Newbie - will I stick to it this year?

[DRS54]

Hi, I started this week. I am a 62 year old female, like playing tennis (after a fashion), but unfortunately eating and drinking, too. Following my retirement in 2011, I have stayed stable in weight at around 82kg, but I want to lose at least 12 of these to get to a healthy weight. I eat relatively healthily, but love chocolates, wine and cheese, so just looking for encouragement to make the right choices more often. (I gained all the weight over a 19-year- period in a sedentary job, gaining is much easier than losing!)

[PhilFreeToAsk]

What an opportunity you have as a retired person to investigate healthy eating and explore new foods. May I suggest that you consider what a healthy diet should be and steer your current diet in that direction.

If you want a few simple rules:

• Cut out or drastically reduce your sugar intake. Eat complex carbs rather than refined. If you eat chocs go for 70%+ dark chocolate.

• Aim to increase the amount of vegetables and fruit that you eat. You should be eating more than the recommended 5 a day (this figure is much higher in other countries).

• Avoid diet drinks they don't work. Yesterday on the radio, I heard university researcher suggesting that diet drinks may increase weight.

Phil