Live Well
Healthy Habits, Healthy Weight
With all the different diet plans, weight loss pills and exercise programs out there it’s no wonder people get confused about the right way to be a healthy weight. People often believe that getting to or staying at a healthy weight is difficult and complicated and that it’s something only to be followed for a few weeks before drifting back to old habits.
Another problem is the number of people who think they are overweight when they are perfectly healthy or people who think they are perfectly healthy when they are actually overweight. So, before you do anything else check and see if you are at a healthy weight. Body Mass Index (BMI) is an excellent way to figure out if you need to watch your weight. BMI takes your weight and your height and gives you a figure which will let you know where you are – underweight, healthy weight or overweight. It is not a perfect guide but it is accurate for the vast majority of people. Check out the BMI guide below.
| Healthy Habits When it comes to advice on being a healthy weight, we could write forever. Really what’s needed is to get into some good habits – and to stick with them. Doing something extreme for a few weeks may help you shift a few pounds but you’ll find them creeping back on soon after. Start as you mean to go on. Check out our list of healthy habits to help you get to and stay at a healthy weight. |
| What am I eating? When asked, most people will tell you they eat a healthy diet. The problem is that while we might think we eat healthily, the reality is often quite different. Usually we intend to eat well but we get busy or tired or end up home late from work or any of a million reasons and so we are not as careful about our food as we might like to be. This is okay now and again but many people find this happens more often than not. If you are thinking about healthy eating and healthy weight, one of the first and most important things to do is to keep a food diary for 1 week. Don’t start anything else without doing this! Write down everything you eat and drink everyday. At the end of the week sit down and really look at what you are actually eating. How often do you eat fruit and vegetables? Do you use low fat or full fat dairy foods? How many biscuits and sweets have crept in? How often do you cook your own meals and how often are you eating from a packet or from takeaways? Knowing exactly where you are at the start means you can see much more easily what you need to change to be a healthy weight. Most people are surprised by what they find on their diaries but once you know what you are doing, then it is much easier to make realistic changes. |
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| Working on Healthy Eating Obviously when it comes to weight, what you eat is important. If you live on high fat, high sugar foods and never eat any fruit or vegetables it is going to be harder for you to be a healthy weight than for someone with a more balanced diet. The problem is that most of us are already eating all the foods we like (and avoiding those we don’t!) so the thoughts of making any changes can be daunting. Have a look at the ‘basic healthy eating section’ to see what the ideal is. Then look at your food diary and see where you are meeting the targets and where you are missing out. Don’t try to change everything at once. This is the biggest mistake people make when they decide to eat healthily. There may be 4 or 5 things for you to work on (or more!) but doing all of them at once will only make you feel overwhelmed and you’ll find the whole thing too much work. Start by changing one habit. If you notice that you don’t eat enough fruit, then start by having 1 or 2 pieces everyday. Give yourself two weeks to get used to it and then look at the next habit you need to change. Maybe you need to eat more vegetables with dinner or maybe you need to say no to some of the sweet treats you reach for everyday. Whatever it is, take one habit at a time and work on it until it is a habit. |
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| Stop Trying to be Perfect! No one, not even dietitians, eat perfectly healthy food all the time. It is not possible. No matter how healthy you may want to eat, you will end up at meetings where there are only biscuits, in someone else's house for dinner where everything is deep fried or celebrating a friend’s birthday and maybe drinking a little more alcohol than usual. Instead of beating yourself up over ‘breaking’ your healthy eating plan, simple pick up the next day and start again. Don’t give up. Many long term dieters think that if they have eaten one bar of chocolate that the whole diet is ruined and they might as well give up and eat the entire contents of the fridge. And guess what? They don’t lose weight! Stop being so hard on yourself. Yes, you do need to make a reasonable effort to change your eating habits and yes, it is a little harder at the start than it will be when all your habits are well established. But don’t use one bad day or week as an excuse to stop. No one is perfect, but the longer you work on changing your eating habits, the easier it will get. It helps to know that it actually takes about 1 year to fully change your eating habits! |
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| Portion Sizes How many people eat the same amount of food everyday regardless of how much exercise they do? How many people in their 40’s are still eating the same amount as in their teens? Most of us dish up the same portions day-in day-out without ever thinking about what we are choosing for lunch or how much we actually need for dinner. Have a think about your portion sizes and the amount of food you think you need at each meal. Very simply, if you are overweight, then you are eating too much. Most of us have very fixed ideas about what a ‘proper’ lunch or dinner is and all too often we are eating much more than we need. Have a look at the tips below about getting the right portions for you.
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| Look at Skinny People Anyone who is overweight may hate the thoughts of watching slim people but you may find you can learn something from them. Instead of asking ‘what am I doing wrong?’ try asking ‘what are they doing right?’ Slim people often have good habits that everyone else can learn from. Maybe they take smaller portions. Maybe they never clear their plate. Maybe they only eat when they feel hungry instead of every time they see food. Maybe they eat more fruit or vegetables or get more exercise. Whatever it is, see if it is something you can learn from. |
| Exercise Exercise burns calories and increases your metabolism by building muscle. It’s no wonder then that people who exercise regularly are much less likely to be overweight. If you never do any exercise, start to think about it. You don’t need to join a gym or run a marathon. Just find some exercise that you don’t mind doing and find some time in the week where you can do it. Ideally we need to exercise for 40 minutes 5 days a week but if you don’t have the time, even one day a week will help. Walking works really well as does swimming. If you like the idea of a gym, great, or look for a football or tennis club. Even salsa dancing will work. The key is to be consistent. And don’t give up if you miss your exercise for a week or two. Just pick up and start again. |
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| Be Realistic This is probably the most important part of looking after your weight. We all hear about people who’ve lost 5 stone in 10 minutes and we would all love the quick fix or the overnight success. In real life, weight takes a while to move. 1-2lbs a week is really good going and any change is better than none. A very realistic guide for someone who needs to lose weight is to lose about 1 stone in 3 months. This healthy rate of weight loss means you help keep your metabolism working properly and are less likely to bounce weight back on. Give yourself 6 months to a year, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose. This sounds like a long time but it means you have time to build the good, healthy habits you need to keep the weight off long-term – and that’s the sign of real success! |