Dieting is dull.

[malificent7]

I need to loose a stone and i know i will feel amazing if i do but its so dull.
Am vaguely following sw. I want pizza, chocolate , bread and butter, chinese Indian etc. Miller lights and eggs dont cut it.
Any lazy foodies lost weight without getting bored?
I love food.

[lljkk]

I'm a baby who only enjoys soft food. BMI around 21.

I'm going to be rude... (had a bit of gin so ignore if this is annoying)

I love my food, too. I love it so much that I won't eat unless I KNOW that I am going to enjoy it fully. So I would rather go hungry for hours rather than try to eat when I don't have time to fully enjoy my food. I love my food so much that I have become very picky about when & how I eat.

When people say they overeat b/c they "love their food too much", I can't help but think that overeating means they can't love or enjoy their food at all.

[Oogle]

Over indulgence over the last few months has left me needing to change my outlook on food and so far I'm loving it.
BBC Goodfood website has some excellent recipes which are low calorie.

A standard day for me:
B- Muesli or granola with semi-skimmed milk
L- Salad with either a bit of pasta or some bread
D- Roasted veg frittata and boiled potatoes/stuffed chicken breast wrapped in pancetta with veg/tuna steak with quinoa and aspargus (with a healthy dollop of balsamic!)
Snacks - fruit salad and cucumber and pepper with hummus.

I don't deny myself anything though - if I want some wine, I'll have it. If I want chocolate, I'll have it. BUT - the amounts are much smaller than they were.

[HairsprayBabe]

I have also lost weight on a low carb diet, 4.7st in about 7 months, I don't feel deprived, and I LOVE food, hence being so fat in the first place!

[DeleteOrDecay]

Elspeth I find that too. I also find that when I'm stressed the variety of food I can tolerate decreases. It's hard.

[ElspethFlashman]

My problem is that I loathe the texture of most veg and salads so in order to bulk things out I have to put my thinking cap on and then end up using one of only three veggies I actually tolerate. Every day. So that gets shit quickly.

I honestly think some people are naturally slim cos they're palates are different. I know a girl who loves anything crunchy. So she's forever eating salads and kale and broccoli etc. No wonder she's so slim!

Meanwhile I only really enjoy soft food (which I realise makes me sound like a baby, lol). Tbh the main way I get veggies into me is by blitzing them into a soffrito!

Diet plans tend to only really cater for the person who's a veggie fiend, I notice.

[Empireoftheclouds]

on slimming world, what to do you add things like baked potato and tuna to make it taste better? I find tinned tuna without mayonnaise pretty awful, and that lighter than light mayo isn't much better. you just add regular mayo if that's what you want. Count it in your 'syn' allowance

[PickAChew]

Elspeth, try bulking out your meals with more free veg and salad. Make the carb portion of your meal whole grain or higher fibre where possible and palatable. So give brown rice a go, if you're not already, have potatoes in their skins. I draw the line at whole wheat pasta, but it might work for you.

And don't be tempted to go completely low fat, even though that means you will have to use points. Fat and fibre are filling.

Short of lemon juice, jack, I can't help you with the tuna other than suggesting that you syn proper mayo to make it more palatable.

[TimetohittheroadJack]

ginorwine on slimming world, what to do you add things like baked potato and tuna to make it taste better? I find tinned tuna without mayonnaise pretty awful, and that lighter than light mayo isn't much better.

Maybe its my cooking but I find most of SW type dishes totally unsatisfying and they leave me craving sugar/fat.

[SpeckleDust]

I was the slimmest I've ever been after low-carbing a few years ago. Once you get your head around what to avoid (bread, pasta, rice, sugary stuff), it's really easy to eat fabulously. I did cheat a bit and had the odd pizza/chocolate bar once I knew what was working for me.

I lost around a stone and had the same energy levels as I did before as you do eat some carbs (in the form loads of healthy veg) but none of the stodge that always made me feel sluggish anyway.

I wasn't particularly overweight but wanted to maintain my weight over a period when I was unable to exercise normally so tried cutting the carbs for that time and ended up losing weight rather than maintaining.

Now I eat a mixture of things but generally eat less carbs which seems to suit my body and stops me gaining weight.

[Hesdeadjim]

I used to do weight watchers. At the time i loved it but i was really hungry and it made my cravings so much worse.

If you're not bothered about flavour, slimming world :)

[troodiedoo]

ElspethFlashman I'm not a fan but when I used to do slimming world there's always loads that have come from ww because they were always hungry on it. If you're not fussed about flavour then it's great (used to do it when I was a heavy smoker)

[ElspethFlashman]

I've been measuring out cereal for example for my breakfast and one adult portion fits in one of those baby bowls from IKea.

A baby bowl!!!!

[ElspethFlashman]

So what's the diet for people who are greedy guts and don't care how bland it is except it's a massive portion?

I just started WW and am starving all the time. The portions are tiny. I can't see how it's sustainable long term tbh.

[PickAChew]

20 portions of fruit and veg is about 2kg. You must shit profusely.

[scaryteacher]

Try the Hairy Bikers Diet books. Great recipes, stacks of flavour and you don't feel deprived.

[jdoe8]

I've gone plant based, and that pretty much cuts out any refined carbs, dairy and meat. I regularly have 20+ portions of fruit and veg a day and make cakes that have nutrition. I feel amazing and its good for the planet.

[troodiedoo]

Low carb is the diet for people that love food. You could eat out every day easily. It does require planning and prep at home though. And drinking lots of water.

[Hesdeadjim]

If there's anyone else who thinks low carb, high fat diets are faddy and not good for you or even dangerous, here's 23 double blind, peer reviewed and published studies that disagree.

authoritynutrition.com/23-studies-on-low-carb-and-low-fat-diets/

[DeleteOrDecay]

Yes 5:2 looks like it would work for me too. I need to get myself in the right frame of mind before starting otherwise I'm destined to fail but I've read good things about it and it seems to be sustainable.

[WhatALoadOfOldBollocks]

The other problem is that I'm very active and find that without carbs I just don't seem to have much energy. Does this get better after a while?

No, because carbs are what gives your body fast energy (think Kreb's cycle/aerobic respiration, etc). If you cut them down too much you will metabolise fats to make ketones instead, which although your body can use these as fuel, they're metabolised slower. Low carb diets work but the side effects are you will slow down and have wierd "pear drops" breath.

[ginorwine]

For me exercise does not work - only calorie reduction does . Obvs exercise is great but it's no longer a weight loss tool for me .

[ginorwine]

I tried slimming world and it was amazing
I avoided all the branded products such as the yogurts ( occasional
Snackpot )
I lost 3 lb per week like this
A good breakfast such as poached eggs or beans on toast using the bread allowance
Then sonething like baked potato and tuna for lunch with fruit
Fruit anytime during the day and a snack pot at times and often had things like beetroot and cottage cheese
Then for tea spag Bol with lots of garlic or chilli or curry
Then every night used my syns to have a gin and a Curley wurley
I do thknk tho that there is not enough focus on good fats like nuts and advocado but also I admit that as they are often syns I tend to go down the choc n gin route as a treat when in my heart of hearts I kno that I should choose the advocado .

[Highmaintenancefemalestuff]

I want big slabs of chocolate and it's only been 2 days. I think it's making me tired.
I just keep thinking to myself, once I notice a difference it will push me further.
I'm not dieting just cutting out crap. No crisps, chocolate, fizzy pop and wine. Exercise dvd every other day (I'm stiff from yesterday) and lots of walking. Treat once a week.
I think I'll notice a difference just cutting those things out. Every night I had a bar of dairy milk and a glass of wine. At least 3 bags of crisps a day.

[ImGoingForATwix]

I think 5:2 would suit you. You only diet 2 days a week (but not go totally crazy the other days obviously) so it's not as tedious. You can consistently lose 1lb a week on this and it doesn't feel that hard at all once you're used to it.

[WhereDoesThisRoadGo]

Another fan of my fitness pal here. You can eat what you want and learn moderation, rather than insane portions of crap low fat food that just makes you want insane portions of bad stuff.