LORN HEALTHY OPTIONS: FINDING THE BALANCE

“No matter what I eat, I can’t lose weight.”

This might sound familiar to a few of us and it’s something we hear a lot.

It can be really confusing when we start to eat less and fail to lose weight.

This often revolves around a lack of balance when it comes to the nutrients our body actually requires.

You’d be surprised how much clean food you can eat for the same energy value of a couple of biscuits and a fizzy drink.

Energy is another word for calories and energy balance is the balance of calories consumed throughout the day from food and drink, compared to the number of calories burnt through physical activity and basic bodily functions.

Males on average require 2,500 calories per day and females around 2,000 but these targets apply to healthy and active adults.

On the face of it, achieving an energy deficit over any given 24 hour period appears straightforward – eat less and move more – but this advice is obviously not having the desired effect across much of the globe.

Achieving an energy deficit through diet alone is usually more successful than aiming to increase physical activity, although leveraging both strategies at the same time will lead to the most sustainable results.

A healthy amount of weight loss to aim for each week is around one pound of body fat. One pound of body fat equates to 3,500 calories and this can be achieved through a 500 calorie deficit each day.

However, removing 500 calories from someone’s average daily intake or finding the time to burn an extra 500 calories through exercise presents significant challenges.

A more realistic target may be to split this challenge by consuming 250 less calories and burning 250 calories more through physical activity.

Two hundred and fifty calories equates to a pint of strong beer, a few bags of crisps or a bar of chocolate.

All things we may enjoy, but not the end of the world in terms of what we could remove from our diet over the course of an average day.

Burning 250 calories through physical activity can be achieved through half-anhour of cycling or a brisk 40 minute walk. That walk could be split into two 20-minute sessions to fit into a busy life. Perhaps we could make it a daily commute to work instead of taking the car?

Try to avoid energy dense and heavily processed foods like cakes, biscuits and fried foods as they rarely fill you up, contain excessive calories and supply little in the way of nutrition. By consuming high fibre and non-processed foods like lean protein, fruit, vegetables and healthy fats we become fuller for longer, keep the calories under control and provide a better balance of the nutrients we require to exist and thrive.

It’s common to underestimate the number of calories we consume in each meal and 250 calories can look very different. Compare two biscuits to 320 blueberries - what will keep you fuller for longer and supply more important nutrients?

It is also worth considering that achieving an energy deficit every day of the week can be difficult as we all like to have some of the foods we know are not the healthiest but bring joy into our lives especially when shared with friends and family.

We also have holidays when nutrition and physical activity are likely to suffer.

This is inevitable for most but perhaps as we approach these times we can either adjust our expectations or accept that a period of extra focus before and afterwards will reduce the long-term impact.

It’s about being realistic and finding the balance.