Mikey Moon's health and fitness column: Choose a diet you can maintain

Of course there is a place for aggressive dieting. It can be necessary for you if you are starting out or have a lot of weight to lose initially, but for the most part dieting should not be such hard work.

If you are having a real problem with your compliance to a certain plan, it is maybe time to address whether that plan is for you in the first place.

Anyone can stick to a diet for three days, but if you are struggling after that you are barking up the wrong tree.

The main issue with dieting is that people usually try to get rid of too much weight at once.

They stop drinking, stop eating chocolate and go full- blown cold turkey – not the healthiest approach, especially if you have trouble dieting.

I use a flexible dieting approach with my clients and it is amazing to see how successful it has been over the years.

Rather than having set meals to eat, they have set calories to eat instead.

I always say that 90 per cent of those calories should be from single-ingredient foods, but if a glass of wine or a chocolate bar can be comfortably contained in those calories, then why do you need to drop them out?

The key here is moderation. You don’t need to have four chocolate bars when one will be enough.

If you control and moderate the food you consume, this will set you up for an overall healthier diet, not just nutritionally but also mentally.

Do the work and then enjoy the process.

Fortitude Fitness is on the Poulton Industrial Estate, Beacon Road. Visit www.fortitudefit.co.uk for more details.

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