There are many benefits to losing weight. If you get to the ideal weight for your height this will help to lower your cholesterol levels and blood pressure. You will dramatically lower your risk of health problems such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as well as increase your life expectancy.

Over 200,000 people die prematurely in the UK every year because of coronary heart disease, stroke and other illnesses related to poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle.

Unfortunately, there are no magic weight-loss solutions, and crash diets don't work in the long-term. The most successful weight loss programmes have three main factors in common:

• increasing your daily exercise (to at least 30 minutes a day),
• eating smaller portions, and
• only having healthy snacks between meals.