10 simple changes to lose 10 pounds

Losing a few pounds doesn't have to cost you a fortune at the gym, nor does it mean you have to starve yourself. Following 10 little steps, you can easily drop unwanted weight while enhancing, rather than restricting your normal life.

To loose one pound in weight a deficit of 3,500 calories needs to be created - by putting into action the 10 steps below the numbers add up pretty quickly resulting in some considerable weight loss with very little effort.

1. Eat breakfast

This may sound paradoxical and it also may sound very familiar but eat breakfast! Aside from anything else this kick-starts your metabolism. Those who miss breakfast tend to overeat later on in the day.

Missing breakfast also moves your body into starvation mode, which means it restricts the calories it burns. If you are aiming to shift pounds this is exactly the opposite of what you need. A good breakfast should contain a mixture of fibre, protein and ideally some fruit.

2. Take a detour

When you are popping to the shops, take the longer route. Adding 500 metres twice a day means walking an extra kilometre a day! Ten minutes of walking at four miles an hour burns about 50 calories. Do this twice and that's 100 calories in the bank! So in one month that's another pound down the drain.

3. Watch your fluids

They say you are what you eat, what they don't say is that you can also be what you drink! It is all too easy to sabotage a healthy eating plan by not taking enough care to consider what is in your cup.

At the lighter end of the scale switching full fat for semi-skimmed milk in your coffee (or better still go for a black coffee) will save you. A black coffee, however, has only 10 or so calories per cup whereas a mocha coffee from starbucks, even with skimmed milk has over 300 calories.

4. Go halves

It is not a crime to indulge in a bar of chocolate every once in a while, however you can easily get your chocolate fix with just half the bar. Even if you only treat yourself to chocolate once a week this will save you between 100 and 200 calories and if you have five chocolate bars a week that's up to 1,000 calories.

Try a similar tactic with any similar treats. You don't need to stop eating the things you enjoy, you just don't need to eat the amount that the manufacturers have decided on!

5. Pass on second helpings

Or at least wait. If you can hold off for 20 minutes before going back for more that is when your body will actually tell you whether you are full or not.

Skipping second helpings of, for example, an extra helping of roast potatoes is about 150 calories. An extra fish cake might give you 120 calories. Adding one extra portion together over a week and that's an average of about 1,000 calories. That's another pound in a month.

6. Fizzy drinks

We all know these are bad for us but too many of us don't listen. One can of cola will carry 139 calories. Diet drinks, although labelled as such, are equally bad if not worse.

In terms of nutrition these drinks offer nothing and actually carry negative side effects such as water retention, bloating and potential heart damage. So, diet or otherwise, knock these drinks on the head. If you love bubbles go for a sparkling water with some lemon or lime added.

If you abolish these soft drinks for just two weeks you won't miss them anymore, and your body will thank you for it too by feeling lighter and brighter.

7. Skinny dipping

I LOVE humus, it's one of my favourite foods. However, I am sadly aware of the fact that my little tubbed friend is loaded with calories and fat.

To avoid dip overload buy snack pots instead of the large 200g varieties. In buying mini-pots you are far less likely to over indulge but also you don't have to miss out on your favourite food.

8. Drink water

The more water you drink, the less your body will want to hang on to. It's pretty logical. The old trick is the best: always carry water with you. If I'm ever heading off the post office I'll grab a bottle and take it with me.

Inadvertently I drink half of it while walking. Being more hydrated also has a wonderful effect on your skin, nails, hair and energy levels. Thirst can also often be confused for hunger so the more hydrated you are the less likely are to feel the urge to run for the biscuit tin!

9. Take the stairs

If you were to run up stairs for an hour you could burn a whopping 1000 calories! This is of course not an option for most of us, even the super fit would feel as if their legs were about to fall of after an hour of stair running.

However, if you were to clock up just a couple of minutes going up the stairs each day that's an extra 40 calories. In a month that's over a thousand calories.

10. Swap white for brown

In all choices of carb, go for brown over white. Bread, rice, pasta, noodles...Very simply these 'brown' foods are more likely to be whole grain.

Choosing the brown products will provide you with more fibre again, making you feel fuller for longer. The resulting cut down in snacking could save you as much as 200 calories a day, in under two weeks that is another pound of weight loss.

Normally I don't support calorie counting but sometimes looking at the simple mathematics of weight loss can prove a great motivator.

As I said earlier, you don't need weighing scales and measuring devices, just a few little changes to your habits and in a few weeks you'll be seeing the difference in your body without any major difference to your lifestyle.