Any advice on a high protein diet please?

[vengadriver]

I booked a session with the Personal Trainer at the gym today and boy did she work me hard. I thought I was reasonably fit until then!

I discussed with her I really need to lose some weight as my BMI is 32! I have been eating fruit for breakfast with a yogurt and snacking on fruit between meals. She informed me all this fruit gives me a sugar rush and my body will store those extra sugars as fat - I thought I was eating healthy

She has advised me to eat a high protein diet and to add in nuts and seeds to my meals and as snacks in between meals. These are foods I have never eaten. She also advised me to try not to eat bread but have salads instead.

I really don't mind eating salads but can't imagine them for lunch every day especially in winter.

Can anyone offer me any ideas on high protein meals and how to use nuts and seeds in my diet. I am really hoping this might work for me in the long term as I have lost weight on diets before but can't maintain it. I would prefer to make changes I can stick to. Any help/advice would be most appreciated, thanks in advance

[ju-ju- Graduate]

I went on a diet to lose weight when I started running...more to make my body better for running. I used the Myfitnesspal app and I have lost just under 2 stone and dropped 2 dress sizes....anyway, I had to totally change the way I eat, and I eat so much salad now...but I have a really big chunky sald with grated cheese ( the strong stuff for flavour) but you could toast loads of seeds ( pumpkin, sunflowe, sesame etc) and add them to make it really tasty.... pumpkin seeds are full of zinc which is great for your libido

I would recommend the myfitnesspal as the only way you will lose weight is eating less calories!!!!

Good luck

[vengadriver Graduate in reply to ju-ju-]

Thank you, a lot of people seem to be using Myfitnesspal I'll have to have a look.

[Malcy Graduate]

Bang on, Juicy. Excellent advice. With due deference to your personal trainer, I doubt you need a high protein diet. To lose weight, you burn more calories than you consume. Simple as that. There's rarely any need to split up the groups - as long as your diet is balanced, you eat what you prefer.

I think the problem with 'healthy food' is controlling the quantity. A bucket load of health food still contains a bucket full of calories. So try to limit your mid-morning snack to one apple or banana or whatever. But, as Juicy implied, the key is to count your calories, and be ruthless while counting them. EVERYTHING you eat adds calories, so include it in your count. This is the key. The evidence is that we under-report our intake by 40-60% even when we think we're listing everything. That comes in eating bigger portions than we think, and in forgetting to count sauces etc.

It takes some effort to get going, but apps like myfitnesspal can help. I didn't use an app but found that I tended to have a varied but not extensive list of meals. I worked out the sals and then it was easy to keep track.

The main thing, like running, is to get started and to keep doing it. The longer you carry on, the easier it becomes. And the more kg you see falling off. Juicy lost 3 stone, I lost 33kg which is almost 5 stone, and I think Aftabs has lost more than me. So it CAN be done - just stick in there!

[crox Graduate]

I've lost over 30kg just using this and myfitnesspal, it gives easy to understand graphs that will encourage you to eat a balanced diet.

Some dietician's say that five fruit and veg a day should be 4 veg and 1 piece of fruit, because most fruit can be described as a bit of vitamin c and a lot of sugar (ok, I'm over simplifying.)

As Malcy says, eat sensibly, do the exercise and no need to stress, the weight will come off.

[Beads Graduate]

When I was losing I limited myself to 2 pieces of fruit a day, lots of veg and salad, few complex carbs (starches). Now I'm at (below) target weight it's lovely, I can eat as much fruit as I like (fig on my cereal this morning, grapes and apple for elevensies, satsumas at lunch and another fig after dinner) but still eat lots of veg (salad when it's warmer) and strangely I'm not fussed whether I get the carbs (afternoon snack today was toast, but dinner was moussaka and veg, no spuds (and I didn't put spuds in the moussaka either)).

If you want to boost your protein or cut out a bit of starch then start with breakfast, instead of cereal have an omelette or scrambled eggs, add in some mushrooms and a grilled tomato (don't add fat, or toast), if you can stomach it in the morning add an onion or some spinach as well.

Instead of milk on your cereal, try cottage cheese. And add half an ounce of almonds instead of fruit to it. Be careful with the nuts and seeds though, a little goes a long way towards your calorie limit.

And as the others have said, use something like MyFitnessPal, remembering to weigh things for accuracy (I have a set of Argos cheapy basic scales, they were a fiver and are easy and quick to use) and log everything. Once you hit target weight continue to log your food intake, it makes it easier to maintain, if you have a pig out day or a special occasion you will know about it if you log it and be able to compensate for a few days after (or before if you know it's coming up).

Edit: forgot to say, the best thing about MFP (my opinion) is that you can put in your own recipes, it's sometimes been quite an eye opener where the calories in the meals come from.

[suzybenj Graduate]

good post and great inspiring replies. Having my own wee battle with weight loss at the moment. The basic truth i eat too much. i have used my fitness pal v successfully- stick to 1400 calories and you will lose weight. have a look at the weight loss site here on nhs choices they have a 12 week programme. my diet is generally a lot of meat protein and little carb. i stay off nuts i find the flavour to rich. You have to find a combination that works for you. Not getting hungry is the key- i always have a snack at 5ish. i have just started doing longer runs seems to have kicked started weight loss again.

So thank you for a timely post and the replies reminding me it can be done

[Narmour Graduate]

I lost 4 stones by cutting out bread, alcohol, and snacks. I eat about 8 portions of fruit a day and in my experience its the loss of the empty calories in chocolate, crisps and Alcohol which has helped me.

[Malcy Graduate in reply to Narmour]

Yep - I never acquired a taste for alcohol but I used to have a family size bag of crisps at lunch (in addition to lunch!), plus a couple of choc bars and at least one bag of sweets. Every day. And thought It was OK. Cut out all that c**p, lost 33kg and saved about £80 a week! I still love good quality bread though - my remaining weakness that I struggle to resist.

[Beads Graduate in reply to Malcy]

Mmmmm, crusty (in a good way) bread, with some smelly cheese, or maybe expensive ham, yummy!