Weight loss .

[bettyboo]

Hi to all , i need to lose weight the problem is i am on a very strict GF diet and i do not know were to start.I am always hungry so i am constantly munching.I have tried to leave out chocolate and i do not eat GF cakes.So has any one any ideas you can give me .I am 4 feet and 11 1/2 in height and weigh just under 10 stone i used to be 61/2 stone when i was poorly .I would love to be 8 st if i can. thanks for reading .

[FionaGFG Administrator]

Hi Bettyboo there's a number of things you can try. We too morned the loss of our skinny jeans after diagnosis. Why does no-one tell you you may gain weight?

Here's some top tips:

- read all your food & drink labels

- try and avoid anything that has high sugar content - everyone focuses on low fat food but actually sugar is the real baddie and will dump the weight on

- don't avoid any specific food apart from gluten as you'll crave it more - instead try nibbling on some dark chocolate a day instead of munching on lots of chocolate that is good for many aspects of your health and you'll still get a cocoa kick

- what brand of GF bread are you eating..one well known one is very very high in fat and so eating that once or twice a day will easily pile on the pounds

- try and switch the GF carbs - how often are you eating rice, gf pasta, bread, potatoes? Often we eat more to feel hungry. Instead swap them to a few times a week and try and load up on protein, nuts, beans, fruit and veg etc instead

- buy a pedometer and track how much you are walking - why not challenge a friend or your partner? We're meant to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps a day yet with busy lives, desk based work and cars I'm sure we all know that we're often short of that. Tracking how far you walk each day will give you inspiration to walk more and help burn fat and calories

- do more exercise - along with walking we need to burn off what we don't need. So we can't avoid exercise. If you've not tried Zumba give it a go. My friend said someone at the class last week kept her pedometer on and did 9,000 steps in the 1 hr session! It's fun and quite communal. Classes are in gyms and schools and are around just £5 for an hour so it's cheaper than a gym.

- Read all the Free From food / prescription food you're buying - often this is not healthy. See the salt, sugar and fat content. See if you could switch any of this for home made food instead?

- try eating your food in a smaller bowl - often we forget we've gotten into the habit of eating for two people - especially as we're so used to seeing ads with food piled high on plates

- eat food and pause half way thru - consider if you're still hungry if not save the food for later or the next day

- work out if you're eating as you're bored or stressed? If so try swapping what you'd normally eat with seeds, nuts, grapes instead

- go sugar free in drinks

- avoid all fizzy drinks

- avoid alcohol or swap to wine spritzers, spirits and low fat mixers instead

The BBC website has some great gluten free recipes and also low fat / low GI recipes. Worth exploring.

See:bbc.co.uk/food/diets/gluten...

Buy a pedometer: amazon.co.uk/The-Top-10-Bes...

Plot your pedometer steps gmap-pedometer.com/

NHS tips: nhs.uk/Livewell/men1839/Pag...

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good advice - would just add eat more protein as it certainly stops me feeling hungry for longer,

remind yourself that it takes ten minutes for the 'full' message to get from your stomach to your brain.

Leave a gap between one course and the next, or before taking a second helping.

Also, I have read research that says that eating soup first reduces the amount you eat in a meal (I know few of us have two or three course meals, but a tub of soup in the fridge/freezer that you can have a bit from - perhaps while preparing the meal? shouldn't be too hard to manage.

good luck

[bettyboo]

Thank you Fiona and Lois very interesting ,i will use this advice and see what happens,i tend to walk up to three miles a day in the summer but i have slowed down whilst we are in the winter months.I was put off soup since i picked up the wrong tin a couple of years ago i got home ate it and it wasnt gluten free (my fault) but it put me off.I will certainly have a go at the rest though thank you ladies once again .

[Lynxcat]

Hi Bettyboo, Last year I read several books on dieting mainly because after the Christmas of 2010, I had put on around nine or ten pounds. I had been eating ordinary chocolate at that time not realising that I wasn't supposed to. I am not making excuses merely explaining why I suddenly thought I have to do something about this. Eventually, I found a sort of cave man diet. There are lots of those around but none specifically (at least I haven't come across one) for coeliacs. The best piece of advice that I read .. and believe me I read an awful lot of books was never to eat carbohydrates and fats at the same meal time, to avoid all processed food and all food containing sugars including artificial sweeteners. At the time I made porridge with milk so I started making it with water which took a little getting used to. I did manage to lose around 10 pounds before my holidays .. but how naughty we can be when we are enjoying ourselves in the sun and pounds creep back on at a very quick rate.

I also have a rebounder (bouncer/trampoline). I find this useful as if the weather is bad it means I can still get some exercise no matter what its doing outside.

Fiona has quite a lot of advice so hopefully you will find something that will help you but I would like to add two other things: one, this was quite a shock to me and I must admit I haven't managed to cut it out yet, but caffeine is very fattening, allegedly; two never allow yourself to get hungry or you will find weight is usually hard to shift - try having a boiled egg, or cold meat, or a couple of oat cakes (if you can tolerate the gluten free ones) between meals - but only eat between meals if you are hungry as it really is easy to build this up as a habit especially if you are like me and enjoy food.

[HazelG]

I found GF food bad too, I generally make my own cakes and biscuits using just rice flour and no fat. There is a wonderful one on the BBC website using cornmeal and ground almonds and boiled oranges. Fiound baking cakes without the added starch in shop bought cakes like drop scones with fruit added using rice flour is also nice and rice or buckwheat pancakes with whatever fruit you like make a delicious pudd. Soups are a very good idea (ever tried butternut squash so easy to make and very filling) and filling up on vegetables and fruit and protein will make you feel fuller longer. Best wishes for success. I lost 5 stone before I became wheat intolerant and it is still a struggle keeping the weight off.

[meanioni]

Eat little and often - if the body gets hungry it tends to switch into "starvation mode" and lay down calories as fat. Eating small and often (ideally avoiding sugary/fatty foods) will help.

Get smaller plates (seriously), you will tend to load them up less, so portion sizes will decrease.

Chew your food more/take your time to eat - don't rush. It takes your body time to work out that it is full and if you eat too fast you will over-eat and then feel too full. By eating more slowly, your body has time to catch up and you will feel full before you have eaten all your food.

Eat soup for lunch - this tends to have a more filling effect on the stomach than eating dry food so you will find you stay feeling full longer.

Eat when you are hungry (and only then), stop when you feel full. If you feel hungry, sometimes having a drink will help stave it off (your body will sometimes give a hungry signal when it is actually in need of fluid). If you still feel hungry after drinking, then eat.

Don't eat too late at night - try to eat before 7pm.

Exercise - swimming/walking.

Watch out for fruit, whilst it is a good snack substitute it is packed full of calories, esp. dried fruit.

[Lozzerella]

Hi ya. I fill up on pulses chickpeas, lentils, beans. Seems to help me. Good luck. X