Healthy & Sustainable Weight Loss Tips

The number one mistake people make with New Year’s Resolutions is too much, too fast.

We try to attack every last indiscretion and push beyond our tolerance boundaries, which leads to falling off the wagon. This year, pick a maximum of 3 small, achievable goals, and keep them SMART – Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time framed.

• If you want to get a grip on your weight, think about your current lifestyle and what is achievable. Don’t splash out on a gym membership if you don’t have enough time to breathe. Instead, plan walking, jogging, swimming or cycling twice a week for 30 minutes. Alternatively, build activity into your daily life like stairs, housework and gardening – it all counts. Setting a target in the future can help you to keep focus, such as entering a charity event, like Cancer Research’s Race for Life. 
• If you need to make dietary changes, think about having regular meals and trying to add in one extra portion of fruit and vegetables daily – don’t cut out everything you love as you won’t last long!
• Think of the bigger picture and never make a change that you can’t stick to for life – a one week detox won’t help your body for the other 51 weeks of the year and any weight lost will quickly come back with a vengeance, making you feel even worse.
• A good Breakfast is vital; skipping this meal can lower your blood glucose levels and lead to cravings. Not only will you overeat at dinner but you are also more likely to snack to satisfy those cravings – damaging the waistline at the same time. Have a good breakfast with starchy carbohydrates and a good protein source such as a poached/scrambled egg on one slice of granary toast.
• Think about the energy density of your foods. Fill up on low energy density foods such as soups or salads; you can trick yourself into being fuller and eating less. The energy density of foods refers to how many calories the food contains per gram. If the food weighs more but contains less calories because of a higher fibre or water content, you get fuller quicker and you perceive that you have eaten more. Clever trick! You can read more about this here
• Avoid the pop! Sugar sweetened drinks like cola or lemonade really are a waste of calories which are not helping you feel full. In fact, studies have shown that they stimulate appetite and lead to eating more, contributing to weight gain.

Lucy Jones is an expert dietician at Bodycraft – one of London’s leading purveyors of private weight loss surgery based at Parkside Hospital.

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