No More Diets

How can I possibly diet when I only eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I only have a half hour break for lunch so it is always very rushed most days only a couple pieces of fruit on the go. My job is very active Home Care in which I would be cleaning four or five houses a day plus personal care is also added into my days work. By the time I come home and cook dinner I am too exhausted to exercise further.

Oh dear. It’s no wonder you are exhausted if you are going all day with only a couple of pieces of fruit between breakfast and dinner. This is really too little food to keep anyone going even for a sedentary worker never mind someone with an active job like yours.

The main problem here seems to be that you are eating too little to keep your metabolism going - your body will be conserving fat and calories because it thinks you are starving.

It’s important to spread your calories throughout the day and not eat everything in one dinner at night. Half an hour is still enough to get some good nutrition including some lean protein and I think it would do you good to have a small snack mid morning and after noon as well. Then balance your eating with a smaller dinner than usual.
It sounds like you are probably getting enough exercise already so that may not the way to go for you. (You know you have to run more than a marathon to lose a pound of fat so even for most people exercise is a bonus and a way to keep healthy rather than the main way to lose weight).

Focus on healthy regular eating for a while to get your metabolism back on an even keel before you think about losing weight.

Also if you are on your feet all day and not eating much between meals make sure that you are drinking enough water and not drinking calories - it’s easy to forget that sugar in tea, coffee and soft drinks can add up to an awful lot of calories not to mention those in fruit juice, milky drinks and alcohol.

Does it make a difference what time of day you eat?

From a pure physical point of view it doesn’t really make much difference when you eat calories - a calorie is a calorie. I have never seen any evidence worth writing home about that says 200 calories eaten at midday are different from 200 calories eaten at midnight.

If you’re talking about a whole day’s food however, it does make sense to spread your calories throughout the day - as this keeps your metabolism firing on all cylinders burning up your food and prevents you getting over-hungry and shovelling down whatever is to hand.

And eating a good breakfast has long been thought to prevent unhealthy snacking mid-morning and is one of the factors that have been shown to help people who have lost weight stay at their target weight.

But it’s really a matter for personal choice. Do you find you eat more or less overall by eating at particular times of the day? Let that be your guide. If you can’t face breakfast, take a healthy snack with you if you have to go out so you’re not tempted by junk mid-morning. If you eat too much at dinner and go to bed uncomfortable if you eat late then eat your dinner earlier and don’t eat anything after 7pm. It’s just a case of seeing what works for your own circumstances and getting into good habits.

How can I stop thinking about food?

It’s just typical isn’t it? Just when you want to reduce the amount you eat and lose weight you start thinking about food more than ever.

And to be fair - it’s hard not to think about food. It is all around us - at home, on every street corner, at every social function. We just can’t ignore it - and if we even try our hunger will bring us right back to reality.

So maybe it’s not possible to stop thinking about food altogether - we can really only try and reduce the times we think about food.

I find the best way to tackle this issue is to…

a) avoid getting bored - if you are doing something you love you will never think about food until you get hungry. Think about whether boredom is a factor and then start working on adding more interest and non-food related pleasure into your life. There is so much available to capture our imagination these days that there is no need to be bored. Whether you are bored at work or at home - tackle this problem at source - do you need a new job or a new hobby rather than a new diet?

b) plan food ahead of time. Take away the need to constantly think about food by planning your meals a week or a few days ahead and preparing them in advance too. If you always have something healthy and delicious to look forward to, you’re less likely to hanker after something else less healthy.

c) keep “unplanned” food (as much as possible) out of sight to keep it out of mind. Don’t buy what you know you don’t want to eat. Don’t wander past the bakery store of you know you’ll be tempted. Turn off the TV or avoid the commercial breaks.
d) never ban food - it only serves to make you want it more. If there is a particular food you love, which is not particularly healthy, plan small amounts with your meals or snacks

e) eat enough so that you are not hungry all the time - if you are trying to lose weight fast with a starvation diet of course you’ll be able to think of nothing else but food

I’ve been introduced to InnerLight and the Miracle PH Diet of Dr Robert Young. Are you familiar with his theory of alkalising for health by only eating alkaline food (mostly greens, beans no meat, wheat or dairy) together with reducing toxicity and stress in lifestyle.

I can’t say I’ve come across this diet but to be honest I’m not in a rush to advise anyone to go and try it out.

In my experience as a weight loss coach, for the most part, people have enough difficulty with diets which force them to give up junk food like cookies, cakes, pastries and pies, soda, candy and fries or in reducing their portion sizes to a moderate amount never mind trying to stick to something that sounds so far removed from their current eating habits.

This is the kind of diet that you try for a week and lose weight (with so many restrictions you almost can’t fail to do that and frankly, who wants to overeat beans and greens anyway?) but do you really want to keep it up for a lifetime? Through holidays and trips abroad? Through good times and bad? Weddings and parties?

It’s my belief that food is a sociable thing and that following a diet which divides you from the rest of the world by what you can and can’t eat is not good for the soul. Learning to make healthy food choices over unhealthy choices in a world where we are constantly bombarded with junk food offerings - now that is something worth pursuing - along with getting used to eating the right amount to keep your body slim.

But you can make healthy choices without restricting food so much - food is meant to be enjoyed not endured.

I’m not saying that this diet is unhealthy (for all I know it’s the healthiest in the world) but I think that a good life and good food is all about balance and moderation. If you can learn to eat and enjoy mainly healthy food and to be satisfied with modest portions you will be doing better than most.

For anyone who wants to try an ultra-health promising regime - make sure you check it out with your doctor - and think about what it really means to eat in that way for the rest of your life. (and if so, you’re probably on the wrong site because I don’t generally talk about restrictive diets here - we are aiming for progress not perfection)

How can you lose weight without having excess skin?

I have had a few questions about this. It is quite an important issue because many people who have a lot of weight to lose fear that they will look worse after they lose weight if there is a lot of excess sagging skin still there - and this is pretty damaging for motivation in losing weight.

Just to make things trickier it’s quite hard to tell up front whether you will have a problem with loose skin - a lot depends on the natural elasticity of your skin, how long you have been overweight, how fast you gained weight and so on.

Having said that skin IS remarkably elastic and it’s quite amazing how fast it snaps back into place sometimes. For example, most pregnant women look at their tummies after just giving birth and worry they’ll never be the same again - and though skin is never quite so firm or smooth afterwards with good exercise and a healthy diet the tummy is soon looking good again.

The best thing you can do is to give yourself the best possible chance to limit any skin damage which might occur by sticking to the following guidelines. If you have a lot of weight to lose and you lose it, it’s my belief that you will not want to go back to where you were whether or not you have a little excess skin.

1. Lose weight slowly

However good your skin tone, skin needs time to snap back into shape - so the longer you give it to adapt to your changing shape the better.

If you lose weight gradually your skin has a chance to shrink with you. Those who try and lose 100lbs in 6 months are likely to have the most problems while your skin is likely to find it much easier to keep up with you losing less than a pound a week.

2. Eat foods rich in nutrients

Eat plenty of foods which are good for your skin and avoid those which are high in sugar, saturated fat and additives. Choose foods which are high in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. (Essential fatty acids are found in foods like avocados, olives, oily fish, nuts, seeds and cold pressed oils) Eat plenty of lean protein too. A healthy diet will benefit your skin no end while junk food does not give your skin a fighting chance.

3. Drink plenty of water

Keep skin hydrated by drinking enough good old-fashioned water. Drink it hot, drink it cold, drink it with a slice of lemon but drink it. And avoid drinks which have a diuretic dehydrating effect (tea, coffee, cola) to keep skin healthy. Aim for about 8 glasses of water or cups of pure herbal tea a day to keep skin in tip top condition.

4. Firm up as you Lose

If you lose weight too fast you will lose muscle along with the fat. This does nothing to support the skin which relies on the underlying muscle to keep it looking good. Exercise is not essential for weight loss (just a good idea) but it is absolutely vital to exercise your muscles if you want to preserve your skin.

Remember to include firming exercises for all parts of your body - including your face (an area often forgotten) - in your routine.

5. Moisturize

Use lashings of body lotion on your body and moisturizer on your face and neck to help keep your skin in good condition and hydrated. The lotion can’t penetrate the skin very far but it helps your skin feel good and the massaging action you use when you rub in the cream helps keep skin healthy by encouraging blood and lymph flow.

6. Start Losing Weight as Soon as Possible

If you put off losing weight, you will simply make things worse. The longer you have been overweight and the older you are the less resilient your skin is likely to be. And lose the weight once and be done with it. Going on and off diets all your life is also a bad idea for your skin tone - skin may be forgiving once but when you lose the same 30 lbs over and over it can take its toll on your poor skin as it constantly stretched and loosened.

If you are overweight gradually lose the weight by making a permanent change to your habits one by one. Choose changes that you are happy to live with for the rest of your life and never look back.

I follow my diet exactly and I can’t seem to lose any weight. What could be wrong? (Weight watchers core and SBD)

There are a few things which could be wrong here because, normally, if you have the will power (though few of us have) to follow a diet exactly you SHOULD lose weight.

I am a bit concerned that you find it necessary to stick to two plans. Is that even possible? Assuming that SBD is South Beach Diet can these diets even work together? Why not just concentrate on one if you’re going to diet? Because as I say both have been known to work if you stick to them to the letter. (My problem with diets is that even if you stick to them while you lose weight most of us can’t or won’t stick with them forever and you just gain the weight back unless you change your habits).

The other thing I need to ask (because it’s all too easy to avoid being honest with ourselves) - are you really sticking to your diet exactly? to every dish? to every amount/portion size (by measuring not guesswork)? to every exercise session etc? A little slip here and there doesn’t seem like much but it may be the difference between losing weight and not.

But if you are following your diet exactly and not losing weight then it may be that

a) you have not got much weight to lose and so your body is resistant to weight loss - it is much harder to lose weight if you are already around the normal weight range.

b) you have been on a very low calorie diet in the past and your metabolism is sluggish as a result - this is just your body’s way of protecting itself when you try to starve it

c) you have a slow metabolism due to a medical problem such as an underactive thyroid. Best to check this out with your doctor.

Only you can really know what applies in your circumstances - once you do you can take it from there.