Pre - Diet Checks

Before I start on any weight loss course, I spend a little while, maybe a day or two prior the event in preparing and making sure I have everything I need. Nothing beats proper planning and preparation. So I go through a list of foodstuffs and supplies that I know I will need for the first week stock them up and take it from there. I think you are more likely to fail in your attempts at losing weight or dieting if you prefer the term, if you haven’t made every effort to support yourself beforehand.

So here is the outline of my plan, which works for me every time

Foodstuffs

Cut out all processed food

Avoid potatoes and potato products

Avoid refined sugar.

Avoid wheat and wheat products, bread, sauces with flour etc

Avoid processed hydrogenated oils and Trans fats (no spreads or margarine)

Cut right down on dairy

Decrease salt intake as much as I can and substitute with herbs and spices, particularly thermogenic and diuretic herbs (I am a sea salt addict)

Limit alcohol – no beer, cider. A little wine or gin (this always works for me and prevents mental breakdown).

Increase lean meats (turkey, chicken, beef, and pork)

Increase fish consumption (particularly wild fish where possible for adequate intake of omega 3 fats)

Increase green vegetables and leaves

Increase fresh fruit intake

Increase consumption of nuts and seeds

Increase water intake and fresh vegetable juices

Use home made herbal teas and green tea as a beverage

In general, keep everything as basic and as close to nature as is possible.

Exercise

Gently increasing to moderately

Stretch

Now you may feel that everything I have just listed constitutes a dieters prison sentence. Believe me it is not. From tomorrow I will be starting the diet diary, and daily weight loss record. Check in every day to see what I have been doing and eating (I will probably even throw in a few photos for you). I realise that unlike some of you who will be reading this, I only have a small amount of weight poundage to shed, but throughout the blog from here on in, we will be looking at many different approaches to controlling obesity, weight loss and dieting. Not all things suit all people, but something will.

Why did I start this blog

A day or so back, I overheard a couple discussing how they had overdone it again during the Christmas holiday. The conversation had preambled along until it became apparent that both dreaded trying to shed the pounds after the festive binging.

In my earlier post I mentioned that I had lost quite a lot of weight some years back and since then I have never really had any trouble keeping my own weight down.

Now earlier in the day, a while before I heard this couple discussing the perils of dieting and their struggle with weight loss, I had been reflecting on the events of the previous three months. Those three months had been quite a tough time for me as far as business is concerned (I am a photographer), and I had spent some long hours trying to meet deadlines. During this time I suppose my guard was down and I hadn’t really made too many good choices about diet and nutrition.

A quick check with the scales indicated that I need to shed around eight or nine pounds to get back where I feel most comfortable.

This isn’t a problem for me, I know what to eat and how to exercise to reach that goal, and I have decided to get there during January. So I came up with the idea of this blog, to both ground my thoughts and as a model for others to see how I am doing.

So from January first I will post a daily diary of my thoughts, moods, the foods I am eating, my recipes for my meals and also the type and extent of the exercise I will be involved in. I know that the blog is new and the readership almost zero, but the thirty one days from January first should provide some interesting reading and may serve as the basis for a future publication if I feel its right.

Welcome to a Healthier, Fitter Future

Throughout this blog, I will be exploring dieting and fitness, weight loss, detox plans, ways of overcoming obesity, and revealing diets that worked for me and diets that didn’t. I will share with you just how I discovered healthy living without junk food and learned to get lean and fit, losing over forty six pounds without any real hardship and keep the weight off without fad diets. If you are overweight, fed up with dieting and fad diets that don’t work, stick with me, subscribe and get healthy and loose the weight.