These days, we’re given a lot of conflicting diet information. The truth is a vast industry has been built around losing weight, and many products just don’t work! So we thought it appropriate to share some interesting findings with you…

We learnt that we should avoid having to buy on-going ‘diet food’, and instead find authors who’d written real eating programs. Experts that knew what was important to us and understood how to teach us. Good information is everything. We ruled out regimes that required expensive regular purchases. What we were looking for was education.

We went for practical ‘real’ programs and dismissed all the fad and product-based slimming regimes. They’re never a long-term solution.

The weight reduction systems we’re endorsing teach life-long practical processes that we can all learn and utilize. You’ll discover ’secrets’ about nutrition that everybody should be told in school. As you become more energised and the weight drops off, everyone will ask YOU for advice!

The Solution Actually Is Available Then? Very definitely – though it’s not surprising it’s taken so long for you to find it! But there is a program that will change your life – we absolutely promise.

Many of us have struggled with one diet or other for most of our adult lives. Our weight reduces when we first start dieting, then it goes up again the minute we eat normally. Figures show that over 93 percent of weight reduction programs don’t work for us – probably because they’re too punishing to maintain over the long term.

It’s not widely known, but top performing athletes invest a lot of time in nutritional education. Obviously, we don’t all want to be top sports people – but we can benefit from the research that’s gone into what makes our bodies work best. The findings can be utilised by all of us.

But we have to stop putting things off. It’s very rewarding to see visible changes occurring so quickly. But we’ll get no-where if we always put things off. Read the facts now, and have a go! Be pleased with yourself for starting.

Effective weight loss is about two things – what we eat and how much we exercise. This isn’t always what people want to hear, as many would prefer to avoid doing exercises. However, the benefits out-weigh the negatives. When we exercise we burn up calories and we also build muscle.

Muscle has a higher metabolic rate than fat. This means it will burn up more calories than fat, which is a good thing. The more muscle we have, the more calories we burn. Also when we build muscle we start to see better defined thighs and abs.

Start by introducing exercises on a gradual basis. One of the best ways to fit more exercise into an already busy life is to incorporate it into things you already do. Avoid taking the lift or escalator – undertake to walk up at least three flights of stairs instead. Deliberately leave your motor some distance from your workplace, and do the last bit on foot. Whenever you take public transport buy a ticket for three quarters of the journey and then walk the rest.

Your goal should be to take some form of exercise five times a week. You can do short bursts of exercise, but 30 minutes or more is generally thought to be best. Doing a variety of exercises will relieve the boredom. That way you’re much more likely to stick with it.

Becoming toned and fitter does not need to be a downer! Ask around and see if you can encourage a second person to join you. The easiest exercise that any of us can take is walking. If you build up a good pace, you’ll benefit from more than simply losing weight.

Your chances of having a stroke or heart problems will reduce if you become more active. Cancer of the colon is minimised too. We can lower our cholesterol and our chances of getting type two diabetes. We’re also likely to maintain a more stable mental attitude and find sleeping easier at night. All of which illustrates great reasons to get yourself going!

When going for a walk, pick out some comfy clothes. Several tee-shirts and a fleece are better than one heavy item. You might like to invest in some specialist footwear. Whether you choose boots or shoes, buy a pair that support your feet well.

Go through the following checklist when you’re about to get going: Stand up straight, weight evenly distributed. Relax your shoulders and draw in your tummy. Do be sure to warm yourself up well. Rolling your shoulders and stretching helps, as do a few squats and knee lifts. And last but not least, march on the spot for a couple of minutes and then off you go!

Try to develop a good walking technique – land on the heel and push off from the toe. At the end of your walk, warm down by doing the same routine you did to warm-up, but in reverse. Your first walks need only be a mile or so, and then increase the distance each week. Walking is something that everyone can do. However if you’re at all concerned, take medical advice.

Are you aware that our behaviour patterns very often reflect those of our friends? Psychologists have been telling us for a long time that we become like the people we associate with. For the most part this is interpreted as we hold the same belief structure or values; we quite often support the same sports clubs and political parties as our friends, for instance.

However, studies are now also suggesting that having overweight friends makes it more likely that we will be overweight too. According to a recent news article, we have a tendency to consume more when eating with heavier people who we know well. A US research team looked at kids eating habits. They found that the heavier ones ate more when they were with their heavier pals than when they were with their slimmer friends.

Indeed, all the young people studied (aged 9 to 15) ate more when they were with friends than strangers regardless of their size. But it was when the heavier friends teamed up that the most calories were consumed. Clinical nutritionists were interested in this research. The most revealing dynamic it discovered was the influence of friends.

It’s quite natural that many kids ate more when they were relaxed about who they were with. Both children and adults are less self-conscious when they’re with friends rather than strangers. It’s possible however that in addition, we assume friends will give their consent. Subconsciously we’re placing the permission ball in someone else’s court.

The study took 65 young people of mixed weights and observed them for 45 minutes. Some were with a friend, and some with a stranger. They were given games to entertain themselves, along with snack food, fruit and veg.

Every pair who knew each other ate more than those who didn’t. Nevertheless, by far the most was eaten by the heavy couples who were pals. The results showed as follows:

The heavier friends together consumed an average of almost 750 cals each. Heavy kids with standard weight chums ate just under 450 cals, and standard weight kids ate approx 500 cals whatever weight their mate was. Similar ‘friendly’ peer pressure is also evident when kids decide whether to start smoking.

In conclusion, the researchers suggested that the kids and teens social networks were mainly determining how much food they ate. Yet this power of association can be beneficial, as positive influences are just as possible as negative ones. Hence the necessity to educate the young.

Keeping my weight at the right level has always been a challenge. I felt sure that it would continue to be that way for the rest of my life. But in fact I learned a ’secret’ that’s changed my life! I am now lighter at fifty one than I was at thirty one.

How can this be? I simply keep an eye on my blood-sugar levels. I used to hanker after something sweet as my energy sapped around late afternoon. And so my solution was to eat a handful of biscuits or a piece of cake. This of course just added more layers of fat to my stomach and thighs.

What’s frightening is that fat also accumulates in the body’s organs like the brain and the heart. Now, I don’t get nearly as hungry or as tired. I also experience fewer flushes and my husband will tell you my moods are more stable too! Oh, and I have fewer sleepless nights.

So what am I doing? Well, primarily I’m eating smaller meals more often. In my earlier life, I’d grab a coffee instead of lunch on more days than not. But in the evening I would be overwhelmed with gluttony – completely the wrong way to eat.

Regular moderate consumption is what the body actually needs. By the middle of each day, the rate we metabolise food is at it’s highest. So early meals are vital, as later meals have a sluggish journey through our system.

So I ‘re-educated’ myself to eat breakfast every day. The quality and amount I eat is more relevant than number of calories it contains. The stomach is about the size of a large citrus fruit, so that’s how much we should eat at once.

I restrict the amount of grain I eat, and make lunch my most important meal. By late afternoon, a small snack is now all I need take me through to a small evening meal. Each meal has some protein, and some anti-oxidant rich vegetables.

I haven’t cut out fat, though I’m fussy what fats I eat. Nuts and seeds are highly calorific, but great eaten in moderation.

The last thing I changed is my alcohol consumption. I now restrict it to two or three glasses a week. The high temperatures I was experiencing are a rarity now – a benefit of less alcohol I think! Have I found it difficult? Not when I think of all the benefits it brings. I’m carrying less weight, have more energy, a clearer and brighter skin, less hormonal challenges – oh, and better sex too!

Losing weight can be as difficult psychologically as it is physically. It can become a struggle if we have to make family meals; eating our own meagre diet whilst still having to prepare tempting fare for the others. How can we improve our lot, and continue to please the family?

Whatever we serve up, when we’re aiming to lose weight the first thing we can address is our portion size. Starting a meal with a full plate is very gratifying, so why not buy yourself a smaller plate? Don’t rush to be the first to start eating. Take your time and chew your food well. This will leave you feeling more satiated, and prevent you from always finishing before everyone else.

Most family meals can be eaten when you’re dieting, if you restrict the amount of fat and carbohydrate on your plate. Make up for it with lots of vegetables. And avoid the temptation of crusty bread! For seconds, think carefully before you indulge yourself. A small baked apple is fine – simply leave out the custard or cream.

But you can get much cannier than that. Serve reduced calorie meals a couple of times a week to everyone – if they’re done well they won’t have a clue! Add garlic and herbs to macaroni, and bulk it out with plenty of veg. Then use a tin of tomatoes to enrich the sauce. Leave out the oil, but maybe add a touch of Greek yoghurt for creaminess.

When you’re shopping for food, always pick out lean cuts of meat. Remember also that fish can be a lower fat alternative. Whatever the rest of your family weigh, it’s still advantageous for them as well to eat lean meat. Roast chicken is a good all-rounder, just make sure you remove any skin and eat breast meat where possible. Select potatoes that have a naturally creamier texture, such as Vivaldi or Maris Piper. Then you can feel fulfilled without loading them with butter.

Whole wheat or oats are the best cereals to buy – and choose ones that don’t have any additional sugar. Leave cereal bars alone too. Even these have far too many calories for the amount of food you’re eating. There are also many ‘hidden’ cals in a lot of drinks. If you drink cola or other sodas, always buy the diet varieties.

Alcohol contains a lot of calories, so when you’re socialising it’s good to find some alternatives. Try drinking tomato juice with ice or spring water. Watered down apple juice makes a passable wine lookalike if you don’t want to be different from the crowd.

It’s obvious that we’re not going to lose weight if we continue as we are. But it’s amazing how a small shift here and there can dramatically help along the way.

To lose pounds, spend more time at the dining table. Dieticians are agreeing that the rate we ingest food has a lot to do with how much we feel we need. Recent research suggests that the quicker we eat, the more we eat. When eating until replete, we get more down if we’re gobbling our food than if we take it at a steady pace.

Have a try yourself – for dinner, speedily eat a carbohydrate based meal. On a different day, enjoy the exact same dinner, but this time spend at least twenty seconds with each forkful in your mouth. The chances are you’ll eat more of the first meal than the second. Overall you’re likely to feel more fulfilled and comfortable after your second dinner, both at the end of the meal and for a good while afterwards.

The reason we overfill ourselves when eating at a pace is we don’t wait for the digestive process. Putting too much food in at one go then makes our stomach feel distended and uncomfortable very soon afterwards.

But there is another reason to keep food in the mouth for longer. When food has been chewed up properly, the digestive juices flow and all the elements are processed efficiently. This helps with losing weight.

The amount we eat is affected by the way we eat. For optimal digestion, we should sit in a dining chair and eat at the table. That way we observe better table manners, and tend not to scoff the food down! Interestingly, we’re more likely to leave unwanted food on the plate when we’re sitting at the table.

Maybe it’s also because sitting at the table makes dining more of an occasion, so we don’t rush things so much. Certainly sitting on the sofa scoffing food in front of the TV is the least effective way to aid digestion.

If it’s been several hours since we last ate, we’re also vulnerable to speed eating! To avoid this eat frequent small meals, which consist of slow release nutritional food. Sugary drinks and chocolates give us a quick burst of energy, but it can be very short-lived. For many of us, eating more meals on weekdays isn’t practical. So plan ahead and take a piece of fruit, some mixed nuts or oatcakes to your workplace and have a snack every couple of hours.

To sum up, there definitely seems to be a link between the length of time we spend chewing our food, and how satisfying it is in the stomach. In other words by allowing our taste buds to enjoy food for longer, we inadvertently enhance our weight management.

We can easily jump to conclusions about the best way to shed a few pounds when we decide to get serious about weight loss. Take this idea for starters: There’s a belief in society that if we succumb to temptation and snack throughout the day, we’ll just get heavier and heavier! Is that actually the case?

The purists would have us believe that sticking to three nutritious meals a day is the way to drop the pounds. And yet this thinking is now being turned on its head by some. How can this be?

Our natural inclination would be to think that more mealtimes will equal more calories. Long spaces between meals make us feel as though we’re getting somewhere with our diet. What’s really happening is quite interesting though.

We’re likely to feel weak if we leave several hours between meals. Our enthusiasm for food therefore can be excessive when the next meal arrives. And often this leads us to eating larger quantities than we should. This predominantly occurs with our last meal of the day. Then we end up with more food in our stomach at completely the wrong time – shortly before we go to bed!

But if we adjusted our day and ate 5 times in our waking hours, there’d never be a starvation factor. Such frequent ingestion is recognised by the body. It starts to trust that it’s getting what it needs when it needs it, and so can allocate the right resources to the right areas.

Fat is retained by the body when it can’t be sure how long until the next meal. This is why people who starve themselves for long periods start to plateau with their weight loss.

By eating several meals before the end of the afternoon, our calorific intake is geared towards the earlier part of the day. This allows the body to use food to effectively power our system, and not retain excess supplies of fat. If we start a meal feeling starving, we are also tempted to eat the wrong things.

We are not satisfied with a nice crispy salad. We want stodgy carbo-loading food such as breads and pastas. Which is a nightmare if you are struggling to control your calories! To conclude – for effective weight loss that does not leave you feeling ravenous, stick to small nutritious meal plans and eat several times a day.

Writing notes in a diary is a great way to keep an eye on what you’re eating. For seven days, stick to your usual pattern of eating. Put all the items you eat and drink into your food diary – bar none! When a week has passed, analyse the contents of your diary. Try to identify any patterns where poor food choices are more evident.

Obviously, if there are several take-aways and other high fat foods, cutting those out would be a start. If your diary only shows nutritious food, then perhaps smaller portions would be the answer. Whichever one is closest to your situation, what’s in the diary will reveal a lot.

Make notes about how you intend the following seven days to pan out. Put everything down relating to exercise, food and drink. Write down different food categories to list what’s banned and what’s restricted. In a different section, make a list of the different foods you are allowed to have.

If you can’t imagine going without any beer or wine, then decide which two days you will permit yourself to have a maximum of two small glasses. Forget any drinks with added sugar. You’ll need to commit to a fitness regime, so next write in your diary which days you plan to exercise and how.

Early in the morning on the first day of your diet, take an accurate reading of your weight. Every seven days, look at how it’s going and then plan the next week. And write down how heavy you are at the beginning of each week.

With a plan like this, you’re in complete control. Little illustrations of what’s gone well and what hasn’t will encourage and remind you once you’re several weeks in. Also enter the exercise you’re doing, to make sure this isn’t getting left out. It’s amazing how much easier it is to stick with something if it’s all written down.

However, this won’t give quick fix results. It will take a little time, but within a month you’ll start to feel more energised and maybe less out of breath. Just be patient and have faith! Motivate yourself by concentrating on the lifestyle you’ll enjoy as a fitter person, not the effort it’s taking to get there.

If you do get demoralised with your results, analyse what’s been happening. It could be that you should look at altering your diet. Adding more exercise might be the thing. A brisk walk several times a week can be done at any time of day.

Be proud of your achievements. Rewarding your efforts will keep you much more motivated. You may not want to splash out on clothes until all the weight has come off. But an evening at a show would be spot-on to toast a ten pound loss!

Doctors talk about our body mass index when they refer to weight issues. A healthy index is anywhere between eighteen and a half and twenty five. Above twenty five, and we have a problem with our weight. Furthermore we’re defined as obese and morbidly obese respectively if we rise above first thirty and then forty.

Analysing your current number is quite straightforward. First of all measure how tall you are in metres. Then weigh yourself in kilos. Your height should be multiplied by itself, then divide that figure by your weight.

So your figures might look something like this: You’re 1.45m tall (1.45 x 1.45 = 2.10). Your weight is 68 kilograms (68 / 2.10 = 32.38). Clearly that result shows some different eating and exercise habits are needed, as a figure over 30 is categorised as obese.

The continuation of a diet that regularly includes highly saturated fat will keep on adding the pounds. It’s important that we reduce our portions and convert to healthier options.

You should avoid crash diets which usually end up with you either feeling ill or giving up in desperation. So stay away from programs that restrict males to 1,400 daily calories and females to 1,000. Radical weight reduction can result, but it’s usually very short-lived!

It takes re-education and time to achieve lasting results. Cut back your calorie consumption to 75 percent of what you eat now, and you should see a few pounds come off every month. So not the un-realistic promises fed to you from the instant remedy brigade, but a real solution to help you stay out of the danger zones.

Foods which contain the most calories tend to have a high fat content. Lower your intake of saturated fat then, and you achieve a noticeable reduction in calories. Substitute fat with whole grains, vegetables and fruit. It’s amazing how quickly you’ll start to notice improvements in your health.

It may seem like a good idea to skip a meal, but it isn’t. You’ll probably end up snacking more when the hunger-pangs hit hard! The opposite is in fact more appropriate for weight loss. Starving yourself actually makes it more difficult to lose weight. Your metabolic rate (which affects your body’s ability to lose weight) is assisted when you nourish yourself little and often.

Modern lifestyles that pile on the stress, and shrink down the sleep might just be making us fat! How many of us today try to take on far too much? We rush around from pillar to post, in reality struggling to do anything really well. The tension rises as we bounce from one challenge to the next! And so we turn to eating, to counteract the pressure.

But now it seems there’s a scientific reason why we reach for the most fattening foods at times high stress and exhaustion. Weight gain can occur through stress. Exactly how that happens can be explained as follows – At times of extreme on-going pressure, the human body secretes the stress hormone cortisol.

Then in an attempt to stabilise our blood sugar, an insulin release is stimulated. Insulin ups our appetite, and particularly makes us crave fats and carbohydrates. And so we give in to our cravings, and our energy picks up again.

Our stress levels stabilise and we feel more at one. But our energy level takes a nose dive a short time later. This is due to the insulin taking the glucose from the blood, and storing it in fatty parts of the body such as the waist and thighs.

Thus if weight loss is your objective, first try to create a more harmonious lifestyle! Weight loss might also be related to getting enough sleep. We currently spend on average less than seven hours a night asleep. It used to be a good hour more than that.

In conjunction with less sleep, we now have more obese people. Hormonal challenges are thought to relate the two things. We experience a rise in our appetite hormones when we’re not getting enough sleep. Since we have a longer ‘day time’, the body’s logic is that it needs more food.

Apparently tiredness leaves the body wanting more food – again particularly the sort saturated in fats and carbohydrates. Having eight hours of quality sleep may be just what’s needed to retrain our hunger hormones.

So perhaps one key to weight loss (along with a great eating program of course), is to look at the ways in which we can simplify our lives and enjoy more relaxation. It’s not the end of the world if something has to be left until tomorrow! And so when night-time falls, you’re ready to drift off to sleep at a reasonable time, without fighting the desire for just one more snack!