With 17 years of experience working with thousands of patients, our doctors know a bit about losing weight! We have asked our doctors to share their thoughts on what works and what does not:

1. When we take in more energy than our body needs through what we eat and drink, the body stores the extra calories as fat and we put on weight. If we use up more energy than we take in, we lose weight.

2. Reducing our food intake is therefore the best way to lose weight.

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3. While exercise is very good for you and we recommend it to all patients, it takes a lot of exercise to lose a small amount of weight. As you tone your body, fat turns to muscle, which is good for your health but bad for your weight as muscle weighs more than fat! Your appetite often increases after exercise, so you consume more food and undo the benefit of the calories you have burned off.

4. Don't think of yourself as being greedy, just accept that you may have developed bad eating habits. In our modern, rushed world we have no time to eat sensibly and as a result we tend to skip meals, breakfast in particular, and make up for it by snacking in between or over-eating at the next meal. Missing breakfast is one of the most common habits of seriously overweight people. Remember the old saying, 'Eat like a King at breakfast, a Prince at lunch and a pauper at supper time' and your body will have time to process what you have eaten.

5. Diet and nutrition is not a one-size fits all solution. Don't assume that the latest fad diet will work for you. No two people have the same likes, dislikes, home-life, working-life and social-life; some people have food intolerances which are not taken into account, other people cannot afford the recommended diet and others just do not have the time for the extra work involved in preparing a special diet for themselves, let alone possibly other and different diets for other members of the same household.

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6. Cut out fatty, high calorie foods. 

7. When cooking grill, steam or poach rather than frying. If you do have to fry, then use a non-stick pan with just a thin spray of oil or stir-fry.

8. If you must have some fatty or oily products, as in spreads or salad dressings, then use the smallest possible amount of the "light", "low" or "fat-free" brands - but remember that many products that are labelled like this are not so much "light" as "less heavy" and in many cases extra carbohydrates and sugars are added so that although they may be "light" as regards their fat content, they are not necessarily low-calorie.

9. Whatever is left after the above, reduce the size of your normal portion by at least one-third; thus instead of having three slices of bread in a day, go down to two slices; instead of three spoons of rice, go down to two spoons and instead of three slices of meat, go down to two slices, etc.

10. Remember that carbohydrates are generally digested and metabolised very quickly, which is why you feel hungry so soon after a Chinese meal with its high-carbohydrate rice and noodle content; protein, however, is digested more slowly and makes you feel fuller for longer and thus acts as a natural appetite suppressant, so when you do cut back on your portion size, if anything cut back a bit more on the carbohydrate and have a bit of extra protein instead.

To request a Free Information Pack or book an appointment, please call Victoria Diet Clinic on 020 7630 7303.