Oh where to even start?
If I told you that too much sugar was bad for you what would you do? Roll your eyes and say "yes, I know" I would imagine.
Sugar is everywhere, it is in so much of what we buy, so much of what is on shelves and it's one of those things where if you have some then you want more...it is genuinely addictive.
I know. I may have managed to lose a decent amount of weight, but I know that every time I over-indulge in sugary things I just want more and my off-switch gets stuck on!
So I'm not going to lecture anybody. We all know we shouldn't have excessive amounts of sugar. But let me just share this with you.
1 month ago I was fed up of the extra pounds that had managed to creep onto the scales (funnily enough all of them were on me), I had been turning to chocolate and sweets to get over feeling tired, stressing about this new business, nervous for my boy starting big school, trying to find my feet in this whole new world of the school-gate and feeling intimidated and a bit overwhelmed by it (the old, shy, nervous, nobody likes me version of me was around).
I always turn to sweets and chocolate when I'm down, stressed or anxious.
So, any/all of my workouts I was doing for myself were basically just keeping at bay the extra "treats" I was allowing myself to have because "they make me feel better". (they don't really)
Anyway, I decided to stop having the chocolate buttons, stop having the meringue and yoghurt late at night, instead I bought a bag of toffees and would have those throughout a day because that's better than eating bags of buttons, pick 'n' mix, milky ways, smarties right? (other sweets are available)
Well what's a toffee here and there? I'll tell you what it is. It's grabbing a sweet, unwrapping it, popping it in your mouth and chewing, thinking "mmmm that's nice", then swallowing and grabbing another just a few minutes later. Across a day maybe 10 toffees gone...well that's like 1 sweet an hour for 10 hours...it's nothing. Well no. It's not is it? 1 toffee = 40 calories. 40 calories x 10 = 400 calories!
So there's me thinking I'm being all good by not having the random handful of sweets now and then yet I was actually more likely to be consuming as much, if not more, with these stupid toffees that I was mindlessly munching on throughout a day. Getting a hit for a few seconds and then just wanting more.
So I stopped. To prove a point to myself. Just over a week ago I stopped buying toffees because guess what? If you don't buy them you don't eat them!
The difference? 3lbs in a week. 3lbs gone because I stopped buying and eating bloody toffees!
That's not all...have a look at this...
Now that is my resting heart rate figure which my Fitbit watch tracks as I wear it.
Is it obvious what I'm getting at?
1 month ago I stopped having the bags of sweets/chocolates, see the heart rate decrease? The just over a week ago I stopped the toffees....yep...heart rate goes down.
The only thing I changed over that month was reducing the sweets. My regular food intake stayed exactly the same. My work was the same. My routine the same. I just stopped eating the sweets.
Isn't that shocking? That's what sugar does to you. In 1 month my heart rate has gone down from 58BPM to 48BPM (give or take) all thanks to reducing my sugar intake.
I'm still having nice things. There is no deprivation in my house. Instead of the late-night yoghurt and meringue after the gym I'll have a couple of cookies (chosen wisely 59cal per biscuit not 101!). If I want something I'll try and have a drink and make sure I'm not just thirsty, if I still want something I'll have a mint, but just 1.
Mindless eating is where a lot of calories disappear. Log your food for a week and include the snacks, you'll be shocked at how much they add up. The odd thing here or there soon mounts up. My odd toffee a day ended up being more calories than having a bar of chocolate that I would never consider eating because I considered that to be over-indulging!
Get your mind around it. And try to stop rewarding yourself with food...we aren't dogs!
It's this re-educating yourself about food and your intake, alongside a physical workout programme that can make significant changes to your body, physically and mentally.
Personal Training isn't just shouting at someone with instructions on how to do a workout, it's supporting you with ideas and tips to make sustainable lifestyle changes. It's about feeling good for good.
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