10 Ways To Lose The Kilos

Reach your weight loss goals and keep it off with these expert tips

TIPS FOR LOSING WEIGHT

There is no one right way to lose weight. So much depends on finding out what works for you. But there is widespread agreement among experts that losing about 5-7 per cent of your initial weight (about 4-7kg for someone weighing 90kg) – and keeping those kilos off – can have tremendous health benefits for people with prediabetes or in the early years of type 2 diabetes. For most people diagnosed with type 2, weight loss can’t reverse the disease, but it can help slow its progression and delay the need for additional medications, says Hope Warshaw, co-author of Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy (American Diabetes Association, 2010).

Weight loss can be more challenging for people with diabetes due to insulin resistance. Here are some tips to help you shed just 2kg – a good way to get the ball rolling.

1 Control portion sizes

It's not practical or realistic to weigh and measure everything you eat. So pick one day a week to pull out your food scale and measuring cups and spoons to see if you’re eating the proper portions.

“Our eyes grow with time,” says diabetes educator Hope Warshaw. “It’s easy to rationalise: but it’s just a little more.”

To fine-tune your skills to eat proper portions, keep essential weighing and measuring tools on the countertop – a food scale that accurately weighs meats, fruits and starches; measuring cups for starches, vegetables and dairy items; and measuring spoons for fats, oils, salad dressings and more.

2 DISTANCE YOURSELF FROM TEMPTING FOODS