Think thin
Marissa Peer, author of ‘You Can Be Thin’, £9.99 and resident hypnotherapist on ITV’s Celebrity Fit Club, says to get to your ideal shape, you need to picture yourself at that size and weight, wearing your wedding dress on your big day. ‘Really visualise how incredible you look and how perfectly your dress fits, and hear all the compliments from friends and family telling you how beautiful you look. Make the image as detailed as possible and practise the visualisation several times a day until you can see it really clearly. By focusing on this, choosing to eat foods which make that image a reality will be easy.’
Brush your teeth
If you can’t stop munching in the evenings, start brushing your teeth as soon as you’ve finished your dinner. This signals to your brain that eating is over and when your mouth feels fresh and minty, you don’t feel like stuffing it with crisps and chocolate! Any toothpaste will do but if you’re still getting sugar cravings, try Diet-Aid Toothpaste, £5.99. It contains chromium which helps stabilize blood sugar levels and control your appetite.
Get ‘waist-ed’
One of my super-skinny friends taught me this trick for keeping your eating in check. Before you get dressed in the morning, tie a piece of ribbon around your waist, so that it is snug but not tight. If you eat too much, you’ll feel the ribbon around your tummy which will remind you you’ve had enough and make you put down that second slice of cake!
Dear diary
It’s easy to kid yourself about how much you’re eating and then wonder why you’re not losing weight. We remember the meals we’ve had but we forget about all the little extras in between – those biscuits passed round in the office, the handful of fries you sneaked from your fiancé’s plate. The best way to get real about what you’re eating is to start keeping a food diary and write down everything you eat – and drink (that daily latté could have nearly 10g of fat in it!) Once you’ve got a clear log of what you’re eating, you can look for patterns and work out how to fix your weak spots.
Paint your nails
If your food diary shows you tend to fall off the wagon in the evenings, when you’re sitting in front of the TV for example, you need to create a new habit to break the eat-a-whole-tub-of-Pringles habit! Something like painting you nails and massaging in hand cream is great because it makes you look and feel better, keeps your hands busy and distracts you from snacking unnecessarily. Plus, have you ever tried eating a packet of crisps without smudging your nail polish?!
Get help!
Research has shown that people who get support when dieting have more success in losing weight – and keeping it off – than those who go it alone. If you don’t fancy the weekly weigh-ins at a face-to-face slimming club, join an online diet club instead. UK Diet club devises a personalised meal plan for you every week, taking into account the foods you like and loathe, and how much weight you want to drop. You can also chat and share tips with other members in the online support groups 24 hours a day so whenever you feel you tempted to gorge on biscuits, there’s someone there to keep you on track!
Learn about the new fitness craze, drums alive, here.
