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Why you should avoid "crash diets"

The only sensible way to lose weight is gradually - there really aren't any quick fixes. If you are overweight (see our Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator) and want to get to a healthier weight, you need to set realistic goals for yourself. Weight loss of around a half to 1kg per week (one to two pounds) is about right. Any more than this and you risk getting demotivated by a harsh diet of self-deprivation. After all, a successful diet (for a long term healthy weight) is one that you have to enjoy eating. Any less than half a kilo, and you probably aren't making enough changes to the habits that have caused you to be overweight in the first place.

Lifestyle habits
Get more active
Trimming the calories
Obsessed by weight

Lifestyle habits

Here's the nub of the matter: you don't get fat from eating the occasional Mars bar or cream cake - not in the context of an otherwise healthy, balanced diet anyway. Both getting fat and slimming down to, and then maintaining, a healthy weight are really about lifestyle habits. Successful "dieting" is more about shifting these patterns than it is poring over the precise calorie content of individual foods.

So, in case you don't already know it backwards, here's a run-through of the old, quick-fix-free advice about dieting.

Most people will find it easier to lose weight with a two-pronged attack of more physical activity and a lower calorie diet. To lose weight, the balance of calories in (eating) and calories out (activity) needs to be tipped towards a calorie deficit. Less in than out, to put it crudely. Staying at a healthy weight then means keeping the two in balance across the weeks and months.

Get more active

There's useful activity and less-useful activity. "Feeling the burn" and other examples of exercise machismo sit firmly in the second category, at least if you are starting to be more active for the first time or returning to it after a long period of a sedentary lifestyle. Indeed, a relatively unfit person running hard for 10 minutes a couple of times a week is unlikely to be shifting much flab.

A long (at least 30 minute) brisk walk is much more likely to be burning fat than shorter, more explosive exercise. Ideally, building some daily activity into your life - walking some or all of the way to work instead of driving, for example - could be a relatively painless way to help you get to and stay at a healthy weight.

Trimming the calories

On the eating side of the equation, eating less fat is probably a good place to start - fat has double the calories, weight for weight, as carbohydrates. So ignore the diet "rules" of the past and satisfy your hunger with bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. Just try to find low-fat alternatives to the creamy sauces and buttery toppings, and chose cooking methods that keep the overall fat content low. Roast potatoes, chips, fried bread and buttery basmati do not count as healthy carbohydrates! And don't forget that a mountainous portion of healthy pasta still stacks up to lots of calories. Serving food on smaller plates can help promote sensible portion sizes.

Watch out for "low fat" foods that are either not low in fat ("75 percent fat free" still means 25 percent fat - not much less than cheese) or that use lots of sugar to replace the fat. Equally important is to aim to include a minimum of five pieces of fruit and vegetables in your daily diet. Not only is fruit and veg rich in essential vitamins and fibre, but steamed, boiled or raw, they are both filling and low in calories.

Obsessed by weight

It's true that we as a nation have a growing problem of obesity, and many people would benefit from losing some weight. But having dealt with the futility of crash diets, we can't forget the, albeit rarer, dangers of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

The symptoms of someone who is suffering from anorexia nervosa are loss of appetite, intense fear of gaining weight, lower than normal body weight and claiming to feel fat even when they're very thin. The typical behaviour of someone who is bulimic includes eating exceptionally large amounts of food, then starving, vomiting and taking laxatives or diuretics. These problems can be serious and it is important that anyone suffering from anorexia nervosa or bulimia gets help from their doctor.

The Eating Disorders Association also offers support and help.

Eating Disorders Association
First Floor
Wensom House
103 Prince of Wales Road
Norwich
NR3 1DW

Adult helpline - 01603 621414 (open 9am-6.30pm, Monday to Friday)

Youth helpline - 01603 765 050 (open 4pm-6pm, Monday to Friday)

e-mail: eda@netcom.co.uk

Be positive about food. Even more importantly, be positive about yourself - both who you are as a person and your body. Health is not just about food, it's about attitude too.