The word “diet” used to mean “eating less” but now, it’s a myriad of 5:2 ratios, macronutrient quotas and blue zones.
Enter what could possibly be the simplest way to lose weight, that’s been tested on more than 1000 Australian men and women over five years with great results.
In fact it’s so simple, it doesn’t even have a catchy name yet, just four rules to live by:
1. Eat breakfast
2. Get takeaway no more than once a week
3. Take at least 10,000 steps per day
4. Watch no more than two hours of TV a day
The rules were developed by the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at the University of Tasmania and lead researcher Dr Kylie Smith told The Huffington Post Australia it was designed to be simple.
“There’s so much information out there at the moment and it often can be quite complicated,” Smith told HuffPost Australia.
“Something like 10,000 steps a day is an easy target, and most people can get a pedometre or use their phones these days.
“Then with TV we were looking at sedentary behaviour but we chose not to look at total screen time because then that would be quite strongly influenced by people’s jobs. We’re not telling people to change their job to avoid sedentary behaviour, it’s about following straightforward guidelines to avoid gaining weight.”
The study was part of a more than 8000-strong longitudinal study of people aged 26 at the start of the study.
“It’s quite common for young adults to gain weight and over the five years, most people in the study gained about 2 kg. People who followed all four guidelines gained the least amount of weight, and the more guidelines that weren’t followed, the more weight was gained.”
In terms of the biggest factors to follow in your own life, those who didn’t meet the 10,000 steps target gained 2.6kg more than those who did, and people who consistently had takeaway more than once a week gained an average of 1.9 kilos extra than those who didn’t.
“Over time you being to see the real advantages of following simple guidelines,” she said.
“It’s quite common for young adults to gain weight but it shows that by following healthy guidelines, you don’t have to.”