Don’t Stress About Broken Resolutions
In our final New Year Muscle Hacks post, Upbeat nutritionist Sophie Enever breaks down the pros and cons of Dry January, counting calories, skipping breakfast and reveals how to make changes you can stick to in 2017
You set out with the best of intentions but one by one — or drink by drink — they’ve tumbled by the wayside. You’re in good company. A ComRes poll for Bupa found 43% of resolutions don’t even last a month and 86% don’t last the year.
43% of resolutions don’t even last a month.
That doesn’t mean the remaining 334 days of the year are a write-off. You needn’t descend into a vicious spiral of all the things you swore off last year. Slight tweaks to your lifestyle — rather than virtuous abstinence — can make a big difference long-term. Nutritionist Sophie Enever reveals how.
Further reading: New Year Hacks For Healthy Muscles
1. Beware Cold Turkey
Dry January is a classic reaction to the heavy drinking and partying of December. The idea is you stay alcohol free for the full 31 days of the month to give your liver a break. Getting on the wagon is certainly a healthy move — but tends to result in a dramatic and catastrophic fall sooner or later.
“There’s no doubt cutting back on alcohol is good for you,” says Enever. An evaluation on people who cut out alcohol completely by the University of Sussex found that 62% said they slept better and had more energy and 49% said they lost weight. “However, there’s not much evidence on the health benefits of abstaining for a solitary month,” she adds.
Slight tweaks to your lifestyle — rather than virtuous abstinence — can make a big difference long-term.
As with any kind of all-or-nothing crash diets you risk spectacularly relapsing in a night of regrettable over-indulgence.
“Even if you make it the full month, it’s common to binge heavily in February to celebrate, heaping a huge, sudden burden on your body that can leave you bed-ridden and craving junk food until you recover — far worse for you than having a glass of wine once a week.” Moderation and consistency are the key.
Having said that, for those who truly struggle with will power, January is a great time to try and get healthier. “It’s likely some of your friends will be following similar plans and strength in numbers can help you stay strong. Just resolve to add more healthy activities rather than solely cutting back on things you enjoy. Soon these will turn into habits that you’ll be able to sustain long-term,” says Enever.
Further reading: 10 Protein Commandments To Live By
2. Remove The Calorie Counting Shackles
It’s said that to lose weight all you have to do is expend more calories than you consume. But that’s not the whole story.
“Eating less than you burn will lead to weight loss,” says Enever. “But we are all individual and the way we calculate both our energy needs and the energy consumed can have a lot of variation and error, so it’s actually quite difficult to be precise.”
Quality rather than quantity is key.
Quality rather than quantity is key. “The quality of your diet can have a big impact on health and weight loss,” says Enever. “It might seem obvious, but consuming your daily target 2,500 calories from nutritious ingredients like grilled salmon, vegetables and wholegrain rice is going to be a lot better for your health, metabolism and body than 2,500 calories of pick ’n’ mix.
Counting calories can also be very monotonous. It can be a useful exercise to work out what you typically consume in a day or week — My Fitness Pal is a useful app for this — but try to focus on the variety of food you’re eating to make up your daily needs, not just the calorific content of it.
Further reading: 5 Easy Steps To Healthy Muscles
3. Break Your Daily Fast
For most people breakfast is a necessary sacrifice for a few extra minutes in bed. For this reason a lot of people have a skewed protein intake, with less being eaten at breakfast and most with their evening meal.
Why is this a problem? “Because we don’t store protein like we do with carbohydrate and fat,” says Enever. “To get the many benefits it provides we need to make sure we consume it evenly throughout the day, and that starts with breakfast.”
Your breakfast should be built around protein.
Toast or cereal can be quick options but their high content of sugar can lead to energy crashes mid-morning and you raiding the office snack supplies.
“Your breakfast should be built around protein,” Enever says. “You’ve fasted overnight and your muscles will be screaming for protein to aid repair and recovery. And unlike high carb meals, it also helps set you up for the day ahead by keeping your hunger satiated.”
Further reading: Let’s Drink To Your Muscle Health
You can follow Sophie Enever on Instagram at @sophieenever and find her nutrition and PT business at Sophie Jane. For more New Year Muscle Hacks keep your eyes on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels, as well as here on The #fuel657 Journal, to start 2017 with a bang.
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