Weight Losss

You wake up, have a shower, look in the mirror and think, "if only I could lose a few more kilos," and feel frustrated. You may not have the perfect diet, but it's ok. And you do exercise occasionally, but it kind of feels like a chore.

My belief about these last few kilos that many of us want to lose is that they really aren't that important in the big picture. What's important these days is that we are healthy, not perfect. I remember thinking at school, that if I could just be a little less chubby, that people would like me more. That type of thinking is unhealthy, unproductive, and so far from the truth.

It is hard however, to ignore the pressures of today's society. It seems we are constantly reminded that to be happy, we need to look like we belong on some TV soap. Of course that's not true. But if you cannot escape this train of thought, and you feel it is that important to lose those extra kilos, I have a few tips that can help you to reach a weight you may feel more comfortable with.

For those who really want to, the best way to lose those few kilos is to change your lifestyle. I know you've heard that before, but really, it's not that hard. And if you are in a pretty lazy frame of mind there are still a few tricks that can make this work. All you need is to change one or two things in your life, and make it a part of your lifestyle permanently. These kind of changes are not quick fixes to losing weight, but over a period of months if you do follow a few of these rules you will find that those last few kilos should drops off. There are several changes you can make, and most are relatively painless

Diet

There are several things you can change about your diet, you don't necessarily have to do all of them, but picking a couple and sticking to them can be very helpful.

Eliminate butter and margarine from your diet. Some people find this quite difficult, as they think toast and sandwiches don't taste as good. But in fact you will find you can taste more of what's really on the bread after a while (it does take a while though). I cut these products out years ago, and at the time it was difficult, but now I can't stand the taste of them. If you think you need the essential fats in these products, you don't, we get enough of them in other foods such as breads. Hidden fats are everywhere. By doing this you will be saving a lot calories every week, and after a few months these can add up to losing kilos.

Pick one high calorie food source which you eat a lot of in a week, and replace it with something else. For example, potatoes. They can come in all sorts of forms, from fried chips, to packets of chips, to jacket potatoes (which most smother with marg or sour cream), to mashing them (again marg or butter is normally put in this). You need to find a healthy replacement food such as snacking on low fat rice crisps to mashing pumpkin, you may have to think about the appropriate food you want to replace it with, because you don't want to replace it with something just as high in calories.

Look at your diet within a normal week. You may be eating pasta and rice frequently. These are healthy foods, but they are high calorie foods. Replace one of these meals a week with a bowl of vegetables or a salad. There are many ways to make foods tasty these days, just don't smother them in high calorie oils etc. The savings of calories from changing this one meal a week do add up over a few months. If you can try and do it twice a week.

Snacks. This is a difficult one. If you are a chocoholic, you're in trouble here. I have a lot of trouble with this one. Every time I go shopping I make sure I don't go there hungry, as most people know if you do shop hungry, you are likely to buy foods that are high in calories and that you probably don't need. But in afternoon or nighttime that chocolate craving comes. And if you live near a shop, it's hard not to quietly slip out and buy some chocolate. The best thing to do is to bargain with yourself. Walk to the shop instead of driving, or buy less chocolate than you normally would. If you can, treat yourself to a relaxing bath and see if the craving passes. Try calling a friend, and then see if you still want it. Keep Busy! Chocolate is one of the worse culprits in gaining weight. If you are eating it regularly, even cutting out two to three bars a week, over a period of two months you will have saved 1-2 kilos.

Cut out sugar. This means in tea and coffee, on breakfast cereals etc. Sugar calories add up. If you cut out sugar and drinks containing high amounts of sugar, you will definitely save a lot of calories a week.

These are not the perfect answers to losing weight, but I promise you if you stick to a couple of these lifestyle changes, and don't trick yourself about replacing one fatty food with another, you should see results over a period of months. There really is no quick fix in losing weight, if there was we all wouldn't be so concerned about losing it. Just remember that we are all born with different body types, and there is no perfect one, just healthy one's.

- Louise Ganey