How to drop the Covid kilos without going on a weight loss-gain rollercoaster ride

As the Covid lockdowns are gradually lifted here in the UK, many of us are facing elasticated trouser separation anxiety and wondering how we will fit in our old socialising and work clothes again.  More than half of us have gained weight during the lockdowns - fuelled by a low step count, our workstations positioned by the chocolate cupboard, and 6pm wine-o-clock in place of the commute which used to transition us from work stress to home sanctuary. 

If you are getting ready to shed a few kilos, here is a strategy I use to help prevent diet boredom-followed-by-binge and raise chances of successfully getting to your target weight and staying there. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, it involves engaging in a weight loss plan for a few weeks, then building in a weight maintenance phase. Then you undergo a new weight loss phase followed by another weight maintenance phase. This is different to weight loss followed by aggressive rebound weight gain, which can happen if you follow your weight loss phase with an unplanned/unstructured eating phase. 

I always explain to clients that weight maintenance is a piece of work in itself and something to plan and and learn how to master, so as not to spoil all the hard work you have done. 

So let’s take the example of my Gut Makeover plan which is designed to help weight loss over one month. Some people lose seven pounds in this month (about 3.5kg), some 14 pounds (about 7kg). It depends from person to person because we all respond so differently to different foods depending on the starting landscape of our microbiome (gut bacteria) and our genetics. You could also combine the Gut Makeover with my new book The 10 Hour Diet which focusses on the sweet spot in humans of time-restricted eating, a type of intermittent fasting. The timings of this book usually result in about 2 pounds weight loss per month (a kilo) in addition to the weight loss coming from the principles of my Gut Makeover programme. So you could combine both methods for extra weight loss if you are feeling up for it. 

For example. You follow the Gut Makeover, having protein and mountains of plants with each main meal. You replace sugar, alcohol, bread, rice, and pasta with colourful vegetables, herbs, spices wherever you can instead. You introduce live foods in your diet like sauerkraut and kefir. Having massive diversity of plants and introducing live foods are designed to reduce cravings and improve your blood sugar balance. Protein at each meal makes you feel full up. You then eat in a 10-hour window say 8am - 6pm or 10am -8pm. 

You do this for one-month and lose a pleasing amount of weight but you still have further weight loss to go to reach your target. What do you do now?

Option 1) Go to the nearest pub garden drink 10 pints of lager with multiple packets of crisps followed by a kebab and chips from the all-night takeaway on the way home. I know I know - it sounds tempting doesn’t it, especially after so many months at home watching Netflix? I’m with you here!!! Next day you feel wrecked, and you eat aimlessly white carbs and sugar the next day which is simply what any human body is programmed to do in this state.  

Option 2) Give yourself permission to have a week or month off (you choose) weight loss to learn how to maintain. Think about what principles you have learnt in the weight loss phase month that you could embed into your maintenance phases. For example, some people I work with decide to keep the 10-hour eating window going Monday-Friday and go off-piste with the timings at weekends. Doing the 10 hours five days a week can help with weight maintenance. Many people also decide to stick with the structure they learnt of eating from the Gut Makeover - only eating proper meals, and avoiding snacking. You may decide during this maintenance week or month to keep sugar and alcohol intake moderate - eg a piece of cake at the weekend, or a glass of wine on a Saturday lunch time with friends. If you are reintroducing bread, rice, pasta etc it may be you just have them now and again eg if you love sushi have a sushi night, or a lasagne night, but try to keep the mountains of plants with each meal going. So even if you Deliveroo some sushi, order the edamame beans too. Load the lasagne with lots of different vegetables and beans for protein. Including lots of plants will make you feel fuller and keep feeding your microbiome lots of fibre and colour to reduce you getting cravings.

If you have more weight to lose, plan another chunk of time to do that in. You’ll come back motivated and excited to start the next piece of work.