We have all been there when an occasion comes up and we are desperate to lose weight quickly. So what can we do?
Firstly forget the crash diets. These do not work and in the long term may actually cause you more harm. You want to aim for a holistic approach to your weight problem. Looking after your body, your mind and your soul will get you much better results than concentrating on those bathroom scales.
Ideally if you are trying to lose weight quickly you should start the diet at the weekend when you are not working. In the first couple of days you will lose water and toxins. This can cause headaches, nausea and other problems so best to be away from your work colleagues until things settle down.
Do not be fooled into thinking that being thin means you are healthy. Thin people have high blood pressure problems, strokes, cancer etc as well. In fact being severely underweight in your twenties and thirties, especially for women, can lead to brittle bone disease meaning you are at an increased risk of fractures when you get older.
But that being said, you will gain health benefits if you cease to be obese. But being obese is not defined as not fitting into a little black dress anymore. Your doctor should examine you and determine whether you are obese and give you some indication of what you should weigh based on your build, height and age.
Your doctor will also check that you do not have a medical condition that is causing this weight gain. Thyroid problems as well as certain female conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome can cause weight gain. No amount of dieting will help if the underlying condition is not treated.
Do remember that the ideal weight statistics are just that i.e. statistics and should be taken with a grain of salt. It is much better to be slightly overweight and have a happy positive outlook on life than to be underweight and miserable. Tipping slightly on the wrong side of the bathroom scales will not kill you but being sad all the time will make you look forward to dying.
A good measurement to use when you are desperate to lose weight is your waist/hip ratio. You measure the largest point around your hips and your waist around your belly button. Then divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. Ideally the result should be 0.75 or less for women although men get away with being 1.0 or less.
Slimming pills, liposuction, diet crazes are not the answer to long term weight loss. These only return results for short periods of time as recent celebrity coverage will tell you. The only way to lose weight and to keep the weight off is to change your lifestyle not just your diet.
Be sensible. If you are desperate to lose weight then cut down on alcohol, eat less visible fat i.e. on meat etc and cut out high fat, high sugar foods.
