ARE YOU A STYLE JUNKIE?

Here’s a quick test to find out if you are becoming a style junkie...

• Do you sport at least five high-end fashion labels on a daily basis?

• Do you need an excuse to go shopping for clothes?

• Are you in awe of anything that sounds like Prada?

• Do beauty counter salesgirls go ecstatic when they see you approaching?

If you answered even one of these questions in the affirmative, you are a junkie already. But don’t despair, it’s not a problem, as long as you make the right choices, have good taste and can afford it.

Here’s the lowdown on how to be a smart style junkie this year:

All for a label: Big brands are good, but not always the best option for everyone. The smartest style junkies make sure that they make an effort to find the funkiest vintage clothes, the latest chic and cheap accessories and the slickest shoes. It will mean hours of searching alleys and bylanes for the best bargains, but will be worth every minute of the effort. If you do want to splurge on a l ab e l , ch o o s e one or t wo i t e m s t h at w i l l s p e a k f o r themselves, like a classic handbag or a swanky pair of shoes. Otherwise wear clothes that are stylish and not terribly expensive.

When in doubt, buy it: Dithering over buying an outfit? If it is affordable, it is best to buy it, because when you go and look for the same outfit the second time around, it will not be available. This is especially true when you are looking for bargains in bylanes or at huge malls where merchandise moves rapidly. A smart style junkie will, however, take time to do a survey of everything available, before buying anything.

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If you consistently choose to be negative

Negativity can become a habit that is difficult — but not impossible — to break. When negativity is the direct consequence of the loss of a job, a failed relationship or the death of a loved one, it is considered a reactive mood disturbance and is generally a temporary condition. Here are some tips on how to adopt a positive attitude.

IDENTIFY YOUR TRIGGERS: Become aware of when negative thoughts occur. Your thinking may become distorted when you’re tired or hungry or when work pressures pile up. Monitoring your negative thinking patterns will help you identify what triggers them.

DON’T SABOTAGE YOURSELF: Eliminate negative thoughts, recriminations and self-criticism. Don’t dwell on past incidents — learn and move on.

ADOPT COPING STRATEGIES: Remember past slumps that inspired negative thoughts and remind yourself of how you got out of them. Focus on improving your self-esteem and confidence.

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK: Force yourself to avoid saying anything negative for a few days. Create a habit of becoming more accepting of others and yourself.

SEEK OUT SUPPORT: A few counselling sessions with a qualified mental health professional could help you deal more effectively with life’s problems.

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Tips on Deit: Obsession with weight

Human weight varies over a 24-hour period, from day to day and from month to month. Variations in body weight of up to three kg per day are perfectly possible and most people are not even aware of the fact that they weigh two to three kg more in the evening than when they got up in the morning.

But those of you who jump onto a scale once a day or even more often, are going to expose yourself to unnecessary stress. If you are trying to lose weight and discover that you suddenly weigh two to three kg more than yesterday, you are going to get agitated.

You might think that your efforts to lose weight are not succeeding and resort to some other obsessive behaviour, such as purging or starving, or doubling up on your exercise routine, or rushing out to buy pills and potions to 'correct' this change in your weight.

Body weight is particularly sensitive to water balance and anything that affects your water intake or excretion can affect your body weight. Unfortunately many women are prone to water retention caused by fluctuations in female hormone levels.

Some women gain appreciable amounts of weight before, during or just after menstruation, due to water retention. Once the hormones have settled down, this weight 'disappears', and in some cases it may be a good idea to ask your doctor to prescribe a mild diuretic for those times of the month when you retain water.

Conversely those of you who 'lose' weight by inducing diarrhoea with laxatives are fooling yourselves. When you start drinking liquids again, that weight will reappear and while you are dehydrated you may be doing your body harm.

The golden rule when slimming is to weigh yourself only once a week at more or less the same time, wearing more or less the same clothes. This simple rule will save you a great deal of anxiety and give you a more balanced picture of your progress.

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How to control your outburst?

PEOPLE GO through a variety of emotions but the most intense of all is anger. Perhaps no other feeling is more troublesome than that sudden burst of yelling and explosive remarks. Spontaneous and uncontrollable at times, the fact is that none of us likes to be angry and yet we can’t seem to prevent ourselves from expressing it at times. While it is normal and healthy to experience anger, how we react when angered can have a significant impact on our relationships, work and health. So how is it that the outburst can be prevented? Anger m a n a g e - ment experts cross-check and suggest the ways to control it:

WHY DO WE GET ANGRY?

Actually anger is a defen ive weapon that is used when a person feels unprotected in the face of a threat. If you become angry, it is because something has occurred which is a threat to your physical safety or your psychological well-being. But the difficult part is to identify the events that have the potential to create an explosive situation. Remember the last time you became angry. Review the events that led you to feel this way. Now, think about how you may have perceived these events as a threat. Once you have analysed the threat, you are in a position to defend yourself.

REIN IN YOUR ANGER

Anger is a result of the events in the environment that we feel are a threat to us. The exact same event evokes an angry response from you, but not from others. In other words, we create our own anger, just as we create our own happiness, sadness or any other emotion. All this boils down to the fact that we are in control of how much anger we experience. It is only by bringing about a change in the perception that one can control that emotional outburst.

INTERRUPT ANGRY RESPONSE

Have you heard of a saying, “If y o u are ang ry, count to ten before you say or do anything.” Follow the advice. By focusing your attention on a mundane task like counting, you give yourself a chance to calm down. Once you are calm, you can think more clearly about what you are feeling and why. More importantly, you can plan a course of action to resolve the situation more effectively.

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Are you a diet fanatic?

Exercise and dieting fanaticism must be avoided as the change in body weight depends on diverse factors

Fanaticism in any form is generally not a good idea, and the same applies to dieting and exercise. Unfortunately, many people can be classified as diet fanatics. Let's have a look at some of the manifestations of diet and exercise fanaticism and why they should be avoided.

There are no absolutes

Firstly it helps to keep in mind that all the biological sciences, including nutrition and medicine, are based on complex biological systems, such as the human body, and that it is impossible to define absolute values for most parameters.

However, when we define most of the parameters applied in nutrition, we are working with broad guidelines, not absolute values. You will, therefore, understand that anyone who tries to work out their energy intake or expenditure to the last kilocalorie or kilo joule, is attempting the impossible.

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Tips for Best Male Fitness

1. Eat like a bear

To gain muscle, you need to stay in a state of energy excess. Make sure you get at least 2-4 grams of protein for every kg of bodyweight and at least 6-8 grams of carbohydrates. Eat quality fats like those found in flaxseed oil, olive oil, and natural peanut butter. And finally, cut out the cardio!

2. Rely on basic movements

Basic movements have cranked out more champions than you can count. You've got the bench, the squat and the deadlift. These should be a part of your arsenal. To these big three, you can add your basic barbell curls, military presses, etc.

3. Go heavy or go home

Yes, you have to train heavy to grow. To make muscles grow, you got to annihilate them in the gym. You can train with weights heavier than you can handle, but if you ignore proper form, you're going to miss the target muscles. As a rule of thumb, train at 60-80 per cent of your one rep max. Or, gain enough poundage where you can only crank out 6-10 reps per set at full intensity.

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Tips to manage Your Anger

Smile ignites the mind, starts the day with an adrenaline rush and prevents anger.

Deal with small upsets early. Accumulated upsets lead to untimely explosions of anger.
Sleep is sacred, both in quality and quantity. Lack of sleep causes irritability.

Food in time is better than good food. No breakfast causes a lot of anger in schools and trains.

Pranayama dissolves irritability when done regularly. This can be practiced in a bus, office desk, or railway platform.

Avoid people who humiliate you. Humiliation in one place leads to outbursts somewhere else.

Keep your romance alive with your spouse/ideology/god/wo rk. Romance enhances emotional hygiene.

Exercise or sports cause perspiration. Good chemicals are released in the body and sweat is the symmetry of anger.

When in crisis, remember that time, tears and treatment help. Tears resolve sadness, the precursor of anger.

If you have fear, do not gulp a beer, but talk to your peers. Fear, when tackled early, is like an air-conditioner in a hot house.

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How to fit everything in your schedule?

1 Identify the non-negotiables in your life. And then, never compromise on those. 2 Forget clichés like, “Power Breakfasts” and “Power Lunches.” Nothing is ever achieved at these meetings.

3 Talk less. Talk to the point. As Indians we have the annoying tendency to ramble on. If you teach yourself to ecnonomise on words, you’ll economise on time automatically.

4 Plan. Plan. Plan. Sounds obvious. But most people leave a lot of really important stuff till the very last minute.

5 Learn to say “No.” Being extrapolite, extra-considerate at your own expense is just not worth the effort. You don’t have to accept every invitation and take every call.

6 Know your own limitations and work around them. Can you handle eight meetings comfortably or five? If it’s five, don’t take the sixth and waste everyone’s time.

7 Focus your energy on the one single task that cannot possibly be postponed or delegated. Do it to the best of your ability before moving on to the next one. In the long run, it will save valuable hours.

8 Identify what’s really, really important in your life on all fronts — personal and professional. Don’t concentrate on one at the expense of the other.

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Handy Tips On Sparkling Your Silver

• Silver tarnishes when it is exposed to air, particularly when it is humid and damp. So when you don’t have it on display, keep it wrapped in cloth or plastic.

• Also ensure that it does not come into contact with acidic items. Flower or fruit, for instance, will look great in silver bowls, but do keep an eye on these as they begin to decay. The acid these items produce can leave marks on the container and damage it forever.

• Rubber, table salt, salad dressing, olives, eggs, vinegar and fruit juices are also supposed to be enemies of silver, so if you must serve these items in silver, do rinse off the bowls double quick.

• Dry baking soda is an excellent cleaner of silver. Try it on tableware, candlestick holders, trays, and jewellery. Make a paste with water and baking soda; cover the item with the paste, rub it, rinse the mixture off and dry it.

• Another way to use baking soda is to put a sheet of aluminium foil in a pan, add about three inches of water, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of baking soda and bring it to a boil. Put in the silver that needs to be cleaned, and let it boil for a couple of minutes, ensuring that the pieces are covered in water. Rinse, buff and dry.

• Your silverware will emerge
bright and shining when it is washed in very hot, soapy water and then dried as though you were polishing it. It’s the drying process that makes for sparkling silver.

• We’ve had some miraculous results with good old toothpaste. Just brush your silverware as though you were cleaning your teeth. Then wash the silver in warm soapsuds, rinsing and wiping dry. Use an old toothbrush for the difficult crevices.

• People who have tried this swear it works; milk that is souring in the refrigerator is supposed to act as a great polish for silver.

• The simplest way to retard tarnish is to rinse your silverware thoroughly after washing it. Even the slightest bit of soapy residue hastens tarnishing.

• If it does get tarnished, place it in some potato water for a while and you will usually find it looks much better when dried.

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Tips, If you are feeling too tired to make love

Coffee and wine

A dose of caffeine after dinner can provide the energy you need to make lovemaking livelier (or, quite honestly, to make you feel up to it at all). However, don’t over do it or you will feel all wired and jittery rather than sexy. A drink can also be a sexual trigger but again, drink in moderation or else instead of sex you’ll end up having a bad night and a hang over the next day.

Have an exciting evening

When after a long day you get back home don’t just jump into the couch and park yourself in front of the television. This will only make you lazier and even put you to sleep. Instead think of ways to enliven your evening by doing something new. For example, you can have a special dessert for after dinner or play some poker (the flirty kind). This way your exciting evening will linger into a night of exciting love making.

Music

Nothing works better than music to get you in the mood. Play some sensual lounge music or whatever it is that turns you on.

Rewards

Another great way to beat fatigue and get action is to think of sex as a present that you and your partner deserve at the end of a hard day’s work. In fact, the motivation will probably get you to work better as well, so as to ensure you deserve your present. As tired as you may be, it is important that you create time in your schedule to enjoy a healthy sex life. Sex can also be a stress buster but don’t indulge only for that reason and learn to enjoy your sexuality.

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How to beat the fatigue and get in the mood?

After a hard day’s work most people want to chill out and use whatever little time they have to unwind and soothe their body and mind. But have you ever been so tired that you did not even feel like having sex with your partner. People who lead a life style that is high in stress levels or are just too preoccupied with work, often go through a sexual slump and are too exhausted mentally and physically to even want to have sex anymore. Yes, it is quite the bummer but don’t worry. Read on for some excellent tips to boost your sexuality, which will ensure that you are never too tired for sex:

Fantasy land One of the easiest ways to get yourself in the mood is to indulge in a little fantasising. Think about anything that would turn you on or a sexual experience that left you wanting more. This way you’ll be all ready to take on your girl whether or not you had an exhausting day. When you start to fantasise, your mind will get distracted from the fatigue and wander into a more sensual zone. So use that imagination to your advantage. Arousal is an automatic physiological response: If you visualise sexual indulgence, your body will respond.

Sweet whispers If you and your girl both have hectic schedules and only get to see each other briefly in the morning, use that time to create the mood for the rest of the day. When leaving for work or any place else, simply whisper something naughty that you would do to her late in the evening. This way, your girl will keep thinking of you throughout the day, and surely enough, in the evening you will reap the benefits. In a way you are making her a seductive promise.

The long kiss effect Another trick that works, is when in the morning you leave each other and have a little goodbye kiss. Instead of just a peck let the kiss last for a few seconds or more if you’d like. It will be like a prelude of what is to be expected later and who knows if your kiss really works, you may even get delayed for work.

Exercise Exercise stimulates your sympathetic nervous system, increases blood flow and raises your level of endorphins — the body’s feel-good hormones. Working out transforms your whole body to a higher level of sensitivity and makes you more alert. So even one exercise session can make you feel happier and sexier.

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Things to keep in mind while cooking an elaborate meal for a party

THE smell of burning, supplies running short, emergency expeditions to secure the necessary provisions and a prevailing atmosphere of panic — does these ring a bell while cooking for a big party? Sure, nobody’s perfect. But there are ways to minimise the confusion and come out smiling.

The first thing to do is decide on your menu. Write it down and pin it up in the kitchen for ready reference. Soup is the traditional way of opening for a meal, but you can skip this if you’re doing an Indian meal. “You need seven - eight dishes on the table, and four - five light snacks. If it’s a nonvegetarian menu, have two different types of meat. At least one snack and one main course item must be non vegetarian,” says Chanchal Rawat, homemaker. A common mistake is experimenting with new or exotic recipes on the D-day. It is best to stick to tried and tested recipes.

Presentation is important to make your meal special.
Make sure you don’t repeat vegetables or have a common gravy for two or more items. Select recipes of different colours for an eyecatching display. A pretty tablecloth with matching table napkins, a floral centre-piece and attractive dinnerware are other things that add to the visual appeal of the meal. Serve the meal piping hot (and this includes chapatis) to make your meal an aromatic treat.

Preparation is the key to a successful party.
Check the ingredients you need for each recipe, and total up the cost to make sure you aren’t blowing your budget. Stock up on dry ingredients at least a week ahead, and make your tomato puree, mayonnaise, ginger-garlic paste and chutneys in advance. Buy the softdrinks or alcohol (if any) about two - three days before the party. Arrange for ice and lots of cold water, to ensure that you don’t run out. If you’re serving hard drinks, keep loads of soda in the fridge. Anything that can be made on the day before should be cooked and stored in the fridge. Dessert is the piece de resistance, the final flourish that finishes off that perfect meal. Unless you have a super-efficient freezer and no powercuts, icecream is a big fat no. The last thing you need is a puddle in lieu of pudding. Buying pre-made desserts like rasmalai, gateaux or soufflés can save you time and effort. For a truly elegant summing-up, serve paan after an Indian meal or chocolate mints post-repast for a continental meal.

Be sure that all your cooking is over at least two hours before the time on the invitation card. This will give you a break to take some well-deserved rest, followed by a shower, and ample time to dress up for the party. Ready to play hostess, ladies?

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Follow these useful tips for a better posture Part-2

When you bend over the washbasin to brush your
teeth, bend your knees slightly, especially when you straighten y o u r back at the end. W h e n you bend over to g r a b y o u r s h o e s , lean forward with a straight back and flex your hips. Hips are made for that: bending. Your lower back doesn't have the same range. Plus, bending over like that means pushing your behind out, which is not very elegant!

When you sit, stay higher than your knees or sit on the ledge of your chair to allow movement of the knees. This allows your pelvis and lower back to move more freely. At the end of your day, relax your spine. Lie down on a carpet with your knees bent in order to allow your spine to rest easily on the floor.

The old saying ‘Clothes make the man’ should ideally be ‘Posture makes the man or woman, not the clothes!’ Proper posture is part of your wardrobe. Wearing an expensive designer suit won't help your appearance if you slouch over with hunched shoulders.

Your mother's advice still holds true: Stand and sit straight and tall. When you do that, you appear confident. Keep that chin up with your head erect and held back. Tilting your head down makes your neck disappear. But don't stick your nose in the air. Keep your shoulders back, but relaxed. This automatically lifts your chest. Think tall. Toes should be pointed straight ahead, feet close together. Don't waddle like a penguin or walk like a duck. Keep your arms close to your sides, palms in, elbows slightly bent.

Sometimes we're born with poorly aligned bones
and, therefore, poor posture, but the majority of us acquire it over time by assuming poor repetitive postures. But, some poor postures are reversible to a degree. Here are two exercises to correct poor posture:

In a standing position, sweep your hands forward and up slightly overhead, rotating your hands past your head. Keeping the position, squeeze your shoulder blades down and back as if you were pinching a pencil between them. You should feel a mild stretch to the front of the shoulders and the chest. Hold this for five to 10 seconds and repeat three times.Standing with clenched teeth, interlace your fingers and place them against the back of your head. Hold your hands stat i o n a r y without allowing the face to tip up or down. Try to relax your shoulders.

You should feel some mild discomfort anywhere from the base of your skull to the midback area. Hold this for five to 10 seconds and repeat three times.

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Health Tips to Prevent Cold

Just the symptoms

Don’t overmedicate. Treat only the symptoms you have. Nasal sprays are effective, but don’t use them more than three days or you may end up feeling all stuffed up again because of the rebound effect.

A grain of salt

Add 1-4 teaspoon salt to a cup of water. Pour a little into your clean hand and snort it. It will help you breathe easier by flushing out congestion-causing irritants. For a sore throat, gargle with warm saltwater morning, noon and night, or even more often. Use about a teaspoon per glass of warm water.
Up and about

If your symptoms are all in your head, go ahead with your regular workout if you feel up to it. If your cold has moved into your chest, or if you have the aches and pains of the flu, take it easy. Mild exercise improves circulation, which helps your immune system.
Try it and C

Some people swear by vitamin C, saying that taking loads of it beginning the second you feel a cold coming on will lessen the duration and severity of a cold. In one study, cold sufferers had fewer symptoms when they took 500 milligrams of vitamin C four times a day.

Don’t worry, be happy

A positive attitude can bolster your immune system’s forces.

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Valuable survival tips to students leaving for America

Some points to remember

Academics: Books are expensive. So find out what is needed from seniors. Education is expensive. So look for scholarships. Deans are very forthcoming with guidance. Avail of their help. Find out the right courses with good professors from the academic advisers Speak up if the professor is not good. Never do too many courses or overwork for extra dollars. The strain could affect studies. Good grades mean good jobs. Never hesitate to approach counselling and guidance centres.
Security: Ensure accommodation beforehand Carry the passport or at least its copy or other ID copies Carry all important contact numbers. Find out which are the bad neighbourhoods. Avoid them. Prefer pre-arranged university transport if its too late to get back home. Never be foolhardy.

Culture shock: Don’t try to be a different person soon after reaching the US.Try to understand the system and acclimatise gradually. Try not to drive immediately, because its left-hand drive there. Be in touch with Indian student association.

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Few Tips for Best Valentine’s Day

• Hotel haven. Rent a nice hotel room and plan a relaxing getaway weekend. Or surprise your lover by showing up at work and telling her you’re going to lunch. Then take her
to your hotel room for a little room service.

• Romance basket: If you’re feeling a bit playful this V-Day, make a basket for your lover. Fill it with a variety of toys (massage oil, videos, candles). Have it delivered before you get home to set the mood.

• French dinner: If you’re really out to impress, fly your sweetie to Paris for dinner.

• Put it in ink: Say “I Love You” by getting a tattoo with your lover’s name—real or fake, depending on how far you want to take it.

• Charge it: Give the gift that keeps on giving. Open a charge account at a lingerie shop or some other favourite store.

• Details count: If you can steal the car for a day, have it detailed and return it sparkling clean on Valentine’s Day.

• Picture perfect: For an inexpensive, but extremely thoughtful gift, take your favourite photo of the two of you and put it in an elegant frame. It will mean more than you know.

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A Few CV Tips and Ideas

Many of us put too much concentration in making a resume, believing that a good resume will, by itself, be enough to land a job

RESUME SHOULD BE NO MORE THAN A PAGE, A MYTH:
As employers receive hundreds of resumes everyday, you need to keep in mind that your resume should be easy reading and should provide details that can be easily perceived by the reader. However, that does not mean keeping your resume to one page if you have a lot more to tell the employer about yourself. If you wish to talk about your accomplishments in the resume as it will help the employer in assessing you. Because a short resume may not provide enough information for the employer to make a fair hiring decision.

NO INDIVIDUAL GOALS OR CAREER OBJECTIVES

If you do, the prospective employer is likely to get the impression that you are more interested in yourself than you are in the company. That can be reason enough to remove you from consideration for the job, even before a full evaluation of your credentials takes place. Be specific, avoid vague statements. Include a description of your accomplishments for each employer, setting them out in statements easily read. Include as many facts and figures as necessary to substantiate achievements. It is important that everything included is factual.

DO NOT SEND YOUR RESUME TO EMPLOYERS

Most of us assume that the best way is to respond to the ads or online job sites. But that may not work for your advantage. The best way is to talk to employers and learn about job opportunities. Talking to the employer first is always more advantageous than sending your resume blindly. You do not know what the employer is looking for and most times your resume will screen you out of the process. You have a much better chance of screening yourself in by talking to the employer and crafting your verbal “resume” to highlight accomplishments that are most relevant to the particular interviewer’s needs.

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Follow these useful tips for a better posture Part-1

Posture cannot be improved if there are spinal
mis-alignments. Parents usually attribute poor posture to laziness, but this is not the case 99 per cent of the time. Exercises, in conjunction with spinal manipulation, can help. Put your head and heels against a wall, then lift your shoulders up and roll them back and down to touch the wall. Large exercise balls are also wonderful to stretch on both forward and backward. If you slouch, you must concentrate on holding in your abs. It automatically causes the spine to elevate and helps you stand up straighter.

2Exercising on a trampoline is one of the easiest ways to improve overall body strength, which supports healthy posture. It does more than just work our muscles; it stimulates cellular activity and also tones and cleanses the cells. All organs, veins, capillaries, connective tissue and bones are s t r e n g t h - ened. Plus, it requires only 10 minutes a day to receive benefits.

Good posture comes from a sense of your inner self and realising where your centre is. You should be able to draw a straight line from your head to your toes, meaning that if you stand in profile, it will be straight with no bends anywhere. The torso is supposed to be directly above the hipbones so the shoulders are in line with them. Your head should also be in the same line.

Usually, people arch their backs too much, which can lead to back and knee problems, so hold your stomach in so that your back is as flat as possible. Also, you should keep your body weight on the toes, not the heels.

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Tips on how to beat a COLD

FEED a cold, starve a fever. Or is it starve a cold, feed a fever? Oh, heck, who feels well enough to eat anything anyway? Just pass the tissues. Common cold? Ha! What’s so common about it?
Unless they mean that, this time of year, we all have in common the sniffles, the sneezes, the hacking cough and the other reminders that cold season has begun. And if it’s not a cold, it’s the flu. Until scientists come up with a cure for colds and flu, we suggest trying one or more of these ways to win the battle, or at least make yourself less miserable.

OTC pain relief

Acetaminophen, aspirin or ibuprofen can reduce your fever or achiness. But read and follow directions: Just because they’re sold without a prescription doesn’t mean they’re harmless. Acetaminophen can cause liver damage. Ibuprofen may upset your stomach.

Rest

The world will go on without you. Taking a day or two off work, or at least slowing down from your usual routine, allows your body to put all its energy into getting well.

Drink up

Your body needs extra liquids, to replace those lost during a cold and to help flush out the impurities. Have six to eight glasses a day of water, juice or other mostly clear liquids. That would include chicken soup. It’s a fact: Hot chicken soup can help unclog your nasal passages by increasing the flow of nasal mucus.

Head for the showers

A steamy shower, a hot bath, a hot teakettle or a plain old pan of boiling water can help with congestion and moisten a dry throat. If you’re taking the kitchen route to steam relief, take the pan off the stove. Drape a towel over your head in a tent and inhale the steam until it subsides.

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Some Diet Tips for Office-goers Part-2

5. Be active

Combine the low-fat, high-fibre slimming diet with regular exercise to achieve the best results. Research has shown that slimmers who exercise, stick to their diets more easily, and lose more weight, than those who use weight reduction diets alone.

Try a combination of exercise outside working hours. Join a gym that is open till late evening; swim, cycle, skip, play an active sport, do home workouts, jog, run or walk briskly and keep as active as possible at work (use the stairs, walk to work, go for a walk at lunchtime, organise your colleagues and do an office workout as is the fashion in Japan).

6. Drink plenty of water, but not too much

Drink about four glasses of water (1 litre) during work hours in addition to all the other liquids you ingest (tea, coffee, cold drinks, fruit juice). Have another two glasses of water during the evening, so that you drink a total of 1.5 litres of water in 24 hours. Do not exceed this amount because drinking too much water can wash important minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium) from your body and even lead to 'water intoxication'.

7. Healthy snacks

Take healthy food and drinks to work instead of loading up on fatty, greasy food and sweetened cold drinks from the canteen or trolley. If you have a fridge at work, you could also carry foods like yoghurt, cottage cheese, lean meat and fish, fruit and salads.
8. Never skip breakfast

Research has shown that people who eat breakfast perform better at work, get less tired after a long day and have more energy than those who only snatch a cup of coffee while they sprint for the bus.

This is because, if you have fasted since supper for a period of 12 hours or more, your blood sugar levels will be at a low when you get up in the morning. You need to replenish your blood sugar levels to allow your brain to start working efficiently and give you the energy to face the day at work.

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