7 Weight Loss Tips From a Pro

For all its emphasis on health and fitness, Australia is actually an obesogenic environment – one where it’s much easier to eat chips and chocolate than chickpeas and cherries.

It’s also a fairly stressful place for many, with a third of us saying we live under chronic time pressure.

Those two factors – and many others – can contribute to weight gain. Yet, so often, diets only address one factor: food. These tips offer a more rounded approach to achieving and sustaining weight loss.

1. See Your Doctor

If you’ve been trying to lose weight without much success, find a good doctor and go for a check-up and chat.

Some health conditions make weight loss more difficult. Low vitamin D levels, for example, are associated with unintentional weight gain, though we don’t yet fully understand the relationship between the two.

Hormonal conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome and insulin resistance also make weight loss difficult.

Your doctor may be able to help by:

• Providing advice and support
• Testing for and treating any underlying conditions that may be compromising your weight loss
• Possibly prescribing medications that may help you lose weight if you meet the clinical criteria.  

2. Figure Out How To Stop Eating Your Feelings

Many of us turn to food for more than it can provide – we use it to relieve stress and provide comfort.

It may work – briefly. But then it kicks off a cycle of weight gain and shame that can undermine your mental health and trigger another bout of stress eating.

To lose weight, you need to find new strategies for managing uncomfortable feelings like boredom, stress, anxiety or depression.

You could try:

• Seeing a psychologist
• Exploring your feelings by journaling
• Exercising.

If you can find something else to do for a little while, your food craving will pass. Over time, you’ll begin to develop a healthier relationship with food – eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full.

3. Eat Mindfully And Enjoy Each Bite

Have you ever absent-mindedly munched a whole bag of sweets at the cinema?

When we eat without awareness, we tend to eat too much. So, tune into your meal. Notice the colours, aromas and flavours. Enjoy the taste. Savour each bite.

You don’t have to eliminate all distractions. Mealtimes often have a social aspect when you catch up with your family members at dinner time. And sometimes it’s nice to watch your favourite program while you eat.

You can continue doing all that but just try to pay a bit more attention to your meal and to your body’s signals so that you’re aware of what you’re eating and notice when you start to feel full.

4. Eat Filling Foods

You’re more likely to feel full if you’re eating foods that are high in protein, fibre and volume but low in energy density.

Eating a small packet of popcorn will give you a better sense of fullness than eating a small packet of chips. Popcorn is high in fibre and contains protein. Because it’s popped, it has an irregular shape and contains a lot of air, giving it low energy density. Potato chips, on the other hand, have higher energy density and more fat.

5. Eat Slowly

Modern life is busy. We rush from one appointment to another, we ‘grab a bite’ in between meetings, gobble lunch at our desks or rush through dinner so we can carry on with the evening’s commitments.

All that is counterproductive to managing weight. Many studies have shown that, when we eat fast, we tend to consume more calories. Fast eating is a strong risk factor for obesity and many adults and children with obesity tend to eat faster than their slimmer peers.

So slow down your meals. Enjoy the taste and texture of the food, talk to your dining companions, put your fork down in between bites and take a sip of water. You get the idea.

6. Mentally Challenge The Messaging Around You

You’re surrounded by many subtle (and not-so-subtle) messages that encourage you to eat an unhealthy diet. Companies pay a fortune for slogans that will tap into your emotions and create a desire for their product.

But the slogans don’t have to be true. It is, for example, perfectly possible to ‘have a break’ without having a chocolate bar!

As you challenge these thoughts, you’re learning to think about food differently. You’re also learning to recognise what you really need (a break) and what you don’t need (food that offers no nourishment).

7. Make The Wise Choice The Easy Choice

When life’s busy and stressful, we all tend to opt for the easiest option. That means you need to make the wise choice the easy choice.

That might mean:

• Taking healthy snacks with you when you go out so you can breeze past the chocolate bar at the checkout
• Choosing an entree-sized portion at the restaurant because you’d rather enjoy your fill of a small plate than summon up the willpower to leave food on a large plate
• Not walking down some aisles of the supermarket at all so that you’re not tempted to buy foods that will add empty calories
• Preparing a shopping list full of healthy, nutritious choices and sticking to it.

When it comes to weight loss, knowledge isn’t usually the problem. Changing our behaviour is where we get stuck. Here, we’ve covered how to develop a healthier relationship with food, how to eat and be satisfied and how to push back against the unhealthy food environment we live in.

Hopefully, you’ll now stand a better chance of attaining a healthy weight so you can enjoy an active life.

How Can Dr Lockie Help?   

Dr Lockie provides a multidisciplinary approach to weight loss surgery, ensuring you are supported by a team of experienced professionals as you seek to lose weight, improve your diet and develop a habit of regular exercise.

We invite you to come and meet with Shirley Lockie, PNSA in the practice.

Shirley has had a long-standing interest in metabolism and in 2022 was SCOPE accredited. (Strategic Centre for Obesity Professional Education). She also holds two masters, one in Clinical Science Surgical Assisting and one in Nursing.

You’ll come home with a free information pack to help you decide on your next steps.

Book your free session today.

Disclaimer:

All information is general and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Dr Phil Lockie can consult with you to confirm if a particular treatment is right for you. Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks.

   

Sources

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Overweight and obesity, available at https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/overweight-obesity/overweight-and-obesity/contents/causes-of-overweight-and-obesity, [Accessed 20 September 2023]

University of Melbourne, A third of Australians under chronic time stress, https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/a-third-of-australians-under-chronic-time-stress, [Acccessed 20 September 2023]

Everywell, Vitamin D deficiency and weight gain – are the two related? https://www.everlywell.com/blog/vitamin-d/vitamin-d-deficiency-and-weight-gain/#:~:text=Having%20inadequate%20levels%20of%20vitamin,vitamin%20D%20deficiency%20and%20obesity, [Accessed 20 September 2023]

Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, Polycystic ovary syndrome, https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/health-a-z/pcos/symptoms-causes, [Accessed 20 September 2023]

Cleveland Clinic, Insulin resistance, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22206-insulin-resistance, [Accessed 20 September 2023]