If you want to control your weight, understanding your own eating patterns and learning to deal with temptation is as important as knowing what to eat. The Shape-Up Workbook was produced by psychologists working with nutrition, exercise and health promotion specialists, to maximise your chance of success.
Workbook, consisting of 5 modules (£16.99)
The Shape-Up programme was designed to help overweight adults to manage their weight.
The guidance on nutrition and physical activity was written with this population in mind.
People who are very overweight (with a BMI greater than 35), those with a current or past history of eating disorders or those with psychological difficulties such as depression are likely to need additional support in managing their weight.
While some of the ideas in Shape-Up might be useful to these groups of people, the programme may not be suitable on it's own and additional support may be needed.
The nutritional guidance within Shape-Up follows current recommendations for a healthy, balanced diet. However, Shape-Up also recommends portion sizes equivalent to a total daily intake of 1200-1500 calories for women and 1500-1800 calories for men.
For more information about what contributes to a healthy, balanced diet click here.
Physical activity guidance in the Shape-Up programme follows a three step plan:
This includes an initial recommendation of 30 minutes' moderate activity a day, building up to 60-90 minutes a day for maintenance of weight loss.
Moderate intensity activity is defined as any form of exercise that makes you breath harder than usual and feel warm, while still being able to hold a conversation.
Click here for a summary of ACE's (Anglian Community Enterprise) annual report on how they ran their Shape-Up groups.
If you have ran and evaluated Shape-Up groups, please contact us.