“I’ve Gained 10 Pounds Since the Pandemic Started … But I Can’t Bear The Thought of Going On A Diet”
Forget Dieting. Here’s the Plan That Will Help You Finally Take Control of Your Weight Once and For All.
Forget Dieting. Here’s the Plan That Will Help You Finally Take Control of Your Weight Once and For All.
Hi, I'm Dr Khandee Ahnaimugan but everyone calls me Dr K. For the last 11 years, I’ve run an exclusive weight loss clinic in Harley Street, London where I only see women over 40.
At my clinic these days, I’m seeing more and more people who tell me:
“Even though I knew that being overweight was a bad thing if I got the coronavirus, I still managed to gain weight in lockdown”.
Disrupted routines, working from home, a constant background of virus anxiety and fewer social outlets for managing stress. It all adds up.
Many people have introduced new unhelpful habits into their life (more snacking, more drinking, less activity) that have meant packing on the pounds.
The problem now is what to do about it.
No Diets Please
There are SO many diets out there. Thousands. And yet, you’ve found yourself here on this page. Why?
Because you can’t stand the idea of going on a diet. Whichever that diet is.
You don’t want to stop eating carbs.
You like a drink (or two) in the evening before dinner.
It’s hard to stop snacking after dinner.
It all feels too difficult. You don’t have any confidence in your ability to stick to a diet. And frankly, you don’t want to.
But on the other hand, the problem appears to be getting more and more urgent.
Your clothes are getting tighter. A lot of your wardrobe is now unwearable. You’re feeling sluggish and heavy.
And then the awful thought crosses your mind: Is this my future now? Am I just going to have to live with this new weight?
You DON’T Want to Diet? Great!
Everyone is always going on diets. And failing. And then going on another diet.
But you don’t want to do that. Why?
Could it be because you’ve actually realised something that they still haven’t.
That dieting doesn’t work.
It makes perfect sense to me why you don’t want to go on a diet. After all, who wants to be miserable?
And sure, you’d put up with the misery, if you thought it would work. But you know it won’t. You know that you’ll only be able to tolerate the diet for a few weeks. Maybe a couple of months at most. And then what?
You go back to your old way of doing things. And the weight comes back. Plus some.
Why would anyone who realises this ever go on another diet?
You will never be free of your weight gain if you keep going on diets.
Luckily, there is another way.
A New You
My clients often tell me that leading up to the point of coming across my clinic, they had been looking for something deeper than the usual superficial diets they’d been on countless times before.
They understood that there was something wrong with their underlying relationship with food that had to be changed.
When most people think about losing weight, they focus on the external most obvious parts: “How do I change what I eat?”
But lasting weight loss is about more than that.
It’s about the thoughts, beliefs, behaviours and habits that drive your eating. When you can change those, you change everything.
The inner transformation leads to outer transformation.
I don’t want you to lose weight and gain it back a few weeks later. I want you to lose weight once and for all.
The Pandemic Weight Loss Plan
Why do most people struggle to lose weight?
There are lots of reasons for this, but the main one is that they tried a diet approach to losing weight, that was always going to be doomed to failure.
This next section is a step-by-step plan for what I’d suggest you to do instead, to lose pandemic weight gain.
But there is a big difference here. The aim of this advice is not just to shed a few pounds. It’s to create lasting change.
That means that we’re not just focused on starving yourself to reach a numerical goal. I want to change the way you interact with food so that the weight loss is permanent.
With that in mind, I thought a good way to present this information is to put it in the context of clients who’ve already had success using this approach, by using direct quotes from them to illustrate the main points where possible. You can read their full reviews here.
1. The Most Common Mistake
”Well, I turned 50 in January and reached my goal weight over a year ago.”
Julie C
Most people make a mistake right at the beginning of trying to lose weight, simply in the way they set their goals.
For example, someone saying: “I need to lose this weight in the next 3 weeks”. You gained the extra weight over 12 months of pandemic lockdown. Now you want to lose it in 3 weeks?
I know you want to lose this weight as quickly as possible. But in your rush to get rid of it, you’re actually sabotaging your efforts.
I prefer for my clients to keep their ultimate goal in the background and focus on more immediate goals that keep them motivated and on track.
I go into goal-setting in more detail in my free e-course (details below). Goal-setting is one of those things that people think they understand but keep making the same mistake every time.
2. How to Figure Out Where You’re Going Wrong
Dr K’s advice helps you to rethink your relationship to food and eating. Two years on and I have kept off the weight, even going beyond my initial target.
Sue D
Because we’re dealing with habits and behaviour, we need to understand exactly what’s going on first.
The fastest way to do this is to keep a food diary. Just write down what you eat and drink.
Often, when I’m working with a client, the food diary gives me information about eating that even the client themselves was unaware of.
3. Solving the Actual Problem
“I love the normality of this process- eating anything, anywhere, when I choose. I feel completely in control when traveling, working and enjoying holidays. I don’t have to prepare anything or do anything special, I just carry on with my usual life and adjust with a few simple and effective tweaks – it’s clever.”
NJ, 54, Lost 15 pounds
As I say to clients, your problem is not that you eat too much all the time. It’s that you eat too much in certain situations.
Example could include:
- Emotional eating
- Mid-afternoon cravings
- Snacking after dinner
This actually makes the problem more manageable because you’re not dealing with someone who simply can’t stop eating (which many clients think of themselves as), but rather someone who struggles in a handful of specific situations. If we solve the specific situations, we solve the problem. Much easier!
4. The Golden Question
“I even realised I don’t like certain foods that I craved before. Shopping and mealtimes are not stressful anymore and no diet foods in sight!!!”
Helen M
As you become more and more aware of which eating situations challenge you the most, here’s a question that will help you to make better decisions. It’s so important I call it the “Golden Question”.
"I can have this if I want to, but do I really need it right now?"
The Golden Question has two parts to it that complement each other and help to see the reality of every eating situation.
"I can have this if I want to..."
If you really want to eat (or drink) something, then you can. I'm not going to tell you to stop. But, if you're used to "dieting" then you won't be used to this kind of freedom. It might even feel a little scary.
But equally you'll know that previously when something was forbidden on a diet, not only did you crave it even more, but eventually, you couldn't stick to the diet, because you missed eating foods that you loved.
The fact is, when it comes to foods that you love, you can have it if you want to. In fact, I encourage you to have it if you want to.
"But do I really need it right now?"
This is the proviso. This is what will help you to lose weight even while enjoying foods you love.
You are allowed to have foods that you love, but it's about prioritising.
What we need to realise is that often, we think we are eating for enjoyment but actually, we're eating:
- because it was there; it's convenient
- because it's a habit
- when we're already full
As you ask the Golden Question over and over again, you are figuring out which parts of your eating are really worth it, and which parts aren't.
For instance if you love chocolate, save your moments of indulgence for times when you can really enjoy it.
5. Don’t Let The Food Control You
“Food is no longer the focus of my life. I’m in control of myself again. Being older and slim. I can’t get my head around it! It’s like a miracle.”
Emma P
How easy is it to eat a chocolate bar if it’s on the kitchen countertop in front of you? Of course very easy.
How easy is it to eat if it’s on the shelf … back at the supermarket. A lot harder.
As I say to clients “You can’t eat something if it’s not there”.
Taking control of your environment and reducing the amount of temptation is a core part of managing your eating. You want to minimise the times when you eat something “just because it was there”.
6. Go easy on yourself
“The biggest difference is it doesn’t feel like I’m punishing myself. It’s amazing. I’m so much happier. I’ve dropped my guilt.”
Alison M
When I’m seeing clients as part of my Transformation programme, after every session, I send them a summary email of what we talked about in the session. I have a number of clients, whose weekly email has at the top of it “GO EASY ON YOURSELF”.
This is because too many people put pressure on themselves, thinking that this will help them to succeed. But when it comes to losing weight it has the opposite effect. Being so tough on themselves means they get easily discouraged and then either engage in “What’s the point” eating or give up altogether.
As I tell my clients, the harder you are on yourself, the further you are pushing yourself AWAY from the goal.
7. Health Cornerstones
“For me, the change in self image, self confidence and a general positivity to life as a woman in her 40s/50s was a takeaway I didn't expect.”
Sibe W
Everything is interconnected. I don’t believe that my clients are only interested in seeing a different number on the scale. What they want is to feel better, happier and more energetic. Rather than dreading getting older, they want to feel confident, positive and excited about their life. (If you’re rolling your eyes at that, you’re probably in the wrong place).
This means a narrow focus on food is not enough. I take this weight transformation as an opportunity to change much more than just your menu.
Everything that impacts how you feel about life both affects your weight and is affected by your weight.
Here are some areas worth addressing:
- Sleep
- Activity levels (not necessarily going to the gym, but just being more active in daily life)
- Stress
- Schedules and how you spend your time
You’re not here to just survive, but to thrive
The Next Step
As I’ve been saying to other clients who have come to me during this time:
“Don’t let the Covid pandemic be the moment you lost control of your weight”.
Now is the time to take action and solve this problem once and for all.
If what I’ve described so far seems like an approach that resonates with you, then I invite you to learn more.
I’ve created a free training video which explains:
– The life-changing alternative to dieting.
– How to create a new, healthy relationship with food.
– How to achieve lasting personal transformation (instead of fragile weight loss that doesn’t last).
Sign up below: