What if I told you that the path to lasting fat loss doesn’t involve a single meal plan, a single food rule, or a single day of going hungry? That it doesn’t require you to eat 1,200 calories, cut out carbs, or spend an hour on the treadmill every morning?

I know that might sound too good to be true - especially if you’ve spent years cycling through diets that promised the world and delivered nothing lasting. But I’ve seen it work, over and over, with the women I coach. Not through deprivation. Not through punishment. Through a fundamentally different approach to how we nourish, move, and think about our bodies.

Sustainable fat loss is quieter than the diet industry wants you to believe. It’s slower. It’s less dramatic. And it actually lasts.

Why crash diets are the worst thing you can do for fat loss

Let’s start with what doesn’t work - because understanding this is the foundation of everything that follows.

Crash diets - whether they come in the form of juice cleanses, very low calorie plans, detox programmes, or extreme fasting - all share one thing in common: they create a severe energy deficit that your body cannot sustain. And when your body can’t sustain something, it fights back.

I’ve covered this in detail in my post on why diets don’t work, but the short version is this: when you dramatically cut calories, your metabolism slows, your muscle mass decreases, your hunger hormones surge, and your body becomes primed to store fat the moment you eat normally again. You might lose weight quickly, but it’s largely water and muscle - not fat. And when it comes back (as it almost always does), it comes back as fat.

Every crash diet leaves your metabolism a little more damaged than before. Every cycle makes the next one harder. This isn’t a willpower problem - it’s a biological one. And the solution isn’t to try harder at the same broken approach. It’s to try something entirely different.

Understanding your body’s energy needs

Before you can make meaningful changes, you need a basic understanding of how your body uses energy. Don’t worry - this doesn’t mean you need to count every calorie for the rest of your life. But having a rough sense of your body’s needs gives you a framework for making better decisions.

Your body has a basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the amount of energy it needs just to keep you alive, even if you stayed in bed all day. Breathing, circulation, cell repair, brain function - all of this requires fuel. For most women, this is somewhere between 1,200 and 1,600 calories, depending on your age, size, and body composition.

On top of that, there’s your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) - which adds in everything else: walking, working, exercising, cooking, fidgeting, thinking. Your TDEE is the total amount of energy you actually use each day.

I explain this in much more detail in my BMR and TDEE guide, but the crucial point is this: you should never eat below your BMR. Your body needs that energy just to function. When you eat below it, you’re telling your body there isn’t enough fuel to survive, and it responds accordingly - by slowing everything down and holding onto fat.

For sustainable fat loss, you want a modest deficit - eating slightly below your TDEE but comfortably above your BMR. That’s the sweet spot where your body can release fat without panicking.

Small changes that compound: the power of 1% shifts

This is the part the diet industry doesn’t want you to hear, because it’s not exciting and it’s not marketable: the most effective changes are the smallest ones.

I’m not talking about dramatic overhauls. I’m talking about shifts so small they barely register - but over weeks and months, they add up to something remarkable.

  • Adding a palm-sized portion of protein to each meal
  • Drinking a glass of water before every meal
  • Going for a 15-minute walk after dinner
  • Going to bed 30 minutes earlier
  • Swapping your afternoon biscuit for a handful of nuts and a piece of fruit
  • Eating sitting down, without your phone, and actually tasting your food

None of these sound revolutionary. None of them will get you a “before and after” photo in two weeks. But stack them together, maintain them consistently, and you will be astonished at where you are in six months.

Small changes compound. You don’t need a dramatic overhaul - you need a 1% shift you can actually maintain.

The women I work with are often surprised by this. They expect me to hand them a strict plan. Instead, I ask them what feels manageable. What’s one thing they could change this week? Not ten things. One. And we build from there.

Moving your body without dreading it

I’ve been an athlete for most of my life. I competed for Great Britain, trained for Ironman events, and have spent decades in the fitness world. And here’s what all of that experience has taught me: the best exercise is the one you’ll actually do.

Not the one a magazine told you burns the most calories. Not the one your friend swears by. Not the one that makes you feel sick with dread every time you think about it. The one you enjoy. The one you’ll keep doing.

For sustainable fat loss, you need two types of movement:

  • Resistance training - to build and maintain muscle, which drives your metabolism. This doesn’t have to mean a gym. Bodyweight exercises at home, resistance bands, light dumbbells - all of it counts. Two to three sessions per week is plenty to start.
  • Daily movement - walking is the most underrated fat loss tool there is. It burns calories without spiking cortisol (the stress hormone that promotes fat storage). It improves mood, supports digestion, and requires zero equipment. If you do nothing else, walk more.

If you haven’t exercised in a while, that’s completely fine. I’ve written a whole post about how to start exercising when it’s been years. There’s no judgement here - only a starting point.

Eating more, not less: the nourishment approach

This is the part that surprises people the most: most of the women I work with need to eat more, not less.

Years of chronic dieting have left many women eating far below what their bodies need. Their metabolisms have adapted to low-calorie intake, their muscle mass has decreased, and their bodies are clinging to fat stores because they’ve been in perceived starvation mode for years.

The fix isn’t to eat less. It’s to eat adequately - and strategically.

  • Prioritise protein. Protein supports muscle repair and growth, keeps you fuller for longer, and has a higher thermic effect (your body uses more energy to digest it). Aim for a palm-sized portion at every meal.
  • Don’t fear fat. Healthy fats from avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and oily fish are essential for hormone production, brain function, and satiety. Cutting fat doesn’t help fat loss - it hinders it.
  • Eat your carbs. Your brain runs on glucose. Your muscles need glycogen. Complex carbohydrates - whole grains, sweet potatoes, oats, fruits, legumes - provide sustained energy and keep you functioning at your best.
  • Eat enough vegetables. Fibre, vitamins, minerals, gut health - vegetables do it all. Fill half your plate. Your body will thank you.
  • Stay hydrated. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger. Drink water throughout the day - not just when you remember.

The goal isn’t perfection. There’s no “good” and “bad” food. There’s food that nourishes you more, and food that nourishes you less. Both have a place. The moment you stop labelling food as forbidden, the binge-restrict cycle loses its power.

Building a sustainable routine that fits your life

The reason most approaches fail isn’t that they’re wrong in theory - it’s that they don’t fit real life. A meal plan that requires you to prep five meals every Sunday might work for a fitness influencer with no children and a full-time cook, but for the rest of us? It’s unsustainable.

Sustainable change has to work within your life, not alongside it. That means:

  • Meals that are quick to prepare and that your family will eat too
  • Movement that slots into your existing schedule
  • Flexibility for busy days, holidays, social events, and the general unpredictability of life
  • No foods completely off limits
  • Room for imperfection without guilt

This is the approach we build together in F.L.A.M.E. Not a rigid plan, but a flexible framework that adapts to your life - because your life won’t stop to accommodate a diet, and it shouldn’t have to.

What real progress looks like (it’s not the scales)

If you only measure progress by the number on the scales, you’ll miss almost everything that matters.

Real, meaningful progress looks like:

  • Clothes fitting better - even when the scales haven’t moved
  • More energy throughout the day
  • Better sleep
  • Fewer cravings and a more stable appetite
  • Feeling stronger in your body
  • Improved mood and mental clarity
  • A calmer, kinder relationship with food
  • Not thinking about food all the time
  • Being able to eat a biscuit without it derailing your entire week

These changes are profound. They represent a shift in how your body functions, how your mind works, and how you relate to yourself. The scales can’t capture any of this. They measure the gravitational pull of your body mass - nothing more.

Body composition changes - gaining muscle while losing fat - can mean the scales don’t move at all while your body transforms. If you’re only watching that number, you’ll think nothing’s happening when in reality, everything is.

The best measure of progress is how you feel in your body - not what it weighs.

I’ve watched women cry with frustration at a number on the scales, completely missing the fact that their energy has doubled, their sleep has improved, their clothes are loose, and they feel stronger than they have in years. The scales lie. Your body doesn’t.

If you’re ready for a different approach - one that doesn’t revolve around deprivation, guilt, or another set of rules you can’t maintain - then I’d love to help. F.L.A.M.E is my holistic programme that brings together nutrition, movement, mindset, and lifestyle support for women who are done with quick fixes and ready for lasting change.

You don’t need another diet. You need an approach that respects your body, fits your life, and actually works. That’s what this is.