Hi Kathryn, great to see you blogging more again. I always love to read your thoughts.

For me, losing weight is a combination of adjusting my regular diet to skew more towards vegetables and “taking the healthy option” (which wasn’t too difficult), and — far more importantly — portion control.

So on the rare occasion I do have mass-market take-away, I tell myself that it’s OK to “waste” a bit of money by not getting the supersize meal, and not getting that second burger because “I can’t decide which one to have and I want them both”.

At home, too, it’s OK not to fill my plate, it’s not a crime to leave some empty space. Second helpings are Right Out (that’s tomorrow’s lunch!), and where possible just buying less food to cook for dinner (which can be tricky when every recipe pack deals in “serves 4” and there’s only two people in the house).

Physical activity is also important, but it can never feel like any sort of a punishment (which for a non-exertion-loving person like me, is far too often the case). Rather than exercise for exercising’s sake, we’re trying to get involved in forms of recreation that incorporate exercise. For a gadget-lover like me, the Internet-mediated treasure hunt known as “Geocaching” is a near-perfect activity, and with summer coming I’m getting back into some recreational kayaking.

Don’t let an increase in physical activity lull you into a false sense of security, though — exercise doesn’t burn all that many calories as a percentage of your daily “resting” energy needs. It was a rude and unpleasant shock when I actually examined the energy-burning potential of exercise — it’s not really all that big. To increase my energy use by 10% (compared to just sitting on my bum all day) I’ve got to go for 45 minutes of brisk walking. Booooring. It’s far easier to not eat those 2 lines of coconut rough chocolate (this week’s treat), or only two-thirds fill the dinner bowl rather than piling it up to the top.

For me, exercise is for health, and eating less/eating better is for weight loss. That one benefits on the other is just an added bonus.

I believe that weight loss can only be sustainable if you lose it slowly. That indicates that you have made fundamenatal changes in lifestyle and eating habits, rather than hooking into a quick fix kind of diet where you lose lots of weight but gain it back, possibly more, within weeks or months after you finish the diet.

I lost 22 pounds in a year with the help of a very wise nutritionist who counseled eating what I wanted but in much smaller quantites. Denying yourself just sets you up for binge eating. I eat lots of vegetables and I don’t happen to have a sweet tooth at all, but carbohydrates are my bete noir. Small pasta dish, bit of potato isn’t really a big deal, just don’t over do it. I cook far less meat than I used to, replacing it with legumes and tofu.

I think baby steps are the way to really do it in a way that allows you to stick to something. You might be thrilled with the 10 lbs you lost in 2 weeks because you starved yourself,but chances are you will gain it back and then some when your inevitably go off the “diet”.

Eat right and you will be fine.

My fave weight loss advice comes from Nigella Lawson. (Yes, well, I am fully aware of the hilarious irony…anyhoo…) She suggests that you simply stop drinking alcohol. Lawson’s reasons are all calorie-based, but the other reason I like the advice a great deal is that you have far more control over yourself and your cravings when stone cold sober. I find that it’s far easier to say no to the bad when I’m being Saintly and Good!

Well, after being the skinniest kid on the block and then the skinniest (and probably also the most flat-chested) teenager on the block, I moved on to having a reasonably slim shape in my twenties but now have (the privilege of owning) a muffin-top :-(
I emailed you about it earlier, and also googled quite a bit on health & fitness. I now realise -
1. I was “slim” in my 20s thanks to all the sport and running around I did as a child.
2. I have a flabby stomach (in my 30s) thanks to the zero physical activity and loads of junk food I ate in my 20s.
3. Eating a healthful diet and doing the most minimum of physical activity will still give me a figure to like.

Moral of my not-so-short comment – I have to be aware of my body needs. I don’t need to hit the gym. Housework + 20 mins of daily aerobic exercise + staying away from fizzy drinks/MacD keeps me fit and healthy. I still can’t do push-ups or cycle up a slope but I don’t start huffing and puffing after carrying the grocery loads either.
I agree with your statement that we all need to find our own golden mean… in my case, it took me a while to accept that I’ll never go back to being skinny and even longer to accept that it’s a good thing I’m not going back to that size !
Plus, it feels better to tuck into a few bites of ice-cream post-dinner if I’ve been “good” – like you wrote, a treat feels like a treat if it’s rare enough :-D

I haven’t quit coffee though :-(

Exercise. The type that makes you sweaty and out of breath. It took me a really long time to make regular strenuous exercise a habit but it is now. If I’ve over-indulged, I do more running or cycling or exercise classes than usual for a while.

It’s been so interesting reading all of these. Each of you is taking a different approach and has found your own personal way to lose weight. Well done, it’s exactly what I’m talking about.

For me personally, I have four keys to sustaining a healthy weight:

• Serious amounts of exercise, what Wendy calls “the type that makes you sweaty and out of breath”. I make time for 4 – 5 hours a week.
• We have house rules around alcohol – not keeping it in the house, only having on specific days of the week and so on.
• I don’t keep chocolate, lollies, ice cream, etc in the house. If I want something, I can have it, but I have to get off the couch and walk up to the shops to buy it. While the shops are only 3 minutes walk away it’s noticeable how rarely I want the ice cream enough to even travel that distance.
• When I do have chocolate, cake or lollies I buy small amounts of really good quality foods. I don’t buy value packs, instead I spend that same amount of money on something small and luscious.

These are my five strategies. The things which work for me and which I can sustain long term.

There’s a little thing I’ve been doing for years now – if I feel I’m getting fatter than I would like, I start walking everywhere. Anywhere that would take up to an hour (or even a little bit longer) to get to by foot, I walk there instead of public transport or driving. After a few weeks of getting up to 15 hours or so of walking per week, I find that I’m back to my normal weight! Magic?!