We are at the start of another year. Globally the news for 2024 looks a bit grim and out of our control. What we can control is our own health journey. To that end, here are my top tips for a healthier 2024.
Before we start a quick word about links. I found and/or added links after writing each section so as not to be influenced by them. Some links are affiliate which means that if you buy something after clicking the link I get paid at no cost to you. All recommendations are honest suggestions and based on things that have worked for me. All links are things that I’d be happy to suggest to my mum.
1. The only two things that actually cause weight loss
- Eat less
- Move more
Any other weight loss advice is at best an optimisation of eating less and moving more or a scam selling you false promises.
Anything that causes you to move your body even a little bit more will aid weight loss. Anything – like smaller portion sizes – that causes you to eat a little less will aid weight loss. I treat these things as permanent lifestyle changes.
Things that move you about more and make you eat slightly less (or less of the wrong thing) should come in as lifestyle changes. That is, things that I will change about how I live my life that I will be happy to keep in my life from now on. All of my tips are strategies to add to my life one or both of these two things – eat less and move more. They are all things that have worked to improve my life, my health, and my weight loss.
For me, “1. Eat less” is more like “eat less crap”. Mastering that helped me stop my run-away weight gain.
The bigger challenge has been “2. Move more”. I am an indoor-sitting-down-and-avoiding-humans kind of person. I have found a few ways (in this list) that make me move more – usually as a side effect of doing something else interesting and/or compelling.
On top of being a not-moving-all-that-much person, I have some health issues that make staying home and sitting at the computer the easiest choice to make. Moving about can result in a lot of pain. The way to make it hurt less is to do it more. I prefer to avoid pain so moving less is far too easy for me.
2. How to eat less chocolate – don’t buy any
One of the main tools for my 2023 weight loss was to avoid eating chocolate and sweets by just not buying any, to begin with. I know it seems too obvious to mention but just not ordering sugar treats with my grocery shopping means there are few if any in the house should I feel like binging.
I don’t buy none-at-all exactly. Instead, my weekly shop contains very little. That way I know that this is all there is all week. Thus I have a motivation to “make it last”. I’m still working on that.
Your willpower cannot be tested if there is nothing to tempt you to begin with. Because you did not have reason to fail, you don’t feel bad about said failure which did not happen.
It is the same as giving up smoking – spend less time with people who might offer you a smoke.
I’d lost 3 stone a long way back when. Then I got a job that offered a help-yourself policy for fizzy drinks and I put it all back on in just a month and a half. I’m also the reason it is now a fair-use policy. Before that job, I had agreed to be the best man at a friend’s wedding. The suit I was to wear was purchased. Then I got fat again and had to pay someone to resize the thing for me. Most embarrassing.
To avoid temptation don’t have things around to tempt you.
3. Move more by saying yes to events
I’m a huge introvert but I have learned that occasionally seeing other people can be good for my mental health. Even on days when I really don’t fancy that at all.
Towards the end of 2023, my friend Neil invited me to Gloucester for a mediaeval, Folk, and steampunk weekend. I liked the sound of it but did not like the idea of going outside. I said yes anyway.
Not only did I have a great time but I was forced to walk between buildings, move around inside buildings, and socialise with nice human beings.
I had a great time and got lots of exercise pretty much by accident. Also, I learned that steampunk are genuine warm and friendly people who like tea. Ten out of ten – would talk to again.
While festivals and conventions tend to be a bit pricey, there are other things to try too. Board game nights at a friend’s house, for example, might only get you up and out the door but that is still a little bit more moving than before. Not to mention that saying yes to a few more social events can help build closer friendships.
Other ideas could be taking a visit to a gallery, trying a new tea room, and local festivals – my area has a lot of literary and poetry stuff going on.
4. Join or start some clubs that take place outside of your home
Years ago, I started a writers’ group. We currently meet in the pub just up the road from where I live. This is inside the boundary of how far I can safely walk. And walk I do. Unless it is tipping it down I say no to lifts home. The result is that I do two manageable walking trips every single week. Even when I really don’t want to.
Even when my mental health protests the idea of going outside and seeing people, I know that I made a commitment. The idea of letting others down is stronger than my reasons for not doing anything this week.
End result – weekly exercise as an added benefit of safe socialisation.
I have joined a few other groups related to things that interest me. For example, my dad and I go to a local bible discussion group once a week. It gets me out of the house and walking to the bus stop. Plus I get to have a jolly interesting debate with people who have points of view that differ from my own. And I see a lot more of my dad which has proven good for both of our mental health.
5. Eat less junk by starting a quest to increase your food diversity
This is the magic bullet (for me) for weight loss.
Many years ago I knew I needed to lose weight. Which meant to me back then going on a diet. My problem was that a diet meant removing all the good stuff and eating just the boring bits. Something like that would probably last one or two miserable weeks.
I thought of this as reducing my food life. Then I had another idea – I would enhance my food life.
I would still be “allowed” cake, crisps, and cheese but I would add new things into my food life. With nowhere left to go but healthy, all the new tastes and textures forced the naughty but nice stuff to become a small part of my eating.
I was growing my diet diversity.
And it worked!
Not quickly but steadily and without any apparent effort beyond finding new tastes and textures for my food. My answer was more types of food instead of fewer.
When I first did this, I experienced with lentils which were cheap and flexible. I found I like red lentils for stews because they thicken them up and you don’t notice them. There are some lentils I don’t much like but there are some that have added to the range and taste of foods I eat.
Amazon UK link for 1kg of red lentils from a small sustainable business.
Another thing I tried was various “crunchy water” as a sandwich filling extra. Also known as salad veggies. My favourites include fresh chives, spring onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and iceberg lettuce. I tend to add them to sandwiches with cheese and a little salt. Yummy and more filling than other sandwiches.
This works because all this variety just leaves less space for the foods I should probably eat less of. Plus I found more foods that I quite like.
6. Get a slow cooker
Many moons ago a couple I am friends with gave me a slow cooker as a (birthday?) gift. I don’t use it as much as I should but it has provided many healthy and tasty meals.
I can cook at a time when I feel physically able but not in the mood to eat. I can do it in stages and sit down between episodes of cutting stuff up. Much later, after smelling the food for ages, I will eventually feel hungry and instead of snacking, there is real food to eat.
Another trick is to do the prep the evening before and leave it on slow/low overnight. In the morning, cooked food is ready whenever I fancy it. Back in the day, my mum used a similar trick and put dinner on before taking us to church. We’d get home and dinner would be ready.
One thing I like to do is just make a huge stew. I chuck in red lentils for thickness, beef because shut up I like beef, fried onions, carrots because they take on the taste of the other stuff, and barely because I discovered I love the texture. I’ll also chuck in anything else stewable if there is room. Tinned tomatoes are pretty handy. Potatoes are also good. Sweat potatoes diced are great. In fact, most veg are fine (other than peas which can eff-off) because even if I am not a huge fan (and I’m usually not), they take on the taste of the stew, add variety of texture, and (by accident) are healthy and low in fat.
Here’s an Amazon UK link for an inexpensive slow cooker.
My trick with the onions is I don’t fry them first. I fry them second. First I figure out which herbs and spices I fancy putting in. Basil, Ginger, and Sage are favourites of mine. I heat up some butter or olive oil or whatever I have and can use. When the oil is hot, the herbs and spices go in. This releases the flavour (so you need a lot less than within other methods). I give the herbs and spices enough time to brown and then chuck in the onions. The herbs all stick to the onions as they caramelise. When the onions are done, they go in the slow cooker and take the herbs and spices with them.
A word of warning if you fry any hot peppers – you need so very much less to get the same heat and taste. So be careful.
Another one to try is sausages with a sausage casserole mix.
7. Get a decent wok
Back when I was a twenty-something, I got myself a wok. It took me a while to learn how to use it but when I did I had a signature dish that my friends would request. Hopefully, that meant the food was good.
Here is an Amazon UK link to a pretty affordable traditional wok.
My signature thing worked as follows. Get some chicken breast – lean is better. Cut into long thin strips. Put in a bowl with olive oil, ginger, and a dash of Chinese five-spice. Add soy sauce. The chicken strips should be submerged give them a poke until they are. Stick it in the fridge for twenty-four hours or something close to that. It will absorb all that soy sauce and olive oil goodness along with some of the spice flavour. Chuck it in a red-hot wok and seal the flavour in. Tip in some veg precut into thin strips. It’s cooked in no time and mostly seasoned from the stuff the chicken was in. Add more ginger – you can rarely put too much in.
This worked to both get me cooking food and also get me eating veggies. You can use pretty much anything but carrots and spring beans are a fantastic start. While I don’t much like veggies to eat (at least not how we Brits cook them all soggy and lifeless), stirfried veg is actually pretty good – tasty and crunchy. They don’t taste too much like school dinner veg but like the spices you cooked them in.
8. Make friends with some vegetarian foodies
If you can find some friends who are vegetarian foodies – or just very good at vegetarian cooking, you will get to eat amazing-tasting healthy food. If you ask nicely, they may even teach you how to make some of it.
This is an extension of starting a quest to increase your food diversity. It is also an interesting application of another tip we have yet to get to – do it with friends.
While I have no time for preachy vegetarians, most are lovely people and I love their cooking. I have a friend who is a trained chef and has a vegetarian wife. If you are looking to get tasty non-meat foods into your diet, I highly recommend friends with this skill set. It is well known I will (for friends who ask nicely) do IT support stuff in exchange for good food. As a result, I have had some wonderfully healthy and yummy meals.
Failing to find friends, perhaps you can be the one to learn veggie cooking. If you do, invite me to dinner, please.
Here are some books from Amazon UK. I’ve not read any of them but they look like a good starting place.
9. Use shame to your advantage
I have not used this for weight loss but it has worked for me in other challenges. What I do is I tell everyone – especially close friends and family. You could also extend that to frenemies or people who would be quick to mock your failures. Boast about what you are going to achieve.
Now that the word is out, they will ask you how it is going. You will be held accountable for your boasts. For me, the need to not fail while those I care about are watching has helped me push on to do things that I might have otherwise given up on.
10. Do it with friends
Many things are easier if you have a buddy doing the same thing. This is why weight loss clubs work (a bit of this and a bit of this and a bit of tip number nine).
This tip is sort of like addiction recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous works. You are not doing it alone and you have someone who understands to reach out to when you feel weak and think you might revert to earlier unhelpful behaviours.
This is not a tip I have used for improving my diet directly. It has improved my health though. I have a friend called Dave who I told about my interest in photography and getting good at it. Dave purchased the same camera model as I have. Now when Dave suggests a day out to take pictures I have less than no excuses not to keep working on my hobby.
This hobby works as an example of “Move more by saying yes to events“. Through this shared interest, I’ve seen some really interesting ruins, explored some nature reserves, toured Canterbury Cathedral, seen some really old churches, and gone to other places where photography is great fun. This has meant walking and getting outside. (I moved more). These photography trips are much better for having a friend with whom you can compare notes on various techniques and viewpoints you are trying out. I have to say that my life is better for having Dave as a friend.
What are your tips?
That’s enough of me banging on about things that help me. I would like to hear about your successes, things that worked for you, and ideas for being a more healthy person.
Talk to me in whatever way you feel comfortable – comment below, WebMention (link) this post somewhere else (link the post and ping me), or reply to me on Mastodon (@Matt or
Talk to me in whatever way you feel comfortable – comment below, WebMention (link) this post somewhere else (link the post and ping me), or reply to me on Mastodon (use @Matt or this link) – these are all ways to comment on this post.
