Gavan, come on. Astrology yesterday, reexaminated today? It’s looking like one of those weeks :)

I’m trying myself to lose a bit of weight myself but what chance have I got, I mean you’re man that was locked in his car for 2 months only lost a couple of stone and all he had to eat was bleedin snow !!!

Come to think of it.. I’m starvin.

Do things to speed up your resting metabolic rate then – gain muscle.I don’t trust all this calorie crap

I shifted alot of weight but hit the slump can’t seem to get past the weight I’m at no matter what I do exercising everyday and calorie counting maybe I’m destined to keep this belly

The easiest formula is: do Less stuffing your gob and do more exercise.

Remember sweat is fat crying.

I lost 5 st by eating less and moving more. Eating to much makes you fat, do I get a research grant?

Just exercise everyday and cut out convenience foods ? works for me

I trust calorie counting to lose weight, as it’s worked for me in the past, but only a fool thinks you can lose weight just by reducing calories. You also need to increase your exercise and gain muscle to speed up your metabolism.

Plenty of Looovvveeeeee :) :) :)

First thing our nutrition lecturer said when we discussed weight loss was “STOP DIETING”.

When you deprive the body of food it goes into what he termed “famine mode”, as in, it percieves a food shortage and so makes the most of every morsel. The downside to this is, when you go back to your old eating habits, not only do you regain the weight, you often gain extra. Hence the effect of yo-yo dieting, which is hazardous to the heart.

If you want to lose weight and maintain it, you need to reexamine your relationship to food, permanently.

Counting calories is a guide only, and not a very effective one. Carbohydrates from grains (especially refined ones) contribute more to weight gain than oils, yet oils contain more calories. For quite some time now there has been a misconception that fats make you fat, which is nonsense. Processed fats are extremely unhealthy, but natural fats – nuts, seeds and oils (especially from fish and coconut oil too), are actually your bodies preferred source of fuel (fish oils and MCTs from coconut oil are required for the brain which uses approximately 20% of all the bodies energy). They also contain vital nutrients (like vitamins D, E and K, and all the Omega oils)

Balancing your blood sugar by cutting refined carbohydrates, and stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine, drinking more water, increasing fibre intake, and ensuring that you get enough vitamins B complex, C (with bioflavonoids) & D3 as well as magnesium and chromium helps massively. It will also prevent type II diabetes. Studies have shown that people with optimal blood serum levels of D3 do not lay down fat the same way as those with lower levels (mind you, an estimated 80% of the northern hemisphere – specifically above the 52nd latitude of the earth – are thought to be running very low on this hormone misclassed as a vitamin).

Sweeteners are bad too, Aspartame is supposed to interfere with your bodies ability to tell when the stomach is full.

Lastly, but certainly not least, sensible portion sizes (eat little and often – this speeds up metabolism), not eating too late at night, fresh air, sunshine (for vitamin D3 – best time is when the sun is directly overhead & your shadow is shorter than you on the ground, 5-15 mins depending on how dark your skin is) and EXERCISE!! Get the heart rate up!

(ps, if you are taking prescribed medicines check the safety data to see if water retention or weight gain is listed as a side effect, sometimes this can lead to you hitting a wall in your attempts to lose weight)

Best of luck to anyone trying to lose weight.. I went from 12st 6 to 9st in a little over a year (although 1 stone of that was in 3 weeks from coming off oral contraceptives). And have kept it all off for 3 years so far, and it really wasn’t that difficult.

If I can do it, anyone else can too (and I still eat chocolate, daily!)

All of the above is valuable information but to lose weight and keep it off is easier for some than for others because we are all different and this never seems to be recognised in these pieces of research. Also, age is a factor and even ethnicity. I think everyone wanting to lose weight needs to think of what they realistically can attain and be happy with that so long as its healthy. We need to find out what works for us and stick to that. For me, I need to practice listening to my body when it tells me I’m full (including giving it time to do so!) and avoiding food I know isn’t good for me. I also need to walk and exercise when I can and as often as I can and not beat myself up when I can’t! And I need to remember to enjoy life – there’s more to life than calorie counting! When I’m dead I hope to be remembered by the people in my life for more than my weight management!