5 Incredibly Good Steps

1. I won't get fooled again

People have been concerned about excess weight since 1864 when William Banting published his book Letter on Corpulence. At that time only the rich could afford to be overweight. Now everyone can. As you can only make money from selling a product, not common sense, it is no wonder that people are confused. History has taught us that there has never been a weight loss breakthrough. It is reasonable to suggest, there is unlikely to be a healthy, simple new idea or product that will cause body fat loss in most overweight people. You can buy:

• Books
• Products (creams, tablets, drinks)
• Cellulite creams
• Exercise machines

but all these will prove disappointing. Remember Cellesene, the cellulite removal pills that every woman with a less-than-perfect thigh needed in 1998? With its mixture of gingko biloba, red clover, evening primrose oil, and fish oils, Cellasene enticed vulnerable overweight women. It claimed to assist weight loss and help get rid of the mythical cellulite (which, incidentally, is just body fat). There is no easy solution for overweight. It is going to be a lot of hard work.

2. Food freedom

All of the evidence suggests that weight control can only be achieved by getting the right balance of healthy eating and activity. It becomes a self-managed lifestyle. Weight loss success requires a change in attitude and lifestyle. This is the fundamental reason why success is so rare.

It is very easy to assume that excess body fat will respond to food restrictions (dieting). This has never, ever worked. The first step to successful weight control is in the head. First there must be acceptance that all the food available is 'good for you'. That is, there is no 'good' food or 'bad' food. Most of the foods that people label as 'bad' are extremely palatable and desirable so it is unrealistic that these foods can be deleted from the diet.

If all food is seen as 'good' then food loses its power to make people feel ashamed or guilty. This is a freedom from the power of food. The trick is to learn to eat foods in the amounts that are good for health. Plenty of fruits and vegetables ... you know the rest of the story. Most people have the view that "There is no such thing as a food that's good or bad for health; it is your overall diet affects your health". This is a good platform on which to base food choices.

The research evidence to date indicates that how you view your food may well have started in childhood. If certain foods where often banned, withheld when you were ban, or given only as rewards, then these foods became highly desired. These foods are usually snack foods, confectionery, ice cream or fast foods. You aim is to reduce the status of these foods so they no longer have a power over you.

There are many people who believe we should ban or tax 'unhealthy' food. The Dietary Guidelines for Australians states: "The guidelines apply to the total diet, and it is not appropriate to use them to assess the 'healthiness' of individual food items". Deeming a food to be unhealthy runs counter to the guidelines developed by the National Health & Medical Research Council. It also encourages shame and guilt.

3. Food strategies

There is one immutable law of body fat loss:

The kilojoules consumed has to be consistently less than the kilojoules burned.

How you achieve the immutable law of body fat loss is by:

1. Burning more kilojoules via exercise;
2. Consuming less kilojoules by eating less; or
3. A combination of the two

Successful people achieve lower body fat levels by choosing technique #3. Those that lose weight for a short time only do so because they cannot make the change permanent.

It is now well established that the fat in food is quite easy to convert to body fat while carbohydrate and excess protein are generally used for energy production. Here, it must be noted that carbohydrates include sugars and starches, therefore sugar in modest amounts is unlikely to be fattening.

Fat also has a poor feedback mechanism on appetite so it is easy to over-consume fatty foods before they satisfy the appetite. Carbohydrate and protein are much more efficient at telling the body when it is full so they tend not to be over-consumed.

There is also evidence that we are conditioned to eat the same volume of food each day, so if the meals are high in fat more calories are consumed than if they were high in carbohydrate, protein or water (eg fruits and vegetables are around 90% water).

Why reduce fat intake?

• Fat is energy (calorie) dense having twice the calories as carbohydrate or protein.
• Fat is easy to convert to body fat.
• Fat is less satisfying to the appetite compared to carbohydrate and protein.
• Fatty foods (eg pastries, cakes) generally have a low water content. High water content foods seem to have a greater ability to satisfy the appetite than high fat foods.
• Keeping the fat, especially saturated fat, intake low may be the best nutrition strategy for long-term body fat loss.
• Saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease

Why encourage carbohydrate foods?

• They satisfy the appetite better than fatty foods.
• They are your major source of antioxidants through fruit, vegetables and cereals
• Minimally processed carbohydrate foods are difficult to over consume

4. Activity is paramount

It is important that the body receives daily activity. This sometimes confused with exercise, with the impression that there needs to be set times of vigorous activity. Activity means that the body is on the move frequently through the day. It might take the form of walking, jogging, swimming, or going to the gym, but it may take the form of walking around the office every 30 minutes, doing some stretches in your chair, gardening or lifting some light weights.

For successful long-term weight loss, it is likely than 60 minutes of daily activity is required.

Why activity helps control weight:

• The more activity done, the fitter a person becomes. Improved fitness makes the body a more efficient 'fat burner'.
• Any activity that increases muscle mass eg bike riding, swimming, light weight-training tends to increase basal metabolic rate and a higher BMR means more calories burned during the day. Weight bearing activity also increases bone density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
• Moderate activity tends to 'dampen' the appetite so that less food is eaten. Higher levels of activity may increase appetite but only to match the calories 'burned'.
• Improved fitness helps deal with the stresses of life such that food or alcohol are less likely to be used as a 'crutch'

5. Self management

It is important that an overweight person 'owns' both the problem and the solution. This is a problem that won't disappear by throwing money at it. Money can buy good advice to start on the road to success, but it isn't the means to success. Once personal responsibility for weight control is accepted then:

• Look in the mirror. Be realistic about an achievable goal weight.
• Also, be realistic about how long it will take to reach that goal weight. Most successful people take 6-12 months, often longer. One kilo a month doesn't sound like much, but that is 12 kg a year and most people would be very happy with that result.
• Get support. Most successful people engage supportive people to give encouragement and help avoid saboteurs (those people, often family members, who don't like to see someone successfully losing body fat).
• Be unwavering in the determination to succeed. 'Just do it' is the single solution to almost everything, not just selling running shoes.
• Self-management is the most successful means of achieving weight control. It is free of charge, that's why no-one can sell it and no-one can buy it. And that's why it is not often discussed.