1.If you wait too long to eat

When your blood sugar dips too low, the lack of fuel to your brain can make you unfocused and cranky, and more likely to toss back a box of Smarties after an unkind comment from a co-worker.

Pre-emptive strategy
Snack sessions will satisfy your cravings and raise your spirits. “We all have a million excuses not to eat regularly, but if you can make yourself a cup of coffee every hour, then you have time to chomp on an apple, wholewheat rusk or yoghurt,” says dietitian Dianne Ivison.

2.If you’re too strict with your diet

Put can’t-live-without foods on a no-no list and you may find yourself picking a fight over something petty and then consoling yourself with a tub of extra-creamy ice cream later on. Psychologist Althea Sherry, who specialises in the treatment of eating disorders, says, “When you deprive yourself of favourite foods, you automatically crave them and are more likely to break down and binge.”

Pre-emptive strategy
Take a sensible and moderate approach to what you eat. Ivison says if you feel like having a piece of cake you should eat it. “Try choosing healthier foods as a way of taking care of your body, rather than deprive yourself,” says Sherry.

3. If you beat yourself up

If you punish yourself every time you nab a free food sample at the shop or nibble off your child’s plate, you may feel discouraged or even depressed – emotions that cry out for comfort food. This feeds into low self-esteem, and makes you more likely to comfort assuage those feelings with food.

Pre-emptive strategy
“There are no good or bad choices when it comes to food. Only good, better and best choices,” says Ivison. If you eat something you feel you shouldn’t, focus on how well you’ve been doing up until now, and remember healthy eating is a lifestyle choice that’s bound to have ups and downs.

4. If you’re feeling the need to binge

“Food is linked to the process of nurturing your body and as a result bingeing is a way of making up for negligence in other areas of your life,” says Sherry. For example if you’re having a bad day at work or going through a bad break-up, food comforts feelings of loneliness, sadness or anger.

Pre-emptive strategy
Find other ways to comfort yourself. Develop a healthy routine such as talking to a close friend about your feelings, or do something you love, like taking a walk through a park or on the beach. If your thoughts about food and weight become the central focus of your day, you need to get professional help. You can enlist the help of a psychologist or counsellor. For more information, questions and a list of experts, log on to www.recoveryspace.org

For the social butterfly

• Eat a snack before you go to an event to prevent over-eating.
• Choose a few yummy-looking snacks (three maximum) and fill up on crudités and fruit.
• Drink water between each alcoholic beverage.

1. Make your goals visible

Start off on the right foot by writing down exactly what you hope to achieve with this plan. Keep your expectations reasonable: 300-900g per week is considered a normal, healthy rate of weight loss. Write down what you weigh now, and update this once a week, but not more often.

Obsessing over daily weight fluctuations is pointless, says dietitian Ria Buys, because our bodies are composed largely of water. “How much water you drink, your hormone levels, and your body’s electrolyte balance will all affect your weight, and you can expect daily fluctuations of up to one, and sometimes even two kilograms.” Buys recommends weighing yourself only once a week — or even once every two weeks — for an accurate reflection of weight lost.

2. Keep a food diary

Write down every bite you eat – it’s the only way to keep track of how you’re really doing. Also write down what time you ate; how hungry you were on a scale of 1–10; and how you were feeling at that moment (excited, stressed, nervous etc). This will help you learn to differentiate between eating for emotional reasons and eating because you’re hungry.

3. Change your tableware

Eating from a smaller plate or bowl will trick your mind into thinking you’re eating more than you really are. A study at Cornell University in the US found that doubling the size of the bowl increased how much people ate by 31 percent. Another great trick is to eat with chopsticks, which will slow down your eating and allow you to concentrate on your food. You’ll feel satisfied with less because your brain will have time to register that your stomach is full.

4. Move it!

Don’t expect to reach your weight-loss goals without exercise. Active, strong bodies at rest burn more kilojoules than soft bodies do, so exercise daily to boost your metabolism and increase muscle strength.

5. Send trigger foods to a safe house

Dietitian Pat Vasconcellos recommends figuring out which foods bring on your urge to binge (common culprits include chips, biscuits, and ice cream) and getting rid of them entirely. Instead of throwing away perfectly edible junk food, why not purge your pantry of the most sinful snacks, put them in a box, and drop off at your nearest homeless shelter.

6. Re-stock the right way

Never leave your cupboards bare; instead stock up on healthy staples. But, before you buy tofu in bulk, remember: “If you don’t love it, don’t eat it,” says dietitian Evelyn Tribole, co-author of Intuitive Eating (St Martin’s Press). Don’t make the mistake of buying what you think you “should” eat; rather purchase healthy versions of foods you enjoy. If you like burgers, use ostrich mince for less fattening patties, and pile your favourite veggies on top.

7. Close your kitchen

Turn off the lights and put a chair in front of the doorway to your kitchen three hours before you go to bed. This serves as a visual reminder that you shouldn’t be snacking all evening.

8. Don’t skip meals – ever

Meal skippers are more prone to weight problems — because once they do eat, they find it very difficult to stop, and so consume far more kilojoules than people who eat more frequently. Researchers monitoring people who have successfully maintained a weight loss of more than 15kg for at least one year, report that spacing food evenly throughout the day is key to weight-loss success.

9. Don’t be fooled

Many diet products and pills claim to produce quick and easy weight-loss results. Don’t waste your time or money on them. The tried-and-true formula is still “kilojoules in, kilojoules out.” Be particularly wary of anything labelled easy, effortless, guaranteed, miraculous, magical, or mysterious — remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

10. No weekends off

Research shows that successful weight losers don’t allow themselves “cheat days”.

11. Mirror, mirror on the dining room wall

Instead of obsessing about your body in front of the mirror in your bedroom, try eating in front of one. “Anything that increases mindfulness when it comes to eating is going to be a plus,” says nutritionist Johnny Bowden, author of Living the Low Carb Life (Sterling).

12. Woman cannot live by fruit alone

A few fad diets involve eating fruit for specific meals and not much else. Don’t bother, advise nutritionists. Make sure to pair fruit with protein (such as peanut butter, a handful of almonds, or a piece of low-fat cheese) or you’ll be hungry again soon.

13. Break your fast

Just in case you’re still skipping breakfast — stop that! A US study of 4000 adults who’d lost an average of 15kg and kept it off for at least a year showed that those who successfully lose weight always eat breakfast.

14. Get milk

Aim for three servings of fat-free or low-fat dairy products per day. It’s not as hard as you may think: enjoy a cup of fat-free milk with your morning cereal, have a low-fat yoghurt at lunch and get in more fat-free milk with your afternoon latte. Recent studies have shown that people who consume more low-fat dairy products have a lower percentage of body fat.

15. Don’t undereat

Try to keep your diet balanced, which means that every food group should be represented. Schedule a snack between meals; that way you’re not cutting your kilojoules back so far that you’re over-eating at the next meal. There’s also a psychological benefit to building snacks into your diet. You’re telling yourself, “I can eat; I’m not depriving myself; I’m just making healthier choices.”

16. Stick with snacks that satisfy

Sure they’re convenient, but most so-called “diet” or “energy” bars are actually low in fibre and high in sugars, so if you eat one, you may feel hungry again soon. Either pair your energy bar with some carrots or celery for fibre — or, for the same number of kilojoules, you may feel more satiated snacking on a handful of almonds or half a pita with hummus and an apple.

17. Fight flab with fibre

Fibre helps to control blood sugar levels as it slows down glucose entry into the bloodstream. It thus helps to reduce the glycaemic index of certain foods, and the added benefit is that it promotes feelings of fullness and helps to keep appetite regulated. Aim for at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

18. Lose liquid kilojoules

You can drastically reduce kJ by eliminating sugary beverages that don’t provide much nutrition. Cut out fizzy drinks (they average around 800kJ), juice blends and sweetened teas, which are all high in sugar. Not sure what to drink instead? Try unsweetened iced green tea. Make your own and chill in the fridge — not only is it refreshing, but a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition also suggests that some components of green tea may have a metabolism-boosting effect.

19. Focus on good choices

Instead of fretting over kilojoules and fat grams, which aren’t disclosed on most restaurant menus, ask yourself, “What can I order here that’s going to be high in nutrients” Go for whole-grains, vegetables and lean protein such as grilled fish or chicken.

20. Beware the bar

Limit your alcohol intake and drink only with dinner, not before, because alcohol lowers your inhibitions — so you’re more likely to have another drink (or two) and eat more than you’d planned to. One 180ml glass of red wine, which also provides some health benefits with its 520 kilojoules, is a better choice than a margarita which has 1400kJ and is loaded with alcohol and sugar.

21. Talk yourself out of temptation

You’re invited to a birthday party and there is an entire dessert table waiting to greet you. What to do? Tribole suggests asking yourself these questions: “Do I really want to eat this? Is it going to make me feel good?” If you slip up, don’t despair. “I see a lot of smart women who say, ‘I blew it, so I might as well eat the whole thing’,” Tribole observes. Be flexible. Know that one meal or one snack is not going to make or break your goals.

22. Split it

Just because you’re trying to lose a bit of weight doesn’t mean you have to be anti-social. When dining out, you can easily cut kilojoules by ordering starter portions as your main meal or splitting a main course. “Seafood is a good option to go for when you’re dining out — but ask for your fish grilled without lemon butter and then flavour with fresh lemon juice instead,” says Buys. “Alternatively, go for the smaller portion grilled steak, without sauce, and avoid anything crumbed or deep fried.”

23. Veg out

“To meet your minimum five portions of fruit and veg a day, you’re going to have to have more than just a side salad for dinner,” Buys says. Most vegetables (think broccoli, spinach, peppers) are high in fibre and nutrients, but have just trace amounts of fat and less than 160kJ per cup. They’re the perfect foods to bulk up your meals and help keep you full while trimming your energy intake.

24. Sleep it off

Think of it as skinny sleep. A University of Chicago study found lack of sleep lowers levels of the hormone that tells you you’re full and raises levels of the hormone that tells you you’re hungry. Another study observed that people who sleep four hours or less were 73 percent more likely to be obese than those who sleep seven to nine hours each night.

25. Mind the mindless eating

Don’t eat anywhere but at a table and off a plate with cutlery. No more eating in front of the TV, your computer, or even with the radio on. Banish all distractions and focus on the meal.

26. Have a plan

It’s not rocket science, observes Tribole, but many people are thrown off track simply by forgetting to plan dinner. If you find yourself stuck at a loose end, survey your take-away menus for healthy options (think steamed brown rice, salads with grilled chicken, and soups). Better yet, keep frozen fish and vegetables in the freezer for a low-kilojoule last-minute meal.

27. Savvy cooking tips

“When grilling fish, meat or chicken, reduce the amount of oil and replace with white wine or lemon juice,” recommends Buys. “If you’re roasting vegetables, try using a little low-oil salad dressing instead of oil. It’s lower in kJ and adds a delicious flavour to the veggies.” Minimise salt in your meals by flavouring food with fresh herbs, spices, garlic, and lemon juice.

28. Beat bloating

Cutting back on sodium is one good way to avoid fluid retention. “Sodium causes the body to hold onto water, and almost anything that comes in a package with a bar code is loaded with it,” Bowden warns, so be sure to check labels.  Drinking lots of water throughout the day will also help relieve bloating as well as enable things to move through the digestive tract more smoothly.

29. Watch portion sizes

How much you’re eating is just as important as what you’re eating. There is no doubt that there is a link between increased portion sizes and weight gain.

Use these guidelines to measure one portion:

Cereal = the size of a fist
Rice, pasta, potato = half a tennis ball
Salad = two cupped hands
Fruit = the size of a fist
Protein = the size and thickness of your palm
Cheese = no bigger than a matchbox
Nuts = the size of a golf ball
Oil = the size of your thumb tip.

30. Get out your calculator

Weight loss boils down to one simple rule: you need to burn more kJ than you consume. To figure out exactly how to do this, calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) with the Harris-Benedict Equation:

BMR = 655 + (9,6 x weight in kg) + (1,85 x height in cm) – (4,7 x age in years)
If you’re sedentary, multiply your BMR by 1,2
If you do light exercise 1–3 times a week, multiply your BMR by 1,375

If you work out 3–5 times a week, multiply your BMR by 1,55
If you train hard and often, multiply your BMR by 1,9

Example: A moderately active 34-year-old woman, who is 1,72m tall and weighs 65kg:

BMR = 655 + (9,6 x 65) + (1,85 x 172) – (4,7 x 34) = 655 + 624 + 318 – 160 = 1437

BMR x 1,375 = 1975 x 4,18 (for kJ) = 8260

The answer provides you with the minimum kJ your body requires per day. To lose 1kg of fat, you need to burn about 30000kJ more than you consumed. So, if you burn 2000 more kJ than you eat every day, you could theoretically lose 500g per week.

There are ways you can keep you metabolism revved all day – from the time you get out of bed to when you get back in.

7h00 Open your shades

Your body’s metabolism nods off while you sleep because you aren’t active. Getting a quick hit of sunlight decreases sleep hormones, like melatonin, and helps to wake up your metabolism.

07h30 Sit down to breakfast

“You need to eat first thing in the morning or your body switches into conservation mode, which means you’ll burn kilojoules at a slower rate,” says Tanya Zuckerbrot, author of The F-Factor Diet (Putnam). She recommends fuelling up with a bowl of oats and some fruit, or a high-fibre cereal.

08h00 Run up the stairs

Just one 30-second sprint increases your body’s production of human growth hormone (HGH) five-fold. It’s HGH that helps maintain muscles, which burn more kilojoules than fat.

09h00 Drink a glass of water

When German researchers had 14 volunteers drink two cups of water, their metabolism jumped 30% after 40 minutes — and stayed at a higher rate for an hour. Even mild dehydration will slow your metabolism by as much as three percent.

10h00 Take a quick stroll around the office

Getting up from your desk more often — and moving around the office, or even taking a quick walk outside — can blast up to 1 200 extra kilojoules every day, according to a study published in the journal Science.

14h00 Take a few deep breaths

“Stress hormones, like cortisol, can put a damper on your metabolism,” says Mark Hyman, author of Ultra-Metabolism (Scribner). When your day gets hectic, close your eyes and take five deep breaths into your belly to reduce rising stress levels.

16h00 Have a 400 – 800kJ snack

“Eat something at least every four hours,” says Zuckerbrot. “When you consistently give your body food, your metabolism doesn’t have a chance to slow down.”

17h00 Do an interval training session

Varying your workout intensity bumps up your resting metabolism, so you continue to burn more kilojoules all day. Run or cycle at about 80% of your all-out effort for a minute or so, then slow down to 50% for a minute and a half, and repeat.

19h00 Eat lean protein, veggies and whole grains

The protein will help you build lean muscle, and the veggies and grains provide long-lasting energy.

20h00 Take a multivitamin

It’s insurance that you’ll get enough of the nutrients — especially vitamins B, C and D — that your metabolism needs to function properly.

22h00 Hit the hay

Studies show that sleep deprivation increases stress and lowers levels of the peptide hormone leptin, which causes you to feel hungry.

Metabolism myths debunked:

- Thin people have faster metabolisms. Actually, a heavier person uses more kilojloules than someone slimmer because of the extra effort it takes to move more kilograms.

- Cardio workouts are the best way to increase your metabolic rate. While 30 minutes of running will torch more kilojoules than 30 minutes of weight training, the latter keeps your metabolism in high gear for longer. Research shows that the more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolism is — so you’ll burn more kilojoules, even when you’re sitting still.

- You get fatter as you get older. Although it’s true that metabolism slows with age, the natural change is small — about four percent per decade if you exercise. The main reason women gain weight as they age is that they become less active and lose muscle mass. metabolism myths debunked

Regular cider:

Choose: Savanna Light 571 kJ | 3% alc | 16.3 g sugar/340 ml bottle
Ditch: Redd’s Dry 850 kJ | 5% alc | 20.8 g sugar/340 ml bottle

Sweet cider:

Choose: Brutal Fruit 673.75 kJ | 4.5% alc | 18.4 g sugar/275 ml bottle
Ditch: Smirnoff Spin 747 kJ | 5% alc | 18.2 g sugar/300 ml bottle

Beer:

Choose: Windhoek Light 415 kJ | 2.4% alc | 10 g sugar/340 ml bottle
Ditch: Millers 578 kJ | 4.7% alc | 6.4 g sugar/340 ml bottle

Wine:

Choose: Dry wine 340 kJ | Trace sugar/120 ml glass
Ditch: Sweet wine 440 kJ | | 5 g sugar/120ml glass

Non-alcoholic:

Choose: Coke Light and Lemon 1.7 kJ | 0 g sugar/200 ml glass
Ditch: Cola tonic and lemonade 555 kJ | 33.8 g sugar/200 ml glass

Be a party smarty

Johannesburg dietitian Zelda Ackerman suggests these tips for choosing your tipple:

• Check the energy values of drinks, the more sugar a drink has, the more kilojoules you’re consuming. Ciders are highest at 850 kJ per 340 ml; beers are around 600 kJ per 340 ml; while spirits have the highest alcohol content but almost no sugar.
• Kilojoule-wise, the best mixers are water or soda water, or diet cold drinks. Steer clear of fizzy drinks, some of which contain the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar.
• Drink responsibly… the general guideline for overall health is one drink for a woman and two drinks for a man per day — and this doesn’t mean you can accumulate your quota during the week and drink seven in one night!

Holidays are some of the hardest times to control cravings and stick to your diet plans. With buffets and delicious baked goods, the temptations are overwhelming. But there are some things you can do to curb your appetite and make sure you don’t overeat when party time comes.

1. Eat breakfast every morning. It has been shown to prevent overeating later in the day, which could save you tons of kilojoules in the end.

2. Grab a physically smaller plate, than the platter-prone mega-dishes that are oftentimes laid out during the holidays. Choose your foods wisely at every meal, whether it’s a buffet or a family dinner. Fill a portion of your plate with low-kilojoules foods such as leafy green salads, and load up with fibre filled veggie-dishes that will curb your appetite by filling you up.

3. Eat slower. This is important because it usually takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to realize it is full and signal the brain. Therefore, take your time and enjoy the company of others during dinner. After finishing your veggies, go up for the main course and indulge, but keep your portions fit for your plate – no overflowing servings allowed!

Lastly, if you are going to a cocktail party make sure you load up with an apple or some other fibre rich, low kilojoule snack. This will satisfy your hunger making you less tempted to indulge in the high kilojoule appetisers. Make sure to stand at least an arm’s length away from the appetizers at all times, and carry a drink in your hands to cut down on mindless munching.

Watch Dr Oz on SABC 3, weekdays, at 3:45pm

Curbing weight gain during the holidays may be the best way to stay lean all year long. Research shows that the average weight gain during the summer holidays is about half a kilogram. That may not seem so bad, but the real problem is that most people don’t ever lose the extra half kilogram of weight they put on during the holidays. And that’s bad news for people who are already overweight.

So, how can you make it through the sweet season without expanding your waistline? Here are three proactive strategies to ensure that your New Year’s resolution won’t be “to lose the 2 kilograms I gained during December.”

1. Don’t wait until the final week in December

The focus on weight loss really starts heating up between Christmas and New Year’s (hello, resolutions!), but if you’re waiting until then to start regulating in your indulgent diet, it’s too late. Start to focus on being more active and regulating your nutrition now. Extra diligence during the weeks leading up to the New Year will make up for any unexpected dietary indiscretions that pop up due to holiday celebrations.

2. Enjoy yourself, just not too much

The holidays are a time to enjoy yourself with friends and family. Don’t be “that person” eating a boiled chicken breast with steamed broccoli in the corner while everyone else enjoys Christmas dinner. Stick to your plan as you normally would throughout the month so that you can cash in your splurge meals when they count. When the meal/celebration is over, get back to your healthy eating plan.

3. Navigate holiday parties like a pro

There’s a good chance you won’t have enough splurge meals in your arsenal to cover all the holiday parties you attend. This is fine; it just means that you need to navigate them properly. First, don’t stand by the food and socialise; it encourages mindless snacking. Put some food on a plate and then mingle somewhere else.
Party food is traditionally a nutrition minefield but there are almost always a few healthy options in the mix. Fresh cut vegetables are standard party fare, as well as shrimp cocktail (a great source of lean protein). Opt for these vegetables and protein-based foods and steer clear of the piles of crackers, creamy dips in bread bowls, and bite-sized puff pastry hors d’oeuvres stuffed with cheese.

One final thought about holiday weight gain: Don’t make food the focus of everything you do. This is a good strategy for coming out of the holidays still rocking your skinny jeans.

To change your body composition in the least amount of time, cleaning up your diet and getting 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep are both essential. Sleep is extremely important for body composition and helps the body and brain restore and rejuvenate in many different ways. Plus, sleep (or the lack thereof) affects important hormonal activity tied to appetite and therefore has a direct impact on your ability to lose weight (i.e. body fat).

One study published online at the Public Library of Science shows how sleep is connected to eating habits and weight gain. The December 2004 study found that people who slept less than 7 to 8 hours a night ate significantly more and weighed more than those who slept longer. What’s more, the more sleep deprived the person was, the more they ate and the greater their weight gain. These results can be directly attributed to two key appetite-regulating hormones: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin (a hormone secreted by our fat cells) and ghrelin (a hormone secreted in our stomachs) work like a checks and balances system in the body and control your feelings of fullness and hunger. When you don’t get enough sleep, your leptin levels drop and your ghrelin levels rise. In other words, you’re more likely to crave sugary, high-carb foods (thanks to higher levels of Ghrelin) that have the potential to sabotage your diet.

Growth hormone – which is extremely important for tissue repair, body fat reduction, and healthy immune function – also gets released during sleep.

Now you can see why getting quality sleep is just as important as your workout routine and nutrition. In fact, celebrity trainer Joe Dowdell says he would rank sleep and diet as more important than exercise, especially if fat loss (i.e. getting a lean, toned body) is your primary goal.

Of course we want you to have an occasional treat, it is the holidays after all! But for the most part, and on days where there aren’t any parties or big lunches and dinners, keep your diet good and clean. Keeping active will also help keep unwanted kilos at bay, and when you have a free 20 minutes, you may want to fit in some exercise too.

Nutrition shouldn’t be a chore, these three fuss-free tips will keep you trim and healthily during the holiday season and beyond.

1. Limit the processed foods you eat

Eating a diet that’s high in processed foods and therefore sugar, salt and unhealthy fat isn’t good for you or your body. When possible, eat foods that are as close to the source as possible.

Healthy tip! Instead of processed, sugar-laden cereals for breakfast, have some scrambled eggs with a slice of rye bread or some organic yoghurt and fruit. Having a good breakfast will set the foundation for the day and you’ll be less likely to overeat later.

2. Cut down on sugar

Refined sugar will keep you from achieving the body you want. It contains no fibre, and no vitamins or minerals, and it causes your body to store fat. So there is really no reason to have it in your diet. Sugar is found in almost every processed food, including unlikely foods like tomato sauce, breads, and “fat free” sweets, and it is often disguised under names like sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, glucose, and maltose. If you eat a diet high in sugar you will feel hungry all the time because sugar depletes your body of essential vitamins and nutrients. So check food labels carefully.

Healthy tip! Instead of chocolate or ice-cream have some mixed berries with a few raw nuts. Fruit contains natural sugars and fibre and antioxidants and the protein in the nuts will help keep your blood sugar levels stable. Cut sodas (including diet drinks!) out of your diet completely, opt for green tea, a fruit smoothie or water instead.

3. Have protein at every meal

Protein will keep you feeling full and prevent overeating because it is more satisfying than carbohydrates or fats. Protein releases a hormone called glucogon, which is a fat burning hormone. If you eat at least one serving of protein with every meal, you are going to get a fat-burning effect. Healthy sources of protein include raw unsalted nuts, yoghurt, eggs, fish, and lean meats.

Healthy tip! Instead of just having an apple as a snack, include 5 raw, unsalted almonds.

Discover the best fat-burning exercises, diet secrets and health tips to increase your metabolism and burn off belly fat.

1. Maximize your muscle

Muscles are fat-burning furnaces, so be sure to do enough resistance training to build and maintain them, and follow your workout with a healthy meal or snack that contains protein, carbohydrates and fat. Building new muscle raises your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) so you’ll burn more kilojoules every day.

2. Don’t forget cardio

Cardio improves definition and burns the fat that covers your muscles, especially belly fat. Combining regular aerobic exercise with strength training will give you the slimming effect you’ve been going for. After all, toning without cardio is like building a house on a weak foundation. Blast kilojoules with these 20-minute cardio workouts.

3. Never skip meals

Eat six small meals a day to avoid blood-sugar spikes and minimize urges to binge. Try to schedule meals at the same time each day. If you feed yourself well throughout the day, you’ll learn to understand when your body truly needs food. You can’t starve yourself and expect to make good choices at the next meal.

4. Get real

Fuel your body with wholesome, nutritious foods, and limit your intake of refined carbs (anything sugary or white-flour based). To maximize the kilojoules burned through digestion and stave off hunger, get plenty of complex carbs (fruits, vegetables and beans) and eat a little protein with every meal. It doesn’t need to be meat; nuts,fat free dairy, tofu, and beans are all good vegetarian protein sources. Follow this metabolism-boosting eating plan.

5. Sleep tight

Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. A recent study from Case Western Reserve University found that, on average, women who sleep for 5 hours or less per night are 32 percent more likely to gain weight and 15 percent more likely to be obese than those who get at least 7 hours.

6. Drink more water

In a small German study, subjects who drank 500 millilitres of water at a time experienced a 30 percent increase in metabolic rate during the following hour, burning an extra 100 kilojoules. The researchers recommend cool water because the body expends extra kilojoules warming it up to your body temperature.

7. Focus on your assets

Playing up your favourite body parts can boost your confidence and draw attention away from spots you want to minimize. Sculpting your shoulders, arms, chest, and back, for example, can help balance heavier hips so you look more proportionate. Plus, you’ll be firmer all over.

8. Eat until you’re full

Undereating causes your metabolic rate to drop and your body to hold onto fat. Most nutrition experts recommend that the average, active woman consume at least 7500 kilojoules daily. But watch out for underestimating the kilojoules count of “healthy” foods. Even some salads are packed with extra kilojoules

9. Control what you can

Keep stress levels in check by managing your time, focusing on the present and not over-committing. Many studies have found a link between high levels of stress and weight gain. You don’t have to commit to regular yoga classes or meditation sessions.

10. Step on the gas

Alternate the speed and intensity of any cardio workout routines to stoke your fat burners. For instance, if you’re walking, do a few minutes at a moderate pace, then speed-walk or jog for a few minutes; repeat. If you’re running, go for a few minutes, then sprint for a minute and repeat.

Nutrition experts have some very good news for you: You can enjoy carbs and lose weight. Some carbohydrates may actually help protect against obesity.

These protective healthy carbs are found in:

• whole-grain baked goods
• pastas
• cereals
• rice

Eat more whole grains in your healthy meals and you’ll weigh less – that’s what the latest research suggests. A Harvard study that followed 74 000 female nurses for 12 years found that women who included the most whole grains in their healthy diet plan weighed less than those who ate the least.

How do whole grains work their magic? It’s simple: Whole grains are much higher in fibre than their highly processed counterparts, and adding fibre to your healthy diet plan is the secret weapon in the weight-loss war. For example, a 1/2-cup serving of brown rice has nearly 2 grams of fibre, while the same serving of white rice barely contains any.

Here’s how to make whole grains work for you every day:

• have a packet of instant oatmeal for breakfast (1 grain serving)
• sliced turkey on wholewheat bread sandwich for lunch (2 grain servings)
• two rye crisp breads with low-fat cheese as a snack between healthy meals (1 grain serving)
• 1 cup of whole-wheat spaghetti for dinner (2 grain servings)

But as powerful as whole grains are in preventing weight gain, they’re only part of a successful weight-control program. Adding whole grains has to be part of an overall healthy diet and lifestyle. So be sure you’re also eating 2-1/2 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruit and 5-1/2 ounces of lean protein each day.