How To Stay Fit When All You Want To Do Is Watch Netflix And Eat Cake!

While I don’t claim to be a health or fitness guru or know anything about counting calories, what I do know is that I hate exercise and hate being told what I can or can’t eat. So I have put together a few tips that may work to help you stay fit and eat your cake too!

I’ve pretty much been the same weight for most of my life, give or take a few kilos. Except for that one time I grew two humans in my stomach and added an extra 20 kilos – which mostly consisted of chocolate malt milkshakes and cheese toasties!

Weight management and exercise is a topic that comes up a LOT between women, We love discussing new diet plans, exercise regimes and the latest health food recipes. For example, at the moment I’m OBSESSED with chia pudding and freak out if I haven’t got enough pre made in the fridge to snack on when I get hungry.

My recipe is a handful of chia seeds, milk, sesame seeds, blueberries, raw cacao powder and a drizzle of rice malt syrup. Put everything in a jar. Stir well and refrigerate, Sorry I don’t do exact quantities.

(Remember when Charlotte of STAC took her own puddings to Mexico when the girl’s attended Carrie’s honeymoon with her? Yeah, that’s me currently! Minus the diarrhoea!)

Apart from getting sucked into the latest health fads and fitness workouts I’ve come to realise that there are some things I have been doing for most of my life that may be helping me maintain a reasonably healthy weight. Admittedly as I’m getting older I’m making more of an effort to increase my weight training because muscle seems to just disappear if you don’t work on it. (I wish fat functioned the same way…but whatever.)

So here they are in no particular order:

I don’t drink soft drinks anymore, I used to be a diet coke addict but I stopped cold turkey about 10 years ago and haven’t touched the stuff since. I’ll occasionally have plain mineral water or tonic water in my gin but that’s about it.

My carb intake is quite low. While I’d love to be able to cut carbs totally from my diet (cause I always feel crap after eating them) I know it’s not realistic so I just make sure I have them in the morning. If I have toast or a sandwich during the day then I’ll try and not have any carbs at night. I also don’t eat any white bread, pasta or rice.

While I have a lot of take-out I don’t eat any fast food. That may sound contradictory to some but it means I will happily down a burger with the lot from my local fish and chip shop but I’ll try and stay away from places like Macca’s and Hungry Jacks. You can still eat all the good stuff- just choose where to get it from.

I try to not drink sweet cocktails. I’d rather eat my calories than drink them so my alcohol of choice is usually gin (which I have with soda instead of tonic water) vodka or a glass of rose.

I’m big on incidental exercise. That means that while I wait for the kettle to boil I might do some lunges. Or before getting dressed in the morning I’ll try and do some squats. If the kids are playing in the park I’ll do some quick arm dips in between checking Facebook and Instagram ? If you try and move a bit each day you’ll be amazed at how much incidental exercise you’ll manage to fit in.

Try and include veggies and protein in every meal. For example breakfast for me is often spinach and scrambled eggs. A quick lunch is sometimes tuna thrown over some rocket with some seeds thrown through for extra crunch. I find that by adding some texture in a salad it makes it easier and more fun to eat. Try adding carrots, tofu or a handful of almonds. Some of my favourite dressings include tabasco sauce or tahini. Both super tasty yet very low in fat and sugar.

Stay away from diet foods! Anything that says low fat or diet on the packet is usually super high in sugar. You’re better off having a little bit of the ‘real’ stuff rather than trying to eat ‘diet’ anything!

Drink water! I definitely don’t do this enough but when I do, I realise I’m actually parched! Instead of reaching for food when you feel hungry try having water first and see how you feel. Chances are you were just craving some water.

Lastly- don’t deny yourself anything! Just have it moderation. If you’ve had a huge weekend then try and limit your sugar over the week. Likewise with alcohol. By all means have a glass of wine with dinner but maybe see if you can set aside some alcohol free days as well. If you feel like you can’t have something you’ll only want it more. Keeping your weight in check is a matter of keeping an eye on what goes in – after all as the saying goes ‘abs are made in the kitchen not the gym!’ (At the moment all I’m making are chia puddings, so nothing to report here.)

I hope some of these are helpful and please keep in mind I don’t claim to be a professional in any area of health and nutrition. I’m merely sharing what seems to work for me and my body shape. So find what works for you and what you enjoy doing- you’ll slowly grow weary of anything that seems like too much work or doesn’t make you happy. Staying on track is easier if it just becomes part of your daily routine rather than a one off fad diet.

Do you have any health and fitness tips to share? I’d love to hear them!

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How To Stay Fit When All You Want To Do Is Watch Netflix And Eat Cake!