Weight loss isn’t always easy, but there are a number of steps you can take to make sure you are giving yourself the best opportunity to succeed.

• Stay hydrated
  Drinking water can actually help with weight loss. By consuming water, especially water that is cooler than your body temperature, you metabolism will increase slightly, helping to burn more calories while trying to maintain a stable body temperature. The consumption of water before and during meals can also help to reduce over eating at meals as we often mistake thirst for hunger.

• Include a good quality protein source at all meals
  Protein helps to increase satiety, keeping you fuller for longer. We recommend to include a good quality protein source at all meals, such as meat, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts or legumes. These foods not only help to make a more balanced meal and allow an overall decrease in the amount of carbohydrate, they are more filling and help to prevent over eating, assisting with weight loss.

• Fill out meals with low starch vegetables
  Along with a good quality protein source, low starch vegetables should make up a good portion of your plate. When wondering which vegetables are low in starch, think of salads and stir-fry vegetables including like kale, spinach, snow peas, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes, capsicum, squash, brussel sprouts, celery, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. The starchy vegetables are those such as potato, sweet potato, peas, corn, pumpkin.

• Low Glycemic Load (GL)
  Foods with a high GL will cause a greater spike in blood sugar level, and will take longer to burn off, compared to those with a low GL, which will most likely keep the blood sugar levels more stable and encourage the body to burn fat rather than store fat. GL is the sum of Glycemic Index multiplied by the number of grams of carbs per serve divided by 100 (i.e.: a medium green apple has GI of 38 and 15g of carbs therefore 38 x 15 /100 = GL 5.7 (low GL is 1-10, Medium 11-19, High 20+)).