Funny take on losing weight

Andy Belfield’s ‘The Eat Less Food Diet’ uses humour to get across his more serious messages.

The 45-year-old now lives in the Sheffield area but grew up on Thames Street and also lived in Hucknall, standing in the 1997 election for the Nottingham North area.

“The book came about for two reasons really,” said Andy. “Firstly because I found the whole fad diet thing frustrating.

“On average dieters gain four pounds. There are diets where we are expected to avoid carbs, to only eat meat, be a vegetarian, to skip meals, to never skip meals, to eat like a soldier,to eat egg and soldiers...

“I wanted to write something that was more honest than that. To lose weight you have to eat less, but the good news is that you don’t have to give anything up.

“Just as importantly, though, I wanted to make it funny. Being overweight, trying to diet, trying to be healthy can be very stressful and worrying at times.

“I wanted to have a laugh about it. When we laugh about things we find them easier to deal with. I hope that the book will make people laugh and make it easier to lose weight.”

Andy’s busy family and work life,‘combined with an interest in flapjack and fish and chips’, led him to put on the pounds.

His success in shedding that weight has enabled him to up the amount of exercise he does, running his first 10k last year.

His interest in writing about the subject was increased when reading for a psychology degree and his anger about fad diets.

He added: “The first thing that I did was to work out why I wanted to lose weight and to give myself a clear goal.

“We should give ourselves a chance and just do one thing at a time. If you start by saying: ‘Right then, gym at 10, homegrown blueberry tofu smoothie at 11, pilates at 12,’ then I think by one ‘o clock you would be making a lard sandwich!”

‘The Eat Less Food Diet’ is £3 for a hard copy or £1.50 for an ebook and is available from www.theeatlessfooddiet.com.