Louisa's Weight Loss Blog

You’re reading my blog for diet tips. For this I must applaud you as you must be fairly intelligent. Having established this fact, you must be pretty confused as to why the UK government has gone back on it’s advice regarding calorie intake.  According to the latest information released, women and men can eat an extra 16% of the original government recommended daily intake of calories without gaining weight.

Women can apparently safely consume an extra 320 calories whereas men can have an extra 400 calories. To make it easy, that is a small cheese burger a day you can eat on top of your diet. Apparently.

As I said, you’re probably fairly intelligent so you will understand that this advice could blow back in the face of the DoH when the UK is set to rival America in 2012 with a third of adults being overweight if current trends continue. So why am I outraged?

Everybody processes calories and converts food into energy at different rates. What’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. This is because our current weight and the speed at which we metabolise mean that a blanket one-size-fits-all approach is not suitable when advising adults how many calories they should eat. There are methods by which you can calculate how many calories you can eat to maintain your weight but this is complicated and should be done with an expert who you are fully honest with.

Michael Phelps can eat far more than the average person as he burns calories off swimming to an Olympic standard.

At the Beijing Olympics last year, it was revealed that Olympic swimmer, American Michael Phelps ate 10,000 calories a day. His breakfast was:

• three fried egg sandwiches, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise,
• three chocolate-chip pancakes
• a five-egg omelette
• three sugar-coated slices of French toast
• a bowl of grits (a maize-based porridge)
• two cups of coffee

However a woman weighing 10 stone may only be able to eat 1800 calories a day to maintain her weight but a smaller woman with greater muscle mass may be able to have 2200 calories a day. A guideline such as this is dangerous  for those who stick to these guidelines but does not have a particularly active metabolism.

Also, studies have indicated that people misjudge the amount of calories they actually eat. This is why you should keep a rigorous and detailed diary of everything that you put in your mouth, including drinks.

If you are currently trying to lose weight, keep a strict food diary and log everything you eat. Yes, unfortunately, you must be clear about your portion sizes too. Weigh your food if it helps. From there you will be able to calculate what you honestly consume in a day and from there you can make your own boundaries.

As even a spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum said, this is not a green light for people to eat themselves silly. In this situation, I wholeheartedly suggest dieters ignore government advise on this issue as I feel they are not only giving out mixed messages, they could further contribute to the growing obesity crisis.

Researchers have pinpointed the day that thousands of people across the nation will start their diets – today! Just in time for Christmas.

There are two reasons for this:

1. People want to look amazing over the Christmas period as lots of photographs will be taken

2. Others will want to lose weight in anticipation of the weight they expect to gain over the gluttonous Christmas period.

Either way, get behind the 60% of women who are dieting for the Christmas period and bring fruit into the office instead of mince pies!

Personally, I have little patience with the American obsession with Halloween. I have never celebrated it as such, I find trick or treating a glorified form of begging and the spiteful actions that unfurl from those giving a ‘trick’ are never justified and frighten the vulnerable. I have however, gone out to Halloween themed parties but I don’t really need an excuse to find a costume and have fun with friends.

For a predominantly Christian country like America that gets hysterical over Socialism and anything non-Christian, I cannot for the life of me understand why they embrace Halloween which is a pagan tradition. Maybe it’s just big business perpetuating it as a means to squeeze more money out of the consumer, maybe that’s me being cynical. Who knows? I have a deep-running disdain for many aspect of American ‘culture’ (such as giant meals at restaurants, deep-seated racism in the South, protectionism and refusing to get behind the Kyoto agreement) but unfortunately I can’t stop them so I co-exist with it. I do often hope people see the error of the young country’s ways and change, but greed is ugly and too strong amongst its politicians.

Anyway, back to my original point! Too often, pumpkins are only seen as something to carve into with a very big knife and put candles in. They are a seasonal fruit (pumpkins are a fruit not a vegetable because they have seeds) and are associated with Halloween and for Americans, Thanksgiving. I am often horrified that the flesh within pumpkins is not routinely celebrated and frankly, worshipped! Did you know that pumpkins contain beta carotene?

Pumpkins are no just for Halloween lanterns, their flesh is full of goodnes - and you should eat more pumpkin!

Beta carotene is your friend! It is not only a cancer fighting substance (particularly colon cancer it is thought), it is a dieter’s friend too. It is a type of vitamin A and sorry to debunk this common myth but it can’t help you see in the dark! What Vitamin A can do for you is it can help improve your skin, your vision and immune system function. So why is pumpkin so great for dieters?

Pumpkin is high in fibre and low in calories. Fibre aids digestion which means food doesn’t rot in your bowel and we all know what low in calories means! Pumpkins contain about 30 calories per 150g. Result!

The seeds in pumpkins are great for you as well. Seeds in general can help your mental well-being, nutritional experts claim that seeds and nuts can be extremely beneficial for those incorporating a dietary factor into beating depression. I know personally of one man who believes his diet was a large contributory factor to improving his moods and nuts and seeds were a feature in his particular diet. Pumpkin seeds contain a high level of zinc as well, which aids sleep, helps to improve your skin, hair and nail growth. Pumpkin seeds can be eaten alone as a snack, stirred into yoghurt as a dessert or even toasted or sprinkled on fresh whole wheat bread.

Pumpkins are not just for Halloween, they should be embraced for as long as they are in season. If you are making jack-o-lanterns this Halloween, make good use of the flesh! There are many great recipes online so get out to your local market and get creative.

Yes, tomorrow is certainly a new day and I am wiping the slate clean and starting afresh. This is because for the last two weeks I’ve not been very well. I started out with flu symptoms for a week and to be honest, I was a bit of a fanny and life completely ground to a halt. My hope was that rest and TLC would cure me but it wasn’t to be as it moved to my chest. This week I have been hacking my guts like an old man with a name like Cuthbert. I’ve also had headaches but I found out this was due to the solvents in the numerous coloured sharpie pens I’ve been using whilst studying for my post grad exam in philosophy next week. Oops.

I am not proud to admit it, but the diet went completely on hold and I stopped taking Proactol as my weight loss experiment is in theory, scientific. This means I should be eating a bit better but exercising too along with taking the tablets. After all, Proactol is a slimming aid, not a magic pill as such a creation doesn’t exist!

It’s weird, since I stopped taking the Proactol my visits to the bathroom have been less frequent and I’ve definitely been more bloated. I think this is because Proactol is a fibre complex and we all know that fibre helps what I shall refer to the less pleasant end results of digestion!

So I’m feeling much better and not coughing anywhere near as much so it all starts tomorrow. However, I won’t be exercising until later on in the week as I have an exam on Wednesday and I am BRICKING myself because I don’t think I have a reasonable enough grip on the course material (that i’ll remember in exam conditions anyway!) Why does everything massive and important all have to start in the same week?!

I’ve sorted out my first day outfit but I’ll iron it tomorrow and paint my toenails tomorrow morning. I’m terrified my alarm won’t go off but I doubt I’ll sleep thanks to nerves and stress about my exam anyway. My diet will start again tomorrow so I’ll be eating properly and taking Proactol as planned. Wish me luck in starting again!

It was about time! I’m always on facebook so it’s about time I combined my two internet loves, Facebook and Total Chunk!

Find the Total Chunk Facebook page here:

I’ve been reading a lot of other weight loss blogs lately and I’ve noticed a recurring theme… when someone gives in to temptation and eats a whole cake, the dieter feels an overwhelming sense of guilt. This taints their attitude towards food and themselves for days, sometimes weeks after.

Guilt is a burden that delays you achieving your goals

I’m not going to say “Step away from the cheesecake”… I am going to say STOP WORRYING! Today is a new day, we all make mistakes and there is no point in repeatedly torturing yourself over mistakes. If you make a mistake at work, do you lie awake at night and berate yourself and double check every little thing you do from now on? No, you are proactive and put measures in place to prevent further mistakes. If you normally exercise caution then to put enormous pressure on yourself isn’t fair and it could delay you reaching your goal.

Admit your mistake and put plans in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again by writing a shopping list and sticking to it in the supermarket or carrying a snack around in your bag just in case you are caught short.

I used to listen to Paul McKenna’s ‘I can make you thin’, and I still do occasionally because on the CD, Paul encourages you to see yourself in a positive light. He asks you to feel warm and happy when you think of your future body and this really helps on the days when I have not been as strong as I would have liked. When I feel better about myself, I don’t want to eat cake or crisps, I am more focused on my goal and I feel stronger and more able to say no to treats.

By feeling guilt, you lower your self esteem and you begin to view yourself as weak. The next time temptation presents itself, if you view yourself as weak you are more likely to give in and cast aside your diet with reckless abandon because you think you are a screw up.

You are NOT a screw up. You are a human being who will make mistakes and the answer is to put your indiscretion aside and persevere.

Total Chunk Top Tip: Banish guilt from your vocabulary. Mistakes will be made so move on and use them as a reason to focus on what you really want: a slim and healthy body.

Today is Saturday and I’m feeling much better today. I’m still a bit snuffly and tired and weak but I fully intend to be starting the diet again PROPERLY on Monday. There is no point in doing anything half arsed. When you’re trying to lose weight, you should never resent your choice to improve your life. You should always feel in control of your decision. Once you have decided something in your life has to change you have to decide what must change and how you will change it. People who write down their goals and share them are more likely to achieve them. Ask yourself the following questions and write down the answers, stick the answers on the fridge as a constant reminder of why you are doing what you are doing.

Why have you decided to lose weight?

How will your life improve when you hit your target?

Losing weight and keeping it off is not dieting, it is a new life style choice. You must be ready to embrace these changes. Are you prepared to make the changes necessary?

Take your time and think about it. If your reasons and motivation aren’t strong enough, every day of your diet will be hard, you will resent it and you will probably fail. Don’t torment yourself, be prepared and determined to succeed.

An hour ago, I watched Derren Brown miss a roulette win by one number. He had sneaked in to a casino in mainland Europe and with a small camera up his sleeve, he placed a bet at 35 to 1 on black 8. Unfortunately, the next number, red 30 came out. The bloke who had unwittingly given him the £5,000 to place the bet looked at first confused and then just devastated. The show ended very quickly and I felt a bit baffled about what had happened until it stuck me, Derren Brown had failed.

Derren was incredibly close but he only had one shot, the participant was clearly cheesed and wouldn’t you be? With the promise of £175,000 if Derren Brown won with his single bet, for the average person, that is a life changing event.

Derren Brown is banned from most UK casinos, before he became famous he used to spend a lot of time in casinos and very rarely lost. As time passed by the casino people figured out that he clearly understood how it all worked and knew this couldn’t end well for them!

I like Derren Brown, he is an excellent showman and I hope that he doesn’t take this too hard. I hope he gives it another shot and hopefully wins with my savings!

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Afternoon all! I’ve felt really grotty all week, I’ve been feeling very achey, weak, with headache, sore throat, nausea etc so unfortunately, the diet has been on hold. I’m sure there are those out there who believe that even in spite of being poorlysick you should continue to try and stick to a normal routine but I am not one of them.

When you are unwell try to rest and drink plenty of water

When I am not well, I try and get plenty of fluids and bed rest. I’ve fought off many colds by just taking a day or two easy and trying to eat well. When you are unwell, your body needs calories, fat, protein, antioxidants etc to rebuild itself and your immune system. If you lose weight due to illness that is one thing but there is no good in potentially prolonging a simple cold by pushing yourself too hard.

I have asthma and I’ve had it drummed into me so many times that when you have respiratory weaknesses then a bout of flu can develop into pneumonia which is why asthmatics like myself are offered the annual flu jab. It is not just asthmatics at risk, a former colleague of mine who was normally in excellent health caught a cold and it developed into a long-running respiratory infection that she suffered from for weeks and weeks. This kind of thing can really knock your diet sideways so you need to consider your options.

You can either take a few days out of your diet, rest completely and start again in earnest when you’re up to exercise or you can try and carry on with your diet but risk prolonging your illness.

Cor! Get a load of that!

Roast Dinner

This is a typical Sunday roast. Very rarely are they not yummy if your mummy has made it! It is eaten in homes across the country and is seen as quintessentially British. Traditionally, the roast dinner was the Sunday treat and the rest of the joint of meat (or a chicken) would be used over the forthcoming week. Bones could be used for stock, giblets can be used for… well, use your imagination and do your own research, I’m starting to feel queasy!

The calories in a roast dinner will obviously vary depending on the trimmings you have with them. Green veggies are good for you and don’t have many calories in so we can discount them comfortably. The problem comes in with your potatoes, parsnips, yorkshire pudding, gravy, sauces (e.g. bread, horseradish, cranberry), stuffing, crackling etc. Then of course, there is dessert which might typically be bread and butter pudding, lemon meringue or a warm apple crumble with ice cream. In food heaven just thinking about it aren’t you? We need to snap out of it! I make my bread and butter pudding with Bailey’s Irish Cream and it is incredible! It’s moist, alcoholic and I could happily munch on it now at 9.38am!

How many calories do you think there are in a roast dinner? Sit down because I would hate you to faint with shock… roast dinners can vary from around 750 calories to 1500 calories! Have you got the shakes? I have! You could be consuming over half of your daily allotted calories before dessert! Then factor in a glass of wine if you’re being social with the family around the dinner table… It is a dieter’s nightmare!

How can you get around the calories in a roast dinner?

First of all, if you’re only eating a roast dinner once a week and being ‘good’ for the rest of the week then don’t get too upset about it, you are allowed some normality! You should not forgo eating with your family because of your diet. How many times do I have to tell you? Dieting is meant to enhance your life, not limit it. There are steps you can take to make your Sunday roast more diet friendly.

• Avoid sauces or don’t pile sauce on your plate. Do you really need a tablespoon of Bernaise or Hollandaise when a teaspoon will suffice?
• Depending on how you make it, gravy isn’t too awful for dieters but do try and cut down as home made gravy can contain up to 162 calories per serving. Onion gravy is better for dieter than say, a meaty gravy but it is all down to preference. I don’t even eat gravy with a roast and most people find that rather strange.
• A Sunday roast dinner could be made up of almost 3/4 carbohydrates! Try and limit your potatoes, parsnips and yorkshire pudding and fill up on your steamed green veggies.
• Be social as you eat. Talk to your fellow diners and savour your food. If you put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls and chew your food properly you will probably feel full before you actually finish what is on your plate. Too often I feel uncomfortably full after eating a roast dinner and that is usually because I have eaten too quickly and didn’t recognise that I was becoming full.

Nobody cooks a big roast dinner just for themselves. A Sunday dinner is usually a social family event and should remain as one. If you are conscious about being on a diet and feel guilty for eating a roast, encourage your family to do something active after dinner. If you need a half hour nap after eating, have your nap and then as a family do something active like go for a long walk, go for a bike ride or play a ball game down at your local park. Family time doesn’t just have to revolve around food, you can all spend time together being active, bowling, go-karting, skiing or just paddling in the sea is great!

Now for Sunday’s food diary:

Breakfast: None – woke up too late

Lunch: Bread, pate and hummus. Roast lamb chop, carrot (raw) and mashed potato. Apple pie, warm strawberries and single cream followed by black coffee. (I had a glass of red wine with my meal)

Dinner: A slice of toast and I picked at Sunday roast leftovers so a little bit of chicken, a parsnip, cooked carrot, broccoli and a roast potato. Then a medium sized slice of coconut cake.

Proactol: Only 2, I forgot to bring the packet with me to dinner.

Exercise: None, I was resting after a very busy Saturday!