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Health, Food & Diet
- Sugar content in alcohol - best & worst
- Coconut oil: the science
- Guilt free snacks
- 5 Post workout recipes
- 5 Common healthy eating mistakes
- Teatox – Whats it all about?
- After School Snacks for Kids
- Summer Fruits – What’s Hot, What’s Not
- The Professional Athlete Diet
- What is a Cleanse Diet?
- Losing Weight Without a Fad Diet
- Cheat Days: Worth it?
- Light Milk: Healthier than Full Cream?
- Protein Shakes – Do they really work?
- All About the IIFYM Diet
- 8 Superfoods You’ve Never Heard Of
- 5 Surprising Facts About Coffee
- The Changes Your Body Goes through When you Quit Sugar
- The Truth About Soft Drinks
- Does Detoxing Actually Work?
- Natural Alternatives to Sugar
- Replacing Artificial Sugars with Natural Energy
- Sugar in Caffeinated Drinks
- Diets 101 – The Bloodtype Diet
- Delicious Sugar Free Recipes
- The Low-Down on Artificial Sweeteners
- The Health Benefits of Smoothies
- The Aztec Diet
- Breaking Sugar Addiction
- Organic vs Non Organic Foods
- Spices of a Sunburnt Country
- 7 Healthy Kids Lunchbox Snacks
- The Great Weight Debate
- Sneaking Vegetables into your Children’s Food
- Fast or Feast? The Guide to the 5:2 Diet
- Nutrition tips for the everyday cyclist
- Creative, Fun (and healthy!) Christmas food ideas for kids
- Medical Spotlight: Heart Disease
- What's for Breakfast
- Coconut Oil – why you should make the switch
- Healthy Fast Food Options
- Salt – Friend or Foe?
- Changes to your body during pregnancy
- Spotlight on Sugar – how much sugar is in your favourite drinks?
- Five Surprising Facts about Food and Nutrition
- The Secret Sugar Hidden in Your Favourite Foods
- Are saturated fats and cholesterol really the bad guys?
- 5 Foods to Help Fight Pain
- The Importance of Potassium and Sodium
- Nutritional Truths About Sushi
- Slim Shakes and Diet Pills
- What are Macrobiotics?
- The Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy
- Winter Foods To Keep You Warm
- What’s in season for Winter?
- Feeding fitness: Eating and exercise tips for breastfeeding mums
- Breast Milk versus Formula
- Foods that Speed Up the Ageing Process
- Beat the Winter Blues
- The Raw Food Diet
- Severe Nut Allergies: The Signs
- How to Make a Better Lunch Box for Kids
- Foods and Asthma
- Kids and Food Allergies
- The Lowdown on Homeopathy
- What is involved in traditional Chinese medicine?
- What is Ayurveda? And Why Do It?
- Diets 101: Mediterranean v Sonoma Diets
- Autumn Foods – What’s in Season?
- 5 Bad Habits Healthy People Have
- 5 Under-Appreciated Foods With Surprising Health Benefits
- Happy Valentines Day, Every Day! The Benefits of Chocolate
- Diets 101: Jenny Craig vs Weight Watchers
- Spice up your Life
- 5 Simple Fixes for Bad Eating Habits
- 5 Ways To Teach Your Kids About Healthy Food
- Don’t worry – Eat happy! 5 mood enhancing foods
- What’s in Season for Summer?
- The Fruit Superhero
- How to beat the bulge this festive season
- The best snack ideas that leave you guilt free
- Dairy – Good or bad for your health?
- What’s in Season for Spring?
- Is fasting good for you?
- Diets 101 – Atkins and Dukan Diets
- 15 reasons why it is smart to shop at local markets
- Why is fish oil good for you?
- Five foods for a healthy brain
- Recipe for the perfect breakfast shake
- Minimize the Effects of Alcohol on Your Health
- Diets 101 – Paleo & Ferris
- Die Diet Die!
- Eating Out – Restaurant Junkies
- 4 healthy habits you can build in just a few weeks
- 7 Nutritional Beliefs That Are Wrong
- 3 Kids Snacks To Replace The Happy Meal
- Monday’s medical myth: chocolate causes acne
- Monday’s medical myth: food additives cause childhood behavioural disorders
- More Than Meats The Eye
- Weight-loss TV, patience is not its virtue
- All About Eczema
- 10 Ideas on How to Stay Healthy in a Stressful Work Environment
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Sports & Fitness
- Crossfit – What’s all the hype about?
- This Year’s Hottest Fitness Trends
- How to Choose a Good Gym
- 5 Ways to Work Different Parts of Your Body
- Exercising in Cold Weather
- HIIT – Train Smarter, Not Harder!
- The Importance of Correct Form in the Gym
- Strength Training: More than simply lifting weights
- Why Men should try Women’s Workouts
- Clean Out your Gym Bag
- Alternative Forms of Cardio
- The Health Benefits of Snow Sports
- Barre – Fusing Yoga, Pilates and Ballet
- Keeping Fit with the Kids in Tow
- The Great Weight Debate
- Body Weight Workouts
- Maximise the Benefits of Cycling Training
- Nutrition tips for the everyday cyclist
- Deskercise! Your 7 Step Office Workout Guide
- How to improve your cycling
- Work the Twerk
- The Health Benefits of Playing Cricket
- Kickboxing your way to fitness!
- Let’s Dance: Shake Up Your Fitness Routine
- Fitness Myths Debunked
- Training for a Triathlon – Where to Start
- Trampolining: Not just for kids!
- Physical Culture: Let’s Get Physical
- How to Buy the Perfect Pair of Running Shoes
- Hiking, Climbing & Bushwalking Tips
- Gym bag essentials
- Assisting Recovery when Injured
- Learn to Love Your Body
- Pole Dancing for Fitness & Confidence
- Yoga for Pecs, or Peace?
- Feeding fitness: Eating and exercise tips for breastfeeding mums
- 5 Bad Habits Healthy People Have
- How to Make a Visit to the Pool Fun
- How to Prevent Stitches During Your Run
- Take Off Your Shoes! The Pleasures of Running Barefoot
- Breathing and Anxiety
- 6 Ideas on How to Carry Items Whilst Running
- Exercise at home
- How to beat tHow to beat the bulge this festive seasonhe bulge this festive season
- Brrrr it’s cold outside! Indoor sports to try this Winter
- Snow Sports
- Martial Arts – Good for Everyone!
- No More Exercise Excuses
- Tips to get your kids moving
- What is a bike fit and why get one?
- Pre-race preparation
- Pregnancy and Exercise: Is it safe?Pregnancy and Exercise: Is it safe?
- Finding motivation to get fit
- Keeping work healthy
- Rise to the challenge
- 5 Ways to Train like an Olympic Athlete
- 4 healthy habits you can build in just a few weeks
- How can I get addicted to exercise?
- What Kind of Yoga Class Should I Choose?
- 3 Reasons To Stand Up At Work
- Work Hard… Recover Harder
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Parenting & children
- 17 Bright Ideas for Vintage Games & Sports
- Sleep Series: Bed Wetting and Other Problems
- Kids Sleep Series: Changing Sleep Patterns with Age
- Choosing an Obstetrician
- What Activity is Best for My Child?
- Keeping Fit with the Kids in Tow
- The Benefits of Prenatal Yoga
- Medical Spotlight: fertility, infertility and technology
- Sleep in Toddlers and Young Children
- Sleep in Infants
- What I wish my mum had told me growing up
- Can Having a Pet Promote Better Health for Your Family?
- How to Help Your Toddler Learn to Ride a Bike
- The Importance of Family Rituals
- Yoga for Kids
- First Time Dads – What to Expect
- Music for Kids
- First Time Mums – What to Expect
- How to Make a Visit to the Pool Fun
- How to de-stress as a Mum
- Pregnancy and Exercise: Is it safe?
- Pain: The Body Speaks!
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Health insurance
- How to Select a Health Insurance Provider
- What Private Health Insurance is Right for Me?
- Uncomplexicate
- Choosing a Healthcare Professional
- Simplifying out of pocket expenses
- What to Expect When Going to Hospital
- Your handy checklist to Private Health Insurance
- First Time Mums – What to Expect
- The Costs of Pregnancy
- Private Health Insurance Explained
- Healthcare: Public vs Private
- I’m young and healthy, why do I need health insurance?
- Osteo vs. Chiro: What’s the Difference?
- Getting Health Insurance for the first time
- Australian Health Insurance: The top 10 things you need to know
Losing Weight Without a Fad Diet
So you’re out having coffee with a friend at your favourite café, and you over hear the woman on the table next to you proudly announcing how she lost 4 kilos in a week! “Can you believe it” She exclaims “all I had to do was eat cabbage soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner!”
You ‘re probably thinking that losing 4 kilos in a week sounds great, but ask yourself this, could you live a lifetime of eating cabbage soup for three square meals a day? I know I couldn’t!
Fad diets will always be in fashion because we want results – and we want them now! These fad diets will entertain fast results with minimal effort but what are they really doing for you?
These fast fix methods often set you up for failure because there comes a point when you can no longer stomach another bowl of high octane, gas inducing cabbage soup! And what generally happens from here is that you go back to old habits and put all the weight back on – sometimes more!
The good news is that you can lose weight without following a strict fad diet routine. The key to weight loss is understanding how your body works in relation to the fuel you put in (food) and your daily output (movement). Food is merely a source of energy for your body. So what goes in must come out (through movement and exercise) for you to maintain your current weight. And if what goes in outweighs the output, you store this unused energy as extra kilograms.
So essentially you need to have an energy deficit (otherwise known as a calorie deficit) for your body to lose weight. Counting your calories is a good way to ascertain how much energy is going into your body each day. Then on the other side of things, wearing a heart rate monitor during exercise will give you calorie expenditure figures. Then it’s a matter of working out the sums.
For you to get a complete account of your specific energy requirements you’ll also need to work out your Basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is simply a measure of how many calories your body needs just to function. The equation for BMR is;
Females 655.1 + (9.46 x weight in kg) + (1.85 x height in cm) – (4.48 x age in yrs) = your BMR
Males 66.47 + (13.75 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.76 x age in yrs) = your BMR
Calculate your BMR plus calorie expenditure (exercise). Then subtract your food intake, which will give you the answer – You may have a calorie surplus or a deficit. And for weight loss, it’s the deficit you want.
For example, you burnt 500 calories in your workout, your BMR is 1450 and your food calories add up to 1300. That leaves a calorie deficit of 650.
500 + 1450 – 1300 = 650
As a blanket guide, for men to lose weight they would consume between 1300 -1800 calories per day (as the total sum after calculating all of the above). And the figure for women is between 1200 – 1500 calories.
So if you’ve read all the way down to here and thought, “wow that seems a like too much hard work”, just simplify things by eating a well balanced diet, while being mindful of portion size, and move your body. Set about scheduling a regular exercise routine. These small lifestyle changes will go a long way over time. And before you know it, the figure on the scales will have dropped. Sounds much nicer than cabbage soup don’t you think!