Q) I am 62 years old and am badly needing to lose weight. I have tried lots of diets over the years , with no success. I cannot afford to join a gym.I need some motivation and drive. Can you give me any advice.
A) You are by no means alone in this concern. As you mention, you need to find the correct motivation to get you going.
Here are 2 extremes. - If a doctor told you that if you didn't lose weight then you were putting your life in danger, I'm sure you would get going immediately. Or if someone told you they would pay you to lose weight and exercise you would also most certainly get going with relish.
However, neither is likely to happen, so you have to find your own reason. I don't know your personal circumstances but perhaps you might consider getting fitter for a member of your family, or perhaps to be kind to yourself or my own personal favourite; why not decide to undertake a challenge for charity so that getting fit in preparation is helping both you and your chosen cause. Tell everyone that you are going to do this so its much harder to back out. You'll have such a sense of achievement when you complete your challenge you might even be spurred on to do something even more challenging! You just need to get the wheel turning.
I also try to get people to lose the idea of 'doing a diet'. Its much better to 'do' a life change. Just follow my book step by step to show you how to do it gently and sensibly. There is no miracle out there so don't waste time, money and effort looking for it. Just EAT LESS, EAT WELL AND MOVE MORE. You only have to make the decision. The rest is mechanics.
Any 'but's' we put in the way are just excuses, so find your own reason; Give yourself a goal; Be honest with yourself; Follow the safe sensible steps in my book and just start doing it. It really is that simple.
Q) I'm finding it so hard to give up crisps and snacks. Any ideas?
A) Your not the only one. I think of it as invisible food. I bet at the end of a day if I said,' have you eaten much?. you'd swear you'd eaten like a mouse. The reality is you've been snacking all day-on rubbish food. Many snacks are 'habit' snacks. It's 11am and time for a packet of cheese and onion because that's what you do every day. The snack becomes part of a reward system to yourself. 'I've got through that pile of correspondence so I deserve a treat!'
Crisps are the worst of all worlds because:
1) They are thin slivers and they have a large surface area that is soaked in fat. Therefore a large percentage of them is pure fat. The last thing you need.
2) They are saturated in salt. Very bad for blood pressure and creates cravings for more.
3) They are very high in calories but not bulky enough to fill you up. Feels like you haven't eaten anything after so you reach for another snack or forget you've had that one. Would you forget if you ate 10 apples in one go? I bet not.
Replace the bad snacks with good ones. I found a few peices of dried fruit did the trick. Fresh fruit is even better. As a rule of thumb, just remember to ask yourself if the snack in your hand has a lot of fat/salt/sugar in it. If the answer is yes then don't do it.
Q) Shall I give up the diet while I'm on a skiing holiday and start it when I get home again?
A) Losing weight is in your mind as well as your body. Don't tell yourself you are temporarily stopping. Bad thing to do on a diet. Tell yourself you are modifying it for a week. Your extra calories in (as long as you don't go silly) will be used up by your calories out (skiing is tough exercise). So you are still keeping within the boundaries of the diet aren't you. If you've already lost some weight be careful because you just don't want to go backwards. Have that wonderful hot chocolate and piece of gateaux but NOT THE WHOLE CAKE! Keep it all in moderation and enjoy every mouthful . I don't want it to get in the way of you enjoying your holiday but being on holiday is not a grand excuse to not take responsibility for your food intake. Have a great time, but as I often say, losing weight is in the mind. The rest is mechanics.
Q) My daily reward is a glass of wine. If I do not have my rewards during the week but save them up for going out at the weekend is that OK?
A) A glass of wine is about 200 calories which is the same as one of my breakfasts or lunches. So each glass is fundamentally a meal. Now if you are drinking 5 glasses on Saturday night it's the equivalent of 5 lunches in one go (Would you eat 5 lunches in one go?). You would have to do a huge amount of exercise to use those extra 1000 calories up the next day.
It's the same if your reward is chocolate. If you were telling me 'Anne I'm in the Gym training for 4 hours a day' I'd be saying brilliant have 3 mars bars- no have 4! because you'd be using up the calories. But at the moment you're not exercising enough to cover such a large intake of calories.
Remember - we need to use up more calories each day than we eat so we stand a better chance of doing that if it's little and often, rather than all or nothing. See page 34-35.
Q) How do I start doing some exercise if I hate it?
I'm not expecting you to become a Rugby quarter back or champion downhill skier! You just have to start moving again. If you haven't moved for years, the easiest way to start is to walk. Walk anywhere, to the shops, to work, round the block, walk the dog, walk with a friend or partner or walk alone and have some quiet 'you' time, just start moving more than you do now. If possible get more organised about it and turn it into a regular thing so that each time you do it you can walk further or quicker and measure your improvement.
The other gentle introduction to moving again is swimming. It's low impact, so especially good if you have a lot of weight to shift, you can move around without putting strain on your joints. If swimming up and down is a bit boring then join a water-aerobics class. Why not look what your Baths have on offer. Why not join a class and learn a new stroke.
If this still doesn't do it for you, why not join a line dancing class. A friend of mine just took up rock and roll dancing. She doesn't think of herself as a sporty type but she's still geting the same effect and really enjoying herself. There a loads of special interest clubs and classes around if you look for them. What about belly dancing. I hear there are even pole dancing classes if that appeals!
It doesn't really matter what it is as long as you start moving again and you do it regularly.