10 Awesome weight loss tips for busy women

Here are 10 simple rules to shedding kilos, no matter how frantic your schedule is.

1. Never skip breakfast

‘The single biggest mistake when planning on losing weight is not to eat breakfast,’ writes Patrick Holford in The Holford Low-GL Diet (Piatkus). We know you’ve heard it before, but up to 40 percent of women still admit to regularly skipping breakfast in an effort to save time or cut kilojoules. Research shows that this is a sure fire way to undermine your weight loss goals because going too long without eating causes your body to conserve energy by slowing down your metabolism and burning kilojoules at a slower rate.

The good news is you don’t need a big breakfast to fire up your metabolism – eating an apple, banana, or cereal bar on the way to work will suffice if you don’t have time to sit down to a proper breakfast. But top this up with a small tub of yogurt and handful of nuts or wholewheat crackers with peanut butter, or even a boiled egg, once you get to work. Including protein at breakfast will keep you feeling fuller for longer.

2. Get up from your desk

Get your blood circulating, clear your head, and keep yourself energised by getting up from your desk at regular intervals, and if possible, take a 15-minute walk during your lunch break. Make a resolution to get up and walk to your colleague’s desk or office if there’s something you need to chat about, rather than sending an email or picking up the phone. Remaining chained to your desk all day will kill creativity and compound stress – which in turn can lead to comfort eating.

3. Have an eat out strategy

Eating out is one of the main reasons many career women say they’re carrying extra kilos, but if you make healthier choices, frequent business lunches need not derail your weight loss efforts. In her diet book The Wall Street Diet (Hyperion), nutritionist Heather Bauer says you need to determine a dining out strategy before you hit the restaurant.

• Decide in advance: Will you have a cocktail, a piece of bread from the bread basket, or a light dessert such as sorbets?
• Check out the restaurant’s menu ahead of time (most are available online) and pick a simple dish, such as a lean steak, grilled salmon, or a chicken salad.
• Ask for any sauces and dressings to be served on the side, and always opt for vegetables or a baked potato instead of chips.
• Business lunches can be distracting because you’re focusing on the conversation, not on how much you’re eating, so remember that restaurant portions are generally much larger than what you actually need. Don’t feel pressure to finish your meal; eating more than you need is just as wasteful as leaving some left over.
• Another useful tip is to order fiddly food, such as prawns or mussels. Having to pick them out of their shells will slow down your eating, and research shows the slower you eat, the less you’ll consume.
• Eating with chopsticks may do the trick too, so sushi or Asian dishes are a good bet (but opt for veggie stir fries rather than creamy coconut milk curries).

4. Keep track of cravings

Successful weight loss depends largely on learning to say no to treats and temptations, but if your craving is particularly persistent, denying yourself that chocolate or packet of chips will only make the urge more intense. Allow yourself a small portion of the food you crave, but make sure it’s only a small amount. Check what triggers your most intense cravings – is it an emotional response? Did you skimp on lunch earlier? Did you get less than seven hours sleep last night? Keep track of what’s triggering your cravings and try to avoid these situations where possible. And make sure that giving in to cravings is the exception, not the rule.

5. Keep a reminder at your desk

‘Ask yourself why you want to lose weight,’ advises Stephen Gullo, author of The Thin Commandments Diet (Rodale). Being honest about your reasons helps you get (and stay) motivated. If fitting into a smaller size is your goal, embrace it. Put up a photo of an outfit (or bikini!) you want to wear somewhere visible. If your diet was prompted by a health concern, keep photos of friends and family on your desk. These examples will serve as a visual reminder of why you’re dieting and help keep you motivated.

6. Have a mid-afternoon snack

For each meal or snack, eat both protein and carbs; such as cereal and milk, an apple with peanut butter, wholewheat crackers with low-fat cheese slices, raw veggies with low-fat cottage cheese, wholewheat pita bread with hummus, or a smoked chicken sandwich.

Protein takes longer to digest than carbs, so you’ll stay satisfied longer, and a US study found that when women had a high-protein lunch, they ate 31 percent fewer kilojoules at dinner than when they had a high-carb lunch. Eating smaller meals, with a snack between meals will keep up your energy, concentration and alertness levels – and you’ll ward off that late-afternoon slump that’s likely to lead you to the office vending machine.

7. Be snack savvy

Avoiding social occasions in an effort to avoid temptation holds little benefit if you’re planning to keep the weight off for good. There will always be occasions to celebrate, so learning to say no, choosing healthier options, and limiting your drinks intake is crucial to long-term weight loss success. Best advice: “Avoid pastries, pies, mini quiches and deep fried foods,” advises dietitian Ria Catsicas. Instead, go for lean protein options such as chicken or beef kebabs; chicken drumsticks (remove the skin), smoked salmon rolls, or sushi. Vegetable crudites with hummus are also a good bet. Opt for light drinks such as wine (or better yet, wine spritzers), light beer, or whiskey with soda. And stick to a two drink limit – any more than that and you’re likely to forget your weight loss goals altogether.

8. It’s OK to buy dinner sometimes

“So many women tell me they walk through the door after a long day, grab a big chunk of cheese and a box of crackers and call it dinner. They’re tired and don’t want to go to the trouble of fixing a proper meal for themselves,” says nutritionist Kathy McManus.

If you’ve had a long day and know you’ll be too exhausted to make a proper meal for dinner, stop at a supermarket on the way home. Most supermarkets stock a range of low-fat prepared meals designed to meet nutritional requirements. Good choices include grilled or steamed fish or chicken breasts with vegetables and brown rice; wholewheat pastas with tomato-based sauces; salads with lean protein; or vegetable bakes with lentils. The benefit of buying these meals is that they are portion controlled, so there’s no risk of cooking too much food and then eating a double portion for dinner.

9. Get your zzz’s

Sacrificing sleep time in order to get more done will sabotage weight loss, and a growing body of evidence links this to excess kilos. Sleep deprivation alters the levels of two key appetite controlling hormones: it decreases leptin (which normally puts the brakes on eating) and increases ghrelin (which triggers hunger). Get at least seven hours a night, even if it means you have to cancel your early morning gym session or turn off the late night news.

10. Stop your all-or-nothing attitude

Successful weight loss isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being practical over the long haul, says Bauer in The Wall Street Diet. Instead of dwelling on that second (or third) slice of cake you ate, have a practical recovery plan to get yourself back on track as soon as possible. If you’ve slipped up today, cut back on carbs tomorrow. Or simply have a light supper such as a baked potato with steamed veggies to compensate. Remember: It’s not those extra kilojoules that do the damage; it’s an all-or-nothing attitude that will cripple your resolve, writes Bauer.