2 Body + Soul
Alcoholic drinks contain
far more calories than is
generally realised.
It is easier for most
people to cut out all
alcoholic drinks
completely during step
one. It might help just to
think of it as liquid fat.
After this the real test
is whether you are able
to keep up adequateweight loss. So, provided
that you lose about
3.5kg in the
first week
and about
1.5kg each
week after
that, after the
first phase
alcohol can be
reintroduced.
At about 140calories, a glass of
wine a week
may be fine.
Beer would
be more
problematic,
given that it is
so full of calories
(about 200 in one
pint). The basic
message is to enjoy
it in moderation.Alcohol and weight gain
Yes, you will
feel very
hungry for the
first 36 hours,
but hardly at
all after that
As the government declares war
on obesity, the diabetes expert
Professor Roy Taylor shares his
proven weight-loss plan
I
f you’ve put on a few pounds recently
you are not alone. The UK has a
weight problem. A recent survey
showed that a third of the population
gained half a stone during lockdown,
while official statistics suggest that
more than a third of adults in Britain
are overweight, and almost 30 per cent are
obese. The average adult body weight in
the UK increases by half a kilogram every
year between the ages of 20 and 60.
Gaining weight can be linked to a host of
health problems, including cancer, heart
attacks and strokes, dementia and type 2
diabetes. What’s more, the evidence
appears to show that being obese puts you
at greater risk of serious illness or death
from Covid-19. One study found that
people who were clinically obese had
almost twice the risk of dying compared
with those who were of normal weight.
This week the government launched its
anti-obesity strategy, with plans to help
people to lose weight, become more active
and eat better, including banning junk-
food advertising before 9pm, adding
calorie counts to menus and ensuring
easier and greater access to NHS weight-
loss programmes.
This is good news, but what if you want
to see positive results quickly?
There are many approaches to losing
weight. For a long time “slow and pro-
longed” has been the standard advice, and
rapid weight loss was felt to be a short-
term solution. This is increasingly being
proved not to be the case. Several high-
quality studies have shown that going on
an intensive rapid weight-loss diet for a
period is not only effective for most people,
but extraordinarily motivating. I’ve been
at the forefront of research into diabetes
for the past 30 years and after detailed
studies of people with type 2 diabetes, my
team and I discovered that losing a specific
amount of weight rapidly was enough
on its own to reverse the chemical
reactions that had caused the diabetes in
the first place.
My “step one, step two, step three”
approach to weight loss is a simple pro-
gramme with clearly defined stages. First,
you need to lose weight rapidly in a period
of about eight weeks; second, you slowly
return to ordinary eating step by step;
third, you learn to eat healthily to keep the
weight down long term.
If food intake is decreased to about 800
calories a day for a two-month period,
there are several advantages. Once under
way, you are unlikely to feel very hungry.
Yes, you will feel very hungry for the first
36 hours, but hardly at all after that. This
is possibly a survival mechanism that
evolved during our hunter-gatherer
millennia. It would have been difficult to
hunt successfully if all you could think
about was how ravenous you were.
A second advantage is that you start
feeling so much better within a short
period of time that you will want to keep
going. You’ll find you move around more
easily, sleep much more soundly and you
will start feeling more energetic. In thefirst week of a 700 to 800-calorie diet the
average weight loss is 3.5kg. During the
whole eight weeks it is just over 15kg.
This might sound rather alarming; is it
healthy to cut back so much on eating?
Sudden weight loss is usually thought of as
an indicator of serious disease. But the
hard evidence is that for anyone who has
increased their weight during adult life, or
has always been overweight, losing the
extra weight and then eating less long
term is of huge benefit to health. However
much fat you may have in your body, the
development of type 2 diabetes is telling
you that you have too much. As a rule,
decreasing your weight by 15kg (about 2st
5lb) will correct the excess. It is the same
whether you weigh 80kg or 160kg.
Compared with the rigmarole of trying
to lose weight slowly, losing substantial
amounts rapidly is easier.
Before you embark on the plan, I suggest
that you write down your target weight.
Don’t be put off by the seeming difficulty
— hundreds of people like you have
achieved similar weight loss. Write it
down. Then it is a real target.
Then pick the best time to start. You
need to recognise that food intake has to
be decreased for two to three months, and
many people struggle to find a period of
that length when there are no social occa-
sions, upheavals at work, holidays etc. So
plans need to be laid for how you will
manage to stay on course. If you have a
party or event, you could opt to take your
own food or shake. Perhaps leave before
the food is served.
And get your family and friends on
board. I can’t emphasise this enough. A
family resolve to avoid eating anything
other than at mealtimes is a clear-cut first
step. In today’s overfed society, snacking
between meals has become the norm. But
just 50 years ago this overfeeding would
have seemed absurd. We are now
frequently unable to tell the difference
between boredom and real hunger.
If there are no biscuits, crisps or sweets
in the cupboards, moments of temptation
are much easier to deal with. There is
much talk these days about the “obeso-
genic environment” in which we live —
our sedentary lifestyle, our use of cars and
labour-saving machines, and our ready
access to fast foods. However, the obeso-
genic microenvironment of the home is
easily overlooked. That can be changed if
the family are willing.
Beware the excuses you may make to
yourself and others. For example: “I need
to keep some treats in the cupboards for
the children.” Setting up your youngsters
to have treats as a routine will do them no
favours in the long term. Far better would
be to actively help them to avoid having to
make the same escape effort that you are
contemplating just now. Second, if you are
tempted to eat the treats, then they were
probably never really for the children
anyway. Being honest with yourself in
this regard is hard at first, but important. If
you are unable to resist them, they will
have to go.COVER AND THIS PAGE: GETTY IMAGESLose weight now Why Britain