Had enough of being known as the jolly, roly-poly one in the team? You are not alone.

Most cricketers I speak to have weight loss as their main goal. And why not? It's good for your health, makes you look better and improves your cricket.

But losing weight is hard work and confusing. Especially during the season where a good tea is always just around the corner. With all those cakes and egg mayonnaise sarnies, no wonder you can't drop a pound.

The truth is you can make the whole process a lot simpler these 5 weight loss tips for cricket players:

1. Eat protein and vegetables with every meal. Protein is great for weight loss because it fills you up more quickly as well as being essential for strength and power. Just because you are losing fat doesn't mean you want to lose muscles, Protein helps protect your strength when combined with training.
2. Cut back on processed food. Eating processed food is a great way to stay fat. This is because they provide an overload of saturated fat and carbohydrate into your diet. While there is nothing wrong with a balance of fat and carbs, the processed stuff unbalances things nicely. Cut it out as much as you can.
3. Train in intense intervals. The higher the intensity of your training the better. So train hard for short periods with minimal rest. Not only is it the fastest way to lose fat, it's good for your cricket to bat, bowl and field at game intensity during training. On days you are not training or playing try circuit training to maintain strength and burn fat at the same time.
4. Enjoy yourself. Eating and playing cricket are two great joys in life. Don't be miserable while doing either, just train a bit harder and eat a bit smarter and the weight will fall off naturally.
5. Tea well. If you train hard and eat well during the week, why shouldn't you enjoy your tea and a drink afterwards? It's not going to make any difference to the overall week to have a “meal off” so forget the rules come Saturday tea time and pile on the cakes if you want. Life's too short.