Most of us need a snack or two during the day and not only is it completely normal, it’s an opportunity. A well-chosen snack can stave off brain fog and give you the energy boost you need to keep going until the next mealtime, and it can also contribute to the nutritional variety of your diet. However, snacking has a naughty, indulgent aura around it (thanks, marketing) and when we’re trying to eat well it can be easy to assume it’s healthier to skip snacks altogether.

According to Emily Wood, clinical nutritionist and weight loss coach at Voy, a medicated weight-loss program in the UK, not snacking when we need to can lead to problems.

“The biggest mistake people make is trying to avoid eating when they are hungry,” says Wood. “People can feel that they shouldn’t be honoring their hunger cues.”

Why is that an issue? Because you may find yourself overeating or making bad choices later. “You’ll probably be more prone to choosing calorie-dense foods just because your brain’s seeking out higher-energy foods to compensate,” says Wood.

So how can we avoid falling into the trap of failing to realize we need a snack? “Listening to the body’s natural cues is the key to effective snacking,” says Wood. “A lot of people are a bit out of kilter with their hunger cues, especially when they’re busy.” To dial in to your hunger cues, it can be worth developing your own hunger scale, as explained in this guide to mindful eating. 

As well as listening to your hunger cues—such as feeling hungry, thinking about food and getting distracted by the idea of food—it’s worth assuming you will need a snack at some point during the day. “I recommend planning for some nutritious snacks and making sure they are accessible,” says Wood. “Focus on whole, plant-based foods rather than conventional snack foods, and try to incorporate a variety of macronutrients, including protein, carbohydrates, fiber and fats into your snacks.”

It would be a mistake to choose something purely on its nutritional value though. “Choose snacks that you enjoy, too—not something that you find absolutely awful. So, for example, have some apple and peanut butter and maybe some dark chocolate on hand.”

Wood has provided some more examples of well-balanced snacks that she recommends to her clients.

• Chopped vegetables such as carrots, red pepper and cucumber with hummus and wholegrain pita bread
• Full-fat Greek yogurt with frozen raspberries, banana and honey, topped with mixed nuts or seeds
• Glass of milk with a bagel, nut butter and raspberries

When Is The Best Time To Have A Snack?

It may sound obvious but when you’re feeling hungry is probably a good time for a snack, and it’s best not to leave it too long, according to Wood. “It is beneficial to have something before you start to feel absolutely starving,” she says.  

Everyone is different, so see what works for you. “There is a bit of trial and error involved,” says Wood. “If you’re always starving by 4pm then having a snack around 3pm might be a good way of making sure that you’ve always got a bit of energy and that your brain’s working at its best.”

That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to be snacking at all hours of the day or night. “There is some evidence to suggest that snacking later on in the day—past 9pm—can be associated with less good health outcomes,” says Wood. “So try to avoid late-night snacking.”

But it will also depend on your activity levels throughout the day. “Snacking is really helpful with refueling after exercise,” says Wood. “Somebody who goes to the gym often might find that they need to have more meals across the day than the traditional three meals. Or they might have a bulkier snack or a second breakfast after a morning workout, perhaps including more carbohydrates and protein.”

Voy is a weight loss program that includes clinically-proven medication, personalized programs and access to clinicians and lifestyle coaches.

Most diets work, at least in the short term. Whatever rules you have to follow with a diet, at its core is probably an approach that puts you in a calorie deficit if you’re aiming to lose weight, and encourages you to eat more healthy things and fewer unhealthy things.

But the restrictions diets place upon you can become increasingly hard to stick to. They can also be confusing, and sometimes more influenced by social media trends than scientific evidence.

Instead of opting for a complex all-or-nothing diet plan that you find hard to maintain, dietitian Joyce Patterson, author of new book Think Like A Dietitian: A Nutrition Counseling Starter Kit, suggests that the 80/20 rule is a better approach.

This more flexible approach is useful for highlighting the message that it’s your overall diet that’s important, whereas all-or-nothing diets are often ditched completely the first time you stray from their instructions. 

“The 80/20 approach in nutrition is not a hard-and-fast rule,” says Patterson. “It's a mindset. A rule of thumb. It recognizes that our health is impacted by what we consume most of the time, and the occasional indulgence will not cause long-term harm. 

“This approach promotes a healthier relationship with food. Instead of looking at foods as good or bad, or trying to avoid certain foods completely, this approach encourages us to consider which foods we should choose more often, and which we should consume more mindfully. But nothing is off the table—a sharp departure from many popular diets. 

“All too often, overly restrictive eating leads to feelings of deprivation and resentment, ultimately making those approaches unsustainable.”

Given that you can indulge 20% of the time, I was interested to know how wild you can go, so asked Patterson. Unsurprisingly, there is still some moderation to consider here.

“With the help of a dietitian, people not only learn balanced meal planning, but they learn how food is metabolized and ultimately, how it affects our health,” says Patterson. 

“With this information, people can better understand what the body can handle. The 20% part of the approach is not a free pass to binge eat. It's a free pass to enjoy a variety of flavors, but we can indulge in flavors without overindulging in volume, which is a different way to think about it.”

We all know that a banana is a healthier snack than a chocolate bar. But often when hunger strikes it’s easier to reach for less nutritious convenience snack foods such as crisps, cakes, and biscuits, rather than trying to find a healthier option.

Of course, with some careful planning, it is possible to arm yourself with satisfying snacks based around whole, plant-based foods. But should crisps and chocolate be banned from your diet completely? Or is there a reason to include them?

I spoke to Emily Wood, a clinical nutritionist and weight loss coach at Voy, a medicated weight-loss program in the UK, who has a surprising attitude to the snack foods that are usually framed as “bad”.

“The ultra-processed, refined carb and low-fiber snacks that tend to be higher in saturated fat are definitely associated with worse health outcomes long term if eaten in large quantities,” says Wood. “But food isn't just fuel. It's not just about the things that we need. It's also about the experience that we have around food. Restricting any food can be unhealthy in a different way, in terms of the psychology around food and our relationship to it.”

“All types of food, including chocolate, sweets and crisps, should be incorporated into daily meals and snacks,” says Wood. “Avoiding these can give us a sense of deprivation that may lead to overindulgence later on.”

“Including some of those foods like crisps and chocolate in small amounts is a great idea, alongside meals or snacks that are focused around whole foods. For example, some carrot or red pepper sticks with hummus, alongside some crisps. A well-balanced snack helps us get a variety of macronutrients, but also actually fills us up—sometimes those less nutritious foods like crisps and chocolate don't fill us up that easily.”

“Often people tend to grab a snack that only provides one food group, for example, something that’s rich in carbohydrates and is not paired with protein, fats or much fiber. This can mean these snacks won't keep you satisfied for as long.”

While adding a little of what you crave to a more nutritious snack every now and then is a good idea if it makes you happy, it’s best to plan varied, nutritionally-balanced snacks for when hunger strikes. “Pairing foods much like you would in a meal but in smaller portions can make a great snack, such as yogurt with mixed berries and granola, or hummus with mixed vegetable sticks and wholemeal crackers.” Including a range of food groups will help give you slow-release energy as well as being more nutritious.

Wood has provided some examples of well-balanced snacks that she recommends to her clients.

• Chopped vegetables such as carrots, red pepper and cucumber with hummus and whole-grain pita bread
• Full-fat Greek yogurt with frozen raspberries, banana and honey, topped with mixed nuts or seeds
• Mixed unsalted nuts with apple slices and a touch of dark chocolate
• Glass of milk with a bagel, nut butter and raspberries

Voy is a weight-loss solution that includes clinically proven medication, personalized programs and access to top clinicians and lifestyle coaches.

I have had a complicated relationship with bathroom scales since I was a teenager. The number that flashes up as I step on has the power to make me feel like I am winning at life or completely and utterly losing. When I heard that Withings was bringing out an eyes-closed mode on its smart scales it was music to my ears.

I have struggled with weight fluctuation for most of my adult life and usually my weight gain is accompanied by an extended period of stressful life circumstances. When I am already feeling fed up, the last thing I want to see in the morning is a disappointing number informing me that I have put on a kilo since yesterday or only lost a pound despite exercising and eating no carbs all week. The feeling is discouraging, to put it mildly. It feels like a kick in the stomach when I am already down, which usually makes me want to eat more.

You might say, well just don’t weigh yourself then, but the truth is that would be irresponsible. My health is everything to me. Keeping track of your weight is important for so many reasons that have nothing to do with body image or beauty standards. Obesity is linked to many diseases, a fact that can’t be ignored and there are times it can directly alert you to a serious medical condition. 

I was steadily losing weight over a period of four years following an ultra-low carb lifestyle that I was sticking to 80% of the time. The weighing scales became a joyous part of my day. I would step on them every morning and see that I had lost another pound, which made me feel happy. That was until the week where I indulged in lots of carbs and didn’t do any exercise and I still lost a lot of weight. I knew something wasn’t right, I was also feeling extremely tired.

While everyone was congratulating me on my weight-loss achievement, something more sinister was going on and it was silently killing me. I was living with undiagnosed adult-onset type 1 diabetes, my pancreas had stopped producing insulin and I was wasting away. My body was shutting down. 

Since I started injecting life-saving insulin I have gained an unsightly amount of weight. While insulin is a wonder drug it is also our primary fat storage hormone, which makes weight loss harder than usual. 

When I go for my quarterly diabetic checkups at the hospital, the first thing I have to do at each appointment is get on the scales. I step onto them backward, with my head facing the opposite direction so that I don’t see the number. 

Type 1 diabetes requires 24/7 management and is mentally exhausting. On top of type 1, I have been through what I would describe as the worst year of my life. With so much additional stress to deal with I have not had the mental strength to deal with the dreaded number on the scales.

This doesn’t mean that I am in denial, it simply means that there are days I just don’t have the mental capacity to deal with that information and risk it triggering me to eat more, potentially writing off the day or even a whole week of healthy eating.

There are times I feel strong enough to look at the number, and with this new feature on the Withings’ scale I can pick and choose when that is, by logging into the app. I can check in when I feel like it and analyze my weight trends, fat distribution, muscle mass, water retention, heart health and even nerve health—and do it with a sense of calm and control.

In place of a number, the scale flashes up a smiling face followed by a series of motivational messages as it takes your measurements behind the scenes and sends them to the app. Stepping on the scales in eyes-closed mode feels like receiving a friendly pat on the back rather than a kick in the teeth. It is a “well done” for stepping on the scales today, it is an acknowledgment that you are doing your best, you aren’t burying your head in the sand, you do care about your health, and you are on the right path. It’s like having a little electronic friend on the bathroom floor that understands stepping onto a scales might be triggering and they are here to help you look after yourself and keep you on track.

I believe that the social, physical and emotional discomfort that obesity creates drives you to eat more, usually in secret. That is a pattern that I have observed in myself over the past three decades, I can see it so clearly now as an almost 46-year-old woman, curious to find solutions and look after myself as best I can. 

We all know what to eat and what not to eat to manage our weight, but the missing link in the global obesity epidemic is the emotional and psychological side of weight gain. With the eyes-closed mode Withings has considered thought patterns, behaviors and self-esteem.

Find out more about the scale in our Withings Body Smart review, and see all our recommendations of the best smart scales.

If you follow a vegetarian diet and frequent the weights room in your gym, there’s one question you probably get asked time and time again: “How do you get your protein?”

While lean meats and fish are great sources of protein, it’s a myth that all vegetarians are deficient in this essential macronutrient, according to Ian Marber, nutrition therapist and resident nutritionist at BOL Foods. “Despite the ever-increasing interest in plant-based diets, there’s still a lingering misunderstanding about how much protein a good vegetarian diet might supply, and if it’s high enough in quality and amount to achieve muscle hypertrophy,” says Marber.

With a bit of meal planning, there are plenty of ways to hit all your nutrition goals on a vegan or vegetarian diet, says Marber. “It can be achieved quite easily, in a way that doesn’t mean you are tied to the kitchen prepping every meal, but instead enjoying easily available ready meals and snacks that deliver protein, flavor and convenience as well as food made at home.”

Plus, most plant-based sources of protein will also help you get more fiber, phytonutrients and complex carbs into your diet. That said, eating for muscle gain is important and you want the effort you put in at the gym to pay off. So, how much protein do you actually need to eat in order to build muscle?

“Protein requirements vary but the general rule of thumb is that to achieve growth when training, protein intake needs to be 1.4-2.2g protein per kilo of bodyweight, depending also on existing muscle mass, gender and type of training,” says Marber. “For someone weighing 80kg, muscle growth would be optimized by aiming for around 112-176g protein a day.” 

According to Marber, you should also aim to incorporate different sources of protein into your diet. “Variety is key here, to ensure that the full range of amino acids are eaten, allowing the body to combine the eight essential amino acids into the remaining 14,” he says. 

To help you get started, Marber has put together a five-day plan featuring protein-rich vegetarian meals that are easy to make at home and provide around 175g of protein a day. The plan features some products from BOL—Marber is speaking to us on behalf of BOL, after all—but keen readers will note we’ve already featured BOL in our favorite healthy ready meals.

Monday

Breakfast: BOL Hazelnut Latte Power Shake, or a homemade protein shake made with vegan protein powder

Snack: Two plums with a palmful of almonds

Lunch: Chickpea and vegetable curry with quinoa

Snack: Two oatcakes with hummus

Dinner: Grilled tempeh with roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli and topped with pumpkin seeds

Tuesday

Breakfast: Coconut yogurt, blueberries and toasted, flaked almonds

Snack: Edamame beans

Lunch: Mixed bean salad with quinoa, avocado and a tahini lemon dressing

Snack: Carrot sticks with hummus

Dinner: Black bean and vegetable enchiladas with a side of brown rice

Wednesday

Breakfast: Porridge oats with raisins and a tablespoon of crunchy almond butter stirred in

Snack: Rice cake with smashed avocado and chili flakes

Lunch: BOL Red Pepper, Tomato and Lentil Power Soup

Snack: Oatcakes with hummus

Dinner: Stir-fried tofu with vegetables and wholewheat noodles

Thursday

Breakfast: Vanilla Oat and Almond BOL Power Shake

Snack: Rye cracker with butter bean mash spread

Lunch: Lentil soup with wholegrain bread

Snack: Banana and cupped palmful of walnuts

Dinner: Grilled seitan skewers with quinoa and roasted vegetables

Friday

Breakfast: Soy yogurt, almond butter and mixed berries

Snack: Chia seed pudding

Lunch: BOL Indian Black Daal

Snack: Protein energy balls

Dinner: Baked tofu with stir-fried vegetables and brown rice

Losing weight is never easy, but the best healthy meal delivery services make it easier by getting all your meals and snacks designed by nutritionists, cooked by chefs and then delivered to your door.

That’s what Balance Box offers. Its meal plans contain breakfast, lunch and dinner along with two snacks, with the whole lot totalling either 1,200 or 1,800 calories. The latter is recommended for those looking to maintain weight, although Balance Box suggests that if you are trying to lose weight you should base your choice on your BMI: over 29, start with the 1,800-calorie Market Plan; under 29, opt for the 1,200-calorie Lighter Plan.

There are four menu plans to choose from: classic, vegetarian, pescatarian and plant-based (the latter is also gluten-free), but you don’t get to pick and choose which dishes you receive. I tested the 1,800-calorie versions of both the plant-based and pescatarian menus.

You can buy boxes containing three or four days’ worth of food, which come with heating instructions (there’s no preparation required as with recipe boxes) and nutritional information on separate pieces of paper. Inexplicably, fibre is left off the nutritional information. You can buy a one-off box or subscribe to reduce the per-day cost.

If you live in London and have a subscription, you can leave the box and the ice packs out to be collected with your next delivery and Balance Box will recycle it. This is helpful because it is a big box and otherwise takes up a lot of space in your recycling bin.

Overall I was impressed with Balance Box’s meals. They were all packed full of vegetables and tasted really fresh, even the ones I ate on the final day of the trial that had sat in my fridge for three days.

Highlights were the Pan-Asian tofu salad – which was the tastiest meal in the pescatarian box, contrary to my usual enjoyment of tofu dishes – and the Vietnamese soy bean and egg noodles with ginger almond coleslaw. That said, there were a couple of meals I felt lacked flavour, the slightly watery chilli con beanie being the biggest offender. Spices don’t add much in the way of calories, so I say throw them in liberally.

The plant-based box goes very heavy on the vegetables, to the point where one lunch I tried was just a box of crunchy veg like broccoli and cauliflower with edamame beans and a very small amount of dressing. I enjoyed this and found it surprisingly filling, but to some it might be a little too abstentious. A meal like that makes it very clear you’re on a low-calorie plan, and I think the best weight-loss meal services manage to avoid that.

The snacks were a mix of delicious prepared bars, which were packed full of nuts and dried fruit, and pieces of fruit or portions of nuts.

With plenty of protein and fibre-rich fruit and veg, the meals do a good job of keeping you feeling full. I exercise every day and tend to eat a vast amount of food, but I never felt starving while testing Balance Box, though I did tend to add in another snack or two – I’m following a marathon training plan so it seemed justified.

A meal delivery service like this doesn’t come cheap, and Balance Box is pretty costly considering that you’re not paying for large amounts of calories. One day’s worth of meals costs £32.99 for 1,200 calories and £38.99 for 1,800 calories, and although the price is reduced if you order via a one-month subscription – to £26.99 and £32.99 a day – it doesn’t come down if you order four days’ worth of food. You then have to pay for delivery on top of this, which is £4.95 in London and £9.95 outside, which is a hefty extra cost.

That said, a lack of time can be one of the biggest constraints when trying to lose weight. Feeling like you can’t fit in preparing healthy meals, or trying to find healthy options on the high street, can lead to you making calorific choices almost by default. In that situation the simplicity of Balance Box will appeal. You pay a premium, but you can pretty much stop thinking about your diet, and that will be well worth it for many people.

Buy from Balance Box | From £26.99 per day (1,200 calories), £32.99 per day (1,800 calories)

More Healthy Meal Delivery Service Reviews

• Allplants review: An exceptionally tasty vegan meal delivery service
• Fresh Fitness Food review: The easy, expensive way to eat healthily

We’re a bit salty about detox diets here at Coach. While there are toxins you certainly want to avoid ingesting, detox regimes of the types you’ll find in magazines tend to involve a period of drastic calorie reduction. As far as we’re concerned, these won’t cleanse you of anything except some weight and water.

All the same, what do we know? We’re journalists, not experts with the appropriate qualifications. But we do know some of those, so we turned to dietitian Ro Huntriss (@DietitianRo), a consultant dietitian and expert for the TerriAnn 123 Diet Plan, to assess a sample three-day detox from a women’s magazine.

The plan involved replacing breakfast, lunch and snacks with juices, soups and smoothies. Breakfast would just be a cup of lemon water plus a green juice, and then you’d have a smoothie mid-morning and soup for lunch, before eating a protein-rich, low-carb dinner like fish with vegetables. You could also add in a cup of miso soup between lunch and dinner, if feeling particularly hungry, and it was advised that you shouldn’t do intense exercise while following the diet plan.

Now over to Huntriss for more on the pros and cons of this approach.

Are there any risks to following this detox plan?

The diet presented appears to be a very low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet. That means it is not nutritionally complete; however, it is unlikely to pose any significant risks if you follow it for just three days.

There are certainly some who should avoid doing this even for three days. That includes women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. And anyone with a health condition such as diabetes should consult their physician before embarking on such a diet.

How does it help you to lose weight?

People following this plan will lose weight for two reasons. First, the calories consumed on this plan are less than what any adult would normally burn, therefore fat stores will be used for energy and weight loss will result. Second, when limiting carbohydrate in the diet, you’ll lose water weight from the body. When carbohydrate is reintroduced, though, water weight is regained.

Are there any positives to following this plan?

You could argue that it does have positives as it will create weight loss. Furthermore, healthy foods are recommended in the plan, such as fruit, vegetables and nuts.

Does it promote long-term healthy eating habits?

In short, no. Diets like this can be used to kick-start weight loss, but the choices you make following the three-day “cleanse” will be crucial to your success. It must also be mentioned that this “cleanse” is unlikely to “cleanse” or “detoxify” anything. Having a healthy, well-balanced diet, staying hydrated, keeping active and having a functioning liver will do all the detoxification you need.

How To Lose Weight While Eating Healthily

We never like to criticise something without offering an alternative, so if you’re looking to change your diet to lose weight in a healthy way, we have a couple of options for you to try.

The first is this four-week weight loss meal for women plan from award-winning dietitian Azmina Govindji. The plan is made up of balanced meals and doesn’t exclude any major food groups, so you hit all your recommended weekly nutritional intake values while keeping the calorie intake low at around 1,300-1,400 calories a day to help you lose weight.

Another option is this seven-day high-fibre meal plan created by the British Nutrition Foundation. The focus is on eating more than 30g of fibre a day, but there are many other benefits to the plan, including the fact you easily get five portions of fruit and veg a day and avoid too much added sugar. 

It’s not a weight-loss meal plan per se, but it’s a very healthy meal plan and when used in combination with an active lifestyle can certainly help you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, while never feeling too hungry because the high fibre intake keeps you satiated.

More On Detoxes

• Beware The Drastic New Year Detox Plan
• The Truth about Detox Diets (Spoiler: They’re Nonsense)

When we spoke to Dr Justin Roberts from Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences about running for weight loss, one of the most surprising things he said was that new runners would benefit from “fatmax” training, rather than going straight to high-intensity efforts.

Fatmax was a new term for us, and so we asked Roberts to explain in more detail what it is and how people can use it to boost their fat loss efforts.

What is fatmax? 

Fatmax is the intensity of exercise at which an individual’s fat oxidation [measured in grams per minute] is at its highest. It could be 0.5g/min at say 60% of their maximum effort (60% of their VO2 max). Most people at fatmax would “burn” around 0.3-0.7g of fat per minute. However, there are many factors which can influence this, such as fitness or previous dietary intake. At higher intensities, fat oxidation declines and eventually is recorded as “fatmin” – the intensity at which fat oxidation is negligible. 

How can fatmax training help you lose fat?

Training at fatmax could optimise the amount of fat being used during exercise. However, it is important to note that at lower intensities, calorific yield would also be lower. Hence a combination of exercise types – interval training, HIIT training and fatmax training – could be beneficial. Fatmax training could be useful for those starting out and/or who may have lower metabolic flexibility [the ability to switch between carbs and fat as your fuel source during exercise].

How much does  fatmax vary from person to person? And what would it typically be for unfit individuals just getting back into training?

Fatmax is highly individual although typical ranges can occur within a particular cohort, so less fit people versus more fit people versus very fit people.

Less fit individuals tend to have lower fatmax results, ie 0.1-0.3g/min at maybe 30-40% VO2 max and fitter individuals, particularly from an endurance exercise background, tend to be higher, ie 0.4-0.6g/min at say 55-70% VO2 max. However, there are many factors which can influence this.

Can you identify your fatmax using rate of perceived exertion or heart rate? 

If you had undertaken an assessment in a lab, and compared it with your heart rate and RPE then it would be possible to do this accurately. However, from the studies we have conducted, most people’s fatmax occurs when RPE is actually very low – two or three – and with a heart rate of about 115-130 (depending on the sport). However, it is important to stress this is very individual and influenced by a number of factors.

How should you use fatmax training alongside other types of exercise when looking to lose weight?

Fatmax training could be useful to support individuals looking to get into exercise because it is lower-intensity and may suit more people, and may promote better adherence before moving up to higher intensities. One problem is that many people tend to work out “too hard, too soon” and become injured or fatigued. Some of the best weight loss programmes utilised basic walking to brisk walking. It is more about consistency, which over time leads to results. If someone starts off well with good intentions then gets injured or finds the exercise too challenging then they are less likely to adhere to a programme. Therefore mixing up the training with fatmax – lower-intensity, sustained – alongside resistance training, and then progressing to interval training, could be a useful programme.

There are a confusing number of diet plans which make all manner of claims when it comes to weight loss and your health. We’ve gone to the experts – dietitians, chiefly – to find out what the scientific evidence says about ech diet plan and what you need to know if you’re considering following it. We also have four-week weight loss meal plans for men and women, put together by an award-winning dietitian and ensures you’ll consume all of the nutrients your body needs. Dig in.

If you decide to make the switch to a completely plant-based diet you’ll need to pay close attention to certain aspects of your diet to make sure you’re getting the nutrition you need to stay healthy. Protein is one such area, because as a general rule omnivores tend to get the bulk of their protein from meat and dairy foods.

Getting all the protein you need from a vegan diet is eminently achievable, even if you have the high protein demands that come with an athletic lifestyle. You just have to know what to eat, and to make things a little easier we’ve listed a whole load of vegan sources of protein below and ranked them by protein content per serving size where possible. Need inspiration to make those protein sources into tasty meals? Check out these recipes from The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook by Anita Bean.

For more general advice on getting enough protein in a vegan diet, we spoke to Heather Russell, dietitian at The Vegan Society.

What are the best sources of protein for vegans, particularly if they train frequently?

The quality of all sources of protein varies, and a good way to work out what the best vegan sources is to look at the amount of lysine, which is an amino acid. Good sources include beans, lentils, peas, soya, peanut butter, quinoa, cashew nuts, chia seeds, ground linseed, hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds. Soya in particular is a great source of plant protein – the quality of the plant protein in soya is similar to meat and dairy, so that can be particularly valuable especially for people who have higher protein needs like athletes. If you’re a vegan who trains regularly, it’s a good idea to eat regular meals containing protein-rich foods, including a bedtime snack.

What about vegan meat substitutes?

I wouldn’t encourage them as everyday sources of protein because they contain quite variable amounts of salt. There’s a variety of soya mince which comes dry. You rehydrate it and use it like normal mince, and that tends to have no added salt. That can be handy as a healthy everyday protein source that replaces meat.

I would certainly encourage people to eat things like lentils, beans, chickpeas and tofu rather than using meat replacement products, because it’s best to eat minimally processed foods most of the time. There are good reasons to eat certain foods that are more processed, but if you want to make the most of a vegan diet I’d suggest going for those other less processed sources of protein.

What’s the best type of vegan milk for protein?

Using fortified soya milk is useful because the soya variety contains much more protein than other plant milks. If you’re athletic you need a bit more protein so that’s a good choice.

Should vegans be concerned with “complete” proteins?

I think this may come from an outdated concept of protein combining. People used to talk about having to eat certain plant proteins in the same meal to get the complete mix of amino acids, but the reality is that as long as you’re having good-quality sources of plant protein across the day you don’t need to worry about combining specific foods. It’s more about choosing good sources of protein.

There are three points. You need to have enough calories overall; you need to get enough protein for your requirements in terms of grams per day; and the protein sources you’re eating across the day need to be of good quality. As long as you tick those off then you don’t need to worry too much.

See related

• The Vegan Diet: What You Need To Know
• 3 Successful Sporting Vegans
• A Plant-Based Protein Shake Recipe that Works for Vegans
• The Best Vegan Protein Powders To Help Your Body Recover After A Workout

Can vegan protein supplements be useful?

I always say it’s better to obtain protein from food, because foods are a whole package of nutrients – it’s not just the protein you get from them. The only situation where I would suggest that someone uses a protein supplement is if they’ve tried their best to hit their protein target across the day but for some reason they’re struggling to do that, and they find that using a supplement enables them to do that.

People focus a lot on protein but really you need to look at the overall eating pattern and the quality of the food you’re eating, and if you’re eating lots of processed food and nutrients by themselves you’re not going to be getting the benefit of all the other things that come with a good source of plant protein like vitamins, minerals and fibre.

The Best Vegan Protein Sources

1. Seitan: 25g per 100g
2. Tempeh: 20g per 100g
3. Tofu: 12g per 100g
4. Soya beans: 11g per 80g serving
5. Quorn mince: 11g per 75g serving
6. Red kidney beans: 9.7g per 120g serving (½ can)
7. Edamame beans: 9.4g per 80g serving
8. Chickpeas: 9.2g per 120g serving (½ can)
9. Peanuts (roasted and salted): 9.1g per 30g serving
10. Almonds: 8.7g per 30g serving
11. Black beans: 8.4g per 120g serving (½ can)
12. Green lentils: 8.1g per 120g serving (½ can)
13. Cashew nuts: 6g per 30g serving
14. Quinoa: 5.9g per 130g serving
15. Peanut butter: 5.3g per tbsp
16. Peas: 4.6g per 80g serving
17. Oats: 4.1g per 40g serving
18. Pumpkin seeds: 3.5g per 10g serving
19. Hemp seeds: 3.4g per 10g serving
20. Chia seeds: 3.3g per 15g serving
21. Ground linseed: 2g per 10g serving

Running is one of the easiest activities to support weight loss. There’s no complicated new exercises to learn or expensive pieces of equipment to invest in. It’s essentially stepping out of the front door and going for a walk – just a bit faster.

But while running can certainly help you lose weight, there are pitfalls that can be dispiriting – unless you take steps to avoid them. To get the maximum benefit of running when losing weight you need to ensure that you’re doing it in the right way. To understand this we asked Dr Justin Roberts from Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences for guidance on how best to go about running for weight loss.

Below you’ll find his complete answers on the best way to go about this, but first, a few key takeaways from the interview:

• If you’re new to running, don’t dive in with high-intensity runs from the start. Begin with slower runs, or “fatmax” training.
• Running in the morning can increase your metabolic rate and increase weight or fat loss later on in the day.
• Additional strength training can help build lean mass and prevent running injuries.
• Mix up your training with different types of run to avoid hitting a plateau – for example, do a long, slow run one day and intervals on another.
• Make sure you eat enough to support your running. If you’re aiming for a calorie deficit make sure it’s a minor one and that it comes from doing enough exercise, rather than reducing your food intake.
• Most runners need 1g to 1.4g of protein per kilo of body mass per day. If you’re strength training as well, that might increase to about 1.5 to 1.8g per kilo per day.
• Fasted running can help use your fat stores, but might not be sustainable if you’re doing high-intensity runs.
• Getting gait analysis can help you find shoes that are comfortable and fit well.
• A basic heart rate monitor can be a great way to monitor your training and the progress you’re making.

What sort of running routine is optimal for sustained weight loss?

We tend to burn less fat with high-intensity work, strictly speaking, but we burn more calories. If someone wants to lose weight, I would probably recommend lower intensities, but with high-intensity work – things like interval runs or tempo runs.

But if you’ve got someone who’s quite new to running, I wouldn’t throw them in a high-intensity programme from day one, I’d opt for a slower run – what we call fatmax training. Technically it is maximal fat oxidation and the intensity this occurs at is called the fatmax intensity, which can be correlated to heart rate. It will differ between people, with fitter people tending to have a higher fatmax.

I’d also think about when you run as well. There’s good evidence that running in the morning increases metabolic rate, and this might also link to increased weight loss or fat loss later on.

How do you know what your fatmax intensity is?

Fatmax is highly individual although typical ranges can occur within a particular cohort, so less fit people versus more fit people versus very fit people. Less fit individuals tend to have lower fatmax results, ie 0.1-0.3g/min at maybe 30-40% of VO2 max. Fitter individuals, particularly from an endurance exercise background, tend to be higher, ie 0.4-0.6g/min at say 55-70% VO2 max. However, there are many factors which can influence this.

From the studies we have conducted, most people’s fatmax occurs when the rate of perceived exertion is actually very low – two or three – and with a heart rate of about 115-130 (depending on the sport). However, it is important to stress this is very individual and influenced by a number of factors.

Should you just do fatmax training to lose weight?

Training at fatmax could optimise the amount of fat being used during exercise. However, it is important to note that at lower intensities, calorific yield would also be lower. Hence a combination of exercise types – interval training, HIIT training and fatmax training – could be beneficial. 

Is running on its own enough, or do you need strength training to accompany it?

Many runners run with muscle imbalances or specific imbalances, so by strengthening the muscles around the joints, for example, this might improve the likelihood of running more efficiently and reduce the chance of developing injuries. Plus, if you’re gaining lean mass, this might also improve or have a positive influence on your metabolism.

How can people avoid plateauing?

Typically, I’ve found people hit a plateau because they’re just trying to do the same thing time and again. I think there’s a lot of sense in mixing up your training – so a long, slow and steady run one day, and intervals or hill runs on another, for example.

When I try to understand someone’s plateau, often it’s because they haven’t set a training goal. So the first thing is to maybe look at the goal and whether it’s challenging.

What sort of diet would help you have enough strength to complete runs while still losing weight?

This is a tough one, because it depends on a number of factors. If someone’s trying to lose weight, the assumption is that they’re going to be doing some sort of negative balance diet so their calories in are lower than their calories out – eating slightly less or maybe exercising a bit more. But one of the big problems I’ve found working with runners in particular is when they’re not eating enough to fuel their training.

So there’s a conundrum here because, yes, if you eat less food, you’re reducing your calories and creating that negative balance, which might then lead to weight reduction – but you may not have enough energy to sustain lots of training over multiple days. So I would say it’s about making sure that any deficit is a minor one, and that it should come from the exercise, rather than reducing what you eat too much.

If you’re going to do resistance training as well, most of the research I’ve read talks about having a more balanced macronutrient split: something like 40 to 50% of your diet for carbohydrates, 20 to 30% protein and the rest in fat. There’s also a lot of evidence to suggest that most runners need somewhere between one and 1.4g of protein per kilo of body mass per day. If strength training is involved and we’re including some sort of calorie reduction, that might increase to about 1.5 to 1.8g per kilo per day.

See related

• Running For Beginners: Free Couch To 5K Plan
• What You Need To Know About Your Metabolism For Weight Loss
• 33 Running Tips To Help You Become A Better Runner
• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips

Is it worth trying fasted running if you’re trying to lose weight?

First of all, we need to define what fasted running means. If you run when you haven’t eaten for a long time, such as before breakfast, you’re tapping into your liver glycogen stores and part of your muscle glycogen stores, making the session more geared towards reverting to fat metabolism. So if you’re trying to encourage the body to utilise fat stores during exercise, training on an empty stomach in the morning has its advantages.

But I would also be conscious of what you’re trying to achieve here. If it’s pure weight loss and someone’s doing a fairly high-intensity programme, is it sustainable?

Is there any kit you’d recommend especially for overweight runners?

In our lab, once people have done their physical testing, we often recommend they see a running specialist and undergo a gait analysis to see which type of shoes would be beneficial for them. They must be comfortable and well-fitting. The rest of your gear comes down to personal preference, although it’s important to avoid chafing and make sure your clothing is breathable.

You don’t necessarily need all the fancy gadgets like GPS systems, but having a very basic heart rate monitor can be useful. If someone’s looking to see if they’re adapting to the training, one of the first signs you see is a reduction in the heart rate.

Some people struggle to lose weight just by running. Why might that be?

You have to look at the person and what they’re actually doing. I’ve had people come into the lab and say, “My weight seems to be the same, what’s going on?” What they’ve actually done is gained lean muscle – maybe they’ve lost half a kilo in weight and gained half a kilo in tissue, so the net loss is zero. It’s not that they haven’t made improvements, it’s just they’re not seeing it by simply measuring weight.

Other people may monitor their weight every day in the morning and say, “Well, I’m only shifting by 0.1 of a pound” – but they’re looking at it in a micro fashion and not seeing the bigger picture. So they probably are losing weight, but just not seeing it over a typical day.

When people weigh themselves is a factor as well. If I go for a typical run, which uses muscle glycogen, and then I consume carbohydrate to replace that muscle carbohydrate, that’s going to lead to an increase in weight as well.

You could also be drinking or eating more food without realising it. I remember one case where a client was eating quite healthily, but snacking throughout the day, and drinking things like lattes, which are calorie-dense.

Let’s get something straight: the most effective way to burn fat is with a structured exercise and nutrition plan. No-one has ever lost weight by simply guzzling a few fat-burning pills each day. We’re sure you knew that already, but there’s no harm in repeating the message when shortcuts are so tempting.

However, that doesn’t mean that fat-burning supplements are complete hokum. After all, they’re sold in pharmacies, rather than just the shadier corners of the internet, which is always a good bellwether as to whether a product has any proven merit.

For more information about fat burners and what you can expect from them, we spoke to Anshu Kaura, LloydsPharmacy pharmacist.

What are fat burners and what do they do?

Fat burners are nutritional supplements. They have been proven to increase the body’s metabolism and as a result they reduce fat absorption. The body burns fat for fuel, rather than absorbing it.

Are they preventive then, rather than effective in reducing your current weight?

They can work on your current weight because they increase your metabolism, so you will burn more fat. They do a bit of both – they increase your body’s metabolism and reduce fat absorption.

How effective are fat burners?

Obviously with weight management everyone is different and it’s not just about using fat burners, it’s also about having a healthy lifestyle – eating a healthy calorie-controlled diet and exercising.

See related 

• How To Speed Up Your Metabolism
• The Truth About Weight Loss Pills
• The Best Supplements To Consider Taking (And The Ones To Avoid)

Can anyone use fat burners?

They’re not suitable for everyone – it’s really important before anyone buys them that they speak to a pharmacist or a healthcare professional, because there will be certain limitations on using them. For a lot of them you have to be over the age of 18. You shouldn't take them it you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, and certain health conditions have drugs that interact with them. They’re not something you should just buy or order off the internet without discussing it with a healthcare professional first.

Do fat burners have side effects?

Since they’re affecting your stomach, you can get some stomach side effects like discomfort and flatulence. But this is just because there are changes in the way your body is absorbing the food it’s eating, so it’s only natural that there will be an effect on the stomach.

In terms of interaction with medications, it’s about making sure that if you’re blocking fat from being absorbed you don’t block your medication as well. That’s why it’s important to check with a healthcare professional.

Can you take them for a long period?

The idea is that once you reach your target weight, you stop. There’s nothing that says only take them for six months, but if you’re taking them for a couple of years and they’ve had no effect then clearly it’s not working and you should look at something else.

What are the active ingredients in fat burners?

There’s no one active ingredient, they will have different proteins, salts and other components – some have caffeine in them – that have the effect of increasing the metabolism and reducing fat absorption.

Fat Burners To Buy

If you’re going to buy a fat burner, it’s best to get it from a trusted source like a pharmacist. Here are the top options at LloydsPharmacy.

Adios Max Herbal Slimming Tablets

The active ingredient in these tablets is fucus, a type of seaweed also known as bladderwrack. The tablets are designed to be taken three times a day at meal times to stimulate your metabolism.

Buy from LloydsPharmacy | £11.29 for 100 tablets

Protein World Fat Metaboliser

These capsules rely on caffeine to boost the metabolism, with green tea and guayana among the sources. If you have a low tolerance to caffeine, it’s recommended you halve the standard dose of four capsules a day.

Buy from LloydsPharmacy | £21.99 for 90 capsules

Even if you don’t subscribe to Netflix, you probably caught wind of The Game Changers, a documentary featuring athletes, scientists and the great Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film aimed to persuade viewers that the optimal diet for performance avoided all animal products.

You might expect the author of The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook to agree wholeheartedly with that viewpoint – but no. “The underlying message of The Game Changers was that you don’t need to eat animal products in order to perform well in sport,” says Anita Bean. “However, it did go a step further, and basically said that the best diet for sport is a vegan diet. There is no evidence to suggest that is the case.”

The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook is Bean’s fourth sports nutrition cookbook, and she has written stacks of books on sports nutrition, training and supplements. She’s also a registered nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition, as well as being the nutritionist for the London Marathon and Ride London.

“The book is tailored to the needs of people following a vegan diet and those who are interested in adopting more vegan meals,” says Bean. “It shows people how to get enough of the nutrients that they need just from plant foods.”

In case you were still in doubt that you can get what you need from plants, we asked Bean about the evidence.

Is a vegan diet equivalent to a non-vegan diet for sports performance?

The quick answer is yes, there is the science to support it. It’s a relatively small evidence base, but there are a number of studies that have shown that a vegan diet can support sports performance and recovery.

There is one 2016 study from Arizona State University which showed that a plant-based diet can even be advantageous for supporting aerobic fitness in athletes, and female athletes in particular. Partly because it tends to be higher in carbohydrates, and high glycogen stores are advantageous for aerobic or endurance performance.

Having said that, of course, there are many vegan athletes that go wrong and that’s why I wrote my book – to stop people making mistakes. Now you can buy vegan alternatives for meat, people think all they need to do is either swap their meat for that, or just omit the meat all together and eat vegetables, or eat more pasta. But if they do that, they won’t be getting the protein they need; they won’t be getting all the nutrients they need.

My book is to show people how they can put together a balanced vegan diet that will support their workouts, promote quick recovery and allow them to reach their performance potential.

Does the research focus on professional or amateur athletes, or both?

The studies have encompassed both recreational athletes and more serious or competitive athletes, so they support the benefits of the vegan diet within both groups.

See related

• 3 High-Protein Vegan Recipes From The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook
• The Best Sources Of Protein For Vegans
• What To Do If Veganuary Has Left You Hungry All The Time
• The Best Vegan Recipe Box And Meal Delivery Services

Can you get benefits by adding some vegan meals every week or do you have to go completely vegan?

This is the grey area. If we delve into why vegan athletes do well, it seems that many of the performance advantages are most likely due to the high consumption of plant nutrients which have beneficial health properties. So in other words, a higher intake of fibre, of vitamins (particularly B vitamins), of certain minerals (magnesium, potassium, zinc and so on), more antioxidants, more phytonutrients.

The second reason is that these plant foods influence your gut microbiota. These are the trillions of micro-organisms that live in the digestive tract. We know that plant nutrients – the fibre, the polyphenols – feed these gut micro-organisms, help them to thrive and promote more diverse microbiota. A diverse microbiota has numerous health benefits: for example, it helps to reduce inflammation, increase immunity and reduce oxidative stress. And all these things are necessary for peak performance and muscle recovery after exercise. With better immunity, you’re less likely to suffer illnesses and gut problems that can hamper your training.

I’m certainly not saying that the vegan diet is the best diet for athletes. I’m just saying there are many benefits to including more vegan foods, and certainly more plants, in your diet.

The Vegan Athlete's Cookbook: Protein-rich recipes to train, recover and perform

Buy now

The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook: Protein-Rich Recipes To Train, Recover And Perform by Anita Bean (Bloomsbury, £16.99) is out now

If you’re ready to lose some weight with a meal plan you can trust, look no further. There’s no juice fasting or excluding major food groups here – award-winning dietitian Azmina Govindji has created a balanced four-week meal plan to help you lose weight the healthy way. We’ve explained why you can trust a dietitian’s advice, but in brief a dietitian is a qualified nutrition professional who’s regulated by law and governed by an ethical code. Govindji has been chief dietitian at Diabetes UK and you may have seen her in TV adverts for the NHS Better Health weight loss campaign.

While keeping to a total of around 1,300-1,400 calories a day including snacks, spreads and drinks, Govindji’s meal plan delivers on every dietary recommendation across the week. So you’ll be meeting your daily requirements of things like fibre, as well as most minerals and vitamins. You’ll also be keeping within the right limits for fat, saturates and salt.

The meal plan is also structured in a way that gets you used to a healthier routine. The calorie split throughout the day is roughly 300 for breakfast, 400 for lunch and 400 for your evening meal, similar to Public Health England’s 400-600-600 recommendation for maintaining a healthy weight. Govindji has also highlighted meals that deliver certain essential nutrients you need to stay healthy, which you can integrate into your diet after you finish the plan.

You won’t just be eating salads, either. You can look forward to enjoying punchy flavours and satisfying meals – think citrus beef and noodles, black bean quesadillas and jerk chicken kebabs.

If you follow this plan for the four weeks, we’re confident you’ll see noticeable weight loss and feel healthier thanks to the range of fibre-packed meals and nutrient-dense foods chosen.

Four-Week Weight Loss Meal Plan For Women

You might assume having a latte or a glass of wine is strictly forbidden on this meal plan, but no! The plan allows for up to five every week, of either milk-based coffees (skinny latte or similar), or something alcoholic up to a maximum of seven units (we’re talking a 125ml glass of wine or half a pint of 4% lager, or a single measure of spirits with a sugar-free mixer).

You can of course drink as much water as you like, as well as sugar-free soft drinks, tea and coffee, although if you take them with milk this will come out of your daily milk allowance of 100ml semi-skimmed milk or plant-based alternative. You’ll also have a 2tsp (10g) daily allowance of reduced-fat spread for toast, rolls, sandwiches, baked potatoes or to melt over veggies.

Plant-based drinks such as soya, oat or almond milk can be used in place of semi-skimmed milk. Choose fortified plant milks with added calcium, iodine, vitamin D and vitamin B12. Vegetarian and vegan alternatives to meat and cheese can also be substituted. Try tofu or mycoprotein like Quorn instead of chicken and pork; use Quorn or soya mince instead of beef or turkey mince. Vegan alternatives to cheese can be used, although cheese substitutes do not offer the nutrients that dairy contains.

It’s especially important for women to get enough iron in their diet and eating iron-fortified breakfast cereals is a good way to help with this. It’s best to avoid drinking tea or coffee with vegetarian meals because the tannins in those drinks reduce the absorption of the type of iron that’s found in grains and vegetables.

There’s no need to follow the plan rigidly: you can make switches between breakfasts, lunches or dinner options to suit your lifestyle and schedule. Just make sure you swap meals with a similar calorie content. Snack suggestions, especially fruit and yogurt, can be eaten as part of a meal if you prefer.

Pack sizes can vary by retail outlet, however this plan and nutritional information that goes with it is based on the following pack sizes, unless otherwise stated:

• 100g salmon fillet (cooked weight)
• 120g chicken breast (cooked weight)
• 120g yogurt pot
• 200g cans of beans and tomatoes (or half a standard 400g can)
• 60g (small) or 120g (medium) for canned tuna (drained weights)

For easier cooking, the recipe suggestions include dry weights for grains like rice and pasta.

We haven’t included methods for every recipe. If you’re unsure, search the internet for recipes and you’ll soon find the standard techniques.

More Useful Advice

• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips
• How To Lose Weight Fast Without Going To Extremes
• Lose Weight With Portion Control

Week One: Monday

Breakfast: Quinoa porridge with seeds and berries (320 calories)

• 40g quinoa
• 200ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• 1tsp honey
• 80g mixed berries

This spruced-up porridge provides half your daily recommended intake of calcium and over a quarter of your iron and fibre requirements.

Lunch: Tuna salad roll (395 calories)

• Small can of tuna
• 1 heaped tsp reduced-fat mayonnaise
• Chopped cucumber
• 2 slices of pepper
• 2 spring onions
• 1 large wholemeal bap
• 1 orange (for dessert)

Dinner: Spinach and pea frittata (415 calories)

• 2 eggs
• 2 boiled new potatoes
• 2tbsp peas
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1tsp oil
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheddar
• Handful of mixed salad leaves (to serve)
• 2 dried apricots (to serve)
• 5 almonds (to serve)

This dinner provides over 80% of your daily recommended intake of folate as well as over a quarter each of your iron and calcium requirements. Eggs are an important source of vitamin D and this meal provides almost a third of your recommended intake.

Snacks: Oatcake with 1tsp reduced-fat meat pâté. Cucumber sticks. 90 calories

Week One: Tuesday

Breakfast: Bran cereal with yogurt (310 calories)

• 40g bran cereal (eg All Bran)
• 3tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt
• 4 dried apricots
• 150ml orange juice

Fortified breakfast cereals are an important source of iron. This breakfast contains more than a third of the recommended daily intake and the vitamin C in the orange juice helps absorption. It also provides over 40% of the recommended intakes of fibre and calcium and 70% of folate.

Lunch: Hummus, carrot and beetroot sandwich (390 calories)

• 2tbsp reduced-fat hummus
• 2tbsp each grated carrot and grated beetroot
• Small handful of rocket
• 2 thick slices of seeded bread

Dinner: Mediterranean salmon bake (400 calories)

• 200g vegetables (red onion, pepper, courgette and cherry tomatoes, all sliced)
• 2 new potatoes
• 1 salmon fillet
• 2tsp olive oil
• 2tsp balsamic vinegar
• Fresh basil (to serve)

Snacks: Small handful (20g) of cashew nuts. 120 calories

Week One: Wednesday

Breakfast: Peanut butter and banana toast (285 calories)

• 1tbsp peanut butter
• 1 thick slice of wholemeal toast
• a small banana, sliced

Lunch: Chicken, quinoa and pomegranate salad (395 calories)

• 1 small chicken breast (80g cooked weight)
• 1tsp zaatar seasoning
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 1tsp olive oil
• 40g quinoa (dry weight)
• 80g pomegranate seeds
• Chopped cucumber
• Handful of rocket
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt mixed with fresh mint

Marinate the chicken in zaatar, lemon juice and olive oil, then cook.

Dinner: Tomato and spinach dhal (420 calories)

• 50g red lentils
• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1 small onion
• 2tsp oil
• Garlic, ginger and spices
• Half a chapati

This super supper provides 60% of your recommended intake of iron and also contains lots of vitamin C to help your body absorb it.

Snacks: Small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt. 95 calories

Yogurt is a good snack to boost your iodine intake, providing 40% of your recommended intake.

Week One: Thursday

Breakfast: Bran flakes with nuts and raisins (337 calories)

• 40g bran flakes
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1tbsp raisins
• 1tbsp mixed nuts

Lunch: Baked potato with cottage cheese and salad (400 calories)

• 1 medium baked potato (180g)
• 3tbsp cottage cheese (100g)
• 1tbsp pumpkin seeds and chives
• 80g mixed salad

Dinner: Citrus beef and noodles (418 calories)

• 100g lean beef, marinated
• 2tbsp orange juice
• 2tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
• 1tsp sesame oil
• Garlic, crushed
• Chilli
• 80g mangetout
• 80g baby sweetcorn
• 50g wholewheat noodles (dry weight)

Marinate the beef in the orange juice and soy sauce before cooking. This meal provides three-quarters of your daily recommended protein intake as well as over a third of your iron.

Snacks: 100g grapes. 70 calories

Week One: Friday

Breakfast: Savoury French toast (345 calories)

• 1 egg
• 2tbsp milk
• Nutmeg, grated
• Parsley, chopped
• 1tsp oil
• 2 slices wholemeal bread
• 1 grilled tomato

Lunch: Chicken avocado salad (400 calories)

• 1 small chicken breast (80g cooked weight)
• ½ avocado
• Handful of lettuce
• 1 small tomato, sliced
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 15g cashew nuts
• 1tsp lime juice (for dressing)
• 1tsp olive oil (for dressing)
• Crushed chillies (for dressing)
• Fresh coriander (for dressing)

Dinner: Spicy cod and vegetable parcel (435 calories)

• 1 cod fillet
• 1 carrot, sliced
• Half a pepper, sliced
• A few mangetout, cut into thin strips
• 1tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
• 1tsp sesame oil
• Ginger, chopped
• Chilli, sliced
• 40g wholegrain rice (dry weight)
• Scoop frozen yogurt (for dessert)

Cod is high in iodine, and this meal provides all of your recommended daily iodine intake.

Snacks: 1tbsp ready to eat edamame. 45 calories

Week One: Saturday

Breakfast: Multigrain flakes with prunes and nuts (315 calories)

• 40g multigrain flakes (eg Special K)
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 prunes
• 1tbsp mixed nuts

Fortified breakfast cereals are an important source of iron. This breakfast contains over a third of the recommended intake for women and over two-thirds of the recommended intake of folate.

Lunch: Hummus wrap with roasted vegetables (395 calories)

• Large wholemeal wrap
• 2tbsp reduced-fat hummus
• 100g roasted vegetables
• Handful of rocket
• Small bowl of melon, pineapple and mango pieces (for dessert)

Dinner: Pasta with spinach and cheese sauce (405 calories)

• 50g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• 50g medium-fat soft cheese
• 50g spinach
• Garlic, crushed
• Black pepper
• Lemon juice
• 1tbsp pine nuts, toasted (to top)
• 80g tenderstem broccoli (to serve)

Snacks: Oatcake spread with 1tsp medium-fat soft cheese. A few grapes. 95 calories

Week One: Sunday

Breakfast: Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel (325 calories)

• Wholemeal bagel
• 1tbsp medium-fat soft cheese
• 30g smoked salmon
• 6 cherry tomatoes

Lunch: Beetroot and walnut salad (430 calories)

• 80g beetroot (pre-cooked or roasted)
• 25g walnuts
• Handful of rocket
• 40g tofu
• Fresh thyme
• 1tsp red wine vinegar (for dressing)
• 1tsp olive oil (for dressing)
• 2 oatcakes (to serve)

Dinner: Beef fillet steak with butter bean mash (410 calories)

• 1 lean beef fillet steak, grilled
• Small can of butter beans
• Garlic
• Large pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1tsp olive oil
• 40g baby sweetcorn
• 40g mangetout

Drain the beans and mash with the garlic, cayenne pepper and olive oil. This meal provides all of your recommended daily protein intake as well as over a third of your iron requirements.

Snacks: 7 strawberries and 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt. 55 calories

Week Two: Monday

Breakfast: Overnight oats (360 calories)

• 40g oats
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 2tbsp low-fat yogurt
• 1tbsp dried fruit (or a handful of chopped fresh fruit)
• 1tsp chopped walnuts or other nuts

Lunch: Cottage cheese and tomato sandwich (370 calories)

• 2 thick slices of wholemeal bread
• 1 heaped tbsp cottage cheese
• 1 sliced tomato
• 1tbsp pumpkin seeds

Dinner: Fried rice with greens and cashew nuts (425 calories)

• 40g basmati and wild rice (dry weight)
• 2tsp sesame oil
• 90g green cabbage
• 2tbsp peas
• 2tsp soy sauce
• 20g toasted cashew nuts (to top)
• 80g tenderstem broccoli

Snacks: Crispy kale (80g kale tossed in 1tsp oil and baked until crisp). 90 calories

Week Two: Tuesday

Breakfast: Bran flakes with apricots and almonds (315 calories)

• 40g bran flakes
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 dried apricots
• 1tbsp flaked almonds

Fortified breakfast cereals are an important source of iron. This breakfast contains more than 40% of the recommended daily intake, as well as over 80% of the recommended intake of folate.

Lunch: Puy lentil salad (385 calories)

• 60g puy lentils (dry weight)
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• A few cherry tomatoes
• Half a yellow pepper, sliced
• 30g reduced-fat feta or other Greek-style salad cheese
• 1tsp lemon juice (for dressing)
• 1tsp olive oil (for dressing)
• Fresh basil
• 2tbsp low-fat yogurt (for dessert)
• 80g mixed fresh fruit (for dessert)

Dinner: Pan-fried mackerel fillet with new potatoes (395 calories)

• 1 mackerel fillet
• 1tsp oil (for frying, or dry-fry)
• 120g crushed new potatoes
• 80g green beans
• 80g tenderstem broccoli

Oily fish like mackerel contain healthy omega-3 fatty acids and it is recommended that everyone consume one portion a week. This dinner also provides over 60% of your daily vitamin D needs.

Snacks: Toasted crumpet with fat spread from allowance. 110 calories

Week Two: Wednesday

Breakfast: Wheat cereal with apricots and almonds (310 calories)

• 2 wheat biscuits (eg Weetabix)
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 dried apricots
• 1tbsp flaked almonds

Lunch: Edamame brown rice salad (405 calories)

• 80g edamame
• Radishes
• Cucumber, chopped
• Carrot, sliced or grated
• 40g brown rice (dry weight)
• 1tsp sesame oil (for dressing)
• 1tsp rice vinegar (for dressing)
• 1tsp soy sauce (for dressing)
• 1tsp toasted sesame seeds (to serve)
• Apple (for dessert)

Dinner: Spicy beef flatbread (385 calories)

• Flatbread
• 100g extra lean beef mince
• 1tbsp tomato purée
• Cumin, to taste
• Paprika, to taste
• 1tbsp Greek yogurt and mint (to drizzle)
• 80g green salad (to serve)

Cook the mince with the tomato purée, cumin and paprika. This meal provides three-quarters of your recommended daily protein intake as well as over 40% of your iron requirements.

Snacks: 1 chocolate digestive biscuit. 85 calories

Week Two: Thursday

Breakfast: Multigrain flakes with prunes and nuts (315 calories)

• 40g multigrain flakes (eg Special K)
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 prunes
• 1tbsp mixed nuts

Fortified breakfast cereals are an important source of iron. This breakfast contains more than a third of the recommended intake for women and over two-thirds of the recommended intake of folate.

Lunch: Mozzarella pasta salad (380 calories)

• 50g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• 60g reduced-fat soft mozzarella
• 2 slices red pepper
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• A few cherry tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Fresh basil
• 2tsp balsamic vinegar
• 2tsp olive oil

Dinner: Spicy mixed bean wrap (420 calories)

• Large wholemeal wrap
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1tsp oil, for frying
• ½ can of mixed beans
• 1tbsp tomato purée
• Fajita seasoning, to taste
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheese
• Handful of mixed leaves

Fry the onion in the oil and simmer the mixed beans with the tomato purée.

Snacks: Oatcake with 1tsp reduced-fat meat or vegetable pâté. Cucumber sticks. 90 calories

Week Two: Friday

Breakfast: Vegan overnight oats (315 calories)

• 40g oats
• 150ml almond milk
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• 80g raspberries (or frozen mixed berries)
• 2tsp almond butter

Lunch: Carrot and coriander soup (385 calories)

• Half a carton of fresh (or canned) carrot and coriander soup
• Medium wholemeal bread roll
• Apple and 1tsp peanut butter

Dinner: Tuna salad Niçoise (400 calories)

• 1 tuna steak
• 3 new potatoes
• 50g green beans
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• 1 little gem lettuce, chopped
• 1 egg, hard boiled and sliced
• 3 olives
• 1tsp lemon juice (for dressing)
• 1tsp olive oil (for dressing)

Snacks: 2tbsp low-fat yogurt with 80g mixed fresh fruit. 95 calories

Week Two: Saturday

Breakfast: Scrambled egg on toast (330 calories)

• 1 egg
• 1 thick slice of wholemeal toast
• 2tsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tomato, grilled

Lunch: Sardine pâté on English muffin (377 calories)

• 1 can of sardines
• 1tbsp reduced-fat soft cheese
• 1tsp sesame seeds
• 1tsp horseradish
• 1tsp lemon juice
• Black pepper
• Chives
• 1 wholemeal English muffin
• Handful of rocket (to serve)
• Cherry tomatoes (to serve)

Oily fish like sardines contain heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and we should all be eating one portion a week. This super lunch also provides all of your recommended calcium intake and a third of your iron needs.

Dinner: Vegetable chow mein (420 calories)

• 1 nest wholewheat noodles
• 1 small carrot, sliced
• ½ pepper, sliced
• 50g beansprouts
• ½ pak choi
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• Garlic, chopped
• 1tsp sesame oil
• 1tsp soy sauce
• 1tsp rice vinegar
• 1tsp pine nuts, toasted
• 7 strawberries (for dessert)
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt (for dessert)

Snacks: Small bag of lightly salted popcorn. 70 calories

Week Two: Sunday

Breakfast: Savoury French toast (345 calories)

• 1 egg
• 2tbsp milk
• Nutmeg, grated
• Parsley, chopped
• 1tsp oil
• 2 slices wholemeal bread
• Grilled tomato (to serve)
• Lime wedges (to serve)

Lunch: Roasted pepper and hummus wrap (390 calories)

• 1 pepper, roasted and cut into chunks
• 1tsp oil (for roasting)
• 1tbsp reduced-fat hummus
• Handful of rocket
• 1 wholemeal wrap
• 2 dried figs (for dessert)

Dinner: Jerk style grilled chicken kebabs (425 calories)

• 1 small chicken breast, grilled and cut into chunks
• 1tsp oil
• 1tsp honey
• 1tsp jerk seasoning
• ½ pepper, cut into chunks
• 1 small onion, cut into chunks
• Handful of skin-on potato wedges
• Corn on the cob

Snacks: 1tbsp ready-to-eat edamame. 45 calories

Week Three: Monday

Breakfast: Smashed avocado on toast (315 calories)

• 1 small avocado
• Coriander
• Squeeze of lime juice
• 1 thick slice of seeded toast

Lunch: Salmon and potato salad (410 calories)

• 1 salmon fillet, baked
• 120g new potatoes
• 1tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise (for dressing)
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt (for dressing)
• 1tsp mustard (for dressing)
• Handful of baby spinach
• Cucumber, chopped
• Celery, chopped
• Chives, snipped

Oily fish like salmon contain healthy omega-3 fatty acids and it is recommended that everyone consume one portion a week. This dinner also provides over 70% of your daily vitamin D needs.

Dinner: Black bean quesadillas (390 calories)

• 2 medium wholewheat wraps
• 80g roasted butternut squash
• 2tbsp black beans
• Lime juice
• Coriander, chopped
• Chilli flakes, to taste
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheddar
• 1tbsp salsa (to serve)
• Green salad

Snacks: 2tbsp low-fat plain yogurt with 80g mixed fresh fruit and 1tbsp chia seeds. 135 calories

Week Three: Tuesday

Breakfast: Green breakfast smoothie (330 calories)

• Empty Large handful of kale or spinach
• 1 small banana
• 2tbsp oats
• 150ml (or to taste) plant-based drink (eg almond)
• 1tbsp almond butter

Lunch: Harissa chickpea couscous salad (395 calories)

• 3tbsp canned chickpeas
• ½ pepper, chopped
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 2 apricots, chopped
• 40g couscous (dry weight)
• ½tsp harissa paste
• 2tsp oil
• Chopped coriander (to serve)

Dinner: Baked potato with homemade coleslaw (425 calories)

• 1 medium baked potato
• ½ apple, grated
• 2tbsp carrot, grated
• 80g red cabbage, shredded
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• 15g toasted walnuts
• 1tbsp edamame
• Parsley
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt

Snacks: 1 heaped tbsp tzatziki and half a wholemeal pitta bread. 98 calories

Week Three: Wednesday

Breakfast: Banana and cashew butter toast (285 calories)

• 1tbsp cashew nut butter
• 1 thick slice of wholemeal toast
• A small banana, sliced

Lunch: Tomato and bean bruschetta (420 calories)

• 1 ciabatta roll, halved, toasted and rubbed with garlic
• Small can of butter or cannellini beans, drained and lightly mashed
• Cherry tomatoes, chopped
• Black pepper
• Basil

Dinner: Miso chicken and rice salad (430 calories)

• 1 small chicken breast, grilled
• 1tsp miso paste (for marinade)
• 1tsp sesame oil
• 1tsp garlic, crushed
• 1tsp ginger, grated
• 40g brown rice (dry weight)
• Carrot, grated
• Radish, sliced
• Spring onion, sliced
• 2tsp sesame oil (for dressing)
• 2tsp rice vinegar (for dressing)
• 1tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Snacks: Small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt. 95 calories

Yogurt is a good snack to boost iodine intake, one pot providing 40% of the recommended intake for women.

Week Three: Thursday

Breakfast: Bran flakes with raisins and nuts (337 calories)

• 40g bran flakes
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1tbsp raisins
• 1tbsp mixed nuts

Fortified breakfast cereals are an important source of iron. This breakfast contains over 40% of the recommended intake, as well as over 80% of the recommended intake of folate.

Lunch: Bulgur wheat salad (395 calories)

• 40g bulgur wheat (dry weight)
• Tomato, chopped
• Spring onion, sliced
• Cucumber, chopped
• 40g reduced-fat Greek-style salad cheese (feta)
• Fresh mint
• 2 olives
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 1tsp olive oil
• Small cereal bar (for dessert)

Dinner: Chickpea, spinach and potato curry (430 calories)

• Small can of chickpeas
• Small can of tomatoes
• 2 new potatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1tsp oil
• Garlic, crushed, to taste
• Curry powder or spices, to taste
• 1 small or 1/2 large chapati, to serve

This simple curry provides over half of your daily requirements for fibre and folate as well as 30% of your iron needs.

Snacks: 1tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds. 95 calories

Week Three: Friday

Breakfast: Wheat cereal with banana and walnuts (310 calories)

• 2 wheat biscuits
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 small banana
• 2tsp chopped walnuts

Lunch: Hummus topped with roasted peppers on rye crispbread (365 calories)

• 4 rye crispbreads
• 2tbsp reduced-fat hummus
• Roasted peppers (homemade or from a jar)
• Carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt (for dessert)

Dinner: Spaghetti bolognese (430 calories)

• 100g extra-lean beef mince (or plant-based alternative)
• 1tsp oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 6 mushrooms, chopped
• Garlic, crushed, to taste
• Mixed herbs, to taste
• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• 50g wholewheat spaghetti (dry weight)
• 1tsp parmesan, grated

This meal provides three-quarters of the recommended daily intake of protein as well as more than one-third of the iron requirements for women.

Snacks: Oatcake spread with 1tsp medium-fat soft cheese. A few grapes. 95 calories

Week Three: Saturday

Breakfast: Shakshuka (315 calories)

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small red pepper, chopped
• 1tsp oil
• Garlic, chopped, to taste
• Smoked paprika, to taste
• Small can of tomatoes
• 1 egg
• 1tbsp low-fat yogurt
• 1tsp mixed seeds
• Coriander, chopped, to taste

Fry the onion and pepper, add garlic and paprika, add the tomatoes and simmer. Break the egg into a well in the sauce and bake until the egg is perfectly cooked. Serve with the yogurt, coriander and seeds.

This egg-based breakfast dish provides more than half of your daily iodine intake and over 30% of your vitamin D needs.

Lunch: Falafel flatbread (395 calories)

• 1 flatbread
• 2 falafel balls
• 2tbsp lettuce, shredded
• 60g cucumber
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt
• Mint
• 1 apple (for dessert)

Dinner: Herb-crusted baked Basa fillet with potatoes (440 calories)

• Basa fillet (or other white fish), baked
• 1 lemon, zested and sliced
• 25g wholemeal breadcrumbs
• Parsley
• Chilli flakes
• 1tsp olive oil
• 175g new potatoes
• 40g green beans
• 40g broccoli
• 7 strawberries (for dessert)
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt (for dessert)

Make the crust with lemon zest, breadcrumbs, parsley and chilli flakes.

Snacks: 1 slice of fruit loaf with fat spread from allowance. 105 calories

Week Three: Sunday

Breakfast: Quinoa porridge with mixed berries (320 calories)

• Quinoa porridge made with 40g quinoa
• 200ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• 1tsp honey
• 80g mixed berries

This porridge provides half your daily recommended intake of calcium and over a quarter of your iron and fibre requirements.

Lunch: Vegetable and lentil soup (395 calories)

• 1 small onion
• 150g root vegetables (eg carrots, potato, sweet potato, parsnip, swede)
• 2tsp oil
• 25g lentils
• 250ml reduced-salt vegetable stock
• Spices, to taste
• 1tbsp low-fat yogurt (to top, optional)
• 1 thick slice of wholemeal bread (to serve)

Dinner: Lemon and prawn pasta (400 calories)

• 50g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• 75g prawns
• 2tbsp peas
• 60g tenderstem broccoli
• Lemon juice and zest
• Chilli flakes
• 1tbsp half-fat crème fraîche
• 80g melon, pineapple and mango pieces (for dessert)

Snacks: 1tbsp ready-to-eat edamame. 45 calories

Week Four: Monday

Breakfast: Wheat cereal with apricots and almonds (310 calories)

• 2 wheat biscuits
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 dried apricots, chopped
• 1tbsp flaked almonds

Lunch: Spicy chicken and pomegranate wrap (390 calories)

• 1 chicken breast, grilled
• 1tsp zaatar
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 1tsp olive oil
• Lettuce, chopped
• Cucumber, chopped
• 40g pomegranate seeds
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt mixed with fresh mint
• 1 wholewheat tortilla wrap

Marinate the chicken in zaatar, lemon juice and olive oil, then cook.

Dinner: Tofu, cashew nut and pak choi stir-fry (420 calories)

• 80g tofu
• 20g cashew nuts
• 1 pak choi, chopped
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• Ginger, chopped
• 1tsp sesame oil (for dressing)
• 1tsp reduced-salt soy sauce (for dressing)
• 1tsp honey (for dressing)
• 50g wholewheat noodles (dry weight)

Nuts contain healthier unsaturated fats, and this stir-fry dinner provides over a third of the recommended dairy intake of monounsaturated fat and iron. It also delivers over 60% of your recommended intake of calcium and folate.

Snacks: A banana. 85 calories

Week Four: Tuesday

Breakfast: Bran cereal with yogurt (310 calories)

• Emp40g bran cereal (eg All Bran)
• 3tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt
• 4 dried apricots, chopped
• 150ml orange juicety list

Fortified breakfast cereals are an important source of iron. This breakfast contains over a third of your recommended intake and the vitamin C in the orange juice helps with absorption. This breakfast also provides over 40% of the recommended intakes of fibre and calcium and 70% of folate.

Lunch: Tuna and bean pasta salad (390 calories)

• Empty list50g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• Small can of tuna
• 2tbsp mixed or red kidney beans
• 1tbsp sweetcorn
• 1 slice of red pepper
• 2tsp oil

Dinner: Chicken and vegetable couscous (405 calories)

• 1 small chicken breast
• 2tsp oil (for sautéing)
• 1 small onion
• Garlic, chopped
• 6 mushrooms, chopped
• ½ pepper, chopped
• 40g couscous (dry weight)
• Lemon zest, to taste
• Chilli flakes, to taste
• Herbs, to taste

Use the lemon zest, chilli flakes and herbs to add flavour to the couscous.

Snacks: 2tbsp low-fat yogurt with 80g mixed fresh fruit and 1tbsp chia seeds. 135 calories

Week Four: Wednesday

Breakfast: Breakfast cranachan (295 calories)

• 2tbsp toasted oats
• 3tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt
• 80g raspberries
• A drizzle of honey
• 1tbsp mixed nuts, chopped

Layer the oats, yogurt and raspberries, then top with the honey and nuts.

Lunch: Egg and watercress sandwich (420 calories)

• 2 thick slices of seeded bread
• 1 egg, hard-boiled and chopped
• 2tsp reduced-fat mayonnaise
• Handful of watercress
• Peach or nectarine (for dessert)

Dinner: Beef and vegetable stir-fry (455 calories)

• Empty l100g lean beef
• ½ pepper, sliced
• 80g mangetout
• 80g baby sweetcorn
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1tsp sesame oil
• 1tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
• 1tsp sesame seeds
• Garlic, chopped, to taste
• Ginger, chopped, to taste
• Chilli, chopped, to taste
• 50g wholewheat noodles (dry weight)ist

This meal provides three-quarters of your recommended daily protein intake as well as over one-third of your iron requirements.

Snacks: 1tbsp reduced-fat hummus and 2 celery sticks. 75 calories

Week Four: Thursday

Breakfast: Shredded wheat, fruit and seeds (335 calories)

• 2 shredded wheat
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• ½ nectarine
• 10 raspberries
• 1tbsp sunflower seeds

Lunch: Chicken tikka rice salad (380 calories)

• 100g chicken tikka
• Tomato, chopped
• Spring onion, sliced
• Cucumber, chopped
• 40g brown rice (dry weight)
• Fresh coriander

Dinner: Vegetable chilli with baked potato (400 calories)

• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• Small can of red kidney beans
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1tsp oil
• ½ pepper, chopped
• 1 small courgette, chopped
• Vegetable stock
• Garlic, crushed, to taste
• Chilli powder, to taste
• 1 small baked potato
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt (to top)

This dinner provides two-thirds of your recommended daily fibre intake and over a third of your iron needs.

Snacks: 2 dried apricots and 5 almonds. 100 calories

Week Four: Friday

Breakfast: Apple and cinnamon smoothie bowl (345 calories)

• 1 apple, grated
• 2tbsp oats
• 3tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt
• ½tsp cinnamon
• 1tbsp mixed seeds (to top)

Lunch: Cheese salad sandwich (410 calories)

• 2 thick slices of wholemeal bread
• 25g reduced-fat cheddar
• 1 heaped tsp pickle
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• 2 dried figs (for dessert)

Dinner: Roast vegetable quinoa (385 calories)

• 50g quinoa (dry weight)
• 200g vegetables, chopped (eg pepper, courgette, aubergine, cherry tomatoes)
• 2tsp olive oil (for roasting)
• Chilli, chopped, to taste (for roasting)
• Smoked paprika, to taste (for roasting)
• 1tbsp pine nuts, toasted
• Fresh basil

Snacks: Oatcake with 1tsp reduced-fat meat or vegetable pâté. Cucumber sticks. 90 calories

Week Four: Saturday

Breakfast: Muffin with spinach and poached egg (305 calories)

• Wholemeal muffin
• 50g baby spinach, wilted
• 1 egg, poached
• 2tsp sunflower seeds
• 3 cherry tomatoes, grilled
• Mushrooms, grilled

Lunch: Beans on toast with cheese (405 calories)

• Small can or pot of reduced salt/sugar baked beans
• 1 thick slice of seeded toast
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheddar
• 100g grapes (for dessert)

Dinner: Cajun salmon traybake (430 calories)

• Empty 200g vegetables, chopped (eg butternut squash, peppers, courgette, cherry tomatoes)
• 2tsp oil
• 1 salmon fillet
• 2tsp sesame seeds
• Cajun seasoning, to taste
• Lemon juice, to taste
• 80g tenderstem broccoli (to serve)list

Snacks: 6 stewed prunes and 2tbsp low-fat yogurt. 100 calories

Week Four: Sunday

Breakfast: French toast (360 calories)

• 1 egg
• 2tbsp milk
• 1tsp oil
• 2 slices wholemeal bread
• 80g mixed berries (to serve)

Lunch: Hummus with pitta (445 calories)

• Wholemeal pitta bread
• 2tbsp reduced-fat hummus
• Carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Handful of cashew nuts

Dinner: Lentil stuffed peppers (415 calories)

• 3tbsp ready-to-eat or cooked lentils
• 1tsp oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 2 mushrooms, chopped
• Garlic and chilli flakes
• 1 red pepper, halved
• 20g reduced-fat feta or other Greek-style salad cheese
• Parsley (to top)
• Green salad (to serve)
• Small slice of banana loaf (for dessert)

Sauté the lentils with the onion, tomato, mushrooms, garlic and chilli flakes. Fill the pepper halves with the lentil mixture, top with the cheese and bake.

As well as providing more than half of your daily fibre recommendation this dish is a useful source of iron, providing over a quarter of your requirements. The vitamin C in the peppers helps with iron absorption.

Snacks: A small bowl of melon, pineapple and mango pieces. 35 calories

It’s all too easy to get obsessed with your weight, and it’s never a good idea to set your mood for the day based on the numbers on your scales in the morning. Unfortunately it’s equally easy to completely ignore what you weigh as well.

The worrying fact is that, according to 2018’s NHS Health Survey, almost two-thirds (63%) of adults in England are overweight or obese based on their BMI, and the rising rates of childhood obesity are also a cause for concern. That’s because the health risks associated with being overweight or obese is long and startling, with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers all linked to a BMI that’s higher than it should be according to guidelines.

To lessen those risks you need to fall into a healthy weight range, which can be based on one of several factors including BMI. We’ll come to the different ways you can check whether you’re a healthy weight below, but whatever method you use, it’s important to recognise that the overall trends are what matter. Your weight will naturally fluctuate day to day, and even at different times of day, and these fluctuations can be considerable so don’t break out the champagne or despair on the basis of one reading alone.

Below you’ll find three ways to judge whether you are a healthy weight. Congratulations if you are, keep it up, but if you’re not don’t start panicking. We have lots of ways to help you start exercising more and eating healthily, starting with these expert weight-loss tips, followed by how to reduce body fat.

What Is A Healthy Weight?

There are three main ways to determine whether or not you are a healthy weight, but none of them are perfect. That said, if you have a decent handle on all three, you’ll be able to make a sensible call.

1. BMI

Body mass index (BMI) has long been established as the go-to option for public health bodies. BMI provides a simple score based on your height, weight, age and gender, which then classifies you in one of five brackets – underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese or very obese.

There are some problems with using BMI as the only indicator of whether you are a healthy weight, but it is undoubtedly a useful measurement, so is a good starting point when looking to see if your own weight is in the healthy range. Head to the Healthy Weight Calculator on the NHS website and put in your details to get your own BMI score.

A BMI of anywhere between 18.5 and 25 is considered in the healthy range. Below 18.5 is underweight, 25 to 30 is overweight, 30 to 40 is obese and above 40 is very or morbidly obese.

The main issue with BMI is that it doesn’t consider what the weight is made up of – i.e. fat or muscle – so you can be classed as overweight when actually you’re a muscle-bound Adonis. If that is the case, however, you’ll probably be able to hazard a guess at whether you’re in decent shape regardless of what your BMI says.

2. Body fat percentage

To counter this issue with BMI you can also measure your body fat percentage, which will make it clear if the weight you’re carrying is due to bulging biceps or a beer belly. Body fat percentage can be measured with callipers or smart scales at home or, for a far more precise (and expensive) measurement, you can get a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) measurement.

If using smart scales in particular, be aware that the measurements can vary wildly over the course of even just a few minutes, so it’s best to always use these scales at a specific time of day to identify trends in your body fat over time rather than worrying over a one-off figure.

What’s considered a healthy body fat percentage varies by age and gender, and you’ll often also find different brackets for what’s considered normal in different places. The NHS doesn’t have guidelines for body fat percentage, partly because it is difficult for people to accurately measure themselves, especially when compared to BMI.

The below table comes from the American Council on Exercise. It doesn’t take into account age (if you are older it’s normal to have a higher body fat percentage), but can be used as a general guide to see what is classed as a healthy body fat percentage.

3. Waist-to-height ratio

There is another easy way to measure whether you are a healthy weight that will also give a good indication of whether you are carrying too much fat. This is your waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). If this is over 0.5 you are at an increased risk of health problems.

To measure your WHtR grab a piece of string and use it to measure your height. Then fold the string in half and wrap it around your waist halfway between your hip bone and your lowest rib (don’t breathe in). If the halved string isn’t long enough to go around your waist, your ratio is over 0.5 and needs some attention.

Going on a diet takes effort and some diets take a lot more effort than others. Any diet that requires you to count every calorie you consume on each and every day, for example, or diets that demand you cut out entire food groups, thereby requiring you to plan ahead constantly to make sure there’s something you can eat.

In contrast, intermittent fasting seems pretty simple. While you might have to count calories very closely for certain periods of the day or week, the rest of the time you don’t really have to think about what you eat. And given that any weight-loss diet’s success relies on creating a calorie deficit where you burn more than you consume, forgoing food for long periods seems likely to lead to success on that front.

However, there’s more to a healthy and effective diet than whether it helps you lose weight in the short term. To run the rule over intermittent fasting, we spoke to Elliot Moore, lifestyle health adviser for Bupa UK.

What does intermittent fasting involve?

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you switch between periods of eating and fasting. There are a few different methods of intermittent fasting, and these are among the most common:

The 5:2 diet This involves eating a normal diet on five days of the week and fasting on the other two days. During fasting days, you significantly reduce the amount of calories you eat to around either 500 or 600 calories.

Alternate day fasting This is similar to the 5:2 diet in that alternate day fasting involves eating normally on some days of the week, while fasting on others. Rather than fasting for only two days a week, however, you fast every other day.

Time-restricted fasting This involves setting an eating “window” – a set timeframe each day where you allow yourself to eat. For example, you could choose to fast for 16 hours a day, and eat normally during the other eight hours. Or you may choose to fast for 20 hours per day and allow a four-hour eating period.

Can intermittent fasting help you lose weight?

There is some evidence that suggests intermittent fasting helps with weight loss. In order to lose weight, you need to experience a shortage of energy and any of the intermittent fasting strategies listed above should result in your overall energy intake being reduced by the end of a given week. But, although it may help you lose weight, there’s no evidence that this type of diet is any more effective than simply reducing how many calories you have each day.

See related 

• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips
• The Pros And Cons Of The 16:8 Diet

Are there any risks?

Reducing how much you eat by a large amount can sometimes lead to irritability, poor concentration, tiredness, headaches or dizziness. Apart from this, intermittent fasting is not very easy to stick to, especially in the long term. Fasting isn’t appropriate for everyone – for example if you have diabetes or take medication that requires food intake. You may also find this type of dieting difficult if you’re used to eating every few hours. If you are considering intermittent fasting, you should get your health checked first, or speak with your GP or a qualified dietitian, in case this diet isn’t suitable for you.

What’s your verdict on intermittent fasting?

Many diets are popular because they’re seen as a quick fix, but sadly there’s no such thing. Although you may lose some weight at first, you often won’t sustain that weight loss in the long run. A balanced and unprocessed diet that’s rich in fruits, vegetables, lean meats and fish, coupled with regular exercise, is the best way to lose weight safely. You also need to think about your lifestyle as a whole and set yourself realistic, achievable goals, and remember to track your progress.

Congratulations – you have found the best four-week weight-loss meal plan for men on the internet! No need to thank us, especially since we didn’t do the hard work putting it together. Thank award-winning dietitian Azmina Govindji, who has not only chosen delicious meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus snacks, she’s also kept to a daily 1,800-calorie limit.

Impressive stuff, but not as impressive as doing all that while also making sure that, on average, this meal plan meets the main dietary recommendations. So that’s recommended daily allowances of fat, saturates, fibre and salt, as well as recommended daily requirements of most minerals and vitamins. And of course, you’ll (finally) be eating at least five portions of fruit and veg a day.

Govindji has also kept the calorie content of your breakfast, lunch and dinner in a similar ratio to Public Health England’s 400-600-600 calorie guidelines, so you’ll become accustomed to that pattern of eating and will find it easier to continue in the same vein after the four-week period is up.

If this all sounds too good to be true, let us reassure you that you can trust this meal plan because Govindji is a dietitian. As we’ve explained elsewhere, that’s a protected term and means Govindji is governed by an ethical code and her work is regulated by law. Govindji has also worked for the NHS, was chief dietitian at Diabetes UK and has worked with BAME communities on behalf of Public Health England.

So will you lose weight if you follow it? We’re confident you will, and thanks to the extra fibre you’ll be eating, the likelihood is you won’t feel ravenous for 28 long days either.

Four-Week Weight-Loss Meal Plan For Men

This meal plan allows for 100ml of semi-skimmed or 1% fat milk a day to drink or use in tea and coffee (see below), as well as a daily allowance of 2tsp (10g) of reduced-fat spread to use for bread rolls, toast, sandwiches, baked potatoes or to melt over vegetables.

Drinks-wise, you can glug down unlimited water (of course), sugar-free soft drinks, tea and coffee. If you take your hot beverage with milk, note that you should draw from your milk allowance above.

The plan also allows for up to five other drinks per week, as follows:

Milk-based coffees should be skinny latte or similar, about 100 calories. Alternatively, alcoholic drinks providing about one unit of alcohol can be included (a maximum of five units over the week); for example a small (125ml) glass of wine, a half pint of 4% alcohol lager or cider, or a single measure of spirits with no added sugary mixer.

If you’re vegetarian or vegan, fortified plant-based drinks such as soya, oat or almond milk alternative can be substituted for semi-skimmed milk. Check the label and make sure it has added calcium, iodine, vitamin D and vitamin B12.

Vegetarian or vegan alternatives to meat and cheese can also be substituted. For example, try tofu, Quorn or soya mince, and vegan alternatives to cheese (although note that cheese substitutes will not give you the nutrients found in dairy).

If you need a break from cooking occasionally, it’s fine to swap in a ready meal from a healthier eating range or a healthier takeaway option. Choose “lighter” dishes if these are available, or if nutritional information is provided, aim for about 500 calories. Avoid deep-fried dishes and creamy curries. Good options include wraps filled with extra salad, standard burgers without mayo and cheese, and “lighter” pizzas with lots of vegetable toppings and less cheese.

• Feel free to swap breakfast, lunch and dinner options between days to suit. Make sure you choose a swap with a similar calorie content.
• Snack suggestions, particularly fruit and yogurt, can be incorporated into one of the meals if you prefer.

Pack sizes vary by retail outlet, but this plan and the nutritional information is based on a salmon fillet of 100g cooked weight, chicken breast of 120g cooked weight, 120g pot of yogurt, 200g cans of beans and tomatoes, and drained weights of 60g (small) or 120g (medium) for canned tuna. For ease of use, the recipe suggestions include dry weights of grains like rice and pasta.

We’ve included some cooking directions, but if you’re unsure, search the internet for similar recipes and the general method will become clear.

Week One: Monday

Breakfast: Vegan overnight oats (355 calories)

• 40g oats
• 150ml plant-based drink (eg almond drink)
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• 80g raspberries (or frozen mixed berries)
• 1tbsp almond butter

Combine the ingredients in a bowl before you go to bed and leave overnight in the fridge to set.

Lunch: Wholemeal bagel with chicken tikka and salad (525 calories)

• 120g chicken tikka
• Tomato and red onion slices
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1tsp reduced-fat mayonnaise

Dinner: Salmon and vegetable pasta (620 calories)

• 1 cooked salmon fillet
• 75g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• 2tbsp peas
• 60g broccoli
• 60g green beans
• 1tbsp medium-fat soft cheese
• 1tbsp milk
• Chilli and chives to taste

This dinner supplies half your daily fibre target, about 40% of your recommended selenium and zinc needs, and over 70% of your recommended vitamin D intake. Oily fish like salmon contain omega-3 fatty acids – we should all be eating a portion a week.

Snacks: 1 digestive biscuit. Small (80g) bowl of melon, pineapple and mango pieces. 100 calories

Week One: Tuesday

Breakfast: Avocado and egg on toast (345 calories)

• ½ avocado
• 1 egg, poached
• 1 thick slice of seeded toast

Lunch: Tomato soup, and toasted cheese and mushroom sandwich (490 calories)

• ½ carton chilled or canned shop-bought tomato soup
• 2 thick slices wholemeal bread
• 2tbsp grated mozzarella
• 2 sliced mushrooms

Dinner: Chicken fajitas (525 calories)

• 1 chicken breast
• ½ pepper
• 1 small onion
• 2tsp oil for frying
• fajita seasoning to taste
• 2 medium wholemeal tortilla wraps
• 1tbsp shop-bought salsa

Snacks: Strawberry and banana smoothie made with low-fat yogurt and milk (150ml). Small cereal bar. 190 calories

Week One: Wednesday

Breakfast: Cereal (310 calories)

• 2 wheat biscuits
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 dried apricots
• 1tbsp flaked almonds

This breakfast provides over 70% of your daily iron needs.

Lunch: Ham or turkey salad sandwich (470 calories)

• 2 thick slices of seeded bread
• 1 slice of ham or turkey
• 1tsp mustard
• 1 tomato and a handful of salad leaves
• Small bag (25g) of baked crisps
• Apple

Dinner: Tomato and spinach dhal (525 calories)

• 50g red lentils
• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1 small onion
• 2tsp oil
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Spices
• Plain chapati

This powerful dish provides your daily iron in one meal and pairs it with lots of vitamin C which helps absorption of iron from vegetarian foods.

Snacks: Handful of cashew nuts. Pear. 250 calories

Week One: Thursday

Breakfast: Peanut butter and banana bagel (400 calories)

• 1tbsp peanut butter
• 1 wholemeal bagel
• Small banana, sliced

Lunch: Tuna and sweetcorn baked potato (485 calories)

• 1 large baked potato
• 1 medium can of tuna
• 1 heaped tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 2tbsp sweetcorn
• Mixed salad

You’ve just ticked off all of your recommended selenium intake in one meal. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Dinner: Turkey meatballs (495 calories)

• 4 turkey meatballs
• 125g homemade or bought tomato sauce
• Wholemeal spaghetti (75g dry weight)
• Green salad

This meal has over half of your daily recommended intake of zinc.

Snacks: Small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt. 1tbsp sunflower seeds. 190 calories

Week One: Friday

Breakfast: Green smoothie (330 calories)

• Large handful of kale or spinach
• 1 small banana
• 2tbsp oats
• 150ml (or to taste) plant-based drink (eg almond)
• 1tbsp almond butter

Lunch: Egg mayonnaise bap (475 calories)

• 1 large egg
• 1tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1 large wholemeal bap
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cucumber sticks
• Small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt (for dessert)

The egg and yogurt both contain iodine, providing almost three-quarters of the recommended intake. Eggs are one of the few sources of vitamin D in the diet and this meal provides 20% of the recommended intake.

Dinner: Spicy cod and vegetable parcel (500 calories)

• 1 cod fillet
• 1 carrot
• ½ pepper
• A few mangetout, cut into thin strips
• 1tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
• 1tsp sesame oil
• Ginger, chopped
• Chilli, sliced
• 60g wholegrain rice (dry weight)
• Scoop of frozen yogurt (for dessert)

Bake the cod in a foil parcel with the other ingredients, cutting the vegetables into thin strips.

Snacks: Slice of toasted seeded bread with yeast extract. Handful of peanuts and raisins. 275 calories

Week One: Saturday

Breakfast: Scrambled egg on toast with sautéed mushrooms (365 calories)

• 1 egg
• 1 thick slice wholemeal toast
• 100g mushrooms
• 1tsp oil

Lunch: Roasted veg wrap (510 calories)

• 1 large wholemeal wrap
• 2tbsp reduced-fat hummus
• 100g roasted vegetables
• Handful of rocket
• Handful of mixed nuts and raisins

Dinner: Takeaway or ready meal

Take a break from cooking and choose a healthier takeaway option like a grilled chicken burger, wrap or “lighter” pizza, or have a ready meal from a healthier-eating range. Aim for about 500 calories.

Snacks: 2tbsp low-fat plain yogurt with 80g mixed fresh fruit. Small bag (14g) of lightly salted popcorn. 160 calories

Week One: Sunday

Breakfast: Cereal (325 calories)

• 3 handfuls no-added-sugar muesli
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• Banana

Lunch: French-bread pizza (495 calories)

• 15cm-long piece of baguette
• 2tbsp passata
• ½ pepper, chopped
• 2 sliced mushrooms
• 1tbsp sweetcorn
• 3tbsp reduced-fat grated cheese
• Mixed salad

Slice the baguette lengthways, spread on the passata, add the toppings and cheese, and grill. Serve with crisp salad.

Dinner: Steak (520 calories)

• 1 lean beef fillet steak, grilled
• 1 large baked potato
• 80g baby sweetcorn
• 80g mangetout

Snacks: 1tbsp reduced-fat hummus and 2 celery sticks. Handful of grapes. 1 chocolate digestive biscuit. 210 calories

Week Two: Monday

Breakfast: Beans on toast (360 calories)

• Small can or pot of baked beans
• 1 thick slice of seeded toast
• 150ml glass of orange or other pure fruit juice

Lunch: Chicken and avocado wrap (505 calories)

• 1 large wholemeal wrap
• 1 cooked chicken breast
• ½ avocado
• ½ pepper

Dinner: Vegetarian spaghetti bolognese (545 calories)

• 125g Quorn (or other plant-based) mince
• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 small onion
• 6 mushrooms
• 1tbsp oil
• Garlic, to taste
• Mixed herbs
• 75g wholewheat spaghetti (dry weight)

Snacks: 1 small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt. 1 apple. 150 calories

Week Two: Tuesday

Breakfast: Cereal (315 calories)

• 3 handfuls of multigrain flakes (eg Special K)
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 dried prunes
• 1tbsp mixed nuts

Lunch: Tomato soup, and toasted cheese and mushroom sandwich (490 calories)

• ½ carton chilled or canned shop-bought tomato soup
• 2 thick slices wholemeal bread
• 2tbsp grated mozzarella
• 2 sliced mushrooms

Dinner: Pan-fried mackerel and new potatoes (525 calories)

• 1 mackerel fillet
• 1tsp oil, for frying
• 175g crushed new potatoes
• 80g green beans
• 80g tenderstem broccoli
• Small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt (for dessert)

We should be eating one portion a week of oily fish like mackerel, which contains omega-3 fatty acids. This meal also provides over 60% of your daily vitamin D needs.

Snacks: Two-finger chocolate-covered wafer. Handful of grapes. 175 calories

Week Two: Wednesday

Breakfast: Salmon and cream cheese bagel (325 calories)

• 1 wholemeal bagel
• 1tbsp medium-fat soft cheese
• 30g smoked salmon
• 6 cherry tomatoes

Lunch: Egg mayonnaise bap (475 calories)

• 1 large egg
• 1tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1 large wholemeal bap
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cucumber sticks
• Small pot of low fat-fruit yogurt

The egg and yogurt both contain iodine, and this lunch provides almost three-quarters of the recommended daily intake. Eggs are also one of the few dietary sources of vitamin D and this meal provides 20% of the recommended intake.

Dinner: Turkey chilli con carne (550 calories)

• 125g turkey mince
• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• 2tbsp canned red kidney beans
• 1 small onion
• 1tsp oil, for frying
• Garlic, to taste
• Chilli powder
• 60g wholegrain rice (dry weight)

Snacks: 1 orange. Handful of peanuts. 240 calories

Week Two: Thursday

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, mushrooms and toast (345 calories)

• 1 egg
• 1 thick slice of wholemeal toast
• 100g mushrooms sautéed in 1tsp oil

Lunch: Tomato and mozzarella salad (520 calories)

• 2 tomatoes
• 1 small red onion
• Basil
• 60g reduced-fat mozzarella
• 1tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 ciabatta roll

Dinner: Spicy mixed bean wrap (505 calories)

• 1 large wholemeal wrap
• 1 small onion
• ½ can mixed beans
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• Fajita seasoning to taste
• 1tsp oil, for frying
• Handful of mixed leaves
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheese

Round off the meal with an apple and 1tsp peanut butter.

Snacks: 7 strawberries and 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt. 1tbsp pumpkin seeds. 150 calories

Week Two: Friday

Breakfast: Cereal (335 calories)

• 2 shredded wheat
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• ½ nectarine
• Approx 10 raspberries
• 1tbsp sunflower seeds

Lunch: Minestrone (520 calories)

• ½ carton chilled or canned shop-bought minestrone soup
• 1 ciabatta roll
• 1 apple
• 1 small cereal bar

Dinner: Jerk-style chicken (545 calories)

• 1 chicken breast
• 1tsp oil
• 1tsp honey
• 1tsp jerk seasoning
• 2 handfuls skin-on potato wedges
• 1 corn on the cob

Mix the honey, oil and jerk seasoning, then brush on the chicken breast and cook under the grill.

Snacks: 2 dried apricots and 5 almonds. Carrot and cucumber sticks. 125 calories

Week Two: Saturday

Breakfast: Avocado and egg on toast (345 calories)

• ½ avocado
• 1 egg, poached
• 1 thick slice of seeded toast

Avocados contain healthier unsaturated fats – this breakfast contains more than 40% of the recommended intake of monounsaturated fat.

Lunch: Falafel-filled pitta (500 calories)

• 2 wholemeal pitta breads
• 4 falafels
• Shredded lettuce
• Grated carrot
• Drizzle of sweet chilli sauce

This healthy lunch provides more than half of your recommended fibre intake and nearly two-thirds of your daily iron recommendation.

Dinner: Tuna pasta bake (565 calories)

• 1 medium can of tuna
• 125g shop-bought tomato sauce
• 6 mushrooms
• 1tbsp sweetcorn
• 75g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheddar

Serve with a green salad.

Tuna is high in selenium and this meal provides all of your recommended selenium intake, as well as more than half of your recommended fibre intake.

Snacks: 2tbsp low-fat plain yogurt with 80g mixed fresh fruit. 1 digestive biscuit. 155 calories

Week Two: Sunday

Breakfast: Overnight oats (360 calories)

• 40g oats
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 2tbsp low-fat yogurt
• 1tbsp dried fruit (or a handful of chopped fresh fruit)
• 1tsp chopped walnuts (or other nuts)

Lunch: French-bread pizza (495 calories)

• 15cm-long piece of baguette
• 2tbsp passata
• ½ pepper, chopped
• 2 sliced mushrooms
• 1tbsp sweetcorn
• 3tbsp reduced-fat grated cheese
• Mixed salad

Slice the baguette lengthways, spread on the passata, add the toppings and cheese, and grill. Serve with crisp salad.

Dinner: Turkey burger (525 calories)

• 1 turkey steak, grilled
• Toppings: lettuce, tomato and onion
• 1 heaped tsp relish
• 1 medium wholemeal roll
• Sweet potato wedges (made with 1 potato and 1tsp oil)
• 1tbsp peas
• 1tbsp sweetcorn

Snacks: 1 oatcake spread with 1tsp medium-fat soft cheese and a few grapes. 1 thin slice fruit loaf with fat spread from allowance. 200 calories

Week Three: Monday

Breakfast: French toast (360 calories)

• 1 egg
• 2tbsp milk
• 1tsp oil
• 2 slices wholemeal bread
• 80g mixed berries

Lunch: Salmon and potato salad (500 calories)

• 1 fillet baked salmon
• 175g cooked new potatoes
• 1tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise (for dressing)
• 1tbsp 0%-fat Greek yogurt (for dressing)
• 1tsp mustard (for dressing)
• Handful of baby spinach
• Handful of cucumber, chopped
• Handful of celery, chopped
• Chives
• Handful of grapes (for dessert)

Dinner: Pork stir-fry and noodles (545 calories)

• 1 lean pork steak
• 160g stir-fry vegetables (baby sweetcorn, mange tout, pepper, carrot etc)
• 2tsp oil
• 2tbsp shop-bought stir-fry sauce
• 1 nest of wholewheat noodles

This meal provides over half of your daily needs of iron, selenium and zinc.

Snack: 1tbsp tzatziki and ½ wholemeal pitta bread. 1tbsp raisins or sultanas. 180 calories

Week Three: Tuesday

Breakfast: Salmon and cream cheese bagel (325 calories)

• 1 wholemeal bagel
• 1tbsp medium-fat soft cheese
• 30g smoked salmon
• 6 cherry tomatoes

Lunch: Harissa chickpea couscous salad (550 calories)

• Small can of chickpeas
• ½ pepper
• 2 spring onions
• 2 ready-to-eat dried apricots
• 60g couscous (dry weight)
• 1tsp harissa paste
• 1tbsp oil
• Coriander, chopped

Dinner: Kebabs (550 calories)

• 1 chicken breast
• ½ pepper
• 1 small onion
• 1tsp oil
• 2 handfuls skin-on potato wedges
• 1 corn on the cob

Snack: 2tbsp low-fat plain yogurt with 80g mixed fresh fruit. Small bag (14g) of lightly salted popcorn. 160 calories

Week Three: Wednesday

Breakfast: Green smoothie (330 calories)

• Large handful of kale or spinach
• 1 small banana
• 2tbsp oats
• 150ml (or to taste) plant-based drink (eg almond)
• 1tbsp almond butter

Lunch: Spicy mixed bean wrap (495 calories)

• 1 large wholemeal wrap
• 1 small onion
• 1tsp oil
• ½ can mixed beans
• 1tbsp tomato purée
• Fajita seasoning, to taste
• Handful of mixed leaves
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheese
• Pear (for dessert)

Fry the onion, then add the mixed beans, tomato purée and fajita seasoning and simmer, before assembling your wrap.

Dinner: Mushroom gnocchi (525 calories)

• ½ pack gnocchi
• 2tbsp peas
• 10 mushrooms, sautéed
• 1tsp oil
• Garlic, to taste
• 2 slices garlic bread

Snack: 7 strawberries and 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt. Small cereal bar (30g). 165 calories

Week Three: Thursday

Breakfast: Cereal (310 calories)

• 2 wheat biscuits
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 dried apricots
• 1tbsp flaked almonds

This breakfast provides over 70% of your daily iron needs.

Lunch: Tomato and mozzarella salad (520 calories)

• 2 tomatoes
• 1 small red onion
• Basil
• 60g reduced-fat mozzarella
• 1tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 ciabatta roll

Dinner: Cajun chicken traybake (530 calories)

• 150g chicken breast mini fillets
• 100g skin-on new potatoes
• 1 small sweet potato
• ½ pepper
• 1 small onion
• ½ courgette
• 2tsp oil
• Cajun seasoning, to taste
• 80g green vegetables of choice (serve on the side)
• Small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt (for dessert)

Snack: Peach or nectarine. Two-finger chocolate-covered wafer. 165 calories

Week Three: Friday

Breakfast: Porridge (355 calories)

• 40g oats
• 300ml semi-skimmed milk
• ½ banana (to serve)
• 30g blueberries (to serve)

Lunch: Wholemeal bagel with chicken tikka and salad (525 calories)

• 1 wholemeal bagel
• 120g chicken tikka
• Tomato and red onion slices
• Handful of baby spinach
• 1tsp reduced-fat mayonnaise

Dinner: Spaghetti bolognese (550 calories)

• 125g extra lean beef mince
• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 small onion
• 6 mushrooms
• 1tsp oil
• Garlic, to taste
• Mixed herbs
• 75g wholewheat spaghetti (dry weight)
• 1tbsp grated parmesan

This meal provides 95% of your daily zinc needs and over 40% of the recommended selenium intake.

Snack: Small bowl of melon, pineapple and mango pieces. 1tbsp sunflower seeds. 130 calories

Week Three: Saturday

Breakfast: Omelette (350 calories)

• 2 eggs
• 1tsp reduced-fat spread
• 4 mushrooms
• 1 tomato
• 2tbsp reduced-fat cheddar
• 1 thick slice wholemeal toast

Lunch: Baked potato with baked beans (540 calories)

• Large baked potato
• Small can or pot of baked beans
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheese
• Mixed salad (to serve)
• Orange (for dessert)

This hearty lunch staple provides more than half of your recommended fibre and iron intakes.

Dinner: Grilled tuna steak (540 calories)

• 1 tuna steak
• 200g roasted vegetables (courgette, onion, pepper, aubergine)
• 1tbsp oil
• ½ pack ready-to-eat quinoa

Tuna is high in selenium and this meal provides all of your recommended selenium intake. It also provides nearly 90% of your protein and over half of your iron needs.

Snack: Crispy kale (80g kale tossed in 1tsp oil and baked until crisp). 1 medium banana. 145 calories

Week Three: Sunday

Breakfast: Homemade parfait (355 calories)

• 3 handfuls plain granola
• 2tbsp low-fat natural yogurt
• 80g fresh tropical fruit (pineapple, mango, kiwi fruit, orange)
• 1tbsp chopped mixed nuts (for topping)

Lunch: Vegetable and lentil soup (500 calories)

• 1 small onion
• 150g root vegetables (eg carrots, potato, sweet potato, parsnip swede)
• 2tsp oil
• 25g lentils
• 250ml reduced-salt vegetable stock
• Spices to taste
• 1tbsp low-fat yogurt (for topping, optional)
• 1 large wholemeal or seeded bap

Dinner: Sunday roast (490 calories)

• 100g roast chicken (skin removed)
• 175g boiled skin-on new potatoes
• 160g vegetables (eg cauliflower, carrots and steamed kale)
• 2tbsp gravy
• 80g strawberries (for dessert)
• 1 scoop ice cream (for dessert)

Snack: Toasted crumpet with fat spread from allowance. Apple. 175 calories

Week Four: Monday

Breakfast: Vegan overnight oats (355 calories)

• 40g oats
• 150ml plant-based drink (eg almond drink)
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• 80g raspberries (or frozen mixed berries)
• 1tbsp almond butter

Combine the ingredients in a bowl before you go to bed and leave overnight in the fridge to set.

Lunch: Chicken and avocado wrap (505 calories)

• 1 large wholemeal wrap
• 1 cooked chicken breast
• ½ avocado
• ½ pepper

Dinner: Tofu stir-fry with noodles (515 calories)

• 80g tofu, chopped
• 1 handful of cashew nuts
• 1 pak choi, sliced
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 1tsp sesame oil
• 1tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
• 1tsp honey
• Ginger, to taste
• 1 nest of wholewheat noodles (60g dry weight)

Nuts are a great addition to meals because they contain healthier unsaturated fats. This meal provides over 40% of the recommended daily intake of monounsaturated fat, and it also delivers over 70% of your daily iron needs and almost half of the recommended intake of zinc.

Snacks: 1 chocolate digestive biscuit. 1 pear. 160 calories

Week Four: Tuesday

Breakfast: Scrambled egg, toast and grilled tomato (345 calories)

• 1 egg
• 1 thick slice of wholemeal toast
• 1tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tomato

Lunch: Tuna and bean pasta salad (525 calories)

• 75g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• Small can of tuna
• 2tbsp mixed or red kidney beans
• 1tbsp sweetcorn
• 1 slice of red pepper, diced
• 1tbsp oil (for dressing)
• Lemon juice, to taste (for dressing)
• Mustard, to taste (for dressing)

Enjoy this and you’ve ticked off half of your recommended fibre and iron intake and three-quarters of your daily selenium needs. We bet you didn’t know you even had selenium needs.

Dinner: Sautéed chicken and couscous (510 calories)

• 1 chicken breast
• 2tsp oil
• Garlic, to taste
• 6 mushrooms, sliced
• ½ pepper, sliced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 60g couscous (dry weight)
• Lemon zest, to taste
• Chilli flakes, to taste
• Herbs, to taste

Sautée the chicken breast, mushrooms, pepper and onion, making sure the chicken is cooked all the way through. Flavour the couscous with the lemon zest, chilli flakes and herbs.

Snacks: 2 dried apricots and 5 almonds. 1 small pot of low-fat fruit yogurt. 195 calories

Week Four: Wednesday

Breakfast: Peanut butter and banana bagel (400 calories)

• 1tbsp peanut butter
• 1 wholemeal bagel
• 1 small banana, sliced

Lunch: Pitta with falafel (500 calories)

• 2 wholemeal pitta breads
• 4 falafels
• Shredded lettuce
• Grated carrot
• Drizzle of sweet chilli sauce

Dinner: Paella (490 calories)

• 60g paella rice
• 60g cooked chicken breast, chopped
• 60g prawns
• ½ pepper, diced
• 2tbsp frozen peas
• 1 small chopped tomato
• 200ml reduced-salt vegetable stock
• 2tsp oil
• Paprika, to taste
• Turmeric, to taste

Snacks: 1 slice of toasted seeded bread with yeast extract. 1 peach or nectarine. 200 calories

Week Four: Thursday

Breakfast: Cereal (335 calories)

• 2 shredded wheat
• 100ml reduced-fat milk or dairy alternative
• ½ nectarine
• Approx 10 raspberries
• 1tbsp sunflower seeds

Lunch: Ham or turkey salad sandwich (470 calories)

• 2 thick slices of seeded bread
• 1 slice of ham or turkey
• 1tsp mustard
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 1 handful of salad leaves
• Small bag (25g) of baked crisps
• Apple

Dinner: Vegetable chilli (525 calories)

• Small can of chopped tomatoes
• Small can of red kidney beans
• 1 small onion
• ½ pepper, diced
• 1 small courgette, diced
• Vegetable stock
• Garlic, to taste
• Chilli powder, to taste
• 1tsp oil, for frying
• 1 baked potato (to serve)
• 1tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt (to serve)

You’ll get three-quarters of both your recommended fibre and iron intake from this mightily healthy meal.

Snacks: Handful of almonds (this snack provides over 40% of the recommended intake of monounsaturated fat). Carrot and cucumber sticks. 220 calories

Week Four: Friday

Breakfast: Poached egg and English muffin (350 calories)

• 1 wholemeal English muffin
• 50g wilted baby spinach
• 1 poached egg
• 2tsp sunflower seeds
• 150ml glass of apple juice

Lunch: Baked potato and beans (540 calories)

• 1 large baked potato
• Small can or pot of baked beans
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheese
• Mixed salad (to serve)
• 1 orange (for dessert)

This classic lunch combo provides over half of your recommended fibre and iron intake.

Dinner: Chicken pesto pasta (570 calories)

• 1 grilled chicken breast
• 80g green beans
• 2tbsp peas
• 75g wholewheat pasta (dry weight)
• 1 heaped tbsp reduced-fat pesto

Snacks: 2tbsp low-fat plain yogurt with 80g mixed fresh fruit. 1tbsp ready-to-eat edamame (about 15 pods). 140 calories

Week Four: Saturday

Breakfast: Porridge (350 calories)

• 40g oats
• 300ml semi-skimmed milk
• 80g fresh or frozen berries (to serve)
• 1tsp flaxseeds
• 1tsp honey

Iodine and calcium are some of the stars of this meal, with more than 60% of your daily requirement of both in this breakfast bowl.

Lunch: Minestrone (520 calories)

• ½ carton chilled or canned shop-bought minestrone soup
• 1 ciabatta roll
• 1 apple
• 1 small cereal bar

Dinner: Homemade burger (490 calories)

• 125g extra lean minced beef
• 1 wholemeal bap
• Toppings: lettuce, tomato, onion
• 1tbsp ketchup
• Corn on the cob (to serve)

Opt for a homemade patty and wholemeal bun, and you’ll find this plate provides three-quarters of your daily protein needs and about half of the recommended fibre intake. Plus, you’ve covered off more than 80% of the recommended zinc intake and over half of your daily iron needs.

Snacks: 1 oatcake spread with 1tsp medium fat soft cheese with a few grapes. Crispy kale (80g kale tossed in 1tsp oil and baked until crisp). 155 calories

Week Four: Sunday

Breakfast: French toast (360 calories)

• 1 egg
• 2tbsp milk
• 1tsp oil
• 2 slices wholemeal bread
• 80g mixed berries (to serve)

Lunch: Baked vegetable frittata (480 calories)

• 2 large eggs
• ½ pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1tbsp frozen peas
• A few cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1tsp oil
• 1tbsp grated reduced-fat cheddar
• Green salad (to serve)
• 1 medium wholemeal roll (to serve)

Dinner: Baked salmon with new potatoes (520 calories)

• 1 salmon fillet, baked
• 175g new potatoes, boiled
• 100g asparagus spears or tips
• 1 small slice (40g) banana loaf (for dessert)

Snacks: 1 orange. 1tbsp tzatziki and ½ wholemeal pitta bread. 160 calories

While it might sound like a good idea, in fact you do not want to boost your immune system. And you can’t.

“Nothing boosts your immunity and in fact it would be counterproductive to boost it, because what you want is your immune system to be functioning well and normally, not in overdrive – that can lead to other problems,” says Azmina Govindji, dietitian and consultant nutritionist, who works with the maker of KIND Snacks.

With that all cleared up, we asked Govindji to explain how you can best support your immune system with your diet.

How can your diet help your immune system?

A range of nutrients – that’s vitamins and minerals in the diet – all act together to support a normal immune function. The best way to optimise your immune system is to have a variety of foods from the main food groups: carbs, proteins, fruits and vegetables.

Having a variety of different-coloured fruits and vegetables, and different sources of nutrients, is more effective than taking a large dose of a herbal remedy or a single nutrient that promises to boost your immune system

What are the key vitamins and minerals to look out for?

There are several nutrients that are really significant. Vitamin C is an obvious one. So is vitamin A. Eating liver is a rich source of vitamin A, but that’s not a great delicacy in the UK, so our main intake comes from what we call carotenoids, like beta-carotene, which gives the orange-yellow colour to carrots and sweet potatoes, orange peppers and butternut squash.

Vitamin B6 is another one. You get it from fish, chicken and eggs mainly, but I really think it’s good to mention fortified foods like fortified breakfast cereals as that’s something that might be a staple. They contain those immune-supporting nutrients like B6 and folate. Some of them have iron, and you get zinc if they’re wheatgerm-based.

B vitamins, such as B6 and B12, are also in yeast extract which is a valuable source for vegetarians and vegans.

We don’t tend to talk about minerals much but copper is an important one. You find copper in breakfast cereals, nuts, including nut bars and nut butters, avocado, bread, rice, meat and fish.

Selenium is another, and brazil nuts are a great source of that. You also get it from fish, meat and eggs. And there’s zinc, which you get in meat and fish.

Another obvious one is vitamin D. It’s found in relatively few foods. The main source of the active type of vitamin D, which is vitamin D3, is what your body produces when it’s exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun.

Can you get vitamin D from fortified foods?

The type of vitamin D that’s added to food is vitamin D2, which is not as effective as the potent vitamin D3 that we make in the sun. The regulations for food labelling are that if you want to say you’re fortified with vitamin D, you need to provide 15% of the daily vitamin D requirements. You still have to get that 85% from somewhere else, so my personal view is that it’s almost impossible to meet your vitamin D needs from fortified foods. Sunshine and supplements, especially in the UK, are really important.

See related 

• How Much Time Should You Spend In The Sun To Get Vitamin D (And Avoid Skin Cancer)
• The Best Vitamin D Supplements And Vitamin D Explained
• What Are The Risks Of A B12 Deficiency For Vegans And Vegetarians?

What other advice would you give when it comes to supporting your immune system through your diet?

Variety is key. More wholegrains, more pulses, beans, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. These are all whole plant-based foods, which are associated with providing you with more immune-supporting nutrients like vitamin A, B vitamins, and copper from the nuts.

I would say the best way to change your diet to bolster your immune system is to gradually move towards including more plant-based foods. You don’t need to become vegan, but try to incorporate more lentils, beans, nuts and seeds into your diet to get those immune-supporting nutrients.

Should you alter your diet as you get older to support your immune system?

One thing that happens when you get older is that your appetite goes down. What that means is that you’ve got less capacity to get the wide range of nutrients that you want for your immune system. You have to be careful to make sure that everything you eat is going to provide you with these essential vitamins and minerals.

The other thing as you get older is that you tend to be more housebound, and to go back to vitamin D, where are you going to get the exposure to sunshine? It’s crucially important for older people to go for a walk or to sit in the garden and uncover parts of their arms and legs, and to take a supplement. The government recommends 10 micrograms of vitamin D daily, especially during winter months.

If you’re lucky enough not to suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) then you might never have heard of the low-FODMAP diet. And even if you have heard of it, we’re betting you can’t reel off what FODMAP stands for – frankly, even after reading and writing it out several times, we can’t remember the entire acronym.

The low-FODMAP diet has been shown to be effective in helping those with IBS manage their symptoms, but recent research also suggests there might be some benefit for endurance athletes worried about gastrointestinal distress related to their exercise – an all-too-common and obviously unpleasant problem.

For more information about the low-FODMAP diet and how it might help endurance athletes, we spoke to dietitian Sasha Watkins, co-founder of Field Doctor, a meal delivery service that includes low-FODMAP options.

What is the low-FODMAP diet?

It’s a bit of a mouthful! FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. They are fermentable short-chain carbohydrates which have been shown to trigger gastrointestinal trouble, particularly in people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. That’s where most of the research has been done, principally through Monash University in Australia.

What kind of foods are FODMAPs found in?

FODMAPs include fructose, lactose, certain digestible fibres and other undigestible compounds like inulin. You’ll find lactose in milk, galacto-oligosaccharides in legumes and fructans in wheat. Fruits are high in fructose and some vegetables are high in a range of these compounds.

What kind of symptoms can be triggered by FODMAPs?

The gastrointestinal symptoms that FODMAPs generally aggravate in certain people are stomach pain, bloating, wind, and a change in bowel habit and stool consistency. People can be constipated, or they can get diarrhoea, but I think diarrhoea is more common.

How can the low-FODMAP diet benefit endurance athletes?

There has been some research in recent years around its use in athletes, because there are certain symptoms that come around sports events, like runner’s diarrhoea and other gastrointestinal issues. We call it exercise-related gastrointestinal symptoms. I found a statistic that indicated about 70% of endurance athletes seem to suffer from exercise-related GI problems, and 22% of endurance athletes appear to have IBS.

In one review the authors looked at diets, of which the FODMAP diet is one, and in the studies they covered there was a reduction in these exercise-related problems.

There were four studies. One was a case study, with a six-day restriction. One was longer -erm, 10 weeks. In another, it was six days. And in the final one 18 endurance runners were given the FODMAP diet one day before an exertion heat stress trial. Across these four studies there was evidence that the exercise-induced symptoms did improve.

However, the caveat is that it’s just four studies, and the body of research in this area is quite new. One study had 11 people, one had 18, so they are small trials. More research definitely needs to be done, but there is some evidence that it’s going to be beneficial.

Is there any risk to following a low-FODMAP diet?

There are risks to following this diet as a long-term strategy. The first is the effect on the gut microbiome. A lot of FODMAPs are prebiotics [food for gut bacteria], so good bacteria really depend on them. There have been studies done on people with IBS who follow the low-FODMAP diet that show a reduction in total bacterial abundance, and also decreased bifidobacteria, and there is good evidence that bifidobacteria have a good impact on our health. This reduction is why we don’t want people to do it long-term.

What we also know from IBS studies is that it’s a tricky, complicated diet. It really should be done under the care of a dietitian who is trained in the low-FODMAP diet, because if not done properly people may overly-restrict, or restrict the wrong things, and there is a risk of missing out on key nutrients. Particularly in the case of endurance athletes, who have quite high requirements already, it’s best to do it with the help of a dietitian.

I also wouldn’t advise this as a diet for someone who’s at risk of disordered eating. Sometimes people get very hung up on and almost obsessive with what they eat. If they remove these foods from their diet, sometimes they may be fearful to bring them back in. You have to understand that it’s a short-term solution for you as an endurance athlete. It’s not a diet for life.

With athletes there’s also a question whether endurance athletes are maybe having too many FODMAPs. A lot of sports supplements and high-energy foods that you’re trying to consume for sports are very in FODMAPs – a lot of running gels are really high in fructose, for example. Some might have sweeteners in them and a lot of those sweeteners are classed as polyols, like xylitol and sorbitol.

Foods commonly recommended for sports can be high in FODMAPs, like dry dates, which are extremely high in fructans, and honey, which is high in fructose. Some sports foods have chicory root added to them and that's an oligosaccharide, or inulin, which is a fructan.

See related

• What Is The Low-FODMAP Diet?
• How To Spot And Treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome

If you are keen to try it, is there a way to do it where it’s not high risk?

Absolutely. I would say there’s absolutely no problem with doing a quick, small trial – I mean, the studies did it for one day! – whether it’s just the day before the event, or also during the event, or to do it up to six days before the event. I’ve not seen any evidence to see what happens to the gut bacteria, but I’d imagine in such a short time period, that wouldn’t be a risk.

The other question is how stringent do you need to be? Maybe you don’t have to go as low on FODMAP intake as we would normally recommend for somebody with IBS. As I mentioned, athletes often have quite high-FODMAP diets, so it might just be about toning down or swapping FODMAP ingredients. It may be that just restricting lactose and fructose does the trick. Not low-FODMAP, but lower-FODMAP.

Would using gels or similar during an event negate the benefits of following the diet beforehand?

I think there’s a benefit in just doing it the day before because of course gastrointestinal movements that happen the next day are obviously highly dependent on the food that was put into the system 24 hours earlier.

However, it depends on what your symptoms are. If you do suffer from bloating and abdominal pain, you may want to continue to do it on the day of the event because that could happen quite quickly and might even happen during the race.

Since it is a complex diet, do you have any advice on how to follow it?

My top tip would be to look at the low-FODMAP app by Monash University (App Store and Google Play). That’s a great starting point.

Second of all, there are freelance dietitians that you can easily access and do a Zoom with. If somebody does seriously want to try this diet, I would definitely recommend they do it under supervision by a dietitian, because if you really want to see whether the diet works, it's best to do it with all the right knowledge.

You can look at the freelance dieticians website and you can search for FODMAP. There are a lot of FODMAP-trained private dietitians in the UK who you can easily have a call with.

If you feel like you need to lose weight, it’s only natural that you want to do so as quickly as possible. Losing weight is not easy, and getting started can be hard enough, so who wouldn’t want to skip to the bit when you begin to see results?

However, simply aiming to get as much weight off as quickly as possible is unlikely to be the best way to go about it.

“The faster somebody loses weight, the more dangerous and unstructured a programme is,” said Marvin Burton, who was head of fitness at Anytime Fitness when we first spoke to him. “Rapid weight changes are not sustainable and often there is something extreme taking place, such as not eating enough or overtraining.”

Maintaining a healthy weight is something that will benefit you throughout your life, so a sustainable plan is key. We asked Burton for some more tips on how to go about losing weight and how quickly you should expect to do it.

We also spoke to Michael Gleeson, emeritus professor of exercise biochemistry at Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, who’s spent years trying to make scientific exercise and diet advice accessible to the average person with his books Eat, Move, Sleep, Repeat, The Pick ’n Mix Diet and Beating Type 2 Diabetes.

1. Don’t expect to lose a lot of weight every week

“There should be a balance of increasing muscle mass and decreasing bodyweight,” says Burton. “In fact, with structured weight loss programmes, some weeks there should be no change on the scales.

“A weekly decrease in body fat of around 0.2-0.5% would be very good. However, your starting weight should be considered. If you are 30-40kg overweight then you could expect larger drops initially, but these should slow down and become controlled otherwise there will also be a fast development of excess skin.”

2. Don’t just diet

“Dieting commonly results in a reduction in resting metabolic rate of 10 to 15%,” says Gleeson. “Essentially, your body adapts to the lower energy intake and you become more food-efficient. This makes weight loss more difficult because to keep up the same rate of weight loss that you achieved in the first couple of weeks of dieting you have to cut another 200-300 calories.

“While dieting alone can be an effective strategy for losing body weight, combining dieting and exercising is the best strategy for both reducing body weight and improving your health. This is backed up by numerous scientific studies that show that for a given daily calorie deficit, people will lose more body weight by combining dieting and exercise than by dieting alone. Not only is more weight lost, but virtually all of it is achieved by a reduction in body fat. With dieting alone, some muscle mass is usually also lost, which also contributes to a further reduction in resting metabolic rate.”

3. Don’t start with HIIT

“This is a common and dangerous mistake to make,” says Burton. “High-intensity exercise in the form of jumping or rapid movements shouldn’t even be considered if you are new to exercise. Your muscles, joints and nutrition will struggle to cope right away. You will be increasing your chances of injury with high-impact movements, and you also risk overwhelming your central nervous system prematurely.

“For a beginner, fast walking is a good place to start because it is relatively high-intensity and poses less risk. My suggested training method would be resistance training because it burns body fat for longer periods of time, as well as being low-impact and controllable.”

4. Start with resistance training

“Resistance training is the best form of exercise to burn body fat,” says Burton. “It gives you the fastest and longest-lasting benefits for the time spent. I would suggest starting with larger muscle groups and work on improving your posture and muscles that are commonly weak.

“When these muscles are conditioned first, you will immediately have a better structural balance to your body, decreasing your chance of injury. I would expect it to improve your self-esteem too. I would avoid workouts that have no purpose such as ‘alphabet workouts’, where an exercise is attributed to every letter of the alphabet, or extremely high-volume workouts – for example doing over 20 repetitions of a random combination of movements – as well as anything that hasn’t factored in your own personal level of fitness, imbalances, likes or dislikes.”

5. Balance your training load

“Even many professional athletes don’t exercise five times a week, so don’t feel like you need to!” says Burton. “If I had a client training five times a week, their programme would vary in the type of exercise and include recovery sessions.

“Four times a week is the most you should exercise and two times a week is the least. However, you also need to do non-exercise activity. Walking a little more, parking further away from shops and taking the stairs can also add up and create a significant change."

6. Consider the time you have

“The first thing to do is to evaluate the time that you can commit to your weight loss journey,” says Burton. “You may need to make a few lifestyle changes that will create more time for exercise. The first and most important thing to do is to get into a better eating, cooking and planning routine. Without these, the exercise will not have as much of an impact.”

7. A personal trainer can make all the difference

“The best advice I can give is to seek out a personal trainer who knows how to assess your wellbeing, give you a structure and help you become accountable to a new lifestyle,” says Burton. “For some people this could take a few weeks. Others may need a little help due to lifestyle commitments, illness or medical reasons – although these can be overcome with the right support and guidance.”

8. Your diet is more important than the gym

“Your diet is the most important thing to focus on. For some clients, I often ask them not to go to the gym for two weeks,” says Burton. “Then they focus on eating and don’t eat badly as a ‘reward’ for training.”

9. Increase your protein intake to feel fuller

“In most diets protein will provide 10 to 15% of the calories,” says Gleeson. “With high-protein diets, this is increased to about 30%. High-protein diets suppress the appetite, which might be a mechanism that could help to promote weight loss.

“On a high-protein – 30% protein, 50% carbohydrate, 20% fat – diet, satiety [the feeling of fullness] is increased compared with a normal weight-maintaining diet (10-15% protein, 50-55% carbohydrate, 30-35% fat) of equal calorie content.”

10. More protein also boosts your metabolism

“Protein also facilitates weight loss because of its relatively high thermogenic effect, which is the increase in resting metabolic rate that occurs after feeding,” says Gleeson. “The total energy available from dietary protein is five calories per gram (cal/g) but the actual energy it provides is only 3.2cal/g. That is the available energy after taking into account the energy lost as heat in its metabolism, making it lower than either carbohydrate or fat, which are 3.8cal/g and 9cal/g respectively.

“A high protein intake also helps to prevent some of the muscle mass loss that is otherwise inevitable when dieting. Because muscle is the most active tissue metabolically, this means the resting metabolic rate can be better maintained, thus helping weight loss.”

11. Get into batch cooking

“Cook more than you need for all meals so you have leftovers,” says Burton. “This gives you additional, healthy meals and saves you time.”

12. Kit out your kitchen

“Get appropriate cooking amenities and organise your kitchen,” says Burton. “A slow cooker, plenty of storage containers, an insulated bag to take food with you to work, sharp knives and good pans are all great to have. Arrange your cupboards, fridge and freezer better too. Food preparation should feel easy and enjoyable.”

See related

• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips
• The Best Exercises For Weight Loss
• What You Need To Know About Your Metabolism For Weight Loss
• The Best Weight-Loss Apps

13. Mix up your menu

“Learn about herbs and spices,” says Burton. “These are what give your food flavour and prevent you from adding unhealthy sauces.

“Vary your food. It’s too easy to repeat the same meals daily, which don’t give you the variety in nutrients you need. You could be lacking in areas of your diet and preventing yourself from losing the weight you want to. Expand your knowledge of food and experiment.”

14. Get everyone in your house on board

“Include everybody you live with,” says Burton. “If you are the only person in your household trying to eat healthily it will be harder. Create a support network and take a united approach to the experience.”

15. Don’t start with supplements

“For me, supplements are the last things I would consider when putting together a health plan,” says Burton. “The definition of the word supplement is ‘add to’, so you are adding to your existing diet. If you have a poor diet, or have been eating badly for a prolonged period of time, your body will simply not benefit from any supplements. I would advise you to eat healthily and to increase your metabolism via exercise and good hydration, as well as improving your sleep and lowering stress.”

The idea of eating healthier and losing weight has got a bad reputation, with the assumption that you’ll have to go cold turkey on eating for enjoyment. That’s codswallop – as anyone who has devoured a cold turkey sandwich with avocado and mayo on wholemeal will know. Cold chicken in a pitta is also good, and that just so happens to be one of the most popular recipes on Noom.

Noom is an online programme that uses the psychology of behaviour change, one-on-one coaching, education and perhaps most importantly very tasty recipes to help people eat healthier, as well as losing some weight along the way if they fancy it.

“Our role is not to tell you what to eat, but to empower you in making educated decisions for yourself,” says Alex Sizer, who is a registered dietitian in the US and a Noom coach. “Noom’s dietary advice encourages awareness, portion control, mindfulness and moderation over restriction so that all foods can fit into a healthy balanced diet.”

One way Noom informs your food choices is by helping you set a reasonable daily calorie intake. It then introduces the concept of calorie density, categorizing foods into a traffic light system according to how many calories a set weight of food contains.

“Foods that are less calorically dense – less calories and more volume – are categorised as green, where foods that are more calorically dense – more calories and less volume – are categorized as red,” says Sizer. “Noom encourages, but doesn’t require, you to choose foods that keep you feeling full, while still successfully staying within a calorie deficit to promote weight loss.

“If you follow Noom’s guidance, a typical day’s diet will reach your ideal calorie range without going too far over or under. You’ll be encouraged to balance your food choices in a distribution of 30% of daily calories from green foods, 45% from yellow foods, and 25% from red foods.”

That’s the science-y bit, but what does that look like in practice? And more importantly, what could you eat tonight (a question we’re always pondering)? Sizer pointed us towards three of the most popular recipes with Noom users (see below), but made it clear that you won’t be forced into a “three square meals a day” straitjacket. “While some individuals may strive for three meals per day, others may be grazers and eat small frequent meals. Possibly you’re more of a ‘two meals per day with a few snacks in-between’ type of eater. Or maybe you work night shifts, and eat your primary meals through the night. We recognise that everyone has their own unique background and their own unique schedule, meaning a typical day’s food intake really depends on you!”

If you’re tempted by the approach, or the recipes below and want more, Noom is offering a 14-day trial for £1.

Breakfast: Banana-Apple And Nut Oatmeal (Serves One)

Ingredients

• ¼ cup quick cooking oats
• ½ cup skimmed milk or almond milk
• ¼tbsp flaxseeds
• ½ medium apple, diced
• 1tbsp walnuts, chopped
• ½ banana, peeled and sliced
• 1tbsp honey

Method

1. Combine oats, milk, flaxseeds and honey in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in a microwave for 1½ minutes (you may need to adjust depending on the microwave).
2. Stir the mixture, top with walnuts, apples and bananas. Serve hot.

Try a 14-day trial of Noom | £1

Lunch: Chicken And Avocado Pitta Pockets (Serves Four)

Ingredients

• 500g cooked chicken breast, cut into small pieces
• ¼ cup grated reduced-fat cheddar cheese
• ¾ cup diced avocado
• ½ cup bell peppers, seeded and chopped
• ½ cup celery, chopped
• ½ cup cucumber, chopped
• ½ cup carrots, peeled and shredded
• ½ cup cauliflower, finely chopped
• ¼ cup red onion, chopped
• 6tbsp balsamic dressing
• 4 wholewheat pittas, halved

Method

1. Toss the chicken, cheddar and vegetables with the dressing. Fill each pitta half with approximately ¾ cup of the mixture.

Try a 14-day trial of Noom | £1

Dinner: Turkey Cheddar Tacos (Serves Four)

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded cooked turkey breast
• 2tbsp drained pickled jalapeño
• 1tbsp fat-free mayonnaise
• 2tbsp fresh chopped coriander
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 4 6in/20cm fat-free flour tortillas
• 1 cup shredded lettuce
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
• ½ cup grated reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Method

1. Combine the turkey, pickled jalapeño, mayonnaise, coriander, lime zest and lime juice in a medium bowl.
2. Warm a large nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the tortillas, one at a time, and warm until crisp and dark brown in spots, about one minute on each side.
3. Top each tortilla with ¼ cup of the turkey mixture, spreading it almost to the edge. Top with ¼ cup of lettuce, about ¼ cup of tomatoes and 2tbsp of the cheddar.

Try a 14-day trial of Noom | £1

Even though we all know we should do it, as a nation we’re not great at eating five portions of fruit and veg a day, every single day. One common obstacle to overcome is having to make meals that are palatable to both adults and children, which is why we were very taken with this family-friendly five-day meal plan in which each dinner contains at least two portions of your five-a-day.

Better still, it’s full of recipes that slip in large amounts of veg almost without you realising, which can be a huge boon when dealing with fussy eaters.

The meals have been created by BBC MasterChef semi-finalist and cookbook author Theo Michaels’ FiveDinners service, in partnership with children’s fruit snacking company Fruit Bowl. We recommend taking a closer look at the FiveDinners meal planning service, because it provides five recipes a week with a shopping list for just £5 a month. It’s an intriguing option if you’ve considered recipe boxes or healthy meal delivery services but have been put off by the prices.

The five-day plan below is a sample of what you get from the service, with five tasty, healthy dinners for families on offer.

Chimichangas

These crisp burritos filled with chicken and veg will delight all ages, and it’s easy to substitute the chicken with another type of meat, fish or even more veg if preferred. The meal takes 20 minutes to prep and 18 minutes to cook.

See the recipe

One Pot Sausage And Vegetable Rice

Any recipe with “one pot” in the title interests us, because it usually means it’s pretty simple and always means there’s not much washing up. This paella-style dish takes just 22 minutes to make from start to finish, and it’s great for using up leftovers, since you can swap the veg and meat in the recipe for whatever you want.

See the recipe

Sneaky Vegetable Beef Burgers

If you make your own burgers the opportunities to sneak in sliced and diced veg are close to endless. This simple burger recipe does just that, and if you’re not trying to be too sneaky it’s always fun to make burger patties with kids too.

See the recipe

Sweet Potato And Broccoli Calzone

Everyone loves pizza, and these calzone “pizza pockets” are a great way to make a healthy, tasty and fun dinner. Once your chosen veg is slathered in tomato purée and cheese and wrapped in a tasty pastry, it’s sure to satisfy even the fussiest eaters.

See the recipe

Spinach And Turkey Meatballs With Gnocchi

This one-pot dish involves crafting healthy meatballs from a winning combo of lean turkey mince and spinach. Mix them with gnocchi in a tomato sauce for a hearty dinner that takes only 35 minutes to make.

See the recipe

Recipe created for the Fruit Bowl #5in5Challenge by Theo Michaels in partnership with FiveDinners.com. For more recipes, go to fruit-bowl.com or Instagram: @thefruitbowlfamily #5in5Challenge #FruitMadeFun

When you’re deciding what to eat, what are you thinking about? Is it what you’ll actually enjoy eating? Or are you mostly concerned about how what you choose will help you lose weight or fit with a certain diet you’re attempting to follow?

The question of enjoyment is one of the first you should ask yourself if you’re considering adopting the intuitive eating approach, which rejects diets and diet culture, seeing it as counterproductive.

There’s a lot more to intuitive eating than asking that question, though, so we enlisted registered nutritionist Sophie Bertrand for more information.

Intuitive eating is one of the topics covered in the new book Forking Wellness, written by Bertrand and dietitian Bari Stricoff, which tries to demystify and simplify nutrition, as well supplying a buffet of healthy recipes to try.

Forking Wellness: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Health and Nutrition

Buy now

What is intuitive eating?

It’s a non-diet approach and it has the intention of helping individuals heal from chronic dieting. If you’ve lived your whole life restricting, overeating and yo-yo dieting, then intuitive eating can be a really helpful approach to establishing a more “normal” relationship with food again.

Intuitive eating has been associated with loads of benefits, like improved body image, improved metabolism, reduced levels of anxieties around food, and weight maintenance. If you’re going on and off diets your whole life, you’re never really sitting at a comfortable weight.

Why is it helpful to stop dieting?

Diets come with so many rules and side effects – things like slow metabolism, disordered eating behaviours, and feelings of guilt and anxiety around food. When you have an unhappy relationship with food it can make your entire day and your entire life miserable. So using a non-diet approach takes away those rules and restrictions around food and helps you work out what foods you really enjoy, what foods make your body feel good and energised, without having weight as the focus.

Diets don’t work. You can ask anyone who’s been on a diet and they’ve been unable to maintain that diet. Usually when you stop the diet, because it’s unsustainable, you will put the weight back on that you’ve lost – often plus more, because you’ve damaged your metabolism.

There’s no really good long-term outcome from going on diets. The intuitive eating approach is about taking the focus away from weight and putting it on your long-term health.

How can you start with intuitive eating?

It’s not something that can be done overnight, especially if you’ve been dieting for some years. You will have built up a certain relationship with food and to undo that takes some time. So intuitive eating is made up of ten principles and they can be worked through in whatever order you see fit. It is best done with an intuitive eating professional, but if that’s not realistic there are lots of resources online and books to read.

Before you start with the ten principles, our book has a helpful bit covering things you can do first. Take a step back and ask why you want to change your relationship with food, what you want to get out of it.

Our first tip would be to start thinking about your food choices and what’s actually driving them. Is it a voice in your head saying “you’re on a diet, you need to lose weight, you need to go for the low-calorie option”? Or is it you saying “I really like this food and feel really good when I eat it, so that’s what I’m going to choose”? Get to the bottom of why you’re eating what you’re eating, and ask if you’re enjoying what you’re eating.

How can you find reliable information about intuitive eating online?

A red flag would be if any intuitive eating approach suggests you will lose weight by using it. Weight is not something that’s talked about with intuitive eating – we put the whole focus on your health and wellbeing. So if anyone is trying to sell you a non-diet approach that also promises weight loss, the person talking probably isn’t qualified to talk about intuitive eating.

See related

• 6 Ways To Improve Your Body Confidence That Aren’t Exercise
• How to Stop Loving Fries (and Reboot Your Relationship with Food)

What if I always think I want chocolate when choosing my food?

A lot of people are fearful that if they do give in and have what they genuinely want, they will lose control. If I said to you, “For the next five days all you can eat is your favourite chocolate bar” you probably would be like, “That sounds terrible, I’m going to feel like rubbish because I haven’t got any vegetables in my diet.”

When you actually put it in perspective and say, “Go ahead eat what you want”, people don’t feel good indulging themselves. They don’t feel good not eating vegetables, or protein and carbohydrates and essential fats. We need a balance, and people are often pleasantly surprised to find that they crave that balance, once they take the rules away and let themselves experiment with food a bit more.

How long will it take to become an intuitive eater?

The good thing is that once you start with the approach and work your way through the ten principles, you can see changes quite quickly. However, to master intuitive eating could take anything from a few months to years, depending on how long you have been dieting before. But you can see positive changes much quicker if you commit to not dieting any more.

Do you find people still explore new recipes and foods when intuitive eating?

Absolutely. We’re trying to encourage diversity in the diet and experimenting with new foods to figure out what feels good for you. You might have an obsession with pasta for a while, but there’s only so much pasta you can eat and you’re going to want to seek out new recipes at some point.

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When you’re trying to build muscle, what you do in the kitchen is just as important as what you do in the gym. Protein is the key, which is why we’ve brought you this high-protein 7-day meal plan for muscle gain – taken from New Body Plan Plus, which along with this gym training plan for building muscle can help you increase your muscle mass. The combination of gym and meal plan is best used by experienced gym-goers who are looking to make a concerted effort for a short period of time, but this meal plan for muscle gain can be used by anyone looking to support their training.

This week-long eating plan contains plenty of protein to support your efforts in the gym while also containing the right balance of nutrients to help you get lean. The more closely you can stick to your meal plan the better, but if you can’t make a particular meal then you can substitute in another meal from the same time of day from the same week. If you miss a meal (or multiple meals), don’t worry about it, just carry on with the plan.

To make following the meal plan easier, consider doing a big shop to line up everything you need. To help, we’ve collated a shopping list after the recipe section below. Give it a browse and you’ll pick up a few great healthy diet tips even if you don’t commit to the whole meal plan for muscle gain. Those tips include opting for wholemeal carbs, making sure fruit and veg dominate your trolley, picking up nuts and seeds, eating fish a few times a week and varying your sources of animal protein.

Your Meal Plan For Muscle Gain

Monday

Calories 2,510 Protein 242g Carbs 197g Fat 86g

Tuesday

Calories 2,345 Protein 167g Carbs 187g Fat 103g

Wednesday

Calories 2,515 Protein 223g Carbs 194g Fat 92g

Thursday

Calories 2,482 Protein 238g Carbs 142g Fat 109g

Friday

Calories 2,364 Protein 181g Carbs 203g Fat 92g

See related articles

• 23 Protein Shake Recipes For A Tasty, Refreshing Treat
• A Fat-Loss Meal Plan That Doesn’t Sacrifice Flavour
• The Benefits Of A High-Protein Diet
• Lose Weight With This Four-Week Meal Plan For Men

Saturday

Calories 2,454 Protein 230g Carbs 161g Fat 99g

Sunday

Calories 2,394 Protein 197g Carbs 172g Fat 103g

Recipes

Mighty Turkey Burgers Recipe

Prep time 10min Cooking time 15min

You probably didn’t expect to see burgers in this plan, did you? The thing is, there’s nothing inherently bad about a burger. The thing that’s unhelpful about the way they’re usually served is the massive bun and big portion of fries, which contain a lot of calories but not much in the way of useful nutrients. Cook them like this, though, and you’ll be able to enjoy the taste while staying on track with your goals.

Ingredients (serves one)

• 300g turkey mince
• 15g porridge oats
• 1 egg
• ¼ onion, finely diced
• ½tsp chilli flakes
• 100g green beans
• 1tbsp rapeseed oil
• Small portion of oven chips

To make

1. Cook the diced onion in a little rapeseed oil, then remove from the pan and allow it to cool.
2. Place the turkey mince in a mixing bowl, then crack an egg into the bowl and add the oats and chilli flakes.
3. Once the onions have cooled, add them to the mixture. Season with salt and pepper and mix it all together so the ingredients combine evenly.
4. Scoop out a small handful of the mixture and roll it into a compact ball in your hands, then place the ball on a baking tray. With the palm of your hand, press the ball down so that it forms a flat patty about 2.5cm thick. Repeat this process until you have used all of the mixture.
5. Grill the burgers for five to seven minutes, then turn and cook for a further five minutes or until the patties are cooked through.
6. Serve with the green beans and a small portion of oven chips.

Calories 722 Protein 75g Carbs 45g Fat 27g

Tuna Niçoise Salad Recipe

Prep time 10min Cooking time 20min

This French classic, so simple to make, is absolutely packed with flavour as well as protein and lots of the micronutrients your body needs. There are quite a few ingredients but it doesn’t require any cooking skill –you just need to chuck them together and add the simple dressing.

Ingredients (serves one)

• 1 can tuna, drained
• 200g new potatoes
• 2 eggs, boiled
• ¼ red onion, sliced
• 100g green beans
• 100g cherry tomato
• Salad leaves
• 2tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1tsp dijon mustard
• 5ml red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper

To make

• Boil the new potatoes and allow them to cool, then cut them in half.
• Steam the green beans, then allow them to cool.
• Boil, shell and quarter two eggs.
• Add the salad leaves to a bowl then add the potatoes, eggs, tuna, green beans, onion and tomato.
• To make the dressing, mix the rapeseed oil, dijon mustard and red wine vinegar and add it to the salad mix.
• Mix everything together and season with salt and pepper.

Calories 520 Protein 50g Carbs 30g Fat 23g

Power Prawn Curry Recipe

Prep time 5min Cooking time 25min

You probably don’t automatically think of curry as a healthy food. That’s partly because a lot of them are made with generous quantities of butter and cream, and they’re also often washed down with a few pints of lager. But there are many ways of making curries and lots of them fit easily into the way you’d like to eat while you’re following your New Body Plan. Even better, it’s also possible to make them in a way that’s both quick and tastes great.

Ingredients (serves one)

• 150g king prawns
• ½ onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1tsp rapeseed oil
• ½tsp chilli powder
• ½tsp coriander powder
• ½tsp ground cumin
• ½tsp turmeric
• 1tsp curry paste
• 75g brown rice

To make

• Heat the rapeseed oil in a pan and chop the onion. Add the onion to the pan and fry until golden brown. Add the garlic and reduce the heat.
• Add 100ml of water and simmer for about ten minutes.
• Add the chilli, coriander, cumin and turmeric and cook for a further five minutes.
• Add the prawns and the curry paste and cook for five minutes.
• That’s it. You’re done. Just serve with the rice and enjoy!

Calories 572 Protein 41g Carbs 83g Fat 7g

Chia Seed Power Pot Recipe

Prep time 5min Cooking time 2hr

This is a really quick and easy recipe that tastes just like an indulgent treat but will in fact help you to achieve your better-body goals. You can also make it in advance and store it in the fridge. Chia seeds have become increasingly popular in recent years, and with good reason: they’re high in fibre, which can aid digestion and help you feel full, while they also pack a protein punch and are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, which will reduce post-workout inflammation.

Ingredients (serves one)

• 20g chia seeds
• 100ml coconut milk
• 10g clear honey
• 15g whey protein powder
• 50g frozen berries

To make

1. Pour the coconut milk into a bowl.
2. Next, pour the chia seeds into the bowl and stir so they mix well with the coconut milk.
3. Pour in the honey and whey protein powder and stir thoroughly so that it mixes evenly.
4. Put the bowl in the fridge and leave it to set for a couple of hours.
5. When you’re ready to serve, top it with the frozen berries.

Shopping List

We’ve collated the ingredients from this meal plan for muscle gain and listed them below, including quantities where sensible. However, it’s unlikely you’ll find the exact quantities so portion out what you need when you get home and freeze any excess if you can to avoid unnecessary food waste. Also keep an eye on “best before” and “use by” dates on the fruit and veg so it doesn’t spoil before it’s time to eat it.

While your local supermarket may stock whey protein, you can often find better value online. We’ve tested enough to create a comprehensive list of the best protein powders, but our quick recommendations are Myprotein Pro THE Whey+ and, for a more affordable option, Bulk Powders Pure Whey Protein.

Meat, fish and dairy

• Bacon, lean smoked (6 rashers)
• Beef jerky (100g)
• Butter
• Cheddar cheese (110g)
• Chicken breast (750g)
• Eggs (23)
• Greek yogurt, low-fat (850g)
• Ham (50g)
• King prawns (150g)
• Milk, semi-skimmed (600ml)
• Pork chops 250g
• Roast beef (400g)
• Salmon fillet (2)
• Smoked salmon (70g)
• Tuna (3 cans)
• Turkey mince (300g)

Carbs

• Brown rice (225g)
• Oven chips
• Porridge oats (15g)
• Wholemeal bread (1 loaf)

Fruit and veg

• Apples (4)
• Avocado (2)
• Banana (5)
• Berries, frozen (350g)
• Broccoli (1 head)
• Carrot (2)
• Cherry tomatoes (400g)
• Courgette (1)
• Garlic (1 head)
• Grapes (3 handfuls)
• Grapefruit (1)
• Green beans (300g)
• Lemon (1)
• Lettuce (1 small)
• Mushroom (small pack)
• New potatoes (400g)
• Onion (3)
• Oranges (2)
• Peppers (2)
• Potatoes (300g)
• Red onion (2)
• Rocket leaves
• Salad leaves
• Spinach
• Spring onion
• Tomato (4)

Sundries

• Brazil nuts (100g)
• Cashew nuts (25g)
• Chia seeds (25g)
• Chilli flakes
• Chilli powder
• Coconut milk (100ml)
• Coriander, ground
• Cumin, ground
• Curry paste
• Dark chocolate (50g)
• Gravy granules
• Ginger, ground
• Honey, clear
• Mayonnaise, low-fat
• Mustard
• Paprika
• Peanut butter (90g)
• Popcorn, salted (small bag)
• Pine nuts (10g)
• Rapeseed oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Rice cakes, salt and vinegar flavour (6)
• Soy sauce
• Tomato purée
• Turmeric
• Veg stock cubes
• Whey protein powder (285g)

If you’ve been thinking that you need to slim down but aren’t sure how, what if we told you there was a weight-loss programme that helped 90% of its members to lose weight? You’d be impressed, right? And what if we told you that the cost of registration had been reduced from £9.99 to 50p as part of the Public Health England’s Better Health initiative? You’d be looking for the Click Here button.

Well hold your horses – there are some caveats, mostly about who will really benefit from the programme. You have to be a man with a BMI of over 27.5, need to like football, and, perhaps most importantly, have a competitive edge that drives you.

MAN v FAT is a 14-week football league for men with that BMI figure or over, with games lasting 30 minutes. Along with the fun of playing football against men of a similar fitness level, players are also motivated to lose weight by the fact that it directly impacts on their team’s fortunes – each week there’s a pre-game weigh-in and the results affect your team’s score.

This is why that competitive edge we mentioned comes into play. If you’ve found nothing else motivates you to lose weight, perhaps the fact that your team will start ahead on the scoresheet will.

MAN v FAT runs 80 leagues in England, Wales and Scotland, and so far 90% of players who have taken part have lost weight, which may indicate how motivated many men are to win a football match. Or how having the support and encouragement of a group of people in similar situations can be exceptionally effective when it comes to weight loss. Or both.

See related 

• The Best Way to Lose Weight – Do Something You Love
• Should You Worry About Your BMI?
• What Is A Healthy Weight?
• How To Lose Belly Fat Fast

Like all football leagues, MAN v FAT had been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new Better Health campaign from Public Health England, part of the UK government’s obesity strategy, is helping MAN v FAT to start up again and providing that hefty 95% discount for new sign-ups.

“It’s fantastic to be a part of the government’s new campaign and we’re looking forward to supporting men who want to improve their health, whether they’ve been meaning to lose weight for a while or whether lockdown has been an unhealthy time for them,” says MAN v FAT managing director Tim Roberts.

“We’ve seen amazing results from the men who have taken part in MAN v FAT Football to date, and with the reopening of sports venues in England we’re excited to get going again.”

You can get more information on the leagues near you and how to sign up on the MAN v FAT website.

Photograph: World Obesity Federation

England has an obesity problem. Almost two-thirds of adults are thought to be overweight or living with obesity, and one in three children leaving primary school overweight or obese. This is not a new problem, but the fact that obesity is linked to worse outcomes in those who contract COVID-19 has renewed focus on the problem. Public Health England has launched a new campaign to help people lose weight, with tools like a new free weight loss app being made available as well as impending government bans on certain adverts and BOGOF deals, along with clearer calorie labelling on foods and drinks.

One aspect of obesity none of the new initiatives addresses is weight stigma. However, the British Dietetic Association – which represents dietitians, nutritional professionals who work widely in the NHS – highlights this as one of the primary societal problems associated with obesity. We asked dietitian Lucy Perrow, speaking on the association’s behalf, about the causes of obesity and the role weight stigma plays.

What are the causes of obesity?

There are so many it’s difficult to say, but the main things are the environment, your biology, the policies that surround you within our society, other societal influences, individual psychology and activity. Even when you think about your environment, a lot of it is not built for us to be active. Parks might not be accessible at times when people can use them, or they might not be safe for children, especially in city centres.

The thing with obesity is that it’s very individualised. There’s no two people I’ve seen in nearly 20 years of doing this job that I would treat the same. Why different people have gained weight is very different – and takes into account their background, their likes and dislikes, their physical ability to get out and exercise, their budget.

How can weight stigma hinder people’s attempts to lose weight?

Weight stigma remains a socially acceptable form of prejudice and is rarely challenged despite the increased awareness of discrimination in society as a whole.

Some argue that stigmatising people with obesity will incentivise them to lose weight. However, evidence shows that this has the opposite effect, and stigma contributes considerably towards the globally rising obesity levels.

Weight stigma can have psychological, social and physical health consequences on those affected by this disease. Psychological outcomes can include depression and anxiety, and the social effects can include social rejection by peers and poor quality of interpersonal relationships. Shaming is not only ineffective at getting individuals to lose weight, but research shows that it contributes to binge eating, emotional eating, restrictive eating, weight cycling and eating anxiety, all of which can increase weight.

Activities as basic as exercising, eating a meal and shopping may all evoke teasing and/or the feeling that one’s body is not acceptable and thereby increasing feelings of shame and anxiety.

Taken together, the consequences of being denied jobs, rejected by peers and treated inappropriately by healthcare professionals because of one’s weight can have a serious and negative impact on quality of life. Individuals affected by obesity suffer terribly from this, both from direct discrimination and from more subtle forms of bias that are frequently encountered.

See related

• Are You Stress Eating During The COVID-19 Pandemic?
• Why Classing Obesity As A Disease Might Be A Good Idea

Where should people start if they’re trying to lose weight?

The top tips are nothing new – it’s what everyone has already heard. Eat more fruit and vegetables, decrease high fat, high salt and high sugar foods, try to get your 30 minutes of daily exercise, drink water, try to reduce consumption of food outside the house (so takeaways and eating out), and watch your portion sizes.

Those would be my top tips, but it’s very difficult to say what’s going to work for people. Support groups like WW or Slimming World certainly work for some, but what is really needed is long-term, consistent support.

Joe Wicks has been shouting about the benefits of cooking quickly for a long time, and his Lean In 15 recipe books are incredibly popular, so it’s clear that many people agree with him. For Wicks, the reason is simple.

“If you can give people time, so they get more time with their kids or on the sofa, they’re going to be all over it,” says Wicks, who has created a range of Lean In 15 recipes for recipe box service Gousto. “Jamie Oliver’s 30-Minute Meals was the most successful book of all time, but now even that [30 minutes] seems like a long time. People are busier and busier so speed is very important.”

However, speed alone isn’t enough. You also want your meals to be tasty and satisfying, otherwise you’ll struggle to stick with making your own meals no matter how little time they take. We asked Wicks for his tips on how to make quick and delicious meals, along with some advice on how to make your diet healthier.

Use Healthy Shortcuts

“The way you can do 15-minute meals is by having shortcuts,” says Wicks. “So putting sweet potato in the microwave, using microwaveable rice or a stir-fry veggie bag. There’s nothing wrong with buying that stuff. If it makes you eat a big bag of veg, that’s a really good thing. Imagine sitting there cutting all those vegetables up – you wouldn’t do it. I’m all about shortcuts and convenience, just not the processed style of food where it’s a ready made meal.”

Stock Up On Staples

Having certain ingredients to hand at all times means you always have the ability to whip up a tasty meal quickly.

“It’s really good to have some staple ingredients in the house,” says Wicks. “Like a base for a curry, so coconut milk and a tin of chopped tomatoes, and some soy sauce. And spices like paprika, turmeric and curry powder – I always have a good store of them – and herbs.”

Be Clever With Your Carbs

“I’m not a zero-carb guy at all – I love my carbs. I just use them more around training days,” says Wicks. “I tend to eat reduced-carb meals, like scrambled eggs with avocado in the morning, then I’ll train and after that I’ll have my post-workout meal with carbs. It’s not essential for fat loss, but it’s a simple way of eating.”

Meal Prep Makes For A Healthier Week

“Meal prepping is fantastic,” says Wicks. “It seems like such an annoying thing to do but if you can spend a couple of hours doing a massive chilli or bolognese, or making your overnight oats for a couple of days, it makes your life so much easier. Rather than go to the supermarket to buy a ready meal, you’ve got your ready meal made in your fridge. It’s so much better. You save money, you do fewer dishes. Meal prepping is a great way of staying on track.”

See related 

• How To Master Meal Prep
• Gousto Review: The Easiest Recipe Box Service
• EXCLUSIVE: Joe Wicks’s 20-Minute Harissa And Tomato Chicken Recipe

Think About Your Day-To-Day Activity

Many of us eat the same size and type of meals throughout the week without really thinking about how that fits with our activity.

“Energy input is important in terms of how much you’ve eaten – although I don’t really count calories – but you need to think about expending energy as well. If you want to sit down and enjoy really big portions of food you have to be active. You can’t expect to be able to eat massive meals and have snacks, then be sedentary all day and get results. I’m trying to promote movement and exercise. If you’re going to be active today, have a few more carbs. It’s a simple way to do it without overthinking too much.”

Wicks’s new Lean In 15 range for Gousto is made up of reduced-carb and carb refuel meals, to fit with what you’re doing that day.

“The reduced-carbohydrate meals, which are higher in fats and protein, are good for rest days where you’re adapting,” says Wicks. “The carb refuel meals are lower in fats and higher in carbs, so they’re great for after a workout.”

Rethink Snacking

Speaking of snacks, ask yourself whether you really need them or you’re snacking out of habit.

“I do recommend snacks on my 90-day plan, because people are so used to them they can’t get their head around not eating snacks, but I personally am not a massive snacker,” says Wicks. “I have three main meals and that’s kind of it. If I have a snack I don’t have energy bars, that sort of stuff. It will be a handful of nuts, a piece of fruit, or olives – I love olives.”

Learn To Enjoy Cooking

Maintaining a healthy diet in the long term is going to be much easier if you look forward to cooking your meals, rather than considering it an inconvenience. So try to embrace the process.

“If you learn to enjoy it – try new things, cook with your partner – then you look forward to prepping and that’s going to change your habits,” says Wicks. “Then you’re not going to be relying on fast food or convenience food. Falling in love with cooking is important.”

There is a lot of nutrition advice out there and while almost all of it is well-intentioned, it doesn’t always come from credible sources, even if the person dishing it out seems to have an impressive title.

If you want the most informed advice you can get, you need to go to a dietitian. Here’s dietitian Sarah Khweir, speaking on behalf of the British Dietetic Association, to explain why.

What is a dietitian?

A dietitian is a nutrition professional who is regulated by law. It is a protected title for those who have qualified with an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in dietetics, and are registered under the Health and Care Professions Council. They are governed by an ethical code and use the most up-to-date information on food, health and disease to help translate dietary information into practical advice for the public. Dietitians can assess, diagnose and treat diet- and nutrition-related problems in individuals as well as at a wider public level.

What do dietitians typically do?

Dietitians work across a wide range of public and private organisations. Most dietitians work in the NHS, where they will see patients who are admitted to hospital and those who attend outpatient clinics.

They also work in the community within GP surgeries, health centres, community hospitals, nursing homes and in patients’ homes. Dietitians work closely with a wider team including nurses, doctors and pharmacists. They will attend patient meetings and ward rounds, and offer training to educate staff on dietary practices to provide an optimal service to patients.

They may see adults and children with malnutrition, faltering growth, gastro-intestinal diseases, mental health disorders, kidney diseases, cancer, food allergy, diabetes... to name a few! They also provide education for patient groups and keep resources up to date to provide to patients. Dietitians also complete quality improvement projects to help drive positive change. No two days are the same!

See related

• Here’s What A Dietitian Thinks Of The Pioppi Diet
• Is Sushi Healthy? Yes, If You Follow This Dietitian’s Advice
• Should You Bin Your Multivitamins? We Asked A Dietitian
• The Best Selling Diet Books vs a Dietitian

What is the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist or nutritional therapist?

Nutritionists and nutritional therapists are unable to work with sick people or give advice to those with diet-related medical problems. Neither have a legal requirement to be registered with a governing body and neither title is protected, meaning anyone can call themselves a nutritionist or nutritional therapist.

Nutritionists can register voluntarily, and often tend to work in public health, while nutritional therapists tend to use homeopathic methods to treat illness – which is not backed up by scientific evidence and may not be approved via the NHS route.

A dietitian’s advice is the gold standard. They have gone through university training, practical NHS placements and have a legal responsibility to their clients to only offer impartial, evidence-based advice. They can work in all areas related to food and their practice must adhere to a strict code of conduct.

Dietitians cannot be experts in every area and therefore there are specialist dietitians who work in specific areas who can help with specific issues. Basically, if you want to make sure you are getting the best possible information, see a dietitian!

Veganism is very much in vogue, with many people dabbling in it through challenges like Veganuary or Macmillan’s Meat-Free March campaigns for a variety of reasons – animal welfare and the hefty environmental cost of the meat industry being two of the most common. The idea that it is a healthy switch is also a popular belief. It’s true that even if you don’t go completely vegan, eating a plant-based diet most of the time is likely to improve your health by increasing your intake of fruit, vegetables and high-fibre foods like legumes. That’s as long as you don’t take “plant-based” to mean “chips”.

If you are switching to a vegan diet for health reasons, then we feel it’s worth pointing out that you could get the same benefits by simply upping your intake of fruit and vegetables, and other foodstuffs that feature prominently in the vegan diet. This way you’re less liable to develop the deficiencies which can come from poorly-planned vegan diets.

If, on the other hand, you’re adopting a vegan diet for ethical reasons, rest assured it is eminently achievable to eat a nutritionally complete vegan diet, and it’s also possible to be a vegan and a very successful athlete as these three cases demonstrate. However, it’ll probably take more planning than you’re used to if you’re going to eat healthily as a vegan, and you will have to consider how you are going to get some of the nutrients people usually get from animal products.

Below you’ll find expert advice on which nutrients vegans should be especially concerned with getting enough of, like protein, iron and vitamin B12, along with a round-up of six things you might consume that can unwittingly ruin your vegan diet thanks to the animal products unexpectedly lurking within.

Five Potential Health Benefits Of A Vegan Diet

Whether the vegan diet is good or bad for you depends entirely on what you choose to eat. Subsisting entirely on chips, for instance, would qualify as a vegan diet. However, the evidence suggests that vegans don’t tend to subsist entirely on chips. In fact, the diet generally leads to some impressive health benefits.

1. A More Varied And Balanced Diet

“Eliminating meat and animal products will inevitably lead you to rely more heavily on other foods,” says Dr Daniel Fenton, clinical director at the walk-in GP clinic, London Doctors Clinic.

“Substitutes usually take the form of wholegrains, fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, nuts and seeds. Since these foods make up a larger proportion of a vegan diet than a typical Western diet, they can contribute to a higher daily intake of certain beneficial nutrients.

"Studies have consistently reported that well-planned vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fibre, magnesium, potassium, folate, vitamins A, C and E, and phytochemicals – beneficial plant compounds.”

2. Weight Management

“Vegan diets have a tendency to reduce your calorie intake,” says Fenton. “This makes them effective at promoting weight loss without the need to actively focus on calorie restriction.

“Several observational studies show that vegans tend to be thinner and have a lower body mass index (BMI) than non-vegans. In addition, several randomised controlled studies – the gold standard in scientific research – have reported that vegan diets are more effective for weight loss than the reference diets they were compared with.”

3. Reduced Diabetes Risk

“Going vegan may also have benefits for the prevention of type 2 diabetes,” says Fenton. “Vegans tend to have lower blood sugar levels and up to a 50-78% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”

4. Reduced Risk Of High Blood Pressure And Heart Disease

“Eating fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes and fibre is linked to a lower risk of heart disease,” says Fenton. “All of these are generally eaten in large amounts in well-planned vegan diets. Observational studies comparing vegans with the general population report that vegans may benefit from up to a 75% lower risk of developing high blood pressure and up to a 42% lower risk of dying from heart disease.”

5. Reduced Cancer Risk

“According to the World Health Organization, about one-third of all cancers can be prevented by factors within our control, including diet,” says Fenton. "For instance, studies have shown that regularly eating legumes may reduce your risk of bowel cancer by about 9-18%.

“Research also suggests that eating at least seven portions of fruits and vegetables a day may lower your risk of dying from cancer by up to 15%. Vegans generally eat considerably more legumes, fruit and vegetables than non-vegans.

“This may explain why a recent review of 96 studies found that vegans may benefit from a 15% lower risk of developing or dying from cancer. Also, vegan diets generally contain more soy products, which may offer some protection against breast cancer.”

The Potential Risks Of A Vegan Diet

“Animal products are important sources of protein, non-saturated fats, iron, vitamins and minerals in standard Western diets,” says Fenton. “Vegans are required to find alternative sources of these nutrients and poorly planned vegan diets may provide insufficient amounts of some nutrients.” Here’s a list of the main ones.

Beneficial Omega-3 Fats

“Diets that do not include fish, eggs, or seaweeds generally lack the beneficial omega-3 fats EPA and DHA, which are important for optimal nervous system, cardiovascular, eye and joint health,” says Fenton. “Omega-3s also keep inflammation levels in the body low. Humans are able to convert the plant-based omega-3 fat a-linolenic acid, found in nuts and seeds, into EPA and DHA, albeit with a fairly low efficiency and not in the amounts required to achieve the aforementioned benefits. Compared with non-vegetarians, vegetarians and vegans especially tend to have lower blood concentrations of EPA and DHA. Vegans can obtain DHA and EPA from microalgae oil supplements, as well as from foods fortified with DHA and EPA.”

Vitamin B12

“This nutrient is needed to protect nerves and produce healthy red blood cells,” says Fenton. “Vegans typically have a higher prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency, which can result in anaemia, fatigue, mood disturbance, memory and concentration difficulty, and abnormal neurological symptoms such as paresthesia – pins and needles. B12-fortified plant foods, such as fortified soy, seaweed, cereals and nutritional yeast can replace lost intake. Vitamin B12 intake can also be augmented through vitamin supplements.”

Iron

“This is an important nutrient for absorbing oxygen into the blood and transporting it to the cells in the body,” says Fenton. “There is no greater risk of iron deficiency if you’re a vegan or vegetarian; in fact, most people on plant-based diets actually get more dietary iron. However, most people on plant-based diets usually have lower ferritin levels, which is a marker of how much iron is stored in the body.

“This is because heme iron – found in meat and animal sources of protein – is absorbed in substantially higher quantities by the body than non-heme iron found in plant foods. This means that vegans have to eat substantially more non-heme iron to get the equivalent amount of iron from animal sources. Dried beans and dark leafy greens are rich sources of iron and vitamin C, which improves the absorption of non-heme iron.”

Calcium

“This mineral is crucial for bone health and skeletal development,” says Fenton. “Vegans are at risk of falling short of the recommended daily intake for calcium. Eating more tofu, tahini, almonds and green, leafy vegetables can help to top up calcium levels.”

Vitamin D

“This vitamin protects against multiple cancers and chronic diseases, and helps to strengthen immunity, bones and teeth,” says Fenton. “Regularly consuming more vitamin D-fortified foods and spending time in the sun can help to supplement the natural production of vitamin D in the skin. In the UK, sun exposure is inadequate during the winter months to ensure sufficient production of vitamin D in the skin.

“According to guidelines issued by Public Health England, everyone over the age of one should have 10 micrograms of vitamin D every day during the winter months. This means that some people may need to consider taking a supplement or ensure a sufficient intake of foods fortified with vitamin D.”

Zinc

“Deficiency of this mineral can lead to hair loss, poor healing of wounds, immunological problems, skin problems and reproductive hormone imbalance,” says Fenton. “Vegans are often considered to be at risk for zinc deficiency due to the high phytate content of a typical vegan diet. Phytates – a common component of grains, seeds and legumes – bind zinc and decrease its availability for absorption by the body. Nuts and seeds are excellent sources of zinc, some of the best being pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, chia seeds and hemp seeds.”

Protein

“Most people know that the maintenance of healthy muscles requires a sufficient intake of protein,” says Fenton. “However, all of our body’s tissues and organs require protein for general maintenance and for making new cells. Our bodies require different types of protein in different tissues and for different functions. Proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids. When we eat proteins, they are broken down by our digestive tract into individual amino acids, which are then absorbed into the bloodstream.

“Amino acids are transported to our organs and tissues where they are rebuilt to form the exact protein we need, in the right place. Our bodies are also capable of converting one type of amino acid to another. There are certain amino acids which cannot be produced by the body, aka essential amino acids (EAAs), which can only be found from dietary sources. All animal-based proteins are complete sources of protein because they contain all the EAAs, whereas EAAs are not all present in any single plant-based food.

“Therefore, if you remove meat from your diet you should introduce or increase your intake of a range of vegan foods to make sure all EAAs are covered. Knowledge of which foods to mix together is crucial for maintaining optimal health and functioning. It is also important to stay away from nutrient-poor, fast-food vegan options. Instead, base your diet around nutrient-rich whole plants and fortified foods.”

See related

• The Best Vegan Recipe Box And Meal Delivery Services
• What Are The Risks Of A B12 Deficiency For Vegans And Vegetarians?
• The Best Sources Of Protein For Vegans
• The Best Vegan Cookbooks
• The Best Vegan Protein Powders To Help Your Body Recover After A Workout

Eat More Of

If you opt for a vegan diet it’s important to make sure you don’t leave yourself short of vital nutrients that are generally found in animal based products. We asked dietitian Rebecca McManamon of the British Dietetic Association for her advice on which nutrients you need to look out for and where you can get them.

Protein: “Eat protein plant sources like soya, tempeh, Quorn (vegan varieties), nuts, tofu, beans, lentils, peas and sweetcorn regularly, and don’t forget that bread is a source of protein for vegans.”

Selenium: “This can be found in some nuts [especially Brazil nuts] and seeds.”

Iodine: “It’s found in its highest amounts in seaweed, and also in small quantities in potatoes and some fruits.”

Iron: “Iron is present in small amounts in pine nuts and green vegetables. Or you can use an iron pot or ‘iron fish’ when cooking. However, you may still struggle to get enough and I would advise assessment by a dietitian to consider if supplements are also required.”

Vitamin B12: “This is almost impossible to achieve through dietary means and I would recommend B12 supplementation to avoid the potentially harmful side effects of deficiency such as nerve damage.”

The NHS also recommends you keep watch on your calcium and vitamin D intake. Since calcium is commonly found in dairy products, and vitamin D in oily fish, red meat and eggs, it’s possible to not get enough of these vital nutrients when following a vegan diet. The NHS has some helpful suggestions.

Calcium: Go for green vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and okra – although the NHS doesn’t recommend spinach for calcium. Other good options are, pulses, sesame seeds, tahini, and both brown and white bread. Dried fruit is good too, but have it with a main meal to reduce the risk of tooth decay.

Vitamin D: Good old-fashioned sunlight – just watch the UV levels and don’t get burned. Fortified spreads can help, and check for added vitamin D in breakfast cereals and unsweetened soya drinks. If it’s still proving hard, look into a vitamin D supplement. Just make such that the vitamin D doesn’t come from animal products.

As you can probably tell, there’s a lot to consider when switching to a vegan diet and it can get a bit overwhelming. That’s why the Vegan Society released a dietitian-backed app to help you keep track of your diet and develop the healthy habits you’ll need if you want to live a healthy, plant-based life.

This basically works as a food diary that asks you questions at the end of the day. Nothing too intense, just a few prompts to get you to log your diet. You can then compare your answers with previous days to see how you’re doing. You’ll learn about the essential nutrients and understand the role of supplementation. It’s available on both Android and iOS.

Enemies Of The Vegan Diet

Vegan no-nos lurk in the most innocent of products.

Beer

Many beers, particularly British stouts, are filtered though isinglass – also known as tropical fish bladder membrane. A notable perpetrator was Guinness, however it changed the brewing process and earlier this year confirmed that the black stuff on draught and in bottles and cans was appropriate for vegans.

Wine

The “fining” or clarifying process of wine is a gory read: blood and bone marrow, crustacean shells, fish bladder membranes and protein from boiled animal parts all work to filter certain wines.

Margarine

The go-to spread when butter’s not an option often contains a milk protein called casein (also used in delicious paint and glue), the milk based by-product whey, and gelatine.

Worcestershire sauce

A favourite livener for baked beans, “Worcester” Sauce contains anchovies, despite having no discernible fishy taste.

Orange juice

Fish can stealthily lurk even in the most innocent of products – Tropicana adds omega 3, derived from fish oil, to its Heart Healthy Orange juice.

White sugar

Some refined sugar is filtered with animal bone char to remove the colour and impurities. This gruesome process is difficult to track making some strict vegans give up sugar altogether.

“I can eat whatever I want – I have a fast metabolism.” The chances are you have heard that from someone in your life and the chances are that you liked them a lot less after you heard them say it. Unfortunately, you can’t even lay a scientific smackdown on them, because there is quite possibly some truth to what they say.

“Different individuals have different daily resting energy expenditures. It depends on a variety of things,” says Michael Gleeson, emeritus professor of exercise biochemistry in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University.

Gleeson is the author of Eat, Move, Sleep, Repeat, a book that grounds its advice about diet and exercise in science.

“I got sick and tired of reading books by people who are not really experts,” says Gleeson. “They don’t actually look at the scientific literature, and find out what has been shown to work and what hasn’t. If you go to the science you can find the answers. If you just make it up for yourself why should anyone take notice of it?”

Metabolism is an important part of the picture when you’re managing your weight, so we spoke to Gleeson to find out more about it.

What is metabolism?

It’s essentially the sum of all the chemical reactions that are going on in your body. Its main role is to provide you with the energy you need for your cells to survive, to perform their basic functions, and then to do additional things like exercise where we need extra energy

Another role is building new molecules from small ones. We get all our essential nutrients – the main ones are protein, carbohydrate and fat – from the things we eat and drink in our diet. These get digested down to small molecules in the gut so we can absorb them. Then those are taken up into the tissue and usually reassembled into different molecules we need to function normally. Some of the excess stuff that we take in is stored, either as glycogen if it’s carbohydrate, or as fat. That’s our long-term energy store we can use when we need it in periods of starvation.

From building muscle to producing neurotransmitters for the brain and supplying our muscles with energy – metabolism covers all of these things. If we think about the body as a series of organs and tissues that perform various physiological functions. All of these ultimately are underpinned by the metabolism.

Do people have slow and fast metabolisms?

Yes, the individual metabolic rate varies between people. It depends on a variety of things, primarily body size – the bigger you are the greater your resting energy expenditure is going to be, because you have a larger overall tissue mass that are metabolising all the time. It also depends on age, to a degree, and sex.

There are individual genetic differences as well. Some people are essentially more efficient at storing energy and becoming overweight when food is readily available or overconsumed, whereas some people can eat somewhat more than others and still not get fat. That’s probably down to the fact that their resting metabolic rate is a little bit higher.

It can also be influenced by things like hormones, particularly your thyroid hormone. If you’re a person with hypothyroidism and don’t produce as much of the hormone thyroxine, your resting metabolic rate tends to be lower than other people.

Can you change the speed of your metabolism day to day?

It changes transiently [for short periods]. We all have a certain basal metabolic rate, or energy expenditure – the rate at which you expend energy or how many calories per hour you’re burning throughout the day. If you’re resting and your muscles are relaxed, then your metabolic rate is the lowest it’s going to be. When you’re sitting at a desk you’re using postural muscles to keep you upright, and that expends a little bit of energy.

Then what and when we eat, and the composition of the food we eat, also affects our resting metabolism to a degree. When you consume, digest and absorb a meal, those nutrients in the meal then have to be stored. Digestion and absorption can be energy-requiring processes, but more energy is expended in storing your energy. This produces a temporary increase in your metabolic rate, which we call the thermic effect of feeding. A more scientific term is dietary-induced thermogenesis.

Essentially this can increase your resting metabolic rate up to about a third more than normal. This is during the first few hours after you’ve consumed a meal, and it’s different depending on the composition of your meal. Protein has a considerably higher thermic effect than either fat or carbohydrate. When you have a meal that’s predominantly protein then around about 20-30% of the energy in that protein will be dissipated as heat because it’s increasing your resting metabolic rate. For carbohydrate the value is nearer to 5-10% and for fat it’s even smaller, somewhere in the order of 3-5%. So the composition of what you eat for your breakfast or any meal will affect your metabolic rate differently, but all will increase it to a degree.

So if you want to lose weight, eating more protein can help?

That’s one of the reasons why having a relatively high-protein diet is probably best for effective long-term weight loss. The higher thermic effect of feeding means fewer of the calories you’re taking in are being converted into carbohydrate or being stored as fat.

There’s other reasons as well, because if you have a high-protein diet and you’re also doing some exercise, that’s good for building muscle. When you’re dieting, if you’re not on a high-protein diet, you’re likely to be losing some muscle as well as excess body fat. With a high-protein diet plus some resistance exercise, you actually maintain your muscle mass when you’re dieting.

If you maintain your muscle mass, you help to prevent what would otherwise happen, which is a 10-15% fall in your basal metabolic rate as you adapt to the diet.

See related 

• The Benefits Of A High-Protein Diet
• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips
• The Best Exercises For Weight Loss

Does exercise raise your metabolic rate in the hours afterwards – the so-called afterburner effect?

I think rather too much is made of this. Some people say if you do HIIT sessions you’ll get a bigger elevation of your resting metabolic rate and it’ll last for ten to 12 hours afterwards, but generally the studies that have actually measured people’s metabolic rates in respiration chambers after bouts of exercise have shown this effect on weight loss is not really significant – certainly not compared with the amount of energy you expend during the exercise itself.

If you do a five-mile run, say, you’ll expend about 500-600 calories. Even if that run then produced a 10% increase in your resting metabolic rate over the next ten hours, you’re only looking at an extra expenditure of 60 calories or so.

What approach to diet and exercise would you recommend for weight loss?

Exercise should be of moderate intensity – running, cycling, swimming are all great – and relatively prolonged if you have the time. Doing about an hour of that will burn around 500 calories or so. Combine that with reducing your dietary energy intake by about 500 calories per day. If you’re doing that you’re generating a 1,000-calorie deficit every day. Do that five days a week and you’re losing 5,000 calories. With that you can lose over 1-2 pounds [around ½-1kg] of body fat per week.

Don’t cut your protein intake – you can even increase your protein intake above normal – but cut down on fat and carbohydrate. I’m not an advocate of cutting out fat or carbohydrate altogether because you end up with an extreme diet and you don’t need to do that. Just cut down food intake by 500 calories a day, and do it with a combination of reducing fat and carbohydrate. Still maintain a balanced diet so you’re getting all the other essential nutrients, and make sure you’re getting more than enough protein.

Eat, Move, Sleep, Repeat is published by Meyer & Meyer Sport and is available from the end of January

Eat, Move, Sleep, Repeat: Diet & Fitness for Living Long & Healthy

 Buy now

When a new year rolls around, it’s tempting to go for broke and try to achieve all your health and fitness resolutions in record time with a brutal exercise regime and a highly restrictive diet.

However, according to Joe Wicks, all this approach does is put you on the fast track to giving up on those resolutions before the month is out.

“I’ve seen so many people go through the yo-yo diet circuit of low-calorie diets, ketogenic, Atkins or whatever it may be,” says Wicks. “I just think when you’re doing these kind of things you’re setting yourself up for failure because it’s not something you can sustain all year round.”

Fortunately, Wicks isn’t just going to leave you with advice on what you shouldn’t do. Here’s what you should try to make your diet healthier this January – with a little help from recipe box service Gousto, in which Wicks is an investor.

What are the keys to making a long-term change to your diet?

It’s about a balanced approach to nutrition. I’m not a massive fan of people obsessively counting calories. People should focus on cooking at home and portion control, alongside general exercise. That’s what the general population really need, I think.

How will cooking at home help to improve your diet?

When you start cooking at home you’re reducing the chances of having takeaways, fast food, and meal deals on the go. By doing that you’re more in control of what you’re eating and you can get proper nutritious food in you. Keep it simple, and go back to your bologneses, vegetable chillis, stir-fries and curries – that’s way more sustainable. The food is going to taste great because you’ve made it yourself, and you can store a bit of it in the fridge or the freezer. Little things like this are going to set you up for a successful week.

If you don’t do that you’ve got to rely on food on the go and that’s when you get in trouble. That’s when you start to gain lots of body fat and feel really run down.

Do you have any tips for judging portion sizes?

With my 90-day plan there are portion sizes and you weigh everything out, but after the 90 days I don’t want people to be weighing their food. I think you just learn about portion control through recipe books and if you’re doing a plan. Essentially it’s about eating intuitively – if you feel like you’re eating massive portions and you’re really sluggish and tired, then you’re probably eating too much. It’s a case of gradually reducing things. You might have a really low-calorie breakfast but then a really nutrient-dense lunch, and it has to be a weekly target rather than a daily target, or it becomes a bit restrictive.

See related 

• Gousto Review: The Easiest Recipe Box Service
• Our 35 Favourite Super-Fast Meal Ideas From Joe Wicks
• Joe Wicks’s Lentil Bolognese Recipe Is An Absolute Winner
• Lose Weight With Portion Control
• Use This Handy Guide To Portion Sizes To Lose Weight
• The UK’s Best Recipe Boxes

What’s something people can try in January to be healthier?

If you go down the canned food aisle you’ve got lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, butter beans – so many things that you might not necessarily be eating, but if your throw them in a curry with some coconut milk and some curry powder they taste incredible and are going to make your diet healthier.

What are the benefits of trying a recipe box service?

People don’t have the confidence to try things, they get stuck in the same five recipes on repeat. That’s why I like Gousto. I do four meals a week and it makes me try new things, new ingredients, and keeps things fresh every week as opposed to relying on the same food. I never cooked risottos, orzo pasta or Filipino curries – I used to just do Indian curry and that’s it. So it’s definitely got me using new flavours, and herbs and spices I wouldn’t have used otherwise.

Most importantly it’s so convenient. The days of walking around supermarkets scratching my head wondering what to cook have gone.

If you’re reading this in the hope of finding a series of fat-loss body hacks—perhaps discovering that the secret of losing weight lies in eating a little more of a particular spice or drinking a special tea—then prepare to be disappointed. Reducing your body fat is an admirable goal and an eminently achievable one, but it takes a fair bit of commitment. There isn’t a quick and simple trick to it: you’ve got to eat a healthy diet, get moving, sleep well and look after your mental health too.

For advice on what a healthy body fat percentage is and how to go about achieving it, we enlisted dietitian Matt Lawson who’s working with Tanita, a company that makes smart scales which can measure body fat levels.

Why is reducing your body fat percentage a good goal?

Focusing on lowering your overall weight is a good idea when you’re trying to be healthier, but if you can pinpoint that you’re losing fat instead of muscle mass that can be an even better indication of whether you’re getting fitter.

“Your levels of body fat are very important,” says Lawson, “because there’s lots of evidence that people who have a very high percentage of body fat are more at risk of things like metabolic syndrome and diabetes.”

4 Tips For Reducing Your Body Fat Percentage

When trying to reduce your body fat, you don’t have to focus directly on it. Making healthy lifestyle changes in general will help you lower your body fat.

1. Eat In Line With What You’re Doing That Day

Your diet should adapt to how active you are each day, rather than eating the same amount no matter what you’re doing.

“Strip it back to the fact we’re effectively machines and we have to fuel our daily lifestyle,” says Lawson. “Think about what you’re doing on this day and what fuel you need. Proteins, carbohydrates and fats are the fuel, and you can’t afford to take on too much because if you do you’re going to store the excess as body fat.

“If you’re going to have a particularly active day, then you might need a bit more, but if it’s been a day at home, then you can’t really afford to have things like sweets, chocolate, crisps—the processed foods we snack on that don’t really have any nutritional value.”

2. Get Moving Any Way You Can

“To be honest any sort of exercise will help,” says Lawson. “For many people it’s about just spending a bit more time being active. The evidence shows that breaking sedentary behavior is the best thing you can do. Even if you can just do a 20-minute walk in the evening before your dinner each night, that would be a positive thing.”

If you’re really short on time and want to maximize the effect of your workout, HIIT workouts might be the way to go.

“There’s evidence that HIIT provides more bang for your buck in terms of time,” says Lawson. “So if you only have 20 minutes then try doing something at a higher intensity.”

3. Teammates Will Help

Getting together with other people who are looking to lose weight or lower their body fat percentage can be helpful, whether it’s to play sport or just talk about your approach to fat loss in general.

“Consider joining a local sports club,” says Lawson, “or just find someone else with the same interests or goals and do it with them, and you’re more likely to sustain it over time because you don’t want to let anyone else down. If you just sign up to a gym, you’ve got to be really motivated, because you have no-one to let down but yourself.

“GPs are going to start seeing patients with diabetes as a group—we dietitians we already do that—and there’s a lot of evidence for the effectiveness of group therapy. We’re all in it together; people are facing the same problems.”

4. Make Time For Your Meals

“It’s not good to bolt down your dinner down in five minutes in front of the television,” says Lawson. “It’s not good for the gut, for the absorption of the nutrients. Go back to sitting at the table, try to make the meal an event – that’s better for the gut and also allows us to recognize the food we’ve eaten. A lot of people bolt their dinner down so quickly that they’re soon looking for something else, because they haven’t thought about what they’ve just eaten. And then 20 minutes later we realize we’ve overeaten. Some people are doing that three times a day every day.”

More Tips To Help You Reduce Body Fat

We have spoken to many experts on the topics of weight loss and burning fat, so here are a few more expert tips to consider.

Don’t Just Diet

This advice comes from Michael Gleeson, emeritus professor of exercise biochemistry at Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, who has written several books designed to make the science behind dieting more accessible: Eat, Move, Sleep, Repeat, The Pick ’n Mix Diet and Beating Type 2 Diabetes. We spoke to Gleeson to get his advice on how to lose weight fast, and he made it clear that it’s best to exercise as well as dieting.

“Dieting commonly results in a reduction in resting metabolic rate of 10 to 15%,” says Gleeson. “Essentially, your body adapts to the lower energy intake and you become more food-efficient. This makes weight loss more difficult because to keep up the same rate of weight loss that you achieved in the first couple of weeks of dieting, you have to cut another 200-300 calories.

“While dieting alone can be an effective strategy for losing bodyweight, combining dieting and exercising is the best strategy for both reducing bodyweight and improving your health. This is backed up by numerous scientific studies that show that for a given daily calorie deficit, people will lose more bodyweight by combining dieting and exercise than by dieting alone. Not only is more weight lost, but virtually all of it is achieved by a reduction in body fat. With dieting alone, some muscle mass is usually also lost, which also contributes to a further reduction in resting metabolic rate.”

Do Some Resistance Training 

“Resistance training is the best form of exercise to burn body fat,” says personal trainer Marvin Burton, whose advice also features in our explainer on how to lose weight fast. “It gives you the fastest and longest-lasting benefits for the time spent. I would suggest starting with larger muscle groups and work on improving your posture and muscles that are commonly weak.” This straightforward gym machine workout plan for beginners is a great starting point.

Use Fatmax Training

When we spoke to Dr Justin Roberts from Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences about running for weight loss, he explained that you burn the most fat when running in your “fatmax zone”, which is at a low to moderate intensity.

“Fatmax is the intensity of exercise at which an individual’s fat oxidation [measured in grams per minute] is at its highest,” says Roberts. “Most people at fatmax would ‘burn’ around 0.3-0.7g of fat per minute. At higher intensities, fat oxidation declines and eventually is recorded as ‘fatmin’—the intensity at which fat oxidation is negligible.

“Training at fatmax could optimize the amount of fat being used during exercise. However, it is important to note that at lower intensities, calorific yield would also be lower. Hence a combination of exercise types—interval training, HIIT training and fatmax training—could be beneficial.”

Train In The Morning

One last point from Roberts was that running in the morning was a smart idea for those looking to lose weight and burn fat.

“There’s good evidence that running in the morning increases metabolic rate, and this might also link to increased weight loss or fat loss later on,” says Roberts.

A lot of people get a Fitbit or other fitness tracker when they’re looking to improve their health, and a lot of those people don’t end up achieving what they set out to do. Many of those conclude that fitness trackers aren’t of any use – but that would be a mistake because while these devices might not be useful for everyone, some find them very motivating.

James Ward from Durham has found Fitbit trackers invaluable in helping him to lose over 40kg, and change his physical and mental health for the better. To give you a better chance of getting the most out of any device you own, we spoke to Ward about his experience and how the trackers have supported it.

What prompted you to start exercising more?

It was the best part of three years ago. I was about six or seven stone [around 40kg] heavier, and unfortunately I lost my mother to cancer. I had a really bad time, I had anxiety, so I went to the doctors. He spoke about ways I could reduce my anxiety and he said if I lose some weight I’d probably feel better about myself, because he weighed us and he said I was clinically obese.

How did you start and was it hard at first?

I went to the local football pitch for a little run, and I couldn’t get around once without feeling sick. It was horrible.

How did your running progress?

I wanted to raise some money for Cancer Research because of my mum, so I entered the [5K] race round Newcastle’s Quayside. I kept going around the football pitch, and I was making it round once, twice, but that was only 400m, 800m – I was thinking I’m never going to run 5K!

I did this 5K around the Quayside and that’s when I really got into running. At the start it was painful, because it affected my knees and obviously I was really unfit, but after the first race I saw the camaraderie at the start and during the race, cheering each other on, and I thought, “this is something I want to be part of”. That’s what gave me the first glimpse of the running world.

See related

• The Best Fitness Trackers Of 2021
• Why 10,000 Steps A Day Is An Excellent Target
• 11 Benefits Of Running That Will Make You Want To Start Right Now
• Running For Beginners: Free Couch To 5K Plan

How did your Fitbit help you stay motivated?

The first Fitbit I had you had to hit 10,000 steps and each light was 2,000 steps, and I was really pleased if I did the full 10,000. I felt a lot better when I was doing it, and it’s not just the exercise, but generally just being outside in the fresh air – it gives you a new lease of life.

On the Fitbit app there’s a league table of steps and not only can you add your own friends, but people from all over the world. You look at someone who is 250 steps ahead of you and think you’ve got to get out that day and beat him! Then they’ll go back ahead of me! It’s motivational because it’s a target. You hit five, ten, 20,000 steps, and you’re all trying to better each other. It gets to Sunday and you think, “I can’t lose after seven days of steps!”

Have you changed which Fitbit you use as you’ve become fitter?

I did the 5K, and then I was talking to one of my friends who’s really into running and he said once you’ve done 5K you’ve got to do 10K! The first goal I had for 10K was getting under an hour, and then on and on. And then you see the Great North Run on the television and I saw everybody running across the Tyne bridge. I thought that would be the next challenge.

Each step of the way I’ve upgraded my Fitbit. I had the one with five lights [the Flex], then the Blaze, and now I have the Ionic, which is great because it has GPS tracking, so I can see my runs with the maps and the stats.

Have you found the benefits of exercise to be mental as well as physical?

Definitely. The initial getting out there and doing it was a boost, with the fresh air and the exercise, and then as you start to lose a little bit of weight you feel better about yourself. You start wearing clothes you might not have worn, you feel a lot more confident, you go out to gigs and parties. Once I felt like I had to cross my arms or wear baggy things. Now with your clothes comes confidence, and the anxiety is gone, and you get out there and live your life.

James was speaking as part of Fitbit’s #FitBritain campaign

We all wish it was easy to change and rid ourselves of bad habits, but most people’s experiences are that change is hard. But what if we were looking at it the wrong way all this time? What if the key to change was to make it stupidly easy? That’s one of the revelations from BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits (published by Virgin Books), a new book that shares a model of behaviour many at Silicon Valley’s biggest companies have known about and been using for more than a decade.

Coach to spoke to Fogg, the Stanford University behaviour science expert, about that, as well as how his method can be applied to weight loss and New Year’s resolutions.

How did Tiny Habits come about?

I’m a behaviour scientist, but Tiny Habits didn’t come out of academic lab experiments. I did it in my own life for a year or so and then I started teaching others – anywhere from two to 400 people a week, some in person but mostly on email – for seven years. Week after week I was measuring and testing, then it became more of a research project.

How does the Tiny Habits system compare to the traditional methods of behaviour change?

Tiny Habits is radically different. Pick what you want, not what you should do. The old-fashioned way was like pick something you should do and then just figure out a way to stay motivated. In Tiny Habits, you don’t have to set a goal or track your behaviour. You can, but you only do those two things if they help you feel successful.

The old-fashioned way really focuses on repetition, like if I just suffer for 66 days in the gym then I will magically have this habit, but that’s not how it works. In Tiny Habits, it’s not about suffering, it’s about feeling good. What I figured out – and now it’s so obvious, but it wasn’t then – is you wire in the new habit by feeling a positive emotion.

I teach the technique I call celebration. You focus on feeling positive as you’re taking a drink of water or getting out your dumbbells. You can wire in habits really fast through emotion.

How did you use your techniques to lose 20lb (9kg)?

I figured out a whole bunch of different eating behaviours that were really easy to do, but also, that I wanted to do. It’s the combination of finding new habits you want and then making them really easy to do. And in this case for weight loss, I finally figured out that so much was about nutrition, so I focused on nutrition primarily, but I also did resistance training. For me, that combo works.

Is there a problem that people experience when losing weight that the Tiny Habits system fixes?

Number one, it helps you see it’s really easy to get started. And it’s no big deal. You’re not making this dramatic overhaul of your life and you can do it on the sly. I found out that for some people this matters. Somebody will try to eat differently and their spouse will sabotage them because they don’t want to eat healthy foods too.

The other thing is you can start succeeding immediately. That’s not to say you succeed on the scales, but you can start succeeding in developing good nutrition and exercise habits immediately and you accumulate them.

Not everything will work and that’s OK. I have an orange tree and it always has oranges on it, so I thought eating an orange every day for lunch would be a good habit. I started and it just wasn’t working, it was too much orange for me. So even though it sounded like a good idea and I could make it a habit, as I got going I was like “No, this is not the right habit for me”. So I stopped. Part of the method is try stuff. If it’s not the right habit for you, stop, no big deal. Do something else.

See related 

• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips
• High-Fibre Foods To Help You Lose Weight And Get Healthier
• Is It Worth Paying More For Healthy Snacks?

Where do people go wrong when it comes to New Year’s resolutions?

At New Year’s, you want to do big hard things and you feel capable of doing big hard things. What humans are terrible at is looking ahead and understanding our motivation is going to drop. When our motivation drops, we can no longer do the hard thing. So in some ways, the whole excitement about New Year’s resolutions sets you up to fail. One thing Tiny Habits does so well is make change really, really, really tiny so you don’t have to have lots of motivation.

How are some of the themes in Tiny Habits used by social media platforms?

Let’s talk about the psychology here. The pattern [in social media platforms] is, and this totally maps to the book, help people do what they already want to do. That’s what every successful social media platform has done and that is my first maxim in the book: do what you already want to do. Pick new snacking habits you want, but also make it healthy. Don’t force yourself to eat kale if you don’t like kale.

Then next is to make it really easy. One of my former students is the co-founder of Instagram. The idea for it started in my class at Stanford. We talked a lot about how to make things really easy. That was the point. Simplicity changes behaviour.

And then – I’ll just add one more – the next is to help people feel successful. With Instagram, I think what they did brilliantly is that when you take a picture, you apply a filter. And as you apply a filter you’re seeing not just your picture, you’re seeing an artistic creation, and that’s like, Wow. That is sparking the emotion of success which then wires in the habit. There’s more, but I would say those are the primary ones. Help people do what they want to do, make it simple and help people feel successful.

Buy Tiny Habits on Amazon | £14.99 (currently reduced to £10.29)

Eating when you’re training hard doesn’t have to mean forgoing tasty food. This meal plan is big on flavour while also containing the nutrients you need to support your efforts in the gym to lose body fat and build muscle. It comes from the people behind the New Body Plan, and they’ve also shared a gym training plan that’ll help you lose weight in two weeks. To get the most out of the plan, just follow the four simple bits of advice below.

1. Stick to the plan All you need to do is make and eat the meals outlined in the plan.

2. Make simple swaps The closer you can follow your meal plan, the better your chances of making a change, but if you can’t make a particular meal then you can substitute in another meal from the same time of day from the same week.

3. Don’t panic If you miss a meal (or multiple meals), don’t panic! Just pick yourself up, dust the biscuit crumbs off your shirt and carry on with the plan.

4. Plan ahead To make following the meal plan as easy as possible, do one big shop before you start so you have everything you need. To help make this easier, we’ve compiled a shopping list for this meal plan below.

Also think about investing in some airtight food storage containers so that you can make your lunches the night before or in the morning and take them to work with you.

Meal Plan

Monday

Calories 2,007 Protein 153g Carbs 180g Fat 75g

Tuesday

Calories 2,011 Protein 134g Carbs 182g Fat 83g

Wednesday

Calories 2,000 Protein 161g Carbs 159g Fat 80g

Thursday

Calories 1,859 Protein 150g Carbs 182g Fat 59g

Friday

Calories 2,006 Protein 140g Carbs 184g Fat 63g

Saturday

Calories 1,974 Protein 115g Carbs 212g Fat 74g

Sunday

Calories 2,041 Protein 130g Carbs 242g Fat 59g

• Lose Weight With This Four-Week Meal Plan For Men
• A Healthy Eating Plan For When You’re Hitting The Gym Hard
• This High-Fibre Meal Plan Is About As Healthy As It Gets

Chiselled Chilli

Prep time 10min Cook time 60min

There are few dishes that are more satisfying than a good chilli. And when you make it yourself, it’s surprisingly healthy, thanks to the protein hit from the lean beef mince and the metabolism-boosting benefits of chilli. Chuck in a few veggies and you’re in nutrition and taste heaven. We’ve gone for a medium-hot chilli, with just half a teaspoonful of chilli powder per serving but if you want to ramp that up, be our guest.

Ingredients (serves one)

• 150g lean beef mince
• ½ can chopped tomato
• ½ can kidney beans
• 1tbsp tomato purée
• ½ red onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 sticks of celery, diced
• 1 garlic clove
• ½tsp chilli powder
• 150ml beef stock
• 1tbsp rapeseed oil
• 50g brown rice
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Brown the beef mince in rapeseed oil, then drain off most but not all of the fat. Remove the mince from the pan and set it aside
2. Cook the diced onion in the remaining liquid from the mince for a few minutes, then add the diced carrot, celery, garlic and chilli powder and cook for a few more minutes
3. Return the mince to the pan, add the chopped tomato, kidney beans, tomato puree and stock and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Season with salt and pepper and serve with 50g brown rice.

Calories 641 Protein 51g Carbs 76g Fat 14g

Angry Eggs And Avocado

Prep time 5min Cook time 5min

This is a quick and tasty breakfast that takes the hassle out of poaching eggs. Many people steer clear of poached eggs because they are useless at making them but one simple trick means you can make perfect ones every time. We call this “angry eggs” because we’ve been inspired by the Italian word arrabbiata (literal translation, “angry”), which is associated with chilli-powered dishes. Our recipe contains spices to give the dish a kick and add an extra fat-burning factor. Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves one)

• 2 large eggs
• ½ avocado
• 1 slice wholemeal bread
• Squeeze of lime juice
• Chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper
• Handful of cherry tomatoes
• Handful of spinach

Method

1. Toast one slice of bread.
2. Scoop out half an avocado and mash it in a bowl. Add a generous squeeze of lime juice and give it a final mix. Spread the avocado mix on the toast.
3. Bring a pan of water (about 4-5cm deep) to the boil.
4. Break an egg into a ramekin. When the water is gently bubbling, slide the egg into the pan. Doing it this way, as opposed to cracking it straight in, helps to keep the egg together rather than spreading and giving you a rubbery white and an uncooked yolk.
5. Repeat the process with the other egg so that both eggs are poaching in the pan simultaneously. When the eggs are done, take them out of the pan and place them on a square of kitchen roll to absorb excess moisture.
6. Place the eggs on top of the avocado toast, season with chilli flakes, salt and pepper and serve with the tomatoes and spinach.

Calories 405 Protein 20g Carbs 22g Fat 27g

Spanish-Style Rice

Prep time 5min Cook time 40min

This sumptuous one-pot classic is one of our favourites. One of the secrets is that chorizo basically makes everything taste amazing. It is, of course, very calorie-dense, so you only use a relatively small amount, but that’s OK because it’s designed to give flavour – and you get an extra hit of protein and useful nutrients from the king prawns.

Ingredients (serves one)

• 100g king prawns
• 50g chorizo, sliced
• ½ onion, diced
• ½ red pepper, sliced
• 100g cherry tomatoes, diced
• 100g peas
• 1tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• ½tsp paprika
• 150ml vegetable stock
• 50g brown rice
• 100g broccoli florets
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Dice half an onion and gently fry it in a pan with a little rapeseed oil for a few minutes.
2. Add the sliced chorizo and cook until some of the oil from the chorizo seeps out of the meat.
3. Add the cherry tomatoes, red pepper, garlic, paprika and vegetable stock and simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the mixture is simmering in the pan, start cooking the rice.
4. Add the prawns and peas and cook for a further eight to ten minutes.
5. Add the cooked brown rice to the mix, stir it all together, season with salt and pepper and serve with some steamed broccoli.

Calories 603 Protein 43g Carbs 61g Fat 20g

Punchy Protein Pancakes

Prep time 5min Cook time 5min

Pancakes feel like a really indulgent meal but this protein-packed version of a classic treat will help you to shrink rather than expand your waistline. Even better, it’s so simple to make. You just chuck the ingredients in a blender to make the mix, then fry them in a pan. The key to keeping things healthy is to load them up with Greek yogurt and fruit and keep the maple syrup tucked away in the cupboard. You can use any flavour of whey protein you like.

Ingredients (serves one)

• 15g whey protein powder
• 1 banana, sliced
• 2 eggs
• 100g low-fat Greek yogurt
• 50g blueberries
• 5g butter
• Cinnamon

Method

1. Add the whey protein power, banana and eggs to a blender and blend the mixture until it is smooth.
2. Melt the butter in a pan, then pour in the pancake mix so that if forms 10cm-wide discs.
3. Cook the pancakes for 90 seconds, then turn and cook for a further 60 seconds.
4. Serve with the yogurt and blueberries, and sprinkle some cinnamon over the top.

Calories 405 Protein 20g Carbs 22g Fat 27g

Shopping List

To make this as easy for you to follow as possible, we’ve compiled everything in the meal plan above into this shopping list. We’ve included quantities, although it’s unlikely your preferred supermarket will sell each item in the exact quantity you need, so expect to have some left over for the following weeks. 

If you plan on doing one big shop, keep an eye on “use by” dates and freeze the meat that will be used towards the end of the seven days as soon as you get home – just make sure you defrost it thoroughly before using it. Otherwise, it may be worth doing a second, smaller shop midweek to pick up fresh ingredients.

Meat, Fish And Dairy

• Beef jerky (100g)
• Chicken breast (2)
• Chicken, whole (1)
• Chorizo (50g)
• Eggs (14)
• Honey-roast ham (50g)
• King prawns (100g)
• Lean, smoked bacon (3 rashers)
• Lean beef mince (300g)
• Low-fat Greek yogurt (950g)
• Parmesan
• Semi-skimmed milk (1.25 litres)
• Salmon fillet (1)
• Sirloin steak (2)
• Tuna (1 can)
• Turkey breast (1 serving)
• Whey protein powder (165g)

Carbs

• Brown rice (200g)
• Oats (30g)
• Oven chips
• Pasta (50g)
• Salt and vinegar rice cakes (12)
• Wholemeal bread (800g sliced loaf)

Fruit And Veg

• Apples (4)
• Avocados (3)
• Bananas (7, freeze 2)
• Blueberries (50g)
• Broccoli (3 heads)
• Carrots (4)
• Celery (3 sticks)
• Cherry tomatoes (2 packs)
• Chopped tomatoes (1 can)
• Courgette (2) 
• Frozen berries (400g)
• Garlic (2 cloves)
• Grapefruit (1/2)
• Green beans (1 bag)
• Kidney beans (1 can)
• Lettuce (1)
• Lime (1)
• New potatoes (400g)
• Onions (4)
• Peas (100g)
• Peppers (4)
• Potatoes (200g)
• Red onion (1)
• Rocket (1 bag)
• Spinach (1 bag)
• Tomatoes (2)
• Tomato purée

Sundries

• Beef stock (300ml)
• Brazil nuts (50g)
• Chilli flakes
• Chilli powder (1tsp)
• Cinnamon
• Chocolate, 70% cocoa dark
• Dijon mustard (1tsp)
• Gravy
• Ground ginger (½tsp)
• Low-fat mayonnaise (2tbsp)
• Paprika
• Peanut butter (60g)
• Pepper
• Popcorn (1 small bag)
• Rapeseed oil
• Salt
• Soy sauce
• Unsalted butter
• Vegetable stock

Sweeteners are being used more and more in certain sweet foods, especially as the war on sugar marches on. You might have heard or read that some non-sugar sweeteners are bad for you or even cause serious illness – but as dietitian Juliette Kellow, an independent nutrition consultant for the British Soft Drinks Association, told Coach, sweeteners have been extensively studied and ruled as safe the world over.

Having ruled out sweeteners as a public health concern, Kellow is quick to point out another one – that two-thirds of the UK’s population has a weight problem. “Heart disease is the main killer in this country, and cancer is the second biggest,” says Kellow. “Both of those are strongly linked to excess body weight.” Sweeteners can help with this bigger problem by replacing sugar in sweet foods. “Public Health England thinks reducing sugar intake is really important because it helps to reduce calories which can aid weight management,” says Kellow.

Read on to find out exactly what sweeteners are, how confident we can be that they’re safe (very), and some of the misconceptions about them, like whether they’re addictive – as well as the eye-opening amount of calories a can of soft drink a day can contribute over a year. Throughout keep in mind this goal: being in the third of the population who are a healthy weight.

What are the names of the most common sweeteners people will find on the ingredients list of products?

There are 11 sweeteners which are licensed for use in the UK. Aspartame is probably the one people are most familiar with. Others include saccharin, which has been around for 100 years; acesulfame K, which is sometimes shortened to ace K; stevia, which is being used more and more; and then sucralose is the other one that most people will probably see.

It’s worth knowing that quite often sweeteners are combined together in products because each has its own unique taste profile and level of sweetness. For example, aspartame is 150 to 200 times sweeter than sugar and sucralose is 500 to 600 times sweeter than sugar.

Where do you find sweeteners used?

Sweeteners are food additives used where you want to replace some of the sugar but still want a sweet taste. You only need very small amounts usually to give the same level of sweetness that you will get with sugar.

You can find them in carbonated drinks and some non-carbonated ones, like some squashes. You will also see them in things like yogurt, confectionery and desserts.

Is a zero-sugar soft drink sweetened with sweeteners healthier than a regular soft drink?

Yes. All the evidence suggests sweeteners are safe and in this country excess weight is a major health problem, so for me it’s a no-brainer.

A can of cola, for example, is about 140 calories and that’s literally 140 calories being provided by sugar – you don't get any vitamins or minerals. It’s not unusual for people to have a can of pop every day so if you switch to a calorie-free version that’s a saving of 51,000 calories in a year. Working on the theory that you need to save roughly 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat, technically you are saving enough calories to lose around a stone [3.6kg] in a year. That’s a major impact and you’ve got the same taste, the same quantity of fluid, the same fizz factor – you’re not making any other changes.

The other thing we have to remember is that sweeteners don’t impact on dental health. Despite years of dentists encouraging good tooth brushing, regular dentist visits and not eating sugary foods too often, tooth decay is still a major problem in this country. We know that with sugar, it is not just about the quantity, it’s about frequency. If somebody is constantly bathing their teeth in sugary products the mouth is constantly in this acidic environment, so sweeteners are a great way to reduce the impact on dental health.

See related

• Is Honey Good For You? Is It Better For You Than Sugar?
• How Much Sugar Should You Have A Day?
• Did Your Breakfast Just Max Out Your Daily Sugar Allowance?

How good is the evidence that sweeteners are safe?

All sweeteners that are used within the Europe Union in the food chain are approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and so are considered to be safe. I think we also have to recognise that additives are approved by other organisations, so, for example, the US Food and Drink Administration.

Taking something like aspartame, which seems to get most of the headlines. It’s probably one of the most studied additives in all honesty and it’s had numerous reviews done on it. EFSA did a massive great review in 2013, and basically confirmed that yes, it was absolutely fine in terms of safety.

I think part of the problem is that in the past we’ve had lab-based studies giving massive doses of sweeteners – ten, 20, 30, 100 times more than a human would ever be able to consume – to a very small rodent, and then making a connection between this particular sweetener and the health risk, and translating that into a message which has been reported in the press. The role of EFSA is to look at the evidence that's relevant and they don’t exclude animal studies, but they will work through all the different scientific papers to draw their conclusions. The reality is, their job is to provide information to keep consumers safe.

Are sweeteners addictive?

No, I don’t think so. There’s not really any good evidence to suggest that any element of food is addictive in terms of the way that you would think of as true addiction. It’s very easy to create habits around food, but you could stop and not have any physical response.

Can sweeteners cause stomach issues in some people?

We know that something like sorbitol or xylitol, for example, can have a laxative effect, and cause wind, bloating and gas if you eat it in large quantities. Most products with sorbitol in will have a little note on the back saying ‘Don’t eat into excessive amounts, can have a laxative effect’ or words to that effect.

How can consumers know what is an excessive amount?

The reality is all that work’s been done for consumers. EFSA sets ADIs, which is acceptable daily intake, by looking at all the research that’s been done and finding the amount which could be a health risk associated with that, then they set that ADI 100 times lower.

To put that into perspective, to reach the ADI for sweeteners in cola, which is already 100 times lower than research has shown may be a potential risk, you’d be having 14 cans a day. And that would be every day over a long period of time, not just a one-off.

Losing weight isn’t easy. No matter how motivated you are to do it and how much support you have around you, it still takes time to make the changes to your lifestyle that will help you maintain a healthy weight in the long term.

It often requires changing your mindset and even your emotional relationship to food, which is where cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can help. Weight-loss app OurPath uses CBT in its programme, which is geared to creating sustainable lifestyle changes. We asked OurPath founder Mike Gibbs how CBT can help people lose weight.

What are the principles of CBT and how can it help you lose weight?

CBT is a type of therapy that focuses on stopping negative thought cycles and changing behaviours in a positive way. Unlike other styles of therapy, CBT doesn’t focus on the past, but concentrates on the current issues at hand.

CBT aims to help people cope with overwhelming problems in a more manageable way by breaking them down into smaller parts. This type of therapy can come in several formats, such as individual sessions, group sessions, self-help books and self-guided apps.

CBT has been shown to aid with weight loss, even though this isn’t the primary goal of the therapy. CBT helps to address certain obstacles that make weight loss difficult and addresses behaviours around food, rather than the food itself. For example, it’s highly effective in treating binge eating disorder, emotional eating and food-specific self-sabotaging behaviours.

See related 

• Guess What? Men Are No Strangers To Emotional Eating
• What Is A Healthy Weight?
• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips

What is the evidence like supporting the effectiveness of CBT?

The evidence supporting the effectiveness of CBT is quite strong. It’s especially effective in regard to individuals with binge eating disorder or binge eating behaviours, but CBT has also been effective in addressing goal-setting, dealing with stimulus control, self-monitoring and the development of coping strategies for individuals trying to lose weight. Combining CBT with a weight-loss programme has been shown to be 5-10% more effective than traditional dieting alone. That’s even though, as mentioned before, CBT itself does not promote weight loss, but helps individuals reach their goals through a shift in mindset.

In a trial investigating the efficacy of adding CBT to traditional behavioural weight loss compared with only behavioural weight loss for obese patients with binge eating disorder, subjects whose treatment included CBT saw a greater reduction in binges and also achieved a larger BMI loss after a year, indicating its effectiveness in both the short and long term.

Does CBT work for everyone?

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss, especially in regard to the use of psychological approaches. Multiple factors go into making a behaviour change modification, such as willingness or motivation to change and external environments. But the evidence indicated that combining a traditional behavioural weight loss with CBT may lead to increased success compared with dieting alone.

How does the OurPath app work?

The OurPath programme is all delivered through an app and its key focus is to help people make sustainable lifestyle changes by creating a holistic approach to behaviour change. Through daily learning articles, the app addresses multiple aspects that can influence your lifestyle, including nutrition, exercise, mental wellbeing, sleep and stress.

You will be paired with a qualified nutritionist or dietitian who will help to coach you towards your goals, and you will also be placed in a digital peer support group with up to ten other members to share the journey with. You chat to both your group members and your health coach via the app. There is also a strong emphasis on individual goal-setting and self-monitoring – tracking weight, physical activity and food intake – all of which are done through the app.

What makes OurPath stand out compared to other weight loss apps?

We are evidence-based and proud to be the first online behavioural change programme to be commissioned by the NHS [OurPath is one provider of the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme]. We draw on the latest scientific research in nutrition and behavioural psychology to make change as easy and sustainable as possible.

Compared with other weight-loss apps, there is a strong focus on education, empowerment and self-belief. We believe in providing people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to set their own goals and create lasting healthy habits. While most other weight-loss plans will only focus on one aspect of lifestyle change, we take a holistic approach and address your thought patterns, behaviours, sleep and stress levels, as well as diet and exercise. Weight loss and lifestyle change can often be challenging, which is why we provide access to a qualified nutrition professional and a peer support group.

Finally, we know our programme works. With an 85% completion rate, people using the programme achieved an average 8.2% weight loss at six months, which is equivalent to a 50% reduction in their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

OurPath offers 12-week weight-loss programmes starting at £30 a month

It’s an unfortunate truism that staying in shape gets harder as you get older, which means those who happily ate takeaways every day without ever exercising in their 20s yet never put on so much as a kilo of surplus weight are heading for a shock in their 30s.

Once you hit 40, it gets tougher still and that goes for everyone, whether you’re a former professional athlete or a life-long couch potato. On ITV this week elite performance specialist Luke Worthington teamed up with ex-Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp to get a team of unfit England football players from the 1990s back into shape on Harry's Heroes: The Full English.

Worthington worked wonders with the players, who are in their 40s and 50s, so we asked him for tips that can help anyone in their 40s get fit and keep fit.

1. Be Consistent

I’m frequently asked the question what’s the best programme for... insert fitness goal here. I often give the answer “3 x 52”. What I mean by that is, create a programme you’ll follow three times a week, all year round. That will help you achieve far greater progress than hitting something hard for six weeks and then falling off the wagon.

Make small but sustainable changes to your diet, remembering that any changes you make have to be realistic and suit your lifestyle, so consider existing family and work commitments. Focus on hitting the “big rocks” of an overall calorie intake and a protein target, then don’t worry too much about the rest!

3. Find Exercise You Enjoy

If you hate the treadmill, join a five-a-side team. Exercise shouldn’t be a penance for overdoing it at the weekend – it should be an enjoyable part of your life that you look forward to.

The areas of training that most often get ignored, yet are so important, are movement quality and mobility. The best way to address this is to book in with a suitably qualified and experienced trainer for an assessment to find out which areas you need to work on and consistently work on them.

See related 

• How To Get Fit Fast
• 12 Physical Challenges Everyone in Their 40s Should Be Able To Do
• What You Should Do In Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s And 60s To Stay Healthy
• 13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips

If you’ve been neglecting your health and fitness for a while, you’ve found your weight has crept up, and your knees and back are getting grumpy with you, it may be worth considering some low-impact activities such as cycling or swimming in the medium term.

Harry’s Heroes is available to watch on ITV Hub

Exercising to lose weight is not that much fun. Of course, that’s true of all exercise to some degree – you’re exerting yourself after all – but training to beat your best time, or a rival team, or because it’s a stress reliever, or countless other reasons are all more fun than sweating to slim down.

So it’s no surprise people want to know the best way to lose weight so they can get in, get out and get on with their lives.

Which is why it’s also no surprise that the article “Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss?” published in the British Journal Of Sports Medicine got a lot of attention. The authors conducted a meta-analysis reviewing 36 studies that included a total of 576 male and 522 female subjects comparing the effects of moderate-intensity continuous training with the super-charged version of cardio known as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), short, sharp bursts of explosive exercise, split up by short rest periods.

Which came out on top for fat loss? Well, they were kind of... the same, which doesn’t make for the greatest of headlines.

See related 

• Fat-Loss Workouts: Five Circuits To Build Muscle
• How To Calculate Your Heart Rate Zones And What They Mean

The study found that HIIT results in a slightly greater fat mass reduction than moderate continuous exercise, but that was because it’s a more efficient way of burning fat since HIIT sessions are typically shorter. In the study, HIIT sessions averaged 28 minutes, whereas moderate-intensity workouts averaged 38 minutes.

However, due to HIIT’s vast variety of sessions, the researchers found it difficult to describe an archetypal routine, which means that some HIIT routines might not be as effective as others. Plus, the risk of injury from HIIT is higher than moderate training, and you’ll need more rest days between sessions.

To burn fat you really only need to be working at 60% of your max heart rate. Moderate activity will get you in the 55% to 70% range, while HIIT will see you working around the 80% mark. HIIT promotes many other benefits such as increasing your VO2 max, and the authors of this study claimed it may have the effect of reducing hunger post-workout, but you will burn fat regardless so long as you’re hitting the right heart rate zones. So if you’re wondering whether to change up your running routine for the mad world of box jumps, loud music and boutique fitness, all for the purpose of burning fat, all we can say is: jog on.

There is only one quick fix for a muffin top and that’s to wear looser clothing. If you’re looking for a better solution than that, you’ll need to work at it, getting both your diet and fitness routine on point.

To help on that front, we’ve enlisted Alastair Crew, master trainer at David Lloyd Clubs, who has provided his top five tips for getting rid of a muffin top, plus a simple HIIT workout that will set you on your way.

Tips For Getting Rid Of A Muffin Top

1. “Record your diet,” says Crew. “A food journal will help you become more aware of what your daily and weekly routine is, providing you with a reality check.”

2. “Water is involved in almost every chemical reaction in the body. Being hydrated allows the body to function optimally, making it much easier to mobilise and utilise fat. Aim to drink approximately 0.03 litres of water per kilogram of bodyweight per day. So a 70kg individual would be aiming for 2.1 litres or 7-9 glasses of water a day.”

3. “Don’t overcomplicate your nutrition strategy. If it is too complicated, you’ll be less likely to stick to it. Wherever you are now, implement a couple of things that you genuinely believe you can change that will also move you towards your goal. Be consistent with this new behaviour and this will form new habits. It’s these new habits that will give you the results you want.”

4. “Don’t make the mistake of always performing low-intensity steady state (LISS) cardio exercise. Interval training can provide faster results with fat loss. Research also suggests that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can provide greater loss of subcutaneous fat – the stuff we can see in the mirror – than moderate-intensity exercise.”

5. “Resistance training is a crucial element that leads to better body composition – ie the amount of lean mass you have in relation to fat mass. If you want to target the fat around your middle you can’t just focus on crunching your way to success. A good place to start would be a total-body HIIT workout that includes a healthy dose of resistance exercise too.”

How To Do This HIIT Workout

This bodyweight workout uses the Tabata protocol for the work and rest intervals, so you do four-minute rounds of 20 seconds on, ten seconds off. Do this for eight rounds in total, moving through the four exercises listed below, focusing on one for each four-minute round. Take one minute of rest between each round.

Warm-up

Unweighted squat

Time 30sec

"Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart,” says Crew. “Initiate the squat by tilting your torso forwards and driving your hamstrings back. Distribute your weight in the centre of your feet and keep the entirety of both feet in contact with the ground. As your hip crease drops below your knees, continue to move your knees out laterally to ensure they do not cave inwards. Reach out in front with your arms as you sit, and then take them back to your sides as you return to standing.”

Lunge with overhead reach

Time 30sec

From standing, take a big step forwards with your right foot and lower down until both knees are bent at a 90° angle. As you lunge, raise both arms straight above your head. Push back to the starting position, then repeat on your left side. Alternate sides.

Side lunge

Time 30sec

Take a big step to your right and lower until your leading leg is bent at a 90° angle, keeping your trailing leg straight. Push back up to the starting position, then lunge to the left side. Alternate sides.

Press-up with rotation

Time 30sec

From a top press-up position lower your chest to the ground then push back up, raise your right hand, twist your torso clockwise and reach towards the ceiling. Return to start and perform another press-up before reaching up with your left hand. Alternate sides.

Bear crawl

Time 30sec

Crawl forwards on your hands and feet, moving both limbs on the same side of your body at the same time. Keep your back straight and core engaged as you move.

Crab walk

Time 30sec

Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet planted. Put your palms on the ground behind you and raise your hips. Move around, keeping your body raised.

See related 

• How To Lose Belly Fat Fast
• Fat-Loss Workouts: Five Circuits To Build Muscle
• A Fat-Loss Meal Plan That Doesn’t Sacrifice Flavour

Tabata Workout

The workout consists of eight rounds split between four exercises. Do each move for an entire round, then move on to the next one. Repeat the order in rounds five to eight. In each round be strict with the Tabata timings, going all-out for 20 seconds, then resting for ten seconds.

Press-up

“Maintain a high chest position and keep your shoulder blades back and down – don’t shrug your shoulders,” says Crew. “This will help shift stress away from the shoulders and place it on the chest and triceps. Aim to travel to a depth where your elbows are bent at 90°.

“You can rest your knees on the floor to make it easy, and to make it harder take your chest all the way to the floor. Just make sure you don’t sacrifice your form and allow your lower back to sag.”

Unweighted squat

"Keep your core braced and fire up your glutes as soon as you start pushing the floor away from your feet,” says Crew.

Bear crawl/crab walk

“These are two functional movements that improve core strength, coordination and mobility,” says Crew. “The bear crawl focuses more on the front of the body while the crab focuses on the back of the body. Alternate between them with each 20-second effort.”

Single-leg burpee

“The single-leg burpee is a tough variation of an already tough move!” says Crew. “By focusing on a single leg we create more strength, power and endurance in each leg as well as providing a tougher challenge for our core. If you need to, keep both feet on the ground and perform the regular burpee.”

Stand on one leg – you’ll be keeping the other one off the ground through the entire move. Reach down and put your hands on the ground before hopping your leg back so you’re in an elevated one-leg plank position. Then hop the leg forwards again, stand up and leap off the ground, raising your hands above your head. Swap legs every 20 seconds.

Once you’ve nailed your abs training and are following a six-pack-friendly diet,  use these extra tips to expose your abs faster by reducing your body fat percentage.

6AM Drink water

Getting properly hydrated not only improves physical and mental performance – which raises your game in and out of the gym – but has also been shown to have a direct effect on the mechanisms of carbohydrate and fat metabolism, which translates to an increase of a quarter in the rate of thermogenesis. Result? Your body’s a more efficient fat-burning machine.

7AM Skip the toast

Muscle tissue is insulin-sensitive, soaking up carbs at this time of day – but, according to research in the journal Cellular And Molecular Endocrinology, so are fat cells. What this means is that while both will be absorbing carbs, in the case of fat cells that carbohydrate will be converted to fat and stored. Have eggs instead – their omega 3 fats also improve insulin sensitivity.

RECOMMENDED: A Cracking Healthy Breakfast Recipe – Eggs Florentine

8AM Chill out

Commuting is always stressful, and research from Australia’s Deakin University showed that acute stress can increase the desire to consume sugary foods. Plug in to Marconi Union’s eight-minute trance track “Weightless” (or any tune with a BPM of 60) – it’ll synchronise with your heart and brainwaves, enabling you to ignore bag-spreading seat-hoggers.

10AM Get up

Sitting is the new smoking – associated with increased risk of diabetes and obesity – but it’s more than just not using calories. Sitting actually changes the body at a genetic level, with gene expression changed when sitting. Your prescription? It’s not brain surgery – just get up for at least five minutes every hour.

12PM Eat

Fasted cardio is trendy – but the opposite is the smart choice. Research from Michigan State University shows that eating carbs and protein before training improves the work rate and duration of exercise, increases the amount of fuel used and shifts the balance towards fat usage. Even better, the effect can last for a day or more after the training session.

7PM Eat carbs

Heard you shouldn’t eat carbs after 6pm? This may be dead wrong. Research in the journal Obesity shows that eating the majority of your carb intake in the evening encouraged lower body fat levels in test subjects. The night-time carb eaters also reported feeling more satisfied with their diets (and it undoubtedly makes socialising easier too).

9PM Drink early

Alcohol inhibits fat usage by putting pressure on the liver – and if drunk shortly before going to bed, it can affect growth hormone output. Often called the “hormone of youth”, growth hormone increases fat metabolism and aids muscle recovery, but research in the journal Metabolism shows that consuming alcohol before bed can reduce output by around 70%.

RECOMMENDED: Five Easy Ways To Cut Down On Drinking Alcohol

11PM Go dark

Light exposure alters sleep depth and duration, which can alter hormone production and make you more prone to fat gain. Poor sleep also changes appetite by disrupting the “hunger hormone” ghrelin, according to a Harvard University study, while research from the Mayo Clinic shows that it increases calorific intake, but not expenditure.

RECOMMENDED: More Tips For Speeding Up Your Metabolism

Whatever your fitness goals are, it’s true to say you can’t out-train a bad diet, and that’s especially the case if you’re gunning for a six-pack. No matter how often you’re doing abs workouts, powering through monster sets of crunches and other abs exercises, if you’re not eating the right stuff in the right amounts your body fat percentage will never be low enough for a six-pack to emerge.

There are some fundamental principles to follow if you’re trying to eat a six-pack-friendly diet, such as putting yourself in a calorie deficit and building your meals around high-protein foods, which will help if you want to plan your own abs meal plan. Or you can leave the planning to us and follow the seven-day menu below, which will help fuel your workouts while keeping the calories low enough to reveal your abs.

Seven-Day Abs Meal Plan

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Stocking up your supermarket trolley or digital shopping basket with these nutrient-dense foods will help you to trim your belly while enjoying a host of other health benefits.

Apples

A medium-sized apple provides around 5g of dietary fibre, which aids digestion and promotes fat loss. And a US study found that people who eat an apple 15 minutes before lunch consumed an average of 187 calories fewer than those who don't.

Eggs

Full of quality protein and fats that promote fullness, eggs are also high in biotin, a vitamin that helps the body process, move and burn fat more efficiently. Stick to boiled, poached or scrambled rather than fried.

Oats

Oats are high in soluble fibre and, unlike most other grains, protein, meaning that they help keep you feeling fuller for longer. They are also low on the glycaemic index, so they don't cause a surge in blood sugar levels that can make you crave snacks.

Peanut butter

It's packed with protein and good fats and can reduce hunger for up to two and a half hours, according to a study from Purdue University in the US. Just stick to the organic stuff, which doesn't contain hydrogenated fats.

Black pepper

A substance called piperine in pepper blocks the formation of new fat cells. Bonus: it also increases the bioavailability of other nutrients, effectively making the rest of your meal more nutritious.

Cayenne pepper

Capsaicin, the compound that gives peppers their heat, triggers fight-or-flight hormones including adrenaline and norepinephrine, helping to regulate your heartbeat and breathing, and mobilising fat for your body to use.

Mustard seeds

Cook with the seeds, not the sauce. A study in the Asian Journal Of Clinical Nutrition found eating them concentrated in oil lowered visceral fat in rats. Blitz them in a food processor with chillies for a fiery curry paste.

Pineapple

You know you should put down the piña colada if you want to lose fat, but one ingredient in the high-calorie cocktail can help you get lean – pineapple juice. A compound in the fruit called bromelain works with other enzymes to help break down and digest fats, while research from Purdue University in the US suggests that it also aids appetite suppression and increases fat excretion. Plus, a 100g serving of pineapple – equivalent to about two thin slices – contains 58% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin C, which your body needs to keep your skin strong and supple, and to counter the damaging free radical effects of exercise and pollution.

Coffee

A couple of cups of strong coffee first thing can help you lose weight by reducing hunger pangs so you’re not tempted by sugary mid-morning snacks. That’s the findings of a study based on both overweight and normal weight subjects, published in the Obesity Journal, which found caffeine consumption of around 6mg per kilogram of bodyweight - that’s 450mg for a 75kg man - to be the ideal amount.

Yogurt

For years dairy products such as yogurt were demonised for their fat content. But in an analysis of studies examining yogurt consumption and body composition, more than half the research found a positive link between eating yogurt and lower body-fat levels. The combination of calcium, which metabolises fat, and gut-healthy bacteria is behind the benefit, according to the International Journal Of Obesity.

Green Tea

Green tea is picked earlier than black, so it retains more polyphenols and antioxidants. This means it can boost your metabolism – the rate at which you burn calories – which burns more body fat. But possibly the best thing about green tea is that it tastes great without needing milk and sugar.

Fizzy water with lime juice

Fizzy drinks are packed with flab-causing sugar, while the diet versions contain artificial sweeteners that are associated with insulin spikes, leading to weight gain, and bone-weakening phosphorus. Instead, squeeze lime juice into fizzy water. The juice lowers your blood sugar response to other foods to discourage fat storage.

Blueberries

With high levels of antioxidants, blueberries are effective at combating the damaging effects caused by exercise, pollution and other toxins. Have a handful as a snack or throw them into a smoothie to keep your body burning fat efficiently.

Brazil nuts

These nuts, which actually come mostly from Bolivia, are high in the antioxidant vitamin E. This “mops up” the damaging free radicals caused by stress and exercise. Producing too many of these damages your cells and your body prioritises repairing them over other actions, specifically building muscle and burning fat.

Pumpkin seeds

These are a great source of protein, zinc, magnesium and iron – all of which are vital to keeping your body using up fat stores around the clock. They also contain a wide variety of antioxidants, including forms of vitamin E found in few other foods. Grab a handful between meals to stay full.

Turkey

So much more than a festive staple, turkey is a lean source of animal protein, which helps keep post-meal insulin levels within a desirable range by moving food at a steady pace through the digestive tract.

Olive oil

There’s evidence that, as well as being packed with healthy monounsaturates, extra virgin olive oil can help process troublesome brown fat tissue, making it easier to shift. Add it to salad.

Parmesan

Although cottage is the cheese with the lowest fat content, parmesan is the best source of both protein (to keep you full so you don’t overeat) and calcium. A high-calcium diet has been shown to increase fat oxidation, helping burn calories after a meal.

Steak

Packed with protein to keep you fuller for longer, plus zinc and creatine to help increase testosterone levels and your performance in the gym, steak is the ultimate muscle-building and fat-burning food for red meat lovers.

Rocket

As well as being packed with filling fibre and a mere handful of calories, these leaves are jammed with B vitamins, which will help you release energy to fuel workouts – and with its peppery flavour it’s much tastier than boring old iceberg.

Broccoli

Nature’s finest vegetable is fibrous and low in calories and it staves off excess oestrogen, helping you avoid man-boobs. Cook it in coconut oil for a delicious fat-burning side that works with almost anything.

See related

• How To Speed Up Your Metabolism
• 41 High-Protein Foods
• High-Fibre Foods To Help You Lose Weight And Get Healthier

Salmon

Its high protein content keeps you feeling full, omega 3 fatty acids look after your heart, and an abundance of selenium supports proper function of the thyroid gland in its regulation of metabolism.

Sweet potato

Many starchy root vegetables can radically elevate blood sugar levels but the sweet potato actually improves blood sugar regulation – even in people with type 2 diabetes – meaning you’re less likely to crave high-fat sugary foods later.

Almond butter

A great substitute for peanut butter in almost any situation – it’s high in healthy monounsaturated fats, magnesium and potassium, and helps maintain muscle function, letting you push on through fat-burning workouts.

Red wine

Lager is full of fattening carbs and white wine can be high in calories but red wine has been shown to boost levels of testosterone by reducing the amount you excrete as waste, encouraging your body to make more muscle and burn more fat.

Dark chocolate

If you’re going to indulge your sweet tooth, do it with some high-cocoa dark chocolate. The cocoa solids produce stearic acid, keeping you full for longer and reducing sugar cravings without an insulin spike. Look for 85% on the wrapper.

In a world where it’s possible to get contradictory opinions on almost every bit of dietary advice, one food group reigns supreme in its ability to unite all experts behind it: protein. Its vital role in building and maintaining muscle means that anyone who’s exercising regularly needs to consider their protein intake carefully to ensure they’re eating enough.

But protein’s power goes well beyond fuelling massive muscle gains – even if you’re not an exercise junkie, increasing the amount of protein you eat can help you lose weight. We spoke to British Dietetic Association dietitian Dimple Thakrar (nutritionwithdimple.com) about the power of protein.

Why do we need to eat protein?

Before we look at the benefits of eating more of the stuff, let’s find out why protein is needed.

“Protein is the only food group that provides us with the nine essential amino acids to make muscle tissue,” says Thakrar.

“Without those amino acids, we would not build or make muscle tissue, resulting in muscle wasting and malnutrition.”

How much protein should you eat?

The amount of protein you need to eat each day depends on your activity level and bodyweight. According to Thakrar, if you are sedentary you should eat 0.8-1g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day. If you’re exercising regularly you need to up your intake to 1-1.5g per kg of bodyweight a day.

How does eating more protein help you lose weight?

It’s often said that calories are calories, no matter what the source of them is, and that’s broadly true – if you eat far more calories than you burn off, you’re not going to lose weight regardless of the source. However, the body deals with different food groups in different ways, and its method of processing protein is what makes it smart to eat more of it.

“Protein and carbohydrates have roughly the same number of calories per gram, but because protein foods leave you feeling fuller for longer you are likely to eat less overall,” says Thakrar.

“Foods rich in protein like meat, fish, dairy, nuts and lentils all take longer to digest – up to four hours before it leaves your stomach – so they leave you feeling fuller for longer than other nutrient groups like carbohydrates, which can leave your stomach much quicker, depending on the type.

“Your body’s metabolic rate also increases significantly more after you eat protein than after you eat carbs or fat, which also contributes to weight loss.”

Are there risks to eating too much protein?

After reading the last answer there’s every chance you’re halfway through a steak already, but hold your horses, there’s always a downside.

“There are risks with eating too much of any food group or food,” says Thakrar, “and excessive protein can increase the amount of work your kidneys have to do to filter out the amino acids. For some vulnerable groups, like the frail elderly, it can be harmful to health.”

For healthy, active adults, though, there’s no amount of protein that should cause problems. However, there is a limit to the amount of protein it’s worth eating in one sitting.

“Eating more than 30g of protein at any one sitting is pointless,” says Thakrar. “Your body will just pee out the extra amino acid because it will take only what it needs. It has no benefit to muscle building.”

See related

• 41 High-Protein Foods
• 5 High-Protein Recipes To Help Improve Your Diet
• High-Protein Snacks: Quick And Easy Protein Hits

High-Protein Diets

The Dukan Diet

One of the most popular high-protein diets out there, the Dukan diet is based around four phases, the first of which involves only eating protein. The next three phases gradually increase the amount of carbs and other food groups, but the focus is still very much on protein.

The Verdict

Given the Draconian approach of the Dukan diet to food groups other than protein, it might work in the short-term but it’s not something to stick with for long.

“There is evidence to suggest that a high-protein/low-carb diet can achieve weight loss,” says Thakrar, “but these diets tend to be very restrictive and omit healthy foods, so they are not sustainable for life.

“Also, this diet may not be suitable for people with kidney or liver issues. Generally, I would not recommend it for long-term sustainable weight loss, especially as it may be nutritionally deficient.”

The Paleo Diet

Eat like your hunter-gatherer ancestors by avoiding processed foods as much as possible. Unprocessed meats, fish, vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruit are all on the menu, while processed grains, dairy and any foods humans started eating after the Neolithic revolution are out, although there is some debate on the specifics of what’s allowed.

The idea is that humans are not well-adapted to eating processed foods, and should eat only foods that would have been available to them in the Paleolithic era.

The Verdict

The premise of the Paleo diet is unsound – we are not biologically identical to our Paleolithic ancestors and live very different, and far longer, lives – but following it can still yield positive results.

“There are currently fewer than ten studies that show promising results with the Paleo diet in terms of controlling blood sugars and weight loss, particularly for people with diabetes,” says Thakrar.

“The studies are few and conducted on very small numbers, and therefore more research needs to be done before we can advocate this as a mainstream approach.

“However, some of the advantages of this diet are that it increases people’s awareness of what they are consuming, and encourages the reduction of processed foods and more home cooking with ingredients in their natural form. This results in greater fruit and vegetable consumption and a reduction in salt and sugar by default.

“Currently I wouldn’t advocate it for the general public, but if a client of mine was happy and getting sustainable results while still ensuring their diet was nutritionally balanced on the Paleo diet, I would leave that to personal choice.”

Seven-Day High-Protein Diet Plan

This meal plan, devised by personal trainer Rich Phillipps, will help you lose weight with a well-balanced diet of high-quality protein (that’ll support your muscle mass and keep you satiated), low-GI carbs, plenty of nutritious veg and healthy fats that will provide you with ample energy for your efforts in the gym. The portion sizes in this meal plan are designed for a man who is 1.8m tall and weighs 75kg. If you’re significantly smaller or bigger than this, adjust the portion sizes accordingly.

Monday – Training Day

Tuesday – Rest Day

Wednesday – Training Day

Thursday – Rest Day

Friday – Training Day

Saturday – Rest Day

Sunday – Stretch/Mobility Day

Are you eating enough fibre? The stats suggest no, because only 9% of adults in the UK do. That’s according to a recent paper in the Lancet, which also analysed the results from studies and clinical trials over the past 40 years to find that eating enough fibre is a really good idea.

That’s because those who ate at least 25-29g of fibre a day had a significantly lower risk of several major diseases, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer, than people who ate the least fibre. The high fibre crowd also enjoyed a 15-30% reduced risk of death from any cause, as well as from cardiovascular problems.

The study also found that eating over 30g of fibre a day – the recommended intake target – increased the benefits. But how do you go about eating that much fibre each day? You follow this seven-day meal plan, that’s how.

This plan is designed by the British Nutrition Foundation and can also be found as a PDF on its website with a full nutritional breakdown. As well as ensuring you hit your fibre goals the plan keeps you from eating too much added sugar, keeping your intake below 5% of your total calories, as well as smashing your five portions of fruit and veg a day goal.

Staying hydrated is important at all times, but especially if you’re looking to increase the amount of fibre in your diet – you may even want to spend a few weeks adding a selection of meals or snacks to your diet to build up your fibre intake slowly to avoid digestive issues. Alongside the below the BNF recommends drinking things like water, unsweetened coffee or tea with lower-fat milk.

Seven-Day High-Fibre Meal Plan

Monday

Breakfast: No added sugar muesli, semi-skimmed milk, banana, 150ml orange juice
Lunch: Jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn, and salad, two oatcakes, cheese and grapes
Dinner: Chicken and spinach curry (retail cooking sauce), brown rice
Snacks: (1) Guacamole with half a wholemeal pitta (2) Four squares of dark chocolate
Daily total: 2,080 calories, 33.3g fibre

Tuesday

Breakfast: Two slices of granary toast with peanut butter, skinny latte, 150ml orange juice
Lunch: Chicken and wholewheat pasta salad, four dried apricots
Dinner: Baked salmon, new potatoes, broccoli and kale, fruit salad
Snacks: (1) Smoothie: skimmed milk, low-fat fruit yogurt, frozen berries (2) Two chocolate digestive biscuits
Daily total: 2,051 calories, 32.9g fibre

Wednesday

Breakfast: Two fortified wheat biscuits, semi-skimmed milk, chopped banana, unsweetened tea
Lunch: Cheese, chutney and salad on a malted wheat roll, one pear
Dinner: Vegetarian bean chilli with brown rice, small chocolate mousse
Snacks/extras: (1) Unsalted nuts and raisins (40g) (2) 175ml glass of red wine
Daily total: 1,806 calories, 33.7g fibre

Thursday

Breakfast: Small can of reduced-sugar baked beans on one piece of wholegrain toast, skinny latte
Lunch: Tomato soup, ham salad sandwich with salad cream on wholewheat bread, two tangerines
Dinner: Lean steak and broccoli stir-fry with noodles
Snacks: (1) Low-fat plain yogurt, berries, pumpkin seeds (2) 30g plain crisps
Daily total: 1,882 calories, 41.1g fibre

See related 

• High-Fibre Foods To Help You Lose Weight And Get Healthier
• Expert Advice On How To Nail The High-Fibre Diet
• Why You Should Be Eating More Wholegrains

Friday

Breakfast: Two fortified wheat biscuits, semi-skimmed milk, chopped banana, 150ml orange juice
Lunch: Hummus, spinach and red pepper on a wholemeal wrap, low-fat yogurt, honey, cinnamon
Dinner: Fish pie, peas, green beans
Snacks: 1) Plain scone with low-fat spread (2) Seven Brazil nuts
Daily total: 1,778 calories, 30.2g fibre

Saturday

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, grilled tomato, two slices of wholemeal toast, 150ml orange juice
Lunch: Thin-crust margherita pizza with added vegetables, side salad, fruit salad
Dinner: Wholewheat spaghetti bolognese
Snacks/extras: (1) Flapjack slice (2) 175ml glass of red wine
Daily total: 2,139 calories, 30.9g fibre

Sunday

Breakfast: Porridge with dried figs and seeds, unsweetened tea, 150ml apple juice
Lunch: Roast chicken, roast potatoes, peas and carrots, homemade spiced rice pudding
Dinner: Cheese and onion omelette, sweet potato wedges, green salad, lemon mayonnaise
Snacks: None
Daily total: 2,188 calories, 30.2g fibre

January is often a time when people look to change their diet to become more healthy and, thanks to a landmark study in the Lancet, there’s a better-than-usual chance that many of those people will make a lasting positive change simply by eating more fibre in 2019.

The research looked at the results of observational studies and clinical trials conducted over a period of 40 years and found that eating at least 25g to 29g of fibre each day was linked to positive health outcomes including reduced risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer.

Here at Coach we like to think of ourselves as fibre hipsters, liking fibre before it was cool (it is cool now, right? Good), and began assembling this list of high-fibre foods in 2016 to help you get your 30g a day, which is the recommended amount – and a mark only 9% of UK adults reach.

But to double down and help you up your fibre intake, we asked dietitian Sarah Elder of the British Dietetic Association, registered nutritionist Dr Glenys Jones of the Association for Nutrition, and Emily Robinson, assistant nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, for their expert advice on how you can make sure you’re getting enough fibre in your diet.

What types of foods are high in fibre?

“Wholegrain – also called wholewheat or wholemeal depending on the food – varieties varieties of food have a bigger fibre kick than their white counterparts,” says Jones. “Also good for adding fibre to the diet are foods like a baked potato with the skin left on, lentils, beans, and veg like carrots, peas, parsnips and sweetcorn. You can also look to nuts, seeds and fruit like apples, pears and oranges for good fibre-filled snacks.”

“Seeds and nuts that are high in fibre include almonds, peanuts and sunflower seeds,” says Elder. “On food labels a food product is ‘high fibre’ if it contains at least 6g of fibre per 100g and ‘source of fibre’ if it contains at least 3g of fibre per 100g.”

Are there any food swaps people can make to increase their fibre intake?

“At breakfast, you could swap white toast, jam and orange juice (1.6g fibre) for wholemeal toast, peanut butter and a whole orange (9.4g fibre),” says Robinson. “Or opt for porridge or high-fibre breakfast cereals like bran flakes or wheat biscuits and add some fruit and nuts.

“At lunch, try swapping a cream of chicken soup for a lentil soup, or make sure you eat the skin on your baked potato for an extra 2.2g of fibre. Add sweetcorn to your tuna and include salad on the side.

“At dinner, swap white pasta for wholewheat pasta for an extra 5.5g of fibre. Or swap the chicken in your favourite curry for chickpeas and extra vegetables, and serve with brown rice instead of white.”

“It’s not so much a swap, but add extra beans, lentils and/or veggies like carrots to dishes like chilli, bolognese, shepherd’s pie, curries and casseroles,” says Jones. “These not only increase the fibre content but also help bulk the dishes out, making them go further.”

What are good snacks that will increase your fibre intake?

“Fruits such as bananas, apples and peaches, depending on the season,” says Elder. “Try apple or celery with peanut butter for a filling snack, or flapjacks containing nuts and dried fruit.”

“Making sure you get your five-a-day of a variety of fruit and vegetables is a great start to increasing your fibre intake,” says Robinson. “Other good snack options to help you boost your fibre intake include a handful of unsalted nuts or seeds, vegetable sticks with low-fat hummus, and oatcakes or rye crackers.”

Do you have any other general advice for ensuring you eat enough fibre?

"The flavour of wholegrain varieties is quite different if you are used to eating the white version,” says Jones. “Try a 50:50 variety or mix to help you and your family get used to the taste.

“Think of fibre as being a foundation for your main meals, then with a snack on top you can achieve the 30g recommendation with lots of tasty meals.”

Elder provides an example day’s menu to increase your intake to around 30g:

Breakfast: High-fibre cereal that contains oats or porridge/overnight oats with fruit
Snack: Seed and nut cereal bar
Lunch: Wholemeal pasta salad with beans and two portions of vegetables
Snack: Flapjack with sunflower seeds
Evening meal: Add some lentils to a meat stew and have potatoes with the skin left on as well as two portions of vegetables
Supper: Peanut butter on two slices of wholemeal toast

See related

• The World’s Easiest Peanut Butter Bar Recipe
• Make This Healthy Banana Flapjacks Recipe With Your Kids
• Joe Wicks’s Lentil Bolognese Recipe Is An Absolute Winner

Are there any side effects people might notice if they suddenly switch to a high-fibre diet?

“It can be a good idea to increase your intake gradually so you get used to your new diet and the increased bulk this provides in the bowel,” says Jones. “Some have reported experiencing bloating, abdominal cramps and gas when they have swapped quickly from a low-fibre to high-fibre diet, but this is not typically seen when the fibre intake is gradually increased and the person stays well hydrated.”

“It is important to drink plenty of fluids – around six to eight glasses a day for adults – because fibre absorbs water in the gut, and to try to be active for at least 150 minutes a week because this also aids absorption,” says Robinson.

When you’re set on making a change to your diet with the aim of losing weight or getting healthier, it’s a good idea to consider both the short and long term. While an extreme change that promises dramatic weight loss by cutting out entire food groups and dropping your calorie intake massively might seem appealing, without sustaining the changes any drop on the scales is likely to be reversed – and even if you do stick with it there could be serious long-term consequences.

We mention this because following the ketogenic diet certainly falls into the category of an extreme change for most people due to the restrictions it places on your carbohydrate intake. You should ensure you get all the info you can on keto eating before trying it, so we spoke to Dr Luke Powles, associate clinical director for Bupa UK, for his assessment of the diet. And the one thing to do if you are considering it? “Get your health checked first, or speak with your GP or a qualified dietitian,” says Powles. Read on to find out why.

What does the ketogenic diet involve?

In the ketogenic diet you significantly reduce the amount of carbohydrates you consume, so that your body switches from burning carbohydrates to burning fat for energy. Because it lacks carbohydrates, a ketogenic diet is rich in proteins and fats so your diet will typically include plenty of meats, eggs, cheeses, fish, nuts and butter. There are many versions of the keto diet, but all typically ban or drastically reduce carb-rich foods such as bread, pasta, rice, cereals and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes and corn.

Can following a keto diet help me lose weight?

While it’s true that you may be able to lose weight in the short term, a diet this restrictive is hard to stick to. Although burning fat seems like an ideal way to lose a few pounds, the keto diet relies on ketone bodies, a type of fuel that the liver produces from stored fat. And getting the liver to make these ketone bodies can be tricky.

See related

• The Low-Carb Diet On Trial
• Why You Should Be Eating More Wholegrains

A keto diet requires you to eat fewer than 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrates each day. To put this into perspective, a medium-sized banana has around 27 grams of carbohydrates. There has been limited research into this diet too – many of the studies conducted have had a small number of participants or were short-term. It can also be heavy on red meat, along with other fatty, processed and salty foods that are notoriously unhealthy.

See related

• The Low-Carb Diet On Trial
• Why You Should Be Eating More Wholegrains

Are there any risks to following a ketogenic diet?

If you’re not eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains, you’ll be missing out on key micronutrients and vitamins, including magnesium and vitamins B and C. You may also experience low energy, hunger and fatigue if you restrict your carbohydrate intake, and you can feel irritated and constipated too.

Carbohydrates are our body’s main source of energy. We use them to fuel activity in our muscles, and to keep our brain and other organs working properly. By drastically cutting carbohydrate-containing foods, you’re likely to miss out on the nutritional benefits of healthy choices like fruit, legumes and starchy vegetables. Rather than eliminating carbs from your diet, the key is to eat the right type of carbohydrate because some are healthier than others. “Good carbs” are the wholegrain varieties of starchy carbohydrates, such as wholegrain bread and brown rice. These contain lots of important nutrients that may reduce your risk of heart disease and some types of cancer, and they’re also more likely to keep you feeling fuller for longer.

What is your verdict on the ketogenic diet?

It’s easy to be tempted by extreme diet trends to lose weight, especially when you want a fresh start in the new year, but keto isn’t sustainable or healthy in the long term. A balanced, unprocessed diet that’s rich in fruits, vegetables, lean meats and fish, coupled with regular exercise, will help you to lose weight safely.

It’s January, which means the festive season is behind us, but unfortunately that festive weight gain hasn’t gone anywhere. No-one really knows how much weight people put on in December on average, but estimates range from half a kilo to as much as 4kg. What we do know is that if you spent the last few weeks feasting, boozing and staying indoors to keep warm, you’ll need a metabolism faster than Usain Bolt to avoid nudging the number on the scales up. And if that number caused you to do a double take when you weighed yourself for the first time in 2019, you, like many others, may well resolve to lose that weight in January.

Whatever else you may hear, the basics of safe weight loss is keeping your calorie intake a little lower than the amount of energy your body uses, so it taps into your body’s fat reserves to get by. That means keeping a close eye on ingredient weights and portion sizes, and while there are plenty of great meal plans out there, it can get pretty time-consuming to follow them, as well as tiresome.

That’s where Protein World can help. Its Slender Plan manages your calories by supplying your breakfast, lunch and snacks during the work week. Then you just need to rustle up a healthy dinner yourself, giving you the freedom to have a bit of what you fancy. The Slender Plan also gives you plenty of recipes and guidance if you come up short of inspiration beyond your favourite delivery app.

It makes losing that festive weight gain simple and safe. No cutting out entire food groups. No dumping apple cider vinegar on everything. No religiously weighing celery sticks. No avoiding nights outs with friends. Sounds pretty doable.

In fact plenty of people have done it already, and there are a few messages that came over loud and clear when they talked about their experience of the plan. The first was that having a routine meant making healthy choices was much easier. And the results? Healthier and happier were the two words we kept hearing.

How It Works

Every type of plan comes with Protein World’s high-quality Slender Blend, which you mix with your favourite nut milk to make a meal-replacement shake for lunch. It’s chock full of protein and fibre to keep hunger at bay until your evening meal, and has 13 vitamins and 13 minerals. Most importantly, perhaps, three of the seven flavours available are chocolate-based.

You’ll also start each morning with the low-calorie Slender Porridge, which contains plenty of fibre to keep you full and slow-release carbs that’ll give you the energy to get out and get things done – especially if that thing is a session at the gym. There’s a chocolate flavour available too, but if you don’t want to overdo it we’d suggest summer berries or golden syrup, especially since those flavours team well with added fresh fruit.

Each 28-day pack also comes with indulgent snacks – that little treat we all need to see us through the afternoon. Choose from sweet bars made from all-natural ingredients with only 2g of sugar; baking mixes that whip up cookies, brownies, flapjacks or muffins; and savoury crispy clusters. Finally, you can pick from a range of capsules that can hasten your weight loss, help to stave off hunger or nourish your body.

Most importantly, there’s a 60-page guide that’ll give you all the information you need to take control of your diet and exercise in the long term, and plan your dinners and workouts in the short term. While you may lose weight on the Slender Plan without exercise, it’s more effective if you work up a sweat – and, in our opinion, more fun too.

And for the first time, there are all-vegan options that allow plant-based people to get in on the act, as well as a version with exclusive capsules designed for busy mums to help them feel and look their best. Not only do these capsules pack in folic acid, marine collagen and a range of micronutrients, they’re suitable to take when breastfeeding.

So sign up and finish January slimmer, healthier, happier and more confident.

Customise your Slender Plan now | £3.35 a day

Dr Emil Hodzovic is an A&E doctor who’s competed in both physique contests and strongman competitions. He’s a Reflex-sponsored athlete and the author of the book High-Intensity Functional Training.

The science of nutrition is, when you get down to it, simple. In its most basic form, you need to set your calories and protein intake according to your goal and stick to that. Consistency and adherence to these simple rules over a prolonged period of time (say six to 12 months) will get you 90% of the way to where you want to be. Everything else is minutiae – it’s the psychology of sticking to it that’s the crux of nutrition coaching.

Some people love a detailed, super-strict meal plan, not because it’s better, but because they find it’s easier to stick to clear, well-defined rules. Other people just need to be reassured that the numbers they’ve been given are right for their goals. A few of my longer-term clients will tell me what they’re eating in a given week and how they will fit it around their training and life commitments, and all they really need to hear is “Yes, that’s fine” with an occasional adjustment. I’m there for reassurance, answering questions and keeping them on track if there’s a danger they may fall off the wagon.

As a coach, I find you see the best results when you break nutrition down into its most basic form and make it fit around the client. You can then coach habits, mindset and behaviour to achieve success and ideally maintain it for long after the end of the “diet”.

When I was getting myself into competition shape I only tracked my calories and protein intake. For even more flexibility, I averaged out my daily intake and output over a week, allowing me to eat and train around my busy lifestyle. That meant as long as I was hitting my target calories over the whole week it didn’t matter how much I ate day-to-day. Coaches who over-complicate the science are either not confident in their abilities or trying to bamboozle clients. With all that in mind, here’s how you should approach your diet to get the results you want.

Nutrient density

For pure body composition, sticking to good-quality food isn’t strictly a requirement. You can lose body fat just eating doughnuts – we’ve all seen stories about people doing that. However, just because you can, that doesn’t mean you should – and it certainly isn’t optimal.

As the calories and body fat drop lower you will find you get more hungry, and good-quality food will give you far more bang for your buck in terms of satiety, balanced energy levels and nutritional value than blowing all your daily calories on six doughnuts at breakfast. Eating in a more balanced, healthy way will not only increase your physical energy in the gym but also improve how you feel over the rest of the day. This in turn will improve adherence, which is the key to any fat loss diet.

Calorie balance is still the number one focus for fat loss but food quality slots in right behind it, especially if you are concerned about overall health. In this case making “healthy” nutrient-dense food a large proportion of your diet is fundamental. That said, the reason I put “healthy” in quotes is there’s no such thing as a bad food out of context of the rest of the diet. The 80/20 rule applies: if 80% of your diet is nutrient-dense and you’re hitting all the prerequisites of a healthy diet (calories, protein, fibre, micronutrients) then it doesn’t matter so much about the remaining 20%. Ultimately, this is what allows adherence and sustainability.

To get that 80% right, there are four straightforward rules to follow, which I like to think of as the four levels of nutrition.

Four Simple Nutrition Rules To Follow

Level 1: Calories And Protein

If you know the calorie intake you need to sustain your body composition (your maintenance intake), the increase you need for mass gain and a decrease you can sustain for fat loss, sticking to them consistently is going to get you a long way towards your goals. The best way of working out any calorie value – gaining, losing or maintaining – is by to either use previous dieting experience (what worked in the past) or find a calorie calculating formula such as the Mifflin-St Jeor formula and apply it to your real life.

Once you have figured out a sensible number, try it for at least two weeks along with daily weigh-ins, so you’re tracking your daily intake and track your daily weight alongside each other, and see what happens. The scales will fluctuate day to day but over time you’ll see the true picture. If over the two weeks your weight stays roughly similar, then you have maintenance. This can be a fairly wide band of calorie intakes, so if you work out that 2,000 calories is your maintenance level then you may find you maintain weight when eating 1,800-2,200 daily. This will depend on the food consumed, daily energy expenditure and how accurate your tracking is.

If the value that you chose is causing weight loss or gain then adjust the calories slightly (try 100-300 a day) and go for another two weeks. Consistency is fundamental to this process – if you have an untracked binge or night on the beer, then you’ll need to start again because you won’t know where you stand any longer.

For protein, aim for 2g per kg of lean mass every day. This is a very standard and “safe” estimate but it makes the maths easy. The science shows that you’re probably OK going as low as 1.6g per kg but certainly there is no harm in going higher, so I tend to set a minimum of 2g per kg while telling clients it’s not the end of the world if some days are a bit lower. In fact, towards the end of long competition preps I will drop protein right down to the 1.6g mark on re-carb days, in order to maximise the number of grams of carbs I can consume within the same calories.

See related

• The Benefits Of A High-Protein Diet
• Lean-Muscle Diet
• A Fat-Loss Meal Plan That Doesn’t Sacrifice Flavour
• How to Start Physique Training (and Build Your Dream Body)

Level 2: Protein Timing

Nutrient timing is what you need to concentrate on after you’ve nailed your calories and total protein intake. It won’t have a huge impact on fat loss per se but it will optimise the process in terms of energy for training and muscle retention.

Protein is the first thing to consider. You can trigger muscle protein synthesis (MPS) every four to six hours by eating an adequate amount of good-quality protein – the kind with high leucine content, such as meat or whey. Missing one opportunity isn’t the end of the world but bodybuilding is a game of optimisation, so you might as well hit it every chance you get.

A protein dose every four to six hours is the framework for the whole diet. If you’re getting this in, everything else can pretty much be flexible! This also means you can go for prolonged periods doing a sort of intermittent fast which I do often, where I only consume protein in the form of shakes for most of the day and save my calories up for the evening when I am most hungry.

Think of MPS like filling a jar with pennies to save up £100. You can add a penny every four to six hours, no more, but if you miss an opportunity to add a penny every now and then it won’t make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. However, if you habitually add three pennies a day instead of five or six this will hold you back significantly.

Level 3: Carb Timing

Carb timing is important pre-workout, and almost totally pointless post-workout. I recommend eating a decent carb-rich meal such as chicken and rice three to four hours before a workout, and then a much smaller carb snack within a 30-minute window before you start a workout (bananas and rice cakes). The carbs right before the workout won’t make a huge difference to weights workouts because they are unlikely to be digested in time, but they do have a measurable positive effect on performance due to receptors in the mouth.

Carbs immediately post workout are only really relevant if you are training your full body twice in one day – for instance, if you’re a team sport athlete.

What about timing of the other macronutrient, fat? It’s almost totally unimportant. Fat can slow the absorption of carbs and protein, so if you’re eating loads of fat around your workout then you may be affecting how your body is using the more important protein and carbs. But this is a minor detail.

Level 4: Everything Else

Supplements will, er, supplement an already optimised diet and can add huge convenience to an athlete’s life in the modern age. None of them are essential and people can achieve 95% or more of their goals without them.

When choosing supplements, the big ones are creatine monohydrate, vitamin D and omega 3 fatty acids: creatine for performance and the others for general health. There’s lots of evidence that caffeine can enhance physical performance, as can protein, particularly whey. You can get both of these from a normal diet, although supplemented forms can be hugely convenient and help you maintain consistency.