I need to lose some weight. At my last visit to the bathroom scales, I recorded 15 stone, and I’d ideally like to shave at least two stone off that figure. It’s a shame because, a couple of years ago, I succeeded in losing more than four stone, getting down to 12 stone 9 pounds from 17. Then summer 2022 arrived, the temperatures soared, and I spent more time cooling off in a beer garden with friends than sweating it out at the gym.
It happens to the best of us. And when it comes to losing weight, there are vast swathes of resources purporting to help you - from books and podcasts, to diets and exercise regimes. Many such resources can be helpful, but many are a waste of time. Why? Because shedding weight is, ultimately, simple: you need to create a calorie deficit.
I say this with no qualifications in personal training, and I am not a registered dietician, either. Instead, I speak with aforementioned experience. And although everybody is different - and, indeed, every 'body' is unique - operating in a calorie deficit should enable you to drop pounds.
Naturally, it’s easy to calculate how many calories you are consuming, but what about calories expended? A simple fitness device such as a FitBit is an excellent and accurate way to gauge this. Start by wearing it for a few days, whether you are active or sedentary, and monitor your metabolism. All of these devices come with dedicated smartphone apps, too, so it’s easy to log what you are eating. Once you’ve got an idea of your calories in/calories out ratio, you can then start to make changes, such as adding physical activity to boost your metabolism and grow your deficit.
There are ways in which to speed up your metabolism, and I find drinking coffee a tasty and effective way of burning extra calories. Just don’t mention the jitters…
I have a plan in place, then, and it’s a plan that worked wonders for me last time. A medical complaint has meant I have not been able to undertake rigorous exercise for a while, but I’m hopefully on the mend, and with the onset of Spring and the better weather, going out for a stroll seems rather more appetising. Walking is such a fantastic, and yet simple, activity. This is important: finding an exercise regime that you enjoy and can maintain will serve you far better in the long-run than a more intense but ultimately less pleasurable one.
So, sack the diet, throw the book in the bin and invest in a FitBit. Once you are consistently burning more energy than you’re consuming, you should start to see results on the scales.
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