If you have a muffin top then I bet you want to get rid of it!  Or, you might be asking what on earth is a muffin top? I know I was bewildered the first time I heard the phrase. My friend explained that it is the fat on your back and sides that bulges over your waistband in the same way the top of a muffin overhangs the base.

On hearing of the muffin top phenomenon, my first reaction was ‘I have an instant muffin top remedy’. My friend listened closely, expecting me to share some profound fitness secret that could fix a muffin top in moments, but my answer disappointed her greatly. Apparently this wasn’t the response she had hoped for:

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You would think that people who eat healthy and stay slim would be the ones who spend a lot of time thinking about what they eat.  After all, how else could they maintain a healthy weight unless they’re focusing on every bite?  There are some clear differences in the way normal weight and overweight people approach food and eating – but what we’ve learned is that naturally trim people actually tend to think about food less than those who are watching their weight. 

Naturally slim people have a relatively comfortable relationship with food, so they don’t really focus on it all that much.  But for heavier people, the relationship is often more difficult and complex.  Overweight people tend to be preoccupied with food – which ones are good or bad, how much or how little they should eat (and when) – to the point where they end up thinking about food all the time. 

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Generally, this isn’t the time of year that most people are watching their weight – because if they were, they’d probably be watching it go up. But you’d be surprised. It’s not unusual for people to call me in a panic mid-December – realizing they’ve got a big New Year’s eve event coming up – and wondering what they can realistically accomplish in a couple of weeks. Of course, this comes up at other times of the year, too. An upcoming wedding, a cruise or a graduation – all can spark the question: How much can I lose in a couple of weeks?

Let me start by saying that there’s no simple answer that applies to everyone. For one thing, a lot depends on a person’s starting weight. The larger a person is, the more calories it takes for them to maintain their weight. So heavier people can cut their usual calorie intake back quite a bit, and will usually lose more weight in two weeks than a smaller person will.

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