Simple Guide to Weight Loss

Here is a very basic simple guide to weight loss. 

I say simple, because the theory is simple, and it works, however I know the reality is something far from simple. Life, habits, society often keeps up trapped in a way of living which isnt overly healthy. Getting a coach, someone to help you navigate the challenges, and someone to help you remain accountable really can make the difference.

Some starting points...

• Re-frame your mindset. You DON'T HAVE to do this, you CAN CHOOSE to do this. 

• You could happily carry on the way you have always been, but know that if you want something you have never had, you are going to need to do things you have never done. We are shifting from a stuck mindset to one of positive action. 

• Starting the day each day saying I don't have to do the things, but i get to choose to do the things is re-framing your mindset for action.

• Remind yourself each day, you are doing this to IMPROVE YOUR LIFE. 

• Embrace the fact that this is going to be hard work, if it was easy, everyone would be healthy and in shape. 

• Get used to pushing yourself, and avoid looking for excuses, there is always a good excuse to not do the things, this is the mindset that keeps us stuck. Instead, we need give up making excuses not to do the things.

So here we go:

1. Avoid as much as possible heavily processed foods, and eat whole, single ingredient foods as the majority.

2. Cook without adding fats, oils or butter - use 0 cal sprays, air fry, or grill, and rely more on herbs, spices and seasonings for flavours over fats, dressings and condiments. 

3. Have 3 meals, and 1 or 2 snacks per day.

4. Drink at least 500ml water / squash with, and inbetween each meal. This ensures you are well hydrated, but also curbs cravings and aids digestion. 

5. Choose a lean protein source for each meal + snack, and then fill up the plate / bowl with low calorie, high volume non-starchy veggies and fruits 

• Lean protein is things like, chicken, ham, eggs, turkey, tuna, tofu, prawns, white fish etc all of these are great choices. 

• High volume, low calorie fruits and veggies are those like, salad leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, courgette, peppers, squash, green beans, carrots, aubergines, cabbage + onion families, broccoli, melons, citrus fruits, apples, pears, berries etc.

6. Snacks help prevent overeating at night. Choosing a great snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon helps curb overeating and cravings in the evenings which is when most people struggle more. So a protion of cottage cheese, or a hard boiled egg with some veggies or fruit helps keep this in check. 

7. Keep a balanced portion of complex carbs to one meal a day, complex carbs are those starchy carbs like potatoes, rice and pasta etc. For most people, this will be easier for the evening meal if you are having family mealtime, others will find this suits them better for lunch. But keeping them to one meal a day - while still having a serving of protein and veggies with that meal will naturally keep your calories in check. 

8. Remove alcohol as much as possible, ideally you will remove it entirely, or at the most you will limit this to a glass or two at the weekends perhaps. Weight loss will always be easier without alcohol. 

9. Do some resistance training (body weight, or weight based strength training) every other day ideally as a minimum. This could just be 20-30 minutes - but every other day will help with maining / builiding muscle mass. Then do 60 minutes of cardio over a week (broken up however you like).

10. Increase your steps, aiming to get to a minimum of 7/8k per day, but start where you are, and build this up gradually. The less we are sitting still, the more we can get up and move and walk etc the more we are just helping our metabolism. 

• Keeping things similar and simple can really help you with your adherence - which is the key to results. It means shopping and preparations are easier, you are making less active meal decisions, and you will re-write your habits with new ones. It also means food takes up less space in your mind. Sometimes, when we are trying to lose weight, we spend so much brain power working out what to eat, when to eat, tracking and logging that its all we thing about. Keeping thins the same means removing all this food noise happening in out brains. 

• So choose a breakfast, perhaps a egg base, or a fat free greek yogurt base, then perhaps the variants are the fruits or veggies you have with it, but you know when you wake up, your going to have a fat free high protein yogurt with some berries and a coffee. 

• A great lunch for me is making a massive salad, now i like to make this at the start of the week, and i keep it in a giant glass contiainer - so a bag of leaves, a whole cucumber, packet of tomatoes, celery, cress, raddish, i like to add fresh herbs like mint and basil for flavour. All chopped up and ready to go. Then I prep some proteins, cooked chicken portions, have some tins of tuna in, perhaps some cooked prawns and cooked ham. Then each day, i am just filling a great big bowl with salad and adding my protein and perhaps some balsamic vinegar.