Answer: Stage a campaign. Collect lots of practical tips that appeal to you personally and do them all at once! Here are some nifty strategies for you to consider when putting together your weight-loss campaign:

I’ve written them as though you’ve written  them to make them sound more exciting!

1.       If I want to lose 5 kg, start by losing one kg! The first kilo is really easy to lose – it’s often mostly water.

2.       The first week is the hardest! After the first unpleasant week of food restrictions, I’ll quickly adjust to eating less and cutting out certain foods.

3.       Don’t drink calories – drink water instead! Save my calorie opportunities for real food.

4.       Eat a carrot! Whenever I’m tempted to eat when I don’t need to, I should eat a carrot. If I then still want to eat, I can. Carrots are delicious, especially those not bought from a supermarket. They are also nutritious and contain hardly any calories. Hopefully, by the time I’ve finished the carrot, the urge to eat has passed.

5.       Nominate five favourite evil foods I promise to cut out completely until I achieve my target  weight. Evil foods are  foods that do more harm than good. They contain almost no nutritional value and instead contain lots of sugar, white flour, bad fat and salt. Examples are French fries, potato crisps, lollies, donuts, frozen dessert cakes, chocolate biscuits, white bread, and milk chocolate. It’s easier for me to totally ban a favourite evil food than for me to eat the food just occasionally.

6.       Clean my teeth after eating dinner. This is a clever way to tell myself to stop eating for the day.

7.       Ban evil foods from the house. Get the rest of my family to support me here. Get  everyone to agree to go on the evil food elimination diet too or they have to keep the evil food hidden from me or kept at their work. It’s not fair that I have to watch them eating evil food in front of me or for me to have to look at it whenever I open the pantry or fridge!

8.       Switch from high GI foods to low GI foods. Low GI foods will keep me feeling full for longer. Examples of low GI foods are:

• natural muesli,
• raw rolled oats,
• soy and linseed, heavy mixed grain, sourdough, rye, and whole wheat bread,
• most  veges  but not corn, beetroot, pumpkin and potatoes
• nuts
• brown rice
• most beans and peas  but not canned kidney beans and baked beans
• dairy foods

Definitely avoid these  high GI foods:

• icecream
• dates
• watermelon
• baked beans
• glutinous/short grain white /instant white rice
• mashed or fried potatoes
• most  breakfast cereal that comes in a box
• white bread
• bagels
• pumpkin

9.       Always eat breakfast. Choose a breakfast  made up of low GI foods. For example, a good breakfast for me might be a bowl of  raw rolled oats (GI=51)+ yoghurt (GI=33)+ frozen cherries (GI=22) + psyllium (GI=0)+ cinnamon (GI=0).

10.   Eat small portions often. Every time I eat something, my body cranks up its metabolic rate. My body doesn’t know I’m just going to have a snack! Energy-wise, it is most inefficient to eat frequent small meals–that’s why it’s so to do so!

11.   Weigh myself every day. Daily weigh-ins will keep me on track.  I am less likely to pig out during the day if I know I have to weigh in the next morning and face the consequences. And if the scales confirm that I have been over-indulging, then I’m more motivated to rein in my eating over the  next few days.

12.   Avoid   foods containing artificial sweeteners. Even though artificial sweeteners contain no calories, some research suggests they stimulate hunger and wreak havoc with my body’s natural calorie-counting calibration mechanism.

13.    Cook myself the magical one-egg omelette stuffed with  veges. This is an excellent weight-losing meal. It is delicious, nutritious, simple and quick to make – and best of all it is very  filling for hardly any calories!

14.   Learn to love vegetables and learn to prepare them in delicious ways. Vegetables are perfect for losing weight – they are filling and highly nutritious but hardly have any calories.

15.   When preparing meals, overload the veges! Add twice as many veges to stir-fries, casseroles and curries as I would do normally; serve extra-large portions of veges and salads and smaller serves of meat.

16.   Don’t leave the table feeling full! Aim to leave feeling satiated, not full. I need to eat just enough and then stop!  I can put aside leftovers for next day’s lunch. Or if I  feel hungry later,  I can always eat it then.

17.   Don’t eat dessert. Dessert is an old-fashioned custom – I don’t need dessert.  If I’m served up dessert as a visitor, I should eat it –  but I definitely shouldn’t ask for seconds!

18.   If my birthday or Mother’s day or other gift-receiving occasion is coming up, ask others NOT to give me evil foods as presents. If I do receive such a gift, I should get it out of the house and into someone else’s clutches as soon as possible. If I keep it in the house, I’ll eat it for sure.

19.   Don’t let myself get too hungry. If I get too hungry, I’ll go crazy for food and start eating and won’t stop!

20.   Have a friendly competition with someone to see who can lose 5 kg  first.  The idea isn’t to win the bet– just to lose the weight in a fun way.

21.   Every day and then, review this list and select some new ideas to try.

22.   If I haven’t lost half a kilo in a week, I’ve stalled. I need to try some new strategies. I need to review what I’ve been eating and eliminate some things. Or increase my exercise. And I need to review this list of 50 tips for some new ideas to try.

23.   If I catch myself eating “forbidden” food, I will stop and throw the remaining food away! I’ll throw into the bin  the half-eaten chocolate bar – or  the  rest of the chocolate cake  or tub of icecream or the box  of Lindt balls! Throwing food away like this may feel like sacrilege, but it’s highly effective. It sends a strong message to my brain not to eat this food again!  And, besides, the food is far better in the bin than in my stomach!

24.   Keep it simple: eat the same healthy, weight-losing foods every day – especially for breakfast and lunch and snacks.  By simplifying my eating choices, I gain better control over what I eat and I’m more likely to avoid making irresponsible, on-the-spot choices. Eating the same healthy breakfast every day is definitely no hardship. Just choosing from a few options for snacks and lunch is no real hardship either.

25.   Write down what I eat as I eat it. I don’t need to make a big deal of it–just jot down a word or two. Writing down what I eat is a natural censoring device. It’s not fun having to write down that I’ve eaten bad food or too much food so I will therefore avoid eating that way. It is however fun writing down how good I’ve been.