Key principles to losing weight

You can lose those extra kilograms easily on two conditions: change your dietary habits and increase the amount of exercise you do. If you don’t do any exercise at the moment, you don’t necessarily have to start playing a sport. A daily walk or a quick swim every week can be really effective.
Note that if you want to lose five kilos or more, you should consult a doctor or a dietician as you will need some kind of medical supervision.
To lose weight, you need to stick to some key principles:

• Give yourself time, at least a month for losing two or three kilos,

• Plan for when you are likely to crave junk food and when you get tired,

• Stick to your diet from the start,

• Avoid vitamin and mineral deficiencies,

• Don’t take medication for slimming and avoid products labelled as “diet”,

• Make sure eating is still a pleasure!

Changing your diet in order to lose weight means you will need to reduce your calorie intake slightly, cutting down on fatty foods and fast burning sugars. Above all, you need to get into healthy habits by sticking to a few simple rules.

• Don’t skip meals, especially not breakfast! Have a light meal in the evenings.

• Include carbohydrates in every meal: pasta, rice, potatoes or bread. These will fill you up and give your body the energy it needs, as well as providing it with fibre. On the other hand, the foods which often accompany carbohydrates should be avoided; like sauces, butter, cheese, etc. You should eat carbohydrates by themselves or with fat free and sugar free seasoning.

• Avoid all fizzy drinks.

• Avoid spirits and beer. You can continue to drink wine, preferably red, but stick to just one glass a day.

• Avoid eating out as it is really difficult to eat healthily if you don’t cook meals yourself. Restaurants are sometimes a viable option, but it is tricky at friends’ houses. If you cook a hearty meal for your friends, make sure you limit your portion size and don’t go back for seconds!

• Choose lean meat and eat poultry (without the skin), fish and shellfish rather than red meat.

• Be careful of hidden fat: avoid all meat dishes with rich sauces, creamy side-dishes like potato gratin, chips, chocolate, confectionery, cakes, ice cream and sugary snack bars.

• Eat as many vegetables as you like and in all forms: raw, cooked or in soups.

The best ways to cook food healthily:

• Grill or roast your meat.

• Grill, bake or microwave fish, or cook it in foil.

• Steam, braise or microwave vegetables.

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