Carb Curfew: Cut the Carbs after 5pm and Lose Fat Fast!. Joanna Hall

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СКАЧАТЬ more convenient and accurate method to measure in your own home however is with body fat monitors. Constructed as a set of bathroom weighing scales, by entering your height and sex and standing on the scales, a safe technique known as bioelectrical impedance analysis will determine your percentage body fat. Replacing bathroom scales with body fat monitors will give a true idea of what is happening inside you – this way you get to see a complete picture of your total body weight, muscle mass and fat mass. Body fat monitors are now available from a wide range of outlets.

      How Much Body Fat Should We Have?

      We all need to have body fat. Too little and we run the risk of decreased fertility and the onset of amenorrhea, a condition where the female periods stop. Too much body fat is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and some cancers. So what exactly are the healthy ranges? The figures shown below are broadly accepted as the ideal percentages for body fat.

Males
Age 18–39:	8%-20%
Age 40–59:	11%-22%
Age 60+:	13%-25%
Females
Age 18–39:	21%–33%
Age 40–59:	23%-34%
Age 60+:	24%-36%
Source: European	Congress of Obesity, 1999

      What Fat-Loss Target Should We Aim For?

      Changing body fat does take time but the benefits you see will be long-term. A two to four per cent decrease in body fat over a ten-week period is a sensible and realistic target. Although this may not sound a lot, in real terms this will represent a two to four per cent decrease in the amount of fat your body is actually carrying with you day in and day out.

      Recording Your Progress

      It is good to keep a record of how much body fat you are losing each week so you can see how much progress you are making. Here is what you do:

      

      

Weigh yourself and establish your percentage body fat (either with a body fat monitor or with skin-fold calipers), or if this is not possible then record your weight and tape measurements only.

      

Using a tape measure, establish your waist measurement (measure around narrowest part of midriff), your belly button measurement (measure around midriff over belly button) and hip measurement.

      

Record these measurements at the same time each week.

      Factors Determining Your Success

      Your Willpower

      The strength of your willpower is an important factor in how successful you will be at realizing your weight and body fat goals. Generally an individual’s willpower is at its weakest towards the end of the day – perhaps we feel tired or our blood sugars are low. This means that we tend to have less control of our actions at this time and are more likely to overeat or eat all the inappropriate foods. If you are constantly tired and struggling with your weight, you may well be building up extra calories at the end of the day that do not get burnt off. Here are a few questions for you to think about:

1.	When am I most physically active?
	- between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
	- after 6 p.m. to bedtime
2.	When do I consume the majority of my food?
	- between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
	- after 6 p.m. to bedtime
3.	When is my willpower at its strongest?
	- first thing in the morning
	- midday
	- mid-afternoon
	- evening

      Invariably what happens is there is a mismatch between when we need to receive energy from our food and when we are expending energy through our everyday activities. Generally we expend most energy between 7 a.m. in the morning and 6 p.m. in the evening. However, we actually receive the vast majority of our energy from food after 6 p.m. when we are less active. While some studies suggest that it makes no difference whether your calories from food are consumed during the day or all at night, what these studies fail to take into account is our personal willpower. At the end of the day when we are tired, especially when we have not eaten much during the day, willpower will be low and we will be much more likely to overeat. This means long-term there is a situation where at the end of each day there is actually a build up of excess calories which we are not burning off prior to going to bed – and these calories are being laid down in the fat cells as additional body fat. Carb Curfew will show you how to make the right food choices at the right time of the day, so you receive energy when you need it and you don’t end up with a build up of excess calories before you go to bed.

      Your Attitude to Food

      What we were introduced to as a child defines our relationship with food in later life. If you ate a lot of sugar and sweet things as you were growing up and your diet did not include a variety of tastes, it is likely you now crave calorie-dense sweet foods rather than savoury foods. Maybe your mother used to say to you, ‘You must finish everything on your plate’, and now you always finish everything on your plate thinking it is rude to leave even a morsel. Or alternatively you had a mother who was always on a diet and never ate the same food as the rest of the family. Our mums are great but we need to be aware of how their attitude to food influences our attitude to food later in life. These attitudes have had a long time to become ingrained and they will take a long time to diminish. Carb Curfew will help you re-evaluate your relationship with food, showing you how to draw up a sensible eating plan that will help you realize your weight and body fat goals, as well as providing a positive message for your children.

      Your Motivation

      What is your motivation to lose weight? Is it to squeeze into that little black dress for a certain event or is it СКАЧАТЬ