Talking to one of my challengers recently we were having a discussion about why she was struggling to lose those last few pounds. She was disheartened that she was stuck at a plateau with her weight loss. We were chatting about nutrition and trying to work out what it could be that was causing this effect.
I have also had the same experience and despite eating clean and following correct portion sizes I was still stuck at a plateau. So I took some advice and looked at the amount of sugar I was consuming each day and made a choice to cut it down.
Now, I wasn't eating cakes, biscuits or sweets at all - that wasn't the problem. What I realised when I started tracking my daily food intake was that I was eating way too much natural sugar. It's so easy to do. Fruit is healthy right? Right! But it still contains sugar and oftentimes quite a lot of it! I saw that I was eating a large banana in my breakfast shake, an apple as a snack mid-morning, carrots and hummus as a mid-afternoon snack.
From a general perspective that looks perfect, clean and healthy. But in reality I was taking in too much natural fructose and it was stalling my progress. It wasn’t until I started tweaking my daily sugar intake that things started to change!
So I am going to give you a glimpse into my own head and how I tweaked my plan.
When you are trying to lose those last few pounds or even want to break a plateau your food consumption really makes a difference.
When planning out my meals I never put grapes, mangoes and bananas in the same day. I always space them out.
Always measure your grapes. It’s super easy to grab a few handfuls here and there (or even eat a whole punnet!) but with 23 grams of sugar per serving that adds up really quickly. I measure my grapes out, put them in a bag or pot and only eat what is in there!
For bananas, I very rarely eat a whole large banana any more. I usually get my food shop from Sainsbury's and they sell bags of small bananas so I usually buy these as it makes life easier for me. I put either 1/2 a large banana or one small banana in my shake most days unless I am going to be eating grapes then I leave out the banana.
For fruits you always want to measure them out. I do two cupped handfuls or 1 cup of fruit per serving. My colour coded portion size containers make this really easy for me to do it.
I keep my fruits to 2 servings per day. I try to eat berries as a preference because they are so full of antioxidants that I get an extra hit of goodness! Apples have always been the easiest snack for me as they are so easy to grab and go and they keep well so most days I do an apple and 12 raw unsalted almonds as my morning snack!
Veggies - You've got to watch out for these little suckers. Sweetcorn, peas, and carrots contain a fair bit of sugar. In fact, I don't even class sweetcorn and peas as part of my veggie intake anymore, I treat them as carbohydrates.
When you are trying to lose those last few pounds or even want to break a plateau your food consumption really makes a difference.
When planning out my meals I never put grapes, mangoes and bananas in the same day. I always space them out.
Always measure your grapes. It’s super easy to grab a few handfuls here and there (or even eat a whole punnet!) but with 23 grams of sugar per serving that adds up really quickly. I measure my grapes out, put them in a bag or pot and only eat what is in there!
For bananas, I very rarely eat a whole large banana any more. I usually get my food shop from Sainsbury's and they sell bags of small bananas so I usually buy these as it makes life easier for me. I put either 1/2 a large banana or one small banana in my shake most days unless I am going to be eating grapes then I leave out the banana.
For fruits you always want to measure them out. I do two cupped handfuls or 1 cup of fruit per serving. My colour coded portion size containers make this really easy for me to do it.
I keep my fruits to 2 servings per day. I try to eat berries as a preference because they are so full of antioxidants that I get an extra hit of goodness! Apples have always been the easiest snack for me as they are so easy to grab and go and they keep well so most days I do an apple and 12 raw unsalted almonds as my morning snack!
Veggies - You've got to watch out for these little suckers. Sweetcorn, peas, and carrots contain a fair bit of sugar. In fact, I don't even class sweetcorn and peas as part of my veggie intake anymore, I treat them as carbohydrates.
Something I noticed when I started to pay attention is that there are a lot of places that sugar is hidden. You have to read your labels on everything. You would be so surprised at the random places and names for sugar.
If you need a sugar substitute then go with raw honey, raw maple syrup, agave nectar! Try to stay away from everything else. It will definitely make a difference.
Also, when I did start cutting back the sugar I started craving it quite a bit! It took about a week before the sugar cravings were completely gone. Now I am pretty good at not needing something sweet after dinner. In the past I had to have something sweet after dinner. I can bypass all that now and know that I want to reach my goal weight more than I want the biscuits. Don’t get me wrong! I can eat Haribos with the best of them and I do let myself have something if I really want it. But I always step back from the situation and ask myself the question instead of mindlessly eating it. More often than not I decide not to but on the odd occasion I choose to it’s in moderation.
If you want more tips like this, customised meal plans, fitness support, recipes and tips then ask me about my next challenge/support group and how you can get the support you need to make this a lifestyle change rather than a crash diet!
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