No More Diets

I am dreading the birthday party this weekend I am to attend. Do you have any tips to help me stick to my diet?

Birthday parties are not meant to be a threat. If you eat too much it’s not the end of the world.

Do the best you can - no doubt you’ll not be perfect. None of us are.

If it helps, see the party as an experiment with control and have fun with that. Make a game of it. Give yourself points every time you negotiate a tricky area (but only if that feels like a fun thing to do) You know the kind of thing (Had a mineral water instead of another buck’s fizz. (1 point) Asked for a small piece of cake. (1 point) Stopped eating when I’d had enough (1 point) Said “No” twice to Auntie Jessie insisting I had seconds (20 points)

Try visualizing how you want to act at the party before you go and make sure you’re not too hungry when you get there. Focus on the conversation rather than on the food - and try a little of the food you love to mark the occasion without going overboard.

Fat does not happen at a party in my experience - after all you have to eat 3500 calories too much to make so much as a pound of fat. Fat (or slim) happens with the food you eat day after day after day.

Enjoy the party and try and show yourself that the presence or absence of food (or the amount you eat of what is available) is not a factor in having a good time.

Why can’t I get below a certain weight?

It really depends what the certain weight is and whether you are trying to get below a weight which is a healthy weight for you.

If you have reached a plateau but you are well above your goal weight then take a look at How to break through a weight loss plateau.

If, on the other hand you are now a healthy weight but you want to get lower then you have more of an issue because your body is not going to starve itself without a fight - diet or no diet!

Sometimes we are trying to reach the impossible for the make up of our individual body spurred on by air-brushed pictures of anorexic role models in the media and you need to examine your goal carefully to see if that’s what you trying to do - it neither realistic nor healthy to have that kind of aim.

But I think there’s often a point which lies somewhere above that which most of us could aim for and be healthy - that’s often below the kind of weight quoted by insurance companies as a healthy weight (i.e. not obese) - it’s the weight at which we look our (healthy) best.

At that level we sometimes have to contend with the “set point” our body seems to have which is somewhere above where we’d like it to be.

The set point theory is that the body has some kind of automatic weight regulating mechanism -  mainly determined by genetics. Once you reach this set point in your weight loss efforts, theory has it that the body will do everything it can to stop you losing more weight.

If you feel this is the problem then you do have to make more effort to lose weight than you did in the early stages of your weight loss campaign and you will have to be extra vigilant in making sure that you don’t put the weight back on quickly once you reach your target weight.

To lose a bit more weight follow the guidelines for a plateau in the link above until you reach your target weight. And once you get there be sure and weigh yourself regularly and take action immediately if the scales creep up more than a pound or two.

How can I stop feeling hungry? I have hunger all the time even after a real meal.

This type of hunger is quite a common problem if you are trying to cut down on food. You see we are programmed to want to eat - it is part of our survival and if we don’t get enough food (or feel we are depriving ourselves) we just want to eat and eat.

So more often than not this kind of hunger is generally not physical but psychological.

You are fighting your natural instincts to want to eat as much as you can.

In fact even if you are not trying to cut down on food, the causes may be psychological - you may be trying to fill some kind of “gap” that exists in you or in your life. You are eating for comfort - and as food can never offer more than temporary solace you can never quite fill the space in you.

This “gap” can be caused by loneliness, boredom, unhappiness, stress, anger - any emotion which you would like to get rid of, you may try and mask with food.

The answer, of course, is to tackle the root of the problem and not the symptoms - often easier said than done - but until you do something about the root cause of your emotion, you are likely to continue to try and plug the comfort gap with food and remain hungry all the time.

If you feel you can’t tackle the root cause and just have to live with the situation then it’s important to work out how to identify difficult situations and patterns when these emotions will occur and look for other ways to feel better.

See also this 7 part series Hungry all the Time on my Think Slim blog as this may help you too.

How can I stop thinking about food? I can’t stop thinking about it until it is all gone.

This is a fairly common problem which can lead to massive weight gain if you don’t learn to control it.

That’s because the essence of weight maintenance (never mind weight loss) is to eat only when you are hungry and stop when you have eaten just enough - well before you have stuffed the last cookie in the packet in your mouth.

So how can you control this problem?

1. First of all you need to reduce your opportunities to overindulge. This starts at the store. Buy just enough food for proper meals for those in your household and absolutely stay away from giant packs of anything or two-for-one offers. Let others grab those “bargains”. They are no bargain for your figure.
2. Do not buy snack type foods unless they are super healthy such as raw vegetables or fruit - the less you have to indulge with the better.
3. Cook just enough for the people you are serving and if you “miscalculate” and there is any left over, offer it to others rather than taking it yourself. If there’s still any left put it straight in the trash - better wasted and in the trash than on your hips. Remember to cook less next time.
4. Don’t keep food in sight where you will be tempted.
5. Get involved in other activities and get so busy and so engrossed that you don’t have time to hear the food calling from your name from the kitchen.
6. When you think you are about to indulge, use the strategies for stopping a snack attack I just put on my Think Slim blog 3 Simple Steps to Stop a Snack Attack

I tore a ligament in my knee a while ago, what exercises will maintain a trim waist?

If you do any sort of damage to yourself, it’s wise to consult a physiotherapist to get some exercises that will

• build up the injured part of your body once (or while) it heals
• allow you to work on the rest of your body without further putting pressure on your injury.

Apart from that, my general view on exercise is just to be sensible.

If something hurts then it’s not doing you any good. (And I don’t just mean if something is hard work - I mean if it hurts!)

So I would look at all the traditional forms of stomach exercise such as crunches and sit ups as well as the free course you can get from me of easy stomach exercises to do standing up and see what works best for you.

If traditional crunches AND standing exercises are both unsuitable for one reason or another, do as much as you can of the standing exercises seated in a chair. You won’t get the full benefit but you will get some.

How Do You Lose Weight with Hypothyroidism?

Hypothyroidism is a medical condition caused by insufficient production of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland.

About 1 in 7 women (and a large number of men) will suffer a thyroid condition at some point in their lives which will cause them to rapidly gain weight (without eating any more or exercising less than usual) and make it pretty much impossible to lose weight.

These conditions tend to go undiagnosed for years as many of the symptoms are those found in the general public - putting on weight, feeling tired and so on.

Although I’m not a medical doctor - so I am not able to provide 1-2-1 advice or treat your symptoms and I’m not an expert on thyroid conditions, I have come across a couple of excellent resources recently which may help you.

Just make sure that you involve your doctor if you decide to make any changes which may affect your health as a result of what you read.

The first resource is a good general overview of hypothyroidism at wikipedia which clearly explains the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment although it does not focus that much on the weight gain associated with an under-active thyroid gland.

For the weight management issue there is an excellent book which I think will help you a lot - I read it a while ago to improve my understanding of the condition and it is extremely comprehensive.

If you have really tried to lose weight and you’re finding it impossible despite eating a limited number of calories and taking exercise then take a look at the Thyroid Diet by Mary L. Shomon. She has a thyroid condition herself and explains in clear English and in great depth all about the condition and the various ways to manage it.

Unfortunately it’s not a simple case of taking a medication for your condition to resolve the problem with your weight but Mary explains all the strategies which will help as well as those which won’t.

The version of the book version I read is available at Amazon.co.uk or there’s a version under a different cover on Amazon.com (see below)

I usually eat only lunch or dinner - I feel because of my size I shouldn’t be eating much at all. But I have since learned that I have put my body into starvation mode. However I am still struggling with the concept of three meals a day. Do you have any advice?

The best way to keep your metabolism stoked and burning food at a high rate is to eat little and often.

By eating only twice a day you are saying to your body “I’d better conserve as much energy as possible, because it doesn’t look as if any more food is coming my way”.

And when you do eventually eat, your body will be saying “Food at last. Better hold onto this in case the next lot is a long time coming just as it was yesterday and the day before”.

If you want to lose weight I recommend 5 or 6 mini meals a day if you can possibly fit that into your lifestyle. i have to admit, it’s not for everyone. If your style is to eat large meals with others at lunch and dinner then this would not be easy to do, but work towards a compromise but including some of the ideas below.

• Always eat a healthy breakfast when you want to lose weight - so many studies have shown that it helps and this is even the case when it means you eat more calories in total! See a recent report confirming that breakfast helps you lose weight from the BBC.
• If you feel you can’t face breakfast right away, take something healthy to work and eat it as soon as you can face it.
• Don’t keep yourself going with coffee and tea. Keep yourself going with proper nutrition.
• Eat a small healthy snack mid morning - for example, an apple and 5 or 6 almonds
• If you take you lunch to work (a good idea when you want to lose weight) you can try eating part of it as your mid morning snack save part of it for the afternoon
• Always eat something healthy mid-afternoon so you do not over-eat at dinnertime
• Reduce portion sizes so that you are hungry within 2 to 3 hours of each meal. You should not be eating more than two fistfuls at a meal in terms of quantity with smaller snacks in between
• Eat the bulk of you food while you are most active - for most people this is during the day and not after 8pm.
• Reactivate your metabolism with exercise - if formal exercise is not for you then just keep as active as possible during the course of your normal life. Your metabolism does not know if you are at the gym or if you are cleaning your car but it does know if you have not moved from your seat for the last 3 hours.

How do you Lose 10 kg (22lbs) in a Month?

I wish I was able to wave my magic wand and give you a plan which would do just that. I tell you, I’d be a millionaire if I could.

But you really can’t lose weight that fast without doing a “Biggest Loser”and dedicating your whole life to losing weight. And my take on that is that there’s no point in even trying because:-

a) you’ll ruin your skin losing weight so fast
b) you’re not learning how to change your lifestyle so you’ll put it right back on again
c) you may be permanently damaging your metabolism so that you put weight back on faster than ever
d) you’ll probably fail anyway unless you have a huge amount of motivation - like a camera stuck in your face the whole time.

Best way to lose weight is sensibly, I’m afraid - a little amount each week while permanently changing your eating habits so that you lose weight AND keep it off.

I have lost 10 lbs in the last 3 months. I am now at a healthy weight according to my BMI although I would like to lose 10-15 more. My question is, why when I look in mirror do I feel like I look exactly the same as I did when I was heavier? Especially my stomach feels like it sticks out and is untoned even though I have been doing stomach exercises.

Those BMI weights are just a guide for what makes a healthy weight for an average adult. Most of us look better in our clothes and feel better when we are slightly lighter than BMI (while the more muscular types will look good at a weight higher than the average BMI). It’s a case of finding out the best weight for you - the one that is both healthy and makes you feel good.

A 10lb weight loss spread over your whole body will have a subtle effect on your shape but is rarely enough to make a difference which is very noticeable to others unless you are already very slim.

Re your stomach - at times, your rounded tummy may be due to bloating, water retention or excess carbs. Just look at your tummy after a high carb meal versus a lighter one and see the difference. If you are still carrying excess fat however, it’s one of those facts of female life that it tends to gather in one place (and generally in the place where we don’t want it to gather). If you tend to put weight onto your stomach it will be the first place fat goes and the last place it will leave. This is where the final few pounds of effort will probably make a difference especially if you keep up the toning exercises. Make sure to always do toning exercises properly to really work your muscles deep down (and to avoid straining). Pilates and yoga are great for tummy firming if you would like to have a go at them.

Also don’t expect to get a completely flat stomach. Women’s tummies (especially if you have had kids) are usually a little curved - that’s quite natural - and just as lovely as the washboard flat stomach of a teenager.

I’m 33 years old, 5.2” inches and weigh 75 kg (165lbs) Over the last 2 years I’ve put on 10 kg. Before that I was going to the gym but can’t go regularly any more. Can you help and guide me with what to do?

You know how easy it is to put on 5kgs (11lb) over a year?

Dead easy!

If you eat just 105 calories a day more than you use then there’s your 5kgs. That’s just a couple of apples or a milky coffee too much. And if you were exercising 3 times a week at the gym and stopped going that could explain your weight gain too.

It’s generally not the odd blow out meal or lack of marathon running which affects our weight so much as the daily cookie too many, the daily walk too few.

I’m not that fond of diets for lasting weight loss but I am very fond of gradually changing your habits so that you are eating healthier food and moving a bit more in your everyday life. That doesn’t need going to the gym. It just means climbing more stairs and taking fewer lifts or escalators. It means taking as many steps as possible rather than sitting down. It means putting more energy into everything you do. It also doesn’t mean eating rabbit food all the time but it does mean going easy on fatty or sugary foods and eating a smaller portions.

There’s such a fine line between weight gain and weight loss that just a few habits changed for the better can swing things back in the direction you want to go.

And if you decide to diet anyway - choose one you could live with (in a modified form) forever so that you are establishing long term good habits.