The right-weight eating and walking plan

No gyms, no food fads, no dodgy science - just the simplest, cheapest, most effective way to achieve the weight that's right for you...

 

What do most women want?

An easy, lifestyle-friendly way of keeping themselves fit, healthy and feeling great. What they don't want is to spend hard-earned cash on gyms they rarely visit or to sign up for restrictive slimming regimes they know they're likely to give up the minute they slip off the programme. That's why

Good Housekeeping has devised this easy-to-follow healthy living plan that combines two weeks of delicious new recipes with the most basic and effective exercise of all - walking.

 

Let's start with the food: eating well is vital for good health and will give you the energy you need for exercise. Planning what you eat and mapping out how to fit in your daily walking before you begin will ensure you're well prepared for some increased activity. But be warned - unless you're about to embark on some serious training for a marathon, getting active is not a green light to consume extra protein and huge amounts of carbohydrates. If you want to lose weight or prevent further weight gain, the quantity of food you eat matters as much as the quality.

 

The Good Housekeeping diet plan will give you around 1,600-1,800 calories a day, which for most people will lead to around 1kg (2lb) weight loss per week. Take a gentle approach to your healthier eating, however, and try not to be obsessed with calories - make the changes that are realistic for you and use the suggestions to modify your existing eating habits. The plan encourages you to explore new ingredients and tastes, but offers guidance on what is a good portion size, too.

 

Base your meals around different types of carbohydrates and include protein, fruits and vegetables, and dairy. The idea isn't to make eating an extreme sport, but to offer flexible mix-and-match menu ideas that fit into normal family life. Remember - over-restricting food will make you feel tired and unable to enjoy your walking. Your best approach is the 80:20 rule: follow the eating plan 80% of the time so you can enjoy a treat now and again, too.

 

Did you know?

Contrary to popular belief, walking won't make you eat more - in fact, it should help you stick to your healthy eating plan. Research shows that in the hours after exercising your appetite actually decreases because your body produces an increased number of hormones that send ‘full' signals to the brain.

 

● Walk briskly for half an hour most days of the week and you should lose a stone in weight over a year.

 

● Your metabolic rate remains elevated for a short time after each period of brisk walking so you'll continue to burn calories even when you stop.

 

● Exercising out-of-doors in green spaces has been shown to instantly improve feelings of self esteem.

 

● Daily walking can cut your risk of bowel and breast cancer from 30-50%, halve your risk of diabetes and heart disease and cut your risk of stroke by a third.

 

● For every mile you walk per week there's an estimated 13% reduction in the risk of declining brain function.

 

● Moderate activity like walking can be as successful at treating depression as anti-depressants.

 

● Brisk walking will burn the same number of calories per mile as running.

 

Click here for the breakfast and lunch menu plans

Click here for the evening meal recipes

Click here for the walking plan

 

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