SIMPLE WEIGHT LOSS TIPS

In the past I was a complete yo yo dieter! I also one of the people who followed these so called celeb or magazine diets 'drop 2 dress sizes in 4 weeks' rubbish!


Although some of these diets worked in the sense that the scales were shifting, it never changed my body composition, and I always ended up putting back on the weight as fast as it came off, when I returned to normal eating!


The thing is weight loss isn't just ruled by the scales, the result on the scales can be influenced by so many other factors... hormones, water retention, illness, fatigue, the type of foods you have consumed in the last 24 hours.


When I started loosing my weight, I decided to take progress pictures and measurements along with scale readings!  I created a spread sheet and logged the results every week.   Measurements and weight was taken first thing on a Sunday Morning as soon as I had got up and went to the toilet!  Progress photographs were taken periodically.


Sometimes my weight didn't shift in great amounts, but when I looked at my measurements and the photographs they showed me the greatest progress!!!


A few simple tips for sensible weight loss when you are starting out would be:-

1. Track measurements and weight weekly 1st thing in the morning
2. Progress pictures
3. Cut down on crisps, cakes and sweets.
4. Remove convenience food from your diet and prepare all your meals for the week a head using fresh produce, and freeze!
5. If you remove all the bad things from your diet straight away you will rebound!  Remove things slowly from your diet or replace with sensible choices... such as swapping out the 500ml tub of ben and jerry's for a 500ml tub of Frozen Yoo Moo on a Saturday Night.   Swap your chips for sweet potato chips... or bake your own protein cookies instead of eating supermarket cookies!
6. Cut down on portion sizes! and add in more vegetables which will fill you up!
7. Smaller, more frequent meals!
8. Walk! - if your not ready to embark on a training plan, then go out walking! 20 minutes during your lunch break is one step ahead already!

Its the small simple changes, that implement good sustainable eating habits in the long run!  It's very rare I go into a shop now and purchase a bar of chocolate! when I get a chocolate craving I look at the bottom shelf where the fudges, freddo's, Kinder chocolate is - a treat in a small quantity! and it's enough to suffice my cravings.


Remember fat loss must be approached slowly to prevent your body going into starvation mode, along with gradually increasing physical activity.  Your typical short term or fad diets tend to bring on a starvation response within your body or rapid weight / fat loss which in turn signals the starvation response which results in a decrease in metabolism and increased hunger - this response stays until your body fat returns to its previous levels! hence why most people on fad for short term diets get a plateau effect and end up putting their weight back on.


Here is my progress pictures and measurements as a comparison of what I achieved over 20 weeks by making small changes throughout my journey and increased my level of activity slowly.