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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Weight loss tips this aren't shit

106 replies

RubyRoo2016 · 12/02/2017 16:33

OK we've had household, parenting and mental health tips that aren't shit. Please can you share how you avoid eating rubbish and keeping trim.
Thanks💋

OP posts:
RandomWordsandaNumber5 · 12/02/2017 20:48

I think the most important thing is to recognise when you are hungry and to understand what being hungry feels like. I was once given advice - if it's less than 4 hours since you ate, It's not hunger; It's appetite..
Then, what works for me is to cook from scratch, don't eat rubbish, don't eat between meals, eat breakfast and eat slowly. Put your cutlery down after each bite and chew thoroughly. Then pick up cutlery and start again.
Good luck!

KavvLar · 12/02/2017 21:00

Find alternative rewards to food. I have changed to magazines, hot baths, cup of tea, paint nails, Face mask, coffee and catch up with friend, go for a walk.

Decanter · 12/02/2017 21:04

Could someone please link to the other "....tips that aren't shit" threads? I'd be very grateful Flowers

noeffingidea · 12/02/2017 21:40

Another vote for smaller plates.
Weigh things like pasta, rice, cereals, cheese, etc. You will be surprised by how small a 'recommended portion' actually is, however you will quickly get used to the new size portion.
Build as much exercise into your day as possible. So walk wherever possible, takes the stairs instead of lift. There's no point in doing an hour in the gym then sitting on your arse for the rest of the day. Activity should be constant.
Personally I find the 'eat less, move more' thing works like a dream. No need to buy any books or follow any diet plans.

TwatteryFlowers · 12/02/2017 21:59

I haven't read the whole thread properly all the way through so apologies if I am repeating something that's already been said, but I read somewhere that because people don't like being told they can't have something or that they aren't allowed something, going on an actual diet and cutting out all the junk only makes you want them more. Instead, the advice was to tell yourself that yes, you can have some of that cake/chocolate/cheese/whatever later on when you have finished this task (the task being something that occupies your mind and hands and keeps you busy) and you'd be surprised at how often later never comes. It does work for me most of the time.

siblingrevelryagain · 12/02/2017 22:04

I don't buy chocolate or crisps as I'd eat them if in the cupboards. The children have these as a treat st grandmas, so they still get to eat them but occasionally rather than all the time.

Prep bowls of salad/fruit salad I'm advance for snacking on in the evening. My lifesaver (major sweet tooth and ex smoker who doesn't feel a meal is complete without something sweet) is chopped salad of mango, orange, pomegranate and handful of red grapes. Nice and sweet and feels a bit more luxurious than an apple, and is better for me than a pack of biscuits at 9pm!
Ditto chopped salad of spring onions/grated carrot/sweet corn/cucumber/beetroot. Savoury and salty enough in place of crisps or nuts.

Penguinhugs · 12/02/2017 22:08

A small meal every 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism ticking over! Protein with every meal and heavy weights!!

0hCrepe · 12/02/2017 22:09

Yes plan realistic balanced meals that you look forward to eating when you're hungry.

Don't deprive yourself of particular things or get ridiculously hungry.

Always always leave some of your food on your plate.

Eat more slowly.

Visualise yourself the size you want to be and imagine how it will feel.

Radicalrooster · 12/02/2017 22:17

Work out your basal metabolic rate. There's loads of BMR calculators online

As an active 43 year old male, weighing 13.5 stone, my BMR means I should be consuming just over 1700 calories a day.

If I stuck to the general advice, which is that a male should be consuming about 2500 calories per day, then I'd be over consuming by a significant amount. Which would explain why I couldn't lose weight for years.

And I find that the easiest way to limit my calorific intake is to not eat breakfast, and then eat lunch and dinner between 12-7pm. Keeps the weight off, as well. If I get hungry, I distract myself by drinking tea or coffee, but I usually only feel hungry for about half an hour around 09:30, and then it goes away.

Very simple.

SecondsLeft · 12/02/2017 22:20

what helps me crave and therefore eat less.

  1. Bread only once a day (including pizza, fajitas)
  2. Not eating after 7pm except fri/sat
  3. 1 thing with sugar in a day only (plus one thing like ketchup that contains sugar)
  4. Less carbs at lunch and snacks but include nuts, olives etc to be quickly satisfied.
  5. A filling breakfast.
  6. Sometimes if I have over snacked in the afternoon, I just skip dinner or have a tiny meal. Sometimes if I want a cafe treat on the weekend, I have it instead of lunch.
Rainbowqueeen · 12/02/2017 22:24

Eat 2 extra serves of Veges every day. Either add to dinner or at lunch as soup or salad.

Spend an evening writing a list of healthy meals that you can cook. Add to it over time. Then when you are feeling lost Orr like you can't be bothered or can't think what to cook, pull the list out. Homemade soups that you can freeze are a great addition to the list.

Hot water with a slice of lemon in it is a great way to start the day

bobberybobble · 12/02/2017 22:37

Eat what you want, but just make sure your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is greater than the amount of calories you consume.

No need to complicate things with points, syns, only eating if the hour is an odd number, cutting out food groups, eating lots of another, using special seasoning or drinking special teas/coffees. Sacrificing a a cake to the cake gods so they allow thou a slice without it costing you calories. Or what ever crap fads people do.

I see calorie counting like a game, I am a grazer. I like to eat. My TDEE is 1,700 calories, I eat 1200 during the week, and don't count at the weekend. During the week I try and eat as much as possible in my calorie allowed allowance!

Loads of veg and lean meat, and lots of different flavoured vinegars (balsamic/raspberry etc) and dry spices for some amazing flavours, but without the calories.

There are so many interesting foods to try when you start looking at portion size v calories, I eat so much fish and sea food. Google curry in a hurry from the BBC. Prawn curry 270 cals, takes less than 15 minutes to cook in a wok!

bobberybobble · 12/02/2017 22:38

OH and don't ever drink that over priced aloe Vera crap or take juice plus. It's all bullshit!

BahHumbygge · 12/02/2017 22:57

Don't drink anything except water, full fat milk, unsweetened tea/herb tea/coffee. You can have a couple of units of dry wine/cider at the weekend.

Cut out all fructose (remember table sugar ie sucrose is 50% fructose). Fructose = human lard. Fine if you stuff your face with autumnal fruit then hibernate for the winter. Catastrophic for your long term health (& waistline) if your year round hunter-gathering grounds are the snack aisles of the supermarket. So fruit juice, honey, agave, dried fruit, fizzy pop, flavoured yoghurts, sauces, most breakfast cereals, most processed food etc is out. Fresh fruit is fine to eat as it contains fibre which significantly slows down the absorbtion of fructose. Your body has no satiety signal for fructose, which is why you can eat your own body weight in haribo, but not crackers.

Eat full fat versions of things... milk, cream, cheese, greek yoghurt etc. Low fat food has a higher ratio of carbs which will spike your insulin, leading you to lay those carbs down as fat, and also increase your ghrelin which is the hormone telling your brain you are growling hungry. Don't fear the butter :-)

Eat less carbohydrate and put more protein/fat/vegetables on your plate.

Eat high fibre food like brown rice, vegetables, fruit, proper porridge oats.

Fill half your dinner plate with lightly cooked vegetables esp greens, or raw salad.

Don't count calories, they are meaningless on their own. 100 calories of bacon will be metabolised completely differently from 100 calories of fudge cookies.

Eat until you are 90% full but no more. Eat slowly. Focus only on your food and human company at the table... no screens, magazines, radio etc.

Exercise is good, not because it burns calories... that's not significant, but because it greatly improves your insulin sensitivity. Insulin is an anabolic hormone that tells your body to lay down fat. So if your pancreas is able to pump out less insulin in response to one scoop of rice, then you'll be laying down much less belly fat.

Do a hobby in the evening that requires clean hands, like crochet, so you don't snack on greasy/sticky nibbles.

Watch Sugar the Bitter Truth on Youtube, or read books by David Gillespie - Sweet Poison, Robert Lustig - Fat Chance, Gary Taubes - The Case Against Sugar. The latter two have had many articles/reviews in the press recently eg Guardian/NYTimes to read.

nonameinspiration · 13/02/2017 03:38

Marking place.
Read on mn back along to start with a good pro biotic. I prefer yakult.
Take your supplements. I take berocca every day first thing in the morning

BusterGonad · 13/02/2017 05:13

Don't deny yourself anything, it never works long term, just eat less of it. Instead of ordering a pizza and eating half of it try to just have 1 or 2 pieces, denying yourself in my opinion only leads to bingeing which In turn leads to self loathing, which leads to bingeing!!!! I've been fat and thin and everywhere in between. To stay at my idea weight where I consider myself to look my best and can realistically stick at I never binged and never denied myself foods I like. I didn't diet either. Just mindfully ate what I enjoyed.

TheClaws · 13/02/2017 05:27

If any diet plan has rules, requires a science degree to understand it, or necessitates you to cut things out entirely, steer clear. Life should not be so hard.

Most of us eat way more than we require. So, eat less. Scale back a little bit at a time if needs be. But, eat less, and spend time enjoying each bite. Let your body start to feel full. You may not really be familiar with that feeling. You don't really need to cut out any particular foods. Just eat less of junky stuff.

I lost a third of my body weight this way and have maintained the loss for 15 years.

inthekitchensink · 13/02/2017 06:26

9000 calories a week for me- allows for cutting back for a couple of days but not as tough as 5:2, and eating a pizza or steak & chips and wine a couple of days. Nice and easy and at 5ft 5 I have been losing baby weight comfortably at around 2-3lbs a week. Track calories on mfp or Fitbit, and don't allow more calorie consumption for exercise.

DustyMaiden · 13/02/2017 07:21

If whilst on your weightloss journey you go off track, just get back on it asap. Do not eat everything in sight and start again tomorrow.
If you were on a real journey and got a puncture would you think you might as well get out a gun and shoot the other three tyres?

Twitsinspace · 13/02/2017 07:37

Don't diet. Diets are shit and make you feel restricted.

Eat what you want when you want.

Just eat a lot less of it. One biscuit not five. One piece of bread not three.

Have a small plate for eating from and don't over fill it.

Cut out alcohol completely, drink lots of water, make sure you walk, walk, walk (10000 steps a day ideally even if around the house. Get a Fitbit)

Cut out takeaways completely,

Eat lots of veg stir fried.

Cut out red meat.

I lost 3 stone doing the above and have maintained my new weight without a slimming world book in sight.

It becomes habit but the first couple of weeks are hard.

Rory786 · 13/02/2017 13:24

These tips are fab and so motivating. Please keep them coming.

Meatless meals are great for reducing calories. I try to eat loads of steamed veggies, it keeps me full and satisfied.

Instant hot chocolate the bournville one is 36 calories, I know it has sweeteners but its better than bars of dairy milk.

spooniestudent · 13/02/2017 14:44

Bulk cook healthy meals from scratch and freeze in portions, then when your having an I feel lazy shall we get something easy/ a takeaway night you can just pop a portion in the microwave.
Buy a nice box of chocolates for a treat and limit yourself to one a day- less calories than eating a load of cheap chocolate and nicer too

madein1995 · 13/02/2017 17:23

Bulk out meals like chilli, bolognese etc with veg. It makes it last longer/more meals and you get your five a day

I like something sweet for pudding so I have a bowl of strawberries and blueberries with fat free yogurt over the top. Satisfies my sweet craving and healthy too.

Drink plenty - I never drink enough, but I find if I drink more I'm less hungry. I also drink a glass of water/squash before meals.

If you're hungry, eat, and if you're not, don't. I try not to eat if I'm not hungry - so no eating just because it's 1pm/7pm/whatever. Likewise, if I'm hungry between my lunch and tea or in the evening, I'll eat something. That can be a banana and a glass of milk, or a cup of tea and 2 biscuits. If I tried going without I know I'd be raiding the pantry! Although, if it's half hour until dinner I won't eat then - a bit of hunger doesn't hurt but I know a few hours of being hungry will just make me over eat.

Recognise your food weaknesses. For me, it's fresh crusty bread. I can't just have 2 slices and leave it at that, I overeat it. So I avoid buying fresh crusty bread. I like chocolate/cake/biscuits too but I'm able to have one and leave it at that, so I do buy them and eat in moderation.

I also limit takeaways to once a month. In fact, I turned down a chinese takeaway at lunch because I knew if I did that, I wouldn't be able to have a dominos next week.

Make sure you enjoy your food. If I lived off 'boring' (to me) salads and jacket potatoes, I'd go mad. I think it's important to enjoy your food and feel satisfied or it's not going to work.

Carbs aren't the devil, or at least not for me. I have carbs with every meal, and I strongly suspect how they're cooked matters - homemade, oven baked chips are much healthier than ones done in the chip pan. I also try to go for wholegrain where I can. I do find though that carbs fill me up and courgetti and bolognese just doesn't do it for me.

A cup of tea with 2 sugars or sweetners can be marvellous when you fancy something sweet instead of chocolate

Make your food from scratch where possible. A bit more effort but you know what's going into it, and overall it does taste better than the prepared stuff.

For me, an average day at the moment is fat free yogurt and a banana and/or blueberries for breakfast, bacon sandwich (grilled bacon and wholemeal bread) or beans on toast or chicken salad etc for lunch, snack on fruit sometimes, then burger and homemade chips/curry and rice/stir fry/bolognese/lasagne etc for tea. Most evenings have something else later too - either fruit, or a few buiscuits, or a few slices of ham or chicken. I drink a lot of flavoured water during the day and sometimes have a glass or two of wine in the night.

PeterVincentVampireKiller · 14/02/2017 17:57

Placemarking and bumping.

Zaphodsotherhead · 14/02/2017 18:15

There is no such thing as 'a snack'. It's 'eating between meals'.
Eat more raw food. Raw oats instead of porridge, raw veg instead of steamed, raw fruit instead of tinned.
Don't think of 'being good' or 'being naughty'. If you think a food is 'naughty' you'll feel you've sabotaged your diet if you eat it. Everything is fine, in moderation.
Wait until you are hungry before you eat. Most people don't know what 'hungry' feels like these days and think if they are mildly peckish they are going to fade away or faint.
Exercise. Doesn't matter how little you eat, if you sit down all day you'll take forever to lose weight. Get up and move.
I read somewhere that you use more calories if you are cold, so turn the heating down a notch or two and move around to stay warm.

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