My Secret to being and staying slim

I LIMIT MEALS AT THE RESTAURANT TO THE MINIMUM. You can eventually have a healthy breakfast if you limit it to cucumbers, tomatoes and an omelette. But it is really difficult to eat healthy at lunch or dinner, because personally I am still hungry after a salad. That is why I try to avoid business meetings at this time.

I ENJOY MY FOOD. I have never been into calorie counting, I have absolutely no idea about how many calories there are in an apple or that huge cup of frozen yoghurt. I know what is healthy and what isn’t though, and that is all I care about.

I NEVER DIET. I have never been on a diet in my whole life. I used to have a higher body fat percentage when I lived in Switzerland. This is because I don’t eat much bread and pasta anymore since the mediterranean diet offers such a huge variety of vegetable dishes.

I EAT LOTS. I eat tons of food, ask my boyfriend! He is always shocked again when he sees the amounts of food I can eat. But then I eat mostly healthy stuff of course.

NO FOOD IS BAD. You can eat everything, but you should be careful about the quantities. You can eat tons of salad and vegetables while you should eat only one piece of cheesecake or chocolate.

I DON’T ACT UNDER GROUP PRESSURE. I never order a glass of wine for lunch, just because the person I am with ordered. I also don’t eat cake at every birthday party I am invited to with my kids. I decide if I feel like eating or drinking, no one else.

I SLEEP LOTS. I literally can observe myself eating more food when I am sleep deprived. Research is showing that lack of sleep has hormonal effects that create weight gain and divert your appetite to high-calorie foods.

I AM RELAXED. When I eat pizza or indulge in sweets, I never feel guilty. I deserve to eat whatever I want since I eat clean most of the time and work out hard. I enjoy and go back to normal the next day.

I DON’T DRINK FRUIT JUICE OR DIET BEVERAGES. I drink lots of water and in winter I love to make herbal teas. I prefer to eat the whole fruit to drinking just the juice because the fibres get all trashed. When I was pregnant with Zoe, I stopped drinking Diet coke, my body didn’t want it anymore.

I DON’T WEIGH MYSELF. I don’t have a scale at home and it wouldn’t even occur to me to weigh myself at the gym. It may be a good motivation for people who start losing weight. But after a while you won’t lose weight anymore, you may even put on some kilos because muscles are heavier than fat.

I WALK EVERYWHERE. I literally walk everywhere: to the gym, to the coffee shop or to the shopping mall. I love it because I get fresh air, observe interesting things and don’t get bored like on the thread mill.

I WORK OUT WHENEVER I CAN. I work out 4-6 times a week. Working out is my priority, that’s why I manage to squeeze some gym time into my schedule no matter what. I cannot help it, it’s my drug – I feel so happy when I can train.