A big part of eating for fat loss is keeping your metabolism going all day long with small, sensible meals and snacks. In theory, this is simple and easy: eat a little something every 2-3 hours throughout the day.

Unfortunately very few people do it right, resulting in frustrating weight gain.

The content of your snacks and small meals is of utmost importance. If you’re eating the wrong thing every 2-3 hours then it’s easy to gain weight quickly, rather than what you want, which is to drop fat and clothes sizes.

Let’s jump into the 3 Essential Snacking Tips that I have for you today to keep you on track and burning fat all day long…

Snacking Tip #1: Watch out for added sugar.

Sugar is the biggest problem when it comes to fattening snacks, and so this needs to be the number one nutrient that you check. Your frequent snacks should contain very little, or zero, added sugars.

This is a pet peeve that I have: many ‘health’ foods have massive amounts of added sugars, which will destroy your results. Items like protein bars, jerky, dried fruit, green juice, and trail mix often have added sugars and preservatives that you need to watch out for and avoid.

Your snacks should have little to zero added sugars, and should be a nice blend of protein, fibre and complex carbohydrates.

Snacking Tip #2: Check the serving size.

When your snack comes in a package, after you make sure that it isn’t filled with sugar, check the serving size. It’s a popular technique for food manufacturers to give the nutritional facts for 2 or even 2.5 servings, on an item that you will likely polish off the entire package.

If the servings are more than just one then you’ll need to do some quick math. Calculate the total calories, sugar, carbs, fat and protein. Make sure that the numbers line up with your target nutrition sums.

Always be aware of how many servings you are eating in a single sitting. Do the math if you’re eating more than one serving – be honest with yourself!

Snacking Tip #3: Homemade and made-in-nature are best. 

As convenient as packaged health snacks are, you will always see better results by eating whole foods found in nature, or snacks that you’ve made at home with real food ingredients. Even the healthiest packaged protein bar from the store is going to contain preservatives and additives that are completely avoided in homemade foods.

A handful of raw nuts, a piece of fruit with fresh nut butter, a hard boiled egg, some chicken breast on veggies or chopped flank steak on a salad are all better options than any packaged snack.

When possible, stick with whole foods found in nature and snacks and meals that you make at home.

Almost every new client comes to me with the desire to lose fat – for a variety of reasons. The most prevailing reason that I hear is that they want to look more fit and attractive as a result of the fat loss.

Maybe losing fat in order to look better is a strong enough motivator for you, but I’ve found that most people need something more compelling. My experience with helping my clients achieve their fat loss goals has really opened my eyes to exactly what they gain when they lose the extra weight.

My hope is that by reading the 5 Big Benefits of Fat Loss below, you’ll feel the driving motivation that you need to jump into fitness with both feet, and that you’ll find out just how amazing and capable you’ve been to achieve your goal all along.

Big Benefit #1: Confidence

You may not consider it a concrete benefit, but that doesn’t stop confidence from being one of the most important perks of dropping fat. When you have increased confidence, you change how you view yourself and go about your daily routine. The world is at your fingertips and you are able to take on whatever it throws your way.

Additionally, when your confidence increases after losing a few pounds, you’re poised to keep losing. So the confidence you gain gives you what you need to lose more weight and feel even more confident.

Big Benefit #2: Money

It may be difficult to understand how losing weight saves you money, but it happens. How? Because one of the best ways to trim pounds is to cut down on the amount of calories you consume every day. When you start eating and drinking fewer calories, that means you don’t have to buy as much food or high-calorie drinks. Additionally, losing weight may make it possible to stop taking certain medications, which will help save you even more money.

On top of that, when you lose weight, you get a boost of confidence. (See previous point.) That boost of confidence will change how you handle yourself at work, helping you make the right impression on your boss, so you can get the promotion you need.

Big Benefit #3: Better Health Now

Go to the doctor with some sort of health condition, and unless it’s the common cold or flu, losing a few pounds can almost always help you manage the condition better. From diabetes to heart disease to joint pain, trimming the fat from your body gives you a heads up right now. Cutting fat makes it easier to get around on your joints, reduces your blood pressure, and helps you sleep better.

As additional perks, less fat today means better sleep and better sex tonight. Since both of these improve your quality of life, taking the time necessary to shave off fat will give you the best life you could experience!

Big Benefit #4: Better Health Later

Today isn’t the only time your health will improve if you lose some fat. Shed some pounds and you’ll reap the rewards for years down the road. Instead of having to manage a variety of health conditions, you will be able to keep those conditions at bay. A few health issues you can cut your risk for by cutting fat are diabetes, heart disease, joint pain, a variety of cancers, high blood pressure, and dementia. In other words, get rid of the fat today and you can avoid all the health issues in the future that requires fat loss for maximum management.

Big Benefit #5: Everything Tastes Better

As you settle into your new fat-burning lifestyle that includes eating healthily and working out regularly, you’ll notice something. Because you no longer overeat at the buffet or go for a second or third helping, you will begin enjoying every bite that you take. As the bite sits in your mouth, you won’t swallow it before tasting or chewing. You will take your time and really savor the flavor.

And when you do start chewing your food and enjoying the flavors, Your brain will have time to register when you’re full and cut you off before you stuff yourself with more calories than you can burn. Do this regularly and you’ll lose even more fat!

Step #1: Pay Attention

Be aware of what and how much you eat. This simple concept will save you from hundreds upon hundreds of calories each week.

To apply this rule, don’t eat while your attention is distracted by another activity. Only put food in your mouth when you are hungry and conscious of it. This means turn off the T.V., get out of your car, and no matter what you do, don’t graze in the kitchen while cooking.

Step #2: Practice Balance

Be aware of the types of food that you eat during each meal, and make sure that it’s balanced. When you eat a balanced diet filled with lean protein, whole grains, lots of veggies, a few daily servings of fruit and limited fat and sweets, your body will be satisfied and you’ll lose the urge to overeat.

This means you shouldn’t always eat carb-based meals, and you also shouldn’t always eat high-fat meals. Make a mental checklist of the food groups that you’ve eaten each day. Did you eat lean protein? Did you have plenty of vegetables? Did you refrain from eating more than one or two primarily carb-based meals? This mental checklist will save you from making food decisions that you’d later regret.

Step #3: Be Tuned In

Your body will always tell you when its hunger has been satisfied – you’ve just gotten so good at ignoring the signs that you barrel through your meal only to feel like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks once all that food hits your stomach. It’s time to take a deep breath and listen to your body.

An important part of being tuned in is to eat slowly. Once you start to pay attention you’ll notice a point when each bite becomes less and less satisfying. That is your body’s way of letting you know that you’ve had enough and that each continued bite is simply overkill (yes, even if you’re only halfway through that plate of pasta).

By learning how to control your eating habits, you’ll find weight loss to come simply and naturally.

Exercise transforms how you feel—with a quickness.

It’s true. While weight loss takes time and extended effort, all it takes is one workout to begin reaping the reward of a more energetic and capable body.

Here are the top 3 ways that your body will feel better with exercise:

1) You’ll Have More Energy
How are your energy levels these days?

(And I’m talking about natural energy, not energy manufactured by caffeine.)

While you may not instantly feel like the Energizer Bunny, your energy levels will dramatically increase once you begin a consistent, challenging exercise routine.

How does spending energy create more energy?

“(Exercise) literally creates energy in your body. Your body rises up to meet the challenge for more energy by becoming stronger,” explains Samantha Heller MS, RD.

Research consistently concludes that regular exercise increases energy levels and reduces fatigue.

2) You’ll Have Fewer Aches and Pains
When your life becomes sedentary (this means you are inactive for most of the day) then you’ll quickly find your body developing aches and pains.

You’ll feel it when you stand up – a throb in your back, creaking in your knees and stiffness in your legs.

This is pain due to underuse.

Your body was meant to move!

Movement improves flexibility and range of motion, and releases natural pain-reducing endorphins, which means that, with a regular exercise program, you’ll be moving smoother and with less pain than ever before.

3) You’ll Feel Happy and Confident
It’s hard to understand how 30 to 60 minutes a day spent on exercise is able to completely transform how you feel about yourself. But it does.

Think back to the last time that you accomplished something. Maybe you performed well at work and received kudos from your boss, or you finished a project at home that took weeks of your time and concentration.

When challenging exercise becomes a regular part of your life, feelings of happiness and confidence also become a part of you.

From now on I want you to forget the idea that exercise is nothing more than a means to achieving a slimmer body.

Instead, look at exercise as a complete life enhancer.

Incorporate the following diet secrets into your daily routine to naturally boost your metabolism, automatically lower your daily consumption of calories and keep your motivation going strong so that you drop excess fat quicker than ever before. 

Diet Secret #1: Weigh In Daily 

Tacking your weight on a daily basis is a really simple way to drop pounds. 

A recent Duke study showed that participants who weighed themselves daily lost substantially more weight than participants who weighed themselves five times per week or less. 

The act of getting on the scale and seeing your weight helps to understand how certain behaviors translate into weight gained or lost. If you ate a salty, carb-filled meal for dinner then you’ll visibly see the number go up when you step onto the scale the next morning. This will likely prevent you from repeating the weight-promoting behaviour again and will keep your motivation on track. 

Diet Secret #2: Switch to Green Tea 

Drop pounds by simply switching from Fizzzy drinks to unsweetened green tea. 

The average Fizzy drinker ends up consuming over 65,000 extra calories from their beverage of choice each year, calories that quickly add up to pounds gained. Even if your Fizzy of choice is diet, this simple swap will result in pounds lost. 

While diet drinks don’t contain calories, there is evidence that the chemical compounds found in diet Drinks spike your hunger hormones, causing you to overeat. Unsweetened green tea, on the other hand, is calorie free and contains catechins that have been shown to help increase metabolism. 

Diet Secret #3: Go Gluten Free 

You don’t have to be allergic to gluten to benefit from a gluten free diet. 

A Columbia University study reported that gluten triggers fattening biochemical changes, due in part to genetically altered wheat. These fattening biochemical changes are in addition to the high calorie counts of most gluten-containing foods, which means that avoiding gluten will help you drop weight twice as fast. 

Rather than jumping from gluten-filled grain products to gluten-free grain products, do your best to trim even the gluten-free grains from your diet. This can be achieved by swapping out tortillas for large lettuce leaves and traditional noodles for noodles made from vegetables. 

Don’t forget to exercise: the quickest way to reshape your body is with a combination of exercise and smart eating. Please feel free to call or email Your Local Personal Trainer In St Johns Wood and NW1 to get started on your body transformation. That’s what I’m here for!