to ask have you lost weight wirhout exercising?

[bejeezus]

I need to loose 2 stone

I know the bottom line is that you need to burn more calories than you eat. I also understand that the types of food you eat can make this easier or harder to do

I have no opportunity to fit in any extra exercise. I do cycle to work, so 6 miles 3 times a week. I walk about 4 miles on another day and rollerskate for 2 hours once a week. Cannot get child free time to increase beyond this

Has anyone of you successfully lost weight with diet modification alone?

Switch from white pasta/bread etc... to brown/wholemeal. Cut down on portion size IMO is the long term key. It hurts for a few days but then your body gets used to eating less. Eat no processed food and cut out all sugar and fruit in moderation.

I really don't think a no carb/high protein diet is in the long run very viable.

sugar was rationed during the war and was in limited supply till way into the 1950's.

TBH I think sugar and carbs are mixed up a lot, it is high sugar carbs that you should cut right down (by that I mean once a week) from your food intake rather than carbohydrates - which cover a lot of useful foods - cut out the sticky buns and cakes, chocolate, sugary cereal, biscuits. flapjacks, donuts, But keep the porridge and fruit for breakfast and a portion of rice with dinner or wholemeal bread in a sandwich. keep the fruit apples and pears are excellent for fibre, bananas for a whole pile of minerals potassium that the body needs.

yes, when I became a vegan. Lost 1/2 stone in a month.

Alcohol calories are a massive culprit.

I've done 5 weeks no-alcohol since new year. As a conservative estimate (based on roughly 1 bottle of wine and 3.5 pints a week) I reckon I've saved myself 6,650 calories, using this calculator.

In the last 3 weeks according to Runkeeper I've also run 36km - a run every 2 or 3 days. This has used up 2206 calories.

So the alcohol would have contributed 3 times the calories that I burned running.

I really can't see the point in doing no-carbs if you're going to drink as the empty calories in the alcohol spike your blood sugar in a much worse way than a bit of pasta or a sandwich.

Wow, thanks for all the advice everyone. You've all done so well with weight loss, especially coconut! That must feel great

I'm definitely going to try and increase the intensity of my cycling and walking

You are really split on the carbs issue huh! I have wholemeal bread and pasta and brown rice already. Gonna to try just cutting out the chocolate, biscuits and cakes for now and see what impact that has. I don't eat crispation or much processed food (make a lot of cakess/biscuits-will have to stop!) And don't have milk or sugar in tea or coffee, only other drink I have is water. But I really can put away the chocolate! I'm going to cold turkey, can't do it in moderation!

Will read that book someone linked to up thread, thanks for that

Starting tomorrow, wish me luck!

According to my personal trainer, who is also a nutrionist, you should never have more than 30g of carbs at one time. If you're doing a low carb diet you will probably be eating considerably less rhan that, but that might be a useful rule of thumb for the rest of you who are including more carbs in your diet.

There are 51.8g of carbs in 100g pasta twists, according to the carb counter on www.low-carbdiet.co.uk, fyi

Yeah, I definitely eat biiiiig portions. That comes nectar after tackling my sweet tooth issue

Does anyone have the food lists from Skimming World, that they could email me?

... and a normal serving would be around 75g

OP, I would recommend hypnotherapy to sort out your sweet tooth. I felt addicted to chocolate and after a session could spend an 8 hour day beside the (always full) office biscuit tin) without once feeling tempted to raid it. I also reduced my portions (was eating equal amounts as my dh who's over a foot taller than me...)

I spent about £60 on a first session and £35 on a second one. I backed it up with Paul McKenna's 'I can make you thin' book and CD which you can get on Amazon for about a fiver.

I lost 12 lb of post pregnancy weight in about 7 months. My Mum just did Paul McKenna and she lost a stone in the same amount of time.

It honestly felt easy - remove the temptation at source rather than fight against it. The hypnotherapy sessions / tapes are also v relaxing.

Also someone recommended buying high protein bars (e.g. from Holland and Barratt) to snack on instead of high sugar things as this will stop the sugar highs and lows you can get during the day (even apples and oranges will give you this). They do make you feel fuller for longer.

3 years on and I am still much better at resisting chocolate, although it's the first thing I go for in times of stress, and have kept off the weight.

It sounds like you are leading a pretty active lifestyle.

Good luck with your quest!

I have to say, just reducing my carbs has helped with my sweet tooth. I just don't crave cakes, biscuits etc like I used to. I think it's a bit of a vicious cycle - you eat carbs, you crave more, so you eat carbs and want more etc etc.

PS - sorry, also meant to say I am logging food and exercise on loseit.com. It's a site mostly aimed at Americans but you can "friend" people and my sister lives in Boston so we are keeping each other motivated to lose a few pounds of Christmas weight.

Apples and oranges will give you sugar highs because you are eating sugar when you are eating them!

BIWI - it took me a long time to realise something so obvious as this - I thought I was being "good" by eating fruit and all it was doing was making me crash a few hours later!

Ok, tell me what to eat!

I can't not eat apples and oranges!

I was thinking breakfast-porridge on working days, eggs and Bacon not working days

Lunch-normally pasta salad/jacket potatoe/ham sandwich- but could make this ham/egg/tuna green salad

Tea- meat stew/ lentil dahl /fish or chicken and Veg

But snacks- I would normally have banana smoothie/ Apple n cheese/oat cakes/oranges/ grapes

Does that sound ok?

I know! Obviously there is good stuff in fruit - fibre, minerals and vitamins - but you can all that from vegetables. And veg doesn't have anywhere near the same amount of sugar.

All looking good except for your snack list. Banana fine, apples and cheese not great as apples and grapes have a lot of fast acting sugars (think cravings later) Tray ready prepared veg sticks, small open sandwich with wholemeal bread boiled or poached egg, chicken, salmon, tuna, lower fat cream cheese, any protein you really like with good fats or low fat.

Porridge if your friend, watch what you add to it if you take it sweet etc. It lowers blood pressure for some reason.

Try substituting sweet potato for jacket potato (no need t add anything, can micro sweet potato and skin comes off easily ready to mash. No butter in sandwiches, only wholemeal bread.

If you can't resist cakes and sweets, cold turkey is the way to go. Within a week you will feel differently about them. After 2-3 weeks you will find you cake have a slice of cake without wanting to eat the entire cake.

If you have carbs, make them wholemeal/brown versions eg rice, pasta, bread. These fill you up more and also release sugars more slowly. Good luck!

I've lost 11lb in 6 weeks after i had to reduce then stop a medication i'd taken for years. Due to new meds I've had to go teetotal. Also get nauseous now so it's hard to find healthy food i can tolerate. I still have 3 stone to lose before i get down to BMI of 25! So i'm trying hard to stick to approx 1400 cals daily. I've (finally!) cut out chocolate, biscuits, cakes, cola & crisps. I eat approx 4 - 6 small meals daily. I like small amounts of carbs (max 2 slices white bread, handful of pasta or rice) with low-fat dairy, fish, eggs, lean meat, cereal bars, nuts, Ryvita fruit & veg. I drink lots of water, max 3 cups tea.
I once lost a stone over several months doing an hour of cardio & especially weights at the gym max. twice weekly. I'm starting back there but will try to go 4 days a week. Difficult as i'm currently very drowsy due to the increasing doses of new meds; but i'm determined to get physically fitter in the 6 weeks left before i return to work.
Good luck :-)

It's a good idea to take your (good) carbs early in the day and then try restrict them after that, so porridge, say, for breakfast.

Cinnamon is meant to have some amazing properties, so sprinkle some on your porridge and maybe some probiotic yoghurt.

I don't have an issue with carbs per se. I think the inherent evil is sugar, which is what - especially white - carbs convert into. Plus, I think a low carb diet is very, very difficult to maintain long term.

I eat small portions and really try to keep sugar, in all its guises, out of my diet. The less sugar you eat, the less you want. And the smaller your portion sizes, the more easily you feel filled - virtuous circles...

And loads and loads of water. It is really boring, but - it fills you up (kills appetite) and keeps your energy levels up so stops cravings (if you feel tired, have a good drink of water and you'll be surprised the effect it has on you). Two massive bonuses when you're trying to get and stay slim

A lot of this stuff is much easier to do once you get into good habits, and once your body gets used to the new way of things. So it's all much easier to maintain long-term which is the key.

Good luck - your exercise levels sound really good already, so it's just a few diet changes which really don't have to be dramatic to make a difference long-term. :)

I lost 4lbs last week on Slimming world without any exercise. I have been eating pasta, potatoes and bread.

It's a calorie controlled diet that counts the calories for you. It also encourages you to simply eat healthy which you sound like you do most of the time so just cutting down on the treats (or syns as we call them) can make a big difference or replacing them with a less fattening alternative.

My goal is to lose 2 stone in 12 weeks.

Well, I exercise a little more than you, but not masses and have gone from a 40" waist to a 34" waist in just over 6 months - I used www.fatsecret.com, but there are lots of other similar calorie counting websites out there. You record exercise as well so on days when you exercise a lot you can eat more... I also found that I could still eat 'bad' things (much to the amazement of the people I know doing slimming world/weight watchers!)

To answer the OP's question - no, not in the last few decades (dieting without exercise). I'm a big fan of exercise.

Just wanted to make a couple of points - Quodlibet, exercise such as running also increases your metabolic rate after a session, so not just a matter of calories burnt during session.

beejezus, further to other comments about carbs - I gave up wheat as it seemed to be giving me a bloated stomach. Wasn't looking to lose weight, but lost around 6 lbs over several months. Wheat might be just one grain but it's in so many foods - bread, biscuits, cake, pasta, couscous etc. I eat other grains instead, but not eating wheat restricts the amount of sweet treaty rubbishy food available.

Yes 2 stone and counting, with slimming world. Easy. I haven't cut out any food groups, potatoes and pasta are 'free', bread and dairy is moderated, but plenty. Not been hungry since March. :)

Sounds like you're doing well on the moderate exercise front already so you should see good results.

Good luck.

3 stone and 10lbs in 18 weeks with SW. No exercise.