Who's The Daddy: Getting healthy and losing weight starts in the kitchen​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​, not the gym

Because the first three weeks in January are when people who overdid it during Christmas, New Year and beyond are under the sorely mistaken impression that they can burn it all off by signing up for a gym membership that’ll never see the light of day after Burns Night. It’s also why at this time of year there’s a 10-minute queue for most pieces of equipment.

Now, exercise is a very wonderful thing. As a species we’re designed to cover large distances very slowly. But back when we were cavemen we didn’t have access to a vending machine filled with chocolate, crisps and pop 10ft from our desk at work.

It’s not fair, the odds are stacked against us. Before Christmas every other advert on TV was for a sugary treat. Then, during mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, around the time the shops closed, the ads suddenly changed to healthy eating services which drop bags of ingredients off at your door for you to make lovely protein-rich, fibre-packed, low-carb and zero-sugar meals. Well, that and ads for package holidays, fitted kitchens and gyms.

And this is kind of the point. The starting point to getting healthy and losing weight is your kitchen, not the gym. This penny only dropped for yours truly two-and-a-bit years ago when after decades of eating and drinking whatever and whenever I felt like it, I was diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes. Looking back, the only shock about the diagnosis was that it came as a shock.

But all that running, all those spin classes, all those gym visits. Surely they count for something? Well, yeah. But no. Not really. It’s like trying to empty a bath with both taps still running. Futile and expensive.

A large pizza from the nation’s favourite takeaway chain has more than 2,000 calories in it. There aren’t enough hours in the day to burn all that off.

And here’s the advice that helped me drop 2st and get Type-2 diabetes into remission in four months… Eat plenty of protein and fibre, cut down on carbohydrates and cut out sugar.

Our bodies have two sources of energy, sugar and fat, and we burn all the sugar first. And the carbohydrates we eat turn to sugar, so we burn that first too. And despite half-killing yourself on a spin bike three times a week for a couple of months, when you zip up your coat you still look like an overstuffed sausage, or at least I did before the message finally got home.

If I had to lose weight and get healthy quickly again, this is what I’d do (did). Eat plenty of protein for breakfast (scrambled eggs, omelette), get as many steps in during the day as possible, then something like chicken salad with loads of leafy greens for lunch, baked fish and veggies for dinner and go for an hour-long fartwalk with the dog after that. Oh, and plenty of water. And 7-8 hours of sleep a night, it’s like medicine.

After a couple of weeks you’ll notice a difference, after a month or so other people will see a change and after three months they’ll be asking you how you did it.

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