The healthiest way to lose weight is neither crash diets nor
bursts of exercise. The body likes slow changes in terms of food and
exercise.
For example, someone who hasn't exercised for years shouldn't
rush into running miles a day or pounding the treadmill. Not only will the
struggle to do so leave you feeling disheartened and demotivated, you're also
far more likely to injure yourself and set your fitness levels back
further.
The same goes for people who suddenly start starving themselves.
Diets that severely restrict calories or the types of food 'allowed' can lead
you to be deficient in the nutrients and vitamins that your body
needs.
So, if you need to lose weight, what should you do?
Energy needs and weight loss
Your body uses food for energy. It stores any excess energy as
fat. This means if you eat more food than your body needs for daily activities
and cell maintenance, you'll gain weight.
To lose weight, you need to get your body to use up these stores
of fat. The most effective way to do this is to:
- reduce the amount of calories you eat
- increase your levels of activity.
This is why experts talk about weight loss in terms of diet and
exercise.
Introduce changes gradually
Small changes can make a big difference. One extra biscuit a
week can lead you to gain 5lb a year – cut that biscuit out of your diet and
you'll lose the same amount.
You're also more likely to stick to, say, swapping full-fat milk
for semi-skimmed or making time for breakfast each morning than a diet that
sets rules for all foods.
You should think of weight loss in terms of permanently changing
your eating habits. While weight-loss goals are usually set in term of weeks,
the end game is to sustain these changes over months and years, ie lifestyle
change for life.
Increase your activity levels
Someone who increases the amount they exercise, but maintains
the same diet and calorie intake, will almost certainly lose
weight.
No matter if you hate gyms – even light exercise, such as a
short 20 minute walk, will be beneficial if done most days of the
week.
Every single time you exercise more than usual, you burn
calories and fat.
There are lots of ways to increase the amount of activity you
do. Team sports, racket sports, aerobics classes,
running,
walking,
swimming and
cycling will all
improve your fitness levels.
Find something you enjoy that's easy for you to do in terms of
location and cost. You're then more likely to build it into your routine and
continue to exercise, despite inevitably missing the odd session through
holidays, family commitments, etc.
- Get out and about at the weekend. Leave your car on the drive
and walk to the shops. Try to incorporate longer walks into outings to the
park, coast or countryside and take a picnic, so you're in control of what you
are going to eat that day.
- Every extra step you take helps. Always use the stairs instead
of the lift, or get off the bus a stop before the usual one and walk the rest
of the way.
- Use commercial breaks between TV-programmes to stand up and do
exercise, or consider using an exercise bicycle in the living room while
watching your favourite programme.
Reduce your calorie intake
What is overweight?
Doctors use BMI to assess weight.
A BMI of 18.5 to 25 is healthy.
If you have a BMI of more than 25, you're
overweight.
Over 30 is obese.
Over 40 is morbidly obese.
To calculate your BMI, you'll need to know your weight in
kilos and your height in metres, then follow the example below.
1. Multiply your height by itself, eg 1.7x1.7=
2.89.
2. Divide your weight (eg 80kg) by this figure.
3. 80 ÷ 2.89= 27.7.
27.7 is the BMI.
If you're overweight, you can't continue with your current
eating habits if you really want to lose weight.
It's not possible to reduce body fat while eating lots of food,
cakes and sweets. This doesn't mean you can never have any treats, but you need
to learn how to limit these foods to small quantities – say, for special
occasions.
In terms of weight-loss, you can get your body to use up
existing stores of fat by eating less and making healthier choices.
This doesn't mean crash diet (anything less than 1500 calories),
which usually ends up with you either getting weaker or giving up in
desperation. Quick-fix diets can lead to a yo-yoing effect of drastic weight
loss followed by weight gain, resulting in a vicious cycle.
There are no shortcuts to losing weight in a healthy and
reasonable way.
Eating 300 to 500 calories less per day should lead to a loss of
between one and two pounds per week. This is a realistic target. It may seem
slow, but it would add up to a weight loss of more than three stone in a
year.
Fat contains
the most amount of calories out of all the food types (protein,
carbohydrates), so a good way to achieve this is to
cut down on fatty foods and eat more wholegrain bread, fruit and
vegetables.
Below are ways to reduce calorie intake without having to alter
your diet significantly.
- Replace fizzy drinks and fruit cordials with
water.
- Swap whole milk for semi-skimmed, or semi-skimmed for
skimmed.
- Eat less lunch than usual. For example, make your own sandwich
and limit the use of margarine or butter and full-fat mayonnaise (store-bought
sandwiches often contain both).
- Stop taking sugar in tea and coffee.
- Have smaller portions of the food you enjoy.
- Avoid having a second helping at dinner.
- Cut out unhealthy treats – such as confectionary, sugary
biscuits and crisps between meals.
- Cut down on
alcohol
intake.
All these things will influence your health in a positive
way.
Finally, don't be tempted to skip breakfast – or any meal to
lose weight. While skipping a meal will reduce your calorie intake for that
hour, it will leave you much hungrier later on.
Not only are you likely to overeat to compensate, but you'll
often make bad choices to fill the gap: a cereal bar is not as healthy as a
bowl of cereal or as filling, leading you to 'need' something extra for
lunch.
Irregular eating habits also disrupt your body's metabolism,
which makes it harder to lose weight in the first place.
Write down your plan
Food diary
If you're not sure what's wrong with your diet, try keeping a
daily diary of everything you eat and drink.
You can use a notebook or an
online diary.
At the end of the week, review your entries for problem
areas.
Look out for processed foods, alcohol, fast food, roasts,
creamy sauces and fried foods.
If your diet seems largely healthy, look at portion
sizes.
If you're not sure what's meant by 'healthy diet', read our
series on
nutrition.
Once you've decided on what changes you're going to make, write
them down. For example:
Week 1
-
Exercise:
one 20 minute walk every lunch hour.
- Alcohol: none in the week, two small glasses of wine on
Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
- Food: no chocolate or biscuits in the week, choose healthy
snacks such as fruit, trim all fat from meat, eat no fried or fast
food.
- For each week list your targets concerning alcohol, exercise
and your food plan.
- Each day should then be listed in a simple chart and items
you have had should be written down. It is also important to make a note of
your mood and any comments you would like to get off your chest for each
day.
Be patient and persevere
It might take a week or two before you notice any changes, but
they will steadily appear. After the first month you'll be able to see the
results and measure them in terms of looser fitting clothes.
Keeping your motivation up is one of the most difficult aspects
of dieting. There will be days when healthy eating goes out the window, and
there will be weeks where you may not lose any weight – or put a little back
on.
This is normal for everyone – dieters or not – so don't let it
undo your plans for a slimmer you. You're not doing anything 'wrong', but you
may need to look at your plan. Do you need to increase your activity levels?
Make a few more changes to your diet? Put more effort into sticking to your
current plan?
The other side of this is to make sure you celebrate your goals.
While there's joy enough in stepping on the scales and seeing them dip lower,
be sure to mark long-term progress with a reward – such as new clothes or time
off from domestic chores.
Celebrating is also a way to involve your nearest and dearest –
it's up to you whether you want their encouragement in the form of gentle
reminders not to eat certain foods. But support from other people can get you
through the bumpy patches.
Health benefits of weight loss
Studies show that overweight women who lose between 10lb and
20lb halve their risk of developing
diabetes. For men,
the risk of heart problems reduces considerably.
Generally, we gain weight as we age. A few pounds over the years
are not a problem, but people who gain more than 20lb compared to their weight
as an 18-year-old will rapidly increase their risk of health problems due to
that extra weight. In particular, women increase their risk of
heart attack and
double their risk of dying from
cancer.
It may seem like these are problems to worry about in the
future, but time flies by and tomorrow becomes today. By keeping your weight in
the healthy range, you're less likely to be troubled by illnesses in your later
years.
