Anyone tried cutting out bread in order to lose weight?

[rainbowinthesky]

Really want to lose 2 stone as no clothes to wear and although I belong to a gym I rarely get to go as dd is unwell a lot of the time.
I love bread and am sure if I give it up I would naturally lose weight and feel much better? Is it a good idea or not worth it? What can I eat to deal with the inevitable cravings?

lol at fried fruit.

I would agree with forever and queen. I have been low carbing for 3 months (not very strictly, I don't go into ketosis as I eat too much veg). I have had periods when I have had weekends where I have eaten what I wanted, and the surprising thing is when I have eaten pasta or something it has tasted strange. Chips taste wonderfulm though!

I think I will stick to it long term as my skin has been far better, I feel more alert and I don't get any bloating or wind. It's not that tricky to cut out bread and wheat products really. Far far easier than eating a low cal diet forever anyway.

Forever - I know all the theories re. low carbing, I understand the science of why it works and am willing to believe that cutting them out leads to loss of interest in them (to an extent).

But I don't think they are the reason why we are so fat.

What do you think the reason we are fat is then? All the scientific evidence points to carbohydrates.

Too little exercise
Large portions
Over abundance of food everywhere
Too much snacking
Over consumption of alcohol

No one gave up bread or potatoes in the 1950s.

Yes, carbs (along with massive surplus of food) make us fat. Ethiopians surviving on sorgum (carbs) are not fat as they only have around 800 calories a day. But with unlimited food in the west, we are fat due to carbs particularly the refined sort.

As I said read "Escape the Diet Trap". all clearly explained.

In a nutshell:

• carbs are not metabolically active
• carbs don't make us feel full (PYY hormone)
• carbs are addictive
• carbs are low in nutrition
• carbs are not essential (unlike EFA or protein),
• carbs make us release insulin which results in fat storage.

The advice to cut down on fat has make us eat more carbs and get fatter.

I stopped eating wheat after finding out that I am wheat intolerant and have lost almost 2.5 stone averaging about half a stone per month. Feel loads better although I haven't changed very much in terms of size but hoping that starting to exercise will fix that.

It is amazing the amount of additional calories I used to consume with a biscuit or cake whenever one was on offer, or finishing the children's leftover crusts, pizza.

Actually giving up bread and potatoes is exactly what they did in the 1950s - that's what my grandmother always did when she put on a few pounds.

We've cut out grains and sugars for health reasons and a side effect has been the weight melting off. Seriously, 7lbs a week.

foreverondiet, can I ask how much weight you've lost and over what time period?

I have just gone wheat free today. Going to start the 30 day Shred and Callanetics too. I just need to lose some weight before summer...

rainbow I was 12 5. I lost first 2 stone doing tesco diets, a bit like weightwatchers over around 4 months. Then I hit a plateau, so did dukan, and lost a further 1.5 stone, meaning I was lighter than I had ever been (since age 15 etc!).

I found dukan made me constipated so did PV every day. Then around the time I reached maintenance weight my sister was going wheat free eating paleo, and I thought well I have already given up bread and stodge why reintroduce.

Now 9 months on I maintain 8 10 weight by low carb dukan / no wheat eating. In the meantime I have gained muscle mass though weight training but haven't gained any weight (ie I have lost more body fat).

cutting the carbs is not a solution but rather cutting on the intake of fats. You have to keep a balanced diet that is rich in nutrients. i'd like to argue that we actually need starchy food (bread, potatoes,rice) since it is rich in fibre meaning that it will make u feel full and u won;t get hungry for a while. :)

i've recently read this article saying that cutting on fats should suffice. www.sisuwellness.com/blog/health-bite-lose-weight-without-eating-less/

cant be bothered looking for the original source of info hence posting the article i read. ;)

Yes I've tried and it does work but I just love bread. I think the Cambridge diet is a good idea as it stops craving and the weight comes of quickly. But it's expensive and very difficult for the first few days.

Cant you just cut back and maintain your portions better?

I used to eat toast for breakfast, normally a sandwich for lunch and then dinner would be something with a huge portion of pasta or rice so I had loads of carbs every mealtime but not nearly enough protein or vitamins.

Now I tend to have porrage or yogurt with a bit of granola or something like allbran for breakfast.

Lunch, salad with tinned fish or soup or today I had a bit of couscous with chicken and other veg.

Dinner - I still have pasta and rice or potatoes but in a much smaller portions and instead have upped my protein in the form of meat or fish and also have upped my veg.

So Im still eating carbs and bread but compared to what I was eating before I have cut down loads and lost weight doing this but then carbs are full of calories so of course I would lose weight. I excercise loads and go running so cutting out carbs completely would be really silly anyway.

Sometimes going as far as gluten free isn't always beneficial. Many people see this as a new trend, and think it's automatically healthier to cut out gluten and bread. However, getting whole grains is important for your body and helps you feel fuller, longer. Here's a great article that explains the benefits and negatives of a gluten-free diet: watchfit.com/diet/what-is-good-about-gluten!