23 overweight and struggling a bit!

Fire_Fox

euronorris wrote: »

I realised that cereals were bad for me, especially the chocolate cruesli I was knocking back(!), but I really struggle to get away from something cereal based because it's so easy. So I searched the supermarket for a decent museli.

The one I found contains oats, barley, seeds (sunflower I think), dried fruit (peach and banana I think - am going by memory here), nuts (not sure which ones) and raisins. There's no added sugars, or preservatives etc, and it's organic (all the others had added stuff like sugars etc). Is this a good one? I tend to have that with milk, and then snack on nuts (peanuts that have been baked in their shells - stops me from eating handfuls at a time) and berries (raspberries and blueberries this morning) in the morning at work.

My lunches still need work. I tend to either opt for the soup option (usually tomato, veggie or minestrone) or an egg salad sandwich (it comes in a 60gm serving pot and has bits of gherkin & chives mixed in and I add cucumber too), and then have plain yoghurt and add tangerine/mandarin peices to it, and a banana. I feel a bit stuck because option 1 doesn't contain much protein, but option 2 seems carb heavy.

Dinners are easier, and are always (well mostly) either chicken, beef or fish based (though fish is new to me, so I am still trying it out to find ones I like). And then loads of veggies. Sometimes potatoes, sometimes not. Occasionally deviate with something like spag bol (home made), oohh, or bacon & scrambled eggs *yum!).

I will usually have either another banana or an apple too, and then some unroasted almonds in the evenings.

I know it's not great, but it's a vast improvement on what it was before. Still need to fine tune it though.

Oh, and drinks during the day is water, black tea (it's a Dutch thing - I adapted) & sometimes squash in the evenings.

I wish berries and nuts were cheaper though!!!

Sounds like a great start! Doesn't sound like many portions of fruit and veggies yet, and maybe not very much variety within that? Be sure you are getting fruit and veg from all the colour groups: red, yellow, orange, green, blue/ purple. Fresh trout is my favourite oily fish, lovely delicate flavour and texture.

Mixed berries are cheapest frozen, Tesco Country Store bag is 500g for £1.39. With dried fruit and nuts it's often cheapest to buy in bulk from a health food store or online - Amazon even stock them now! Any fruit or veggie only counts once per day, so switch the second banana for a different fruit.

Muesli: can't really say without seeing the ingredients list and product. Try to avoid wheat flakes or rice flakes - almost all contain one or the other - and avoid the small porridge type flakes, you want the ones that look like a whole grain got splatted! Banana chips are deep fried and peaches are sometimes unnecessarily sweetened so check these.

Ratio of nuts/ seeds to grains/ fruit is important or the end result will be carb heavy. It really is very easy to make up your own mix or you can adulterate a ready made mix: barley and jumbo oats, a high percentage of nuts and seeds (esp. peanuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts if you like those), a mixture of different coloured dried fruit.

Soup generally doesn't contain much protein, fat OR carbs but you can top with grated cheddar, or swirl in plenty of low fat soft cheese. What are you having with the soup? Do you know how many calories it contains? How much protein is in the egg pot? Eggs are ~12% protein so even if that was 60g pure egg/ no mayo that would only be ~8g protein. Can you eat the soup plus an open sandwich? Yoghurt is great for calcium and will contain a little protein (~4%).

Good to see nuts and seeds for healthy fats and a little protein; also consider olives, avocados or creamed coconut because these count towards your nine a day and don't mess with the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.

~Chameleon~

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Little protein or fat in your breakfast, caffeine messes with blood glucose levels, fruit/ cereal/ toast/ juice is a heavy glycaemic load and high glycaemic index meal. That will spike your blood sugar and could be why it's not keeping you full. Try eggs, any type of cheese, nuts, seeds or beans at breakfast. If you want to continue eating grains switch from processed wheat to jumbo oats and barley flakes. Fruit is great but go for berries and tree fruits rather than tropical fruits.

What are you having for lunch? What do you eat after your run (or before if the above breakfast is after)?

Haha see you beat me to it

rdchick

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

If it's the fizz you're after and you're struggling to go straight from diet coke to water then how about mixing sugar-free squash with soda water for now?

I prefer the flavoured sparkling waters but I assume they are probably rubbish for you too?! xxx

Fire_Fox

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Haha see you beat me to it

Great minds or fools seldom? :cool:

~Chameleon~

daska wrote: »

You're probably not wrong when you say you're addicted to sugar, the research shows that it acts on the brain in the same as as other addictive substances. You might find this lecture by Christopher Gardner interesting - it's long but worth watching to the end to see the full results. Also this one by Robert Lustig.

Sugar and other carbs raise your insulin levels and insulin promotes fat storage. Then, quite quickly, your blood sugar drops and you get hungry and you go through the process again. Protein and fat keep you sated and if you're not storing excess blood glucose your body has to free up it's fat for energy. So, have a decent breakfast, not cereal or toast, and take some nuts/cheese to snack on if you really feel hungry. Cut out the artificial sweeteners. Drink plenty of water - thirst can be mistaken for hunger - and it really doesn't take long to adjust if you're not having sweet things the rest of the time. Give it a week and you should find the call of the junk is only in the mind rather than a physical hunger. Trust me, I was a carb addict, but I can now drink strong coffee with a teaspoon of cocoa (the bitter stuff, not drinking chocolate) and cream and find it sweet. And, at 5'10" I'm down from a 24 to a 16 since Christmas.

Great post :T

Just to pick up on you adding cocoa to your coffee. This is an excellent way of eliminating your cravings for carbs and avoiding insulin spikes. Try having the cocoa without the coffee but with cinnamon added to it instead as this will help regulate your blood glucose levels even further

farihav8amp

hi

hope you are all well. normally do weight watchers and have lost in the past 5stone is 6months after every pregnancy. only problem i always have is maintaining.

thought about slimming world it sounds good and manageable but haven't tried. a friend did cura romana its really weird but i lost my weight and seem to be in control like never before. I am obsessed with food and it has broken that. now i kind of read alot from marks daily apple and pick and choose how i maintain.

recently came across aduki diet, seems too good to be true not alot of info out there a mag had a promo add and one of the sales executs did it so i rang the mag and they said everyone in the office was doing it and it really works. It is diet pills but sposed to be made from all natural ingredients etc, you eat what you want basically and the tablets make you feel full. people report losing a stone a bottle. came on today really to find out if anyone has heard of this or tried it.

all the beat to everyone and your efforts

Fariha

~Chameleon~

euronorris wrote: »

...and then snack on nuts (peanuts that have been baked in their shells - stops me from eating handfuls at a time) and berries (raspberries and blueberries this morning) in the morning at work.

.....

I wish berries and nuts were cheaper though!!!

Peanuts are not actually nuts, they're legumes (from the pea family) You might want to try almonds, brazil nuts (one nut contains enough selenium to satisfy daily requirement) hazelnuts, macadamia nuts. All extremely healthy and packed full micronutrients

Have you got any Asian grocers nearby? I find they're a much cheaper source for bags of nuts, pulses, spices etc than the supermarket. Or even try online. Never fails to amaze me the range of stuff you can buy from Amazon these days! I buy all my nut butters and coconut oils there lol

~Chameleon~

farihav8amp wrote: »

hi

hope you are all well. normally do weight watchers and have lost in the past 5stone is 6months after every pregnancy. only problem i always have is maintaining.

thought about slimming world it sounds good and manageable but haven't tried. a friend did cura romana its really weird but i lost my weight and seem to be in control like never before. I am obsessed with food and it has broken that. now i kind of read alot from marks daily apple and pick and choose how i maintain.

recently came across aduki diet, seems too good to be true not alot of info out there a mag had a promo add and one of the sales executs did it so i rang the mag and they said everyone in the office was doing it and it really works. It is diet pills but sposed to be made from all natural ingredients etc, you eat what you want basically and the tablets make you feel full. people report losing a stone a bottle. came on today really to find out if anyone has heard of this or tried it.

all the beat to everyone and your efforts

Fariha

I'm not a fan of any of these diets you mention, especially ones that have you popping pills and replacing real food with shakes and bars. Have a read through the thread and in particular Fire Fox's posts as she has given some fantastic advice and tips on healthy eating here.

What you have to remember is this is a lifestyle change and not just a temporary fix as youve previously discovered and is why you've always regained the weight. Good luck and I hope you find something which works for you :A

PollyOnAMission

murphydog999 wrote: »

I don't really want to deviate from the OP's question but feel that this has to be addressed.

Why do you think carbs are so important?

There are 2 macronutrients that the body needs to survive, fat and protein. Carbohydrates are superfluous to requirements; Daska has very eloquently already spelled out why.

The stuff that clogs up your arteries (plaque) is due to excess carbohydrates (i.e. sugar, including fruit!), and from transfats - that is fats that have been modified by processing and heat.

In the last 20 years fat has been taken out of so many products (to be replaced by sugar) and we now have a population fatter and and so unhealthy it's costing the NHS billions to try and put right.
Eating fewer carbohydrates is NOT a fad or a 'diet,' it is a healthy way of eating, and there is soooo much evidence to support this now.

I think good carbs/starchy foods are important in the correct quantities for a)energy and b)fibre/nutrients. I don't mean refined sugar and I'm certainly NOT an advocate of processed foods. I'm talking about the same kind of low GI carbs that Fire Fox mentions. The main reason I think it's important to keep these carbs included (in the correct portion sizes and proportions) while dieting is because it just won't be sustainable longer term to remove these things from your diet, i.e. you will "cave" and end up putting weight back on.

I'm thinking mostly of diets like Atkins etc when I refer to the high fat/protein element: removing all those carbs is going to leave you lacking energy and hungry, so they need to be replaced with something. Replacing them fatty foods is going to have an impact on your health/heart etc.

I would agree that most people should probably eat fewer carbs but that's probably because they are eating too many to start with, specifically too many of the wrong carbs. All I'm saying is that I think the healthiest and most sustainable option is to have small amounts of the right types of starchy foods throughout the day (wholegrains/pulses etc). I think "going on a diet" is the wrong way to approach weight loss in general; it may work in the short term but removing required food groups/nutrients is not going to be healthy or practical in the long term. What is really needed is more of a "healthy lifestyle overhaul" which changes your attitude towards food in a positive way; adjusting habits and tastes, downsizing portions to be the correct size, focusing on healthy, balanced foods with nutritional value, cutting down on processed/refined foods and foods high in saturated fat and refined sugars, and finding a way to make all this work for you in day to day life for the long term.

euronorris

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Sounds like a great start! Doesn't sound like many portions of fruit and veggies yet, and maybe not very much variety within that? Be sure you are getting fruit and veg from all the colour groups: red, yellow, orange, green, blue/ purple. Fresh trout is my favourite oily fish, lovely delicate flavour and texture.

Mixed berries are cheapest frozen, Tesco Country Store bag is 500g for £1.39. With dried fruit and nuts it's often cheapest to buy in bulk from a health food store or online - Amazon even stock them now! Any fruit or veggie only counts once per day, so switch the second banana for a different fruit.

Muesli: can't really say without seeing the ingredients list and product. Try to avoid wheat flakes or rice flakes - almost all contain one or the other - and avoid the small porridge type flakes, you want the ones that look like a whole grain got splatted! Banana chips are deep fried and peaches are sometimes unnecessarily sweetened so check these.

Ratio of nuts/ seeds to grains/ fruit is important or the end result will be carb heavy. It really is very easy to make up your own mix or you can adulterate a ready made mix: barley and jumbo oats, a high percentage of nuts and seeds (esp. peanuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts if you like those), a mixture of different coloured dried fruit.

Soup generally doesn't contain much protein, fat OR carbs but you can top with grated cheddar, or swirl in plenty of low fat soft cheese. What are you having with the soup? Do you know how many calories it contains? How much protein is in the egg pot? Eggs are ~12% protein so even if that was 60g pure egg/ no mayo that would only be ~8g protein. Can you eat the soup plus an open sandwich? Yoghurt is great for calcium and will contain a little protein (~4%).

Good to see nuts and seeds for healthy fats and a little protein; also consider olives, avocados or creamed coconut because these count towards your nine a day and don't mess with the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.

Thanks!

I am trying to get as much variety as possible, but admit I have a habit of sticking to what I like best at times. I do also get strawberries and cherries at times, and grapes. I bought some gooseberries the other day, so I have those to eat too (they're reddish in colour now, so not so sour). I didn't know what they were - just said 'kruisbessen' and I thought 'I don't recognise these, I'll try them.'.

When I started on the health kick, OH and I made a pact to try one new fruit or veg per week, and we've been sticking to that. I always have peppers in, all colours, and chop them up and stick them in the freezer. As for veg: carrots, sweetcorn, broccoli, cauliflower, pak choi (or whatever it's called), peas, green beans.....there's more, I'm sure. Again, I tend to get them fresh and chop them up for freezer storage.

OH yes! Frozen berries! I know Albert Heijn does them here as I bought them once before! Good idea! Thanks!

The ingredients list I will check out when home. The porridge flakes in there look how you describe though. I didn't know that about the banana flakes! I thought they were just dried! EEK!

I can't add cheese because I can't eat it. Makes me sick! I usually get a small wholewheat bread roll, and spread some butter (not marg or low fat spread) on it, and put the rest in the soup bowl. That's one of those little 10gm portion thingy's. No idea of the calorie content. It is freshly made on the premises each day, and the option varies from day to day (and from season to season). There is always a bowl of croutons, grated cheese and another with chopped spring onions available to add to your bowl if you want. I always add a big spoonful of spring onions. At the moment, we tend to get a choice of chicken, tomato, chinese tomato (which just means there are noodles & bean sprouts in it), fish, minestrone, vegetable, chinese vegetable,curry, french onion & mustard. All of them are quite watery, except the tomato ones which are more creamy.

Don't know about the egg pot. I'll check tomorrow.

I could always have an open sandwich too, but I get quite full at lunchtime, and then hungry in the afternoon. They do sell a good choice of bread though, with some heavily seeded options, and there is a wide selection of cold meats from chicken, to corned beef. They do have 'roast beef', but it's still red in the middle which I just can't stomach. The Dutch seem to prefer it that way. Also available are hard boiled eggs, salad bar, sometimes stir fry (which I always forget about), fried eggs and a selection of cooked meals - but thy are usually deep fried things or have cheese in them. Ruddy cheese, it's everywhere.

Can't stand olives! But, no idea about avacado. Have to try it. I expect creamed coconut will be OK too.

Oh, just realised I need to have some iron rich tonight. Feeling quite tired and I suspect it's because I haven't been getting enough iron. So I think I will have beef with broccoli, but not sure what else I should add.

Oh leeks! I also eat leeks sometimes. They are becoming a favourite here as OH loves them too. Oh and beetroot - I add beetroot to most evening meals cos I really, really, really like it. :rotfl:

And beans, sometimes if I'm really lazy/tired, I'll have beans on toast.