Many people feel a sense of frustration at how little energy may be “burned” through exercise,

“30 minutes of slogging my guts out and it only burns off 1 mars bar!” (Or words to that effect).

While it’s true that the energy used in training sessions is comparatively small when compared to the quantity of calories you expend in day-to-day life (including sleeping!), you should not lose heart or think that physical training has no impact on weight management.

Recently, I thought that I had better become more familiar with the ins and outs of this tracking process. I want to know what it’s like so I can speak about it in depth with my clients. So, I tracked my food and drink intake for roughly two weeks - albeit imperfectly. Here’s some reflections on that process…

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These are some things that I found helpful with my weight loss journey. I hope they help you too.

Recently, I had a new PT client come on board with the goal of losing weight and addressing what he described as being the development of "an Elvis situation". I enjoyed working with him, but it became apparent our partnership was not long for this world. He wanted to pursue very rapid weight loss, and to drive himself extremely hard in training - saying "next time, I want to be puking into a bucket". I thought this was a short-sighted strategy, and we ended up parting ways. I wish him every success in life and health! Here's a blog post I put together adapted from an email I sent to him. It gives you an idea of my philosophy towards weight loss.

The thing that I really enjoy about my job, the thing which I believe is really cool, is that establishing a regular habit of training your body can effect dramatic changes in your mental health and mindset. You can become less stressed, more focussed and a lot tougher through pushing your body and acquiring the mental wherewithal needed to meet difficult physical demands (like multi-day hiking, or running 5K the whole way).

Frankly, I did not start out down this road being that interested in weight loss and nutrition. My weight was in a healthy range, and I was more intent on helping people to unlock the mental benefits of training.

Over time, my thinking and attitude has changed.

I’m still very much a believer in affecting your mental state through training, but I also value weight management more highly than I used to.