20 July 2011: Swap the two choco digestives you have with your morning cup of tea with a small apple. Do this every day and you’ll lose three kilos in six months without any other changes.
The next time you go to a cafe, ask for a skimmed milk latte. Make the swap from a whole milk latte five times a week, and that’s around four kilos in around 10 months.
When you are out to have dinner, have a soup starter. Compared to melon, or cheese and crackers containing the same calories, tomato soup significantly reduces the intake of a second food course. If you cut out 100 calories a day as a result that adds up to losing three kilos in eight months.
Take your time and eat your meal. Your brain only starts registering you’re eating after about 10 minutes. So the more slowly you eat, the more chance your brain has of telling you that you’ve had your fill. Chew every mouthful carefully. Expect to shave off at least 125 calories a day, adding up to a weight loss of about four kilos in just over six months.
Can’t do without butter or ghee-laden parathas? Don’t worry. Shave 70 calories and 8 gms fat every day by swapping from butter or full-fat margarine to a low fat spread on two slices of bread or your parantha. To be low-fat, a spread has to have 40 per cent fat (40gm per 100g) or less.
Have eggs for breakfast. According to American research at the Rochester Centre for Obesity, eating eggs for breakfast could help to reduce your calorie intake throughout the rest of the day, by more than 400 calories. In a study of 30 overweight women, those who ate a couple of eggs for breakfast, felt less hungry and ate a smaller lunch and dinner. Saving 400 calories a day will lose about four kilos in just over two months.
A lot us can’t do without thick, creamy yoghurt to go with our meal. Well, you can certainly enjoy your yoghurt; simply swap to low-fat frozen yoghurt.
Jog on the spot while the TV ads are on. That could add up to around 15 minutes exercise an evening, burning around 150 calories. Do the same every day to lose five kilos in six months.
A tried and tested method - switch to green tea! Four or five cups a day could lose you about three kilos in about 10 months through the boosting effect green tea has on fat burning.
Now here is a really simple trick. Fidget more. Taking every opportunity to move can make quite a difference to the amount of calories you burn. Researchers at the Mayo clinic found slimmer people burnt up to 350 calories more each day through toetapping, muscle-clenching and pacing. You could shift over three kilos in less than three months.