While it’s fun to indulge at this time of year, our good intentions where exercise and healthy eating are concerned seem to be but a distant memory.

However, instead of feeling guilty over your lack of exercise in December, why not focus on the new year with a fresh approach to fitness, exercise and nutrition in 2012.

5. Consider what motivates you

Your motivation could be a number of things. Perhaps you’re looking for weight loss, to fit into your wedding dress, to improve your overall fitness levels, or just to enjoy being in the gym again. The message is be clear about what you want to acheive and stay focussed.

Many people find that having a personal trainer helps them to stay motivated as not only will they create a personalised programme to reach their goal, but meeting regularly to assess progress gives them that extra reason to put the effort in!

Rule 2: Always snack in between meals. You should be eating something every three hours. This will ensure protein synthesis in the muscle is maintained throughout the day. Good ideas for snacks are convenient and nutrient dense foods such as Nuts and Seeds. Almonds, Walnuts, Brazils, Pumpkinseeds and Sunflower seeds are your best choice. Make sure they are NOT roasted as this totally destroys the beneficial properties of these foods.

Rule 3: Eat Good Fats: Your Diet should be rich in healthy fats that promote nutrient supply to the muscles such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Goods choices include Avocados, Olives, Oily Fish such as Salmon, Mackerel and Trout, and the nuts and seeds mentioned above.

Rule 4: Eat High Quality Protein: Protein is the building block of muscle and is therefore the most important macronutrient in your diet. Each meal you have should contain ample amounts of protein to ensure a ready supply to your muscles. Aim for 1.5 grams of protein per Kilo of body weight for optimum results.

If you eat fish or meat ensure you are getting Organic and free-range as most live-stock are injected with large levels of anti-biotics, hormones and other nasties that may disrupt your metabolism. Also make sure you choose lean cuts and always cut the fatty portions off the meat. Chicken/Turkey breast, fish, eggs, low-fat dairy products like yogurt and cottage cheese, nuts and seeds are your best options.

Rule 5: Select your carbohydrates carefully! Carbs are where you get your energy from but low quality ‘white carbs’ like white bread, white pasta, and white rice, slow down your metabolism and contain less protein than their wholegrain counterparts. You should limit servings to 50-100gs every meal and only choose healthy options such as sweet potatoes, brown rice and wholewheat pasta.

Rule 6: Eat as many vegetables as possible: Even if you follow all above instructions, without the vitamins, minerals and powerful phytochemicals contained within vegetables you will not be able to effectively convert all the protein your are eating into healthy, bulging muscle. So ensure that you have LARGE quantities of salad, or steamed/stir-fried vegetables with your main meals.

In my first blog post I’ll be letting you into some secrets of the dieting world – you may think twice before trying the latest dieting craze after reading this!

Every week I’ll be sharing some facts about dieting that most people aren’t aware of, here’s the first instalment for you …

Week 1: very low calorie diets slow down your metabolic rate

The first thing that occurs during a severe calorie shortage is a decrease in your metabolic rate.  The lower your calories, the slower your metabolism becomes.  Simply put; when you eat less, your body burns less. When you eat more, your body burns more.

This metabolic slowdown is well documented.  When calories are restricted, your metabolism decreases by at least 20 – 30%.  With severe calorie restriction, some studies have shown that resting metabolism can become depressed by as much as 45%!  That’s the equivalent of having your daily energy expenditure drop from 3000 calories per day to only 1650 calories per day!

This is why, after prolonged low calorie dieting, you can eat very little food and still not lose weight.

So that’s why it’s so hard to shift those last few pounds!  Join me next week for the next instalment …

Week 2: you seek weight loss at the expense of your health

When weight loss is all you care about, it’s easier to ignore the nutritional value of the food you eat.  You may not be giving your body the nutrients it needs.  You may even be eating things that do more harm than good but when weight loss is your priority that’s what influences your decisions.

You could end up doing things like passing up on nuts and avocados because they’re ‘fattening’ but snacking on low calorie biscuits later that evening because you fancy them – after all you’ve been so good all day and they’re allowed on your programme.

This kind of trade-off is typical of people who think entirely about weight.  They count calories and consume diet drinks.  Counting calories has very little to do with enhancing your health.  Since effective weight loss can only be permanently maintained in the presence of good health, this approach is doomed to failure every time.

Next week we will look at how very low calorie diets make you lose muscle and disturb the chemical and hormonal balance of the body.

Week 3: very low calorie diets make you lose muscle

One of the most devastating effects of the low calorie diet is the loss of muscle tissue.  Once the starvation alarm is triggered, your body begins looking for ways to conserve energy.

Muscle is metabolically active tissue.  Getting rid of it is the body’s way of decreasing energy expenditure.  It’s easy for your body to use muscle for energy.  This process is known Gluconeogenesis – converting muscle into glucose.  This includes skeletal muscles, and internal organs, even your heart muscle!

Study after study has shown that very low calorie diets without exercise will always cause 40 – 50% of the weight loss to come from lean tissue.  Many diets, especially those that are low in carbohydrates, cause large losses in water weight.  Between the loss of water, glycogen and muscle, around 75% of the weight you lose on such plans is not fat!

The initial weight loss on most diets is very deceiving, giving you only the illusion of success.  Even with exercise, if a diet is too restrictive, much of the weight loss will still be lean tissue.

Another home truth about dieting is that very low calorie diets disrupt the finely balanced chemical and hormonal systems in the body.  Here are three examples of this:

a) Increased activity of fat-storing enzymes and a decrease in the activity of fat-burning enzymes
The chief fat-storing enzyme is called Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL).  When you drop your calories too low, your body will produce more LPL and less fat-burning enzymes.

b) Decreased output of the thyroid hormone
The thyroid gland is largely responsible for the regulation of your basal metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn calories at rest).  When your body senses a severe reduction in calories, there is a corresponding reduction in the output of active thyroid hormone (T3).  The result is a decrease in your metabolic rate and fewer calories burned.

c) Unstable blood sugar
Unstable blood sugar and insulin levels is a sure-fire route to weight gain and ill health.  Severely restricting calories, is a great way to destabilise your blood sugar levels.

Next week we will look at how low calorie diets effect appetite and cravings.