The first blog I wrote was about Five simple strategies to Lose Weight  was focussed on insulin resistance and how to approach weight loss for this common problem. Historically I haven’t really focussed on weight loss in clinic unless it was related to the client’s overall health. What I found was that more complex clients require more creative solutions in terms of adapting weight loss programs to suit them and their lifestyles. You need to get more specific about supporting their metabolism to really help them shed weight.

Different diets work for different people so whilst I generally recommend a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet I have had clients do well on a range of other programs. How do you know when you are on the right diet for you? Generally you find your weight stabilises. So my top tips regardless of which diet you are using are as follows;

1. Food Intolerances – find out what foods you are reactive to and cut them out! Regardless of the diet you are following this will often result in a 2-3 kg loss and usually a smaller waist line due to the reduction in bloating. Often the side benefit is you feel better and are more energetic and better able to follow through on exercise and food preparation. Using Bio Compatability 500 Hair Test to determine what foods are compatibile with your body often speeds up this process.
2. Hydration – Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day and at least one litre for each hour of exercise. Nothing works well when you are dehydrated.
3. Herbal Teas – Support your liver with some herbal teas which assist with metabolism. This can include green tea, dandelion and ginger. Have a cup of hot tea with a squeeze of lemon on rising it really helps your liver function.  Herbal teas also increase fluid intake and may reduce consumption of tea and coffee which often involve milk and sugar!!
4. Fat Burning Exercise – Dietary changes will often produce slow and steady weight loss but if you really want to boot it up walking an hour a day is the key. The first 20 minutes you burn up the glycogen in your muscles and then your blood glucose but around 30-35 minutes you start burning fat. Consistently I have seen a significant improvement in results with adding regular walks to the program – in one case the client walked every morning and lost 7kg in 6 weeks.
5. Get enough protein  – how much is enough? To maintain your weight you need about 0.8g per kilo daily. BUT for weight loss you need to increase it to 1.2g per day. The protein is based on the desired weight so if you want to get to 60kg you need to eat 72g of protein a day. That is the equivilant of 2 eggs, a small can of tuna and a small chicken breast. Generally animal products are about 20-25% protein whereas plant based sources are around 10% so effectively you need to double up.
6. Main meal at lunch  eating your big meal in the middle of the day gives you a chance to really fuel yourself well for an afternoon of work but also plenty of time to really digest the meal.
7. Fasting  – this can be a good way to give your program a  boost. Usually I would recommend starting with a 12 hour fast between dinner and breakfast. For details on who would do well with longer periods of fasting have a look at my recent blog Is Fasting For Me .

I have had a few other tips from friends and colleagues – one of my favourites was to diet when your partner was away and empty the fridge so you can’t snack on unhealthy options. Do you have any tips on weight loss? Please share in the comments section below.

Christine Pope is an experienced Naturopath and Nutritionist based at Elemental Health at St Ives. You can make appointments on 02 8084 0081 or through the website at www,elementalhealth.net.au .