Hello Evie, welcome to the forum.
Don’t worry about the presence of any typos, since you’ve explained your current position most admirably.
Firstly, it’s great to hear that you’re attempting to improve your education of how to lead a happy and healthy life, thus, gaining an understanding that’ll ultimately serve you in the longer term.
Moreover, the best thing about educating yourself in the fields of both exercise and nutrition is in developing the understanding that you can still have your cake (on occasion) and enjoy it without the guilt.
Secondly, it’s great that you understand what you must change in order to achieve an improved level of health, when it comes to both exercise and nutrition.
It’s also great to hear that you have a boyfriend, who has continually supported you thus far, despite lacking nutritional or culinary skills. Don’t worry, though, this is something that’ll develop with increased age and knowledge.
So, how do you improve your level of health from a nutritional perspective?
The beauty of adopting healthier eating methods is that you probably already know what kind of foods you should and shouldn’t be consuming.
By simply reducing consumption of simple carbohydrates (cakes/sweets/pastries), choosing to replace them with complex alternatives, such as wholemeal bread, brown rice and quinoa, for example, not only will you reduce the amount of insulin needed to process those carbs, you’ll also reduce the amount of calories consumed, in addition to increasing the level of fibre in your diet.
Additionally, something you’re almost certain to be aware of is the daily incorporation of vegetables into your diet, particularly that of leafy green veg, such as cabbage, spinach and broccoli. How do you make consumption of vegetables more appealing?
That’s simple, you can create a vegetable medley, by shredding broccoli, carrots, onion and cabbage in a food processor, for example, before sautéing the ingredients in a frying pan for five minutes, providing a delicious alternative to traditional steaming or boiling. The list isn’t exclusive, since you can shred any veg you like (with the exception of white potatoes), to create medallies of your own choosing.
Moreover, simply roast sweet potato and butternut squash and cherry tomatoes in the oven, accompanied with crushed garlic and a light sprinkling of salt, for 30 minutes (there’s no need to parboil) to provide a delicious accompaniment to oven cooked salmon or pan fried chicken breast.
As for breakfast, opt for soft boiled/poached eggs and wholemeal toast or a steaming bowl of porridge (sweetened with a drizzle of honey), topped off with a helping of nuts or an omega sprinkle (available from health food stores).
As for other areas of nutrition, obtain your protein from lean sources of white meat, eggs, whey powder, fish and nuts, for example.
Concerning carbs, in addition to the wholegrain sources already mentioned, aim to include consumption of legumes.
As for consumption of fat, aim to obtain your sources from foods such as oils, seeds, nuts, oily fish and coconut oil.
By all means, still treat yourself to the occasional helping of red meat or cheese in the process, just don’t enjoy excessive consumption (however tempting it may seem).
Since your boyfriend has helped you with numbers, I won’t discuss the importance of ascertaining resting BMR and TDEE, as I suspect that the level of loss you’ve enjoyed thus far has probably been achieved through adhering towards both.
As for exercise, in order to routinely attain weight loss and corresponding levels of increased fitness, you should eventually be aiming to perform cardio exercise as intensely as you’re able to manage, in order to utilise greater uptake of fat and glucose as energy to fuel that endeavour. The greater the uptake of fat and glucose, the greater the level of weight loss and increase in cardiovascular fitness.
I accept that, for now, intense cardio exercise may well be beyond you. However, by simply participating in steady state cardio, you’ll be increasing your body’s ability to repeatedly undertake regular exercise, eventually providing a platform for the introduction of interval and HIIT into your weekly regime.
You may even be surprised at just how quickly your capacity for cardiovascular improves, allowing you to perform at increasingly higher levels.
To conclude, Evie, since you’ve become aware of the need to educate yourself further in understanding how nutrition and exercise can be so beneficial to increasing levels of personal health, I’ve every faith that you’ll succeed in your aim.
Good luck,
You can and will do it!
