I am a 20-year-old lady who wishes to lose weight. I have really tried everything from exercising to eating healthily, but it is not working. The other time I went for a week eating only cornflakes in the morning and starving during the day only to eat in the evening. I also resorted to jogging but these two things have surprisingly made me gain more weight. What can I do really? - Big Lucy

Dear Lucy

There are a lot of things to consider when you start planning on losing weight. You need to set up a good diet programme for yourself before anything else. You can actually lose weight with only a good diet if exercising is a big challenge.

Exercise plus a wrong diet will definitely make you gain weight. There is no point in exercising and eating fatty food afterwards.

To start with I suggest you do this little exercise: take a note pad and write down all the food you eat for a week. Check for all products with fat and more carbohydrates and aim to limit or eliminate those things.

Your body needs food even when you are trying to shed some weight, but it needs proper food for that. When you starve yourself the fat in your body simply holds on until that time you eat again, and when it takes in the food that makes the situation worse.

When exercising you need to drink a lot of water and make sure you are eating healthy food stuffs always. Your body will poke you to get something to eat because food is life, but you must avoid junk food and make sure you have something like fruits and pure juices ready with you.

Losing weight is not easy; a lot of people expect fast results when they are not doing much to deserve them. You need to push yourself when training and be cruel to yourself when craving for something you know will make you fat. Try it again but doing the right things. Good Luck. - Gracey