Attack Your Diet to get Fit and Tone up

Being a woman means your weight gain could be caused by any number of things. You know what those issues are it is impossible to do something about your weight. Whatever the trigger, the reasons for your weight gain are overeating and drinking too much. Yep, drinking too! If for example you publish off a bottle of white wine in a night, you would need to walk 19,000 steps to burn the empty kilojoules it supplies to body, that's almost 8km.

The Fit and Firm cardio and toning program takes care of exercise the chapter will address your diet. Just as starting an exercise diary keeps you motivated, a food diary will help show you the mistakes you cheat, and be sure to take down the kilojoule count in each food. Add up each day then go totals for the week. remember the average woman should be consuming between 6000 and 9000 kilojoules depending on your activity level.

• Women BMR = 655 + (9.6 x your weight in kilos) + (1.8 x your height in cm) - (4.7 x your age in years)

BMR calculators are available on the internet for you to check, they will ask you what level of exercise you do each day, which we have not. It is best to work out your BMR as a sedentary person, then whatever you do on top of that is , excuse the pun, gravy.

To help you stick to your diet here are few tips to help you make the right choices:

Fresh is always best
Packages meals often contain many more kilojoules than if you made the same meal yourself. At home we try and eat as fresh as possible, meat from the butcher and veggies from greengrocer, not only is it all healthier, it's usually much cheaper than buying it all pre-packages from the supermarket.

Watch out fro extra kilojoules
Often our weight gain is caused by the kilojoules we don't thing about, like cutting the crust off your children's bread. Not wanting to waste food many parents eat those crusts, when you add in half eaten doughnuts and sandwiches it can all add up. Try to adjust the amount you eat for the number of things you snack on during the day. By  paying attention you will slowly begin to discover where the exctra kilojoules are coming from.

Eat smaller meals
It is a simple fact; our meals are way too big. A steak should be the size of your palm, and the width of a deck of card. Now be honest when was the last tome you ate a steak that size?
You would struggle to buy a steak that size from the butcher, let alone eat it. If that is the case buy one and cut it in half. Rather than over eat for one meal you get two for one, saving money and your waistline.

Eat more fruits and vegetables
The average Aussie female eats just 1-2 serves of fruit and 2-3 serves of vegetables a day. This is well below the recommended daily intake of two fruit and five vegetables. This has a number of effects on your weight, by not eating fruits and vegetables it means you are filling up on something else. Most likely that includes chocolate bars, more meat at dinner,bigger serves of pasta, and soft drink.

Eat six smaller meals a day
By doing this you are stopping the need or want to snack. Snacking between meals is one of the main causes of weight gain. If between meals you snack snack on say chocolate bar mid-morning, bag of chips just before lunch, then a couple of doughnuts and a coffee for afternoon tea that is adding more than 5000 kilojoules to your daily intake.

Drink more water
Many people mistake the feeling of thirst for hunger, so instead of drinking they grab something to eat. By trying to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day you will be surprised by the effect that has on your appetite. Drinking enough water promotes a feeling of fullness, and as a result you will simply eat less food.

Cut out the fruit juice
Sugar intake is another major reason for weight gain, and one of the biggest culprits is fruit juice. Thinks about how many oranges you need to squeeze to get a decent sized glass of juice, it can be three or four. Now you would never eat three or four oranges in one sitting, but you would have two glassess of orange juice, that is adding an enormous amount of sugar to your diet.
We need to eat more fruit, but drink less fruit juice.

Start a food dairy
When most people record exactly what they eat they are often surprised at what sneaks in. It also makes it easy to identify weaknesses and address them. keeping a diary over a two-week period is best. If you decide to give it a go, be sure to be honest.