If we are going to lose weight we need to eat less than our body needs for a while so that the body uses some of its excesses (body fat) to make up the shortfall of calories that it needs to carry out its everyday functions. If we step up our activity levels as well as eat less, we lose weight faster and very easily, plus we tone up as we slim down.
Eating the way we have been doing is a habit. Maybe skipping breakfast, grabbing a high-fat snack mid-morning, buying a sandwich, packet of crisps and a high-sugar drink at lunchtime and then topping it off with a pie, pizza or paella for dinner accompanied by a few beers or half a bottle of wine every night, then perhaps eating a snack before bedtime or whilst watching television. ‘What’s wrong with that?’ you may ask and if you had been working on a building site all day and cycled ten miles home, you would probably be fine but most of us don’t lead hugely physical lives and eating more fat and more calories than our body needs, leads to our being overweight or obese.
Weight creeps up on us and you may be someone who never eats chocolate, crisps and who drinks alcohol only at weekends and you cannot understand why you are two stone overweight. The most likely culprit is portion sizes. Just eating too much of relatively healthy food.
The problem is that these days portion sizes have become ridiculously large, particularly in restaurants, and we are getting used to eating them. America is leading the way in over-sized portions resulting in over-sized people. Whenever I go to a restaurant where I know they serve very large portions, I always ask for a child’s portion. I don’t like waste and there’s a limit to how often I can embarrass the person I’m with by asking for a doggy bag for Waise (pronounced ‘visor’), our dog.
If you want to lose weight fast, go on one of my diets but if you just want to lose a bit of weight and trim down a bit, why not just make a few simple lifestyle changes?
- Cut your portion size down by 20%
- Cut your alcohol consumption by half
- Increase your activity levels and wear a pedometer.
Try to do 10,000 steps a day . - Cut right back on fatty foods
- Don’t snack between meals
Losing weight isn’t rocket science, it’s just common sense. Eat less and do more!
Check out our website for more information if you need some extra help. www.rosemaryconley.com
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