Firstly, we want to say thank you for being here. We love it when people come to our website to hopefully help find solutions to things that are effecting them - you are welcome here.
This article will outline solutions for weight loss in our city of Toowoomba. It will help you lose weight too if you implement these solutions.
But first, we want to give you some context on why we wrote this blog post.
The Health of Queenslanders Report 2018 written by the CHO [1] notes that here in the Darling Downs Region 66% of Adults are Obese or Overweight.
Which means only 33% are what is medically considered a "healthy weight" when looking at BMI.
Here is how the Darling Downs region stacks up:
Now of course these are "self-reported" stats, so there might be some error in them, however, its probably a fair inference that these are pretty accurate - and BMI has its critics, but for assessing figures at a population level it is very effective.
Two thirds of the Darling Downs Region is overweight or obese.
When you look at some rankings nationwide Toowoomba comes out as the tenth overweight city in the country.
When you break that down further into suburbs in Toowoomba it looks like this [2]:
And two of these suburbs, Harlaxton and Harristown, also rank as two suburbs with the lowest median income per week [3].
One other thing we noticed was that when you search for weight loss help in Toowoomba, the majority of the solutions offered are weight loss surgery solutions like gastric sleeves and bariatric surgery - which is one way of tackling bodyweight, but that is a solution that not everyone would like to go down - and fairly so.
Hence we are here. Hence we want to help you with this blog post.
Table of Contents for Weight Loss Solutions In Toowoomba
How do you create weight loss?
4 dietary tips for weight loss
4 movement tips for weight loss
How do you create weight loss?
The science is very clear on this.
It comes down to the principle of energy balance. Which relates to your caloric intake in relation to the energy you expend.
The energy balance equation is this:
Calories In = Calories Out = No Weight Change
Calories In > Calories Out = Weight Gain
Calories In < Calories Out = Weight Loss (A Calorie Deficit - which is what this is about)
A calorie is a unit of measurement which measures the energy in the food you eat.
For reference:
Protein contains 4kcals per gram
Carbohydrate contains 4kcals per gram
Dietary Fat contains 9kcals per gram
You can then manipulate the calorie balance equation in a number of ways through changing the way in which you eat, and the amount of calories you have the ability to burn.
Today, we won't get into the nitty gritty too much for you, as it can become a very confusing and jargon laden discussion, but we do want to lay out for you some simple straightforward action steps you could implement to influence your energy balance and help you on the path to losing weight - action steps we user every day with our members.
There are lots of other options out there like acupuncture for weight loss, hypnotherapy for weight loss and hypnosis for weight loss in Toowoomba, but for any of these to work they will still only be a tool to get you into a calorie deficit.
Which is the only weight loss program you will need - which we have outlined the starting points of below for you.
Weight Loss Program for Toowoomba
4 dietary tips for weight loss
1. Eat more, not less - but still control calories
Now we know what you are thinking...
"But wait, I need a calorie deficit, surely that means I need to eat less?"
You need to consume less energy, but that doesn't always mean eat less food.
This means eating less calorie dense foods, but more food volume overall - and our favourite go-to's for this are:
Fruits and Vegetables
You must remember:
"No one got fat from eating too many fruits and vegetables"
- Jordan Syatt
Fruits and vegetables are not very calorie dense - meaning that you'll consume fewer calories from eating them compared to other forms of carbohydrates. They also contain minimal amounts of dietary fat and therefore save you from a lot of calories.
Fruits and vegetables have a secret weapon in them in relation to weight loss in the form of fibre. Fibre fills you up when you eat it - fills you up a lot - which means you are less likely to want other forms of food throughout the day.
There are lots of health benefits to eating more fibre, some of which are still being researched, but it also helps with:
Cholesterol levels
Gut microbiome
Regulates digestion
Controlling blood sugar levels
Lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease
Easy ways to get them into your diet would be by having a big old salad each day, using frozen and tinned vegetables or enjoying them in a smoothie form (just pop into our Cafe and we will make one for you).
We recommend the Mango Passionfruit Smoothie just like Rosie is enjoying here:
2. Eat a structured diet
Without structure, everything else falls apart. You cannot build a house on sand, and you equally cannot build healthier eating habits on poor structure.
Not only will a better structure improve your diet overall, but it will also improve your relationship with food - which is something you might need to investigate as well.
With our clients who have a very keen desire to lose weight, there is a trend that they often have no structure in place with what and how they are eating.
They are simply winging it.
"If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail"
- Benjamin Franklin
This has a couple of knock-on effects:
You have absolutely no idea how many calories you are eating - despite saying “I eat really healthy”.
You react more emotionally to food - and use it an an emotional coping mechanism.
You aren’t able to see your overconsumption of food in isolated moments is related to the constant missing of meals as your data is inaccurate.
You might end up frustrated and walking down the path of looking for fat burners and other quick fix solutions.
If you are tracking your calories, you will easily miss some foods in your day.
Let's draw a line under it all.
And get you focused on having a proper structure with your meals.
Your structure should look something like this:
Three Meals a day that all fit onto one plate.
Two snacks a day - one of which should be fruit.
If you have an alcoholic beverage the night before - try and take away a snack the next day - but this isn’t essential.
3. Eat your breakfast
Your mum was right.
Breakfast is a very important meal of the day - and its not because of the commonly asserted myth that "it stokes/fires/starts your metabolism".
A recent study performed in October 2022 published in the Cell Metabolism Journal [4] found that when the biggest meal of the day was your breakfast compared to dinner, you are less likely to report feelings of increased appetite and hunger throughout the day.
The study took 30 overweight or obese subjects and split them into two groups on a calorie controlled diet. One group had a breakfast that was equivalent to 45% of their daily caloric requirements, and the other had a dinner which was 45% of their daily caloric intake.
Both groups did lose near enough the same amount of weight, about 3.3kgs, but critically the larger breakfast group reported the following:
"Resulted in significantly lower average daily hunger, desire to eat, prospective consumption, thirst, and composite appetite score"
This study lasted only 8-weeks and would suggest that over a longer period of time, if you can use breakfast to curb feelings of hunger and increased appetite, then you will be more likely to be able to keep a calorie deficit in place for long enough to move significantly towards your goals.
The issue we find with our clients is that often they are time-poor in the mornings, in the rush to get to the gym, get their children to school, and get themselves to work. Which is why it is always a good idea to have some quick, ready to go options for your breakfast.
For example:
A nice large container of yoghurt and frozen fruit
Overnight oats
Oat bars and Muesli slices
A Frittata
Selection of fruit
4. Try to increase protein and water intake
Protein is a very important macronutrient for many aspects of your body.
Again, it is very similar to the reasons we are asking you to eat breakfast and to include more fibre into your diet, it really fills you up, and protein takes a long time to digest.
By having protein in your diet, it reduces levels of Ghrelin in your system - a hunger hormone which tells you when you are hungry.
Protein also uses more energy than any other macronutrient to be digested - thus increasing your metabolism (the amount of calories you burn each day). This part of your metabolism is known as TEF or Thermic Effect of Food and is responsible for 10% of the amount of calories you burn each day.
Protein has a much higher thermic effect (~30%) compared to Carbohydrates (~5-10%) or Fats (~0-3%).
Protein is very effective on both sides of the energy balance equation. It can help stem calories in and it also encourages more calories to be burned in your day.
We would suggest as a starting point, trying to get your protein up to 100g/day if you are a carnivore, and 80g/day if you are plant based. Once you are hitting that regular enough you can then look into higher targets.
Some great sources of protein are:
Meat per 100g serving:
Chicken Breast: ~30g Pro / 6g Fat / 0g Cho / 165kcal
Turkey Breast: ~28g Pro / 7g Fat / 0g Cho / 189kcal
Steak: ~26g Pro / 19g Fat / 0g Cho / 276kcal
Kangaroo: ~20g Pro / 1.3g Fat / 0g Cho / 102 kcal
Fish per 100g serving:
Tuna Steak: ~29g Pro / 1.3g Fat / 0g Cho / 132 kcal
Salmon: ~22g Pro / 13g Fat / 0g Cho / 208kcal
Dover Sole: ~18g Pro / 1g Fat / 0g Cho / 89kcal
Halibut: ~22g Pro / 2.5g Fat / 0g Cho / 115kcal
Dairy per 100g serving:
Eggs: ~12g Pro / 11g Fat / 1.1g Cho / 155kcal
Greek Yoghurt: ~10g Pro / 0.4.g Fat / 3.6g Cho / 59kcal
Whole Milk: ~3g Pro / 3.4g Fat / 4.8g Cho / 63kcal
YoPro Plain Yoghurt: ~10.6g / 0.3g Fat / 4.4g Cho / 64kcal
Cottage Cheese: ~11g Pro / 6g Fat / 1.9g Cho / 127kcal
Vegetarian Options per 100g:
Tofu: ~11.9g Pro / 7.5g Fat / 0g Cho / 127kcal
Tempeh: ~12.4g Pro / 5g Fat / 0.5g Cho / 112kcal
Seitan: ~25g Pro / 0.6g Fat / 5.3g Cho / 126kcal
Lentils: ~9g Pro / 0.4g Fat / 20g Cho / 116kcal
Supplementation of Protein per 100g:
Isolate Whey Protein: ~ 84g Pro / 3.9g Fat / 1.22g Cho / 380kcal
Quest Protein Bars ~ 35g Pro / 10g Fat / 7g Cho / 302kcal
Water is also a key contributor to regulating hormones, managing your energy levels and helping to keep you full. For many people they often confuse hunger for thirst and therefore end up having more calories then they might realise.
Keeping hydrated will certainly help you. We recommend around 2-3ltrs a day.
We really hope that you can easily action these steps for your diet and that it will create a positive move for you towards your goals.
You might also find it is just the starting point. Here at Freedom Lifestyle and Fitness we work with a dietitian who supports our members, as well as spend a great deal of time on trying to educate our members on these topics with blogs like these, video courses and mindset sessions. After all, the more knowledge you have, the more empowered you will be to make a change.
Now lets talk about activity...
YOU CAN GET A FREE 10 DAY TRIAL AT OUR GYM IN TOOWOOMBA
4 activity tips for weight loss
1. Increase your NEAT
Earlier we touched on your TEF which is worth about 10% of your metabolism.
Well NEAT is another part of your metabolism. It stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis and accounts for all your movement that isn't prescribed intentional movement.
For example:
Walking the dog
Playing with your children
Working at a stand up desk
Shopping at Grand Central
Walking up the travelators at Grand Central
Dancing at Fitzy's
Gardening
Fidgeting at your desk
NEAT is 15% of your metabolism and is also the biggest portion of how many calories you burn each day that is directly under your control.
Therefore the more you focus on this, the more calories you will burn each day - and the best bit - anyone can implement it - regardless of age and ability.
Some of our personal favourite NEAT hacks are:
Walking through Queens Park and playing in the playground
Parking on the top level of Grand Central and walking down to the shops
Getting a take out coffee from the Gunshop Cafe and having a walk with it
Walking the Dog whilst listening to a good podcast twice a day
Getting breakfast at Picnic Point and then doing one of the trails
As you can tell one of the easiest and most efficient ways to increase your NEAT is to walk more - if you are currently doing between 7.5k and 10k steps a day don't worry about trying to find the time to do more steps, just increase the pace of the steps and walk with more intention.
2. Come to the Gym to get stronger
The Gym is a place to build strength in your body - and the stronger you are, the more calories you will be able to burn throughout your day.
You will be able to walk faster, move more often, have more energy throughout the day and all of this will mean that you will be able to increase your metabolism.
Added to that, for a total beginner in the Gym, if you are consistent with your training, just 2x a week for 30mins, you will be able to build about 0.45kgs of muscle each month for the first year of training. This will equate to being able to burn about another 50kcals a day. Which isn't a huge amount - but is a help.
By the end of the that means you will have gained about 5.4kgs of muscle on your body which would help you burn an extra 225kcals a day at rest.
Again, its not massive, but when you multiply that with all the other metabolic advantages of getting stronger then it will certainly help you lose weight and crucially maintain the weight loss - which is the overall goal here.
Added to that the stronger your body is, the stronger your mind will become, and that will help make what could be a hard journey, a little easier. Plus being in the Gym you find community and support, there are experts at your disposal who will be able to help you every step of the way.
3. Choose movement you enjoy doing
Without a doubt, one of the most important aspects of using movement in your weight loss journey, is choosing to do movement you enjoy.
For without enjoyment, you simply won't stick at it for long enough to see the results you are after in terms of your weight loss.
There's nothing worse than slaving away on a treadmill for 30mins and the whole time all you are thinking about is how you wish you were somewhere else, or doing a weights workout that means you cannot walk for the next 7 days and your life is suddenly a lot more difficult than it needed to be.
We don't need to get into the conversation about what mode of movement is more optimal for weight loss, here in this gym we just focus everyone on feeling comfortable, safe and excited about enjoying movement with their body. Being in a non-judgmental space is a critical aspect of helping you use movement in your weight loss journey, because if you feel like you are being judged by those around you, or by yourself for, what you are achieving you are likely to not enjoy that process as much.
At Freedom Lifestyle and Fitness we have group classes for all levels, which are designed to help you with just this; build your community and help you enjoy your movement. You can also just use the Gym floor if that's what you prefer - or work with one of our wonderful Personal Trainers.
4. Don't wait for motivation
If weight loss was a train journey, motivation would be the last stop to your goal.
I am sure you are thinking: "Wait, if I am not motivated, how do I even start?"
I don't have children, and there are many reasons for that, but one aspect is that I am not sure I will never be ready to have children. People who have had children always tell me the same thing, that you are never ready, the stars will never align correctly, and if you keep waiting for them to align, you will never actually get what you want in the first place.
Weight loss is the same. There is never a perfect time to start.
And waiting for motivation is like waiting for the perfect time to start.
The key to getting your movement started is to just take action, because once you have taken action you will then see the results, which will then give you motivation.
I call this the motivation loop.
Do. Track. Repeat.
The first step is always to take action.
And now you have got to the end of this blog, you have 8 strategies to help you do that.
Thank you so much for reading our post.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask, or pop in, we are based on Ruthven Street, opposite Nutrition Warehouse.
Added to that, and to say thank you for being here we would love to invite you to have a 10 day free trial here at Freedom Lifestyle and Fitness.
About the author:
Adam Berry is one of our in house Personal Trainers. A fitness writer and personal trainer for over 8 years. He is from London, and has lived in Australia for 2 years. He moved to Toowoomba about 2 months ago.
He has won international awards as a Personal Trainer and last year was nominated as the best personal trainer of the year on the Gold Coast, as well as the best personal trainer of the year for the whole of Queensland by Australia Active.
He was also in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as a boy and continues to act here in Australia.
Feel free to come in and meet him and the rest of the team to help you towards whatever it is you are working towards.
References:
1. Chief health officer reports - 2018: The Health of Queenslanders - publications: Queensland Government, Publications. corporateName=The State of Queensland; jurisdiction=Queensland. Available at: https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/chief-health-officer-reports/resource/90d328e1-db7e-4a8c-b1bf-ae294c7de31c
(Accessed: November 18, 2022).
2. Backhouse, A. (2017) REVEALED: Most obese suburbs in Toowoomba, The Chronicle. The Chronicle. Available at: https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/revealed-most-obese-suburbs-in-toowoomba/news-story/6b44f82ce82800d542943920a38523cf (Accessed: November 24, 2022).
3. Gillespie, T. (2017) MAP: Toowoomba's richest and poorest suburbs, The Courier Mail. The Courier Mail. Available at: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/map-toowoombas-richest-and-poorest-suburbs/news-story/7a1c3ed909b47ccc5fee45764db12140 (Accessed: November 24, 2022).
4. Timing of daily calorie loading affects appetite and hunger responses without changes in energy metabolism in healthy subjects with obesity Leonie C. Ruddick-Collins et al.
Open Access: Published: September 09, 2022 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2022.08.001