This month fashion stylist, TV presenter and author Lisa Fitzpatrick gives us a sneak peek into her fridge and takes us through her average daily dietary pattern and exercise regime.
(Follow on twitter @lisafitzpatrick or visit www.fitzpatrickstyle.com)
Lisa Fitzpatrick
Body Stats:
Height – 5′ 9
Weight – 10 stone
Size – 12
Food diary from an average day:
I eat very well from Monday to Friday. I drink plenty of water and I don’t drink coffee after 3pm but I make up for that by having four cups before 3! I also love a glass of white wine on Thursday evenings.
Breakfast – Poached or boiled eggs and coffee, no bread during the week but I can go into carb overdrive at the weekends.
Lunch – Rainbow or superfood salad or soup.
Dinner – Chicken/Tuna/Salmon stir-fry.
We take a sneak peek into Lisa’s fridge
Exercise:
I walk and cycle a lot but I have a knee injury so I am on strike from training at the moment.
Supplements:
I take green tea supplements and multivitamin Omega 3 oil in juices.
Biggest Weakness:
I don’t eat chocolate or meat. I like savoury thing so crisps are my biggest weakness.
Discipline:
I have amazing willpower Monday to Friday but as I said, I can go into carb overdrive at the weekend!
Expert Opinion
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for letting us take a peek into your fridge, there are some really good items in there, in particular the coconut milk, which is a great substitute for cow’s milk and is a lot lower in sugar than slimline milk. It’s also great to add flavour to the morning porridge!
You say you have a carb blow out at the weekend? Well, let’s take a look at why. One of the factors could be the lack of carbohydrates in the diet during the week. I find bringing small amounts of oats, sweet potato and brown rice into the diet for clients helps to decrease cravings for high carb foods at the weekend. Also a lack of protein in the diet leaves us feeling hungry, which can have us reaching for carb foods, so ensure you reach for high protein and fibre foods when you’re feeling hungry. Finally, a lack of structure at the weekends normally leads clients to binge on carbs, so maybe a good idea is to plan meals, particularly over the weekend, and have salads and meats prepared and left in lunch boxes in the fridge to get you through those danger times.
Mark says that having food prepared in advance, such as salads, will help us to avoid eating the wrong foods at weekends
Remember it’s very easy to go from a little treat a day leading to a binge over the space of a week/weekend. Three biscuits with a cup of tea a day will give you an extra 2500 calories a week (there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat). These are creeping calories which many don’t see, but over time they all add up. A recent client in our gym just hit below 15% body fat from 29% in the space of 3 months. His secret was taking out three biscuits and two small size bags of jellies he would eat every day as a treat.
I couldn’t fault your diet during the week and you can see from your good shape that you don’t go too crazy at weekends either! However, you mentioned you are on strike from training due to a bad knee, so no cycling or running. What an ideal time to try some strength training, starting with the bodyweight circuit that was featured in last month’s addition. Adding this in will further improve your shape, even if you begin with mainly upper body and core until your knee is on the mend.
Well done Lisa, thanks again and I hope this helps you out!
I would like to leave our readers with a bit of an interval training plan for all fitness levels to help increase the body’s fat burning ability. It is only twenty minutes long, which makes it ideal for people with busy schedules. It’s something you can try yourself Lisa when you’re back running and on the bike.
Bike
Level 8
30 seconds, as fast as you can
30 seconds slow pace or longer if you feel you need the recovery
Do this for a total of 10 minutes
Treadmill
1 minute run at a fast pace for you (fast pace is a pace at which you couldn’t hold a full blown conversation but not so fast that you can’t catch a breath)
1 minute recovery walk
Again, try this for a total of 10 minutes
This 20 minute workout will leave you wiped and help to raise that metabolism. Give it a go but remember, always go at your own pace and know your own limits.
Thanks,
Mark O’ Reilly.
Answered by Mark O Reilly. Mark is a trainer at BodyByrne Fitness, Clarendon Street, Dublin 2. For more information on training and nutrition contact www.bodybyrne.ie or Twitter @bodybyrne.