Yes You Can! Nicki & Amanda’s weight-loss advice

TV health gurus Nicki Waterman and Amanda Ursell are here to help you stay in shape with the latest news and advice

I did it!

Name: Delia Nichols
Age: 31
Before: 16st, size 18
After: 12st, size 12
Height: 5’9”

Delia, a personal assistant from Crystal Palace in London, realised her office job wasn’t helping her weight. ‘We had loads of “goodies”, like chocolate. I was studying for a degree at the same time and the temptation to tuck in was overwhelming – I felt like I needed the energy. Yet eating that stuff made me feel even more tired, and I felt guilty about putting on pounds. Because I was studying and working, I never felt as though I had time to go to the gym.’

Amanda says: ‘Delia used to have a croissant on the way to work and a big bowl of high-sugar cereal mid-morning. She followed this with a cheese sandwich with crisps and a chocolate bar at lunch and another chocolate bar and 250g bag of peanuts mid-afternoon. She had a ‘home time’ snack of two slices of toast and butter with a large fruit juice, and then a dinner of rice and chicken followed with two slices of toast and butter with a hot chocolate at bedtime.
She traded all of this in for a pre-planned set of meals for the day, which included having fruit to hand to avoid the snacks at work. For breakfast, Delia had a thick, filling smoothie packed with fruit. At lunchtime, she would have salmon salad with a banana or orange. Mid-afternoon she had a high-protein shake and then baked chicken with loads of vegetables for dinner. These changes reduced her calories by around 2000 a day, which helped lead to a rapid loss of excess weight, while keeping her energy levels stable and mood buoyant, leaving her still able to concentrate at work and when studying.’ 

Nicki says: ‘I advised Delia to take fitness breaks so that rather than hanging out in the canteen with coffee or a snack, she took a brisk walk or did some gentle stretching. I also suggested that she swap her office chair for a fitness ball to help to improve her balance and tone her core muscles while sitting at her desk. Meanwhile, to tone up Delia did regular glute squeezes. She could do these while sitting or standing by squeezing the muscles of her bottom for 10 seconds, then relaxing and to do this every hour throughout the day. It was also important for Delia to fit walking into her commute and to always choose the stairs rather than using a lift whenever practical.’

Delia says: ‘I feel fantastic and so much fitter now I can slot exercise into my day.’

Amanda’s Tip
Scientists have caught up with what our grans knew all along – that eggs have health-boosting properties. So impressed were the researchers of a study in Nutrition & Food Science, they have called for eggs to be named a superfood. Here are five other foods to add to your shopping list: 

- Potatoes An average 175g portion of boiled new potatoes gives you 26mg of vitamin C – almost half your RDA. They will also bump up your fibre, supplying 2g of your 18g RDA. And all this for just 131 calories per serving!
- Apples Apples contain quercetin, a strong antioxidant which helps kill viruses. Avoid peeling as it sits under the skin. -
- Prunes Dried prunes are rich in anthocyanins which helps strengthen the blood vessel walls. They also help ease constipation.
- Baked beans Made from haricot beans, a great source of soluble fibre which helps lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
- Mushrooms A source of selenium – crucial for fighting pollutants – and rich in copper, a mineral we need to make the melanin that helps to protect our skin from sun damage. Shiitake and maitake mushrooms are rich in lentinan, a nutrient which research suggests may help boost immunity.
TRIED & TESTED:
Jo Wheatley tries: ViPR
Lifting a coloured tube didn’t sound like it would be too taxing but, keen to try out the UK’s latest fitness craze, ViPR – pronounced “viper” – I headed to my nearest Virgin Active Health Club. On first appearances, the array of weighted, coloured rubber tubes – which are about a metre high – looked pretty harmless, not to mention basic. My instructor informed me that ViPR is the first weight trainer to work out entire groups of muscles at once, rather than each one in isolation – which can be tedious and cause injuries.
Still sceptical, I watched as he demonstrated three basic moves – although there are hundreds to choose from, as the tube can be carried, dragged, thrown, flipped, stepped on and rolled to burn calories and build muscle.
Then it was my turn to pick up the 4kg tube and do a series of squats, holding it in front of me – and it wasn’t as easy as I thought. The next exercise was a skater-type move, which involved quick-stepping from side to side, while simultaneously swinging the tube to each side of your body – I was starting to break out into a sweat now. For the last move, I swung the tube from over my head to down between my legs. The instructor suggested I move up to a 6kg tube (I left the 20kg tube to the Arnie-types). Three sets of each exercise later, I was more than ready to throw in the towel – who knew that a simple tube could make your body work so much?
Michol Dalcourt, the inventor of ViPR, who has also trained Olympic medal-winning athletes, certainly knows his stuff – and can add one more fan to his growing list.

- ViPR sessions are available at selected Virgin Active Health Clubs nationwide (www.virginactive.co.uk)