Weight loss 10 Tips to Get Started
There is so much diet information around and so many fads and it's hard to know what to listen to and what to ignore. We want to share some tried and true strategies that worked and helped our director lose 20 kilos. Here are our top ten tips to keep you focused on what really works for weight loss and health gain!
1. Create a healthy vision - Why do you want this? Create a vision board that creates a visual you can be mesmerised by and reminded of your goals daily. Stick up pictures of a healthier you, the clothes you want to be able to wear when you are slimmer, the exercises you want to do when you are fitter, the adventures and holidays you will go on when you have more energy and vitality. Hang a pair of size 12 jeans somewhere you can see them everyday and then imagine what it will feel like to wear them!
2. How much do you have to lose - at the beginning of your journey weigh yourself and record the date. Then find out the weight you should be to be within your healthy weight range. Set yourself a goal for weight loss to get yourself within your healthy weight range. Break down your goal into 5 kilo increments and focus on 5 kilos at a time.
3. Consult a dietician - if you don't know the basics for healthy eating, like, the correct portion sizes to eat and how much to eat of what foods, then consult a dietician. Learn the basics and get a sample eating plan to give you the basic healthy eating guidelines.
4. Make a minimum commitment to exercise - make a commitment to yourself to exercise for an hour on Saturday and an hour Sunday and build it into your routine on the weekend when there are less time restraints to worry about and then slowly add more exercise into your weekly timetable. Find an exercise buddy to help you keep committed and to motivate each other. Write your commitment down in your diary so exercise becomes like any appointment that needs to be attended. Start with an exercise you enjoy the most. Walking is a great start.
5. Be prepared with loads of low-fat recipes - search the internet - there are hundreds of great websites that offer delicious, low-fat recipes that are a cinch to make. Check out Shapeshifter's recipe ideas. You can always substitute low fat ingredients in your favourite dishes, check out some examples of this on our website.
6. Get support - who do you live with? Parents, flat mates, partner?
Enlisting the support of the people you live with is very important. First up tell them about your mission and ask for their support in various ways, whether it's not bringing junk food in the house (or at least not in your sight) or modifying the household menu. Ask your partner/family/flatmates to hide junk food. I asked my husband not buy it when I was around so I wouldn't even know it was in the house, this worked for us. As a result of the changes to our household shopping and menu my husband lost 10 kilos in the first 6 months, without consciously trying to do so.
7. Drink lots of water - Nutrition Australia recommends that we drink 2 litres of water per day. I know it can be hard when we get busy to remember to do this. Keep 2 x 2L bottles of water on your desk at work each day and fill them up every morning and ensure that before you go home they are both empty. On the weekends, always carry a litre bottle with you when you leave the house.
8. Be healthy at work - it's where we spend most of our day so we can find the biggest temptations in the workplace - vending machines, charity chocolates and morning teas. Tell your colleagues you are into healthy eating and don't eat junk food. Ask if teas can be catered with a mixture of junk and healthy food. Ask permission to move a charity chocolate boxes out of your sight to another part of the office. Take healthy snacks to work and have some stashed away so if cravings or hunger hits you can easily make a healthy choice instead of buying chocolate or chips from the vending machine.
9. Prioritise - make the time in your day to put time aside for planning your weekly meals, preparing good food and exercising. Eating and being healthy requires a commitment of your time and we all know it's our most limited resource. Draw up a time map of how you want to spend your time each and every day. Shapeshifters can help you with strategies and tools to plan out your week, ask us how.
10. Substitute and never deprive yourself - what are your food addictions? Write them down. Mine was chocolate and I ate it every single day. When I started my weight loss journey I found that Weight Watchers sold some tasty portion and calorie controlled chocolate bars. I substituted my daily chocolate allowance with the Weight Watcher's bars. I found the key to successful weight loss was not to deprive myself and so I never did and I still managed to lose 20 kilos. If you absolutely have to eat something naughty - eat it and then get over it - get back on track the next day. Don't be hard on yourself for messing up or you will be likely to chuck in the towel, accept there will be moments of weakness, don't turn it into a lifetime of weakness!
Brought to you by Danielle Ferris & Shapeshifters
Shapeshifters
E: danielle@healthyandhappy.com.au
W: www.healthyandhappy.com.au
www.danielleferris.com
T: 0433 877 130
1. Create a healthy vision - Why do you want this? Create a vision board that creates a visual you can be mesmerised by and reminded of your goals daily. Stick up pictures of a healthier you, the clothes you want to be able to wear when you are slimmer, the exercises you want to do when you are fitter, the adventures and holidays you will go on when you have more energy and vitality. Hang a pair of size 12 jeans somewhere you can see them everyday and then imagine what it will feel like to wear them!
2. How much do you have to lose - at the beginning of your journey weigh yourself and record the date. Then find out the weight you should be to be within your healthy weight range. Set yourself a goal for weight loss to get yourself within your healthy weight range. Break down your goal into 5 kilo increments and focus on 5 kilos at a time.
3. Consult a dietician - if you don't know the basics for healthy eating, like, the correct portion sizes to eat and how much to eat of what foods, then consult a dietician. Learn the basics and get a sample eating plan to give you the basic healthy eating guidelines.
4. Make a minimum commitment to exercise - make a commitment to yourself to exercise for an hour on Saturday and an hour Sunday and build it into your routine on the weekend when there are less time restraints to worry about and then slowly add more exercise into your weekly timetable. Find an exercise buddy to help you keep committed and to motivate each other. Write your commitment down in your diary so exercise becomes like any appointment that needs to be attended. Start with an exercise you enjoy the most. Walking is a great start.
5. Be prepared with loads of low-fat recipes - search the internet - there are hundreds of great websites that offer delicious, low-fat recipes that are a cinch to make. Check out Shapeshifter's recipe ideas. You can always substitute low fat ingredients in your favourite dishes, check out some examples of this on our website.
6. Get support - who do you live with? Parents, flat mates, partner?
Enlisting the support of the people you live with is very important. First up tell them about your mission and ask for their support in various ways, whether it's not bringing junk food in the house (or at least not in your sight) or modifying the household menu. Ask your partner/family/flatmates to hide junk food. I asked my husband not buy it when I was around so I wouldn't even know it was in the house, this worked for us. As a result of the changes to our household shopping and menu my husband lost 10 kilos in the first 6 months, without consciously trying to do so.
7. Drink lots of water - Nutrition Australia recommends that we drink 2 litres of water per day. I know it can be hard when we get busy to remember to do this. Keep 2 x 2L bottles of water on your desk at work each day and fill them up every morning and ensure that before you go home they are both empty. On the weekends, always carry a litre bottle with you when you leave the house.
8. Be healthy at work - it's where we spend most of our day so we can find the biggest temptations in the workplace - vending machines, charity chocolates and morning teas. Tell your colleagues you are into healthy eating and don't eat junk food. Ask if teas can be catered with a mixture of junk and healthy food. Ask permission to move a charity chocolate boxes out of your sight to another part of the office. Take healthy snacks to work and have some stashed away so if cravings or hunger hits you can easily make a healthy choice instead of buying chocolate or chips from the vending machine.
9. Prioritise - make the time in your day to put time aside for planning your weekly meals, preparing good food and exercising. Eating and being healthy requires a commitment of your time and we all know it's our most limited resource. Draw up a time map of how you want to spend your time each and every day. Shapeshifters can help you with strategies and tools to plan out your week, ask us how.
10. Substitute and never deprive yourself - what are your food addictions? Write them down. Mine was chocolate and I ate it every single day. When I started my weight loss journey I found that Weight Watchers sold some tasty portion and calorie controlled chocolate bars. I substituted my daily chocolate allowance with the Weight Watcher's bars. I found the key to successful weight loss was not to deprive myself and so I never did and I still managed to lose 20 kilos. If you absolutely have to eat something naughty - eat it and then get over it - get back on track the next day. Don't be hard on yourself for messing up or you will be likely to chuck in the towel, accept there will be moments of weakness, don't turn it into a lifetime of weakness!
Brought to you by Danielle Ferris & Shapeshifters
Shapeshifters
E: danielle@healthyandhappy.com.au
W: www.healthyandhappy.com.au
www.danielleferris.com
T: 0433 877 130
Sample Meal/Eating Plan
This weekly eating plan is based on our director's personal eating patterns following her research and education into nutrition and weight loss. This is the actual plan that she followed to lose 20 kilos and she has copied it from my her own Thought for Food Journal (available from Shapeshifters).Day 1
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| ½ cup of cereal ½ cup of milk 1 cup of coffee | 1 slice mountain bread 1 piece low-fat cheese 1 piece light ham | 6-inch Subway roast chicken roll sub with all salads | 1 orange 1 pear 1 WW fruit roll 1 box of sultanas |
| 1 WW ice cream | |||
| 1 WW cookie |
*WW = weight watchers
Day 2
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| ½ cup of cereal | ½ wholemeal (large) | ½ cup jasmine rice | 2 WW cookies |
| ½ cup of milk | pita bread | chicken red curry (WW | 1/2 cup popcorn (salt |
| 1 cup of coffee | with tomato & | recipe) | only) |
| fetta skinny dip | ½ cup yoghurt shop yoghurt |
Day 3
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| ½ cup of cereal | Homemade curry | 1 cup wholemeal pasta | 2 cups popcorn |
| ½ cup of milk | pumpkin soup | home-made red pasta | 2 WW cookies |
| 1 cup of coffee | ½ piece wholemeal pita | sauce made with lean | 1 WW ice cream |
| (large) bread | mince* |
*ask Shapeshifter's for their authentic Italian-style recipe
Day 4
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 slice wholemeal toast | Three bean salad with | 1 trim small scotch | 2 WW cookies |
| 1 poached egg | sweet corn, Spanish onion, capsicum, celery and cherry tomato with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar | fillet (200g) salad with olives, fetta, caps, red onion, cherry tomato & baby spinach | 1 tub low-fat yoghurt 1 WW fruit bar 1 pack sultanas 2 cups popcorn |
Day 5
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| ½ cup of cereal | 4 light wholemeal | Roast lamb | 1 WW fruit roll |
| ½ cup of milk | crackers | 100 g Pumpkin | 1 box of sultanas |
| 1 cup of coffee | 2 slices low-fat cheese | 2 small Potato | 4 WW cookies |
| 1 sweet spiced gherkin | 2 Parsnip | ||
| ½ tomato | 2 Parsnip | Yorkshire pudding |
Day 6
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| ½ cup of cereal ½ cup of milk 1 cup of coffee | 2 sushi rolls | warm chicken salad – ½ chicken fillet, baby spinach, capsicum, red onion, olives, fetta, | 1 glass wine 2 WW cookies |
| low-fate natural | |||
| yoghurt mixed with mint as dressing |
Day 7
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 slice wholemeal toast | 1 slice mountain bread | Atlantic salmon grilled | 1 WW chocolate bar |
| 1 poached egg | 1 piece low-fat cheese | with summer salad | 3 WW cookies |
| 4 grilled mushrooms | 1 piece light ham | 1 Ferrero Rocher | |
| 1 grilled tomato | |||
| 3 pieces short cut | |||
| bacon with fat trimmed |
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