Losing weight is always a dilemma. We’d all like to shed a few, no doubt. But we don’t. The crisps, the biscuits, the chips, the icecream get bought, get eaten. You don’t seem to be able to stop yourself. It’s not an education thing, you know the facts, you know your food groups and what you should be eating and in what quantities. You just don’t have the will power to say no to yourself. You make excuses about time, fatigue, starting tomorrow. It’s comforting to eat. It’s not hurting anyone but me. It’s the least worst of the self-harms. Hunger pangs don’t feel nice. It’s our evolutionary biology, to stuff while the going’s good. Except that we have access to plentiful supplies of food everyday nowadays.
It’s the motivation that’s the problem. An article ‘What falling in love does to your mind and body’ in The Times recently, has, guess what, WEIGHT LOSS in first place. So getting yourself some lerv-action is an excellent and scientifically proven place to start, (unlike all those spurious fad diets which are rip-offs, profiteering from our insecurities and guilt. Just don’t). It does figure. There’s suddenly a great reason to abstain; looking good and feeling confident naked in front of someone else! Does that mean over-weight women are feeling unloved then?
Anyway. Once you’re in love, or have found some other supernatural motivation to override our biological urge to binge, follow these basic rules:
Tick all your wholesome food groups everyday.
Eat small portions* to keep your tummy busy, not to fill it.
Eat what you absolutely adore that’s healthy, even if it’s expensive, you’re worth it.
Have pang-killer snacks you adore like 10 pistachios or mini-seaweed or a tangerine.
Eat a generous breakfast, less for lunch and a miniscule supper.
No carbs after midday.
No food for 12 hours say 7pm-7am.
A cube of dark chocolate a day, no other chocolate/confectionery.
Practise ‘I’ll have a mouthful of yours’ at sugar fests. Sugar is death.
Eat fat, full fat; creme fraiche, cheese butter, olive oil. Fat is life.
* Regarding ‘small portions’: I lost 20 kilos over a year with 3 bowls; a baby bowl which, if filled, guaranteed I lost weight, a mummy bowl which I used to keep a stable weight, and a daddy bowl for gaining. You have to experiment with the 3 portion sizes to know what your personal thresholds are.
NHS link on losing weight.
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