Successful Weight Loss: Consider Your Bottomline

Year in, year out, new diets are tried, weight reduction partly achieved but then after the diet, it’s back to weight gain! Just like a hamster chasing that ever-elusive ball on the wheel! It’s an open secret: Dieting doesn’t work!

You are probably thinking: what is this all about successful weight-loss when dieting does not work. It really is very simple. Many years of struggle in shedding the excess weight, the painful frustrations and loss of self-belief due to being terribly fat, unfit and unhappy were caused by the complete disregard of myself as an individual. The whole idea of dieting is fine but the specific diets or dieting programmes which have effective results on celebrities or even your relations may not work for you. And why is this?

Our genes play an indispensable role. How we manage our weight cannot be based on ‘One-Size-Fits-all’ diet or dieting programme.

Before you embark on yet, another diet or dieting programme, do yourself a favour: take a few minutes and consider this. For a successful weight loss, you must consider these 5 fundamental elements:

1. You are a unique individual , hence a template diet for Ms Winfrey or Suzanne Sommers may not work for you

2. You have specific personal health issues (have a medical check-up before embarking on a new diet)

3. You come from dissimilar cultures with its practices

4. Your food preferences may vary from within your culture/religion

5. You are a multi-faceted individual with distinctive attitudes which are reflected in your behaviour

By recognising these aspects, your own perception of successful weight loss will change dramatically. You will begin to appreciate the importance of your own body, your physiological and psychological needs in your own environment and devise a functional weight management regime. In essence you are customising your own programme which allows you full control to succeed. It is not going to be a diet but a revamped lifestyle!

Being a ‘serial dieter’ for years, I was getting fed up with myself. Last year, upon turning 54 I began to take health matters seriously. I was not sick or anything but I was sick of myself. I immersed myself into intensive study on all health issues and nutrition. I began to research on natural foods, how they fuel our body to allow regeneration of healthy cells, giving energy, building up bone tissues and directing our moods and physical activitities. I learnt that food is a better medication than drugs. And I even found out that food does not have to be expensive to be healthy. How brilliant is that? The most wonderful thing I learnt about food is that FOOD is a friend not a conspirator or a fiend! The best source of information came from Dr Walter C. Willett’s team at the Harvard School of Public Health, their Healthy Eating Pyramid.

The discovery had set me free! And this freedom led me to believe that the best way to End the Endless Dieting is by simply considering my BottomLine. BottomLine focuses on the psychological – behavioural – aspects influencing our relationship with food and our eating habits. Its name subtly draws reference to the bottom line of the body, but on the greater scale of things this also refers to every individual’s 'bottom line' in the business sense: the term used to describe one’s ultimate outcome. With BottomLine, an imaginary boundary or limit is drawn in the decision-making process; how far can you go if you consider your expected losses versus successes? Your body is your prized possession – in business terms, it is your capital. So, how far will you allow yourself to downgrade the value of your body and your way of life? The principal factor is you. You and winning the 'Battle of the Bulge'; being fit, living an enjoyable life and staying young. You - taking responsibility for yourself and reaping success – a priceless joy!

After many years of searching, I finally uncovered the secret in my weight- management journey. It was found within me: by re-training my attitude and re-inventing my new self! I am sure you will find the most precious treasure with your new self too.