between seven a.m. in the morning and six p.m. in the evening. However, we actually receive the vast majority of our energy from food after six p.m. when we are less active. While some studies suggest that it makes no difference whether your calories from food are consumed during the day or all at night, what these studies fail to take into account is our own personal willpower. At the end of the day when we are tired, especially when we have not eaten much during the day, willpower will be low and we will be much more likely to overeat. This means long-term there is a situation where at the end of each day there is actually a build of excess calories which we are not burning off prior to going to bed – and these calories are being laid down in the fat cells as additional body fat. The Body Blitz Plan will show you how to make the right food choices at the right time of the day, so you receive energy when you need it and you don’t end up with a build up of excess calories before you go to bed.
YOUR ATTITUDE TO FOOD
What we were introduced to as a child defines our relationship with food in later life. If you ate a lot of sugar and sweet things as you were growing up and your diet did not include a variety of tastes, it is likely you now crave calorie-dense sweet foods rather than savoury foods. Maybe your mother used to say to you, ‘You must finish everything on your plate?’, and now you always finish everything on your plate thinking it is rude to leave even a morsel. Or alternatively you had a mother who actively encouraged you not to eat certain foods or not to overeat as it would only make you fat. Or maybe you had a mother who was always on a diet and never ate the same food as the rest of the family. Our mums are great but we need to be aware of how their attitude to food impacts our attitude to food in later life. These attitudes have had a long time to be grooved and they will take a long time to diminish. The Body Blitz Plan will help you reevaluate your relationship with food, showing you how to draw up a sensible eating plan that will help you realize your weight and body fat goals as well as providing a positive health message for your children.
YOUR MOTIVATION
What is your motivation to lose weight? Is it to squeeze into that little black dress for a certain event or is it about looking better for a significant A.N. Other. Whatever your motivation you need to identify it and shift it from an external motivation such as an important event to an internal one such as wanting to feel more in control of your eating habits, have more energy and feel better about yourself. All of which translates into a strategy that you can incorporate and build on to achieve your long-term weight and body fat goals. Think about this: what we weigh in seven years will not be determined by what we do for the next seven hours or the next seven days but by how well we eat and how physically active we are over the next seven years. Establishing a strategy and following an action plan that you can keep to will be crucial – the Body Blitz Plan will show you how to do this. Seeing results is a huge motivation and with a little effort that motivation can be your driving force.
YOUR FRIENDS
Early on in your Body Blitz Plan you need to establish who are going to be saboteurs and supporters of your efforts. Within your circle of friends and family there will be individuals who will encourage you and help you with your efforts. It is also likely there will be individuals who either intentionally or unintentionally try to hinder your efforts – this may be because your efforts and seeing you look and feel better makes them feel less comfortable or they are just genuinely unaware of their intentions. Identifying who are your diet friends or foes will help you to apply the Body Blitz strategies more effectively and successfully.
YOUR PERSONALIZED BODY BLITZ PLAN
As you work through the book you will be able to build up your own personal Body Blitz Plan, using the nutritional and exercise strategies to help you realize your goals. It is important to understand that there is no one diet that works for everyone; instead Body Blitz contains strategies that accommodate a series of scenarios for a number of different types of people with different lifestyle constraints (as detailed below). Have a read through and see which one relates most closely to you. The Body Blitz Plan will also allow you to accommodate these different roles as your life changes.
BUSY MUM: frantic kids, juggling school runs, part-time job and running a home, high domestic stress levels, children’s meal times, lack of sleep with baby leads to reduced energy levels, no time for herself, food grabbed on the run.
BUSINESS WOMAN: entertains with work, lunches and dines out frequently, high commercial stress levels, eats snacks for quick energy fixes, no time to think about sensible eating and exercise.
EXPERIENCING MIDDLE AGE SPREAD: approaching menopause, experiencing weight gain, family older and more independent, never exercised, heavy social calendar with family and other activities.
GIRL ABOUT TOWN: socializes a lot, breakfast and lunch often grabbed on the run, sees friends and eats out several times a week, alcohol can feature prominently in the social calendar.
SEASONED DIETER: tried every diet around, routinely loses weight and then gains it back, more recently finding it harder to shift the weight and body fat.
Throughout the book you will find nutritional and exercise strategies for each individual – once you have identified which type relates most closely to you, you will be able to use the guidelines offered to design your own personal exercise and fitness plan that fits in with your life, just the way it is.
A FINAL WORD
So remember, the Body Blitz Plan is about being the best you can be whilst still living the life you wish to live. Yes, it does require a little bit of effort but you don’t have to make any big sacrifices or radical changes to your lifestyle to get the results you want – all you need to do is apply the five steps in the Body Blitz Plan (see Part II) and you will achieve your weight and fat loss goals not just for now, but for the future too.
Body Blitz Active Action Points:
Write a list of the main obstacles to you achieving your fat loss goals – try to be as specific as possible, for example, mid-morning coffee break with work colleagues or tea time with the kids when you are starving yourself.
Make a commitment today to make one small change in your daily activities that you will keep up for the next six weeks. For example, say no to coffee in your mid-morning coffee break and have a cup of herbal tea instead. Remember, every small change you make will take you one step further towards achieving your fat loss goals.
Step 1: The Starch Curfew – Cut your carbs after 5 p.m.
We all know we have to steer clear of a diet that contains too much fat and we feel proud of ourselves if we have said no to chocolate or ice-cream. So why are we still struggling with our weight and body fat? These days one of the most common reasons for our weight loss frustrations is that we have come to rely on low-fat starches and we are
