walking session each week so eventually you're doing more running than walking.

...while resistance or weights training
Stand instead of sitting to use more muscles

...while cycling
Sit when you climb. When you stand, you use body weight for momentum; sitting mean you have to push more weight with less help.

And check out our tip sheet on your number one fat loss solution - interval training - to give your workout an extra boost

Top hero foods for new Mums

Most of us know what we should eat and why we should eat it. But it's often the case we get caught up in work, or running around after our little (or not so little) kids, that we don't. We say it's too hard too eat healthily, we don't have time to cook or plan meals, or even that it costs more to prepare healthy alternatives. And we look for a short-cut or what we think will be a quick fix to good health and fat loss.

And does it work? Maybe in the short term, but so-called 'dieting' isn't the answer when you look at the big picture. Diets mess with your head, your moods, and confidence. How often do you feel guilty about something you ate for instance? 

Diets can create a negative cycle of stress, deprivation, bingeing, guilt, denial, frustration and the biggie – failure. Not exactly what you'd call a great model for a happy, healthy Mum. And like it or not, our kids learn by example and not just from what we say but what we do. A friend of mine was shocked to see her three-year-old mimic her on the bathroom scales, saying she'd “have to try harder” and that she was “too fat”.

So forget dieting – start by throwing away all the junk magazines and crazy diet books – and start eating positively and getting savvy about nutrition. It all comes down to habits and behaviour.

After all, if you take the time now to look at why you're eating certain foods - and looking at the foods that seem to sabotage your health – then you can set yourself up with new, positive, life-long eating habits.

And more importantly, happy, healthy Mums can't help but be an example to their kids.

New Mums - check out our top 12 hero foods especially for you! You need to take extra care of your body so it has a chance to recover and heal from the birth trauma!