To maintain a healthy weight you need to give a little push. The following will aid your decision on living a healthy lifestyle.

FOCUS ON YOUR FOOD

It is very easy to overeat while on the go or sitting in front of a screen, easy takeaways and street foods. Thinking about what you’ve eaten and how much you consume while on the go might be a great start to healthy you.

Slow down, eat slowly. Eating slowly while sitting at a table is a surprisingly effective way to eat less

WHAT IS IN YOUR DRINK?

It is a well-known fact that alcohol, fizzy drinks and energy drinks are high in calories and sugar. Swapping your drinks to water might be a better option.

If you find water to be unpalatable to your taste buds, while not mix it up, try adding lemon to your water.

Make water your first choice before any other form of drinks and your gut will be happy.

KEEP TO YOUR MEAL TIME ROUTINE

Research has shown that eating at roughly the same time each day aid weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. Whether you have your breakfast at 7 or 2, stick to the routine, try to eat the same time every day.

Pick an eating pattern to fit your daily routine. Check in at the end of the day to see how you got on.

CHECK YOUR FAT INTAKE

High-calorie fatty foods can make you gain weight easily. Fast food, butter, cream and some meat might add to your weight gain. Change to good fat, choose healthy fats, go for plants oils such as olive or rapeseed oil, nuts and oily fish instead.

WALK OFF THE FAT

Try walking for half an hour every day. At the end of the week, you would have done three and a half hours walk.

Try reaching 10,000 steps each day. This might sound a lot, but start small and work on increasing the number each day. Use a pedometer or your phone app to help track your steps.

Walking up the escalator, taking the stairs or getting off one bus stop earlier all add up.

THINK OF YOUR SNACK

Snacking is a great way to wade off hunger before the real meal, but, what do you snack on?

Having healthy options on standby helps you dodge chocolate, crisp and all other unhealthy snacks.

Pack healthy choices like plain yoghurt, fresh fruits or a handful of plain nuts. This will keep you going for longer.

PORTION CONTROLLING.

How much you eat is as important as what you eat. Overindulging on healthy foods results in weight gain.

Thinking about how much you eat is important. Get the right food in the right amount.

Fill half of your plate with colourful vegetables, fill a quarter with high fibre whole grain food like brown rice or whole wheat pasta and fill the remaining quarter with protein such as fish, fresh chicken, pulses like beans and lentils.

SITTING DOWN LESS

Sitting less and standing more has more benefit to the health of your body beyond weight loss.

Break up sitting time. Stand more anywhere, anytime – on the bus, on the train, during an outing with friends, while on the phone or during TV advert.

REMEMBER YOUR 5-A-DAY

Including fruits and vegetable at every meal makes it easier to get your 5-a-day. Fruits, vegetables and pulses don’t always have to be fresh- frozen, fresh, dried, tinned are all good for you.

CHECK YOUR FOOD LABELS

Food labels can help you compare packaged foods and pick options higher in fibre and lower in fat, salt and sugar.

Look out for red, amber and green colour-codes on food labels. The more green you see on the labels, the healthier the choice is.

Find out more at http://www.nhs.uk/.foodlabels