OK let’s knuckle down here and lay out some home truths. I think this time of year is a good time to do it as from a dieting point of view Summer is fast approaching, everyone wants to make a difference and most of you will leave it a bit late lol.

TO LOSE WEIGHT YOU HAVE TO CONSUME FEWER CALORIES

Everyone knows this, it’s not rocket science. There are no magical foods or shakes or pills and there is no shortcut.

You ate too many calories, which is how you put the weight on in the first place, so you simply have to reverse that, to get the reverse effect, weight LOSS.

You have to be consistent, simply doing a few days a week won’t cut it (unless they are severe days). What counts is the calories consumed over time NOT yesterday or today, but OVER TIME.

Weight loss is not the same as fat loss. Weight represents your overall mass (muscle, fat, water, bones, organs, food in your stomach etc). FAT means FAT, period.

You need to lose FAT. It is quite possible to drop 5lb overnight and NONE of that be fat, so you look exactly the same but have simply dropped a couple of litres of fluid, is that what you really want?

Exercise is a crap way to lose weight, from a calorie perspective. YES it can help to keep you focussed and motivated and feel good about yourself but the average person doing 45 minutes of exercise only burns enough calories to equate to a Mars Bar. That’s a poor time investment if the sole purpose of it is weight loss.

YOU HAVE TO EARN THE RESULTS

You have had the fun, eaten the food, drunk the drink, partied at night, sobbed into your chocolate and crisps, ordered 3 courses when eating out, stuffed yourself to feeling sick with takeaways and eaten like your life was ending on holiday. You’ve HAD THE FUN so don’t be a sore loser when now you need to pay it back.

Yes dieting sucks, it’s miserable, it’s depressing and it’s restrictive, all the opposite things you have been enjoying and doing for most of your adult life but think about this, it’s actually a good deal for most people.

An adult lifetime of eating for fun, compared to only a few months to undo it. Thats like borrowing £10k from the bank, but them only asking for £1k back, it’s a no brainer, RESULT!

Literally, most people, if they dieted and stuck to it, committed for 3 months would completely change their lives, some would be done completely, the rest would be unrecognisable. THREE MONTHS…

But you mess around, you have on and off times, you jump ship, you ‘start again’, you cheat, have nights off, have holidays, want to celebrate, want to commiserate, have ‘just one more’, have ‘one night off’ the list goes on and on and on and you DRAG IT OUT, what should be 3 months becomes 20 years of ‘always on a diet’ or ‘well I should be dieting’.

No wonder it sucks, you’ve been playing at it part time for years, it’s boring now, the novelty has worn off. You’ve paid back £20k on that loan now. What a joke.

BUT WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?

You’ve not committed, you didn’t stick to it. At the first sign of being remotely uncomfortable, or having to change something you caved and came OFF the diet. Life is short, need to find a balance, one won’t kill me etc etc

Well here we are again, Summer is seriously round the corner from a dieters perspective, we are half way through January already and a lot of dieters are in the same situation, saying the same thing as this time last year

“I promised myself I would not be fat for this years holiday, but here I am”. You get the idea.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

Well it is simple. You have to realise that you can NOT have your cake and eat it. You can’t be ‘part time’. Admittedly any loss is a loss and will eventually get you to your goals BUT if you do well kin the week, and blow it at weekends then the results on the scales will be exactly what you deserve.

You can’t have it all, you simply can’t. You either want to do this or you don’t. Part time doesn’t cut it overall. It CAN if we allow for it in the week to create a big enough buffer but if you are getting to the weekend and letting rip, even just a couple of them a month, you’re killing it. It’s pointless.

You need to commit, you need to focus and have a goal. You need to realise that for 3 months you have to give this your all, it’s your second job, it’s your focus.

Yes it’s boring, yes sometimes it’s slow, but you have no choice. You’ve had the fun, now you’re paying back. You don’t HAVE to eat loads of food at the party, or get drunk with your mates, you can do what YOU need to do for YOU. Your mates aren’t arsed if you’re slim, they may say they are, but really they don’t want you to spoil the fun and status quo they normally have when you go out.

You need to think about YOU!

At the end of the day decide what you want. Do you want to lose the weight? Commit then, do what needs to be done, stop finding excuses for why you can’t do it, and focus on the reasons why you can. Find a way to make it work. Accept that changes have to be made and stop moaning about it and simply get on with it.

You either want it, or you don’t.

Oh and did I mention summer is coming, FAST!