Need advice/different diets

[GermanMum101]

Hey everyone, I hope you guys can tell me. Over the last few months I have kept gaining weight and this really has to stop! I cook fresh every night, not always great but I am including veggies etc, but I really think my problem is that I eat an incredible amount of candy. I just can't stop. I also really love my carbs, so a low-carbs diet would kill me I think (or my DP when trying to keep them from me ).
I did weight watchers before but that was in Germany and the points tables etc I got do not work here as the food is different (different brands etc). I liked the system though as I was basically allowed to eat everything I wanted. I am not a huge fan of meetings and so on though as I am rather busy at the moment so I kinda want to try it on my own.
I would appreciate every advice you lovely ladies got! I am feeling quite lost at the moment. I eat mostly chicken or mince when having meat for dinner but as I said I love carbs so there is always loads of patsa etc. I read that you should avoid these in the evening. Do you have any experience with that? Does it help?
How can I keep myself from eating all that candy?
What kind of stuff can I take out for lunch so I don't give in and eat all that crap food, i.e. fries in town? Sandwiches every day bore me and I end up eating other things.
Sorry for all these questions but I hope you can help me a bit. Thanks

[Chil1234]

I'd suggest that you try the calorie-counting route as it gives you a good place to start. Work out, using one of the many online calculators, how many calories you need to maintain your weight... deduct about 700 from that number and then that's your base for weight-loss. If you are overweight or if you are quite active, the end number may be a lot higher than you think.

To avoid feeling hungry all the time and to avoid the 'low energy' that is a big factor in sugar cravings then work out your day so that you're eating/snacking regularly, getting a good balance of different foods and including plenty of bulky vegetables in the mix.

Keep a food diary very accurately in the early days. Weigh and measure portions rather than guessing and log the calories. A free website called www.caloriecount.com has a good database of calorie values and a food log you can enter everything into, for example. Eventually, you'll get a much better idea of portion-control and, once you're in a good weight-loss routine, you should be able to reduce calorie-counting to a spot check rather than every day.

'Carbs' like pasta are not fattening you'll be pleased to hear but you have to control the portion-sizes carefully. Otherwise it's easy to eat too much ('loads' of pasta?) and then you will gain weight.

Good luck

[Blondeshavemorefun]

when i lost 4stone on ww before, i ate pasta EVERY day,so this no/low carbs on diets is total bollocks

there is no reason why you cant have your daily carbs in pasta or rice

mince and pasta,or salamon/chicken and rice - just make sure that you check portion size - weigh out 60g of dry weight pasta/rice and that is all you need - tbh it does look small, but you dont need more

[GermanMum101]

I am really embarrassed to coming back to you so late, I was just stupidly busy lately and somehow forgot to answer .

Thank you both for your answers! I worked out that I am allowed to eat 1500 calories a day if I want to lose weight and although I haven't properly started the counting yet I have started to look at the stuff I eat and started a daily diary. no wonder I am becoming bigger and bigger, thinking that the lovely muffin I like to dig into is about a third of my daily allowance.

I am also trying to eat less and so far it's been working out. Chocolate and so on have been replaced by fruit and I quite enjoy it.

Blondes- 4 STONE!!! I am greatly impressed! My stamina is so low with these things.

I have gained a stone and a half lately and although I am officially not too heavy for my height etc I feel like it. I want to fit back into all my clothes.

May I ask what kind of work out has helped you when losing weight?

Thank you

[Chil1234]

Glad you checked out the calories. Counting calories shouldn't become a way of life but it does help you understand what you can afford to eat and what you can't. It's a bit like driving a car... if you don't take a look a the speedo from time to time you can't see if you're going too fast or too slow. Yes 'lovely muffins' can often be 500+ cals... dead easy to eat more than you think.

The 'best' workouts are actually the ones you enjoy enough to do frequently. If you don't enjoy something, you'll give it up and then it's not doing anything for you. So any activity goes.... aerobics, weights, jogging, swimming, cycling, walking briskly, dance, digging a garden.... all will help you burn energy faster. Incorporating more exercise into your daily life is also a good strategy for long-term health and weight-control. If you get a cheap pedometer, for example, and aim to get 10,000 steps a day you'd be amazed at how much difference it makes. Walk rather than take the car, use stairs rather than lifts, get off the bus a stop earlier, go for a walk at lunchtime... simple things that really help

Good luck.

[ScaredOne]

I have been following your advice lately and it might just be in my head but I feel a bit fitter already. I am not actually loosing a lot of weight at the moment but I am starting slowly by moving a bit more and so on. And of course looking at calories and writing them down. Incredible how much I stuffed into myself without realising. It's embarrassing
I signed up for an other Yoga class and will try to go swimming more often. I quite enjoy that as I feel so refreshed afterwards.
Unfortunately I sit a lot in my job and am often to tired/lazy in the evening. I have started walking a lot though, often several hours a day, up and down the hill. Didn't realise how unfit I really was till trying to get up these "stupid" scottish hills.
It's so hard without candy though, especially since DP can eat whatever he wants while being thin as a stick. He seems to be munching on candy all the time

[ScaredOne]

Uh sorry, had name changed a while back. It's still me though

[nappyaddict]

Trying Jason Vale's juicing diets. I have had two attempts at this. My first failed because I kept thinking one little bit of this or that wouldn't hurt in a whole day. My body was still used to me snacking on something and so was still craving and so I would give in and have something. It was a vicious circle. On my second attempt before Christmas I craved something for probably the first 5 days but this time I didn't give in. I went completely cold turkey (very occasionally snacking on a tiny piece of raw fruit or veg to get me through). Day 6 and 7 were easy peasy and it helped me change my eating habits for good. I found I actually started craving fruit and vegetables not crisps and chocolates. I made sure I kept all junk food out of sight and didn't buy any new stuff at all.

It's best to make juices up fresh but if there are times when you know you might be tempted to not bother cos you haven't got the time then do some in advance for those times. Also I put the right amount of fruit I needed for the different juices in labelled bags and chopped up anything like pineapple that can't be juiced whole. It made making the juices up a lot less tedious and it meant I could just whizz whatever was in the bag without really thinking about it.

I didn't put the weight back on only over Xmas when I pigged out massively. It's a lifestyle change. You can do it for a quick fix but if you go back to your old eating habits then you'll put the weight back on. If you want the weight to stay off you need to change your eating habits for good.

These are my personal golden rules which I based loosley on Jason Vale's principals:

A) Only snack on fruit/veg/natural yogurt
B) Try to not eat anything after about 5pm (i have to stretch this a little bit cos don't always manage to have dinner at 5pm)
C) Drink 3 litres of water a day
D) Eat crackers or whole meal pitta breads for a quick lunch rather than bread.
E) Eat lots of soup or chicken and fish with vegetables/salad/rice.
F) Think about the ratio of what you put on your plate. 60-80% of what you eat should consist of high water content foods - fruit, vegetables, juices, smoothies and soups. Only the remainder should be made up of fish, chicken, rice, bread, potatoes, nuts, seeds, pulses and dairy.
G) Buy yourself a small dinner plate (or larger dessert plate). I now eat all my meals off a 9 inch plate so I don't overeat. A just-right portion will keep hunger away for 4 hours.
H) Meal plan your whole day and try not to deviate from it. This is to stop mindless eating and picking at food for the sake of it, cos you are bored etc. Once your body has set new eating patterns and got used to them you will naturally graze less and can be a bit more flexible.
I) Always go shopping after you have eaten, so you won't be tempted by crap. Avoid the junk food aisles.
J) Do you have a pringle food? (once you pop you can't stop) With these foods just don't buy them. If anyone offers it to you, politely decline, because you know it won't stop at one, it will be a slippery slope til there's none left.
K) If you are eating out, look at the menu if you can and decide what fits in with your eating plan before you go and stick to it. If you have in mind what you are going to have you won't be tempted by other stuff on the menu when you get there.
L) Tell yourself that eating that chocolate bar will only make you happy for a minute or two. You will be pissed off after that you ate it. You will be proud of yourself for not giving in afterwards. You will be much happier when you stand on the scales and have lost weight. Every time you are tempted by something naughty remember the feeling of standing on the scales and weighing a bit less.

Think of your diet as a game against a powerful opponent. You won't win every encounter, but with practice you can get a lot better. If you don't lose for a few weeks don't lose your motivation and give up on the diet and think it's not for you. These things happen and in time you will start losing again. Dieting is a bit like surfing, sometimes you just have to wait and catch the next wave, whether it be motivation, waiting for your body to catch up with all the good work you've been putting in or until you can concentrate more on what you are eating perhaps cos of other important things going on in your life.