Lose weight without losing yourself

By Bob Otieno

There is a common misconception that weight loss involves deprivation. It is ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

If your diet consists of burgers, fries and milkshakes every day, you certainly need to deprive yourself.

However, most people do not have such extremely unhealthy diets and therefore don’t need to make a lot of changes.

Losing weight does not necessarily mean, you settle for boring, tasteless food. You can indulge, occasionally, while still on a weight loss programme. Here are useful guidelines:

1. Eat the foods that give you pleasure, but in limited quantities. Eating mouth-watering food is a sensuous experience for many people. There is no point cutting out good food if you’re going to feel miserable about it. You’ll just end up overeating in compensation so you might as well eat small quantities of your favourite foods.

2. Never eat food on the run. Take the time out to enjoy a meal so that you get the maximum satisfaction from it. Chew your food properly and eat it off a pretty plate. Stay away from the TV when having your meals or you’ll just keep shoveling food in.

3. Stick to cuisines and recipes that don’t involve a lot of deep frying or roasting. There are many delicious foods that don’t require a lot of fat while cooking them. Take a little effort to find out about these foods so that you can enjoy delicious meals that are not packed with calories.

4. Make low calorie substitutions whenever possible. It is possible to make most dishes without using high-calorie ingredients or a lot of fat.

A little creativity is all you need. If you use whole grain flour in place of refined flour, then add extra milk or water to it to make it light.

 Similarly, some sauces like apple can be used to replace some (but not all) of the fat that goes into your batter for cakes.

5. Do not stock unhealthy snacks at home. If you don’t buy crisps, cakes, biscuits and the like, there is no chance of reaching for them when you have a craving. Instead, stock healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables, unsalted almonds and nuts.

You’ll find it very easy to lose weight and stay healthy if you have the right attitude towards food nutrition. 

Never make the mistake of dieting obsessively. If you punish yourself whenever you eat a bit more than you ought to, you’ll just be putting a lot of pressure on yourself.

At the end of the day, dieting should have a fun aspect; otherwise you will feel like you are enslaving yourself.