I’d have to agree with a lot of what is said and also a lot of the comments on the article – just as people who are technically obese can be fit and healthy (All Blacks, anyone?) likewise I’ve seen a lot of naturally slender people who eat the worst food (all the time), don’t exercise and then wonder why they get sick all the time. The thing about weight loss and fitness in general is that so many people are out there looking for a quick fix. I’ve lost 20 kg in the past year (slowly!) through (shock horror) eating better and exercising more. The exercise I keep varied (running, swimming, tramping, snow sports etc) and the food I also try to keep varied. It’s not rocket science! But the thing that gets me is how many people have asked me “What’s your secret?!” There is no secret. Energy in < Energy out……. I think what a lot of people do wrong though is to make things too restrictive. If you never have any treats you’ll always feel like you’re missing out and then end up giving up.

Oh and whilst I agree that diet is a large part of the weight loss equation, especially in the early days, exercise is pretty important too – you’re not going to get fit or improve your cardiovascular health in the same way by sitting on the couch eating a salad.

My experience over 3 years of cycling is that fairly quickly I lost what I would call the extra 7-8kg, but that shedding the next 2 or so to get down to what I would regard as an optimum weight takes an awful lot of work. Biggest issue was that as soon as I started riding, my food intake skyrocketed, always hungry. Energy in, energy out I guess. Consolation is that there isn't really a correlation between my weight and my hill times, so just not worried anymore.

yesssss! agreeed! i know when i was swimming 4-5 hours a day i would never lose any weight, but as soon as i stopped, woah did it pile on... but when i eventually jumped back in the pool (after say 6months) and went for a measly 4km swim (how did i used to achieve those 8-10km seesions??) which would take me an hour the weight still wouldn't budge... but as soon as i mixed it up a bit and started boot camp, phew did it fall off, and this was only doing an hour of exercise as well!

All those years of competitive swimming had taught me to be so efficent in my workouts (as the idea was to get from one end of the pool to the other as fast as possible with the least effort possible) that i have to swim so much longer than someone who isn't as efficient in the water.

In terms of weight loss, it is pretty simple really - energy in vs energy out and as long as you are mixing up your workouts (variety really is the spice of life) you will continue to lose weight.

It does get tricky though when you are training for a big (endurance) event and need to eat a lot for energy... a vege stir fry isn't really going to cut it for an 8 hour event, *sigh* - but will suffice nicely if all you need is enough energy to get through a 45min RPM class!

there's my 2 cents (or more like 5..)

I did Jenny Craig and lost 17kg in 6 months. I didn't do any exercise, but just ate their food. I did notice that when I made an effort to drink water (which I hate) over juice I did lose more weight on those weeks and it would also fill me up and therefore stop me from wanting to snack.

Overall it sucked though and was a miserable depressing time! It screwed up my body majorly - but I did lose the weight!

My favourite is that exercise in the morning is better (for weight loss) than exercise in the evening. In all reality the difference is not worth worrying about if you would rather train in the evening for work, family reasons, or would rather just sleep in.

@Ann, pays to be careful of what you read. I was reading all about the dangers of drinking alcohol, I was shocked, it scared me s**tless. I decided right then and there. Right for me there will be no more Reading.

@ JeM - question: did you keep the weight off? how did it screw up your body? and why was it depressing? you didnt feel happier as the weight cam off and you had more energy? - just interested :)

I think bodies adapt to the old input/output quotient. I have raced for over 30 years and am now in my 50's. When training for tri's I was about 8kg heavier than my earlier running weight - all due to extra muscle around chest / shoulder area. When I returned to just running and cycling my extra weight gradually faded back to what it had been prior to my tri years. I eat heaps - mostly good, but some rubbish. Weight does make a difference to hill times on a bike - for me anyway. But far more important than weight is general health. If I get too light, I get crook more often, and that stuffs up everything. Train to eat, eat to train - its a good combo!

@JeM - I agree - I did Jenny Craig for a while - lost a lot of weight but found it hard to reconcile their food options with generally accepted 'healthy' options for weight loss. Before I went on JC, I didn't eat cheese,creamy foods or desserts - enter the JC options of lasagne, burritos, creamy pasta, choc cake and desserts. While I recognise that the JC versions of these foods are 'manufactured' in a calorie controlled way, I found it really hard to get my head around eating foods that I had learnt over time to avoid. I found it also left me in a bad head space.

The best thing I ever did was to go to a nutritionist who looked at my lifestyle and training levels, the foods that I generally eat and like, and then gave me a really well balanced programme specific to my needs that is easy to stick to.

I think this will be the 8th time I've said on blogs: Energy In must be less than Energy Out.

It does seem to be true that your body adapts pretty quickly to a new norm. So if you eat the same food each day, and exercise on the same routine - you're going to stop losing weight over time.

Variety seems to be an important key to consistent weight loss.

And don't confuse weight with body fat. If you are exercising and eating healthy but no longer losing weight - measure yourself, or have your body fat calculated. Those extra kilos may just be lean muscle mass.

A know of a woman who went to her GP concerned that she couldn't lose the last 2 magic inches off her belly. He poked her tum and said "stop exercising", she had developed a concrete slab of abdomenal muscle from all the exercise she was doing.

@ex-swimmer #6

I only kept about half of it off (due to me just going back to my old habits rather than trying to continue to eat healthily).

It was depressing because you can't just go out for a meal with your mates, or have a few wines and a cheese platter! All I could think about was food so in that respect it sucked. I had a big Europe trip to go on so it just wasnt practical to continue as you need to always have access to their food, a fridge and a microwave!

It messed up my body by stopping my periods, getting headaches etc. I wanted to conceive so I knew that while I got the goal of losing 17kg so easily, I wasn't by any stretch healthy so I just gave it up.

While now pregnant I am fine, but when I have the baby I won't be going back on Jenny Craig. I will use their tips and try and plan my meals like theirs (smaller portions, more vege's etc), but do it less drastically. For now I am just eating a variety of foods and fortunately my cravings are for milk!