Hey all. After speaking to a few people on here today I am starting to feel a bit lost. Obviously the 1 thing people *think* they know when it comes to being on a diet is that you mustn’t have things like double cream, or full fat yoghurt, etc. but I have been told that I could be having that. I am just wondering what everyone’s ‘Do’s and Dont’s’ are as I’m feeling a little silly🤷🏻♀️
I’ve approached this diet only snacking on fruit (I hate nuts) and maybe allowing myself 1 Cadbury thin bar every other day. I have been making sure I am having my 5 a day so I haven’t actually been that hungry but what I’m scared of is me getting tired of this diet and going back to eating nothing but crap again. I drink 1000ml water a day, also a bottle of oasis a day (I’m trying to cut down on the fizzy) and I’m weighing everything out (calorie counting purposes).
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ChubRub23
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Good evening ChubRub and thank you for posting, your experience is not uncommon, and I’ll try to answer it without getting too complicated. The question “which weight loss plan should I follow” will always get lots of responses, and many differing opinions. The short answer is the one you can stick to, so one that includes your favourite foods will always be more successful than one that restricts them.
What they all have in common is eating fresh ingredients, lots of vegetables, reducing snacks, and reducing quantity. You need a calorie deficit to lose fat. However, as you have discovered, not all calories are the same, some keep you full for longer, such as fat.
So go and do some research, ask any questions you need, and remember this is a journey, things will go well and not so well, but just keep on and you’ll get there. 😊
I totally relate to you. The way I'm doing it now is basically a combination of "common sense" (don't eat a ton of sweets, eat fruit and veg etc) and my own thing. I created my own plan which I call the "The 1 2 3 Plan":
1
- hour of exercise
- hour of wellbeing
2
- litres of water
- snacks or treats
3
- healthy meals
- fruit and veg
I use it as guidelines at the moment but at some point I would like for them to be the base of my lifestyle. Right now I haven't introduced the 1 hour of exercise or wellbeing. These first 3 weeks I have been focusing on changing what I eat and calorie counting. I always aim for 2 litres of water a day but often drink more. I also drink Tetley Berry Boost juice and sometimes (around once a week) a 500ml bottle of Diet Coke.
I know there's the recommended 5 a day but I feel that it's a chore to do that so I aim for 3 instead. Over time I'm sure I'll have more and have 5 a day but it's just what I feel comfortable with. People tend to be strongly against "snacks". It seems that word has a stigma and is instantly linked to bad food and chocolate but that's not how I see it. It's just something you eat inbetween meals. I also don't like nuts. My two snacks a day is a bowl of fruit and a Bounce ball. Every day I have a bowl of fruit which consists of 1 apple, 10 green grapes, 10 red grapes, 2-5 strawberries and sometimes 100g mango and / or 100g watermelon if I have some. The Bounce ball is a "protein energy ball", there's different flavours such as Dark Chocolate, Mint, Coconut Macadamia, Dark Raspberry etc. They are a lifesaver for me.
In the past I have found that sticking to a diet or limiting myself (not going over a certain amount of syns (Slimming World) or not having chocolate) I will just crave more which leads me to giving up easier and quicker. So I made a personalised general healthy eating plan. As long as I'm honest with myself, write everything down in my diary, count the calories, eat fruit and veg, drink water and be kind to myself, then I'll be fine. I'm honestly surprised but pleased with myself for how I'm doing. I have no desire or crave to have bad things, actually when I think about things I would eat before - large cheesy chips, super veggie pizza, bags of doughnuts etc - I feel sick and it doesn't appeal to me.
Just remember:
1) There's no real right or wrong way of doing this; just using common sense, discovering food and being positive. Do what feels comfortable for you.
2) You're only human; if you have a bad day or make a mistake, don't let it eat at you, acknowledge it, accept it then move on. Tomorrow is another day.
3) You're not alone. Although people on here come from different walks of life and are often doing their weight loss journey in a different way, they're still here to listen and give advice.
Nice reply Fittea, and I agree totally about us each finding our own way.
I’m not against snacks, but being short and on restricted calories I prefer to save them for bigger meals 😂
The science behind it is that if you are hungry between meals then the meals aren’t adequate. But if it’s a habit, and you enjoy them, and it helps you stick to plan then that’s different
I follow a low carb diet which says yes to cream & no to toast. I won’t bore you with that, but will offer my other dos and don’ts.
Do not eat like a starving golden retriever. I lost a stone on this diet. I should patent it.
Do not eat things that then involve hiding the wrappers from your husband.
Do not drive long distance late at night so the only way of staying awake is eating a family sized bag of sweet chilli crisps and a bag of M&S dairy toffees. Better fat than dead in a car accident I used to trill to myself.
If you find yourself lying to the checkout lady about your food shop (who doesn’t care), it’s time to change your food shopping
If you end up lying to anyone about your eating, Doctor, nurse, friends, neighbours, use that as a spur.
If eating lunch is the best thing that happens all day, get a new job. (Obv a bit tricky in the current climate).
When eating out at the pub etc, (obv when we can again), ask to swap the chips for extra veg. Once chatting with friends, you won’t notice the missing chips.
Do weigh yourself a lot, but be aware that weight can fluctuate a lot according to how much salt we’ve eaten & hormones. I have a day once a month when I put on 8 pounds. It used to be a terrible day until I worked out it showed up every 28 days...
• in reply to
PS more seriously I do find it helpful to plan my food, or I am hungry with nothing I ‘can’ eat handy.
I know that my cravings for chocolate and snacks between meals stopped completely once I got into a low carb diet. Unfortunately because I'm currently shielded (and get pretty low about it sometimes, not been out of the house for weeks and weeks) I have wanted comfort food again and an occasional treat (chocolate of course). so now I get those cravings again and exactly as you say - I ate it in the kitchen so my husband couldn't see me doing it. That is the slippery slope back to being overweight again and I know it! I put on two pounds last week because of it, but I've tried much harder this week to get back on track, and this morning back to usual weight. But the secret eating was a wake up call!
Absolutely. Going low carb changed my taste & inclinations. No willpower needed to resist all the sweeties in the house left over from a party, as I have gone off them & so no need to bury the wrappers in the bin. Well done for finding your equilibrium again - it’s been a very weird time.
You have just done really well at your 1st weigh in so, what you Are doing is working for you. Stick with that 👍Low carb High fat is one diet that works for some people and advocates eating cream, full fat etc. I am not on that diet and am still losing weight, calorie counting works too. Don't feel what you are doing is wrong as it's working for you.
Just to clarify, the point of low carb high fat is not to stuff yourself with fat, it’s to cut out carbs. You cut out carbs to help reduce insulin production. You only add fat to stop yourself being hungry. Diabetics & pre-diabetics have had great success managing their condition on this diet - Dr David Unwin is the lead in the UK on this, & worth a google IF this is of interest to you.
but it isn't the only plan is what I am saying and again will say I was pre-diabetic before my weightloss journey and that it isn't the reduction of insulin that is the issue, it is the insulin resistance as I am sure you'll know. And you and I have talked about insulin on here in the past.
Losing weight in anyway helps people with diabetes and pre-diabetes, this is why the NHS encourages people to loose weight. The diabetes uk website encourages different fruits to help blood sugar levels.
Yes of course you understand the LCHF plan, but I was concerned you had misrepresented it to Chubrub. The leading doctor at Diabetes UK does not agree with your assessment that insulin management through diet has nothing to do with managing T2 diabetes, but it’s a relatively new approach so there is likely to be controversy.
Not sure what you mean "the leading doctor at DiabetesUk... doesn't agree with my assesment that insulin management through diet has nothing to do with managing T2 diabetes" I didn't say anything about diet having nothing to do with things and as I haven't met the Dr, how could they agree or disagree with me? You and I may have different views but, you can't speak for anyone else 😀
I’m sorry that wasn’t clear & used the wrong form of words! Not helpful of me. The leading doctor at Diabetes UK is David Unwin. He has found through studies of real patients, thousands of them now, that type 2 can be reversed by cutting most carbs out of diet. He has named his diet to do this the Norwood Diet after his gp practice. This seems - and forgive me if I have misunderstood - at odds with your view that it is weight loss overall that helps type 2 diabetes, and reducing the production of insulin is not relevant. Your view is very conventional NHS thinking, and David Unwin is only starting to persuade the ‘NHS machine’ of his findings. However, he has been heavily consulted by the department of health recently, and so it will be interesting to see what emerges /becomes mainstream. That all said. I am TREMENDOUS LY pleased for you that your own approach is working both on the weight & diabetes fronts. Hurrah.
I do think losing weight overall helps diabetes risk, yes. I find it again strange that you say "your view" is very conventional NHS thinking, curious how you can decide what my view is but, thankyou, yes -I am losing weight which is fantastic isn't it and why we are all here. I have a friend on the same approach who is also losing weight and managing their type 2 and has been able to reduce their medication.
There are lots of ways to help change our patterns and get to a weight that is better for us and ways to become more healthy and I feel we all have to find what works for us. LCHF is just one of those ways. Did you see the recent study about the twins who spent 12 weeks seeing how a vegan diet worked on one of their systems? They ate the same amount in calories and carried out the same work outs. The vegan lost weight while the omnivore put on weight, bizarre , eh? As a side effect the vegan felt they had more energy too ! These guys are used to working out and doing huge amounts of walking etc
I am sorry if I have offended you. You have been very explicit about these matters and so I assumed these were your views. I won’t make the same mistake again.
Not offended, just curious as to how you see my views as very conventional NHS. I guess for me when people claim to know you, it presents a curiosity in me as to how/why they make that claim.
But all it told me is that a vegan diet produced different results than a different, omnivore diet, for two specific, genetically similar individuals. As most omnivores in the UK are overweight, it's not surprising that there would be vegan diets that are better for weight loss than a standard omnivore diet. And it wasn't a wash for veganism; that report says the omnivore gained 10lb of muscle while his brother gained none, that the vegan ended up with a less diversity in his microbiome, and his libido tanked. These are serious issues that explain the reason that, while you may have been convinced by this study, the twins themselves have not been and are not going strictly vegan.
But even if it is a proper study, it's so small, it's only value is in indicating the need for further studies. Get 100s of twins, define a clear diet protocol and see what happens. See if the results are repeated for different ages, for women, for other races etc etc. Basing health decisions on trials that are limited to young white men is one of huge problems with getting appropriate health care if you aren't young, white and male.
Some vegan diets do seem to have similar results to low carb diets for reducing diabetes, but those vegan diets have more in common with low carb diets than you may realise. Both diets are whole food diets, with ingredients as close as possible to their natural form, avoiding industrial oils, processed foods and anything made in a factory.
You could be vegan and eat nothing but chips fried in soybean oil and drink nothing but beer. You would not get the results either twin got.
There are hundreds of ways to lose weight out there! Bottom line is to put less fuel in (calories) in than you are using. Your choice is, What fuel and how you burn it.
There are good and bad points to all plans! The important thing is to find ... or make ..... one that fits and works for you personally!
If you pick straight calorie counting, you can eat anything as long as cals consumed are less than cals used. But sugar and fat have high calories, so you get more and a more healthy balance, avoiding them them a bit. Really it does mean counting everything you eat! Plus, as well as keeping them under your allowance, do not let them drop regularly far below it, you may have few good losses for a week or two, but then your body will adjust to it, and will slow down burning which will slow or stop your loss.
Low carb avoids carbs by cutting out ..... or very much avoiding ... things like anything with high sugar ... including a lot of fresh fruits ..... also potatoes, anything with grain in like cereal, pasta bread etc. You need to still consider the calories. But after a while you would get the hang of what to eat and what not to eat. so may not be counting everything for so long.
Low carb High fat. LCHF is basically the above. but with a more strict limit on the carbs. So, you keep the carbs very low and get a majority of your calories from fat. I sounds very odd at first. because it works differently. It changes the way your body tackles the food. There is a lot of information about around this, so won't bore you with it here. The fat keeps you feeling fuller longer, so you tend not to feel as hungry and don't need as much. They say High fat, but that doesn't mean eat a lot of fat! Still keeping calorie amounts at the back of your mind, but getting a lot of it from fat in place of carbs.
Fasting is what it says on the tin! Try eat healthy or pick one of the above and have a space of at least 16 hours without food and drink (except water or black tea or coffee) for as many times a week as you can. It has MANY health benefits, of which , again, there are hundreds of videos and information about on line. If you do the high fat diet well, fasting comes much easier because your body will switch to 'eating' the fat on your body and will ease feeling hungry (ketosis).
Intermittent fasting. IF is either the above 16 hour gap, or just choosing two or more days each week to keep a calorie count of 500 or lower, and eat normally the rest of the days.
The trick is, to pick one and try it out, there are plenty more! but theses are the main at the moment. If it doesn't suit after a fair trial, try another one! People on here will always give you help and encouragement!
I used to struggle a LOT. I was always calorie counting, but came here and tried LCHF and a bit of fasting and it has worked very well for me.
I've been on my healthy eating plan for 12 weeks and I've lost 12lb and 4 inches from my waist and 6 inches from my hips. It doesn't feel like a 'diet' - it feels like i could eat this way for the rest of my life and not miss out.
I'm calories counting based on my extremely high BMI so I have to eat 1600-2000 calories per day and I stick to 1600 - athough in the early days eating that much could be a struggle.
I've downloaded an app to help the counting.
The main thing I've changed is cut out all snacks and focussed on having 3 home cooked /home prepared meals a day and cut out the alcohol. As I was a constant grazer who could eat a family bar of chocolate in one sitting without thinking this was a huge change. I fill in the daily diary every day and pinch ideas all the time from other posters. I make sure that my meals are full of healthy veg and salad and good proteins and fats. I still eat carbs but they are less important than they used to be.
I've always drunk a lot of tap water so i have kept that up.
For me it was about finding a way of eating that suited me and one that didn't feel like a punishment. I'm only sad that it took me until i was 54 to find out.
I'm not militant about the lo-carb thing though. If I fancy crumpets for my breakfast, I'll have them. But I do say "no" to adding carbs to round out a meal, like with rice or potatoes etc and I don't eat sugary snacks or desserts. I don't go out of my way to eat hi-fat either. I just eat like a normal person who is not afraid of bacon, cream or olive oil.
The biggest surprise for me was that eating a normal amount of fat during the day means I am never hungry in the evening — when most of that bad snacking used to happen.
I've gone from obese to a normal weight and managed to stay there for over a year now.
I have fridge cold soda water and fruit juice, (one of my five a day) to satisfy the fizz cravings. The fruit juice can also be substituted by low calorie squash. It is a cheap fix too!
I think the main thing is everyone has very different ways of changing their eating habits to lose weight.
There are lots of different methods out there and we all follow different methods.
I think the main thing is to think about self-care. Eating nutritious food, full of vitamins and minerals, will have lots of positive effects on you and your health in the short-term and the long-term.. and junk food and snacks won't do you any harm if consumed within moderation.
You know you best and what might and might not work for you, or what you might like to try or wouldn't like to try - it's all about you finding what works for you so go with what you think is achievable.
I'll leave a link to a quiz which might help give you some idea of what direction might be best for you and I hope you find the balance. Keep trying and you'll get there in the end 😊
Hi, I visit from time to time to pick up tips and read the successes and struggles here.
I need to lose weight for a total hip replacement and was going strong with a 10kg loss over three months. Since lockdown I am not being weighed or monitored by my surgery and I think I have probably put a couple of kgs back on. I don't have or want scales, it reminds me of all those failed diets over the years!
This time I am not following any particular diet, I don't crave chocolate, sweets, crisps or cream cakes so there is no need to cut them out as I don't buy them. I don't have sugar in drinks and will do stewed fruit without sugar, much to the face pulling of my children. I don't substitute with artificial sweetener, I went cold turkey with sweet things over forty years ago!
I have tried all the diets and regimes and inevitably regained the weight and more, so I have decided to reduce my portion amounts. That way I can eat what I like, just not so much of it. It suits my husband too as he lost his little tummy.
Most days I don't have bread but I do have potatoes. I tried a low carb/high fat diet for six weeks and it didn't suit me with problems of nausea, bloating and constipation.
My biggest sin is a dry biscuit when I have my medication three times a day, I was told never to take it without food.
With low fat spread, semi skimmed milk, lean meat, no sugar, little bread, there was not much else I could do to lose weight except portion control. I do have at least my five a day as I like fruit and veg although I am aware of the natural sugars in fruit.
I have several health issues so medication, particularly steroids, are a problem as is severe osteoarthritis and mobility problems. Fortunately I don't suffer with diabetes or pre diabetes, much to the surprise of my doctors and consultants who look at me and wonder how I can be this heavy and not have it.
I feel I am on the right track as long as I remember not to cook large meals, it doesn't cost me anything, I am not buying special drinks or meals and I can satisfy myself that I am not missing out on the food I enjoy.
The pain and lack of mobility and the thought of being pain free when I have my op is good motivation.
I just need to stick at it, dish up on a smaller plate and don't go for seconds!
Loads to read and digest here Chubrub! No pun intended!
Im sort of trying to find my way back to a good healthy lifestyle again so I've no answers for you.. I'm trying to decide on the best way forward too.
I will say that properly done (very carefully done) fasting has been my favourite tool for weight loss. It's great for the body and mind, great for weight loss and in my experience once you're into it it's easy peasy.
Whatever way forward I choose now will involve fasting of some description for definite.
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