Health & Wellbeing Gaining back the same weight

By Heather Smith

Are you in a cycle of losing and regaining the same pound or two for months at a time? Do you find yourself sticking to your food plan and creating a calorie deficit during the week, and taking a more ‘flexible’ approach at the weekend? Have you ever thought about how easy it is to cancel out your hard-gained calorie deficit – and perhaps even end up in a calorie surplus? The weekend makes up 29% of your week. 48% if you include Friday too. When you look at the numbers like this, it becomes easy to see how much of an impact the more relaxed approach at the weekend can have. Whether you’re counting your intake, or taking the more simple (and for most people, likely just as effective – at least at first) approach of simply making better choices for most meals, then you should be achieving at most a 500 calorie deficit each day. Over seven days, that’s a 3500 calorie deficit. Which will result in weight loss. Over five days, that’s a 2500 calorie deficit. Which will also result in weight loss. But, if at the weekend you eat more than your body needs to maintain weight, then you’re literally eating (or drinking) away the calorie deficit you’ve created. The calories add up annoyingly quickly. You could happily eat back a 2500 calorie deficit with a takeaway and a bottle of wine. So, choose when you’re going to eat or drink into your calorie deficit carefully, and in full knowledge. But also remember that no food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Nothing should be banned or off limits. We value different foods for different reasons at different times. Just know that going all-out at the weekend to ‘reward’ yourself for sticking to your plan all week might not be helping you get closer to your goal. www.fitbiztraining.co.uk