I'm starting a diet tomorrow. Which one shall I do?

[FatStanley]

I've done weight watchers on and off for years with some success but i fancy a change. I couldn't get to grips with slimmers world. I can't do hardcore custy-style no carbing. So where does that leave me? I need to lose a significant amount of weight by mid-October if possible. Oh and no Cambridge or lighter life (been there, done that, am a terrible yoyo dieter )
Please help!

I thought that even SW/WW were acknowledging the difference between a 'good' calorie that fills you up for longer (low GI/high protein) and a 'bad' one (processed carbs) these days?

here

I'm on the Dukan diet (mainly proteins, a little veg and nought else) and its been fab so far. I've had trouble stopping impulse eating and controlling portion sizes as well as suffering from bloatedness and a lack of energy. All things that are often blamed on carbs. I think I was in quite a bad circle with craving carbs and sugar and feeling tired and bloated leading to more cravings and further lack of energy etc.

It was a massive change and strange in the beginning not to eat bread, pasta etc but actually now I don't mind. I'm three weeks in and I've lost 5.1 kilo (11.24 lb). By December I should be back at my pre-children weight which is a further 33lb to go but I'm feeling very confident that I can do it. Does it matter which diet I went on? I don't necessarily think so (apart from those powder diets which are supposed to be very bad for you). What I needed was a change of mindset and a lifestyle change. The Dukan diet gave me both so it worked for me but I'm sure there are lots of other diets out there that give the same.

Do some research and find a diet (or a lifestyle/mentality if you will) that you think fits with your life and you'll succeed whichever diet your on (just don't go on a silly grapefruit or powder diet, they don't give lasting results). Good luck

But yes - overall it has to be about eating less calories and moving more.....but if you eat calories that are in food that fill you up for longer (proteins and Lo GI carbs) then you will not feel hungry and are therefore less likely to fall off the wagon. It is about satiating your appetite, and certain food are proved to do this better than others.

Soup is also good (as long as not 'cream of', obviously!) V filling, for less calorioes than a sandwich. Things like soup WITHOUT the bread, chicken/fish with big salad, porridge are all very filling and dont mess with your blood sugar in the same way as eating toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner do. I used to eat like that, and have lost half a stone without even realising it by changing my diet to avoid the sandwich/pasta trap.

Shine, that unlimited thing is insane. I KNOW that they tell you that you should monitor it, 1/3 of your plate only, blah blah, but tell a glutton like me something is free and 'free' is all I hear.

Calorie counting is a strange mixture of restraint and freedom. Freedom, because I can eat what the hell I like. Restraint, because either not much of it, or if I do eat it I have to exercise to compensate (myfitnesspal allows you to enter exercise cals beside your food cals and tot up the difference), or I must insist on eating an indulgent lunch then it's steamed greens with soy and sesame for dinner (and nowt wrong with that, either).

A day's food for me will be, for instance:

Breakfast - pot of coffee and piece of fruit (I get up at 6.30 so no appetite that early!)

Lunch - home made soup, home made bread, maybe stewed fruit

Dinner - stir fry, or veg curry, or puy lentils and roast veg, followed by choclit or fruit salad or a hot cross bun

Snacks of low fat hummus and veg sticks, that sort of thing.

I do admit to having rather a Diet Coke habit, as I am totally orally fixed and need something in my mouth like ALL THE TIME (ho ho, nudge nudge wink wink say no more etc. etc.)

Calorie counting is worth doing, if only for a short time, to give you a reality check about how much you're actually eating. I would have said I was eating very little (and couldn't understand why I was gaining weight) until I started actually tracking every single thing I ate. It didn't feel like a lot because I tended to eat small meals - but all those snacks and drinks really do add up! And some 'small' meals like sandwiches are more 'calorific' than you might think.

You don't necessarily want to keep doing it forever, but it can be quite informative, and help you adjust your perceptions about what a 'normal' (or small or large) amount of food looks like.

I am also trying to lose a bit of weight at the moment and the thing I find works for me is to cook recipes from books with calorie counted meals. Cook Yourself Thin is excellent as are a number of the books in the Good Food range. The meals are yummy and you don't feel as if you are losing out. I only usually bother with using them for supper rather than breakfast and lunch but breakfast is easy to calorie count (though the Cook Yourself thin granola with Greek yoghurt is very good, as are the maple syrub and banana pancakes) and lunch is usually just soup or salad anyway. Supper is always my downfall which is why I find using the recipes so helpful. Using olive oil spray rather than sloshing it in helps to slash the calories when cooking. When using mince always pour the excess fat down the sink once it's cooked (slightly dangerous but I seem to manage). And you are allowed 200 calories a day for snacks/treats with the Cook Yourself Thin book. I really enjoy cooking so this is perfect. It even has a few nice recipes for puddings.

And another thing I found really useful to think about: to lose 1lb of fat you need to burn about 3500 calories. Most diets recommend losing 1-2lbs a week. So I thought about how to cut those calories - running five times a week for 25 minutes or so, cutting down my alcohol intake (that is the tricky bit! Have restricted myself to drinking 3 nights a week rather than 5 or 6) and avoiding second helpings at supper and cheeky biscuits here and there. What was quite reassuring was how many calories I could cut on a weekly basis from my diet. The harder part is, of course, sticking to it.

Chocolatespiders I have lost almost 4 stone since October and have been reading lots of diet & nutrition books. I was only THAT overweight (12 5) due to pregnancy. Before / between pregnancies hovered between 9 5 and 10 5. (Was also bigger after DD and DS1). Constantly dieting (calorie counting) and then gaining it again, and repeat. Recognize now that I was eating too much carbs leading to severe chocolate cravings (often 2x proper sized bars a day, and crisps as well, and also ability to eat 10+ biscuits one go). Calorie counting doesn?t get you to address way of eating, just portion control.

Decided as Ds2 is my last baby that not only do I want to lose the weight but I want to KEEP IT OFF and rid myself of unhealthy eating patterns. Am now 8 7. Final step now I am at target was to drop my crutch of diet coke / diet sprite which I used if I felt like emotional eating or to suppress appetite. Have also dropped aspartame sweetened yoghurts.

Strategies are healthy eating, limited carbs, plenty of vegetables, and yes, it really is unlimited to all those SW cynics. You can?t eat too much broccoli! Go on try forcing yourself to eat 2kg in one go. Fruit I limit to 2-3 a day, could previously eat 10 apples in a day. Plenty of (lean) protein, plus weight lifting to increase muscle mass to try and undo damage of all the previous yo-yo dieting.

Congrats Forever - I am impressed :)

I should hasten to add that I am far from a SW cynic, as I lost 3.5 stone on it in my youth. But it's not just unlimited broccoli is it?! It's unlimited rice or pasta, and trust me I can inhale 600 cals worth of pasta in one sitting - at LUNCH!!! - without turning a hair.

My main problem is, and has always been, portion control. I have an incredibly healthy diet with a kitchen that has never seen pre-prepared food, and I consider 4 squares of Green & Black's to be quite sufficient chocolate for high days and holidays [puritan emoticon]. But I can hoover up entire cauldrons of puy lentils or other somesuch healthy foodstuff, and you can get just as fat on too many lentils as you can on too many Mars Bars. I mean - I have low cholesterol and low blood pressure, but still became a fatass

Anyway. Diff'rent strokes and all that. I would recommend SW to anyone, but I have other ishoos that need sorting out...

Join us on our Paul McKenna thread when your book arrives :)

Thanks Forever..

I have toast for breakfast at work and was thinking of changing to yogurt - which would you recommend and what could I have with it?

Lunch is always Homemade tom soup with Pitta bread- is that ok or should the pitta go?

I am veg but I guess I could have Quorn with piles of veg( in fact I remember doing this and losing weight before.

Biggest prob for me is the rubbish I put in in between especially between work and evening meal

How can you eat unlimited plain pasta though? I saw no point to having unlimited meat with no or little sauce, same for pasta, same for baked potatoes etc. I couldn't eat 3 baked potatoes with only a matchbox sized lump of cheese between them for example. Or umlimited broccoli with no sauce, much as I love it.

I am doing far better with WW because it allows quite a bit of low point chocolate bars and crisps etc so I don't feel deprived of sugar/sweet things. Yes I know it's not as healthy as "no sugar" but having done SW time and again and fallen off the wagon for the sake of a packet of Mr Kipling, the WW own brand stuff is a dietsaver for me, albeit at the price of having to purchase lots of WW things on top of paying for classes. But hey. I'm losing weight fairly easily and will likely be back in my size 10-12s in two months so I don't care!!

In SW a packet of crisps would be the best part of the day's syns gone and nothing left for salad cream or gravy granules etc, it was just too hard balancing some "nicer" bits into the diet.

Spider Lower carb is slightly harder as a veggie. I don?t eat that much meat but eat a lot of fish. But yes good to add some protein to each meal.
Re: pita ? choose wholemeal. Or other low GI bread eg burgen soya and linseed. Or even better add pulses to soup and don?t bother with bread (pulses are carbs and protein all in one).
Other ideas for protein lunch - cottage cheese salad. Cottage cheese lower in carbs than yoghurt etc. Tomato soup already quite high in carbs ? how about omelette with loads of veggies after soup? Or how about adding those yummy marinated tofu bits into soup? Can do different each day. I usually have salad with tin of tuna/mackerel/sardines but that doesn?t help you.
Breakfast ? yes yoghurt good, esp greek ? the tesco fat free greek yoghurt is half price of the total one and nearly as good. Add mueseli, choose one lower in fruit no added sugar with nuts and seeds. You?ll need to weigh it out. Also berries lovely to add, also lower in carbs than other fruit. In winter just use frozen summer fruit, take out of freezer nigh before. Also to get EFAs can add linseed. I keep it in the fridge and again add to yoghurt in the morning.
Inbetween meals. Only eat if ACTUALLY hungry. Try drinking 250ml water, or a herbal tea. Even a diet coke / diet sprite (although this isn?t ideal).
Snacks ? apples, pear, other lower sugar fruit
Nuts /seeds? limit to 25g per day OR 25g hard cheese per day.
Carrots & homous.
Yoghurt
Could also try protein shake as a snack? Or as breakfast.
If its after the gym or exercise then ryvita & cottage cheese or ryvita & homous is a good choice.
Dinner ? tofu / quorn or pulses with veggies. Quinoa also good as it contains protein.
Jodie Yes at the moment still weighing everything other than veggies. Agree what you say about the lentils. Can say same for quinoa / brown rice / other pulses/ Nuts/ Seeds/Avocado/ Fruit. All healthy but can eat too much. I am also not entirely sure how SW works if you really can eat unlimited pasta.

Re: weightwatchers ? are they not still encouraging white bread and crumpets as long as low fat?

Can see anything redeeming about any of these products. And there are stacks more.

www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=252727843

www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=263822120

www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=264417604

www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=268443382

should say to get back in my size 10-12s I will have to have lost 3 stone , incase it came across as slightly smug sounding

fatstanley: read the potatoes not prozac book. Sounds like you have a sugar addiction and until you deal with it you will struggle with your weight.

Forever... Thanks you so much for your advice..I am going to change my eating habits for the better.- going to start with the yogurt and museli for breakfast.
And just protein and veg for dinner..

Your ideas are fab and I really appreciate you time in replying.

Where do you buy you seeds from?

Buy most things from tesco, lots of healthy stuff in their own brand whole foods range, eg oatbran, quinoa, seeds (pumpkin/sunflower), nuts (eg cashews, almonds), millet, oats etc.

Buy tesco own brand dairy - yoghurt, fromage frais, cottage cheese

Not own brand things from tesco - burgen soya and linseed bread, jordans no sugar muesli, quorn, tofu.

Ground linseeds from holland and barratt (tesco don't stock) there is one near work.

Forever - what do you do when the inevitable birthday/special occasion/meal out with friends/partner etc comes up? I find I can lose weight pretty well if I stick closely to the diet but the minute I deviate from it, not even going mad but say we have gone round to freinds' and they cook dinner (using oil, and with a small pudding, but not say a hugely calorific meal,) the whole week's worth of dieting is lost. What do you do? Join in and accept that 6 days of starving dieting is eaved bye-bye, or just never deviate from your healthy eating?

sleepy - cant seak for Forever but I find that if I view my eating as a long term plan then the occasional deviation throws me off track a lot less. I wouldn't demand a whole load of different food if I went round someones else's house, but I would attempt to eat the healthiest way I could (i.e if it was something with veg/potatoes then I would not have any potatoes and load up on veg; not have any 'extras' i.e crisps/dips etc.) I would always have some of the food they have spent time preparing (i.e main/pudding) but would ask for a v small pudding 'as the main was so lovely I'm stuffed'. I would probably also do a fair amount of exercise on the day I knew I would be eating more

Then the next day I would be back on the wagon. It could be that on that week there would be no weight loss, but in the long term (i.e over months) there still will be. It is about adapting your eating and accepting that to be at the weight you want you will probably always need to be mindful of what you are eating.....for the rest of your life.

It only worked for me when I stopped dieting and changed my eating habits for life. I lost over 2 stone and it has kept off for over 2 yrs now. I originally did Rosemary Conley to kick start me-I liked it-very little talk and a lot of exercise.
Cut out most processed food, stick to low fat, have smaller portions, cut out snacks and take plenty of exercise. You can go out for a special meal, go to someone's house and eat cake, if they have made one specially-just cut back the next day.
I feel so much healthier and have no intention of slipping back.

I enjoy the meal out of course! (different now I'm in maintenance).

When I was in strict part of diet I would eat the healthiest I could when at friends. So wouldn't have pasta / potatoes / rice. Wouldn't eat any bread. Have a half sized portion of dessert. No wine (if you like wine have that instead of the dessert). Often I'd warn them in advance and there would be an undressed salad for me! Stop eating when full, ok to leave food on plate.

In a restaurant would order chicken salad or steak and salad.

And get back on track the next day. Life is too short not to indulge. Why is 6 days of dieting gone for one meal out??? I didn't really eat my exercise calories so I saw that as my leeway when going out for dinner. if you do shred every day thats 1400 calories a week enough to cover a couple of meals out.

ALso you do gain after cheating but it comes off quickly. Even now when my weight is stable (ie I am not trying to lose) I am 3lbs up each Monday back down by Thursday, thats ok!

I would just enjoy the meal and eat what I fancied, within reason. Would take care not to over-stuff myself, but would try a bit of everything (including pudding) and enjoy. Making the effort to eat slowly, and often put down your knife and fork to chat, can help.

Would necessarily feel I had to make up for it tomorrow, but at the same time wouldn't overdo things the next day, and would try to listen to my hungry/full signals. If you've had a rich dinner, especially late in the evening, you may find you're naturally not quite so hungry the next day.

It's all about thinking long-term though. Don't worry about those 6 days being cancelled out - for one thing they probably won't be, unless you really over-eat at the dinner party! Also one meal is not going to make a massive difference to your weight over weeks or months. It's your normal, everyday diet and habits that make the real difference.

I had the yoghurt and museli for breakfast as did my office buddy at work today, I found it nice just a bit sour but I am sure I will get used to the different tastes.

Forever. would you be able to post your days food over a few days- when you have time just so I can make sure I am on the right track