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Eat less, move more! Is it really that easy?

Posted by The Diet Consultant | Fat loss, Food for thought, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Throwing comments around, about other peoples appearance, (specifically their weight) seems to be commonplace in today’s society. Typically, I’ll hear somebody (of a healthy weight) say something like “how can ‘they’ let themselves get like that!”, “‘they’ must eat junk food every day” or “why don’t ‘they’ just join the gym and exercise more!”. The advice to ‘eat less, move more’ may well be overly simplistic, but in essence, it’s what leads to the desired weight loss and target body shape. While this simplistic slogan and approach is aimed at the overweight/obese population, it’s also given the ‘Judgemental Judy”s among us, a superiority complex! THEY find it so easy to be a healthy weight,to meet their health and fitness goals, so why can’t everybody else do the same.. Hmmm?

Well, here to explain some of the considerations and complexities associated with weight loss is guest blogger; Perryn Carroll. She is a Specialist Obesity Dietitian based in London, an ex-colleague of mine and a dear friend. As you can imagine, her role can at times, be extremely challenging. She has kindly written this blog, to explain why it’s not as easy as ‘eat less, move more’ for many of her overweight/obese patients.
Thank you Perryn x.

Don’t be patronising. Weight loss is hard and it takes a lot of physical and emotional effort. In a society that is booming in the waist and media coverage around weight loss, a perception has developed that it is down to personal control (that is, one who is overweight/ obese has no control or is ‘lazy’). A large review published in Obesity (a research journal) in 2012 highlighted the extent of weight stigmatisation, which appears in the work place, media and sadly, in health care.

Recent statistics have reported that 1 in 4 of us is classed as obese in the UK. Putting this into context, 1 in 4 of your family or friends may be stereotyped by others as being lazy, lacking discipline, sloppy and unattractive.

Why do some people have better control over their weight whilst others struggle?

If you have a good eye for mazes and puzzles have a look at the ‘Shift Obesity Influence Diagram’ below, which highlights the complexity of barriers to weight loss which include:

Biological (genes)
Social influence
Finances
Medical health and associated treatments (e.g. medications which may stimulate appetite)
Emotional health
Environment (associated to physical activity and food availability) and
Food consumption.

Obesity System Influence Diagram
Source: www.shiftn.com

Needless to say, it’s a bit patronising to say ‘eat less, move more’. As an obesity Dietitian, the above influences are always in the back of mind when I first meet a client. Why? Unless the people I see have lived under a rock for the last 50 years, they know the key nutritional messages to benefit their weight, and have been trying to implement them.

Weight loss client journey considerations

‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. This best sums up supporting anyone with weight loss. In my career, I have yet to witness a stereotypical weight loss client. Come to think of it, if there was a common weight loser, would there be an obesity epidemic?
Exercise does not always create weight loss. If you’re doing high volumes of exercise and weight is not shifting, then energy intake may be compromising efforts.
No food is a silver bullet. Unfortunately research has yet to uncover a food that creates lengthy increases in basal metabolic rates (fat burning). For weight management, consider food portion sizes.
The answers are not obvious. In regards to diet, people always look for the obvious and provide advice around this. e.g. reduce fats and sugars. If it were obvious, clients would not be seeing a professional, as a simple Google search would have answered all their questions.

What are the diet considerations for overweight/ obese:

Everyone is different and everyone has his or her barriers to weight loss. From a diet perspective, I might support clients with:

Re-education of diet advice for weight loss and discuss the research
Learning what is hunger (when to eat)
Learning what is fullness (when to stop eating)
Learning what is not hunger (triggered eating as response to environment, emotion, thoughts)
Tailoring diet advice into their busy lifestyle (e.g. If they are time limited at breakfast time, they’re not going to sit down for cereal and milk. They need something convenient and enjoyable so they don’t skip).
Cooking ability (if they don’t know how to cook their favourite meal, it makes sense they will go out and be at the mercy of chefs and takeaway cooks rich meals)
Shopping (how to read a label, what is high fat or sugar, what is too big or too small)

The above are a drop in the ocean in what I do in sessions and direction of support differs amongst client. In other words, everyone is different, and everyone has his or her challenges. Weight loss is hard and if you have a good understanding of your client’s personal barriers and struggles you will both make a great team for weight loss.

What do you think is the hardest barrier to weight loss? What do you think more people need support with when they are planning to lose weight?

Perryn Carroll is a weight-loss dietitian who actively contributes and comments on obesity management issues. A self-confessed diet geek, Perryn writes for her website, Diet Duchess. She also regularly guest blogs and is a media spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association. If she’s not tackling weight-loss issues, she’s tracking down the world’s best coffee.

Finally, we have a website!

Posted by The Diet Consultant | Food for thought, Uncategorized | No Comments

Hi and welcome to The Diet Consultant!

I wanted to put this short post up by way of an introduction. If you haven’t stumbled across the About us page yet then, my name is Sharmain, I’m a Registered Dietitian with a clinical, sport performance and commercial background. However, I’ve recently stepped into the big bad world of business and this is it, my new full time occupation, my baby, my passion…..The Diet Consultant.com. Its always been a dream to have my own nutrition company. I now have the flexibility to see clients more regularly and for longer, in a way that suits them and their lifestyle. I wanted to provide a service that allowed me to give the time and resource needed to help clients to get results, plus running this business means I get to work with a variety of people with a range of goals….you won’t believe how much this excites me!!

Now a little more about me, as I said I’m a Dietitian. I’ve completed the years of education and training required to be registered as such, and yes of course this knowledge and training helps me to advise clients about their diet and lifestyle but it also helps me to make healthier choices too. However just to clarify, I am human – I do enjoy the junk and sweets as well. Many of my clients ask me “are you really strict with your diet?” you start to think that everyone else thinks that all we eat is salad, and that we exercise for hours everyday. This just isn’t true! I love the odd glass of vino and if I had to choose, my ‘last supper’ would probably be fish and chips.

Feed me!

And while I’m training to get into Triathlons, if the truth be known….its a real push, but once I’m there I love it! Its a great feeling to play well at (or even win) a game of netball on a Monday night, to complete a duathlon that you’ve been training for, for weeks or even months. Setting mini fitness and health goals work for me as it does others. My point is that even though I’m a health professional, I’m still just like you! This helps me to be empathetic in my role, I understand the fight against the treacle temptations and the peaks and troughs in motivation. This understanding will help me to provide you tips and advice whether its here on the blog, or via nutrition consultations.

Me…trying to practice what I preach

I personally believe in taking a flexible approach to nutrition and exercise (this is what works for me) and this is what I advise my clients. There is no point is starting a plan that can’t be sustained, if healthier changes take longer to incorporate then so be it, especially if it means the change becomes permanent.

Anyway, about the website. Its only taken us 4 months to get the site up (sarcastic wry smile) but I’m really happy with the outcome. A big thank you goes to Joe from Joe Ray Smith Designs, he’s worked long and hard on this project and also had to put up with me constantly chopping and changing things around….the patience of a saint!

While I’m pleased we have the site up and running, its still in its infancy and so would love to get some feedback from our visitors. I’m told that when starting a new business you should ask for criticism no matter how harsh it may seem, this way I can quickly fix the flaws and iron out the creases that I myself, might not see (being so close to the project and all). So, with that in mind lets hear it; what do you like about the website and more importantly what don’t you like?

This blogging malarkey is a new hobby for me as well, so bear with me I hope to get some interesting, practical and useful articles on here very soon! In fact it would be really helpful to find out what kind of topics you would like me to cover?

While I’m excited about the flexibility thats comes with having my own business, most of all I am looking forward to helping my clients to reach their full potential, to help them to feel great and in control of their health – these are the rewards and the reason I do, what I do!

Sharmain

The Complete Nutrition Package
Helping you to perform better, look better and feel better.