The thing about dieting...

The thing about dieting is it would actually be better if you didn't have to do it. I would recommend, if at all possible, not to get fat in the first place. If I hadn't eaten my way through two American states I wouldn't have found myself three kilos heavier! I did thoroughly enjoy sampling new culinary delights (especially peanut butter inspired sweets) but you can enjoy yourself and then some and it's always the then some that gets you into trouble.

Failing not putting on weight in the first place (and that's probably the case if you're reading this) if you find yourself in a situation where you do need to diet, then the other thing about dieting is, you actually have to do it! You actually have to say no to delightful cookies that people offer you or glasses of Spanish wine. It's not really that fun. And  if you take too many days off then the diet just seems to go on forever. Trust me, I have been doing a thirty-day diet and writing it on facebook. I think I started on around March 30th, it's now May 24th. So by the time I'm actually finished my 30 days of dieting it will have taken me pretty much two months instead of one. FOREVER.

On the other hand...it's actually made it a lot more bearable doing it this way and I will be fine to continue once my thirty days are up until I reach my goal weight. You can expect to lose about half a kilo a week on a diet. Give or take, depending on how big you are and how much you've got to lose. That's basically what I've done but it's taken eight weeks instead of four because I have been giving myself too many diet holidays! So you need to find a balance between keeping motivated to stick to your eating plan whilst retaining sanity and some kind of a social life.

One more thing about dieting - the scales lie! I mean it. Don't believe them. As a female in particular I can easily go up and down a kilo or two without doing anything different. For this diet, I have hardly lost any weight according to the scales but I've lost 6 cm off my waist according to the measuring tape! (Am I proud of it - hell yeah). So you need to do some measurements or pull out an old pair of jeans you want to get back into and follow your progress that way. If you constantly look at the scales you might just get disappointed and then want to give up. You can still check them sometimes but try to make it once a week at most.

The other things about dieting I noticed on my thirty days was... if I was too extreme on what I cut out then I was also too extreme on my days off and tended to binge on things that I wouldn't normally eat, so I think being reasonable about what you are going to avoid works best. The last thing is, eat breakfast. Eat a good breakfast. I noticed that on the days that I ate a proper breakfast (not toast) I was much more successful throughout the rest of the day.

The thing about dieting is, it is actually worth developing a healthy relationship with food and learning to enjoy food that is fresh and full of nutrients. And if you keep aiming for that then your body will thank you!

Crunchy & Spicy Tuna Salad

 If you think you can't handle another tuna salad - try this one.

Ingredients:

2 celery sticks
1/4 red capsicum
1 spring onion
1/2 dozen snow peas
185g tin tuna

Dressing:

1 dessert spoon soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 a small red chilli, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
thumbnail's worth of ginger, minced
a few coriander or mint leaves if you have them, minced

Slice all the vegetables thinly, crumble the tuna and then mix everything together with the dressing really thoroughly.

Mac's five tips for sticking to a successful diet

1. Pick a diet...

Type "diet" into google and you will get 290,000,000 results. It is estimated that one in four Australians are on a diet at any one time. There is a mind boggling number of options out there and they swing in and out of fashion so it can be difficult to know which is best for you. I can't tell you which one is best but I can let you in on a secret, they all work. Well, excluding the ones that are bat-shit insane, cabbage soup diet, the lemon detox diet I am looking at you here, almsot all diets will work, so pick the one that suits you best. The trick is to pick one, buy the book, do some research, ask some questions and then stick with it. You can't do Atkins in the morning, a low-carb lunch and then weight watchers for dinner.

2. ... and stick to it.

An awesome study found that the single defining characteristic of ALL succsesful diets, the one thing that every single one of the successful test subjects had in common was that they stuck to the diet. Their macro nutrient profiles all differed, the amount of excercise, supplement use, how often they had cheat days, none of this was as important as simply keeping to the plan. By the way, the four diets in that study are the four that I would recommend, they pretty much cover the spectrum of sensible eating options. (Atkins, Zone, Ornish and "traditional". For the traditional I would go with the C.S.I.R.O version).

3. Know what's happening

Screw your weight. Seriously, you don't actually care about what you weigh. Try this thought experiment, would you rather look like you lost 10 kilos but not have your weight shift? Or look like you gained 10 kilograms but you actually lost it? Right, so size is much more important than actual weight, but weight is really easy to measure so we tend to focus on that. I am guilty of this as well, talking about gaining weight or losing it when what we are actually aiming for is to change shape. So less focus on weight, more focus on shape. Get me or one of the crew to take your measurements, boobs, bum, belly and bicep and then redo them at four week intervals - sometimes the difference will amaze you because the scales reported no change but your stomach is six centimetres smaller. Of course the easiest way to check this sort of stuff is sticking a pair of jeans on, denim doesn't lie.

4. Get your boy scout on

Be prepared! And be aware that the more dramatic the change to your regular eating habits are the more prepration will help. If you can plan your meals ahead by a few days you can make sure you have all the neccasary ingredients to hand which makes take-out pizza easier to avoid. If you work crazy hours or just can't control when or where lunch is going to happen, bring it with you from home. Stick a protein shake or a handful of almonds in your handbag or backpack so you have a healthy option if you need a snack. I get nervous if I dont know when my next meal is coming and tend towards overeating on the off chance my next snack will be a while so for me a little pre-preperation goes a long way. Spending a little more time on making food you will be happy to eat makes this whole diet thing much much easier to stick with.

5. Realistic goals, sensible rewards

Don't go down a nutritional path with ridgid preset goals. You are better off trying your best for six to eight weeks and then assessing what has hapened and setting your goals from there. Someone who has never lifted weights wouldn't be able to set a realistic goal for improving the bench press, they don't know how strong they are or how their bodies will react to training. Dieting is the same way, you dont know how how easy the weight falls off or how well you can stick to it. Don't set yourself up for disapointment by setting unrealistic goals.. The other side of that coin is rewarding yourself when you have done well. Not with food. Not with food. Not with food. Seriously, the number of times I have had clients say "I was good all week so I had a choclate cake, three pizzas and a coke." Don't do that. If you really really want to eat something then maybe you should, in moderation. But DON'T reward yourself with sugary snacks, it is so easy to set up an unhealthy relationship to food anyway, no need for the extra reinforcement.

See you in the Gym!

A Little Weight-loss Tip

Now I know that Mac is brewing up a storm of information for you about male and female diets and is probably going to hit hard with some home truths but I wanted to share one little thing that is really important about eating, while I am still in with a chance: SIT DOWN TO EAT

Don't eat on the run

Don't eat at your desk

Don't eat while you're walking

Don't eat while you're driving

Don't eat at the kitchen bench

Don't eat in the supermarket

Don't eat in front of the TV or the computer

If you just sit down to eat - preferably at a table - you will enjoy your food more and you will feel fuller because of it.

That's my little tip anyway, try it!

Lynsey