Hello everyone!
So I feel that the most sustainable weight loss idea would be to follow the healthy plate model, eat 3 meals a day, and eat a higher plant based diet (according to studies). Along with this, engage is physical activity for 150 minutes per week (aerobic exercise) combined with 2 days a week of strength training. What is everyone else's thoughts on this? I have studied Nutrition in University and find that this technique seems to work for the vast majority of people I see.
What did your doctor say about changing your diet/exercise routine?
Good post - I think I'm happier eating two meals a day - it seems to help with weight loss. Plus a focus on low carb eating - I no longer eat grains or much processed foods which has helped enormously too. I'd be interested to read others replies on this - thanks for posting ...
I believe it may be a result of the total calories you’re intaking. With two meals=less calories in the day. Although I do know that regular meals/snacks throughout the day is crucial for the health of your pancreas as large meals spaced at irregular intervals could lead to problems down the road. Good point though, my husband eats two meals and I will eat 2.5 and that has helped me tremendously. The 0.5 is the snack at eat in the evening.
Hi iloveorang - thanks for replying. I'm intrigued by your comments on snacking benefiting the pancreas. I used to believe that several small meals and snacks per day were important to maintain blood sugar and energy levels. I now believe the opposite - that it is more beneficial to eat fewer meals without snacking in order to keep insulin low. There's a lot of research on Intermittent Fasting which has informed my thinking. Can we both be right? It's interesting how many different ideas there are about the best way to achieve weight loss ...
For sure, we can certainly both be right. Intermittent fasting definitely has a lot of health benefits. However so does sticking to regular meals times and not skipping meals/ eating large meals etc. This is what I meant just to clarify :).
I feel like it's possible to follow the eat well plate to the letter, and still have a pretty unhealthy diet. I know I could follow it and put weight on...
I do roughly follow the BANT plate: bant.org.uk/wp-content/uplo...
With this, I aim to make veg the majority of my plate, and I snack on 1-2 pieces of fruit a day. It works for me.
Haven’t seen the BANT plate before, it’s definitely better than the NHS one.
Thank you. I haven’t seen this plate either but it’s great. I will try this for sure.
Hey Cooper you're a mine of information this is really interesting as I'd not heard of the BANT diet before, so thank you for this. 😊
I forgot all about the plate until a few weeks ago! BANT are the British association of nutritional therapists, and they have lots of really helpful resources on their website 
Agree with you Jerry - I personally have benefitted a lot from Cooper27's forum contributions...
Sounds very good to me.
However exercise, which is critical, generally builds muscle and tone and while it helps with health does not always lead to weight loss. Of course the other downside of exercise is when people think afterwards they deserve a treat to say "well done" to themselves. That treat could be a beer, or a cake and so undo much of the good that the exercise was attempting to provide.
Yes I agree with this tendency to treat yourself. I usually go home and make a milkshake with a cup of milk and a banana as a post workout snack/dessert. Do you have any ideas for a quick post workout snack?
I quite like olives, I think the salt is meant to help with replenishing electrolytes, and they are generally low calorie.
I haven’t t seen the Bant plate before Cooper27 thanks for that, it’s much closer to how I eat than the government eatwell plate. I would tweak it for slightly less fruit (typical for me is two portions a day one of them being berries) and a bit more dairy but I don't eat meat at all so my Greek yoghurt would take the place of the meat allowance they suggest!
Good luck iloveorang I would take a look at Coopers link, the eatwell plate is much better than a processed junk food diet but I think the Bant style one would keep most people satisfied between meals and less likely to snack.
Do you know, I think you've hit on the difference - the eatwell plate has a lot of room for processed foods, while the BANT one tries to focus primarily on whole foods.
It's the one bit I think alienating with the BANT one though- it does say to prioritise getting protein from meat, but if a veggie/vegan looks at it, it's not as relevant. They probably should work on a meat free version given the rise in veganism.
Also I was referring to this plate: health.harvard.edu/blog/har...
If anyone was confused about which one specifically.
So many plates out there!
This plate looks ok, we tend to avoid most grains though because my OH has coeliac disease, so this section would probably have potatoes or starchy veg for us
All great posts everyone, thank you for your insight. I believe that whatever you do, sticking to it in the long run helps and making sure to have a routine. Anyone that I know who has managed to stay healthy throughout their life has had healthy habits and stayed physically active no matter what was going on in their life. What do you all think?
Hi I agree iloveorang, because if our bodies are well nourished we are more resilient and in all respects and I think that a lot of people miss this. And I agree this is a great thread so thanks for posting it. 😊
Hi iloveorang
Sounds good to me, and thanks for the reminder of the 2 days of Strength training - that is an area that I need to devote some attention to, as I often consider that I'd like to make it a regular part of my routine, but sometimes it slips out of my radar, and I definitely hope to devote more dedicated attention to it - hopefully this week and going forward!
Zest
This chimes with my thinking on why snacking is problematic ...
There is no flaw in the low-fat theory. Otherwise, in my own anecdote of one, I would be the fattest guy on the planet. Instead once I adopted a low-fat way of eating my weight dropped off without effort, without exercise reliably and steadily until I reached my BMI. I wasn't even looking for weight loss as a goal - it just happened.
Here's another anecdote. My wife FINALLY went vegan at the beginning of this year. She has been overweight all her life. She has tried every diet under the sun, including slimming world, weight watchers etc, but always as StillConcerned says - it comes back on. After a health check she was now facing becoming clinically obese. For the first month or so of being a vegan she lost no weight at all. I repeatedly said she should try removing nuts from her meusli. But, as we all know nuts are very addictive. Dropping nuts did the trick for her. Suddenly the weight has dropped and dropped and dropped. Not fast, but steadily and reliably. This is at the same time as being under a lot of stressful work with no opportunity to exercise. (Her normal exercises are badminton, treadmill and swimming.) People, without prompting, are saying how healthy she is looking, how much weight she has lost. She is now fitting into clothes that have been in the cupboard for decades. For the first time in her life she is likely to even able get into that little black dress she always dreamed of!
Follow any vegan group (there are plenty on facebook for example) and you will hear time after time people who lose weight without trying as a total surprise to themselves.
Note the low-fat model of eating is not a no-fat. Fat is in all foods. We never cook with oils. The only oils/fats we regularly consume are in the whole foods we eat. This includes seeds which are high in fats, and more than enough fats for the body to thrive.
A much more valid theory about weight gain is that EXCESS is converted to body fat. So eating within ones calorific needs (age, gender, height etc) means that neither carbs nor fat are generally stored as body fat. Go above that excess, by happenstance or choice and weight gain is inevitable.
This gets distorted when eating both high fat and high carbs, especially when you add refined foods into the mix not to mention refined sugar. Take for example a croissant. Full of poor fats, full of poor carbs and all sweetened. A totally irresisitable foodstuff. When I say irrestistable I really mean it plays games with the mind. Can anyone resist a croissant? I think not.
Similarly today's society we consume generally sweets/deserts/puddings as a daily treat. If people's diets were altered to make cakes an annual event, for example perhaps weight gain would be less of an issue.
Thanks for this reply. Studies have shown that following a high plant based diet has been proven to be a sustainable and healthy long term weight loss solution. Interesting that your wife went vegan and has successfully put off the weight.
Also for anyone curious, weight loss can be achieved with going on a low anything diet (fat, carbohydrate, and protein) because if you reduce one of the macronutrients you’re essentially intaking fewer calories automatically. However I feel that balanced meals and smaller portions with the three essential macronutrients. All three macronutrients are vital in good health as they all serve different purposes in the body.
Great discussion everyone!
is key*
Imagine a bucket with oils & fats in it. Leave it overnight or for a week and what do we find? Fats & oils. Same with sugars. Pour a bag of sugar into a bucket and leave it overnight, same thing.
Yes it is more complex, much more complex. Part of the emphasis on whole foods is that the body needs and correctly expends effort to break through the germ (in the case of grains) to get to the nutrients safely stored inside. This provides a slowed down absorption of sugars that is absent in refined carbs. The fibre in foods have no nutritional value and yet they are used to clean the gut of stubborn foods, toxins etc etc. Oats, especially steel cut oats are particularly beneficial here. But the key thing is we have long intestines that work by fermenting foods over a period of time rather than a very strong acid in short intestines and evacuating the food quickly.
Interesting point. Fibre is also a source of food for our gut bacteria. In terms of nutritional value, it helps to slow down blood sugars and reduce harmful cholesterol levels.
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