2) You lick the spoon
obese counterparts (2).
Whether it be poor tracking or poor
memory, research has shown that even
registered dieticians can grossly under
report their calorie intake (1).
Whether this was conscious or
subconscious, it’s very easy to let things
slip by the wayside if you’re not careful.
Milk in your tea, licking the peanut butter
off the spoon and scraping out that last
bit of hummus. We all do it and it all
adds up. It can all add up to an easy
100 - 200 calories a day which for all but
the biggest guys, can be the difference
between losing fat and not.
Another interesting study showed a
massive discrepancy in reported intake
between an obese twin and non obese
twin. Despite claiming to eat the same
amount of calories per day, the obese
twins were under-reporting by up to 700
calories more per day than their non-
It sounds like an exaggeration but it’s
If you want an impressive transformation
or to undo years of neglect, you’ll need
to be on it more than you’re off it. This
means being bang on your nutrition and
training for at least 90% of the time.
3) You take too many days off
We all need days off; Christmas, birthdays,
holidays are pretty much a given for most
but also the odd day in between.
Just make sure there aren’t too many
“odd days”.
Celebrating your 40th is one thing but
having a pizza because Domino’s sent
you a 2 for Tuesdays text message just
isn’t going to cut it. You need to pick your
moments (big events are usually best) and
stick to them.
You don’t need to be hardcore and never
go out, never socialise or never got to
your favourite restaurants. You just might
not be able to go as much as you think.
You’ll probably have to turn down dessert
on more occasions than you’d like and be
a regular designated driver but sometimes
you do need to make compromises to get
a result.
Put the time you’re going to have off in
you calendar so that:
-Y
ou can make sure you’re balancing
your time on and off plan and not
overdoing it.
-Y
ou don’t let your mood dictate whether
you go off track (this is a big one!).
Be realistic.....
Stay on track....
Put the peanut butter back in the
cupboard....
true. Especially when you consider a
minor
calorie deficit is roughly 15%.
If your maintenance calorie intake is 1800
and you need roughly 1600 calories to
lose fat, you are back to square one and
simply eating too much.
This is why it’s even more important for
smaller females to be accurate with their
food tracking as the margin for error is
much, much smaller.
References:
(1) Energy intake and energy
expenditure: a controlled study
comparing dietitians and nondietitians.
Champagne CM1, Bray GA,
Kurtz AA, Monteiro JB, Tucker E,
Volaufova J, Delany JP.
(2) Inaccuracies in food and
physical activity diaries of
obese subjects: complementary
evidence from doubly labeled
water and co-twin assessments.
Pietiläinen KH1, Korkeila M, Bogl
LH, Westerterp KR, Yki-Järvinen
H, Kaprio J, Rissanen A.
By Harry Ranson
performanceproject.co.uk
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