It's That Time Of Year...

Is anyone else already thoroughly bored by adverts for fitness videos, diet clubs and those stupid flipping yoghurt drinks? I may scream the next time I see Martine McCutcheon. I also want to burn every single magazine featuring a revoltingly skinny soapstar with the headline "OMG I was a size 12 heifer! Don't I look amazing now?" Err no. You were perfectly normal sized before and if I can count your ribs now, you need to put some weight on.

Here's my attempt at some weightloss tips from the perspective of someone who was properly fat and has now got down to a reasonable weight. I'm not skinny but I have no wish to be. I discussed it before here but for further details, read on.

As a mini disclaimer, I don't want to perpetuate the horrible idea that you need to be skinny to be happy/attractive/successful. I wish more people were comfortable with themselves as they are. But if you want to lose some weight, best of luck to you. I'm not setting myself up as any type of expert here. None of it is rocket science. I wish the diet industry didn't bullshit so much - all you need to do is eat a bit less and exercise a bit more. This is just what worked for me.

- I'll start off by saying that it's not hard. Really it's not. Trust me. It's boring but it's worth it.

- Get some willpower. You really won't get anywhere without it. If you're not properly committed to doing it then things will go wrong and the diet won't work.

- Speaking of which, I don't actually like the word diet. I calorie counted because I needed to lose weight and it seemed like the most sensible way to go about it whilst still eating properly, but really it was about learning to eat healthily and looking after myself better. It's just sometimes easier to say "diet" than it is "healthy eating and exercise plan".

- Do whatever works for you, as long as it's not one of those meal replacement diets. I'm sure they get results in the short term but it's not a healthy way to start things off and what happens when you start eating normal food again? So if it's Weight Watchers or Slimming World, portion control, exercise or good old fashioned calorie counting, pick your method and stick to it.

- Think about what you eat. I'd been kidding myself for years that I didn't really eat that much but that was absolute crap, I was clearly overeating. Just be honest with yourself. Do you snack too much? Eat giant portions? Can't resist any passing cake/chocolate/beer? If you want to lose weight then something will have to change.

- Be sensible. If you're anything like me then you need to retrain your brain and your body about eating healthily. Sticking to your calorie/points limit by just eating cakes isn't a wise move and neither is eating porridge all day so you can get mortal on wine later on (not that I ever did this, oh no). Restricting yourself too much is not likely to turn out well.

- Allow yourself some treats. I need puddings in my life so mini meringues were an absolute godsend.

- I found it really helpful to take over the cooking myself. I went for the calorie counting option and I was far from obsessive over it but it's much easier to know what you've had if you've cooked it yourself. It was for the same reason that I pretty much gave up takeaways. Eating out is do-able, just pick the sensible options where possible.

- Swap things. I think my biggest help was switching from full sized bread to the mini loaves. 120 cals per slice in the former, 50 cals per slice in the latter - it's quite a difference! You could of course just eat half the amount of the full sized bread but my brain doesn't quite work that way. Similarly with crisps. I didn't stop eating them, I just started to buy Walkers Baked (lower cal option) instead.

- Booze. I didn't cut it out completely but I took the approach that it was pointless calories a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong, life without wine and cider would be dull indeed, but I didn't really need to be drinking at home during the week, so I stopped. As with anything else, I'd have it if I wanted it and I could fit it into my daily calorie allowance.

- Ride out the first few weeks. You may well be so hungry at the end of the day that you want to eat your pillows but just have a snack and go to bed. If you eat a lot and then cut things down, you will probably be hungry for a little while till you adjust to it. It gets easier very quickly.

- Work out what your weak points are. I am a sweetie addict and if I have a bag in the house I will eat them all. Even now I can't resist them. I'm just not the sort of person who can put an open packet back in the cupboard. So the answer is simple, I don't buy them. Or I buy myself a Sherbet Dip-Dab or a mini pack of Haribo every now and then as a little treat.

- Do some exercise. I am extremely lazy and don't enjoy exercise so I often have to force myself into it but it is important. I started off with walking at lunchtime, just a half an hour stroll around the grounds at work. When I'd lost enough weight not to feel mortified in a swimming costume I started swimming again. I try and go at least twice a week. Another handy thing was the Step function on the Wii Fit. Set it to 30 minutes and it runs in the background so you can watch tv whilst you're relentlessly going "1,2,3,4" up and down on the board. More productive than loafing on the sofa!

Let me know if you want some moral support. I'm perfectly happy to shout "STEP AWAY FROM THE BISCUITS" at you if needed.