Weight loss - how to get your 5 a day in one hit

OK - I'm being sneaky and tricked you here by showing very tempting picture of how to get one of your five a day but seriously, I have a way you can get all five in one go. 

This is going to sound unreal but I don't like eating fruit. 

Am I alone in feeling this way? 

For years my mother, God bless her, tried to make sure I got my five a day. The best route she discovered, was to make fruit dessert and lay a slab of ice cream on top. It worked but it wasn't the solution for everyday fruit consumption. 

Fruit introduced individually, say in a lunchbox just got ignored and grew old until it was eventually placed in the bin. Either that or swapped for a packet of crisps with another kid. As the years passed my sweet tooth got worse and when I lived on my own for a while I didn't bother with buying fruit as it went off so fast. If I wanted any I'd buy frozen fruit and defrost as I needed it.

Decades later I am finally facing up to the damage a fruitless life has caused to an OK body and I'm trying to eat right. 

OK - the tip I offer today is to get your five a day in one hit and first thing in the morning. 

Here is my solution - stick with me to the end on this one, OK?

Step one: place porridge and water in a glass jug and set for say 3 minutes 30 seconds in the microwave

Step two: gather your fruit and while the porridge is in the microwave prepare your fruit, slicing it up into small pieces of easy eatable sizes.

Step 3: when the porridge is cooked add the prepared fruit to it and pour a generous portion of honey into the bowl, say a dessertspoonful.

Step 4: sprinkle a generous helping of cinnamon on top of the contents of the jug and mix the lot thoroughly. This has the effect of speeding up the cooling.

For fruit, I have included:  a sliced banana, apple, orange (no pips), a pear and 4 dried prunes, 

The dried prunes are important for clearing your intestines of any bits of food that may cling to their sides as the food works its way through your body. Click here to read about more benefits of dried prunes.

This is a filling meal and a good way to start your day. It should leave you feeling full until noon and delivers the five a day that your body needs. Honey contains natural sugar but its presence enables me to eat much more fruit than if it wasn't mixed in.

Cinnamon is very good for you - click here to find out more on its health benefits

Biggest tip for weight loss - start with the shopping

 If you are finding losing weight an issue the best tip I ever got was:

If it's not in the house you can't eat it!

So losing weight is about making sensible decisions from the moment you step into the supermarket and start your shopping. Try to shop without including treats in the trolley if you are starting the weight loss program. 

Treats will only lengthen the diet process and initially if you want to see results then don't buy them. 

Swop from high calorie to low calorie or cut the items off the list entirely. 

If you can't live without bread then go for low-calorie brown bread in preference to high-calorie white.  

If you are buying yoghurts switch to low calorie rather than full-fat

Swop the full-fat cheddar for low-fat cheese triangles and try and make the triangle spread onto two crackers or bread slices. Add a salad or tomatoes to make up for the lack of cheese.

Don't buy at all:

Juices Orange, apple, any kind of fruit. All contain natural sugar and /or sweeteners. 

Flavoured drinks full stop - zero, none 

Treats - worth repeating - nothing - be hard on yourself because no one else cares enough to be. You are an adult. Take responsibility for your body. Cut out the treats. If they aren't bought then at 10:00 pm this evening you cannot weaken and find them hidden in the kitchen waiting to be eaten.

Finally - can I plant a thought? Limit your shopping to one shop and once a week? The less visits to temptation the better. It will save you money which you can spend after you have dropped the pounds!

Step 4 Sit Down for meals

Sit down when you are eating.  Focus on the food as you eat. The more you have to chew your food the longer the benefit of eating lasts as it takes your body time to break down the food into its nutrients. Eating slowly enables you to digest the food properly and prolongs the act of eating so you can savour the taste and enjoy the food.

Remember, all food is made up of only three nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, and protein

Eating Out: If you have to eat while out why not prepare a small lunch box of good food before you go out? If you don't it's very likely you will make poor food choices or worse still someone you are meeting will make those choices for you!

Consider preparing before you leave and storing it in your bag some of the following items:

• Sliced apple or orange or an unpeeled banana
• Some nuts, brazil or walnut
• A small bag of soft pitted prunes, very good for the intestines
• A home-made sandwich made-up of low-calorie brown bread with low-calorie cheese triangle slices
• A home-made vegetable soup heated up and in a thermos flask

This is not a definitive list - add your own favourite good-for-you snack

It's never a good idea to eat on-the-move and by on the move I mean even when you are getting something out of the fridge, cooking the children’s tea or walking around a supermarket. 

All of these grazing moments add up — and not in a good way.

Alert!  RTE's Operation Transformation starts today. This program takes groups of ordinary people and helps them transform themselves through healthy eating and exercise. 

#OperationTransformation is back with a new series next Wednesday (6th Jan, 9.35pm @RTEOne

Follow it on https://twitter.com/OpTranRTE

Footnote - My Progress - This time it's personal!

Today I can report a drop of .6 of a pound so now at 165.00 pounds so 10 pounds to go. My success today was a continuation of showing strong willpower. 

There was a packet of chocolate biscuits delivered by Tesco yesterday and that joined a packet of digestive on the counter in the kitchen. I know I'm making it hard for myself as per Rule 1 - no temptation should be in the home. I do enjoy the odd "sin" or treat, normally but right now I can only look but not touch. I know if either packet is opened I will wolf them down in two's and three's. So my advice is don't have the temptation around while on this diet. I am living dangerously but look at it another way. Proof your a serious about this diet by having your "sin" sat close by and just say "No - I am not giving in. When I hit my target then I'll enjoy you. Treat it as a reward you will have earned when you get down to the weight you want."

My target is to lose 12 pounds and aiming for one pound per week.

#weightloss, #loseweightnow, #loseweight, #getfit, #weightlosstransformation , #weightlossdiet, #loseweightnaturally, #operationtransformation,

Step 2 Weigh yourself regularly

Researchers who recently monitored more than 1,700 people for more than two years found those who weighed themselves daily were on average 14.3 lb (6.5 kg) lighter at the end than those who weighed themselves monthly. It's true and that's why I have placed it so high up the list of ten steps to take to lose weight as it works for me.

Look, weighing yourself is a personal choice. No one has to do anything, certainly not adults so if you chose to skip this step be my guest. I can only tell you that I found weighing-in daily has been extremely motivating for me. 

That's right, I weigh in every morning after my shower and breakfast and I note the weight in my pocket diary. Be the news good or bad I write it down.

If I had wine and nacho's the previous night I generally spot the effect on the weighing scales the next morning and they don't lie. Now armed with the fact that I put on weight I can make myself do something about it. I have two choices. I can up my calorie burn for the day or cut down my calorie intake. Maybe go for a longer than normal walk or jog for ten minutes or more? 

I know if I hadn't bothered with weighing myself daily and spotting the extra pound or two I would more than likely have been shocked to find at the end of the week that I was five or more pounds up. 

Alternatively, if I had a night of badness and saw no change in weight I would be thrilled with my escape and reinforce my will power to keep on the straight and narrow.  That night was a near miss. Maybe I'd eaten less earlier in the day and had room for the badness. 

I strongly recommend that you weigh daily but it's your choice. Remember weighing scales may be a crude measure of well being but it is the only piece of equipment that I believe you need. Plus you are doing this diet and weighing yourself for your reasons only and nobody else. 

Footnote - My Progress

Today I can report a very slight reduction but yesterday I fell for the classic portion size mistake. That is covered in step 6 in my plan - Use Smaller Plates. I grew up alongside three brothers and food was always a high priority for me. I loved my food and always cleared my plate and I used to hoover up any food off the other's plates. It was understandable back in the day when food was hard to come by and I was a blur of activity but now I'm a much older less active individual. I need to eat slowly and less. Lesson learned today. My failings occur because I'm like you, human and prone to weakness. No reason to give though. Off we go again!

My target is to lose 12 pounds and aiming for one pound per week.

First Practical Steps to losing weight - Step 1 of 10

Step 1 Get rid of the junk food

By that, I mean the treats, the pleasurable eats, the rewards for yourself that make life bearable. If you like them they are almost invariably bad for you. You know what they are. Eat, throw out or give away all the bad stuff. 

Leaving them in the home means there is just too much temptation for you to resist. For most of us, the most dangerous time of the day is the hours after 9:00 pm. It's about that time that I prowl around the house seeking forgotten bars of chocolate, yoghurts, cake slices or biscuits. 

It may take a day or two but just clear them out.  Remember if they are not there you can't eat them!

But life is not all about giving things up. Buy things that are good for you and eat them instead. Substitute bad stuff with good stuff. We each have very different tastes so my examples below of good food and drink substitutes that I like will differ from yours but you get the idea. 

Stop drinking wine or beer - replace with low-calorie soda water and martini

Stop eating bread and start eating crispbread - have it with low-fat cheese, tomatoes etc.

Think of examples for yourself.  

Set a Target and go for it. If this is your day one why not weigh yourself and write it down somewhere, just for yourself.  Now set a realistic target to aim for, say to lose a pound  a week. It has to be a target you are confident you can achieve. Only you know what you can do when you put your mind to it and to lose weight you definitely have to make it a priority task in your life. Up there in your Top 3. 

WARNING IMPORTANT - please check with your GP or doctor before making any changes to your diet and exercise levels. 

 Visit again tomorrow when I will introduce you to Rule 2 and thanks for reading my blog this far. 

Footnote - I have a target to lose 12 pounds and I'm starting today. I will post any changes honestly for each day until I achieve my target. I'm hoping for a pound off a week so lets see how I get along. Let me know how you are doing. You can message me if you prefer at markrice10@gmail.com

Good luck! 

You have to start somewhere and sometime - why not now?

Starting today I'm going to commit to losing weight naturally and sensibly over the coming days. If you want to do the same and need a few pointers, please join me on this journey to a healthy weight. 

I have done it before so I do know a way to a healthy weight.  It could work for you. You may want to tweak it a bit or just take some tips and ideas from here to help in your own battle of the bulge.

I will post daily a few tips because in my past I have lost three stone so I know what works and what doesn't. 

So here we are with a new year to enjoy and a single aim to lose weight.

Rather than re-invent the wheel I suggest you read this article by the best and most scientifically researched writer on weight loss Doctor Michael Mosley and over the coming days I will post more information to help us both get the weight loss we seek to reach a normal BMI or whatever weight that is correct for you. 

Click here for Dr Michael Mosley's article which he published in newspapers yesterday.

Welcome to my secret weight loss plan. I will be posting my own actual results but I won't state my weight, just my progress as I'm not really the point of this website. This blog is to help spread the good news of how you can lose weight normally by just altering your eating habits and upping your exercise level. 

Click on the FOLLOW button to be sure you get notified of my posts over the coming days 

So welcome onboard!