HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT!

No Bake Protein Nut Bar made with ground almond, raw cacao, chocolate whey protein, mixed nuts & shredded coconut
We share our top tips on how to keep the treats clean and under control with ‘At Home’ magazine

1. Understand what you need. You absolutely have to know how much you need to eat in order to successfully maintain or lose weight. It also means you can work out the nutritional value of your favourite foods and factor these into your diet without overeating. There are a number of useful online calculators that can tell you how much you should eat, including the one at FFF website.
2. Plan ahead. Whether it is at the start of the week or each day, you should work out what you are going to eat, including treat foods. Depending on how extreme your goals are, you may not need to follow this plan to the nearest calorie, but planning in this way will minimise the chance of you overeating at the beginning of the day.
3. Sensible food decisions. Being able to enjoy the occasional treat and still keep your diet on track does mean you will have to follow a sensible, balanced diet at other times. Ditch the faddy, sensationalist dietary advice and get the basics right: maximise your veg intake, ensure you eat enough quality protein, consume good amounts of quality fat and eat a varied and colourful diet. Getting these basics right will ensure your treats become part ofyour diet rather than part of overeating.
4. Exercise – earn your cake! By increasing the amount of calories you burn through exercise you will need to increase the amount of calories you eat. Similarly the amount of calories you can consume and still maintain or lose weight will increase. Now, we are not saying you should exercise excessively to consume huge amounts of cake, but if you are following a balanced diet and can’t fit in an occasional treat then a sensible exercise plan could be a great way to spare up the necessary additional calories.
5. Learn healthier ways of having your cake. If, like most women, you enjoy a sweet treat, then learn ways to prepare healthier versions of your favourites.