new diet

scotty1971

my partner would like to go on a diet,the problem with that is she is a very plain eater,does not like fish,only a few vegetables,does not like breakfast cereals,milk and no sauces.i know this is not alot of info to go on but any advice would be most welcome.she does walk a few miles everyday.

thanks

scott

Dizzy_Ditzy

without wishing to come across as being too blunt, she doesnt need to do a "special diet", all she needs to do is eat less and exercise more

She need'nt have to pay a stupid amount of money to slimming clubs and the like just to be told what i said for free :-)

She will need to cut the junk and snacks, drink plenty of water and watch oer portion sizes. With extra exercise, it should all fall into place quite easily

Good luck :-)

podperson

Well there's a lot on what she doesn't like but not much on what she does What does she eat at the moment? Has she (and you if you're helping) looked at why she might be overweight - eg is she having large portions, does she snack a lot, does she have a lot of junk food or processed meals? Completely agree that fad diets are generally a complete waste of time so could she look at making more healthy changes to what she's having now.

adamantine

well walk more and eat more veg and protein, less carbs and drink 2l of water a day cutting down on alcohol (everyone seems to forget wine has calories in it!) and snacks.

increasing protein keeps you fuller for longer than carbs do (dont cut them out totally you body does need some) and beware of hidden sugars in food. even fruit.

a friend once couldnt understand how she wasnt losing weight and when she said she was eating about 3 apples a day, several tangerines and grapes, a couple bananas on top of 2 meals i told her it was simple - she was eating too much natural sugars and when she googled it found out i was right and started to lose the weight by reducing the amount of fruit she was eating.

Hermia

If she is that fussy surely just plain old calorie counting would be the best idea. Any commercial diet plan is going to be tricky for a fussy person.

jenniewb

Sounds like she already eats quite healthily if she doesn't like sauces and prefers plain foods. Just sticking to wholegrains and steamed foods but with portion sizes being controlled to normal levels should be enough to make a difference. A diet is a way of life: you have to make it that way because if your always thinking about "when I'mm off this diet..." its going to go horribly wrong when you 'stop' and all the weight piles back on in a very short space of time. It also does your body no favors to be jumping about weight wise and yo-yo dieting has had links made to cellulite.

Portion sizes are a good thing to start with. Aim for a healthy balance of foods in eat meal, you can even buy special plates where the portion sizes are drawn on the plates so you know what your aiming for. Think Lakeland may sell them but not 100% on that!

There are many basic health and nutrition sites on the net, roughly speaking 1/3 carbs, 1/3 protein, 1/3 vegetables, the fats tend to be within the protein (and how you cook it- just don't overdo it!), if you wanted to you could reduce some of the carbs (not all- your body benefits from the glycogen in them) and have more vegetables.

Snack on fresh fruit -in moderation, throughout the day. If there is something she doesn't like the taste of don't eat it. If she likes things to be plain then this can work in her favor as sauces can tend to add calories many don't tend to consider.

Drink plain water through the day insted of sugary drinks to cut even more out and really make a big difference.

Eat every 3-4 hours max, leaving it too long can leave you ravinious for the next meal and very liable to over eating. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to register you are full once you actually are: think about how much you can eat in 20 minutes if you feel ravenous, even if you'd already been eating a good 10 minutes its easy to pack in quite a bit more. Pick the 'wrong foods' and things can really become a problem! Eating slower, thinking about how you feel after each meal and keeping to portion sizes can all make a big difference.

Keep a written diary of what you eat can also help. Quite often just feeling you are taking responsibility for what your eating can really make a difference even if no one else sees what you write. It also makes you more aware of what your eating and so easier to spot mistakes.

Trying to occupy yourself just after a meal can also help. No running or jumping but just things like talking with a friend, writing to someone/emailing someone, even going for a slowed down walk can break a cycle of overeating after a meal because your bored or tierd or just want to eat for reasons you don't understand...

Start off with these steps, just trying to keep things moving one step at a time. The slower the weight comes off the longer its likely to stay off. Making rapid jumps which are unsustainable wont do anyone any favors long term.

i.like.cats

Breakfast is really important and cereals are full of vitamins and minerals and fibre, but if she doesn't like cereals or milk then perhaps she'd be ok with scrambled eggs and wholemeal toast? Eggs are an awesome source of protein and essential amino acids and the wholemeal toast would provide a lot of the vitamins, minerals and fibre that cereals do.

I eat fairly healthily but i've never "dieted" as such so i've no idea how many calories are in eggs, but given that breakfast is what sets you up for the day then it's the one meal where you shouldn't be skimping too much. If you scramble the eggs in the microwave then you don't need to use any butter/oil at all in cooking them. And always buy free range eggs - they're not just morally better they're also more nutritious.