But perhaps this says more about their beliefs about weight loss and health than it does about me. It indicates that they believe that if you want to stay in shape, you can’t eat pasta and cakes from time to time. It also perhaps indicates that if you are eating a cake once, you eat them all the time, or that’s all that you eat. And perhaps worst of all, there is also strong suggestion that if the food you eat is not what is deemed 100% healthy, there should be a sense of guilt attached to it. But the fact is, one of the pay-offs of controlling your energy intake and keeping an eye on your bodyfat and weight is that you can eat things you really enjoy without any guilt whatsoever, as long as your weight or weight loss is where you want it to be. All too often, people who have difficulty losing weight adopt an austere “diet” they don’t really enjoy and cannot be followed long term (though they often tell you they do enjoy it for some reason – possibly trying to convince themselves as well as you).A well designed eating plan allows you to eat foods you enjoy often – even every day. But as esteemed weight loss expert Professor Judith Beck says “You can either eat what you want when you want and how much you want – or you can lose weight”.
I used to work in a Frozen Yoghurt shop in California. One day, one of the fittest-looking people I’ve ever seen walked in. He looked like Serge Nubret (that’s him in the photo). It fact, since I was in Venice beach, mecca of the body beautiful, it could well have been Serge Nubret, multiple Mr Universe. He’d obviously been running so was after a drink. Since I was by then conditioned to very overweight people debating for ages over the tiny difference in calories between vanilla and chocolate Frozen Yoghurt, I offered him the diet soda. I still remember the contempt on his face as he snarled “No, the sugar, give me the sugar!”.
As you can see from the photo, Serge does not have much bodyfat. And I bet you he didn’t eat sugar very much. But he looked like he really enjoyed it that day – there was no guilt on his face.
This isn’t a post telling you to eat more cakes in an uncontrolled way chances are – you’d feel pretty bad and gain weight if you did. But keep eating things you enjoy, but in a calorie controlled way, and you are less likely to feel guilt, and much more likely to be able to stick to your plan.
And who knows, you might end up with a set of abs like Serge Nubret…
P.S Ok you might not want abs exactly like his, but it’s clear he knows a thing or two about fat loss – and he includes things he enjoys.