van Tulleken - How to Lose Weight Well

Health warnings

Seriously considering your weight and your reasons for losing weight can play havoc with your self-confidence. When youre struggling, give yourself a hug, have a cup of tea and a cry. Thats what I do. Its hard work and you deserve love and praise for trying. There are other specific health issues around weight loss. If youre concerned about the effect of dieting on your health, seek help from your general practitioner or the practice nurse. I know this isnt always convenient so its always worth considering seeing a dietitian. You can see them on the NHS or privately, depending on your needs and means. Dietitians are trained and licensed; nutritionists arent. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist.

You shouldnt be trying to lose weight if you are underweight or you have, or suspect you have, an eating disorder (including anorexia and bulimia). If you have any history of psychiatric illness I think you should seek advice from your GP or at least from a dietitian so that you have someone to check up on you.

If you are under 18 years of age, even if you are overweight, you should seek advice from your GP or from a qualified dietitian. The long-term health consequences of dieting badly when youre young are hard to overstate.

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you should discuss any plans to lose weight with your doctor.

If you are frail in any way (recovering from major illness or surgery), again, Id strongly advise that you consult your GP or a dietitian.

If you are on any medication, check with your GP or pharmacist.

If you are an insulin-dependent or Type-1 diabetic, review any weight-loss plans with your care team.

If you are actively unwell (fever or other symptoms of illness), this is not the right time to start dieting.

Finally, salt. If you cook at home and youre losing weight then its unlikely youll be having too much salt. Even if you have quite a bit the weight loss should offset its effects. But some people respond worse to salt than others. If youre a heavy salt user or youre concerned about your health, get your blood pressure checked.

DO NOT ASK IF I AM BEACH BODY READY

O do not ask
if I am beach body ready.

Observe how the folds of my stomach ripple like the wind-pulled waves.

Feel these pale buttocks,
smoothed by the sand-grains of time.

Note these milk-white limbs,
useless and stranded,
washed up whalebones.

Consider the tufts of hair which sprout on my shoulders like sea-grass.

And listen to the lapping of my socks
at the shores of my sandals.

And you ask me
if I am beach body ready?

BRIAN BILSTON

CONTENTS

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOSE WEIGHT WELL?

I think for most people its something like: I want to lose my excess fat quickly, easily and healthily. Oh, and actually I dont mind it being unhealthy and it doesnt need to be that easy provided it really works Ill try anything. Oh, and also, I dont really care about weight I just want to be able to fit into smaller clothes and look good naked. Please just make me thinner, you know, like a supermodel or a movie star. Different people want slightly different things but Im guessing if youre reading this it means youd like to look thinner.

I can definitely help you do this, and lets be ambitious about this goal: I dont want you just to be thinner. I want you to be healthy in every sense of the word; I want you to lose weight in the form of fat not muscle; and Id like it to be as easy as possible.

So, we have a simple goal: lose weight, be healthy, and find a way of doing this that is possible for a normal human being.

I think most people would say that achieving this goal would be worth the price of admission. But let me go further: this book is aimed at helping you achieve a really difficult ambition. Losing weight is hard. Hard like world peace or nuclear physics. Dont take my word for it. The people at Stanford University in the US are pretty smart. The most popular class at that university is called Designing Your Life. Its taught by two rock-star professors and its so amazing at helping students find their way in the world that other professors also sign up to take it. There are only two issues they say the class cant help you with: finding love and, you guessed it, losing weight. Losing weight is about fighting an extremely basic human urge: the desire to eat. The tools that you need to lose weight will help you tackle other issues in your life as well. It will be impossible to lose weight without taking control of your life. I want to help you do that.

The dream is to lose the weight you want quickly and then maintain it. The book describes four steps to achieve this. Life does get in the way of this dream though: you change jobs, children come along, you get married, divorced, move house, get depression and many other things. All of these things affect our ability to resist temptation or to adopt and stick to regular habits. I find myself eating ice cream and doughnuts for one reason or another and I have to lose weight that I previously managed to lose and then regained. Its predictable but its also annoying. So I want to help you lose weight and keep it off and because were human the plan Ive made allows for setbacks.

Theres no single diet out there that works for everyone. Everyone is different, and everyones life changes constantly. This book helps you tailor-make a diet that works for you and your life.

BODY SHAMING & SEXISM

Theres something vaguely uncomfortable for me about writing a diet book. Though I dont say it explicitly anywhere, theres a strong implication that I think you should slim down and tone up. So Ill be as clear as I can. I dont believe youll look better thinner. I think you might feel better, your feet and knees will hurt less and youll live longer. And as you lose weight youll find other parts of your life become easier because of the skills youve learned to get there. You may even, for a host of reasons, find yourself easier to love. That makes it easier to love people around you and have happy relationships with them. But they wont love you any more than they already do because youre thin. And neither will I. I also wont judge you for prioritizing the cake over the waistline; after all, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. But if you do eat the cake, do it consciously and after some thought about your life and motivations.

So please dont let any part of this book make you feel bad about yourself. Up close, everyone supermodel or not is covered in pores and in-growing hairs and broken veins, with flatulence and morning breath. Dont aim for magazine-fresh perfection. It doesnt exist. The only creatures that are as good in real life as they look on the internet are cats.

POVERTY

Poverty and obesity are closely linked. The poorest areas of the UK have the highest rates of obesity. I wish this book could be aimed at those families and in writing about changing your life I am conscious that for many people this is an impossibility. Unemployment, lack of opportunity and low social mobility mean that the kind of changes that make losing weight an achievable goal are very difficult for many people. I dont think this book is a solution to the obesity crisis, which is to a great extent a product of factors beyond many peoples control. I think anyone can lose weight well and take more control of their life but that will be harder for some people than for others. You have my love and support.