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“As you lose weight, your metabolism can slow because your body requires fewer calories to fuel the smaller-sized you,” says nutritionist Linda Foster.

“Therefore, the calorie intake that you initially had when you began your weight-loss journey will need to be adjusted to match your body’s current needs,” she explains.

Try an online Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator, such as www.dietplan. co.uk/tools/bmrchecker, which takes your height, weight, age and activity levels into account to work out the daily number of calories you would need to consume to maintain your new lower weight.

Then reduce that figure by around 500 calories to give you the rough daily intake needed to keep losing weight. While it’s true you need to create a deficit between calories in and calories out to shed weight, cut your intake too much on an extreme diet and it’ll have the opposite effect. “If your calorie intake is too low or you get too hungry, you start to lose metabolism-boosting muscle as well as fat,” explains Linda.

“To lose weight while still preserving this important muscle, you might actually need to increase calories.”

The trick is the right foods. Linda recommends filling up on lean protein such as chicken or fish, whole grains, fruits, veggies, nuts and avocados. A full night’s sleep is vital for shifting body fat because it resets the hormones that contr night incre cortis overe

Readjust your calorie intake

Or try eating more!

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Prioritise your sleep