The General Diet & Emotional Support Thread

Errata

Ask one of the trainers at the gym to create a personal fitness plan for you. 15 minutes on an exercise bike every night is very little excercise. I do a brisk 30 minutes of walking every day with the dog, it does nothing to change my weight, nor should it.

amistupid

Eat smaller portions is the simplest way and a high protein low carbohydrate diet helps. Exercise does help burn off the calories and improves your metabolism but you need to do a hell of alot to have the same effect as having a dozen less chips.

fluffnutter

seagullsim wrote: »

Thanks 'fluffnutter' - much appreciated. I have been to the GP, and he just tries to prescribe me Orlistat (called Alli as well) - I tried them for a while, but the side effects were too horrific for words. Also, I'd rather do this myself rather than be reliant on pills to sort me out...

God yeah! That Ali stuffs makes you !!!!!! out pure fat doesn't it? Gross! Docs can be a right old pain, can't they? In that case, I'd sign up to with a decent slimming group then. Particularly as you struggle with willpower, I think it might really help. You'll get loads of diet and exercise tips plus lots of support. Don't go for some wacky !!!!!! like only eating white food on a Thursday. Plain old portion control and cutting down on the fat and sugar. Weight Watchers is pretty sound.

rainbowfairydust

seagullsim wrote: »

Not sure about calories - i've never properly counted before. My meals for today as an example are...

Breakfast = Porridge with raisins
Lunch = Jacket Potato with Tuna (no butter)
Dinner = Vegetarian Lasagne (home-made, not pre-packed food).

I've just run my average meals through a calorie counter app, and it looks like I eat around 2,100 per day - is this too much? I am male, aged 32 if that helps....

yes maybe a little.. an average man should be consuming approx 2000 calories a day. I would recommend cutting back to 1500 calories a day. Your menu looks healthy .. do you have any sugar/honey etc on your porridge or just raisans? How big of a handful do you put on?
what kind of snacks do you eat? and what sort of drinks do you drink on a daily basis?

for example my daily menu today has been (am also dieting):-

Breakfast - bowl of special K with skimmed milk & cup of tea
Mid Morning snack - an apple
Lunch - Weight watchers Lasagne
afternoon snack - pack of crisps ( 99 cals )
Dinner - turkey stirfry & for dessert i will have a 2 finger mint kitkat

I try to drink a lot of cordial (if i want pop then i choose diet drinks) and have a 2 or 3 teas throughout the day

I think on average i consume approx 1200 calories a day ... because your a man you should have a bit more than me .

Do you eat bread?if so brown or white & how much?

seagullsim

Errata wrote: »

Ask one of the trainers at the gym to create a personal fitness plan for you. 15 minutes on an exercise bike every night is very little excercise. I do a brisk 30 minutes of walking every day with the dog, it does nothing to change my weight, nor should it.

I did ask for this - it's quite expensive though (£45) so I need to save up a bit. I get the bus into work each day, so will try getting off and on a couple of stops earlier as well - perhaps this might help....

seagullsim

rainbowfairydust wrote: »

yes maybe a little.. an average man should be consuming approx 2000 calories a day. I would recommend cutting back to 1500 calories a day. Your menu looks healthy .. do you have any sugar/honey etc on your porridge or just raisans? How big of a handful do you put on?
what kind of snacks do you eat? and what sort of drinks do you drink on a daily basis?

for example my daily menu today has been (am also dieting):-

Breakfast - bowl of special K with skimmed milk & cup of tea
Mid Morning snack - an apple
Lunch - Weight watchers Lasagne
afternoon snack - pack of crisps ( 99 cals )
Dinner - turkey stirfry & for dessert i will have a 2 finger mint kitkat

I try to drink a lot of cordial (if i want pop then i choose diet drinks) and have a 2 or 3 teas throughout the day

I think on average i consume approx 1200 calories a day ... because your a man you should have a bit more than me .

Do you eat bread?if so brown or white & how much?

Excellent - thanks for this. Porridge comes in a normal take-away coffee cup, and I have a spoonful of raisins in it (no honey or sugar). I don't snack mid-meals usually, although will occasionally have one of those pre-packs of pineapple from Sainsbury's mid-morning if feeling peckish. I do eat bread - it's the 50/50 Hovis stuff.

I'm also allergic to caffeine, so no pop/tea/coffee for me. I drink about 2 litres of water per day, plus a can of caffeine-free diet coke with my main meal.

I'll start counting a bit more closely - 1500 sounds achievable if I try really hard....

tinktinktinkerbell

MrTomato wrote: »

work out your BMR. Subtract 500 from it. Consume that per day. Over a week you'll lose one pound of weight.

In the gym, do weights before cardio, it's better for your metabolism.

do small things as well, stop putting sugar in drinks/drinking sugary pops etc.

what i was going to say

get your BMR worked out before you do anything, never mind about this 'government daily guidelines for meant to eat 2500 cals a day' its rubbish, your BMR tells you how many calories YOU need a day, you then use the harris benedict method and factor in exercise

weights are good for weight loss, more muscle you have = more cals burnt at rest

ive started doing resistance bands instead of dumbbells and they are good so maybe look into getting some of those

drink green tea (with no sugar or milk) thats good for speeding up metabolism

if you want a treat have one, there is nothing wrong with it as long as its not every day

Eric_Pisch

1) its cals in and cals out regardless of what system / fad diet you try

2) you need to eat to loose weight, eating too little causes muscle loss and shuts down your metabolism - which is bad

3) eating every 3-4 hours does help to keep your metabolism going and there's a small calorie overhead for starting up the digestion process

4) keep a food diary, there are free ones on-line and some great ones on the iphone, if you dont you are guessing at what you eat

5) Eat protein with every meal, its an appetite suppressant and helps resist muscle loss

6) Fats are not bad for you, aim for poly and mono fats where you can. Refined / High GI sugars are bad for you. Controlling Insulin is the key to everything with weight loss, you want a nice low level all the time, not huge peaks and troughs which induce carb craving.

7) Try to get a balanced intake of around 33% protein / 33% fat / 33% carbs

8) Exercise can help, it can make a huge difference but it does depend on the duration and the intensity (and your size), however getting what you eat right is the most important thing

9) Resistance training will stop muscle lose and even promote muscle growth which will increase your BMR, more importantly it also increases your metabolism for up to 48 hours whilst the body repairs itself

10) there's a small calorie overhead for eating chilli and drinking green tea, a bonus if you like them

11) avoid salt it makes you retain water, avoid caffeine it causes a sugar release which messes with your insulin levels

12) DO NOT DRINK YOUR CALORIES! Drink nothing that's calorific apart from milk.

ERICS_MUM

I need to lose a similar amount (that's the first time I've admitted it :eek:) My GP has referred me to the local council-run gym who run a healthy living exercise programme. I have to make an appointment with a trainer to be assessed and a gym routine made up. Each 1 hour session will cost £3. I'm really looking forward to it.

The most important thing is what and how much you eat. I used to say that I ate all the "right" foods, but when I analysed it a bit more I realised that my portions were way too big. For example cereal - I used to fill a cereal bowl 2/3rds full, but when I weighed out the 40 gram portion recommended on the box I realised I was eating a double portion !

Do you use skimmed milk and low-fat spread (olive oil is best). Fresh salad and veg without butter/dressing/sauces ?

I do sympathise because I know how hard it is. If it were easy. everyone would be slim. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Linda

PS lose it now before you hit 40 - the older you get, the more difficult it becomes.

seagullsim

Thanks all.

So - Protein foods are the main focus. Other than Eggs & Cheese, what are the best ones to incorporate into a daily diet? Remember - no nuts or caffeine :-)