Does anyone want to join me in 3 healthy meals a day and no snacking plan?

[500Decibels]

I'm an overweight grazer and feel like I've lost my way totally.
I eat far too much and hardly remember what feeling hungry feels like.
I'm not going to be strict about what I eat - just normal sensible meals with vegetables. If I eat out then I'll make a healthy choice.
Anyone fancy it?

Actually, while there are many myths surrounding the 8 glasses of water a day statement, drinking water can help you lose weight.

"Drinking water won’t specifically trigger weight loss, but it can aid in the process. Water replaces other calorie-laden beverages in the diet, causing you to reduce your overall number of calories. Plus, it can make you feel fuller, so you may eat less at each meal. Water, particularly cold water, may even play a role in increasing your metabolism. “A new study seems to indicate that drinking water actually speeds up weight loss,” says Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD, owner of Tanya Zuckerbrot Nutrition, LLC, in New York City. “Researchers in Germany found that subjects of the study increased their metabolic rates [or the rate at which calories are burned] by 30 percent after drinking approximately 17 ounces of water.” "

Those are both interesting viewpoints.
I just find if I drink plenty of water, I don't need to think about food so much. Whether that's to do with confusing thirst with hunger or just feeling fuller, I don't know.
I definitely don't need 8 glasses a day but about 4-5 usually helps.

I think I read that they've never been able to reproduce those results, so I'm not convinced, but maybe. (can't remember where sorry!)

I've always been a bit of an over-enthusiastic water drinking but, but I actually think I was drinking too much and it made me feel pretty shitty. My friend said the same thing and she had a fancy name for it... she's a doctor!

But yes, I do reach for a glass of water when hungry, I only really drink tea or water so definitely not anti the stuff.

The kidneys are really good at regulating the water balance (science tutor here) so drinking a bit more or a bit less shouldn't make a huge difference to your body's hydration levels. A few years ago alkaline (or acid, I forgot which) were all the rage and those were just fighting biology as well. Your body is programmed to function within set parameters and it will respond to fix anything out of tolerance.

Saying that, if you feel drinking a bit more water makes you feel better, as long as you haven't gone silly and started drinking gallons by all means carry on. My skin is miles better since I switched to decaf drinks.

*alkaline diets

I'd totally agree with that purple, I just used to worry about how much water I was drinking ALL the time and glug down pints, just because I believed you were supposed to. I'm the idiot here I think :/

Definitely not willing to give up my tea! Although I do usually switch to redbush after 5pm :)

Another one who's rubbish with water but I do drink a coupla mugs of peppermint tea in the evening and find that helps stave off hunger pangs.

Yesterday was a write-off, so I'm not gonna embarrass myself by 'fessing up to it. A better day today:
B: Mini tortilla wrap with carrots & hummus
L: Spicy sweet potato soup & Babybel/Alpen Light
D: Lasagne & apple for pud

Here's to a good snack-free week everyone!

Not a great day but not terrible either. Was at uni and it was hard at the coffee break time as everyone goes to the coffee shop outside lecture hall. When I'm at work it's just easier to keep working and avoid coffee break.

So banana and belvita biscuits for breakfast.
Twix for a snack!
Brie and grape sandwich
Chicken and mozzarella salad

I was doing well (eggs for breakfast, Asian style veg brothy sort of soup lunch) until I needed to take some ibuprofen with food mid afternoon and I fell off the wagon with a fun size (what's fun about small chocolate?!) twix. Then made chicken fajitas with homemade guacamole with half a Welsh cake for pudding. Not too bad overall.

I feel your pain with the coffee shop stop viva. So much temptation! Flapinko your spicy sweet potato soup sounds lovely. I have two looking sad in my cupboard so I might try that for lunch this week.

Mugs if I gave up tea I would be so miserable I'd drive everyone nuts. I can't tell the difference between decaf and ordinary tea bags so I just switched. They're slightly more expensive but I get fewer migraines now so I more than cover the difference in work I can now do (my motivation for cutting caffeine-fewer spots is a happy bonus!).

I just did a 10km bike ride. My legs are shakey. And I had some cake instead of yoghurt after dinner darn it.

Achey legs here too after a week of owning an exercise bike and using it every day!

Hope I can keep this up. I have never actually successfully dieted in my life, but I hope I can keep at it this time!

While I agree that you should not be forcing water down for no reason, I feel that if you are substituting snacks for water then that is a very good thing.

We'll done Mugs. I'm really enjoying exercising. It's really helping me to keep on track. I think it's giving me those happy positive feelings and energy to do other things.
I feel like my life a month or so ago was a bit of a slump and dull.

500 that's great that you are feeling the benefit already! I'm mostly just feeling a little achy, but I enjoy it way more than I thought I would. I never would have thought to get an exercise bike, but OH suggested it because I was moaning that I could never seem to fit exercise into my life without it causing me issues, or too easy to find excuses not to do it!

Another 1lb down today, so after just a week since I started (last bank holiday it was barbecue, chocolate cake and baileys ), I have lost 5lbs! I just hope I can get an extra one or two this week and keep it up. I already can fit in a dress I couldn't get into last week :)

Yes I'm in! I'm fed up of diet clubs and walking out feeling like a failure so this sounds like a great 'back to basics' idea. I'm going to try not weighing myself so often (maybe not even at all!) and just spend less time thinking about what I'm going to eat next! 3 healthy meals a day and no rubbish...GO!!

I need to try to do this too. I work from home and definitely snack through boredom and because it's there.

In answer to someone who said about drinking lots of tea/coffee through the day to make up for snacks, I'm the opposite, I need to stop drinking coffee because my parents instilled in me a need for a biscuit with a coffee from an early age so if I stop drinking coffee it stops me eating biscuits!

So far I've had weetabix and banana for breakfast, a piece of fruit, veggie egg fried rice (with fry light) for lunch.

I'm vaguely going with a slimmers world theme with no snacks except fruit, so i am having rice pasta potatoes as much as I want but restricting bread. I hate being hungry so slimmers world works for me as you fill up on pasta and veg.

Evenings are worst for me so we'll see how I get on.

If anyone is looking to start exercise I can highly recommend the NHS Couch to 5k running plan. I started running January and last week I ran 10k (I'm slow but my runkeeper said I'd burnt 900 calories).

I lost 3 stone, had a bad week eating wise because of half term so I need to get back on it!

With regards to water, I keep a 2 Lt jug in the fridge and add cucumber or mint. Very soothing if you feel bloated like I do.

Hello new people! I work from home too, and it's definitely a case of eat because it's there and I'm bored. It doesn't help that I have a toddler who likes to snack so we usually have crumpets, buns, scones etc in the house!

That's amazing crabstick! I managed to run 10 mile back in 2006, but not really got into it since. Got to only about week 5 in the c25k and then got really ill. I always seem to get ill when starting out exercise, and I think I've decided running isn't for me until I'm a bit fitter and my dodgy knees are a bit stronger.

Can I join too? Lost 2.5 stone a few years back and have pretty much kept it off but have list my way a bit lately. Too much snacking, too many carbs. I run a few times a week , but it's not a substitute for good eating. Sweet things are my downfall.

Starting tomorrow - today has already been a write - off.

Ooh. Can I join? Or am I a bit late? I've just signed up for a 10K run and I need to focus on my diet too. I have lots of stones to lose.

I like this idea much more than Weightwatchers etc. I hate the weigh-ins - they seem counterproductive to me.

I don't think anyone's too late to join. The more the merrier I reckon, we can all encourage each other.

I often fill a jug of water and put a couple of different herbal tea bags in it (cold water). So will put a green tea bag in and then maybe an apple one and another flavour. It takes a while for the flavours to start coming out but it's nice.