We usually have a picture in our minds when we think about the changes we want to make in our life. We might envision a bigger house, more holidays, a faster car and maybe a job with more status. We might see ourselves looking quite different to how we look now – more toned, slimmer, better dressed.

Both my wife Katie and I were desperate to reduce our weight, so we had a little heart to heart about why we wanted to be thinner, and what that would mean to us. It was amazing, but we really didn’t aspire to anything that remarkable. Having more oomph to play with the kids was Katie’s number one goal. She wanted to become more self-assured when undressing in our bedroom too.

What Is Your Optimal Diet Program? It is so easy to let dieting programs take over our lives. But being so obsessive usually ends in failure! Therefore it’s vital that we find a program that runs smoothly with the way we live. One that is workable in real life. Too many slimming ads show a false world that nobody really lives in!

The Business Of Losing Weight Can Be Scary! It’s important to understand that as well as being a concern for millions; dieting is very commercially profitable. The turnover of the weight loss industry is colossal – it amounts to billions of dollars – and so there are plenty of opportunities to profit from our ambitions to be slim.

Pick up any magazine or newspaper these days, and it seems we can’t escape being criticised about our size. Most of us know we should be doing something about our weight, but life seems to have a way of sabotaging our best intentions. Somehow the right message needs to get across, because you’re not being told the whole story.

It’s not easy to have faith in much of the weight loss advice given today. A multi-billion dollar slimming industry constantly preys upon us with the latest ‘California Beach Babe’ diet that just gets discarded after two weeks of misery! Yet like many others, we were after something that worked. This is how we went about it…

When it comes to weight loss, we can accelerate our plan by combining regular exercise with a healthy diet. Some people don’t like the idea of having to exercise, but even a little exercise done often enough will produce benefits. In addition to weight loss, stronger muscles are built when we exercise regularly.

We’ve probably all heard about the power of association. There’s a tangible link between the way we behave and the men and women we have friendships with. But we might have thought the similarities would reveal themselves in our attitudes and personal tastes – for instance we often support the same institutions and vote for the same parties as our friends.

Keeping my weight at the right level has always been a challenge. I felt sure that it would continue to be that way for the rest of my life. But in fact I learned a ’secret’ that’s changed my life! I am now lighter at fifty one than I was at thirty one.

Losing weight can be as difficult psychologically as it is physically. It can become a struggle if we have to make family meals; eating our own meagre diet whilst still having to prepare tempting fare for the others. How can we improve our lot, and continue to please the family?