How to lose weight safely and effectively

If you have decided to try and lose weight it is important to set a realistic, achievable target. Discuss this with your doctor, health adviser or dietician who can help you set short and long term goals.

Try and become more physically active and seek support

The best way to lose weight is a combination of eating less food and being more physically active. Choose activities that you enjoy, which are practical and easy for you to include as part of your lifestyle.

It is very helpful to get support from family or friends, or from joining a group. Having encouragement and support is essential to long term successful weight management. Remember to give yourself a pat on the back too - use positive affirmations to encourage yourself.

Reward yourself in a suitably healthy way for your achievements - for example you could buy yourself a new outfit to complement your new trim body, but don't use food as a reward!

* Only eat when you are hungry - it may be that your body really needs something else, such as exercise, or even water.
* Eat slowly, chewing every mouthful thoroughly and only eat to the point of feeling comfortably full. Don't feel guilty about leaving food on your plate once you feel full
* Try and avoid eating late in the evening and if you do, choose fruit or a low fat milky drink.

Setting goals for weight loss and dietary changes

Aim to lose no more than 0.5 to 1kg (1 to 2lbs) in weight every week. Remember, there is no quick fix answer to long term weight loss - it does take time. If you would like to record your weight, plot a graph so that you can monitor your progress - use a large scale so that a small but steady weight loss really shows. Rather than relying too much on what you weigh to give you a pat on the back, try and focus on how you feel and look and notice any positive changes as a result of changing what you eat.

During the initial few days of restricting energy intake, you will lose some water and glycogen (a type of energy stored in your liver and muscles) and not much fat. The rate of weight loss will then slow down and the proportion of fat lost should increase.

When you lose weight, you lose both lean tissue and body fat. What is important is the relative proportions of each. The ideal proportion is 75% fat loss and 25% from lean body tissue. This should occur when following a healthy eating plan which results in slow, gradual weight loss (0.5 to 1kg; 1 to 2lbs/week). Following a "crash diet" in which rapid weight loss is occurring, results in a greater loss of lean body tissue and less fat. There is evidence that crash dieting also results in your eventually putting on more weight than you lost.

Making changes to your diet in order to lose weight does not necessarily mean eating less food but it does mean choosing different types of food.

Decide on small, achievable changes that you feel able to make. Dietary changes should be practical and include foods that you enjoy.

Follow a healthy, well-balanced diet

Always try and follow the principles of a healthy, well-balanced diet, the details of which are outlined in this section. In summary, try to:

* eat regularly
* base your meals on bread, potatoes, rice or pasta
* eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables
* use only the minimum of spreading fats and vegetable oils
* choose low fat varieties of dairy products and meat, fish and alternatives
* eat only very occasionally snacks such as chocolate, cakes, biscuits, instant puddings, crisps etc as they are high in either fat, sugar or both