How to lose weight quickly and easily* in 2021
(* Not quick, or easy, but works and is sustainable)
In the past year, I’ve lost more than 26kg in weight. I’ve yoyo’ed all my adult life, phasing in and out of diets and fitness regimes (I’ve run four marathons in that time), and yet, this feels different.
Back in 2019, I went into hospital, after almost passing out from pain at work that was coming from my stomach. It turns out I had diverticulitis, which meant there were small tears in my bowel. Not cool. After an…invasive procedure in January 2020, where I was told to make a lifestyle choice (diet), I stepped on the scales, and 100kg popped back up.
Below are some things that helped me lose the weight and feel far, far better about myself generally. You might think that having ‘quickly and easily’ in my title is misleading, but given the weight I gained took 26 years to put on and I lost it in a year, 4% isn’t bad. As the for ‘easily’ aspect, it was, especially for someone who is never full, lives quite a sedentary life, and has been to the gym twice (once by accident).
Five Precepts that will help you throughout
Losing 1kg is roughly sacrificing 7,000 calories.
Sound enormous? Well, when you break it down, this is doable by dropping 250 calories a day for a month. If you want to lose more than that, drop more.
2kg is 2 litres.
This is probably the most powerful visualisation I used during weight loss. 2kg is a large bottle of water or cola, so for every 2kg you lose, you are actually carrying one less of these. This is why I was so excited when I realised I had bought 12 bottles of water, as this matched my weight loss exactly on that day (so far). It was ridiculously heavy.
Don’t slash tyres
I read this in a book about weight loss, and realised that I did it, often. If you get a puncture one day, you don’t get out of the car with a knife, and slash the other three tyres, do you? Why then would you do this with your food? One bad meal doesn’t need to wreck the rest of the day/weekend/week. Chalk it up, and go straight back to calorie counting and better eating.
Traffic Light your meals and earn the reds.
Treat each meal you have as a colour — Green is a great, healthy meal — something you could Instagram guilt-free. Amber is high on the calories, or low on the benefits. Red are those meals which are very high in calories. Try wherever possible to exercise BEFORE a red meal, and aim to burn off half the calorific cost of them, so if a normal meal is 500 calories and you decide to have a 1,000 calorie meal, try to do something which reduces this number down.
100 calories of a burger is and isn’t the same as 100 calories of apple.
Just consider that — this was also really helpful in my weight loss. Yes, they have the same calorific value, but clearly you’ll get more benefit from the apple than the burger. They are both allowed, but one has more happy calories than the other.
Starting Guidance
- Identify your target weight in kilograms based on your BMI.
2. Calculate your weight loss requirements, and set a time goal — allow for 1–2kg weight loss per month.
3. Identify your BMR — this is your Base Metabolic Rate — how many calories you should be consuming a day.
4. To lose 1kg a month, take 250 calories from this daily figure.
5. To lose 2kg a month (riskier), take 500 calories from this daily figure.
Scales
This is frowned upon by practically everyone, but I weighed myself every day. Still do. I find it fascinating how it varies throughout the week, and how my feelings were so tied to that number (and how quickly my thoughts would lead to sabotage if it was higher than I predicted). Here’s what I learnt and did.
I’d officially record my weight every Friday, as this was typically my lowest weight.
Looking at loss over time is the key, not the number on the scale that day. MyFitnessPal lets you create a graph of loss over time, which is enormously satisfying.
After exercise, I’d record it in notes rather than my weight tracker. Typically, I’d weigh 600g less after a run than before, as it… encouraged natural weight release.
I’d also record my weight after coming back from a holiday or break. It would be higher, and you can see my holidays in my graph as little spikes over the year.
Consider sweetcorn, and how long it takes from consumption to eventual expulsion. If you have a heavy meal, it stands to reason that it will stay as weight in your body for a few days. Therefore, any weigh-in you do the day after a heavy (in weight) meal will also make you heavier. If you drink a litre of water before weighing yourself, you’ll be 1kg heavier. This is blindingly obvious, yet still delights me!
Meal Lights
Work out your meal proportions in terms of five groups, based on this figure, and how hungry you get at certain times of the day. If you aren’t a big breakfast fan, have lower calories for this meal, and add them to the dinner group. The five groups are; Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack, Drinks. The aim is to have three green meals a day.
Green — super healthy, low in calories, high in natural energy (below 300 calories).
Amber — a little ‘treaty,’ still with flavour but could be considered healthy.
Red — a high calorie meal or takeaway (I counted anything above 600 calories a red meal).
If you have a red meal, aim to do some exercise before it, and ensure the other meals are green. That’s basically the rule.
As an example, I love a full English, so if I have one, I try to have a run beforehand, or a long walk after, and the other two meals of the day are green meals.
I ended up just having fruit or yoghurt for breakfast, as I’m hungrier in the evenings.
Track everything. Exercise, calories, sleep (if you can), weight loss. I weighed myself daily, but invariably found that I was lightest on a Friday (five days of the strictest diets, before letting go a little at weekends, when I could exercise more).
Build in meals you enjoy. This is really important. Although I cut down a lot, I still had pizza, fish and chips, the occasional Doner, and meals out. I tracked them, and earned them during the way with daily steps, walking or running — all of which are totally free. Unless you are aiming to build strength, you really don’t need a gym. Parkrun is free and operates weekly, or join a friend/running club/walking group. Lockdown helped so much with this, as I looked at an OS map and became determined to visit every footpath in walking distance.
Exercise
Exercise will help — I started by walking lots (using the 10,000 steps a day goal), then built up running — just a little a week, and building up slowly. I’m now able to run 12km easily and I actually enjoy it!
Some tracking apps allow you to credit your calories with exercise. I’d really caution against this; you can end up doing one of two things — either eating, thinking you’ll burn it off later (and then not), or simply exercising to eat more, which neutralises the effort. Try instead to ignore the exercise calories you’ve burnt off, only using them to balance out a red meal.
This worked for me, but might not work for you: Don’t add the calories of fruit and vegetables (aside from potato). I’ve never counted these. Yes, they have calorific value, but life is too short to count everything. I could have lost a lot more, and probably quicker, if I counted them, but the aim of this is to create food choices which are enjoyable and sustainable.
Alcohol
I also gave up alcohol for three months. This was far easier than I thought it would be, although I should add that I didn’t drink a huge amount before. I also read up lots on this, which helped me understand my relationship with it. In summary:
Alcohol is a poison. You don’t actually like alcohol, you like the taste it has, or the feeling it gives you. Find other flavours you like, and work out how you can build that feeling more naturally.
Calories from alcohol are dead — they are the last to burn off. Why bother for flavour alone?
Alcohol encourages snacking, particularly of high calorie foods — if you avoid alcohol, you avoid the inevitable snacking that comes with it.
Support
One thing I wish I’d done was to record the comments I got when people saw me — my body literally changed (my puffy face being last to go!). Definitely buy a cheap diary, and record every small milestone — first run, new hole on belt, another kg lost, a passing compliment. The best moment was when someone didn’t recognise me — what an achievement! What I do have are photos of me throughout the year. These are beyond motivational, as is my clothes size, going from an XL to an M.
Having done all this, I’ll emphasise that I’m not an expert, just someone who has found a way which works for me. If you’d like more support, tips, recipes and encouragement, please do add your name to this list — I promise not to spam you (it’s high in calories and tastes gross).
Email list: http://bit.ly/lockdownLoss
