Diet and Fitness

Recent research from New England (a study of 12,000 people) shows that when your friends get fatter it's likely that you will too.

It's not just a general trend in the population towards putting on weight - if your friends keep themselves in trim you're more likely to stay slim as well.

It makes sense in a lot of ways - after all if you are always eating out with your friends and they all have dessert and multiple drinks - what do you do? You'll likely go with the trend. And you don't feel too conspicuous putting on weight if everyone in your social group is carrying extra pounds too. There's safety in numbers.

Of course if your friends socialize at the gym and eat a light lunch together that's what you're going to do too. And you'll feel more ashamed if you're the only one who can't squeeze into a regular pair of jeans and have to go into the size for larger folk than when others in your group of friends are looking at the plus size rails too.

But the question is, do you choose your friends subconsciously so that you can eat too much or do you eat too much because of who your friends are? And do your friends sabotage (subconsciously or not) your attempts to lose weight so that they still have the comfort of being surrounded by equally large buddies? It could go very deep this one ...

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The last 5lbs in any weight loss goal are often the hardest - they come up when you have already made a huge effort to lose the rest and you are pretty fed up with the whole idea of losing weight.

Plus the more weight you lose the fewer calories your body needs - you have lost the effect of having to lug around an extra 30lbs in weight all day long and so it really is harder.

And to cap it all, bodies will also "protest" more at giving up the last 5lbs - while the first five will slide off pretty easily.

So how do you do it?

1. Stop telling yourself it's the last 5lbs

Because you know and fear the last 5lbs and no doubt you've found it hard with previous attempts to reach a weight loss goal, try treating this as not "the last 5lbs" but as "only 5lbs".

You know you can lose 5lbs so it will put you in a more positive frame of mind and you will be ready to make the effort.

2. Change Your Routine

This is not the time for same old, same old food or exercise routines. Inject some new life into your food and your activities. Try a new sport, new recipes, new sandwich fillings, new places to walk - anything to get out of the rut. Treat it like a new weight loss program to renew your motivation.

3. Think of the Result

Unfortunately the last 5lbs often hang around the spot where you least want them - the place you are prone to piling on weight the most. Just imagine the reward of removing those 5lbs from your thighs or stomach or wherever you want to lose them and use the image of yourself looking just great to spur you on to making that last effort. 

4. One Pound at a Time

Don't worry about 5lbs - just go all out to lose one pound and treat that one pound loss with great joy and celebration. Reward every pound lost (not with food). If you know you can lose one pound you know you can lose five. Treat every pound as something special and you'll get there.

5. Stay Balanced

While going all out to lose each of those last pounds don't go too far the other way and try and starve or exercise them into submission. Yes, increase your exercise intensity. Yes, be extra vigilant with your diet. But eating too few calories or exercising too hard will lead to your body hanging onto to that last 5lbs for dear life.

6. Don't slide backwards

It's pretty common (and heartbreaking) to know that most people struggling with the last 5lbs are actually starting to slide back into old habits and putting weight back on again. Keep a check on your habits. If you want to maintain your new slim figure some of those changes you made to lose weight have to become permanent.

Of course, it helps if you lose weight with that attitude to begin with - but if you haven't done that, start to think about what you will do to maintain your weight NOW before it is too late.

Great read from the Times Online about the effects of the modern world on our waistlines (and our children).

We eat convenient, unhealthy ready prepared food and drive even short distances because we can afford it. We see anything with enough fat and sugar as a delicious treat.

And we feed our kids junk because junk is available and makes them smile whereas we all know the reaction we get with a Brussel Sprout or cabbage. (My kids know I feed them the good stuff because I love them and want them to be healthy - but they still love me more when I give them chocolate and Coca Cola.)

Even the French are apparently starting to eat ready-meals in front of the TV and will have as much obesity as everywhere else by 2020.

What is really sad is that it is a kind of dumbing down of good food - truly delicious eating is never found in a micro-waved ready meal unless you have never known anything any better.

I picked up a book ("Flip the Switch") yesterday in a second-hand book store which had an interesting theory. It was saying that a group of Australian gastroenterologists had shown that people stay hungrier when they're reclining or slumping than when they sit up straight or walk tall. It seems that standing and sitting properly stretches appetite sensors in the stomach and allows them to work properly.

And I thought it was just standing properly that made you look like you lost 10lbs - not that it actually helped you to achieve it in reality!

Actually I can see the truth in the theory - what makes you feel like eating? Slumping on the sofa or sitting up straight tall and proud. It's a kind of body awareness thing which is always a good thing when you're trying to lose weight. Slumping seems to pass the message to your brain that your body really doesn't matter so you might as well feed it junk.