Kerry Withoos, Accredited Practising Dietitian

bun

Top 10 Tips to Healthy Weight Loss

With my weight loss email service, I provide daily feedback on your emailed food diaries, with advice & suggestions on your choices and motivation and support for your most successful weight loss journey. Please click on the getting started tab for information.

My Top Tips for Weight Loss

Tip no. 1

Eat every 3 - 4 hours
Regular meals and snacks of appropriate potion sizes will help stabilise blood sugar levels helping to prevent cravings, increasing your metabolism and ensuring you are not starving hungry before your next meal or snack which may lead to overeating.

Tip no. 2

Start each day with a healthy, high fibre breakfast.
Eating breakfast as soon as possible will help fire up your metabolism which has slowed overnight – very important for weight loss. A healthy breakfast will provide important nutrients such as dietary fibre needed to help stabilise blood sugar levels [to prevent cravings later on] and keep you feeling fuller for longer. I have a long list of healthy breakfast options.

Tip no. 3

Decrease your fat intake
Fat is extremely energy dense with double the calories than either protein or carbohydrate. Reducing fat in your diet is an important step for helping create that daily calorie deficit required for a steady weight loss.

How to cut the fats:
It is most important to reduce saturated fat.
Saturated fats increase blood cholesterol, increase your risk of heart disease and, if overconsumed, are readily stored as body fat.
Limit:

  • Butter, cream, full-fat dairy products (including cheese, milk, yoghurt) [choose low fat/fat free dairy]
  • Fatty meats, deli meats (including salami, bacon, sausages etc) [choose lean ham, chicken breast, trimmed meats]
  • Commercial products [including cakes, biscuits, pastries etc] and take-away foods
  • Coconut and palm oil

Choose:
Monounsaturated fats can help to lower cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease. Choose small amounts of olive & canola oils and margarines, avocado and nuts.
Polyunsaturated fats can also help reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. Omega 3 fats can help reduce high blood triglycerides, blood pressure, risk of blood clots and arrhythmia (irregular heart beat). Sources include: oily fish [eg Atlantic salmon, mackerel, tuna], canola oils and margarines and linseeds. Other sources of polyunsaturated fats include sunflower and safflower oils and polyunsaturated margarines.

Tip no. 4

Watch portion sizes
Large portion sizes is often the number one reason why the scales refuse to budge. I can help you with your correct portion sizes for each of your meals and snacks.

Tip no. 5

Don’t drink your calories
A glass of orange juice or soft drink can have the same number of calories as 2 Weet-Bix and milk! Choose water – add diet lemon slices to enhance the flavour. Adequate water throughout the day will ensure that your metabolism is running optimally.

Tip no. 6

Choose the right kind of snacks
Many snacks marketed as healthy are loaded with fat and sugar. For example, an oat bar from the health food aisle contains half your daily fat allowance and as many calories as a large McDonalds meal! My snack list will ensure you are consuming the healthiest in between meal snack options

Tip no. 7

Read food labels
Take particular note of the sugar and fat content on food labels. Look for foods with less than 10g of sugar per 100g [ideally less than 5g] and less than 10g fat per 100g [ideally less than 3g].

Tip no. 8

Plan your meals and snacks
Planning your menu the day before will help ensure that you stay in control of what you are eating. I can help you with your meal planning

Tip no 9

Include 2 fruits, 5 veggies and 2 – 3 serves low fat dairy each day
This will ensure you are getting the right amount of fibre and micronutrients to ensure optimum weight loss. Studies have shown that 2 – 3 serves of low fat dairy each day results in greater overall weight loss.

Tip no. 10

Move as much as possible
Exercise burns calories, reduces appetite, reduces blood sugar levels, lowers cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, strengthens bones, elevates mood, keeps the metabolism high and much more. Aim for 30 minutes planned exercise (such as walking) every day for optimum weight loss and increase your incidental activity – a pedometer is a fantastic motivator – aim for 10,000 steps each day.

To get started with your weight loss journey, please click on the getting started tab.