Way back in April I wrote about calorie restriction, and the Michael Mosely feast and fast diet.

Well I didn’t do it, well not the way suggested. But I got a result – losing 6kg in six months. At 77kg I’m still a little higher than my target weight which is probably around 75kg for a man of my age and build.

This isn’t a problem, I’m still losing weight albeit at a slower rate than before.

How did I do it – simple really

• we’re social beings. It’s no use doing this unless your life partner is going to support you as the changes will affect both of you, even if you know they secretly buy orange mousse desserts and hide them in the overflow fridge in the garage
• exercise moderately three times a week. We have one of these crosstrainer exericsers we orignally bought for building strength for cross country skiiing and I do twenty minutes on that plus 20 pushups and 20 trunk curls, to the vast amusement of the cat
• drink less alcohol. I’m not being puritancal but we now have between three and four alcohol free days a week and some nights just have a single glass of wine. However if we want to have a weekend evening watching tv, having a barbecue, or whatever with the accompaniment of a decent bottle of red we have no inhibitions
• Eat a sensible breakfast. Meusli, with additional nuts, yoghurt, dried fruit and a half banana, along with orange juice and coffee. No toast, jam, vegemite. At the weekends it can be toast jam and fruit.
• Eat a sensible lunch. A single fairly parsimonious sandwich, some miso soup to give you the feeling you’ve perhaps had more that you’ve really had, an apple and some other fruit. Again weekends can be a bit more generous.
• Eat vegetarian for dinner a couple of nights a week. Unless you really cram it in, the energy density of a vegetarian meal is going to be less
• Have an asian soup like a pho for dinner one night a week
• No dessert or in between meal nibbling, and definitely no soft drinks
• Don’t be fanatical – accept the fact that sometimes life works against you, but make sure you go back to your regime after that occasional blowout
• record your progress on a spreadsheet. You’ll be amazed how much reinforcement that downward curve gives you.

And it works. It might not work for everyone but it worked for me, and it doesn’t need an expensive diet book or a regime that really buggers up normal life …

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