One friend really made me shake my head in puzzlement at his posts recently. He posted at least ten posts on the Valentines meal he was preparing for his wife. This included recipes, cooking tips and a blow by blow of the meal as it progressed. And apparently it went very well.

But then over the next few days he was telling everyone how he needed to get into the gym.

His writing about the food was way more enthusiastic and passionate than his comments about the gym so it’s not difficult work out what he enjoys more.  Funnily enough both his and his wife’s waistlines tend to agree.

Don’t get me wrong, I love food, but I love being slim and healthy more, what about you?

Posted by Stephen

Is it right away? The very moment you decide to get slim because you want to be slim now, or do you have one last day of eating ‘normally’ (and we all know that means a day of overeating, right?)?

Or maybe you tell yourself you’ll cut back over the next few days because there’s no point trying to diet yet because you’ve got that party/wedding coming up next weekend, so you’ll start properly after that….

How many excuses can you give to put it off and stay fat?

Successful dieters decided they wanted to be slim and start now, not tomorrow or next week (or worse still Monday) but now. So when do you want to start getting slim?

Posted by Dawn

Being slim will probably not dramatically improve your love life, your finances, make your partner perfect or get your kids to behave! I’m not saying that being slim doesn’t give me happiness, it does.

I have to admit there’s nothing quite like shopping in any high street store and knowing their size 10 jeans will fit, but what I have also discovered is that I am still me, my life is still my life. What I mean is, I still have problems, I still argue with my daughter and I haven’t paid off all my credit card bills, but whilst still dealing with these daily problems at least I’m doing it feeling great about the way I look!!

So get realistic. Why do you really want to slim? Because if you think it will be the answer to all of your problems, then maybe this is why you’ve never been successful before?

Posted by Dawn

To put it directly, passion creates results.

The greater your passion the greater the amount of time and energy you put into something. What strikes me is that most dieters talk more passionately about their favourite foods than they talk about being slim.

It frankly cheeses me off when I hear someone say, “I want to be slim for my holiday” and then two minutes later start gushing about how much they love chocolate.

Get a grip everyone, you will be fat on your holiday if you think like that.

What are you more passionate about?

Posted by Stephen

When you solve WHY you eat you will join the ranks of those slim people who stay slim without thinking about it.

Posted by Stephen

So the moral of the story is – it’s your life and to be in charge of your life you have to take charge and not let anyone run it for you.

Posted by Stephen

This makes me smile because I used to do exactly the same.  I would be looking through the cupboard or the fridge for something to snack on even though I wasn’t hungry.  I told myself that it was ok, because I was going to do this just one last time and then I’ll get right back on track!

What rubbish!! If you are telling yourself this, then once again you’re kidding yourself.

When it comes to being slim tomorrow never comes

If you want to be slim it starts now, not tomorrow or worse still Monday!

The most successful dieters I know didn’t start their diet on a Monday.

To understand the reasons why you find yourself zombie like in front of the food cupboard or fridge then see Chapter 3 – Mind of a Dieter in the Toolkit.

Posted by Dawn. Read Dawn’s story

Deadly middle-aged spread weight

Don’t get complacent about creeping weight gain, warn scientists – it could cut your chances of a healthy old age by nearly 80 per cent.

Until now the proud boast of a middle aged woman who can say she has been the same weight all her life, might have been dismissed as little more than vanity by those not similarly blessed (or as careful with calories).

However scientists from Harvard University argue that there are real health benefits to be gained from maintaining a stable weight. Their study, published in the British Medical Journal, reveals that the more weight you put on from the age of 18 until middle age, the less chance you have of a long and healthy life.

They analysed data based on the comprehensive bi-annual monitoring of more than 17,000 middle-aged women in the United States as part of the Nurses Health Study.

The researchers defined ‘healthy survival’ as living to the age of 70 or older, while being free of major chronic diseases and with good cognitive, physical and mental health. By comparison, their definition of ‘usual survival’ referred to those who survived to the age of 70 or older but did not meet these criteria.

They defined slim women as those with a body mass index (BMI) of under 22.9 and obese women as those with a BMI of 30+. The latter group’s chances of surviving into a healthy old age were slashed by 79 per cent as compared with the slim women, the study found. Women whose weight continued to increase after the age of 18 faced a reduction of five per cent for each kilo gained.

However, if you were slender at 18 but are a little more portly now, it’s not a cause for celebration. If you’ve gained 10 kilos by middle age, you may also have reduced your chances of making it into a healthy old age by up to 59 per cent.

The authors say their study shows the importance of maintaining a stable healthy weight from young adulthood onwards.

Commenting on the study’s findings, the National Obesity Forum’s Dr David Haslam says:

“We live in a time when life expectancy is increasing due to improvements in the environment and medical science, but we’re now learning that due to the rise in obesity levels the trend may be about to reverse.

“The current adult population of the UK will lose a cumulative 100,000,000 years of life due to excess weight, and the only way for someone to avoid excess risk of illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease is to start lean, and stay lean, but for the rest of us it emphasises the importance of simple dietary measures, and especially physical activity, in order to stay as healthy as possible.”

Posted by Stephen