A guide to taking off those extra pounds for a better look

By Claire E. Urwin

This is the first of a four-article series on The Way to Lose Weight.

Readers are encouraged to become involved by submitting any relevant questions, comments or ideas directly to the writer at clareu@attglobal.net, or by sending them to The Jakarta Post at features@thejakartapost.com. The paper will publish a selection of the correspondence with the writer's response when appropriate. Any requests for anonymity will be honored.

SURABAYA (JP): Trying to lose weight is almost a universal occupation. At any given time, billions of people in the more affluent societies are on a "diet". Thousands of books have been written and hundreds of reduction plans invented. Yet we are all getting heavier. Not exactly a success story!

There are many good medical reasons for losing weight. A reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and arthritis, for a start. Obesity is now recognized as one of the most common avoidable causes of premature death. However, the issue for most dieters isn't only the prevention of disease. They also want to look better and feel better.

Being overweight is a very private and personal matter. Many of us are embarrassed to admit that we aren't content with our size or shape. We all long to be slim.

With women it's to do with self-criticism and body image. With men it's about healthy, virile masculinity. When we are overweight, it makes us feel miserable and somehow like a failure. Just too fat to quite make the grade.

Our weight effects our confidence and self-esteem as well. We consider ourselves weak willed and of little value when the scales go up. Excess kilos and the unsuccessful attempts to lose them, confirm our shame. So, when another new diet hits the market with the promise of a miracle weight loss for little effort, naturally we are tempted.

For instance, take the currently fashionable, high protein, high fat, carbohydrate restrictive diets. Ones such as the Atkins Diet and its spin offs like the Montignac or the Zone.

These pledge no more calorie counting and generally encourage eating high protein, high fat foods, while restricting carbohydrates such as grains, vegetables and fruits.

Dramatic weight loss can seemingly occur on such diets. However, at what cost? They completely contradict the established nutritionist's opinion about the benefits of eating plenty of plant based carbohydrates. Furthermore, the medical profession states that a high fat diet is closely linked to heart disease and many cancers.

Such contradictory advice causes public and private argument. Opposing supporters and pundits accuse each other of lies and unscientific diet bashing.

Meanwhile, the average concerned consumer, who genuinely wants to lose weight by a healthy, permanent method, is left on the sidelines, totally confused. What is the "want to be slimmer" to do?

There are a myriad of ways to lose weight. Naturally, some methods are considerably safer and more acceptable than others. But, although we have learned a great deal about health and nutrition in recent years, one fact remains constant about weight reduction. Its not new, or revolutionary, or faddish. Successful weight loss means eating less and exercising more.

However, there are now ways of making dieting much more agreeable. Recently, knowledge gained about how the body uses types of foods and how certain foods can influence blood and brain chemistry can make losing weight, if not simple, at least less arduous.

Let's face it, dieting is difficult. Giving up your usual eating habits and starting some calorie burning exercise, takes effort. It has to be a real commitment.

For men the problem is even more demanding. The stomach area is one of the first places the male body stores fat. Unfortunately, trying to cope with an ever increasing girth by squeezing into too tight trousers and using a belt to hide the belly, just doesn't work.

Understanding the link between diet, lifestyle and body shape is especially important for the male population. Excess flab around the gut area is a warning sign. Too big in the belly means an increased risk of colon, prostate and rectum cancer, not to mention cancer of the stomach, pancreas and kidney.

Such statistics make unpleasant reading. However, carrying that extra weight around is usually caused by nothing more than an accumulation of bad habits. Furthermore, the problem can be fixed.

Even though the thought of eating less and exercising more may be initially depressing, a permanent change is achievable without too much pain. Additionally, once you start a healthy lifestyle and see how great it makes you look and feel, this will spur you on to maintain a good body weight for life.

Where do you start? With food, the best way of losing weight is this. Use the most recent knowledge that is available, mix it with the proven good elements of the latest trendy diets (there are always some!), then blend together with the successful tried and tested methods.

Exercise is similar. Take all the current information available about fat stripping activities, add some new ideas about burning off calories and combine with successful established ways of increasing lean muscle tissue.

This combination of new discoveries, helpful insights and dependable procedures will give the best possible advantage to every slimmer. You can have the cutting edge in the battle of the bulge. Let's call it "The Ultimate Diet and Exercise Plan".

Next week, part two of this series will detail the "Eating" section and the following week will describe "Exercise". Part four will be about "Weight Management".

One other vital component is also going to help. Harnessing your brain power. The strength of the mind in achieving goals is immeasurable. Motivation works better if you work towards something positive rather than moving away from something negative.

Think about how you want to look. Imagine how you want to feel. Keep those pictures clearly and constantly in your mind. Let them inspire your determination and success.

At the same time, prepare to have some preconceived ideas about weight loss challenged. For instance, modern scientific studies now show that the much hyped theory of a high carbohydrate, low fat diet was a fraud.

Devouring large bowls of pasta and packets of low fat pretzels, thinking they were slimming, was a total nonsense. It's no wonder we all became even fatter!

Look forward to the future. Some encouraging insights include the fact that hunger is no longer necessary for losing weight. Cravings aren't compulsory either. How about the fact that eating the right food at the right time increases your will power? No more bingeing, ever.

Equally, with exercise, did you know that strength training is just as important as aerobic activity in fat reduction? It can improve your metabolic rate by 15 percent.

Be optimistic and confident about your impending weight loss. Big changes mean big results and you will feel great from the very fist day. It doesn't matter if you have a few, or many kilos that you want to lose.

You can and will lose weight by eating nourishing, satisfying food, by practicing stimulating physical exercise and by being positive. Good luck. -- The writer is a nutritionist and health advisor based in Surabaya.