FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

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FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

Introduction..............................................................................................................3 The weight-loss secret ..............................................................................................4 No-one is forcing food between your lips..............................................................5 Wake up thin? ........................................................................................................5 It takes time............................................................................................................6 Staying motivated ..................................................................................................7 Find your goal weight using the BMI (Body Mass Index) ...................................8 Fats ..........................................................................................................................10 Different types of fat ............................................................................................10 Why are saturated fats bad and unsaturated fats good? .......................................11 What are trans fats and why are they so bad? ......................................................12 What foods are sources of “good” fats?...............................................................12 Getting started, staying motivated, seeing improvements .................................13 Why do you need to exercise? .............................................................................13 Getting started: exercise for beginners ................................................................13 Staying motivated: carrying on when it gets tough .............................................14 Seeing improvements: stepping up your exercise................................................15

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FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

Introduction Are you an old hand at dieting … but never quite achieve the results you want? Do you ever feel unsure about calories, kilojoules, fat free, high-protein, low-carb, GI, Fplan, RDA, BMI? Do you want to lose weight, but just don’t know where to start?

This book takes you through all the basics you need, making sure you’re set for success. By reading this, you’ll…    

Brush up your knowledge Check out the facts Follow real diet guidelines that work Lose weight successfully – for good!

Everything in here is straightforward, comprehensive, sensible advice. You won’t find bizarre mono-food diets, weird pseudo-“science” or dangerously low calorie plans. I lost fifty pounds with a common-sense approach to a healthy diet. And I’ve successfully kept that weight off over the past three years. There’s nothing stopping you from doing exactly the same. You’ve got all the facts at your fingertips now: you can read this ebook cover-to-cover, or use the Contents page to jump straight to the sections which interest you most.

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FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

The weight-loss secret I wrote this piece when I started The Office Diet, and it gives you a good introduction to how simple weight loss really is. (Note that “simple” isn’t the same as “easy”…)

Like most people, I’ve given my share of hard-earned cash to the dieting industry. I’ve bought magazines, “diet” foods, pedometers and hand weights that languished under the bed. But spending money on all these gizmos is just a distraction from the real truth. There’s only one way to lose weight. And that secret is:

Use more energy than you take in.

(Are you really surprised…?) This could mean eating less, or exercising more – or, ideally, both! The only two numbers affecting your weight loss are calories in and calories out. You take calories in by putting food into your mouth. Not by looking at food, not by sitting near food, not by having someone offer you food.

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FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

No-one is forcing food between your lips. Anyone, however difficult their circumstances, can eat less. The vast majority of people can also move around more. When I first started to lose weight, I was a shy, very self-conscious eighteen-year-old who “hated exercise” and thought that the ten minute cycle ride to school and back each day was more than enough. But however shy you are, however reluctant you feel about joining a gym or going for a swim or a jog, you can walk. Even half-an-hour a day will make a big difference. If that’s too much, start with five minutes and work up gradually. (And read the chapter on Exercise if you’re unfit and overweight for more tips.) You just have to put one foot in front of the other, and repeat. It’s a good analogy for your whole dieting journey.

Wake up thin? No-one can wave a magic wand and make you three stone smaller overnight. I’m sure you get dozens of those spam emails about lose thirty pounds in a week – but even if those products were safe and worked (they’re not and they don’t), how much help would they really be? Here’s a thought-experiment. You wake up tomorrow at your goal weight, look in the mirror and think “wow, I look great!” Magically, as you slept, all that extra weight vanished. So … what do you eat for breakfast?

A full English? Bran flakes and skimmed milk? Fruit salad? A whole packet of crumpets dripping with butter and jam? Last night’s leftover pizza? Nothing?

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FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

Whatever you answered is wrong. Essentially, you either:  Ate exactly what you do now  Ate something different from usual In the first case, I have bad news for you. You’re going to put on all the weight you just lost overnight. In fact, you might well become even heavier than you are now (such are the effects of yo-yo dieting.) In the second case, I have more bad news. You know how to eat healthily, you want to eat healthily – but you spent years putting up with weighing more than you wanted to.

It takes time The point of losing weight is not just to reach some particular goal on the scales. Maybe you could get down to eight stone by eating nothing but cabbage soup, but this will not set up good habits for life. The point of losing weight is to have a life-changing journey. Discover amazing new tastes you never knew about. Learn to cook. Become fit and strong. Find out how your body works best.

If you wake up tomorrow at your goal, you’ll have learned nothing. Accept now that losing weight will take time. It took time to gain that weight, and you’ve probably put up with it for a while already. Now you’re going to give yourself the time to lose it properly. Maybe it’ll take six months. Maybe it’ll take a year, or more. Isn’t it worth investing that time in being fit and healthy for the rest of your life?

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Staying motivated I know it’s not easy. Especially when I started losing weight, I’d look in the mirror and see no difference, and I wondered why I bothered. But slowly the weight did come off. I still remember the first moment I caught sight of myself in a full-length mirror whilst out shopping and realised, for the first time I could remember, that I wasn’t fat. Tracking your progress helps: weigh yourself at the same time each week and record the result. Don’t worry if there’s the odd week where you maintain or gain (you are not allowed to use this as an excuse to “give up this stupid diet” and scoff a familysized box of chocolates, as I frequently have to remind myself.) But don’t just think about the number on the scales. Record your waist size every fortnight or month. Write down the food you’ve eaten and the exercise you’ve done – and look for progress.

Read the rest of this ebook. Try reading a page or a chapter each day, to stay motivated. And read The Office Diet blog for more tips, advice and inspiration. Never give up.

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Find your goal weight using the BMI (Body Mass Index)

(Chart taken from BBC website – US readers note that one stone = 14 lbs.)

Your Body Mass Index or BMI is a number which tells you whether you’re a healthy weight for your height. You can either use a chart like the one below to check which range your weight falls into, or you can calculate your exact BMI from your weight and height. Either use the formula below, or try the online Foodsel calculator.

Your BMI is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. So if you weigh 60 kilos, and you are 1.58 meters tall, your BMI is: 60 / 1.582 = 60 / 2.4964 = 24.03

If you’re trying to lose weight, your goal BMI should usually be in the 20-25 range (unless you’re Asian, in which case the upper limit is 23). You need to try to put on some weight if your BMI is below 18.5. A BMI of 25 is a good initial target.

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If you’re female, you may want to aim at a BMI of 22 (due to having less muscle, women tend to be healthier at a slightly lower BMI than men). To get to your goal weight, you’ll need to use the Weight Loss Secret (“use more energy than you take in”) – the next section on Calories and Kilojoules explains exactly how to do that. The BMI isn’t appropriate for everyone (and there have been some wider criticisms of it). In particular, it shouldn’t be used for:   

Children under the age of 18 (their BMI is calculated in the same way, but is compared to the average for children of the same gender and age). Athletes or body builders with a high percentage of muscle. Elderly people (due to difference in bone density).

There are also suggestions that the BMI is inaccurate for people who are above average height: taller people have a BMI that is high compared to their body fat levels due to the way BMI is calculated. Also, just having a BMI of over 25 isn’t the best indicator of health risk. Many experts believe the best guide is your waist circumference – as fat stored around the middle puts you at greater risk than fat stored elsewhere. Your waist-to-hip ratio is an even more accurate measure, as if you have a large frame, your waist circumference might be high without necessarily posing a risk to you.

It’s also possible to have a BMI in the 20-25 range and have too little muscle and too much body fat. So, your BMI is not the only number you should be concerned with when considering your health, but it is a good rule-of-thumb indicator for whether you need to lose weight.

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Fats Fats, like carbohydrates, provide energy – in fact, they’re an even more concentrated source of energy containing 9 calories per gram. They’re made up of fatty acids (chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms), and just as with carbohydrates, the length of the chain varies between different types of fats.

We need fats in our diet – they’re an essential nutrient for our bodies to keep functioning. There are small amounts of fat in most foods, including fruits and vegetables. But eating too much fat means gaining weight, and some fats are bad for your heart.

Different types of fat Most of the fats in the food we eat are triglycerides. These consist of three fatty acid molecules attached to a glycerol molecule and are used as a source of energy or stored as body fat. These fatty acid molecules can be saturated (with no double-bonds between carbon atoms) or unsaturated (one or more double-bonds in the carbon chain.)

(Diagram taken from Nature.com)

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FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

The types of fatty acids in the triglycerides determine the physical state of the fats. Those with saturated fatty acids, like meat, are solid at room temperature, whereas those with unsaturated fatty acids, like vegetable oils, are liquid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats are further divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, but turn solid when refrigerated. They’re often found within other foods, though: olive oil contains oleic acid, which is one monounsaturated fat. There are also some monounsaturated fats in foods like peanuts and avocados. Polyunsaturated fats are liquid when at room temperature and when refrigerated: these generally come from plant sources (nuts, seeds and vegetable oils).

Why are saturated fats bad and unsaturated fats good? Saturated fats raise your cholesterol levels, and high cholesterol can lead to heart problems. But we do need some fat to keep our body functioning. In particular, there are two fatty acids that our body can’t make on its own – so we need to get these from our food. These are called linoleic acid (omega-6s) and linolenic acid (omega-3s). Both are polyunsaturated fats, found in plant foods. Oily fish (tuna, sardines, mackerel and salmon) are especially rich in omega-3. If you don’t get enough omega-6 and omega-3, you risk health problems such as inflammation and heart disease. These fatty acids also help to keep your cholesterol levels low. Dry skin and dry hair can be symptoms that you’re lacking in these essential fatty acids.

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What are trans fats and why are they so bad?

Most trans fats are created by an artificial process called hydrogenation (this is why they are also known as partially hydrogenated fats) which prolongs the shelf-life of food products containing them. Hydrogen atoms are forced onto the molecules in polyunsaturated vegetable fats, to turn the oil into a solid rather than liquid substance. This means that the double bonds between carbon atoms in the unsaturated fat become single bonds. If a vegetable oil is fully hydrogenated, it’s not a trans fat, but it becomes firm and. difficult to use in cooking. So oils are partially hydrogenated instead, creating a soft product used in baking and processing foods such as margarine and partially hydrogenated frying oils. Trans fats are commonly found in cakes, doughnuts cookies and any processed foods – though the consumer backlash against them has led many manufacturers to produce products that don’t use trans fats. Trans fats have been linked to cardiovascular disease, as they raise levels of “bad” cholesterol and reduce levels of “good” cholesterol. There are also concerns that consumption of trans fats may lead to increased risk of diabetes, obesity, liver dysfunction and infertility. Small amounts of natural trans fats occur in milk and beef, but these are not associated with the same health risks as artificially produced fats.

What foods are sources of “good” fats? Keep an eye on your overall calorie intake (it’s particularly important to accurately weigh portions of high-fat foods) but try to include a few of these in your diet:  Avocados  Olive oil (in cooking and on salads)  Oily fish: salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines  Seeds and most nuts  Polyunsaturated margarines

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FREE SAMPLE of Dieting Basics– buy full version at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook

Getting started, staying motivated, seeing improvements Why do you need to exercise? You can lose weight just by dieting – eating less to create a calorie deficit which your body will compensate for by burning up fat for energy. However, for easier and longlasting weight loss, it’s best to do some exercise too, because:   

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Exercising burns up calories, meaning you get to eat more – allowing you to easily get all the nutrients that you need and enjoy an occasional treat! Your appetite can be regulated by exercise, making it easier to stick to your diet. Muscles are built up by exercise: this prevents you from losing muscle instead of fat when you diet, and also helps tone and shape your body. Even better, a pound of muscle burns up more calories than a pound of fat – some experts say up to an extra 50 calories per day per pound of muscle. There are a number of health benefits from exercising which go beyond weight loss. Your immune system gets a boost – meaning you’re less likely to catch colds – and exercise is also recommended to fight mild depression and stress.

Getting started: exercise for beginners If you’re new to exercise, make sure you begin gently and build up slowly. Many of us aren’t even meeting the minimum recommended guidelines, so that’s a good point to aim for to being with! Start off with light exercise, such as gentle walking, and progress to brisk walking, jogging or cycling. If you’re very overweight and unfit, just do a few minutes each day during the first week, then add five or ten minutes a day during each subsequent week until you can exercise for half an hour continuously. - 13 -

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Don’t be put off joining a gym by thinking that it’ll be full of super-fit bodybuilders with bulging muscles – gyms are used by a wide range of people, many of them beginners. The most common reason given for joining a gym is “I want to lose weight”, so there’ll be lots of fellow dieters there who are also trying to get into shape. And some people are just there to enjoy themselves…

Many gyms offer a free personalised programme as part of your induction – take full advantage of this, and explain what you want to achieve to your instructor. They’ll make a plan especially for you: it might seem challenging to begin with but should be achievable.

Staying motivated: carrying on when it gets tough Find an exercise buddy to work out with – this could be one of your colleagues who’ll come for a walk with you at lunchtime, a friend who’ll meet you for a swim after work, or your partner who’ll go jogging with you at the weekend. It’s much harder to weasel out of a workout when you’ve made a commitment to someone else to do it. Alternatively, if you really can’t find someone to work out with, make sure your exercise becomes a habit. Perhaps you always go to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – or maybe first thing Saturday morning is a great time to hit the swimming pool. Put your exercise sessions in your diary at the start of the week and treat them as non-negotiable appointments. After you’ve been exercising for a few weeks or months, you might be getting bored of your usual workout. This is a great time to mix things up a bit: try out some new machines in the gym (the instructors are always happy to demonstrate the correct technique), sign up for a new class that you’ve not tried before, or take a different route on your next walk or run.

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Sometimes we become focused on the end result of exercise – getting to an ideal weight, fitting into those old jeans, or having great muscles. Don’t forget to enjoy the journey too … exercise should be rewarding and even fun on a daily basis, not just as a series of steps towards a distant goal.

Seeing improvements: stepping up your exercise Keep a notebook or spreadsheet with a record of all your exercise sessions, right from day one. It’s extremely motivating to look back and see the progression you’ve made. Read over your log whenever you’re feeling discouraged. Perhaps the first time you used the treadmill in the gym, you could only walk briskly for ten minutes … and now you’re jogging for twenty. Maybe that initial swimming session that you were apprehensive about in week four has now become a bi-weekly treat.

Have your programme reviewed regularly at the gym: the instructors will help you to step it up a notch so you see continual improvements rather than stagnating. Alternatively, just progress to the next level on cardio machines and add a few kilos to the weights you’re lifting every four-six weeks: once level 10 on the cross-trainer starts getting easy and comfortable, kick it up to level 11! Once you’ve been working out for a few months or even years, exercise has hopefully become an integral part of your life. Whenever you feel that it’s a waste of time, or that you “should do more”, remember yourself before you started exercising. If you’re anything like me, your former self would probably be astonished at how much activity you now fit into your life … and how much you enjoy it! Keep track of your weight, body fat percentage and waist size: have you dropped a few pounds? Has your body fat percentage reduced? Are you buying clothes in a smaller size? These are all great signs that your exercise is paying off, and a deserved reward for all your hard work!

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Notes All text for Dieting Basics from The Office Diet is copyright © Alison Hale 2008 Page design and header images © Paul David Luke 2008 All rights reserved This is a free sample of the full Dieting Basics from The Office Diet. If you enjoyed it, buy the full ebook at www.theofficediet.com/basics-ebook and check out the accompanying blog www.theofficediet.com – healthy living advice for busy people. Please feel free to share this SAMPLE of Dieting Basics with your family, friends and colleagues. You are welcome to email it, post it on your website or blog, or link directly to the download on The Office Diet site: www.theofficediet.com/downloads/DietingBasicsSample.pdf Feedback, comments and questions are always welcome: [email protected] If you are interested in hiring an ebook writer, please see my site www.aliventures.com – I offer a wide range of writing services.

Photo credits All photographs are sourced from Flickr and licensed under Creative Commons for commercial use. This is a list of the titles and owners of each image, listed in order of the sections of Dieting Basics that the images appear in. Introduction: breakdown by Dawn Ashley The Weight Loss secret: Surprise? Horror? by karynsig, this is no joke mr. yoke by Pixel Addict and Jumping over the Saguenay river by pfala BMI: Number wheel by HeavyWeightGeek Protein: eggs by cursedthing Getting started: exercise for beginners: Gym Sandwich by Kapungo

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