Don't Starve! The Eat More to Weigh Less Group

[ShirleyKnot]

Hello!

OK, stemming from this thread I promised to start a thread to explain a little bit more about eating well and still losing weight.

I'll start by telling you about me because I love to talk about me

About 5 years ago (when I was 34) I went back to work full time, this time locally, in a sedentiary desk job. I drive to work everyday and was often far too busy lazy to do any exercise at all. My weight remained fairly static (At about 11 stones, I'm 5ft 7.5 and fairly chunky) for a good couple of years and then it started creeping up.

For the past two years I have skipped on and off WW, SW and I have tried low calorie diets, the lot. My weight has gone up to 12 stone 11 lbs at it's highest and I'm carrying it pretty much all over. My gut though TERRIBLE - It hangs over my knickers and in January my size 16 clothes were starting to strain.

Miserable ain't the word. It has affected my confidence (yes, honestly) and I know that at my age (39) it is only going to get harder to lose.

So, in January I started back on WW. I watched everything I ate, I thought about food compulsively, I went for walks in my lunch hour, and every weekend I fell off the wagon and stuffed my face. WHY? It makes no sense! I gobbled bread and cakes and biscuits and sweets like mad.

In April, after having lost and gained the same 7lbs over and over again I joined BIWI's Low Carb Bootcamp, and started upping my exercise at the gym (Doing classes mainly and swimming and I also started the Couch 2 5K) this is where it got weird...I stuck to the diet, it was pretty easy! I loved the food and didn't feel hungry at all - my endurance during exercise was affected but I thought I'd break through that barrier sooner or later. I watched as people on the thread lost masses of weight and I was completely stalled out. What? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? I believe that during this time I was eating a good couple of thousand calories per day, plus exercising almost every day.

I left the group as I felt so fed up with not losing and limped back to my fitness pal, but decided to stick with the no crap (no white bread/pasta/rice, easy on the white potatoes, easy on the fruit) WOE. MFP gave me a calorie limit of 1,200 cals per day and I did this for a a few days before starting to feel rotten. I started looking around the MFP community pages and found the Eat More To Weigh Less Group and read every link, and lots of the discussion boards.

It was a lightbulb moment - WHY was I expecting my body to cope on less calories than it needs just to exist? WHYYYYY?

I started EMTWL on 16th May and have lost 1 lb. That doesn't really mean very much though, as the scales are FILTHY liars - but I have eaten very well and am losing inches consistently. Since I started eating more calories (I include BIWI's brilliant Bootcamp in this calculation) I have lost 4.5 inches from my waist and a good couple of inches from my hips, arse and bust. I have dropped a dress size.

OK. I'm going to post this essay and then I'm going to talk a bit about metabolic rate calculations and the sciency bits.

God Minnie - YOU ARE BEING RUBBISH.

WHich one did you try?

The banana-choc one.

Without the banana, obvs. I didn't put the honey in either as I was trying to be good (I figured that as I don't have sugar/honey on my normal porridge, why add it to this?). I did add a shake of cinnamon. Love cinnamon.

It just tasted sour and looked like slops. I have concluded I don't really like Greek yogurt, unless it's added to something like curry where there's another actual flavour to hide it.

I think you probably needed the honey in it. Honey isn't "bad" it's actually really good for you - and it must have needed the sweetness, cocoa powder doesn't have any!

Oh , I'm sad you didn't like it - I think they're brilliant, but they deffo need the sweet element.

YY to needing the honey. Cocoa is horribly bitter on its own, and yogurt can be a bit sour.

Hmm, I may give it another go then. I think I struggled a bit with the notion of porridge being cold too - bit like eating cold pasta (told you I'm a fussy bugger!).

I am trying, Shirley...

I tried to think of it more as muesli than porridge. That helped with the weirdness a bit.

That said, I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate one. Might give maple syrup and raspberry a go. Or strawberry and vanilla.

Strwaberry one is nice with almond too. Add ground almonds and almond essence. It is like bircher muesli (proper muesli) as oats are soaked I think muesli means mush. Apparently they are indigestible if not cooked/soaked/ toasted so raw grains in so-called healthy cereals/muesli are not kind to your gut. I am a food geek...

I reckon I'd hate the banana choc one too, but I do like raw otas and have no probs with Greek yoghurt. The one I tried was strawberry with peanut butter, but I think toasted almonds would be nicer (the smell of almonds toasting makes me salivate), and add a bit of crunch.
Will try dried fruit as well next time; raisins are sweet enough without needing honey.
Not filling enough for me, though - left me headachey and dizzy.

I am going to try a fridge oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow I think. I am getting a weeny bit bored of eggs. I tried baking eggs today with fruit and honey, but it took so long I'd eaten a leftover rice crispie cake before they were done!

I've just ordered some coconut flour... have i gone a bit mad?

Will buy ingredients for fridge oatmeal when I next go shopping. They sound yummy. I'm off to stay with Dad for the weekend so will be internet-free, sob. That means no logging over the weekend, and food being picked by others so will have to eat what I'm given to be polite. Still, they usually eat reasonably healthily so hopefully won't be too bad.

Stupid scales...haven't lost anything else, grr! SAFTSFBS, I know, I know! Might remeasure tomorrow morning before I eat anything, but I'm a bit scared there won't be any progress. I last measured on Sunday - is tomorrow too soon?

Mrsbuggywinkle, yay for inch loss! That's brilliant. And FlyingAardvark, yay to lb loss! am not at all, oh no

Is the fat in dairy good fat like meat, fish, nuts etc? Or is it bad?

I think it's 'bad', if we're comparing it to the 'good' fat in fish, nuts, olive oil etc.

Pretty sure the fat in meat counts as 'bad', too. But I'm not sure.

I always think of the good fats as being from those things which are oily.

I eat full fat yoghurts but avoid full fat milk.

I don't think it's "bad" - It's just...well, it's just like everything really, it's ok as long as you're not drinking 5 pints of whole milk with chocolate sauce stirred through it and some ice cream. DYKWIM?

I certainly believe that the fats in butter are better than the fats in margarine, however. And I think trans fats are made out of the devil aren't they?

Damnit! Have just been reading this and remembered fat facts. Oh well. I knew it was too good to be true. Shall stop scoffing quite so much red meat and cheese. Yy to trans fats being the devil's steaming faeces.

"When you add it up, red meat and full-fat dairy products (cheese, milk, ice cream, butter) are among the main sources of saturated fat in our diets. So keeping these foods low is the best way to reduce intake of saturated fat. And when you cut back on red meat and dairy products, replace them with foods that contain healthy fats?fatty fish like salmon, nuts and seeds, plant oils, avocadoes?not with foods that are high in refined carbohydrates"

Interesting. That's an interesting article all round really isn't it?

It is, isn't it? I didn't know coconut and coconut milk was high in sat fat either.

But, see? Coconut oil is amazingly good for you.

I really think that an everything in moderation approach combined with healthy NATURAL foods is the way to go. For me that includes being able to eat full fat yoghurt once a day (I'm sure the calcium is beneficial!) and some lovely lurpak butter now and again.

I agree it is very interesting. I shall stop worrying about fat macros as it said about substituting carbs for good fats!

Have you read In Defense of Food (US hence spelling). Can't remember author from memory but he talks about feeding animals grain which makes saturated fat worse; wheteas if they are grass-fed (as nature intended) then, for instance, butter has naturally occurring omega oils, so actually not so bad for you. How humans messing with the food chain can affect nutrition in a bad way. Generally an excellent book, one of the best I've read about eating as nature intended and how to avoid crap without being extreme or faddy.

Have started flaxseeds today, but I will introduce slowly after minniebar's experience . Bought some almond butter too. Tempted by cashew butter as well!

Took long to post as I had to blow bubbles for dd2 (2.5) and read Spot goes to the library for the 100th time.

Coconut oil is supposed to help you burn fat, apparently. Also much cheaper from asian stores than the supermarket. Though, presumably you are not supposed to eat vast quantitied. Coconut milk is delucious in curry - yum, yum.

*quantities, obviously

My PB2 has arrived!

Cashew butter is delicious, quirky

YY to not buying low-fat/diet things. I love a bit of butter. Never buy marg. Only ever have skimmed milk in the house, though.

There are a few things I prefer low-fat -- greek yogurt, mayo (Hellman's Light), salad dressings etc.

What are you going to do with your PB2, shirl?