Tips 23 & 24

23 - Good food

Calculate your daily fat needs, and keep to your fat budget


When you are trying to improve the way you eat, it's helpful to know how much fat you should be having. Cutting back on fat will help to reduce you calorie intake, however, the amount of fat you need varies depending on your gender, your health goals and your activity levels. You wont have to cont fat grams forever, but it does pay to be aware of how much fat is in the foods you do eat regularly.


Now fat grams are something i have always been aware of. Right from the time i first started to seriously lose weight using the fats and figures books. I managed to lose 15 kilos.....deja vu much????


24 - Move more.
Set a benchmark, and test your cardiovascular fitness

To get anywhere, you need to know your starting place. When it comes to starting an exercise program for weight loss, that means giving yourself a basic fitness assessment. Improved cardio fitness will improve your ability to burn fat.
One of the easiest tests you can do is a timed walk or run over a set distance. You can use a treadmill or map out a set course by using an odometer. Aim for a distance of 3-5kms depending on your level of fitness. The main thing is that this distance or course needs to be repeated in the future. Once you have completed the course, cool down and record your results somewhere. They'll be needed at a later date.

I used to watch a show on foxtel and they did a set course and then repeated it agin 6 months later to see how far he'she had come. They also did a step bit where the step came halfway up their shin and they had to see how many steps....placing both feet fully on the top, then both coming down.....they could do in 2 mins. I think average was either 60 or 66 in the 2 mins. That was supposed to mean you were of av fitness. Most of the unfit people only managed low 30's and i was surprised that at that point.....and i had been exercising for a few months by then, that my first try was early 50's. For my size i thought that was great. I didn't get round to trying again I've slacked off a bit so once i get up and going again i'll have to retry.