Do you feel the weight creeping on but find it hard to motivate yourself to do something about it? Do you struggle to find the time to plan out your meals and stick to a rigid and often complicated weight loss plan? Are you starting to think twice about ploughing yet more money into diets that never produce the results? Well you are certainly not alone. According to new research by Kellogg’s Special K seven in ten women diet every single year and with two-thirds of the population putting on an average of 7kg in the last five years.

People’s reasons for weight gain are varied with the top 5 reading as getting older, retiring, stopping smoking, having children and going to university. But with women in particular (74%) the desire to lose the weight is considerable. The difficulty is however finding the proven routes available to lose those unwanted pounds.

The Special K Slimmer Jeans Challenge is now in it’s 6th year. Last year 3.3 million women took part, eating a bowl of Special K for breakfast, having another for lunch or dinner with a nutritionally balanced third meal for two weeks. And according to global research, up to 3 in 4 people got slimmer after 2 weeks. Scientists concluded that the majority of this was due to fat loss. This kick-start is for thousands of women the impetus they need to get on the track towards success.

This year a new site www.shapemate.co.uk has launched to provide people with all the tools and tailored support needed for success including fitness videos, meal planners and a network of fellow shapemate challengers to provide encouragement and share their advice and experiences.

So why not join the thousands who’ve successfully taken the Slimmer Jeans Challenge?

International fitness trainer Steve Barrett, nutritionist Rimi Obra-Ratwatte and Slimmer Jeans challenger Katie Kirk join our presenter Lis Speight in the studio for an exclusive webchat live online.

They will be on hand to give you easy to implement advice on how move into an easy-to-maintain lifestyle that will keep you looking good and feeling great.

For more information visit www.shapemate.co.uk

H: Lis Speight, host
R: Rimi Obra, nutritionist
S: Steve Barratt, fitness trainer
K: Katy Kirk, Slimmer Jeans Challenger

H: Hello and welcome to the Lifestyle Show, I’m Lis Speight. Now with every new year come the new year resolutions and many of us are sure to be looking at how we can get healthier, but find it hard to get motivated. Are you one of those who struggle to find the time to plan out your meals and stick to a rigid and often complicated diet plan? Well, you’re certainly not alone. According to new research by Kellogg's Special K, seven in ten women diet every single year and two-thirds of us put on an average of 7kg in the last five years. That sounds an awful lot, doesn’t it? Well joining me today to talk about this and more is a man whose used to whipping people into shape, international fitness trainer Steve Barratt, welcome along Steve

S: Hello there

H: Nutritionist Rimi Obra

R: Hello

H: Hello. And a lady whose recently succeeded where many of us have failed, Katy Kirk looking slim and trim

K: Hi. Thank you very much

H: Happy new year to all of you guys

R: Happy new year

H: Thanks very much for coming in. now we are live today so if you’d like to get your questions into our experts about nutrition, exercise, keeping slim and trim then do get them into us, all you have to do is to type your name and your question that’s in the box that’s on the screen. Press submit and it’ll come through to us here in the studio and we’ll try to get them answered for you as quickly as we can. Now there has been this new research done Rimi, that shows that we’re a bit obsessed really as a nation about dieting. Tell us a little bit about that

R: Yes it’s really no surprise I suppose if you think about it, as women we’re constantly bombarded aren’t we, in the media from images on the front of magazines, celebrities are everywhere being a size zero, on the red carpet, so people have got a bit of a distorted view on what their body shape should be, and they’re aspiring to these tiny stick-thin figures which really isn’t healthy

H: That’s not realistic, we can’t all look like that can we? We’re not built like that

R: Absolutely and for many people or most people it’s actually not a healthy body weight to be either, it’s as unhealthy to be severely underweight as it is to be overweight, so I think people just need to get a bit of a reality check on actually what is healthy and get their body image sort of right as well

H: Yes. So how do we kick this diet cycle though and kick start our new year into a healthier and happier new year?

R: I think January is one of those months isn’t it, when we’ve all indulged a bit over Christmas, even nutritionists like myself had a mince pie too many, and I think it’s getting back into a routine, and actually dropping the word “diet” from your vocabulary

H: Yes

R: And just getting into healthy eating and healthy activity

H: Ok. Now Katie you are a bit of a shining example aren’t you?

K: Thank you very much, that’s nice of you to say so

H: Because you did the Slimmer Jeans Challenge, Special K’s Slimmer’s Jeans Challenge

K: I did

H: Tell us why you decided to do that, and what exactly is it?

K: Well it appealed most of all because it’s accessible, it wasn’t so much a fixed diet with specific food stuffs, it was something that was easy, I wanted to tone up and start a healthier lifestyle, but I wanted it to be something that didn’t impact on my family, buying specialist foods

H: Right, so you weren’t cooking meals for you and cooking meals for them?

K: Exactly. We wanted to keep out, we’re very good at eating altogether in the evenings, that had to stay, but I needed it to fit round my exercise classes, I work from home, so it needed to be flexible too, and I literally read it on the back of a cereal packet, and I thought I’m going to try that, what have I got to lose?

H: Yes. And what did you lose?

K: I can’t say

H: Oh you’re not allowed – but you felt much better

K: I lost a few pounds but more importantly it set the bar for a healthier lifestyle involving exercise, involving fresh air and friendship, and healthy eating all in one and it made me really think about how I interact with food. And I wasn’t eating for comfort, I was eating because my body needed nutrition, and I got more energy from it, I had compliments from friends and family, even my cynical husband, and it worked very well for me. It was easy to implement and it’s ongoing. It did kick-start me but it made me think more about food, what we do, how we do it, the shape that suits us in terms of who we are

H: So tell us exactly what the challenge is, sort of how it works?

K: The challenge itself, basically two bowls of cereal twice a day for two weeks, and you have great flexibility in that you can have your bowl at breakfast, you can have it at lunch or you can have it at breakfast or in the evening, to suit your own lifestyle. And then you have a nutritionally balanced third meal in the day, and you can snack as well, I had Special K cereal bars, I had fruit, I had carrots, peppers

H: Yes we’ve got some of those down there

K: Yes absolutely

H: And they’re all something you really need in the new year because you just feel like you’ve been so toxified with sort of alcohol and chocolate and what have you

K: There is that but I also think the new year in January is license to start afresh

H: Yes

K: It’s for all of us it’s a psychological shift into doing something new and different and good habits, breeding good habits

H: Yes. And good habits include exercise as well

K: Absolutely

H: And Steve we are going to be talking a little bit about exercise a little bit later on

S: Sure

H: But let’s stick with nutrition while we’re on it, because we have some questions in on that actually, and Gillian says “do you have any recipes for nutritionally-balanced meals? I cook for myself quite a lot” – which is good – “but celebrity chef cookbooks seem to often have recipes that sound great but are loaded with hidden salt and sugar” – and fats a lot of them as well really. So how do you get that sort of meal, because if you’re having your two bowls of Special K, how do you – do you make sure you’ve got that nutritionally balanced meal?

R: You’re absolutely right, I think for so many people they really struggle with that third nutritionally balanced meal, and what does nutritionally balanced actually mean?

H: What does it mean? Yes

R: And can it taste good and of course it can, it’s about making sure you fill yourself up with lots of vegetables in your meal, making sure your plate’s piled high, you have a source of protein like fish or chicken, or if you’re vegetarian something like tofu or eggs, and that you have something starchy there too, don’t deny yourself carbohydrate, fill up on a jacket potato or rice or couscous, pasta, these kinds of foods, and there’s a load of recipes we’ve put on Shapemate.co.uk

H: Right

R: In the section there

H: This is the website, which is brilliant actually isn’t it?

R: Super. Some of the recipes have even been generated by people who have done the challenge as well

H: Right

R: Which is fantastic, and especially with the weather as it is, you know this week, you want something warming and cosy, so there’s lots of nice hot suppers and lunches on there to keep you inspired, and keep you motivated

H: Ok, good stuff. So if you go onto the website you can have a look at those, we’ll give you the address at the end. And another question in now from Tilly who says “once I’ve completed the challenge, fingers crossed” – good luck with that Tilly – “what do I do to keep it up after two weeks, won’t I just pile on the pounds again?”

K: Can I butt in here? I don’t think you do because I think during the course of the challenge it’s making you think about what you’re eating and why you’re eating, and those, in the very act of thinking about that, makes you re-think what you’re going to do afterwards, and your confidence is so boosted by what you’ve achieved in those two weeks, which is a relatively short period of time, to see some results

H: Yes

K: That you don’t slip back into bad habits because it isn’t a diet as such

H: No

K: It’s just a way of keeping yourself happy with your shape and cutting the intake really, so I think the motivation will come from seeing the difference it makes in those two weeks

H: Yes

K: And you can always start it again

H: That’s right yes

K: You can carry it on

H: If you just need to – I don’t know, if your jeans are feeling a bit tighter, you just do it for a couple of weeks and it –

K: Yes exactly

H: And it gets you into that habit doesn’t it? But you were talking about feeling happy with the shape that’s right for you – BMI – everyone hears about that don’t they, you’ve got to have the right BMI in order to be able to do this challenge. Rimi, explain to us what your BMI is and how you work it out?

R: Yes of course. I mean to decode this term “BMI” that so many people use, especially nutritionists like myself – BMI actually stands for body mass index, and what it is, is a calculation of your height and your weight

H: Right

R: so really it’s the overall body shape. Now these come in figures, and if your figure is over 25, it actually means that you’re overweight, and really it’s only people who are overweight should participate in our Kick-start challenge, so that if you are going to keep doing it again, it should only be when you are overweight, it’s only for two weeks, it’s only a Kick-start, and what happens is you become a bit more conscious about the foods that you’re eating

H: Right

R: The types and the amounts, so it’s a good way of getting back into a routine, especially after something like Christmas

H: Right. Sort of getting your body back into thinking healthily again and getting rid of all those toxins and – getting rid of a little bit of extra weight as well if you’re lucky

R: I think just sort of clicking out of those bad habits, so over the Christmas period you might have been used to maybe having, you know, more chocolate after dinner or sort of having biscuits every morning, whereas you wouldn’t have normally

H: That’s my life! But we do though, you do because there’s more stuff around the house, and Christmas cake

R: That’s right

H: And you think well I’ll just finish up that and then I’ll start

R: Yes

H: So it’s a good idea to shove everything in the bin, or give it to the neighbours or something

R: Absolutely yes

H: And start again

R: And start afresh

K: I also think it’s more personal as well, because for me it’s, we have so many resources at our disposal, but we also have demands on our time, people want different things from us at different stages, and if you can just put your ring fence a little bit of time for yourself to do what you want and to put a bit of control back in there, that works really well at a psychological level

H: Yes

K: You know you’re taking yourself seriously so you can be better for everybody else

H: That’s a good point. And you’ve done it so you obviously realise that it’s –

K: I have done it –

H: It has made a big impact on –

K: It does work. It did make a big impact

H: But it’s not just about nutrition is it?

K: Absolutely not

H: Steve, bringing you in here – we do need to move ourselves a little bit as well don’t we, because that’s all going to help

S: We do, and we always hear about new year’s resolutions and the gymnasiums are packed out in January, and then everybody gives up by the end of the month, and I think that what goes wrong with these resolutions is that everybody kind of goes from zero to everything

H: Yes

S: In far too much of a hurry. And what we need to do is we kind of need to re-evaluate what we term “exercise”. You know exercise can be very, very scientific, and if you’re talking about Olympic athletes and people who are trying to perform to a very high standard then yes, you have to be very, very scientific with the type of activity that you’re doing, but for the majority of people, what we need to do is get them a little bit more active, and find ways of building activity into everyday life

H: Right

S: Now as a personal trainer everybody thinks that I spend my day shouting at people and dragging them around –

H: Surely not

S: And making them do really, really hard exercises. Well I do do that with some people but it’s because they’ve reached a level where their body can actually absorb that type of activity

H: Right, so they’re at a higher level then really –

S: Yes

H: If you start off slowly –

S: Absolutely, you know the reason a lot of people get put off exercise is because they have a bad experience, and that’s because they kind of said to themselves right I’m going to go running, or go jogging or something, and they open the door, they think that everybody’s watching them, they race out onto the street and run at maximum speed, and by the end of the road they’re worn out, because their body’s kind of gone into shock. So what they’ve actually got to do is be much more realistic, and say to themselves do you know what, start with, I’m just going to walk a little bit faster than I normally do. You will be amazed how it feels

H: Put your trainers on because then you feel like you’re doing something

S: Yes

K: And go with a friend, go with a friend – I find it easier if I’m with a friend, for motivation and for being sociable, and as a buddy to keep you going

H: Yes

K: Keep you through it

H: That’s right. But Steve, everyday life, things get in the way don’t they of us doing exercise, and there’s always a good excuse for not doing it. What’s your advice on that?

S: Well again it comes down to your perception of exercise, because if you think to yourself I have to fit in an hour or two hours of exercise every single day, then there’s a lot of people who are going to say I just don’t have that amount of time spare, you know you’ve got children, you’ve got to work and so on and so on. So finding that time as one big chunk might be really difficult for people, so what I like to get my clients to do is to say ok, let’s find little opportunities to build more activity into your everyday life

H: Right

S: They think I’m joking when I tell them, if you’re going to drive to the supermarket, park in the furthest car park space from the door, because you’re going to walk there, and walk back again. And they think I’m joking. We hear the standard things like, you know take the stairs, don’t take the elevator, get off the bus earlier and so on, but little things like that do actually accumulate and make a big, big difference

H: If you’re doing it every day as well, different things

S: Yes, really, really does, and another one that makes people giggle when they say oh that can’t make any difference, and I’d feel stupid if I did that, is sort of like every time a commercial break comes on when you’re watching TV in the evening, get down, do some of the exercises that we’ve got on Shapemate.co.uk

H: So you’ve got some of these modules actually on the website

S: Totally. We’ve got a series of modules, but we’ve also got individual exercises which target specific areas of the body

H: And I think we can take a look at one of those actually, we’ve got a little sneak peak for you. Take a look at this

Video Footage

“You might think that exercise is something you need to do for hours on end, but it’s amazing what you can achieve by just doing little short bursts of activity. Think about it, you start from the upper body and work your way down through your shoulders, your spine, your hips, your knees, your ankles till we elevate our heart rate to make our heart pump a little bit faster, and get the blood around our system. You’re actually going to affect every single muscle and every single joint right down through your body. And re-energise, revitalise, all of those muscles. So what you need to do is make time to fit activity into your everyday life. You can make it fun and be really productive.”

H: Well that looks quite good fun, I think I might give that a go when I get home. It’s better than watching the boring old adverts, isn’t it? Or going to get a chocolate biscuit in the ad break which is what most people do don’t we?

R: Absolutely

H: So Steve you could do that in front of the telly, what about at work? Can you try and incorporate things at work, people think you’re a bit bonkers?

S: Well it’s amazing isn’t it, I mean the only thing is if you’re the only person doing this then people might look at you and think what on earth are they doing over there? But what I like to encourage people to do is to kind of say to themselves look, if I’m sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day, my posture is going to be seriously affected. Now if your posture’s affected

H: We’ll all sit up now won’t we?

S: Did you notice that? Rimi was already doing it, everybody got about 3 inches taller then! But there’s some really, really simple things. Guys just put your feet flat on the floor, sit yourself up, lift up your ribs, lift up, roll your shoulders back

H: This feels quite – I’m clicking. Clicking –

S: Set yourself a little alarm to actually do that, or a little mental note so that every 20 or 30 minutes you take a little posture break. If you open up those lungs you’re going to send more oxygen around your system, your brain’s going to be more alert and your muscles are going to feel better. So there’s really, really simple things, and hey, if the whole office did it

H: Yes

S: You wouldn’t feel so silly

H: No exactly. And particularly if you’ve got women around you, which a lot of people work in offices with other women don’t they, and if you all had a little gang of you that were doing it together

K: Well I work from home so I’m listening with interest at this –

H: Oh of course

K: Because I work from home so I often look stupid in my office. I’m often sitting up, swivelling round, taking a break, so for me it works really well and as you say it can be rolled out along –

S: It’s the accumulative affect, because people are always thinking I’ve got to get my kit on, I’ve got to go to the gym or whatever –

K: You don’t need any of those, that’s right

S: And that’s not what it’s all about, it’s all about taking account of the little bits of activity that you can do throughout the day

K: And fresh air’s free. For now!

S: Fresh air’s free, yes

H: Bit chilly, but there we go

S: It might be cold but as soon as you get moving you’ll warm up

H: You’ve got to move quickly if it’s cold haven’t you?

S: Yes

H: Now we’ve had a question in from Beth actually, she says “I’ve had my gym membership for the last 5 years and,” (5 years – goodness, and she never ends up going), “I work quite long hours, so when the weekend comes the last thing I want to do is to go for a run. How can I make sure I get enough exercise without paying for a gym, and how can I get motivated?” Steve you must be good at motivating people?

S: Well what I tell, say to her in the first place, is go to the gym and say to the instructors, hey guys, give me a bit of attention here, because that’s kind of what she’s been paying for

H: Yes exactly

S: So you know, if she wants to persevere with a gym and get her money’s worth, then that’s great, but in terms of motivation, what I like to do to people is say why are we doing this? You know, if we’re just going to go out and do exercise week after week after week, with no real objective, it is going to get difficult for anybody, so we need to set ourselves some long term goals, and then break them down into achievable little chunks

H: Right

S: Now goals can mean many, many things to different people. What it may be about a specific weight, it might be the fact you’re getting married or you’re going on holiday and you want to look great on the beach. Or, have you seen how many new charity races there are around the country?

H: Yes. There’s lots actually

S: There’s so many that go on throughout the year, and they start off with like 5k,

K: Race for Life

S: Which is about 3 ½ miles – Race for Life, there you go

H: You see Katie’s done it, Race for Life, who knew?

K: I have done it for 4 or 5 years

H: Well done

K: And I’ve done it with my daughters and we really enjoy it, but what’s really gratifying is you get a group buzz from doing it, and as you were saying it’s little things

S: Have you done the training programs?

K: De de de – let’s move on! I did it really, with a wholehearted effort, and I think you see people running it, you see people with their children, you see very moving people with messages on their backs, it’s all about doing it together but at the same time I think I’m a great believer in exercising together if you possibly can, and if you can’t, then you have a personal trainer

S: Well you know I developed the programs for that race series in fact

K: Oh I have a question, right

S: And the great thing about it is it is a very achievable thing to do, so what you do is you say ok these things, I’m going to aim to do it in September or August, it’s quite a few months away, so today what we say to ourselves is I don’t want to run 5k, or 13 miles, or 26 miles for a marathon, I’m going to set myself a nice, easy, achievable goal that in a month’s time I can run around the block. Make it really, really achievable, and that’s what you know, setting yourself little goals and little targets are all about, and that’s a really, really kind of scientific fact which has been established many, many times, and it sounds so simple, if you write down your goals, you’re much more likely to achieve them

H: Yes that’s true, and then you can tick them off and cross them out, we all like doing that don’t we?

S: You start with a big picture and then you carve it up into achievable little slots, so you know if you said to someone do you want to be able to do press-ups? Press-up is a really challenging exercise, so what you do is you start with an easier version of press-ups and work your way towards it. It’s all about making it achievable and not scaring yourself off. People have got the perception that exercise has to be really, really difficult or it’s not effective. That’s simply not true. Cardio-vascular exercise will be a benefit if you’re just a little bit out of breath

H: So everyone can have a go then. Let’s move on to some more of your questions actually because we’re running out of time. Gina’s sent one in, she says “I’m one of those people whose continuously on a diet” – tell me about it. I’ve tried so many different regimes but when I’m at work in front of the computer I find it difficult to stick to it. My team at work are always snacking, and buying chocolates and sweets for the table,” – and cakes and things for birthdays and things don’t they? “How can I stop being tempted?” Rimi, maybe one for you

R: I think it’s a great question, I think many people have got that problem, and question actually, and I think that the most important thing to say is that snacking can still be healthy and good for you as part of a b lanced diet. It’s really what you’re snacking on, and thinking ahead before you leave the house in the morning and maybe carrying something with you, so that when everyone else is tucking into a slice of cake, you’ve got something with you that you can still enjoy

H: That’s nice but isn’t loaded with calories

R: Absolutely and actually we’ve got some examples here. Special K have got some fantastic snacks actually. We’ve got some great cereal bars with some fruit and chocolate chips, and you’ve still got that taste of chocolate, let’s face it we all love a bit of chocolate, especially in the afternoon, and we’ve also got something called Special K mini breaks which are great little bags of kind of biscuit-type snacks

H: Which you can just munch on, you feel like you’re having something

R: Which – you’re at your desk with your computer and you want something, just for that almost emotional break maybe at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and you’re wanting something with your cup of tea, that’s a great snack to choose. Fruit and vegetables are the ultimate fast food in that you can just carry them with you and take them wherever you go. Taking a banana, an apple in your bag before you leave the house in the morning. So it’s really planning ahead and making sure that you look at the types of snacks and making sure you enjoy them

H: Yes exactly, because if it’s just you’re having a boring old carrot and you’re having it every single day, you’re going to get fed up of that aren’t you?

R: Yes

H: But getting your friends on board as well I think is really useful, because if everyone knows that you’re dieting and you’re friends are sort of eating chocolate in front of you, well that’s really rotten isn’t it? But you can actually join the ShapeMate can’t you and everyone works together

R: And I would actually say that you know it’s not about dieting, in fact it’s just about eating healthily and maybe get your whole team into maybe a kitty and you get a fruit bowl on that table, so that everybody starts to eat healthily, and you’re not a person on a diet, you’re just somebody whose catalysing everybody else

H: And whose eating healthily

R: Eating healthily

H: We’ve got some of your meal planners up here actually, these are on the website as well

R: Absolutely

H: There’s loads on there, loads of recipes and all sorts of stuff

R: Hundreds of recipes, yes, from you know curries to soups to salmon suppers, whatever your taste and your preference is, so that maybe you’re cooking a large amount for the whole family to enjoy, and then everyone’s benefitting

K: And also, sorry to interrupt, I’m just thinking, it wasn’t difficult to eat out either, I found that these days because people are thinking about what they eat and how they eat, lots of the main restaurants have talked about doing different menus, and light versions, and it’s not difficult to find somewhere to eat out, so it shouldn’t stop you having fun doing this regime

H: But – we’re nearly out of time actually but just trying to get in about motivating yourself really and keeping all your friends on board, you did the Shape Mate thing didn’t you?

K: I did, yes

H: Just explain to us what that is and how it helped you?

K: Well it’s essentially following the challenge because you’re part of the community, and this new resource is fantastic for recipes, planning exercises, those sorts of things

H: Yes

K: And working together for the better good. Whatever your shape

H: There’s a forum on there isn’t there, you can go on –

K: There’s a forum

H: It’s free to join, you go on the forum and sign up for it, and it just gives you loads of inspiration doesn’t it?

K: Making the most of your shape, whatever that shape is

H: Yes ok, well look that’s all we’ve got time for I’m afraid, so Steve, Katie, Rimi, thanks so much for coming in and talking to us about that

K: Thank you

H: And that’s all we have time for today, we hope you’ve enjoyed it, and if you’d like further advice personalised to you, and for support reaching your goal, then you can check out the website which is www.shapemate.co.uk, and good luck with keeping your new year’s resolutions, thanks very much for joining us. Bye bye for now.

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