A friend of mine started my weight loss program, she was obviously over weight. She struggled in the beginning to stay on the program as well as with motivation. The program has an eating plan as well as an exercise program and her comment was ‘Fat people do not like exercise!’

After some thought she formulated this pre-program eating plan.

The biggest challenge for any long term life changing program such as weight loss and smoking is to maintain motivation. There is no better motivation than success. In order to gain this motivation and stop doing the thing she disliked, exercise, she decided to drop the exercise portion of the program. I, of course, did not think it was a good idea and felt that this would slow the process and lead to more de-motivation. She also decided to simplify the eating plan as well.

After a couple of weeks she was having amazing results. She was losing weight and centimetres, and loving it. Her levels of motivation rose with each kilogram she lost. She soon had er entire family on it. So what did she do?

The plan was simplicity itself and as is usually the case simple solutions are the best solutions. She did it in two phase.

Phase 1

Cut out all high carbohydrate foods, such as breads, and bread like products eg bagels, pasta, fruit juices, French fries, sweets and worst of all fizzy drinks, like coke etc.

Reduced all portion sizes by at least a third, half would be better.

Eat and snack all day and do not miss any meals. The snacks have to be high protein snacks.

After losing about 5 kilograms then she started phase 2.

Phase 2

In this phase she reintroduced some high carbohydrate foods that she enjoyed. She had them once a week and in small portions. She also added 30 minutes a day exercise to the pre-program. This exercise for her was walking at a brisk pace. I see groups of women walking around my neighbourhood, ambling along and chatting, and I know they are kidding themselves that they are exercising. Admittedly it is better than nothing, but if you are going to go out and walk then at least walk with purpose, else you might as well walk around the shopping mall. You can still talk but walk at a pace faster than you would normally walk.

This is her meal plan

Breakfast

• boiled egg
• provitas x 2
• cherry tomatoes x 2

Snack

• apple

Lunch

• chicken breast x 100g
• sack bread x 2
• cherry tomatoes x 2

Snack

• naartjie ( a citrus fruit, eg an orange )

Supper

• Fish x 100g
• cherry tomatoes x 2 in a salad of lettuce and peppers

Additionally she drank at least 2 litre of water a day and cut out all sugar, dairy and starches.

Any cooking was done with two tablespoons of olive oil or better still an olive oil spray on the pans.

Based on her results I have decided to endorse her addition to the overall process and I now actively encourage people starting the program to do this first before getting into the more serious weight loss program. It is a great way to start because it is so easy to implement. Once you have started down this road and are seeing success you will be more motivated to do more and take the bigger steps required to reduce your weight by changing your life style.

This pre-program is perfect for those who cannot exercise due to an injury etc. It does not tax the body too much and the walking is easy. For those who cannot walk the eating plan is sensible and reduces your caloric intake and increases your protein intake which in turn promotes weight loss.

I hope you find this easy and helpful