This is the time of year we start thinking about baring bodies, and even if you have no plans to don a bikini for your summer holiday, it is nice to lose a few pounds in order to look and feel better for the summer.

If you are in this situation, my advice is DO NOT DIET.  By restricting yourself to certain foods, and severely limiting your calorie-intake, you will only feel very deprived, and be much more likely to crave certain foods, and so in those weak moments, a binge is more than likely to happen.  Dieting also tends to slow down the metabolism, so calories are burned at a much slower rate, and you also end up feeling sluggish and lacking in energy.

I know that you may have heard it all before, but eating sensibly (still having treats occasionally) and exercising is the only way to achieve a healthy weight, as you are far more likely to sustain this type of lifestyle in the longer term.

The other thing that I would advise is only weigh yourself once every week or two weeks.  If you are constantly weighing yourself, you are only setting yourself up for failure, as it may be that on some times your weight may either stay the same or even increase.  This can be very demoralising and you can easily then just give up.

Also, it is important to reduce stress as much as possible – stress can not only make us eat more, but also affects the adrenal glands, which when overworked, can lead to weight gain.   

If you cannot reduce stress levels – find fun ways that you can counteract it.  Do stuff that you know a)makes you laugh b)makes you forget about everything else or c)gets you moving.   Great if you can combine all three!

Give yourself regular treats – these could be a spa treatment, getting together with a friend for lunch or coffee, buying yourself some flowers. 

Visualise yourself in that pair of jeans that you havn’t been able to get into, or that dress that is a bit too tight.  Make the visualisation really detailed, imagine who you are going to bump into, all the comments that you will get, how you will feel.

It looks like we are going to have a great summer, so if you need some help with losing weight, and would like to find out how hypnotherapy can help you, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01449 780352, or 0781 7158429, or send an email to wendy@wendychalk.co.uk.

Have a great summer!