This is why you regain weight so quickly

Losing weight might not be easy, but the biggest battle is certainly keeping it off.



Almost everyone who struggles with weight has been there: Losing weight is cinch, but the biggest battle is keeping it off. So why is persistent weight maintenance so difficult?

One of the main explanations you hear around town is a drop in metabolism. “The idea has merit, but it only reveals part of the picture” says nutrition scientist, Dr Tim Crowe.

Our eating habits are very individual and change from day to day, which is why it’s much easier to measure changes in metabolism compared to accurately tracking what and how much a person eats.

Here are the top four reasons you regain weight and how to prevent it.

You want a quick fix

As a society we’ve become hard wired to expect everything quickly. We want instant success in everything we do and all our wants and needs to be fulfilled without delay.

Weight loss, though, is anything but immediate. Regardless of whether you continually count calories, avoid carbs or whatever the diet demands, you may get rapid results in the short-term (which is a big motivator for people), but then you need strategies to move into long-term patterns — which is why these regimens don’t address the underlying reasons why you are overweight.

The sobering reality is the human body will continue to fight against weight loss long after dieting has stopped.

The fix: A better approach is to take the focus off “the quickest way to lose weight”. Instead, look for positive lifestyle changes which allow you to adapt to new healthy habits, making it less likely that you will revert to old ways.

You"re ravenous (all the time)

A recent clinical trial tested a new drug for treating diabetes on two groups. Results showed that people on the drug, called canagliflozin (which works by making the kidneys excrete more glucose — a favourable side effect for weight loss), lost only slightly more weight than the non-drug group. Why? People in the drug treatment group were hungrier which drove them to eat an extra 100 calories each day for every kilogram of weight they lost.

“The influence of hunger on weight regain is three-times stronger than a slowing of metabolism. Add the two together it appears almost inevitable that the lost weight will creep back on again for most people” adds Crowe. In other words, the more weight you lose, the more you eventually compensate by eating more.

The fix: Hunger is the physiological need for food, which is why it’s important to never ignore it. Work out a balanced eating plan (including the occasional treat) with a satisfying amount of food that works best for you, and don’t be afraid to experiment with eating more if your health isn’t where you want it to be.

Mental lapses

For a lot of people, weight loss is a journey that requires a lot of mental preparation and sacrifice. Once they reach their goal weight, the “diet” is over — a mindset that sets the scene for regain.

This is amplified by the fact that the body recalibrates its metabolism as the weight drops, however the effort required to maintaining new eating habits are often difficult to sustain.

The fix: The diet mentality needs to stop. Change your mindsets from “weight conscious” to “health conscious”. Refrain from labelling things “good” or “bad” and focus on providing your body with sustaining, nourishing food you enjoy.

Rely on willpower

Ever notice when you decide to give up a favourite food, it’s the only thing you can think about? Restrictive thinking, such as that found in many popular diets, will lead the way down Struggle Street and almost guarantee defeat.

For many, “diet” means a set amount of time during which you must exercise superhuman willpower to resist temptation and overwhelming hunger at the end of which you can finally reward yourself with junk food binge.

“Regaining weight has little to do with poor self-control. Our bodies are primed to fight against weight loss. You can ignore hunger cues for a time, but they will persist for much longer than your willpower,” adds Crowe.

The fix: Identify your triggers to overeat: stress, fatigue, boredom, skipping meals — and build “non-food” strategies, such as go for a walk, call a friend, or take a bath instead, rather than relying on willpower.

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This is how you cancel out those excess Easter calories

Here"s how to get your diet back on track after the Easter eating blowout.



We have all been there — four chocolate bunnies, an unaccountable number of little solid eggs along with what seems like hundreds of Hot Cross Buns soaking in butter ... and unfortunately a couple of extra kilos to go with it.

So is there any way you can negate the extra Easter calories from a diet and exercise perspective?

Maybe not every single one but you can make a serious dent in your recent calorie intake and negate at least some weight gain if you put your mind to it.

1. Drop the heavy meals

When you are loading up on calorie and sugar heavy chocolate, you are literally consuming thousands of calories. Now considering that we need just 1500-2000 calories per day, if you have overdosed the chocolate, you are only going to actually need small, low calories meals. Forget the pasta, rice and pizza at this time and if you are actually not hungry for a meal, it will not hurt you to miss one or two until you actually genuinely feel hungry again.

2. Consider a fast

More and more evidence is building to show that regular periods of low calorie eating offer a number of benefits for our metabolic health. This does not mean going for days and days without food or carbs, rather regular periods of low calorie (600-800 calorie) eating. As such, resorting to a day or two of a low calorie diet after any period of extreme overeating is an easy way to give your metabolism the boost it needs after a period of excessive consumption. A low calorie day would include an egg and coffee for breakfast and a light dinner of 100g fish and vegetables.

3. Focus on low calorie foods

Broth and vegetable based soups, salads along with white fish, prawns, vegetables and berries are all nutrient rich foods that contain very few calories. A period of overeating high fat and high sugar chocolate has most likely flooded the muscles with plenty of extra energy. In an attempt to buffer this, focusing your meals around salad and vegetables will get your diet back on track in no time.

4. Move, move, move

Extra calories do not present an issue as long as you burn them off. This means that you need to take advantage of the Easter holiday days and move, a lot. This does not mean a stroll around the park with the dog, rather it means clocking up a serious number of steps as well as exercising while you have the extra time. Aim for at least 10000 steps each day as well as 30-60 minutes of exercise when your heart rate is elevated. If you consider that a small chocolate bunny contains 600-800 calories, or an hour of high intensity exercise, you can see how much exercise it is going to take to burn some of your Easter indulgences off.

5. Get rid of the treats

Once Easter has come and gone it is time to get the chocolate, show bags and Easter buns out of the house, as if they are there, you will eat them. One of the biggest issues when it comes to big celebrations is that the eating goes on for weeks after the actual event. You can only eat so much chocolate in a couple of days, so once Easter is over get rid of it and you will be back to your usual weight in no time.

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This simple trick is the key to losing weight

When it comes to diets, weight control and nutrition, this is the key to success. And it could not be simpler.



It is safe to say that most of us know what we should (or should not) be eating - we know that fruits and vegetables are good, and we know that fried food is not so good. We know that chocolate is high in calories, and we know that if we eat less we will lose weight. Knowledge is not the issue.

Rather, in busy, over-scheduled lives, our healthy eating regimes and the best of intentions fall off track when we find ourselves hungry and without good food choices on hand. Sometimes we may be able to ignore the hunger pains and wait until we stumble across an apple, but in more cases than not the deep desire for food sees us searching desk drawers, attacking vending machines or at the local shop stocking up on high fat, high sugar, carbohydrate rich foods that feed our low blood sugar levels like a drug feeds an addict.

The simple act of planning on the other hand ensures that we are never caught off guard and always have healthy options on hand to make it easy to eat well. And while some people may opt to spend hours each Sunday packing portion controlled lunches, the good news is that it does not have to be this labour intensive to get good results.

1. Schedule time

One the greatest barriers to taking control of our food and calorie intake is finding ourselves in a cycle of not having enough time and bouncing from week to week eating whatever crosses our path. The solution to this is easy - all we need to do is schedule time to get organised. All you need is 20-30 minutes each week to plan a few meals, write a shopping list and consider the way your upcoming week will impact your food choices. For example, if you know that you will be home late a couple of nights, you then also know that you will need a couple of quick and easy meal options that can be heated quickly to avoid you resorting to high fat take away

2. Shop online

If you visit the supermarket several times each week, chances are you are not only purchasing extra foods you do not need, but also wasting plenty of valuable time - parking, queuing and waiting. Shopping online not only saves much time and energy but helps you to plan your meals in advance. There is also the option of ordering a fruit and veggie box delivery each week to ensure you have your fresh staples on hand or have an array of healthy snack options and lunch staples delivered straight to your workplace. This way you do not need to worry about hauling food to and from work every day but you always have healthy lunch and snacks on hand.

3. Cook smart

In an ideal work we would grow fresh produce in our garden, shop locally and prepare healthy home-cooked meals each night. Unfortunately busy lives are not always conducive to this grassroots approach to our food intake and fewer and fewer people are finding time to cook a healthy meal each night. For this reason, looking at time efficient ways to prepare meals is the key to success and this can translate into bulk preparing meals in advance so you cook just once or twice each week. A solid cook up of 1-2 larger meals such as casseroles, stews, mince and soup can give you at least 2-3 meals as well as lunches, freeing up extra time on other evenings when you know you will struggle to find the time to cook a meal from scratch.

4. Create habits

Eating well long-term is about building solid food habits that become your natural default. For example, taking your lunch with you each day, or always keeping a water bottle or healthy snack with you. It takes between 30-90 days to cement a long term habit which is why committing to focusing on your nutrition for a set period of time will help to initially identify and over solidify the health habits you know you need to build and maintain long term. Phone or computer reminders and alarms, post it notes and regular time outs on a daily basis are all tools that can help you to refocus on the health habits you are working and help to keep you on track with your dietary goals.

5. Have back ups

In life, things rarely go to plan - the time you had set aside for meal preparation gets eaten away by other commitments; your shopping order does not arrive or despite the best of intentions you forget to take your lunch. To help buffer for these regular occurrences when it comes to your nutrition, always have a backup plan. Keep a healthy frozen meal on hand; know what you can order from the food court if you need, and keep a protein or meal bar in your work bag for emergencies. Remember, your nutrition does not have to be perfect to get good results, it just has to be consistent.

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How to lose weight this weekend

Use the time off to kickstart your health goals and set yourself up for a week of success.



Weekends are notorious for weight gain - socialising, plenty of drinking and eating and far less time spent at the gym inevitably mean an excessive calorie intake and even a kilo or two of extra weight if you are not careful.

So, how can you make the most of the weekend and even lose some weight?

Well, your weekend may need to be toned down a little but come Monday morning it will all be worth it.

1. Exercise more than usual

Weekends mean more time, and more time means that you have more time to move your body. Forget a single class at the gym or a quick run around the block on Sunday afternoon, if you are serious about shifting the kilos you need to spend a lot of your weekend hours on your feet. Plan a long walk or ride; walk to an event rather than catch a cab or drive, or schedule some exercise both morning and evening of each Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not only will your body feel a lot better at the end of each day, but you will help to compensate for the many hours we spend sitting down during the week.

2. Cut back on your meals

Weekends inevitably mean more eating, and more eating means a whole lot more calories. A relatively simple weekend strategy is to swap your regular meals and snacks for a couple of larger meals - say a brunch and then a restaurant meal out. Not only will the change in your food routine help boost metabolic rate, but eating a couple of substantial meals with plenty of hours in between will help you actually feel hungry in between eating occasions.

3. Avoid the calorie bombs

You may find it is via alcohol; fast or takeaway foods or weekend fried treats but when you include some pastry, fried food, pizza, hot chips or several glasses of wine or beer you can literally consume hundreds and hundreds of extra calories. Once you ditch the low nutrient density foods such as heavy breads, dips, fried pub foods, pizza and large volumes of alcohol you will keep your calories tightly controlled which will support fat burning.

4. Ditch the feeders

Of all the behavioural research available, there are two key predictors shown to encourage the consumption of ‘extra’ or ‘discretionary’ foods - how available these foods are, and whether those around us (friends, family, and work colleagues) are eating. For this reason, if you spend your weekends with friends and family who are constantly stuffing their faces, ultimately you will eat a whole lot more too. For this reason, if your goal is to really take control of your diet and lifestyle and drop a kilo or two, you need to be strict about who you spend your time with. Seek out supportive, motivated people who will encourage you to keep being active and not make you feel guilty for not indulging in high calorie foods you are trying not to eat. Remember, we become like the people we spend our time with.

5. Go light on Sunday night

A lot can be said for a low calorie meal every so often. Not only are low calorie soups, frittatas and salads packed full of nutrition, but when they are packed full of vegetables and not much else, they can contain as few as 200-300 calories per serve, or less than half the calories we would usually consume in a meal. Swapping your regular Sunday night pizza or pasta for a low calorie meal helps to contribute to an overall calorie deficit and weight loss; it means you will more likely wake up hungry some Monday morning and it sets us up with a good habit of resetting our diet each Sunday night with a vegetable rich, low calorie dinner.

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I lost 15kgs in 12 weeks without giving up carbs

"To the rest of the world I was a happy individual but behind closed doors I really disliked my physical self."



Tania Verbs was and at odds with her body given some recent weight gain.

"I was disgusted looking at myself in the mirror in the morning. Walking past windows was shameful as I looked at my reflection, but the worst was feeling my stomach wobble no matter what I did.

"I have a weird body shape and all the weight I had, I was carrying around my stomach and bum which really didn’t help my confidence!" Tania told myBody+Soul.

At her lowest point, the blonde saw a friend"s weight loss before and afters on social media and decided to try the same program in the hopes of regaining some of her self esteem.

Now, 15 kilograms lighter, Tania says she"s "never looked back".

Taking on the six-week program initially had it"s hurdles, including some strenuous exercises and taking the time to plan meals but that hasn"t stopped Tania from continuing with the program and is now into her third round.

"I spent 9 weeks doing DICED by Varlah, 6 days a week, then I slowed down and committed 2-3 days a week for another 5 weeks after that which is where I’m currently up to."

"As soon as people started telling me I looked lean, I slowed the program right down," she revealed, adding: "As soon as I was happy with my weight I made sure I indulged a bit in junk food as the workouts were that intense I didn’t want to look too thin either".

Having never been one to cook and eating plenty of takeaway, Tania says she was surprised by how much you could do with proteins like chicken, eggs and salmon. But the best bit was not having to give up the breads and pastas.

"Salads became better than fast food and I never had to give up carbs...Soon enough I was craving those meals as much as I did fast food in my previous, unhealthy life," she admitted, adding that giving up alcohol altogether was a big help too.

Cooking wasn"t the only thing Tania avoided previously - with exercise not really a part of her routine, other than lifting a heavy camera bag at work.

However, seeing the results was motivation enough to get out of bed and workout but the camerawoman admits she struggled to do the full 45-minute workout at first, leaving her feeling deflated.

"In my mind, I thought I was failing if I didn’t do the full 40-45 minutes," she said.

"To be honest it wasn’t until into my second round that I could pull through a full workout, that’s how challenging these are. The best thing about that is it shows that even if you only accomplish 20 minutes of the workout a day, you will still see amazing results."

Having completely overhauled her life, Tania is in a much better place and in her relationship with her body is better than ever.

"The best thing was that I could get fitter, leaner and tone up not because of supplements I was taking, but because of exercise, diet and a strong mindset."

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New online tool tells you if you"re really hungry

It’s called the Hunger Quotient and it can help you lose weight and stop overeating.



Some days your berry yoghurt bowl, and coffee does the trick, taking you through to lunch. Other days, you’d give up your unborn child just for that satisfying feeling of fullness and a break from thinking about food.

Yep, in the world of healthy sustainable eating, figuring out how much to eat to reach your goal is just as important as choosing what to eat.

It can be tricky, though. When you don"t have hard numbers or definitive meal plans to guide you, how are you supposed to know for sure whether you"re eating the right amount?

Meet the Hunger Quotient, a game changing tool devised by registered dietitian Keri Glassman that makes it easy to figure out exactly how much you should eat—and when it"s time to have a kitchen hiatus.

“It will be one of your greatest nutrition tools in your knowledge base (regardless of the food you eat) and get you closer to the healthy eater you were meant to be,” writes Glassman on her blog Nutritious Life.

Basically, your Hunger Quotient is a number on a scale from 1-10 that helps you rate how hungry you are. By using it, you can figure out what your appetite is at any given moment. A 10 on the HQ scale means that you"re famished and ready to pass out. A 1 means that you"re so stuffed, you’re swearing off solids for the next 24 hours.

“As an adult, you eat for so many reasons other than true hunger, and sometimes you eat without any hunger,” Glassman writes. “Stress, your previous meal experiences, emotions and hundreds of other factors influence your appetite.”

What the scale provides is a tangible way to eat mindfully, without counting calories – and you can use it any time. If you"re in the mood for food, your HQ can tell you whether you"re actually hungry or wanting to eat out of boredom or stress. Rating your HQ while you eat can also help you know when you"ve had enough.

Glassman reckons you always want your HQ to be between a 4 and a 6. “When you are at a 4, slightly satisfied, you are “just right” because you have eaten just enough to feel content without needing to loosen your belt or take a nap,” she writes.

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5 ways to lose weight while saving time - and money

Meal prep and HIIT workouts are just the beginning.



Make your week work for you with these time-saving tips that well help you save calories… and cash.

1. Quick meals

Being able to create a healthy meal quickly is key to staying on track with your weight loss goals. For me, the sandwich press is life-changing. It can cook anything from chicken, fish, eggs, pancakes, sweet potato, vegetables and the list goes on. It is portable so it can be taken to work or on holidays, and more importantly, you can just wipe it clean.

Another time-saving weight loss hack is cooking up a big batch of brown rice or quinoa, and keeping it in an airtight container in the fridge. This will last a good 3-4 days – and you simply run under hot water when needed. Healthy meals are so quick and easy to put together and by adding in your choice of spices you can add flavour to any dish.

2. Food prep

Food is everything when it comes to weight loss, and if you can prep some meals or ingredients on a Sunday your week will run very smoothly, nutrition-wise, anyway. Not only will preparing elements of your meals (or full meals, the choice is yours!) in advance save you time, but having protein-rich snacks – as well as healthy meals on tap – will save you money. No emergency 3pm trips to the vending machine needed.

3. Be organised

It sounds obvious but it works: schedule in your workouts for the week like you would your meetings. This gives you a clear picture of how your week will look, and takes away any stress that relates to ‘fitting in’ your work outs. Plus, it keeps you accountable as your days become longer and busier… and that gym membership you’re paying for is certainly not going to waste.

4. HIIT workouts

High intensity interval training is awesome when it comes to fat loss and also saving time. A HIIT session can be anything from boxing, stairs, hill sprints or skipping. These sessions only need to last 20-30 minutes as they are so taxing on your heart rate, after one of these sessions you’ll be feeling exhausted – and amazing. The best bit? There are literally thousands online – on YouTube, and beyond – available for free. You can work-out in your living room while your meals are being prepped. If that’s not efficient, we don’t know what is!

5. Shop online

If you can set up a regular order online with an organic grocer or major supermarket this will be life changing. Each week you will bring up your regular order make a couple of changes or simply just process the order, which will save you time, money, and help with our first couple of points. Life: simplified.

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