I'd like some diet advice please......

[Pat "5mph"]

The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to prepare your own food from fresh, raw ingredients (so you know exactly what's in it), weigh everything, and count calories until you're used to recognising what a normal amount of food looks like. There's no need to do any special "diets". Just try to eat as many different foods as possible, in sensible quanities.

^^^^
Exactly this! May I add that avoiding shop bought bread helps a lot with weight loss.
For some reason, I find that if if I make my own I eat less of it and I seem to digest it better.
Wonder what they put in the tiger bread? Sooo soft, you can eat a whole loaf with half a round of brie!
Well, since I stopped this kind of comfort eating I became skinny
You get used to control your eating habits. sadly, some of us have to be forever vigilant: for example, the other day I was in a reastaurant, I really really wanted a pizza (did not have one for over a year) but I choose cod instead.
That does not mean I never eat cake or chocolate, just try to quickly calculate calories before I stuff myself.
I do not even care about looks, all this effort I make is because I feel that when I'm heavy I have less energy, need lots for my work.
All my support to Smokey!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

OK, ended up having a ham sandwich on wholemeal bread with a few crisps Not ideal perhaps, but far better than a takeaway and from a portion point of view compared to what I'd normally have this was very light.

I'm happy with that as I feel I've controlled things well today. Tomorrow will be planned better as Mrs S will have my tea ready for when I get home, (or so help her), then it's turbo set up, won't be able to resist a quick spin no doubt, then off to badminton

Try to substitute 1 meal a day with either:
1)
a big (as much as you want) plate of vegetables, quickly blanched (well, cook them as soft as you like) in the micro (only takes minutes, it's like steaming) dress with salt, black pepper, a little olive oil, lemon juice.
or:
2) a medium (breakfast) portion of porridge, with granola, nuts, seeds, dried fruit of your choice.
This is easily done even at work, just take it in a plastic container, add a little bit of milk, or water, pop in the micro for about 1/2 min. You could eat this with just cold milk, I do it all the time.
Boring lunch this porridge mix, but it fills you up: try reading the calorie content of a pre-pack sandwich: you could eat an evening meal for that! I avoid them like poison ... rather eat the ones I make if I'm having bread.

 

[Eddie]

If anyone is looking for a few simple "tricks" to help you lose weight, here are the ones I've found to work:

1. Drink a large glass of water around 20 minutes before you eat
2. When you feel hungry, drink some water and wait. Often thirst can be confused for hunger
3. Drink Green tea
4. Don't drink your calories. Definitely avoid any drink with sugar (including fruit juice*).
5. Eat vast portions of salad and green vegetables. You can basically eat as much of these as you can get down. It will help a lot with the hunger that goes with dieting.
6. You can eat a bloody load of chicken breast. They are about 250kcal per breast, so you could eat two 3x per day and that would only be 1,500 calories. Add in some green veg and you certainly won't be hungry!
7. Develop some recipes you like and can cook quickly. I have several of these, and the best part is that they use tinned ingredients, so I have plenty in reserve. For me these include omlettes, tuna (tinned) and Black bean (tinned) salad, Sardines (tinned) on Whomeal Bread. CousCous (dehydrated, keeps forever) with some veg and Tuna.... the List goes on. I can prepare each of these in less than 2 minutes, so there is no excuse for pre-meal snacking or getting takeaway because I am feeling lazy.
8. Eat the same things regularly. I ate chicken breast salad every day for about 3 months. It did the job, and it removed temptation. Routine is your friend. You'll notice that when you break your routine (travel, special occasions etc) is when you cheat on the diet. Establish routines, they will make your life easier.
9. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that any food is "healthy". If you need 2,000 calories for the day, and you've eaten 2,000, then it's better to eat no more, than it is to eat something else. I don't care if it's a "superfood" and packed with anti-oxidants.
10. Download myfitnesspal for your phone. This is an awesome app and works really well. Cannot recommend this highly enough.

*Eat fruit instead. One glass of orange juice has the same calories as about 6 oranges. Because juicing removes all the fibre, your body doesn't "recognise" the calories you've taken in. So fruit juice doesn't make you full. Eating raw fruit is a much better alternative.

One book I particularly like is the Paleo Diet for Athletes. I don't do a paleo diet and skipped those bits. Don't be put off by the title. The book includes very un-paleo diet food including bread, pasta, whey protein, milk, sports energy products etc. It goes into the amounts of food to fuel training and recover based on weight, training volume etc. I use it as a guideline. I expect if I did have time to measure food out properly I may see benefits but I simply don't have the time at the moment. It includes the kind of sensible eating for the rest of the day if you are a weekend warrior like me or a multiple training sessions per day type. Co-written by Joe Friel who also wrote the cyclists training bible and the triathletes training bible. New edition due out soon if you're interested in it..

Thanks for the tip in this book. Recently I've been training twice a day, including 2 - 3 hours cardio and weights, and I've been struggling to work out what to eat. This book looks like just the ticket.

 

[Sittingduck]

The above post is excellent - very good tips there.

For what it's worth - I don't buy bread any more. Well, only wholemeal pita. Around 150 calories for a single piece (I only ever have one). Don't miss it either - I always used to be throwing away half eaten loaves, so wasteful.

 

[Hicky]

pm sent

 

[Nosaj]

For what its worth I followed the rule that if I had to use a pair of scissors to get at my food I ignored it.

I was 16.5 stone and am now around the 12 stone mark. I simply changed where I shopped, binned all the processed garbage and junk you get from the supermarkets and started shopping for clean, real food at local farm shops and butchers, greengrocers etc. (I admit I am lucky my wife is a stay at home mum so she is able to do this others may not be so fortunate)

I stick to wholewheat pasta's, rice, chicken, loads of veg occassional steak, minimal booze.

I do not weigh anything, count anything just observe a fist of carbs a fist of protein and whatever veg or raw salad, Cheddar is swapped to Feta, For crisps I have rice cakes for dessert I have fruit etc etc.

This diet will not get me to the point where my abs will pop but has kept me at a weight I can sustain. OK I could probably could knock another 1/2 to a stone off if I started to get anal about macronutrients but I still like a cake after the club run and an occassional treat.

90% of the time I eat clean 10% I do what I please.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Another good day, well IMO at least is almost finished.

Porridge with banana for brekkie, tuna pasta for my dinner, (lunch if you live south of Stoke). I didn't measure it but Mrs S only put around half what she normally does in the same tub so I'm happy with that. I have had a couple of small snacks through the day, (Go Ahead biscuity things, I know, I know!), and I've had my fruit as well.

I'm now sat here eating, slowly though as I'm typing too , a jacket potato with beans for my tea, (dinner if you live south of Crewe ) . I know beans have sugar and salt in them but it's far better than the processed junk I have been munching.

I've done pretty well with my water intake as well today which I find really does help things along.

*PING* Ghost Donkey, Mrs S got me the Paleo Diet book today. It's not the one for athletes, but hey I'm not an athlete anyway I'll read through it and report back at some point

OK, off to the shed to set up the turbo ready for tomorrwo night, then off to badminton. Hell I haven't even got time for a pudding, happy days

*PING* Hicky. Thanks for the PM. I'll sit down and read it properly when I give it some real focus. I appreciate it pal, thank you

 

[Ghost Donkey]

I've not read the paleo diet book but I think it's a bit more (and I couldn't find a gentler word) extreme. No dairy, bread, pasta, legumes, grains at all. If it's Prof Loren Cordain's book it hopefully covers the science around the subject so you can apply it to how you eat. Should be interesting. If you exercise, you're an athlete :-). I usually suggest the athlete one as it's a bit more moderate when it comes to food choices and is big on fresh food.

I'd go for a tuna salad for lunch rather than tuna pasta. Plenty of kale, spinach, peppers, tomatos, spring onions, fennel, cold pressed olive oil. Save the potato or pasta for your pre training meal. I'll shut up now :-D. As my suffering wife always tell people, "don't ask him about his weight loss or food!"

 

[Arch]

I do not weigh anything,

Wow, that diet's really worked then!

Just an aside, I've heard of the Paleo diet, and as I understand it it's based on a 'natural' human diet from our pre-farming days. So why are grains and legumes out? We'd have been perfectly able to gather those in the wild.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I'd go for a tuna salad for lunch rather than tuna pasta. Plenty of kale, spinach, peppers, tomatos, spring onions, fennel, cold pressed olive oil.

There in lies a huge problem for me, I don't like any of those foods!, I have tried them, (except Kale, just Googled it so I know I haven't!). I wish I did, Mrs S will quite often have a salad with what ever we're having for tea, and it always look really good.

I'm going to have to try things again, maybe try them a different way somehow, (fried? ). Seriously though I will give new things a try, but tomatoes and onions have always been a big no no with me

 

[Arch]

There in lies a huge problem for me, I don't like any of those foods!, I have tried them, (except Kale, just Googled it so I know I haven't!). I wish I did, Mrs S will quite often have a salad with what ever we're having for tea, and it always look really good.

I'm going to have to try things again, maybe try them a different way somehow, (fried? ). Seriously though I will give new things a try, but tomatoes and onions have always been a big no no with me

I find I like things more in salad if they are finely shredded or diced. Carrot, cabbage, beetroot etc. There's a leafy salad sold in Sainsburys that has very finely cut strips of beetroot (raw I think). As it happens, I like beetroot, but I wouldn't want it raw - except in fine strands like that. Ditto raw carrot. And some dressing, or mayonnaise, while adding a few cals, can make foods more palatable - hence coleslaw! Sometimes the texture of a thing is what you dislike, and having it chopped small overcomes that.

And some baby salad leaves don't have much flavour at all to dislike, but they do help fill you up.

 

[Ghost Donkey]

Wow, that diet's really worked then!

Just an aside, I've heard of the Paleo diet, and as I understand it it's based on a 'natural' human diet from our pre-farming days. So why are grains and legumes out? We'd have been perfectly able to gather those in the wild.

Yep I'd agree with that one. A lot of people are also of the belief that if something hasn't always been avaiable it isn't necessarily bad. Aubergines aren't native to these shores along with a whole host of foods. There's two parts to it really. The fresh food approach is a big part of it and then the issues relating to inflamation, leaky gut and food intolerences. Leaky gut is something which is linked to some illnesses like MS. Whether it's leaky gut in someone who may or may not be intollerent

Hang on, doing it again. Tangent.

 

[Ghost Donkey]

Carbohydrate is not the problem. Chocolate bars contain a lot of fat, as does the butter that you put on your toast and in your sandwiches. If you add what most people would consider a "reasonable" amount of butter on a slice of toast, there are more calories in the butter than in the toast.



While I agree that people tend to badly judge portion sizes of rice and pasta, starchy food isn't really the problem. There's been a deliberate effort by the food industry (particularly in the US, and this has then spread to the UK) to get people to eat more so the industry can increase sales. Strategies to do this have included increasing portion sizes in take away food and the introduction of "meal deals", introducing snacking between meals as a normal thing, and the addition of high frustose corn syrup to processed food in preference to fat (which causes sugar highs and dips and increases hunger). The result of all this is that attitudes towards food have changed and our idea of what is a "normal" amount of food is much more than it was 50 years ago. We just eat more than we need.

The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to prepare your own food from fresh, raw ingredients (so you know exactly what's in it), weigh everything, and count calories until you're used to recognising what a normal amount of food looks like. There's no need to do any special "diets". Just try to eat as many different foods as possible, in sensible quanities.

Sorry, just read this this. What you say is right and I largely agree but you're missing a piece of the puzzle. The sugar highs and dips explain the issue with sugary fruit juice, starchy carbs etc. All the quick energy. Fruit juice has all the sugar of multiple pieces of fruit with none of the digestable fibre to slow down the energy release. Same with the quick energy release of syatchy carbs. Or so I've read in many, many places. Too much sugar in the system (inc from digesting starchy carbs) creates an insulin response which results in fat storage. The high level of insulin also results in the body not beibg able to access fat in the fat cells. When the blood sugar drops (the lows you mentioned) the body cannot access stored fat for energy so needs to eat again and fast so you go for more divert type food and the cycle continues. With time your body becomes more insulin resistant but your fat cells become resistant slower resulting in a higher proportion of fat being stored in your fat cells. This is one of the reasons why not all calories are equal and glycemic index and glycemic load came about in dieting. Glycemic index includes portion size (which you've spoken about) while glycemic load focuees on energy release.

Done on my phone, info from my terrible memory. I can't copy and paste from intetweb too well on my phone but if you read up on this stuff it's quite interesting. Hormones.

I'll stop now. If anyone wasn't falling asleep before reading this they will be now.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Reading all of these posts intently, I like my grub, fact, however dare i say it heading for middle age, its not so easy to shift the weight. I am 6ft and 15 stone, ideally would like to get down to 14 stone, maybe 13. I know exactly what I need to shift as my diet is not bad, non processed foods for dinner, lunch etc and porridge for brekkie. My main issue is sugar, finding it hard to cut out but reckon thats my main barrier to the fact that even cycling 100+ miles a week my weight is static. Wine at weekend is an issue as well but one step at a time . Going to cut the sugar right down and see what happens!

 

[Stonepark]

Wow, that diet's really worked then!

Just an aside, I've heard of the Paleo diet, and as I understand it it's based on a 'natural' human diet from our pre-farming days. So why are grains and legumes out? We'd have been perfectly able to gather those in the wild.

Because it is only farming (breeding) which has made the energy in collecting them greater than the energy in the plant. Take wheat (or any other cereal), the grains you get nowadays have 10,000 years of breeding and evolution to be the size they are today. In Paleo times, they were no bigger than grass seed and grew randomly about the place making collection energy intensive and not worth the return. They are also low in vitamins and minerals (i.e. all modern cereal is fortified - read added vitamins- to prevent scurvey, beriberi etc which is unknown in the Paleo diet.

Paleo books do make the point that cultures which existed even up till recently (i.e. the isolated tribes etc) living on a Paleo diet all had excellent health (i.e. no bad teeth, all athlete fit, little illnesses etc, proper bone growth and development - think teeth/jaw and feet) etc