Can anyone recommend a good diet....

[MamaG]

I got a real shock at the Drs when they weighed me last week, I'm far heavier than I thought I was and have felt shit every since.

I've never followed a "set" diet, always found that cutting down a bit shifted excess weight but 2 children, no smoking and lots of chocolate later, I'm struggling!

Any advice much appreciated

Slimming World are pretty good. I joined last year and lost nearly a stone in 6 weeks, but then I went on holiday and other things came up and I couldn't go to the meetings.

They're pricey (abotu £10 to join then £4.75, I think, for each session, and you have to pay for any sessions you miss), but you can buy the starter pack and books on e-bay so you can do it yourself at home.

Most fruit and veg are free foods so you can eat as much as you like, meat is free on a red day but limited on a green day, and you have things like bread, dairy etc as healthy extras. Chocolate, biscuits etc have a syn value (listed in the starter pack) and you can have up to 15 syns per day. For eg a bag of crisps is 5 syns, I think, and a smear of butter is 3, or something like that.

It is very easy to follow, but TBH you can do just as well stuffing yourself on fruit and veg, limiting, but not removing, your wheat and dairy intake, and allowing yourself the occasional choccy treat.

Actually, having typed this, I'm going to start following it again and see if I can shift a bit more flab.

HTH.

Thanks for that. I would have to do something at home as i live in the sticks with no meetings of organised diet club thingys nearby.

I think I need some severe motivation...

You can do Weight Watchers online - lots of people swear by it. Haven't tried it myself, but maybe someone who has will be along to recommend....

MamaG!! Where ahave you been my love? I have been looking for you for days - see here! How is DD?

Another vote for slimming world too - have been going 7 weeks and lost over a stone ans still having takeaway and wine once a week! It is great!

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Think you can do it online too.

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Yes - herbalife - shapeworks programme. Fits round a busy lifestyle, you still eat with the family and can have the same as the family has, you get free one to one guidance and support for the length of your programme.

My mum's lost 10 lbs in 3 months and 3 inches off her waist.

DIETS DO NOT WORK!!! That´s why there are so many to choose from.
Best thing to do in my opinion:
Make sure your dinner plates are a normal portion size. Fill half of the plate with veg, a quarter with meat/fish, and a quarter with pots or rice, carbs. This cuts down on your calorie intake and is something you should always be doing...

Sorry ugly sister I have to disagree - all diets work, just with varying degree's of sucess. It's about finding what works for you, for your lifestyle and your body.

You actually need to make sure your calorie intake doesn't exceed the calories that you would burn in a day, rather than just reducing it, because even by reducing your calories you might not reduce it past your resting metabolic rate, but you also need to ensure you get enough lean protein and sufficent water in that balanced diet. How many people know what their Resting Metabolic Rate is or what their body fat is and how to get to a point where your body is burning your body fat?

IMO, DIETS DO NOT WORK! I agree with everything else you say, MeandMaBoy, especially the fact that most people are not aware of steps they can take to ensure they burn fat when exercising. The problem with diets is that yes, you may lose weight in the short term but in the long term it creeps back up again. There is evidence, more and more talked about nowadays, that this yo-yo effect is worse on the body that being consistently overweight.
I don´t think it´s useful to talk in terms of finding a good "diet"; the important thing is to gradually change your whole way of eating so that you come down to and maintain a healthy weight. I maintain one step towards doing this is increasing the proportion of veg in your main meals, keeping food portion sizes down to a normal amount as well as things like using more herbs and spices to make food tasty rather than depending on a high fat content. I know this worked for me.

PS Diets are BORING. If you must go on one don´t tell anyone about it!

You don't need to excercise to burn fat. If you change your style of eating in a certain way your body will burn the fat stored in it without having to excercise and that is what everyone on a weight loss diet should be doing.

You are right to increase the balance of veg on your plate, mixing the colours of your veg is important as well, but you must also ensure that you are eating enough lean protein otherwise you will feel hungry, properly hungry not just craving or habit hungry - and end up eating what ever you can which defeats the object of eating in a balanced way.

One of the main reasons diets don't work long term is because people don't actually get to the fat burning stage. What they actually end up doing is loosing muscle mass - which will give you a great big weight loss, not much shape change and reduce your metabolism. So when you come off the diet your body puts back on the weight as fat because your metabolim is less as your muscle mass has been reduced.

If I were referring to finding a good diet I would mean that to be changing your eating habits to a more healthy balanced way of eating. Part of leaning a new way of eating will include how to make food taste more interesting and being far more aware of high fat and hidden sugar contents of food. If you are being educated as part of your weight loss programme - which any good weight loss programme should do.

Interesting stuff MeandMyBoy.. What should you eat to burn fat then?

You reduce your calorie intake below your resting metabolic rate - your body is short changed on calories and will turn to it's emergancy stores of body fat to make up the difference. It can take a week to 10 days of eating reduced colories before your body will react to the short change and start burning your body fat.

Hi there!
Slimming World is an excellent plan (used to be a consultant and still stand by the plan!!) I lost 4 stone on it and imo (having tried many others) it's fantastic. I do think though that ANY healthy eating plan works if you are prepared to stick with it. The best way to stay committed is to vary what you eat (it's so easy to stick with what you know works but as soon as you get bored you fall off the wagon!). Best of luck to you anyway

Slimming world has worked for me too. I'm half a pound off losing a stone over the past 8 weeks and within 2 weeks I'd lost 5.5 inches from my waist .

Hi surfermum!! That's fab!! Well done! Stick with it (cool name by the way!! Wish I'd thought of something a bit more interesting

GI but it is not a diet
Lifestyle change
I've been doing it over a year and have seen untold benefits
I never feel I am dieting as I'm not, I just changed the things I wanted to eat.

Hi Piffle! I've heard of the GI thing but been so wrapped up in slimming world I've never looked into it. What is the general principal? Is it something you can do just at home? And how do you stay motivated? (sorry for barage of questions but very interested)

Eat less and make sure that what you do eat isn't crap.
Do more. Get off yer arse.

That'll be £4.75 please

at moondog

Works though.

Every time

£4:75 please.

moondog

My general eating habits are fine - loads of fruit & veg, lean protein (fish & quorn, no meat) not a massive amount of carbs BUT I have crazy days where I just eat so much shite its untrue. Can't seem to stop myself sometimes which is ridiculous! DH hasn't got a clue and he can't understand why I'm overweight as our diet is ok as far as he can see...its not everyday that I eat like that, just a couple of times a week - if I get stressed/v tired/upset etc its off to the hidden choc supply.

I do need to exercise more, but def need to cut out the binging nonsense...I think I was hoping for a "day 1 eat X Y & Z" as I might find it easy to follow.

Guess I've answered my own question really haven't I

Schneebly - have answered your other thread

Hi MamaG!! In support of what you are saying if it was just as easy as Moondog put it we'd all be a size 10!! I myself eat when I'm down, stressed (happy, sad, hungey, not hungry..... )

Moondog I wish I was that cut and dried about it myself!! If only it was that easy!!

If you are the type of person who craves sugar then low-carb might be the answer for you. I find it really hard to lose weight but seem to manage it if I cut out all the carbs, with me the more sugar I eat the more I want. I have a mild case of PCOS and so it is what works best for me. I gain lbs when I am pre-menstral (or pre-MINSTERALS as my xp used to call it) because I just go mad for salty and sugary food.

Sort out what triggers you off and work on that, sounds to me like you won't stick to any conventional diet until you crack what is at the bottom of the binging no matter how well intentioned you are.