Will returning to an old fashioned diet help me lose weight?

[BergamotMouse]

I’m getting a bit wobbly and want to sort it out. Low carb diets work very well for me but I struggle to stick with them long term due to children and cooking multiple versions of things.

I was thinking, perhaps if I go back to an old fashioned, smaller portion diet it might help me slowly slim down (not after fast wins). So porridge, meat, fish, potatoes, lots of veg. Occasional puddings.

Anyone think this would work?

You don't have to eat boring food, seasonings aren't calorific. Just control your portion size.

Well, it stands to reason that it probably would. If you look at footage of high streets in the fifties, sixties and even seventies, it is noticeable how few people were overweight. I think perhaps the key is a balance of healthy carbohydrates, quality protein and filling up on loads of decent veg, with the occasional sweet treat. Also, it was less common to drink alcohol at home. The proportion of ultra processed food was much, much lower then too. Although, remembering my grandma‘s home-made meals, you might want to up the spices and herbs to avoid total boredom!

Yes, I’d be seasoning a plenty. Though maybe bland food would help stop going for seconds!!

I guess I just mean clean eating, but nothing fancy, just classic family friendly meals with sensible portion sizes.

I did this and lost weight, and have continued eating this way. I wonder though if the weight loss was more to do with eating more "real" food and less processed? I am definitely fuller for longer and feel much better in myself. My weight came off really slowly and eventually hit a plateau, and I've stayed the same for a couple of years.

The OP didn't say 'boring food' nor did she mention seasonings! She did, though, talk about smaller portion sizes.

@BergamotMouse smaller portions should help you, but you need to avoid allowing yourself to get too hungry. If you've been a low carber before, you should remember that a lower carb diet also helps to keep you feeling full/stops the hunger pangs. That should also help you to avoid snacking between meals, which will add a lot of calories to your day.

Not saying you should go full-on low carb (I get the issue with family meals/cooking!) but if you keep your focus on 'meat and 2 veg'-type meals, and avoid more recent* foodstuffs like pasta/rice, that should help.

*i.e. foods that were not routinely served/cooked in the 60s and 70s!

This is kind of what I’m thinking - a lot of our meals, whilst home cooked are pasta and rice based. If we go more veg with potato for carbs it might naturally cut carbs.

And it would be easier to serve up different portions, so I have more veg, the kids have more potato.

Yes, it does help. There's a reason meat, two veg and a homemade pudding was a staple years ago - it was nutritious and filling. Nobody snacked between meals because they didn't usually need to and nobody was overweight.

If you already know low-carb works for you can't you just have basically what the rest of the family are having but just don't have the rice/pasta/potato at all? Just have a larger serving of the meat/protein component and extra (non-starchy) veg. That way you aren't changing all your staple family meals or cooking multiple things.

This is what I do if low carbing. And I think this is why I always end up back where I started. So if I do spag bol, I might roast some courgette, if I do a chilli I’ll do myself cauliflower rice.
But that extra faff takes enough effort that it tips me over the edge into ‘can’t be arsed anymore’.

And then there was the difficulty going out for the day. So everyone would have a sandwich made and I’d be faffing around make an egg salad.

I've been doing something like this for about 6 weeks and have lost a stone. I'm having greek yoghurt with mixed berries for breakfast, homemade soup or salad for lunch. For dinner I'm making curry, pasta, roast chicken etc but having extra vegetables and less rice or pasta etc. No crisps or alcohol. I'm not counting calories and I'm having fruit for a snack. It seems to be working well.

That's basically how I've eaten all my life and my weight has never altered from 25 to 65. Home cooked meals though I would include rice or pasta, even if I do a pasta dish I serve veg or salad with it.
I don't think it's so much about the food as the absence of snacks.

But what if you just ate the mince from spaghetti Bol with loads of salad and whatever veg you are already making for the kids. If having chilli, just chilli and cheese and no cauliflower rice faff. Sunday roast, have meat and lots of veg.

The problem with eating traditional carb heavy meals is they don’t fill you up as much and trigger hunger sensations. If you can truly eat 1 sausage and a small serving of mash though, great. But if you know you lose weight with 3 sausages and loads of kale, I would just do that.

It's quite telling when you visit Italy and see the portion size of pasta served that we are heading to American size portions. There's no reason you should eat differently from your family in reality. You should all be having smaller portions, with a salad. I appreciate the reality of bottomless teenagers and the horror of some of a leaf of lettuce.

There was a document on UPF's on BBC that was an eyeopener. Basically how consuming them reprogrammes your body and how hard it is to eat normally after. The doctor who experimented with it was really struggling to get back to how he used to eat before.

I think it is definitely worth a bash, especially as you head into the summer months when people naturally tend to eat less carbs [or in my house anyway] when the sun's out. My trick is to take a single small potato and then only have a second when I've cleared my plate. By then I've often had enough food and don't want it any more but have been conditioned to eat everything so if I take it up front I'll eat it. Same with pasta but DH is a food hoover so seconds are not a thing.

The only way I lose weight is low carb, 1000 cals a day and doing 16/8 at the same time!

Look at the TDEE.
Unless you are doing really hard, physical work, you do not need 2000 calories per day.
My TDEE at 165cm tall, age 67 and moderate activity is 1300 calories.
Also reject any food that is in a package. Go for foods you need to chew, which also starts off the digestive process.