To find eating so bloody, utterly confusing?

[stevienickstophat]

Right, I've come to the belated conclusion that I need to lose a lot of some weight.

I don't want to do WW or Slimming World, or Atkins or any lo-carb stuff. Been there, done that, fatter than ever.

I find MFP far too time-consuming and confusing.

I just want to make sustainable changes and learn how to make good choices so that the weight comes off slowly and naturally and stays off.

But the advice these days is all so confusing, I end up staring in the fridge like a bunny in the headlights, and give up before I even start.

Eat fruit. Don't eat fruit, it's full of sugar.
Eat protein. But not too much red or processed meat.
Eat veg. But not carby veg.
Eat cheese. Don't eat more than a matchbox sized amount of cheese, it's full of fat and salt.
Eat full fat everything. Full fat everything is full of calories.
Fill up on brown carbs. Don't eat carbs.

I don't know which way is up any more. I've got to the point where I feel guilty for eating an apple.

So, how should a 41 year old, 12 stone 4, size 14 woman eat in order to lose weight long term, please?

I need unequivocal advice in words of one syllable.

TIA

Personally I have found the only way to control my eating, and weight is to go low carb. You can still eat quite a lot of nice foods like cheese, and surprisingly high cocoa chocolate is ok in moderation, I have a little every night.
I think the whole low fat approach is a fallacy and a con, our bodies turn excess carbs to fat anyway so what's the point in eating low fat everything if your body will just turn it to fat anyway (if you overeat)

Low carb can be hard work as you do need to think more about what you eat, but it's worth it for me particularly as a diabetic as it is soooo much easier to manage my condition this way.

have a look here www.fitnaturally.co.uk/

Sensible, no gimmicks

Have you tried Paul mackenna "I can make you Thin' ?Silly title but the most sensible book I've read on ways of eating. It changes your attitude to food because you MUST eat when you're hungry. But stop when you're full. There's NO calorie counting or low fat diet foods.

BTW I was 3 stone OW and now have lost all of it and am maintaining it. It WORKS!!!!!!!

Seb's mummy, that's a really interesting question.

I like eating vegetables, cooked in all different ways.
I love good cheese.
I love roast chicken.
I like most (but not all) fruit.
I love Greek yoghurt.
I adore potatoes in any form.
I love rice, especially brown.
I love quinoa.
I love chocolate.

Biscuits are things that I eat when I'm miserable/have PMT, so I can't say I like them, as such. They're more like a stick I beat myself with

I used to love good bread, but I can't eat it any more. I will have gluten free toast for breakfast sometimes, and it's ok.

I've tried Paul McKenna. I hypnotised myself and couldn't eat chocolate for a year

But it wore off.

Otherwise, I'm just too greedy. I need external boundaries of some kind.

I ran regularly for 10 years and trained for marathons and half marathons. I didn't lose a lot of weight and was by no means skinny! Don't get me wrong, I'm a massive fan of exercise but, contrary to popular opinion, even running a lot of miles every week did not mean I could eat anything I liked. I lost weight by cutting out snacks (apart from veg or fruit) and giving up cappucinos etc.

Roast chicken breast with rosemary roasted potatoes and steamed veg?

Healthy chicken curry?

Healthy Moussaka which incorporates greek yogurt and some cheese?

Brown rice sushi?

I love nuts too, but eat far too many so have to avoid.

I can't do the 'have six almonds and two squares of dark chocolate" thing.

It's all or nothing with me, sadly

Marking place, as I am equally "fat" at size 16 and equally confused over what to eat.

I live with carnivores

So do I (well, one). He doesn't burst into flames when he eats lentils.

I would second a food diary and I would suggest doing mfp for a week to get an idea of how many calories you should be eating.

The thing that's worked for me pretty consistently is portion sizes: and making efforts to eat but less carbs and what I do eat of them are not processed carbs - I started off using the GI diet as it was called then

So all rice bread pasta etc is whole grain
I eat fruit as a snack throughout day - unlimited except for bananas and avocado
At breakfast I have tablespoon muesli/ granola ( unsweetened) with two tablespoons greek yoghurt
Lunch I have huge salad and a protein choice plus small helping pasta/ rice/ bread - common choice is 40g brown pasta ( uncooked weigh5 with tablespoon green pesto mixed with broccoli raw frozen peas and tablespoon pine nuts. Plus any green salad kicking about
Dinner is : half my plate is salad and or veg, a portion of carbohydrate that is size of my hand and protein (fish, chicken etc) the size of pack of plying cards ( around 100g). Protein cooked simply eg grilled, baked in oven, etc

During day I snack on fruit, might have low fat yogurt and often have 2 oat cakes with houmous.

If I do this and try to fit in a thirty minute walk every day my weight drops and I can keep it stable. If I go out for a meal I make sensible choices and try to have oatcakes and houmous before I go so I don't pig out!!! I think using this guide to portion sizes makes it easy to do and if you are tall ( I am not!) you naturally get a bit bigger portion!!!

Good luck

The secret is learning to listen to your body, eat slowly ,sit down and concentrate, no screens and enjoy it!

This is a really good thread.

(I'm 45, 5'7" and 12 stone 3. I would very much like to lose a stone. All through 20s and 30s was an easy 10 stone.)

I lost a stone 2 years ago by realising that I'd started to snack at work and was eating stress crisps at home (a family pack could go in an evening) and drinking a lot of wine.

I've stopped eating crisps unless I'm in a pub, and stopped snacking at work. I reckon the mindless wine will be the next to go. That is only mindful wine when I'm out with friends or really fancy a glass.

I find MFP irritating, but it does get less irritating the more you use it - and it really bought home to me how a few biscuits can be the same as your whole dinner...

More vegetables
More fish
Take in own lunch to work.
Cook mostly from scratch.

Then maybe try the Hay diet that works, it's not mixing carbs and protein at the same meal. No CC though,

Or the Blood Type which is prescriptive and v healthy though you can eat chocolate on it!

Your bone frame is not just shorter, it's narrower too so the width of a size 14 arse will have a lot more fat padding it out than the same size arse on a 6ft person

Not massively though. A woman at 6'2'' will, on average, have hips just 0.5'' wider than someone who is 5'2''. The difference in height is close to 20% but the difference in width is more like 4%.

So, OK, there may be more fat but "a lot more fat", I don't know. Just pondering...

Just as someone who is 5'2 and a size 10 wouldn't be considered as skinny as I would if I were a size 10

Sure, but that's about perception, not actual weight/fat.

Only eat from 12pm until 7pm.

Do 12 minutes intensive exercise before you have your first meal at 12pm.

Have three meals a day or 6 small meals eat what you like but you will have to cook most of it from scratch that goes for cakes and biscuits.

Your allowed to buy items in the supermarket but they must contain less than 6 ingredients otherwise you can't buy it.

That goes for everything - bread, cereal, tinned soup, sauces etc. Hence the reason you will have to cook most things.

Friend told me of above she did it before her wedding lost 2 stone. It changed her relationship with food. I did it after having ds and I found it brilliant.

Other ways are - No caffienated drinks at all. Though green tea in moderation is ok I love mint tea. Dring lots of water.

Don't eat anything after7.30p.m. until 8 am except maybe a bit of fruit.

Eat fruit on an empty stomach.

Sorry to be more confusing but these things work for me

A size 14 arse is a size 14 arse

Seriously? You can't see that some people have wider hips than others (and usually, the taller you get, the broader the frame, proportionally)? And if your hips are wider, and deeper, you need less fat to fill out the same circumference trousers. It really isn't that big a leap of common sense

Disease See post at 11:11.

A woman at 6'2'' will, on average, have hips just 0.5'' wider than someone who is 5'2''. The difference in height is close to 20% but the difference in width is more like 4%. So, OK, there may be more fat but "a lot more fat", I don't know. Just pondering...

Will if that's true Maid, then a size 14 is significantly overweight at any height, cos there's a lot of spare padding on my arse.

Please don't derail the thread by arguing about your personal definition of "fat". Start your own thread.

The OP has said that she wants to lose some weight in a sustainable way. End of.

I couldn't wait until 12 to eat. I'd end up stuffing my face.

I can't not have coffee in the morning either. That morning cup of real coffee is all that gets me out of bed!

Second MaidOfStars re. veggie suggestion. Doesn't have to be entirely; IIRC two or three meat portions a week are actually optimum.

They (ooh 'Them'!) say that permanent healthy changes are the way to lose weight long term and keep it off.

FWIW what I do and thus what I'd recommend is this:

1. Count the calories - not an obsessive thing down to the last calorie (there are some issues with this measure of energy in food), but start to be aware and roughly tot it up so you get a good idea of the amount of energy in different foods. You can google foods that aren't labelled.
   It might be an idea to start doing this before you make any dietary changes, so you get an idea of how many calories you are eating now, to help gauge what the right amount is for you. If you're eating loads now (doesn't sound like it?) you may wish to cut down gradually.

*Beware of misleading labelling eg. "130 calories per portion" when they define "portion" as a tiny sliver a mouse would eat!

• Ditto some stuff like pasta where they tell you the nutrition info. for cooked weight, not dry weight. (Google!)

2. Try to eat loads of protein. As long as you're sticking to vaguely normal looking meals (ie. with some carbs and loads of veg) then you cant really overdo this. (Apparently some studies show that increasing protein even without other dietary changes can aid weight loss.)

*Fish! Lots of other goodness as well as protein.

• Again, nutrition info labels are your friend - I was quite surprised comparing the differing protein in different types of cheese.

3. Eat five fruit of veg portions a day, more if possible. No more than two should be fruit. Try to eat a variety of different colour fruit and veg, but especially green leafy things. Beans and pulses count and also contain protein.

(4) Re. fat in foods... keep a vague eye whilst scrutinizing labels again... but the key thing to remember is that "low fat" processed foods (eg. yoghurt) often have added sugar to make up for it. Basically it seems that sugar is the problem in our current diets, actually fuelled by the 'low fat' message.

5. Remember that alcohol (and other drinks, sugar in tea etc) contains calories - this one is a bastard!!

6. Don't feel guilty about the odd slice of cake etc. I have a sort of one-a-day rule with 'bad foods' although sadly half a cake cannot be counted as one portion... calories totted up as above.

And remember variety is the spice of life! It's a good time to try out new recipes, eat new foods, plus the variety of nutrients from a varied diet.

Having read all that back I sound a bit obsessive
Oh well, you'll get loads of different replies... I guess the thing is to find a way that is sustainable and works for you.