Is this a reasonable food diary?

[FloatyFlo]

I'm overweight by three stone. I'm unfit, kinda (okay a lot) lazy, fatigued all the time and just generally feeling shite.

I've really come to a point where I've just had enough. I've tried diets before and obviously failed. I am a massive binge eater. I eat for boredom, stress, comfort, whatever.

I'm not going to calorie count. Or weigh food. I get too restrictive and obsessive and then end up failing and going on a binge.

I've been reading 'Never binge again' by Glenn livingstone which has definitely enabled me to reflect on why I overeat and given me some mental positivity to tackle it.

Here is my food diary for the past three days. Where could I improve? What am I missing? Is this good enough to lose some weight? I've been drinking lots of water.

Friday -

Breakfast - Crunchy nut cornflakes with blue milk, An apple and a black coffee (no sugar)

Lunch - Broccoli and Stilton soup, 2 soup lies of toast (white bread - I know I know!) Cucumber and tomatoes.

Dinner - Pasta with Salad (Mixed leaf lettuce, Toms, cucumber, spoonful of colslaw)

(Evening - 4 double gins with lemonade, BAD IDEA as I ate a slice of quiche and a chunk of pork pie after) I don't actually often drink but if I do have a couple of glasses I will make sure I've got something healthy to snack on after -lesson learned!)

Saturday

B - Crunchy nut cornflakes and black coffee

L - Broccoli and Stilton soup
2 toast and salad

D - Vegetable pizza with Salad, beetroot and hummus.

After dinner - a banana and few strawbs

Sunday
B- 2 boiled eggs, 2 toast, rocket and small sprinkle of grated cheese.

L- Slice of vegetable pizza and a banana

D - One Youngs gasto basa fillet with new pots, broccoli, sweetcorn and roasted tomatoes

Breakfast today - I've got shot of the sugary cereal and had overnight oats with grated apple, half a banana, a spoonful of peanut butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

So this is really a starting point. It's a massive improvement on my usual diet which in a day before was - 2 cheese & ham toasties at mid morning, crisps and cake mid afternoon, burger and chips for dinner with heaps of choclate and biscuits in the eve. No water. Sugary coffee and coke throughout the day. Not a fruit or veggie in sight.

Even if I get no replies, I just need to get this down somewhere. So it's helping me all the same.

Once I can crack thsee terrible food habits and I can start to look at my exercise!

Most (not all) people I know who followed low carb, pile the weight back on as they go mad for carbs later

It's the same for any diet. Most people gain the weight back if they go back to their old way of eating. Low carb is a lifestyle and once you move into maintenance you integrate a higher amount of carbs into uour diet.

Clearly if you then proceed to eat shite you will gain weight back. But as said, that's the same for any diet. And ehrm. I think we all know that, no?

To me it was the chance to not be taking insulin for the rest of my life that made me stick to it - I haven't cut carbs out completely, mostly the obvious 'bad' ones, and I eat tons more veg now than I ever used to (I doubled my portions basically to fill the gap where my chips used to be!). So that can only be a good thing.

We're all good Kirsten . I do probably eat more plant based foods than anything else (I don't ear red meat or poultry) so I'm doing ok for fibre - I agree the 'Atkins' type diet isn't really the way to go. I do love my cheese though

Unless you are maintaining a low carb diet forever then 'low carb diets' are simply a temporary fix.

I don't want this. It's got to be for good now. I have to maintain it. That's why I'm going easy. If I have a slice of brown bread with my boiled egg then I'm not beating myself up about it.

On the brightside no crisp, chocolate, cake, ice cream, biscuit, sweets or fizzy has passed my lips for a week!

Also my belly has changed. This may sound so odd. Before it was really fat and round and hard. On days I'd overeat junk it would be worse. Now it's flattened (still some lovely fat bulge obvs) but its gone really wobbly and soft. It's like loosened up.or something. What's that all about?! 😂

Switch your meals round so either breakfast is the biggest meal of the day or failing that, lunch is. The human body uses calories when consumed in the day much more effectively, if the biggest most calorie packed meal is at night, more of those calories will be stored as fat as unite metabolism slows and your body performs maintenance tasks.

Also, you need more proteins as has been said above.
Maybe start the day with an omelette made from one whole egg and plenty of veg, no bread, at a pinch, half a slice of spelt bread or some other good whole grain. You could also make a breakfast protein shake...I use half a pint of green milk, a teaspoon of whole whey protein (!not isolate and no soya), a large tsp of sunflower seeds, few cashews, a tablespoon of raw oats, a tsp each of pea protein and hemp protein, raw cacao powder to taste and some blackstrap molasses for sweetening, again to taste. You'll need a good blender, mix on smoothie or nut milk setting and bosh, done.
I am full till lunchtime when I have my shake. Which is great as I am not a morning person and hate brekkie!

For grains, stray away from wheat all the time into things like buckwheat, spelt etc and soak them for a couple of hours befor cooking to ensure you can absorb more nutrients during digestion.

Proteins will make you full for longer as they are digested more slowly, carbs will fill you up but raise your blood sugar quickly and when it drops, you get hungry again, it's a vicious cycle.

THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH CARBS! God I hate the carb vitriol. Carbs are our bodies preferred source of fuel. Oats, whole grains, even rice are healthy and great sources of nutrition. Cut the cakes and biscuits maybe but don’t tar all carbs with the same brush.

Please pick up the book The Wellness Rebel - it’s full of some proper science from a biochemist/nutritionist.

Trouble is we don't do enough exercise or phage physical enough jobs anymore to give our bodies the carbs we used to. Proteins are safer as they do not cause peaking and troughing of the blood sugar levels. They also make us, gram for gram, calorie for calorie , fuller for longer

I'm a dietician btw

bold fail!

*THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH CARBS! God I hate the carb vitriol. Carbs are our bodies preferred source of fuel. Oats, whole grains, even rice are healthy and great sources of nutrition. Cut the cakes and biscuits maybe but don’t tar all carbs with the same brush.

Please pick up the book The Wellness Rebel - it’s full of some proper science from a biochemist/nutritionist.*

Trouble is we don't do enough exercise or phage physical enough jobs anymore to give our bodies the carbs we used to. Proteins are safer as they do not cause peaking and troughing of the blood sugar levels. They also make us, gram for gram, calorie for calorie , fuller for longer

^

Yup. That's why people low carb.

This. Unless you are maintaining a low carb diet forever then 'low carb diets' are simply a temporary fix.

^^

Yeah, weird. You eat veg, meat, fish, lentils but as soon as you go back to the big mac's you put on weight.

Most odd.

ALL diets are a temporary fix. You need to change the way you eat, not just 'diet' occasionally!

OP you should have a look at the Mediterranean diet. It's basically pulling together a lot of what everyone here has recommended - focus on good fats (olive oil, extra virgin olive oil and nuts), whole grains, lots of fruit and veg and pulses, fish and chicken and very little red meat and regular exercise. I've been doing it a month now and really enjoying it. I feel much less restricted than on other weight loss plans I've done before although I should say it's not a 'diet' as in a weight loss regime but more a way of eating and has so many health benefits. And although it's called the Mediterranean diet, once you get to understand the basics you'll find that loads of different foods and cuisines fit the criteria.

The thing is, to lose weight you have to restrict something. Eating low carb is the only thing that stops my endless desire for sweet, starchy things. It makes me less hungry than any other form of dieting. Surely a large part of what makes a diet successful is the effect it has on your appetite. If you are starving you will cave.

And low carb doesn't stop you from eating a high-veg diet, just because some idiots do low carb by living on bacon and cheese! I eat shedloads of salad and veg.

I plan to low carb until I get to a good weight, then reintroduce small portions of low G.I. carbs like oats etc. I can't see what is nutritionally disastrous about that.

I have been reading this thread with interest. I eat too many carbs and am trying to think of healthier less carb heavy breakfast options. I am better at lunch and dinner with more time to cook.

I need quick, filling breakfasts - any ideas? I don't like eggs unfortunately.

You eat veg, meat, fish, lentils but as soon as you go back to the big mac's you put on weight

Indeed, it's a bastard p, I hear it's the same with cake. 🤣🤣🤣

Eolian, yes totally you need to restrict something, not stop, just restrict, and low carbing has sceintifically proven health benefits, inc lower blood pressure and diabetes reversal. For me the big one is reduced night sweats in perimenopause.

For maintenance you increase your carb intake slowly till you find the level you maintain at but don't lose further, be it toast, oats, fruit, rice, pasta or whatever you introduce.. You can't go back to your old way of eating like any diet, and like any diet you need to develop a maintenance plan carefully to ensure you eat right with the occasional treats.

Basically introducing more carbs stops you losing further, so it's finding the balance of what you can tolerate without gaining.

The good thing about this way of eating, is if you do over do it, you just cut carbs back and the weight comes off again.

Bobby why don't you pop over to thr boot canp thread. Tons of meal ideas on there.

I like the sound of the Mediterranean diet.

Things are going well. Felt so tempted to snack last night. My inner pig was squealing away. The never binge again book has been so helpful. Had a glass of water and went to bed early instead!

Is this a thread for the Low Carb Police to tell everyone what they must do? Have these posters even read the scientific papers that they cite? But even if you had, scientists get it wrong all the time about food. Remember when margarine was better than butter? Or soya milk better than real milk? Now we have low carb "science" and intermittent dieting "science" looking for airtime. However, if you look into these studies further (and I have) there are some important issues that have been side-stepped.

Also, I believe making a whole food group off-limits, be it fat or carbs, can be dangerous (and impractical). It also can contribute to increased food anxiety and disordered eating, including bingeing.

If people lose weight and get healthier this is a great forum for sharing our experiences and theories and difficulties and things that have helped. Its great to get ideas, e.g. for books etc. But people should be careful about telling other people what they should definitely do.

Hope its going well Floaty. Your last post both humorous and encouraging!

Good luck everyone. Here's to healthy and positive food choices.

Oops, I know my post a bit angry at start all I'm trying to say is please lets be careful how we frame out recommendations and theories ... there is a lot of disordered eating out there and certain kinds of dieting and food fads have unhealthy aspects that can make matters worse...

I have no idea what you're talking about santaro. Low carb takes no food group off limits, it's low carb not no carb. People usually have below 30 grams a day, some lower, some higher. A slice of wholemeal bread only has 12.

And I'm fairly sure the science isn't wrong when it's things like lower blood pressure or reversed diabetes. The scientific evidence is empirical not theoretical.

At least when you post be accurate. I mean seriously? A whole food group off limits? I suggest you read some more.

Just looked at your original food diary, not RFT, but I agree that the sugary conflakes are a really bad start to the day, because that sugar dips and makes you carve more. the white toast will too.

Can you swap the cornflakes for something like sugar free granola (Kellog's do one, it's sweetened with dried fruit, not extra sugar) which has nuts and oats and will release sugar more slowly.
Can you swap the white sliced bread for a slice of wholemeal.

4 gins and lemonade? You're kidding? At least use diet lemonade. I know that's been proven to slow weight loss but it has to be a bit better than pure sugar.

I'm also three stone overweight and I eat far more healthily for main meals but snack on rubbish. At least you're not doing that much.

4 gins and lemonade? You're kidding? At least use diet lemonade. I know that's been proven to slow weight loss but it has to be a bit better than pure sugar.

This was a one-off! I hardly drink and I'm not going to beat myself up over it. As I've become more committed to this change since then I will look for much healthier alternatives, if I drink at all that is.

The breads already been stopped, the sugary cereal has already gone yadda yadda yadda. Keep up!

Thank you Santaro I appreciate your support. I also appreciate the advice from the no/low carbers too. I guess when you've found a really successful way of dieting/losing weight, you want to share with others as you feel passionate and believe in it. And thats okay.

It can get terribly confusing though. All different advice and opinions and studies etc etc. But every comment has been helpful in some way. Thanks all!

FloatyFlo I love your recognition of ‘pig sqealing’ It’s such an off putting term, isn’t it? I just reread some bits of the book and it’s so helpful.

LiveLife So off-putting. But a very useful technique.

It's opened my eyes to a few things.

Advertisements in the food industry - e.g. you can only be having a good fun socially acceptable time if you yourself are also eating that huge pizza you and your friends are sitting round.

Other people's inner pig squeals - Looking at you Nan. "Have a slice of cake dear...what do you mean no?... You're giving up cake?!..Oh don't be ridiculous... one slice never hurt nobody... just eat it...c'mon a bigger slice than that!"

(Actually one slice can hurt me. Cause one slice leads to another and before I realise it I've eaten two thirds of a whole Victoria sponge and half a pack of Mars bars)

What else have I been thinking about from that book?

Oh yes! Short term pig goals and my long term well-being. Putting crisps on my NEVER list does get my inner pig squealing 'That's stupid! We can have some! Deprivation!' Actually, eating crisps would be satisfying my pig in the short term, by I'd be depriving myself of the body I want, my health, my self-esteem etc etc.

Sorry wittering on.

BUT I'd be depriving myself...in the long term that should say

Who actually NEEDS crisps. I don't. What's the point in having five mins pleasure while eating a bag of crisps, when overall it's making me fat and miserable in the long term.

Cut out the bread, pasta and high sugar cereal!