to think that if you want to lose weight you need to stop eating all the time?

[OrmIrian]

There are some women in my office who are always talking about losing weight. Always. And at the same time they never seem to stop snacking. But it?s all low-fat, low-cal snacks, branded stuff like Weight watchers, Go-Ahead and their ilk. Never an apple. Or some carrots. Or anything that is actively good for you, just stuff that isn?t fattening. And then lunch will be more low-fat over-priced crap. Or a lettuce leaf with reduced fat cottage cheese. And then ten mins later a low-fat yoghurt. Are they really really that hungry that they need to stoke the fires all the time? Any if so why not just eat a normal meal with more calories and taste and then STOP SNACKING?

Or alternatively walk to work sometimes .

It's OK I am being sooo unreasonable even I want to tell myself off but for some reason it winds me up...

wtf is a low GI food?

Low Glycaemic Index - basically food that doesn't make your blood sugar shoot up and crash down, but rather keeps your blood sugar steady for hours (so you don't get hungry so quickly)

like atkins diet/carbs then?

see I like pasta and toast so no good for me

I totally agree with the OP. I work with men and thank goodness for that because they never talk about food, diet and all that nonsense.

Constantly snacking on industrialised,putrid, low fat, high sugar garbage will not help you lose weight because you inadvertently consume more calories than you use up in the false belief that you are being good. Snacks like this are full of sugar and contain no fibre or fat or nutrients that your body needs.

Today for lunch I had an apple, a banana, two plums and a bunch of grapes. I'm full and that will keep me going until dinner time.

not at all like atkins - atkins is dangerous for a start.

It's all about NO carbs - low carbs, carbs at the right time of day so they don't just sit there turning into fat but get used - so carbs for breakfast, not dinner.

Low GI is very much about whole grain carbs, so wholewheat pasta and bread, wholegrain rice and cereals.

"I don't think a glass of wine a night will make you big, Kewcucumber"

Most people don't put on 5 stone overnight, they put on a pound a month over the space of 5 -6 years. Not by stuffing their faces with piles and piles of crap but just one little bit more than they need.

One large glass of red wine = 150 cals say 5 times a week for a year = 39,000 cals a year = 11 lbs a year.

You can substitute anything for glass of wine in that sentance if you beleive that drinking red wine is the holy grail to losing weight of course . Bag of crisps/two biscuits/2 bananas over what you need would do equally well. Or alternatively you walk that little bit less than you used to, use the car more etc

People always go on about fat people eating all the pies but in my personal experience the eating all the pies only starts once you have already put on weight slowly and stealthily and feel shit and depressed and resort to comfort eating.

But if you have a healthy diet and do some form of excercise, surely you would burn off 150 cals a day st least half the time.
You could apply your logic to eating full stop.

I'm expaling how an extra glass can make you overweight. Many people find their wine intake increases over time from a small glass of wine every evening to a large one to two glasses.

YEs it can be applied to your whole diet - it doesn't matter whether its a glass of wine/ a slcie of bread and butter/ a couple of digestives at bed. thats most commonly how people put on wieght.

Do a poll on MN of people who are more than 5 st overweight - most people put it on at aorund 1lb a month and its the small things which get them there. They didn't put on 5 stone in a year by eating 10 macDonalds a week.

expaling ?! Explaining.

SOmething that I often wonder about (and hopefully some MNer or other will know) is the number of people dying or suffering permanent health damage as a direct result of obesity comparable to the number of people who die or suffer permanent damage due to eating disorders. BOth anorexia and bulimia can and do kill, let's not forget, and while both of them are complex disorders (and in at least some cases I think there has been found a possible genetic component) the increasingly hysterical hatred of 'fat' people, particularly fat women, and the use of 'fat' to describe a woman whose dress size is bigger than a 10, must contribute to the illness in some cases.

Oh God, life is too short for Slimfast and Weight Watchers ready meals (barf). Exercise is the main thing missing in most people's lives, anyway - of that I'm convinced. You can eat heartily if you exercise regularly, but most people are lazy bastards, aren't they? Me included, most of the time.

KC - surely you are just illustrating how greed makes people gain weight? Some people are greedy with wine, others with chocolate, others with bread, some with everything etc.

There is absolutely nothing wrong (indeed, often much right) with all sorts of foods when eaten in moderation.

The culprit isn't the glass of wine (or whatever), it's the consumer who is a greedy pig and needs to focus on her (his) behaviours rather than on particular foods.

off the top of my head, MZ, the number of people dying and being incapacitated due to obesity is way more than those dying etc from anorexia-type disorders.
DP does these stats for a living, and he's very pessimistic about it all...hence my NHS comment earlier.
there's loads of co-morbidities...diabetes, arthritis, etc etc

I wasn't trying to make any point Anna otehr than pointing out that it is possible for a glass of wine a day to make you fat.

I know that people who aren't overweight use emotive language to describe those who are in order to distance themselves from the horro but the reality s often that the difference is very very small.

Yours Kewcumber

AKA greedy pig

also, people eat way more carbs than they need to, along with not doing enough exercise
i'm not advocating atkins here, it's just that people have massive amounts these days, and don't burn them off

"friend" of mine used to go to WW - every week the same - 1/2lb off, then 1/2lb on - I think she was there for 2 years and didnt manage to loose a stone. The problem was she would buy all the WW cakes and biscuits and other crap - but eat all of them in one go!!!

"There's only 50kcal in these biscuits"

"Yeah but you've eaten 5 of the feckers - you might as well have had a Mars Bar" FFS!!!

I think we should deal with seriously obese people in the same way we deal with people with anorexia nervosa - with support, counselling and understanding. After all isn't overeating as much of an eating disorder as undereating?

Yet the seriously obese are vilified and shamed into spending money on low fat, low cal, low nutrition shite. It's bollocks, many low fat products have much higher calorie contents as they need to replace the taste somehow and so add sugar.

When people start to think about why, when and how they eat, not just what they eat, will they tackle the problem.

and it isn't only the greedy pigs to blame. Shop bought bread now contains fat. It doesn't need to and most people won't even realise that the average calories from a slice of bread has gone up. But they could easily be consuming more calories because its more convenient for the retailers and manufacturers.

but Sidge - Anna's greedy pigs philosophy is so much simpler.

Much (most) manufactured and industrially-processed food contains additives of one sort or another that do humans no good at all.

Best just to avoid that type of food IMVHO.

Well, speaking for myself, the periods in my life when I have been overweight have been entirely down to the fact that I love food, am greedy, eat too much and eat the wrong things. Too many fat people shift the blame.

I have been practically immobile for the past week (sprained foot) and have put on 2 lb through lack of exercise whilst eating normally

Kewcumber

So it is, so it is.

I don't think that the greedy pig philosophy is simpler - to stop being greedy once you are in the habit is very hard indeed, and requires a lot of thinking and, for many people, psychological support over a long period.

However, it is a lot more effective in the long term than dieting.