Trimming Off the Fat

Would you still like to get rid of a few extra pounds of post baby weight?

Remember our philosophy here at Fit 4 Mum HQ is slow and steady so we won’t be doing anything drastic to shed those pounds. If you’re looking for that magic pill – you won’t find it here and we suggest you STOP! Looking. Just follow our basic guidelines and we’ll help you work towards a healthier body – forever.

Calories in Calories out

Atkins™, The Zone Diet™, Lighter Life™ and many other diets are often hyped as the perfect diet strategy to shed unwanted pounds often tempting desperate mums with ‘quick results’.

While these diets may show initial results, most fail to demonstrate long-term success in maintaining and keeping weight off longer term.

FIT 4 MUM TIP

Your body must burn more calories than it is taking in to lose weight.

1 Pound of fat = 3,500 calories

To lose 1 pound per week = a caloric deficit of 500 calories per day.

Don’t worry—that doesn’t mean you have to run until you have burned 3,500 calories to lose a pound (you’d just never do it!)

Your goal is to simply increase your daily activity in combination with a balanced diet, which may require a few small cutbacks.

Basal Metabolic Rate and Calories Burned in a Day

Do you know how many calories your body needs before you even move in the morning? Your body has something called the basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of calories you burn at rest in order to survive. It accounts for roughly 60 to 75% of all the calories you burn in a given day.

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Work out your own BMR:

BMR for women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

BMR for men 66 + (6.23 X weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

Now that you’ve determined your basic daily caloric needs you can begin to work out how many calories you need a day to survive.

To manage weight, you need to determine the number of calories you eat against the number of calories you burn.

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Use the Harris Benedict Formula below to determine your daily calorie needs including activity by multiplying your BMR by the appropriate activity factor

Sedentary (little or no exercise) = BMR x 1.2

Lightly Active (light exercise 1-3 days/week) = BMR x 1.375
Moderately Active (moderate exercise 3-5 days / week) = BMR x 1.55
Very Active (hard exercise 6-7 days / week) = BMR x 1.725
Very Active (hard exercise and a physical job or 2 training sessions a day) = BMR x 1.9

What to Eat

With these facts in hand along with a few simple guidelines, managing your weight need not be a chore.

A little time spent planning and understanding how to achieve that calorie deficit can make all the difference.

FIT 4 MUM TIPS

Never skip breakfast

Never leave more than 4 hours between meals and snacks
Drink 8 glasses of water a day

Consume a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and non-fat or low-fat dairy products

Select low-fat foods and avoid trans fats.

Limit your total fat intake to 20 to 35% of daily calories, with no more than 7% of your total calories coming from saturated fats.

Avoid eating too many salty foods.

Limit alcohol intake.

Limit your caffeine intake

Burn more Fat or Calories?

Research has demonstrated that when exercising at a lower-intensity the body uses a larger percentage of fat as fuel.

However, in terms of calories burned, higher intensity exercise will burn more calories in the same time period resulting in more overall weight / fat lost.

Your goal should be to gradually increase the intensity of your workouts to increase your caloric deficit while continuing to burn fats.

Remember also that following a higher intensity workout you will keep your metabolism elevated post exercise hopefully adding a few more calories to your deficit.

Listen to your body and only increase the intensity of your exercise when you are ready – especially if you have recently had a baby & always check with your GP before embarking on any fitness programme.

Work those Mummy Muscles

Strength training offers many health benefits, including an increase in the number of calories burned. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, and even the process of building muscle uses a lot of energy!
As you increase the activity of your muscles and the amount of muscle you have, you will also increase your resting metabolic rate.
As with cardio guidelines, start slowly with 1-2 sets of 8-12 reps and gradually increase week by week. To prevent injury be consistent with your workouts & use all major muscle groups. Be sure to do your core exercises everyday and don’t forget the pelvic floor – a group of muscles that will help build you a strong core and contribute to the calories burn as you get them more active!

Additional Resources

www.bda.com
www.eatwell.gov.uk