With today being National Fitness Day, Wheyhey’s Greg Duggan offers his advice to help keep you in tip-top shape this autumn. A former model, Greg and his Cork-born business partner Damien Kennedy are the co-founders of Wheyhey! - a sugar free protein ice cream
What’s your advice to someone who’s trying to shape up and lose weight?
GD: To put if very simply...think of your muscles as a motor and food as its fuel, the bigger the motor, the more fuel (or food) it can burn off and use. So, if somebody has lost weight through an extreme diet with no exercise that has resulted in a large loss of muscle mass their engine is going to be a lot smaller and thus, won't be able to burn as much food! So in essence, if you lose a lot of muscle mass during your weight loss period, chances are you are going to struggle to maintain that weight.
What can you do after losing weight to make sure you don’t start creeping back up the scales again?
GD: Keep those muscles going! If you are relying entirely on your diet for weight loss, you are really going to struggle. You must keep your body active and ensure your muscles are effective at using the food that you provide them with. Also...relative to diet, stay off the sugars! Ensuring you maintain a stable blood sugar level is essential to avoiding hunger pangs. A high level of protein in your diet can also not only stave of these hunger pangs but also help maintain stable blood sugar levels.
If you’re looking to lose a lot of weight, what’s the best way to start?
GD: Begin to cut out your sugars. Have a quick look at the nutritional label on the foods you eat, you will be surprised at the level of sugar that is in most if not all the foods you eat! Once you have looked at the amount of sugar in your diet, begin to have a look at the level of carbohydrates in your diet too, reducing these slowly can give you a real kick start. Making the first step to an active lifestyle is also essential...so get yourself to the gym, sign up and take start to take your goal and yourself seriously.
Is there a minimum and maximum of pounds per week you should go for?
GD: Losing weight should always be planned, slow and steady. The last thing you want to do is go on a crash course diet, loose the weight, then go back to your original diet. This is known as Yo-Yo dieting, and is an absolute no no! I would normally tailor my plans to a maximum loss of two pounds a week.
Try this meal plan from Wheyhey!
For the boys…
Breakfast: Salmon and eggs or porridge with 150ml of Wheyhey! melted on top
Mid-morning snack: Protein shake/nuts
Lunch: Salad with chicken or tuna
Afternoon snack: 150ml tub Wheyhey!
Dinner: Steak or chicken with broccoli, green beans, sweet potato
For the girls…
Breakfast: Berries and yoghurt or eggs on rye bread
Snack: Wheyhey! Protein Smoothie (1x banana, 1x 150ml Wheyhey Vanilla, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, ice)
Lunch: Soup or a chicken salad
Snack: Apple
Dinner: Stir fry, tuna salad or a stuffed pepper or aubergine
