The ultimate weight loss solution

FACT: Being overweight is the most common nutritional disorder in the Western world. It has been linked to heart disorders, high blood pressure, diabetes, angina, arthritis, types of cancer and atherosclerosis. It can leed to a lack of self esteem and depression so can have negative effects on your health and happiness.

For most people obesity is caused simply by overeating and lack of exercise. The body is like a machine which takes in chemical energy in the food you eat and expends it in the form of work and heat. It is quite simple really - if you eat more calories than you burn off doing your normal daily activities, then surplus calories will be stored as fat. It's not rocket science. Many overweight people blame their condition on a 'slow metabolism' but this is rarely the real reason. 

• These days it seems that each generation is passing on bad and unhealthy eating habits - you only have to look at the growth of food take-away shops in most suburban areas.
• Supermarkets package up the food they want to sell you, making it look appetising and healthy and often disguising the fact that it may be a key component in an already fat-ridden diet.
• People will often put on weight as they get older because they are are continuing with their eating habits of earlier active years when they were expending more energy.
• And sometimes people overeat as a response to emotional problems.

My weight, like many middle aged people, has crept up over the years, probably because my eating habits have stayed the same but I am less active and expending less energy. I have always had a certain level of fitness due to my love of walking and climbing but was pretty surprised when I found out I was actually clinically obese. What I am about to describe to you has helped me get back to a healthier weight and is allowing me to be more active - it really is true that when it starts working and you follow it through it can have dramatic effects.

Got it? It is not difficult for most people to lose weight - you do not need to invest in diet pills or weight loss supplements. This is a major market today and if people would only do a little research many of them would save a lot of money. The key question is not 'how can I lose weight' - that is an easy answer. The key question is 'do I really want to lose weight?'

You see, the key thing stopping the majority of people from enjoying weight loss and taking their first step towards a healthier new life is what's in their heads. Desire, temptation, and all that jazz. That's it - the ultimate weight loss solution!

Just have a think about what a bit of weight loss would do for you. Personally I kept refusing to buy trousers with larger waists - I was trying to hide the fact I was gaining weight but all that was happening was that my expanding belly was hanging over the belt more. I got sick of looking at it - one day I realised I couldn't see my socks any more and it slowed me down walking up hills. I wanted to feel healthier.

Eat less and do more exercise. That's it. Oh, you thought there was more? Well, we can add a little more guidance to help you:

Eat a lot of:

• fresh fruit, vegetables and salads
• complex carbohydrates in pasta, potatoes, brown rice, wholemeal bread
• lean meat, poultry without skin, and fish

Cut down:

• fats of all kinds - as a rule select foods with less than 5% fat content
• alcohol - in fact try to avoid it all together

Avoid:

• full fat foods eg some dairy products
• sugary and fatty snacks - so no biscuits, crisps and cakes
• meat with high fat content

This is the one that probably gave me the most significant improvement in my own weight loss. It's very easy - just eat less of the filling foods such as carbohydrates and meat and allow yourself some more fresh fruit and vegetables. You do not have to be a slave to the food content labels apart from maybe checking the fat content of some of the foods you enjoy (remember - no more than 5% fat in any one product?). I did actually kick start my own weight loss by avoiding bread and all alcohol for the first two weeks or so - I ate a freshly made salad for lunch and actually felt like I was eating more. That's the good thing -eat the right foods and smaller portions won't make you feel any hungrier.

Many people just wilt away at this one but I'm not asking you to be an Olympic athlete. Just do a bit more activity at first - maybe walk to the shops on occasion, walk a little faster, run around with the kids, find an excuse to nip up and down the stairs a few times in succession. Once you've made a start and dropped a few pounds you'll be looking for an excuse to stretch your legs around the park. And if you do slip back into bad habits? So what, we're all human - just be aware that you slipped and try to get back on track. So you bought that chocolate bar - a minor setback, just try not to it again. Don't beat yourself up and give in, just steer yourself back on course. If you are overweight, and you know what, most of us are - then try out the suggestions above. In a month or so you'll be glad you did.

The ultimate weight loss solution is just staring you in the face.