Health & wellbeing

22 Health & Wellbeing

No food is ‘free’! A calorie deficit is needed to move the scales By Heather Smith

However you want to look at losing weight, one simple truth of any program which holds a chance of success is that a calorie deficit is required. There are a million ways to create a calorie deficit through either food or exercise, and there are a million ways to make it harder or easier through food choices and other habits. But the truth remains that a calorie deficit is required if you’re going to see the scales move. If you’re eating a diet full of processed food, a simple change to eating what is considered by some slimming clubs as ‘free food’ is almost guaranteed to lead to weight loss. It should easily create a natural calorie

deficit, show you how much better you can feel when you’re eating a less processed diet and hopefully lead to long term adherence. This is of course, excellent news, and is my preferred first-step for clients coming from a place of little knowledge of nutrition. Starting a weight loss plan when you already have a relatively healthy diet, however, needs a real life understanding of how these ‘free foods’ add up calorie wise. You could very easily already be eating mostly ‘free foods’ at the start of your weight loss plan, and this is when a true understanding of how to choose the right ‘free food’ becomes essential to unlocking further weight loss. No matter how healthy a food is, if you’re eating too many calories, you simply won’t lose weight. This said, losing weight should never become a game of simple calorie counting, it should also include getting as many nutrients from as many real foods as possible in order to assist long term progress, adherence - and health. Heather Smith is a fat loss specialist Personal Trainer. Get in touch for a free five-day meal plan www.fitbiztraining.co.uk

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24 Legal

Funeral Plan By Emma Wells MIPW Will Writer

If you haven’t thought about what you want your funeral to be like, then perhaps it’s time that you did. You might fall into the group of people who don’t care what happens to you as after all “you’ll be dead so won’t know’’ and that’s fine. However, if you care about the people that you’ll be leaving behind, you might want to put something together to make life easier for them. Some people have a very clear idea of how they would like their funeral to be but have been unsure of how to start the conversation needed to get their funeral organised. The simplest thing to do to ensure that you leave your loved ones with neither the emotional, logistical or financial burden is to take out a pre-paid funeral plan. I don’t mean one of those products advertised on TV that always starts with someone in the kitchen or garden saying “are you over fifty?’’ as these are often just a policy or savings plan that may pay out as little as £1500 when you die, which unfortunately won’t cover the cost of even the simplest funeral locally, despite being presented as something to be used to cover the cost of your funeral. What I’m talking about is a comprehensive plan that is paid for either in full at the time of taking it out,

therefore fixing the cost at today’s prices or over a few years - whichever you prefer. Everyone I know who has had experience of losing a loved one who had a plan in place has said just how much easier it made things at a really difficult time for them and not just financially. Knowing that the send off that their loved one was getting was exactly how they had wished it to be was a huge comfort for them. I appreciate that you might not like to talk to your family about the practicalities of dying for fear of upsetting them, but by having a plan in place the only thing you need to do is to tell them who to call when the time comes. Whilst detailing your funeral wishes in your Will is advisable, it doesn’t guarantee that what you want to happen will happen, as often a Will is read after the funeral has taken place! You can give as much or as little detail in a funeral plan as you like. You might like to detail readings, music, dress codes or you might just be happy that you’ve paid for it and leave the rest up to your family to decide when you’re gone. Either way you’ve made life a little easier for them at a time when they could really do with the help. emma.wells@nsure.co.uk or on 01903 821010. www.nsureestateplanningservices.co.uk

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