Nutrition tips for lasting results

You already train. You already eat reasonably well, most of the time. This isn't a plan to follow to the letter, and if anyone offers you one alongside a slimming programme, be wary of it. A diet is something you go on and eventually come off.

What we talk to clients about is different: a handful of habits that hold up on a normal week, with a job, a household and a family in it, and that protect the results a programme gives you rather than working against them.

Longevity depends on muscle, and muscle depends on protein. That is the short version of what we tell every client, and it matters more the longer you are in this with us. Make protein the first thing on your plate, not an afterthought squeezed in around vegetables and starch.

Cathrine, who studied nutrition, anatomy and the endocrine system as part of her training, puts it simply: eat what your body recognises. Meat, eggs, vegetables and food close to its original form are easier for your body to process than something that has been through a factory first. It is a shift in priority rather than a new set of rules, and it is usually the one clients notice the biggest difference from.

Our treatments release material from fat cells that your lymphatic system and liver then need to process and clear. That job needs fluid to run properly, which is why we talk about water constantly, on treatment days and every day in between. See our Post-Treatment Care and Recovery guide for exact volumes on treatment days.

Water also supports something people rarely think about until it stops working properly: regularity.

Your body needs to clear what it processes, and that means staying regular. If fibre is low, do something about it rather than ignoring it: vegetables, whole grains, and enough water to let that fibre do its job.

We also stock a small range of supplements in-clinic if you would like extra support here, including the Jooce range: a magnesium-based digestive supplement for regularity, and a hormone-support supplement. Hormonal balance affects appetite, energy and how easily your body holds onto fat, so it is worth having on your radar as part of the bigger picture. Ask us about either at your next visit if it sounds useful for you.

Most of the clients we see are juggling a job, a household and a family, and a total overhaul rarely survives a Tuesday. What works is smaller and slower. If you are reaching for a condiment with every meal, cut back to three times a week before you try to cut it out altogether. Once that feels normal, go again. Choose the lighter option when you are shopping for one. If you take two sugars in your coffee, drop to one and a half, then one, whenever you are ready rather than all at once.

None of this moves fast. All of it holds.

Weight gain can happen fast, and it often catches women off guard entirely: a job, a marriage, kids, and suddenly the mirror shows someone they do not recognise. We see that often, and weight is rarely the whole story. It is confidence, identity, the version of themselves a client feels she has lost.

So we do not aim at the number on the scale. We aim at what holds up over years: a healthy muscle-to-fat ratio, because that is what keeps you strong and mobile later in life, and a lymphatic system that is working properly, because that supports how your whole body recovers and heals. Weight loss and toning follow from that. They are the by-product of health, not the goal of it, which is the difference between a result you keep and one you lose again.

We do not hand out meal plans or calorie targets, and we will not pretend a diet sheet is the same as a lifestyle, because it is not. Cathrine's training covers nutrition, anatomy and the endocrine system, but she is not a registered dietitian and does not try to be one.

If you need an exact eating plan for a medical reason, we work alongside a doctor who can put one together with you. For most of our clients, the habits above do more than a rigid plan ever holds up long enough to.