Trying to lose weight independently can be hard work when you haven’t got a weight loss plan to support you.

It is not that they are the be-all and end-all of dieting – far from it – you don’t have to hire a health advisor in order to be successful in getting healthy. But the truth is, when it comes to attaining credible weight loss many of us don’t have a clue where to start or even how to lose weight.

Ask anyone and they will tell you that ‘diets’ equal eating less food. But this is not strictly true. To achieve healthy, lasting weight loss it is essential that you eat the right foods in the right quantities.

So how can you do it? By creating your own weight loss plan.

I can honestly say that many of the reasons why I have failed over the years to lose weight is because I didn’t have a plan to back me up, to keep me on track and prevent me straying off into the unknown.

I would senselessly cut my calories without taking into consideration where I was cutting these calories from.

3 Steps to creating your own plan

Now this plan doesn’t have to be complicated. Implementing the most basic of weight loss plans can help you to begin planning for the future and tailoring it to suit your own needs.

Below is a basic template of a healthy weight loss plan that will help you to ensure that you are receiving the right amount of daily nutrients as well as help you to avoid foods which will trigger weight gain.

You can add to this as your weight loss progresses, but it is definitely a good starting point:

1. Drink lots of water – tea, fruit juice, milk… all of these contain a certain amount of calories that can build up over the course of day. Without even thinking about it, you are drinking cupful upon cupful of calories that don’t even factor into your calorie reduction.

   One of the simplest ways to curb your hunger without taking in a single calorie is to drink plenty of water. Water contains zero calories, meaning you can confidently drink 8-10 glasses a day, cleanse your system of toxins and know you are curbing your appetite without wasting valuable calories.

2. Eat your 5 a day – if you are genuinely interested in losing weight then it is essential that you eat 3-4 servings of fruit and vegetables every day. Both are loaded with vitamins, minerals and fibre that are proven to help encourage weight loss.

   Now I know vegetables are not everyone’s favourite foods, but there are a number of tricks you can incorporate to make them tastier. Creating your own pasta sauce for example is a clever way to ensure you are getting those nutrients without having to sacrifice on flavour. Throw in some mini-sweetcorn, carrots and mangetout into a tomato sauce and you are practically having 3 of your servings in one dish.

   Alternatively creating a smoothie ripe with fruits and vegetables is a simple way to get all these nutrients in one go.

3. Eat early and more regularly – you’ll have probably heard this one before, but eating right before you go to sleep can make you put on weight.

   As you sleep your metabolic rate, digestive processes… everything slows down, and as a result these calories are not burned off fast enough.

   Yet by simply making sure that you eat 2-3 hours before you go to bed you can give your brain the adequate time to process that you have eaten and react.

As you can see from above making these 3 simple changes to your diet can act as a good starting board to lasting, credible weight loss. So give them a try and let me know how you are getting on.

Good luck!

Rowena xx