Dubai is a place that when the mercury dips, the swimsuits come out and pools and beaches across the city are flooded with people soaking up the warmth of the desert sun.
After the months of summer heat and hours spent inside malls, snacking at the cinemas and binge-watching Netflix series, it is safe to say there is a vast majority of the population who have seen their shirts and dresses become that little bit tighter and who may not be quite ready to bare their winter body.
It’s common knowledge that the key to losing weight and keeping it off works on an 80/20 ratio – 80 percent diet and 20 percent exercise and this is where meal plans can truly make a difference. Easy, convenient and calorie controlled to ensure you stay on track – meal plans are perfect for those with a busy lifestyle and big weight loss goals.
Enter Kcal Extra and the launch of new meal plan, ATYAB. The first authentic Arabic meal plan offering in the region, ATYAB takes real Arabic recipes and makes them as healthy as they are tasty with each day ranging between 1000-1300 calories to help achieve weight loss goals.
Lauren Jacobsen, Kcal Nutrition Director, gives us her top 5 tips to help kickstart the weight loss journey to make sure you look and feel your best when hitting the sun and sand this winter.
Cut Your Carb Intake
Cutting back on carbs from your diet will accelerate your weight loss efforts. In fact, it has been shown to cause 2 to 3 times more weight loss than cutting back on your fat intake. Carbs are converted into simple sugars, the number one source of energy for the body. When you reduce your carb intake, there are limited amounts of simple sugar available to be used for energy and as a result your body refers to your fat stores as energy instead – this is when your body starts burning fat.
Make it Work: Aim to reduce your carb intake to less than 30% of your diet. Focus on eating only complex and natural sources of carbs that are high in fibers. Include whole grains like oats, quinoa and bulgur, starchy vegetables like pumpkin and sweet potatoes and green leafy vegetables.
Eat Protein with Every Meal
Protein is the most important nutrient when you want to lose weight. Diets high in protein help in boosting your metabolism and have a positive impact on your body composition. People who eat more protein have been shown to burn 80 to 100 calories more per day. This is because protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs and fats – meaning that your body uses more energy or calories to digest protein and make use of it.
Increasing protein intakes has also been found to result in greater lean muscle mass and lower fat mass compared to diets equivalent in calories but lower in protein and higher in carbs. Maintaining your lean muscle is very important when trying to lose weight because the higher your muscle mass, the higher your metabolic rate, and the more calories you burn.
Make It Work: Make sure you have good quality protein with every meal. Have eggs for breakfast or Greek yoghurt with berries for breakfast. Eat chicken breast with salad for lunch, or salmon with green veggies and sweet potato for dinner.
Include Healthy Fats in Your Meal Plan
Most people think fat is the number one enemy when it comes to weight loss. But did you know that mono and polyunsaturated fats, the healthy fats, have been shown to improve weight loss when following a low carb diet. For example, those who ate almonds as part of their low carb diet had 56% more reduction in fat mass compared to those who were on a low fat diet similar in calories. Also, those who included more healthy fats in their diet had improved fat loss, especially from around their midsections.
Make It Work: Include Omega-3 rich foods like walnuts, salmon, tuna and flaxseeds in your diet and don’t forget other healthy fats like avocados and olives. Use olive oil in your salad dressings and some coconut oil when cooking.
Avoid Eating Sugar
Sugar will blunt your fat burning process. When you eat something that has sugar, your body releases insulin – the hormone that stabilizes your blood sugar levels. Insulin picks up sugar from your bloodstream and burns it instead of fat. Avoiding sugar doesn’t only mean avoiding refined white sugar but also foods that are high in hidden sugar like breakfast cereals, instant oatmeals, low fat fruit yogurts and granola bars. Although advertised as “high in fiber” or “low in fat”, these foods are processed and have added sugar. For example, a container of low fat fruit yogurt may have up to 25-30g of sugar, equivalent to 5 teaspoons.
Make it Work: Avoid refined white sugar; remove it from your coffee or tea. Instead, use stevia a natural low calorie sweetener derived from a plant. Avoid sweetened beverages like pop or soft drinks and juices. Avoid processed desserts and most low fat products.
Watch Your Portions
You could be reducing your carbs, avoiding sugar and increasing your protein intakes but at the same time still overeating. In order words, you’re not consuming the right amount of calories for your specific needs. Many neglect calories when trying to lose weight. You have to be on a caloric deficit of 500 kcal per day to lose body fat. If the caloric deficit is too little, you won’t lose weight. If the caloric deficit is too high, you may lose muscle mass which will slow down your metabolism. Calories requirements are different from person to person. Once you know the amount of calories you need, keep track using an app on your smart phone. It may be time consuming but you’ll get better results by tracking and paying attention to what you’re eating.
Make It Work: Follow a diet plan. Calculate how many calories you need and make sure you’re on a deficit of 500 calories to lose weight. People were found to do better, succeed faster when on a plan. Prepare your meals in advance using proper measuring tools.
ATYAB is now available as part of a 5, 6 or 7 day per week plan, for more information please visit http://www.kcalextra.com/AT/ or check Instagram @kcalextrauae.
