Getting The Balance Right

We spend a third of our time asleep, a third of our time at work and the remaining third to enjoy leisure pursuits as well as looking after our homes, families and ourselves. The trouble is that the only bit that is flexible is our own time as if we don’t keep the hours at work we get fired, and if we don’t sleep we get exhausted and can’t function. The consequence of this is that, if we’re not careful, we can end up with a really poor work/life balance.

Recently I met someone who takes one-and-a-half hours to travel each way to work. Three hours a day! She has a demanding job and by the time she gets home, she really doesn’t feel like exercising or even cooking a healthy meal. All her physical and mental energy has been exhausted and she has little time or energy left to actually enjoy her life, let alone look after her health, get fit and lose a bit of weight. Not surprisingly she relaxes with half a bottle of wine most evenings with the inevitable consequence of her weight just increasing.

Years ago I used to work 80 hours a week. Yes, I was younger, and my priorities were different but life has taught me that we really should have time to enjoy the flowers in the garden, spending quality time with our husband and family, walking the dog, chatting to friends. Having some space to ourselves too is also important, but we must have enough energy left to look after our health and that means doing some physical activity and eating properly.

It isn’t the cooking of the meals that’s the problem, it’s the deciding what we are going to eat. Having made decisions all day I don’t have enough emotional energy to decide on tonight’s meal so I always sit down at the beginning of the week and decide what the week’s menu is to be. Once the decisions have been made, shopping is organised accordingly and as I drive home I know exactly what is on the menu each evening.

Dieters who plan their weekly menus are much more successful than those who are haphazard in their eating. In my Gi Hip and Thigh Diet the menus are all planned, they are interchangeable if there’s anything you don’t fancy, and there’s even a shopping list for a week. See my website for details here. The diet works and you can lose 7lbs in 14 days on this diet – we have proved it with a trial or 35 volunteers who lost an average of 7.25 lbs in the first two weeks.

How is your work/life balance? What could YOU do to improve your life and make it healthier and happier? Would losing a few lbs and getting a bit fitter help. Think about it today.

Informed choices when eating out.

Brilliant! The Food Standards Agency are recommending to restaurants that they include the calorie content of individual dishes on their menus so that customers can make informed choices and many of the fast food chains are happy to comply.

Previously, you had to log on to Pizza Hut's websites to investigate the calorie content of their menu which was helpful for folk like us who needed the information when putting together articles for my magazine that highlighted the best and worst choices to make when dining out. But putting the calorie content alongside each item is terrific. At a glance we can make the choice between two equally appealing items and, if we are watching our weight, select the one with fewer calories. Let's hope all restaurants follow suit.

I have always believed that following a calorie controlled diet is the only guaranteed way of losing weight. Yes, I suggest we eat low fat because that reduces the number of calories you eat dramatically without necessarily eating less quantity. Fat contains twice as many calories compared with carbohydrate or protein so not frying things and not adding fat to food knocks off hundreds of daily calories without even noticing. It doesn't take long to get used to your food not dripping in fat.

And just in case someone is reading this blog who is not really into understanding weight loss and calories.... to keep our weight constant women should consume between 1800 - 2000 calories a day whilst men should have around 2200 - 2500 a day to maintain their weight. As we get older we need fewer calories and if we are very physically active we will need more. To lose weight we need to cut those figures by around 500 calories a day. Combine this with regular exercise and physical activity and you will lose weight to the tune of around 2 lbs a week which is considered a very healthy rate of loss.

If you want a calorie controlled diet that works incredibly effectively, look out for my Gi Hip and Thigh Diet which is available via our website if you do not have a book store locally, plus you will always find a diet in my magazine which is sold in supermarkets or from our website