Losing weight can be as difficult psychologically as it is physically. It can become a struggle if we have to make family meals; eating our own meagre diet whilst still having to prepare tempting fare for the others. How can we improve our lot, and continue to please the family?

Let’s start with portion sizes - whatever’s on our plate, if we want to lose weight we should eat less. So find yourself a plate that’s about two-thirds the normal size. You won’t feel so deprived, because you can still fill the plate when you serve up. Wait until the rest of your family or friends have started eating before you start. Then slowly savour every mouthful you take. (Not only will this prevent you from finishing much sooner than the rest, it will also leave you feeling more replete.)

It should be possible to eat the same dinner as everyone else for several days of the week. Just make sure you eat lots of vegetables, and only serve yourself a small amount of carbohydrate. Also, restrict any side portions of bread and butter! If the family like their puddings, prepare ones that you can have a taste of. Check any tinned fruit you have is in juice, not syrup.

But you can also sneak in the odd diet meal for the whole family. Delicious low calorie meals can be created without anyone suspecting a thing! Fresh herbs make a great addition to spaghetti dishes - and add plenty of mushrooms and courgettes. Instead of oil, use tinned tomatoes and olives for juiciness.

When you’re shopping for food, always pick out lean cuts of meat. Remember also that fish can be a lower fat alternative. Whatever the rest of your family weigh, it’s still advantageous for them as well to eat lean meat. Roast chicken is a good all-rounder, just make sure you remove any skin and eat breast meat where possible. Select potatoes that have a naturally creamier texture, such as Vivaldi or Maris Piper. Then you can feel fulfilled without loading them with butter.

Be careful when you buy cereals as some have a really high sugar content. Again, breakfast bars might look like healthy food, but most are highly sweet and calorific. The sugar content in a lot of drinks is also far too high for dieters. If you love your drinks, stick to sugar free varieties. If you like juice, dilute it with water and add ice!

When socialising, alcohol really increases our calorific intake. Iced tea can make a refreshing change and is a good thirst quencher. Serve your drinks in wine glasses so they still feel more sophisticated.

Clearly, we can’t keep consuming the same things and expect to drop the weight. Although the odd bit of fine-tuning can work wonders to help things along.

If you can reduce the stress in your life, and take more rest, you could just reduce your weight at the same time. Lots of us are vulnerable to stress. We take on far too many things and end up ‘chasing our tail’ every day. Tension increases as one thing after another piles up. And that’s when we develop an overwhelming desire for food.

But it could be there’s a connection between food that’s laden with calories and feeling stressed. Stress-related weight gain does exist. The process is thought to be something like this - Cortisol, a stress hormone is exuded by the body at particularly stressful times.

This stimulates insulin release, as an attempt to stabilise our blood-sugar. We then feel hungrier than usual, and get a particular desire for fat and carbohydrate laden food. Assuming we gratify this hunger, we’re then rewarded with the much desired energy lift.

A moment or so later the stress is appeased and we feel happy again. But very soon afterwards, our energy boost plummets! To explain - the glucose now in our bloodstream is captured by the insulin and transferred to the fat deposits around our body.

Consequently we’d be well advised to de-stress our lifestyle before embarking on a new weight reduction program. In conjunction with this idea is a theory about sleep and weight management. Some years ago, the average night’s sleep was eight hours - now we’re lucky if we manage seven.

Respectively, the level of obesity in our society has risen. There could be a hormonal link to the two factors. If we’re not sleeping for long enough, we develop an appetite for more food. This is because our body thinks it must be daytime when we’re awake, so it’s time to eat.

Evidently our longing for food rises as we become more tired, and again we veer towards carbohydrates and fatty food. Taking back that extra hour for night-time recuperation may well lead to eating fewer calories.

And so to our conclusion. If we aim to reduce the tension in our lives, we might just find it easier to reduce our weight as well. We might try delegating more family and work responsibilities and say no to people’s requests sometimes. And then at the close of the day, instead of grabbing another bite to eat, simply play some relaxing music and snuggle up in bed…

Weight Reduction Is Massive… It’s essential to grasp that the business of slimming is exactly that - a very profitable market. Several billion dollars of diet products are purchased every year.

OK, How Large Has This Got? Maybe you’re not classed as obese, but you’re probably somewhat overweight if you’re reading this. Statistics taken recently suggest that weight issues are a problem for around seventy per cent of Americans. Put another way, that’s 210 millions! And many other countries will shortly have a similar situation. But we don’t want this to happen!

Surveys in the UK show that getting on for one fourth of all adults suffer from obesity. But what’s worse - In just 40 years it could reach 90 per cent of adults.

And yet why should it be that way? No-one wants this trend to continue. Sensible dietary advice is the key - not expensive products that line the pockets of big business.

Obesity can increase the risk of a number of diseases and ailments, such as - High Blood Pressure, Liver Disease, High Cholesterol, Osteoarthritis, Sleep Apnoea, Heart Disease and Heart Failure, Cancer, Type Two Diabetes & Problems with Mental Health. And so we’re not just out to look cuter - we’re out to preserve our health.

Losing the pounds doesn’t have to mean getting STICK THIN! You just need to aim for the right weight for you. Although that’s going to be different for each of us, we should look to maintain a comfortable weight for our height.

When we have a family, we need to consider how they can learn to eat well. It’s our responsibility as the adults in the house to help our children adopt sensible habits where diet is concerned. The odds are on that our children will grow to be obese if we don’t change things now. Who wants to be that kind of benefactor?

So not to put too fine a point on it - we have to become more nutritionally aware before the problem gets any bigger. We’re all very influenced by each other, so once you’ve mastered a lifestyle of healthy eating, those around you will take note. Just think of the long-term advantages of taking action now. Let’s face it, the health of our grandchildren could well depend on it!

Did you know there’s a strong correlation between our habits, and who we spend time with? Researchers tell us that if we are regularly around someone, we start to become like them. This is usually thought to reflect in people’s opinions and attitudes; having a mutual regard for certain things, like the law or education for example.

Lately though, studies are claiming that we will have more tendency to be overweight if we hang around with others who are overweight. According to a recent news article, we have a tendency to consume more when eating with heavier people who we know well. A US research team looked at kids eating habits. They found that the heavier ones ate more when they were with their heavier pals than when they were with their slimmer friends.

It appeared in fact that everyone in the study got through more food when with friends than with strangers. But it was when the heavier friends teamed up that the most calories were consumed. The research was featured in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It illustrated the part friends play in the actions of each other.

Frankly, having more relaxed habits when with friends is not a big surprise. Adults would no doubt have demonstrated the same characteristics. It’s possible however that in addition, we assume friends will give their consent. We’re inclined to unconsciously monitor our behaviour in relation to their reaction to it.

Young people of all sizes were studied for forty five minutes. A number were teamed up with strangers, and a number with friends. Each pair had a mix of healthy and snack-type food, and entertainment.

With each of the pairs, the ones who knew each other before the experiment got through more food than the ones who didn’t. However, the heavier friends tucked away the most. And the differences were quite significant.

The overweight pals who were paired up ate 738 calories each on average. And yet 300 cals less were consumed by the larger guys when they teamed up with a pal of normal weight. Interestingly the normal weight guys stabilized at around 500 cals irrespective of what their pal’s weight was. Comparable evidence of strong influence from friends is evident in attitudes to alcohol consumption by teens.

A child’s social network then is significant in determining their eating habits. What this means is kids can be influenced to eat less as well as more. Hence the necessity to educate the young.

(C) Scott Edwards. Go to WeightLossDietWar.com for intelligent diet advice on slimming products and weight management program.

Katie, my wife, and I badly wanted to lose weight. So we thought carefully about what it was we wanted and why. We were surprised to realise that our goals were fairly simple. My wife’s dearest wish was to have more energy when playing with the kids. And she wished for greater confidence in her beach clothes and lingerie.

Predominantly for me it was about buying stylish off-the-peg clothes again, instead of the dreary ageing ranges available for ‘over size’ people. Oh, and I also REALLY wanted to get to the third floor of our house without gasping for breath!

We did our research, and found that as well as considering how we look, we also have to consider how we feel about ourselves. It seems that evidence suggests we have less regard for ourselves the more weight we put on. Most overweight adults believe that being slimmer will restore their happiness. We’d like to offer some of our insights, as we can absolutely identify with this assumption.

Over time scientists have discovered that our sub conscious mind stores information, but can’t decipher whether that information is actually ‘real’. It therefore ‘programs’ the conscious element of our brain with anything that occupies it. Process that thought repeatedly, it emerges as its prevailing concept and thus it’s actual truth.

Mull that thought over for a moment. The chances are you’ve been repeatedly telling yourself that you’re too large. Our subconscious needs to be fed a diet of what we actually want to be real.

It makes sense to zone in on the happy things we’ll be able to do when we’ve lost the weight. The difficulties seem more worthwhile then. We started off with all the things we’d like to do or have more of: Things like dancing, flirting, swimming, having fun, soccer, running with the kids, volley ball, cycling, sun-bathing and feeling relaxed sitting in a hot tub.

Next we conjured up visions of ourselves on vacation, looking fantastic in our new summer gear. We got the respect and esteem of people as we confidently mingled with others. Life became a breeze.

Consequently, the weight came off (though not too much…) Has it been worth it? You bet…

(C) Scott Edwards. Visit WeightLossDietWar.com for in-depth diet advice on slimming tea and weight loss management.

Food diaries are an excellent self-monitoring method for those who like to be in control of their weight loss. For seven days, stick to your usual pattern of eating. Each day, enter everything that’s passed your lips, however small. Then you’ll have a good idea of what needs modifying and by how much.

Patently if your record shows a higher consumption of alcohol or fatty foods than you’d realised, you might begin by reducing those initially. Maybe your diet looks pretty good. But if you’re too heavy then you’re probably eating too much of it. Whether it’s the first or the second situation, you’ll be able to see how to adjust your intake from the entries in the diary.

Make notes about how you intend the following seven days to pan out. This should include food, drink and exercise. If some foods are to be forbidden or limited, write that down. And follow on with the food that you will be eating plentiful supplies of.

As far as alcohol is concerned, keep it to a minimum. Write down when it’s not allowed, and when and how much it is allowed. Cans of soft drinks containing sugar are out. Next comes physical exercise, and whether it’s a walk in the park, or visits to the gym - write it down.

Make a note of your weight before you commence this programme. Assess your progress each week, and adjust where necessary. It’s tempting to get on the scales every few days - don’t. Keep it to once every seven days, first thing in the morning.

You’re in the driving seat with a regime like this. Little illustrations of what’s gone well and what hasn’t will encourage and remind you once you’re several weeks in. Tick off each day you successfully complete your exercise plan. You’ll notice the difference it makes once everything is committed to the diary.

It won’t happen overnight though. Changes may be hard to detect in the early stages, but clothes will start to become less tight, and your energy level will increase after a few short weeks. Remember patience is a virtue! Don’t think about what you’re missing out on; think about what you’re going to gain as a result of your weight loss.

If you lose your way for a short while, try to get back on track quickly. It could be that you should look at altering your diet. There are some relatively easy ways to introduce more exercise. A thirty minute routine three times a week is a good habit to get into.

Feel good about every pound you lose. Quantifying the results you achieve makes dieting a great deal easier to maintain long-term. You may not want to splash out on clothes until all the weight has come off. But you could spoil yourself with a pamper session when you reach a mini-goal.

(C) Scott Edwards. Hop over to WeightLossDietWar.com for excellent diet advice on diet weight and weight loss stories.

As we consider how our lives should be in the future, mental images pop into our heads. Perhaps we think of having a really good relationship, with more expensive holidays and a luxury home. It’s probable we’ll view our figure differently - with less body fat and a more toned physique.

Dreaming of these things tells us what we’d love to have in the next few years - which is a good way to fire up a goal plan. If we don’t have an idea of how things will be when we’ve made it, the chances are we’ll never get there.

Positive visualisation alone won’t bring results though. We must accept that changes will be needed. “The definition of insanity,” according to Albert Einstein, “is to do the same thing and expect different results.” Said another way - we’ll always have what we’ve always had if we’re not prepared to change the things we do.

We need to not only massively change the way we do things, but also massively change the way we think. Only then will we make big steps forward in what we have. Not a big revelation then to realise that a smidgen of exertion will be needed to get the things we want to have. It’s a basic law of life that we have to give in order to receive. Though effort alone won’t inevitably bring results.

To realise the things we want in our lives, we have to behave in a manner that suggests our goals are a done deal! If the objective is to drop four dress sizes in twelve months, then for a time we have to prioritise an exercise routine and pay attention to what we eat.

Hanging out with friends comes after the work-out’s been completed. There will be time for enjoyment when the task is accomplished in the achiever’s mind-set. The right attitude to doing what it takes will reap the rewards that much quicker.

Victory won’t come looking for us. A robust attitude to our efforts will support us when we experience the knocks.

If we look at how others have reached their goals (in autobiographies and such-like) we can build some resilience. Each of their stories has a common theme - that the work they did and who they became before the goodies arrived is largely responsible for what they have now. And so to sum up - If we do our tasks with relish, and be a winner in our minds, we can be assured to have the things we’re working for.