Nutrition Advice, Weight Loss, Wellbeing
How to lose weight
To lose weight you need to consume less calories than you use, this creates a calorie deficit.
In order to help you lose weight, we have created a macro calculator which will help you to determine how many calories you need as well as how much protein, carbohydrate and fat you should consume every day.
However, whilst it is a simple case of ensuring you are in a negative energy balance (or calorie deficit) there are several ways that you can make weight loss easier to maintain.
High Fibre
Adding Fibre to your diet will help to ensure you feel fuller for longer and that your digestive system works effectively and efficiently.
Combine Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate
Combing these 3 macronutrients will help to steady insulin release and help keep you feeling fuller compared to if you consume carbohydrate alone. For more guidance on this read our balanced meals for weight loss post.
Eat Fat
Healthy fats are essential to your health, but we recommend avoiding all processed fats. Having fat as part of your meals will help to blunt insulin release and slow digestion to help you stay fuller for longer.
High Protein
Protein has many benefits when in a calorie deficit such as, reducing muscle loss, keeping you feeling full and it has a higher thermic effect than other macronutrients. Ultra Protein is a great way to ensure you get enough protein into your diet and we offer plant-based or whey protein products.
Plan your food
Make sure to plan out your food and shop for a week’s supply to help you stick to your plan. You could spend one day prepping your food for a few days so all you need to do is grab a ready-made, balanced meal and head out the door.
Avoid processed food
If you don’t plan out your food you are more likely to reach for a meal deal or convenience food which will be really high in calorie and won’t be full of the goodness from a healthy, balanced meal. If you are always on the go try out Ultra Complete, it is a brilliant meal replacement and is packed full of healthy ingredients to keep you fuller for longer and help you to avoid junk food.
Motivation
Motivation is the key to achieving anything in life. Set goals and targets and remember that results don’t come overnight. You should see being healthy as a long-term lifestyle change and this will help you stick to your plan. If it’s taken you 30 years to become overweight you won’t reverse it in a week, but over weeks and months you will.
Surround yourself with positivity
Tell people that are close to you what you are trying to achieve and why, having their support is priceless and will spur you on towards your goals.
Avoid alcohol
Alcohol has no nutritional benefit; it negatively affects vitamin absorption and is full of empty calories. When you are intoxicated you are more likely to make bad food choices which means in addition to the calories in the alcohol you are likely to over eat too.
Swap fizzy drinks for water
An important thing when trying to lose weight and when you are sticking to calories is to realise that there are also calories in what you drink. Fizzy drinks, tea with milk and sugar, coffee, fruit juices all add to your calorie intake. Drinking water is a better way to stay hydrated and healthy. If you find it hard to drink water, swap fruit juices for cordial which is generally lower in calorie and sugar free.
Fat burners
These can be used to motivate you at the beginning or your journey, or ideally if you get stuck at any point. They will reduce your appetite and give you additional energy. Ultra Burn is a great fat burning product.
Our final tip would be to look at your calorie intake over a week instead of daily. This helps to keep it manageable and is a truer reflection of how your body processes food. It also helps to keep you motivated, if you have a slip one day that is okay, just make sure that the rest of the week you balance out that slip.
Ultimately, the goal is to have a healthy lifestyle that you can maintain for the rest of your life. Don’t be so hard on yourself when slip ups happen, just make sure that you motivate yourself to continue towards your goals and don’t let that slip put you off course.