Seven top tips for weight loss

Try my seven-point plan to help you lose weight

Eat what you enjoy and still lose weight

Losing weight is easy. You just eat less and voila! Weight falls off. Course all dieters know it’s not that simple. If only! But over the last two years in my weight-loss regime I keep coming back to these seven golden rules for continued weight loss.

Keeping it simple is the best way. That’s why the 5:2 diet works so well for so many people. Calorie counting too can be effective as it’s flexible and you can take it anywhere. Cutting out certain foods also works for some - the Keto/high protein diet for example.

I like flexibility rather than a rigid diet plan. This is what’s worked best for me. And it may work for you too.

Goals

1) Set a realistic target. The key word here is realistic. Yes you’d love to lose two stone/28 pounds/13 kilos by Friday but you know this isn’t going to happen. Have a fantasy target by all means - a parallel target to the practical one. But set realistic goals. Being unrealistic is one of the main reasons diets fail.

Weigh

2) Weigh your food and yourself. Don’t guess. Both may surprise you. This is also about being realistic. You need to know what you weigh to set an achievable goal and to reach it you need to know what your food weighs.

Measure

3) The main aim of my diet is to be healthy. So while I set out to lose five stone in all (and I’ve only a bit under one more to go) my main goal is to get my waist down to under 31 inches. The best measure of health is keeping your waist below 31.5 inches for women and 37 for men. Carrying too much fat around your middle puts us at risk of a whole host of life-threatening diseases. Measure your food intake too. Don’t guess. Chances are you’ll under estimate. But once you get used to how many calories are in foods it should eventually become automatic and there’s no need to walk around like a human calorie calculator.

Exercise

4) Exercise can definitely help and it should be part of any weight-loss regime but... it can also encourage us to feel we have a licence to eat more. It’s good to take regular exercise for its own sake whether you’re trying to lose weight or not. But don’t adjust your calorie intake upwards. Exercise really doesn’t make that much difference - only eating less does. But what exercise does do is make you feel better and if you’re feeling good you’re much more likely to stick to your diet. Exercise can also help you bust through the plateau that hits all dieters at some point. A 20 to 30-minute brisk walk every day is quite sufficient. But do more than this if you can.

Enjoy

5) Enjoy what you do! Dieting doesn’t have to be miserable. You can eat well, enjoy your food and, yes, enjoy dieting too. See it as a positive not a negative and you’ll be much more likely to stay the course. Eat your favourite foods don’t cut them out. Just eat less of them.

Don’t give up!

6) Accept setbacks. They are inevitable. It isn’t re-gaining lost weight that makes us come off our diets - it’s how we handle it. People coached in giving up smoking are told that lapsing is a part of giving up. So it is for dieters too. You will lapse. Accept that. Get back on it or promise yourself that you will.

Record

7) And we come to what is for me the most important part of a successful weight-loss regime. Keep a record. Write it down. There’s nothing quite so satisfying as seeing your weight come down. Yes there will be times it goes back up but if you can see a general progression downwards it will be very motivating. It can also help you to spot what causes you to over eat and when you get spikes in your weight and also when it goes down. Sometimes weight losses and gains make absolutely no sense. But if you keep a record you’ll see what the general trend is for you.

Summer loving!

And now this Substack is taking a break for the rest of August. I’ll be back in September ready to face the Autumn and Winter onslaught of calorie temptations. Is it easier to diet in the Summer? I’ve often thought so but there are so many delicious temptations too. Who can resist an ice-cream in this weather? A cooling milkshake, fresh fruit doused with liqueur and thickly-whipped cream? Salads are boring without a rich dressing or mayonnaise. I’ll be looking at the differences in seasonal dieting on my return. Meanwhile have a good summer if you can. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again when the leaves start to turn.