Tip 17 Good food & tip 18 Move more

17 - Understand that all cals are not created equal

These tips have encouraged you to eat fewer cals, but it's not just the number of cals you eat, it is also where they come from. There are four different ways you can consume cals.....
1> Fat - which has approx 9 cals per gram
2> Alcohol - which has approx cals per gram
3> Carbohydrates - which have approx 4 cals per gram
4> Protein - which has approx 4 cals per gram as well.

People don't eat cals, they eat food. But it helps to know that fat is the most calorie dense food, containing more than double the content of carbs and protein. Fat cals also have the greatest capacity for storage because the body is very effective at converting dietary fat into body fat. In comparison, it's much harder for your body to convert excess protein and carbs into bady fat. Your body can't convert alcohol into fat, but it must be used for fuel first, making the cals you consume with alcohol much more likely to be stored. So watch your alcohol intake, and focus on low fat protein and quality carbs that give you max fullness per cal.


Hmmm, i have always known that alcohol whilst watching your nutrition is bad but i never really knew the specifics.
Will it stop my alcohol intake????? I don't think so but i think i will cut out the occasional on a quiet weekend drinks. It's different if i am out and about, and i am not a snacker when i drink so i thought that made it better as i know it causes snacking. Now i know that isn't the only drawback though

18 Make sure your exercise program is the right FITT

When you exercise to achieve weight and fat loss, it is important to follow a few basic guidelines. These guidelines vary depending on what you hope to achieve. For example: your exercise strategy to achieve fat loss will be different to the exercise factors you'll need to manipulate to increase aerobic fitness or muscle toning. To achieve results you'll need to juggle the four components of exercise that make the acronym FITT:
* Frequency - the amount of times you exercise in a week - long period
* Intensity - a measure of how hard you need to exercise to make sure that your exercise is effective; some measures include heart rate and breathing rate, and these may vary during an exercise session
* Time - the duration of your activity
* Type - the type of activity that is most likely to be beneficial


So......for weight and fat loss

* F requency ----- approx 5-7 times per week
* I ntensity ----- Light to mod, light huffing and puffing, 50-65% of Max HR for beginners
65-85% for the more advanced. Also good to vary intensity with intervals.
* T ime ----- 30-60 mins. This can be accumulated over the day.
* T ype ----- Rhythmic, continuos movements that involve large muscle groups, like walking and jogging.