With summer just around the corner and swimwear season inching ever closer, many will be thinking of shifting a few pesky kilos before the weather heats up.
Which is why Australian nutritionist, Susie Burrell, has shared her top tips for getting your eating back on track in time for the new season.
From concentrating on your meal timing to making sure dinner is your smallest meal, here FEMAIL outlines Ms Burrell’s words of wisdom.
Australian nutritionist, Susie Burrell (pictured), has shared her tips for getting your eating back on track in time for the new season
First up, Ms Burrell recommends supercharging your breakfast with a hefty dose of protein – Greek yoghurt (stock image) or eggs both work well here
SUPERCHARGE YOUR BREAKFAST
For the expert, the most important thing is that your breakfast is supercharged and given a protein boost.
‘Whether you choose a couple of eggs; a hearty serve of Greek yoghurt or a protein shake, research shows that consuming 20g of protein at breakfast helps to control the hormone insulin which regulates fat metabolism in the body,’ Ms Burrell posted on her Shape Me blog.
The nutritionist added that protein breakfasts are the most likely ones to keep you full until lunchtime – and therefore stop you from reaching for that 11am biscuit.
‘Even better, add some extra vegetables to bulk up your protein rich brekkie – a vegetable omelette, veg juice added to your yoghurt or some veggies blended into your shake or smoothie,’ she explained.
Next on Ms Burrell’s list of priorities is making sure you eat within a 10-12 hour window – to ensure an appropriate fasting time overnight (stock image)
CONCENTRATE ON TIMING
Next on Ms Burrell’s list of priorities is ensuring that when you eat your meals is the right time of day.
According to Ms Burrell, we eat our meals a lot later in the day than we did 20-30 years ago – and this means that our waistlines are wider as a result.
‘Breakfast by 8am, lunch by 1pm and dinner by 7pm so you have 10-12 hours without food overnight,’ she said. ‘So simple yet so effective.’
For those who are looking for a sign that they’re on the right track, Ms Burrell recommends recognising and applauding yourself ‘when you actually wake up in the morning hungry’.
The expert recommends committing to a vaguely low calorie meal in the evening – such as fish and vegetables or lean meat (stock image)
KEEP DINNER SMALL
So often, thanks to busy working lives, dinners are the biggest meal we eat each day.
But, according to Ms Burrell, we should be following the age-old adage – breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper.
‘The greater of volume of food we eat at night, when we are least active, the harder it will be to lose weight,’ she explained.
‘For this reason, committing to eating a light, relatively low calorie meal as early as possible is an easy way to drop a few kilos quickly’.
The expert advocates a piece of white fish and vegetables or 100 grams of lean meat with salad as 300-400 calorie options.
While counting calories can be important for weight loss, if you really want to get lean and tone up it’s all about counting your carbohydrates (stock image)
COUNT CARBS
While counting calories can be important for weight loss, if you really want to get lean and tone up it’s all about counting your carbohydrates.
‘As carbs are the key source of fuel for the muscle, actively counting the amount you are consuming is an easy way to control your total fuel intake,’ Ms Burrell explained.
She said that ‘small females will lose weight safely on 120-140g of total carbs each day’, while men should look to go between 140 and 180g.
‘A good example of how you can cut back is by swapping large slices of Turkish or sourdough bread (40-60g carbs) for smaller, thinner slices of lower carb wholemeal or multigrain bread (20-30g carbs) per serve,’ Ms Burrell said.
Swap a meal out for soup or salad for ‘optimal health and nutrition’, said Susie Burrell (stock image)
SWAP A MEAL
Last but not least, it really can help if you substitute one meal a day for soup or salad.
‘Very few of us get 2-3 cups of salad and vegetables we need at both lunch and dinner for optimal health and nutrition,’ Ms Burrell said.
‘The low calorie content of vegetable-based soups and salads means that you could literally eat as much of these foods as you like without weight gain.’
Replace a meal with a vegetable soup at lunch or roasted veg salad for dinner – you’ll notice a difference in days.
To read more from Susie Burrell, visit her website here.