I need three to five basic principles for weight loss

[Freaking0ut]

I’ve decided that I need to sort it out. I am 15stone. I need to lose 3 stone to be within a healthy BMI for my height. I’ve had two children and the weight has crept on. As I hit 35 I am noticing that it is going on easier and is harder to get off. My weaknesses are wine and chocolate. I like cooking and healthy food. I am slightly time poor but no more so than anyone else who works full time and has children!

I have done various diets, the 16:8 combined with 5:2 is the most recent, and I have come to the conclusion that all this does is disorder my eating habits. It encourages me to fast for half the day and then out of hunger I binge for the second half.

I have one year to lose the weight. It needs to be a lifestyle change. So I’m looking for 3 to 5 fundamentals that I need to do/not do to encourage the weight to come off.

Number one: Eat healthy and hearty breakfast every day.

I may use this post as a space to record things. I have to do something. Thanks for reading if you’ve got this far!

Don't deprive yourself completely of treats and wine. Just everything in moderation.

Look for healthier alternatives for your favourite dinners. Batch make healthy versions of tomato sauces and curries and freeze. Cook extra and freeze for busy evenings. Defrost the night before so you've got something ready and waiting to hear up instead of grabbing an unhealthy handy dinner.

Use a slow cooker there are so many hethy slow cooker recipes. Ready when you walk in the door.

Limit white breads pastas and rice or change to wholemeal varieties. Use proteins and veg to bulk your plate to minimise carbs

Its so hard and sometimes we all go off the rails and have a bad day (or weekend in my case) just draw a line and back to it again.

Good luck I need to lose 3 stone as well. Its no easy task but slowly and surely is the way to go x

Would something like limiting yourself to x amount of chocolate and wine each day help.

And using mfp and not cheating even if you go over every single day
I need to listen to my own advice

• Don't snack
• 3 meals a day
• don't deprive yourself at mealtimes but try and shave a few calories of each meal.

Preparation, preparation, preparation. Make sure you have 3 meals you can easily cook ready in the fridge.

Have wine and chocolate 1 - 2 nights per week.

Write down everything you eat and drink.

Thanks both. Yep am planning to mfp it. I think mainly because I need to hold myself accountable. I’ve worked out that for my height and activity level I need 1700 calories a day to lose 1lb a week. I think that’s totally reasonable.

I’m just gutted that I’m in this position. It dominates my mind all day and I have to get a grip.

Zombie Thankyou, I will write some of those tips down. My slow cooker has packed up but I can def do batch cooking.

Mine include,

Don't finish food just because it's on your plate. Your body isn't a bin.

With snacking, my main danger time is tea time/ after we get in in the evening. I’m usually hungry and I’m the kitchen making the kids tea. Any suggestions for what I can do to curb that, or a snack I can have to see me through. I also need some bloody will power 🙄

For me what helped was creating restrictions. Everyone says it’s not the healthy way, but I realised that eating as I was/being so overweight wasn’t working either. I don’t have a full up filter, I will continue to eat high density of calories from waking to last thing at night.

Setting an eating window was a bit of a revelation, I just don’t think about food outside of an 8hr window (for me 11am/7pm or 12/8.)

The next step that helped was restricting my addictive foods, sugars and carbs. I start, I don’t stop. I feel hungry non stop. Everything else I would eat freely.

Put smaller portions on your plate.
Eat when you're hungry, but stop when you're full.
Eat slower.
Drink water with every meal.

Eat lots of fresh fruit & vegetables. Especially vegetables. Without creamy, sugary or other rich or high calorie sauces on. Find lots of individual ingredients & recipes that you like, that are affordable, easy to make and, if possible, can be prepared in advance. For example, try a version of coleslaw but use a light vinaigrette dressing, or just a vinegar such as apple cider vinegar, rice wine vinegar etc, instead of mayonnaise. (I really like black rice vinegar, it's sort of aniseedy & goes really well with oriental food IMHO.)

Well done op! I have 3 to 4 stone to lose. I'm starting on Tuesday.

Have seven principles in mind:

Eat mindfully only at dinner table
Leslie Sansone walking videos + pedometer + exercise bicycle
Meal planning - soup and salad lunch only
Cut out biscuits, sweets, cake, chocolate except for one treat a weak
Cut down on portion size - no seconds!
Patchwork squares/embroidery after dinner to stop me nibbling things (keeping my hands occupied helps!)
One stone at a time using Zoe Harcombe (roughly) + MFP tracking

Thanks all. Ok so far I’ve got:

1. Eat nutritious and wholesome breakfast every day (porridge and seeds, egg)
2. Log everything on MFP
3. At least half the plate needs to be vegetables.
4. Plan ahead for the whole week.
5. Saturday = treat day. Have wine and some chocolate if I want.

Think I may need to expand to 10 principles!

Shady good list. Who is Zoe Harcombe?

Vanilla I 100% know what you mean about not having a full up filter. I can eat the most enormous amount of pasta. I just love it 😫

I lost 3.5 stone in just over a year.

Track everything!

Plan in advance as much as possible and factor in the things you like. If you feel deprived you're more likely to go off the rails binging.

Smaller meals and more snacks - I'm a grazer, on days my work schedule meant I'd be at the desk all day I'd pack a bag of things to pick at all rather than a meal, more like a kids lunch box.

For special events, I set MFP to maintain for the week and enjoyed the food/drinks on offer (even if I went over maintenance calories it made me see the damage one event did was minimal if I got straight back to it). I also ate under my "allowance" Mon-Thurs and used the leftover at weekends.

Play around with macros. I definitely did better when most of my calories were protein. My friend seems to be more satisfied with higher fat!

Read the sticky posts on the MFP forums.

I'm looking forward to getting back to it now! (34 weeks pregnant .. the size tens didn't fit long lol)

I started using the weightwatchers app to lose weight and so far have lost 10lb in about a month. For me the key changes have been:

-Swapping my usual granola with milk for overnight oats made with water (can’t taste the difference!) and frozen berries.
-Swapping wine for gin and slimline tonic!
-Swapping cheese in sandwiches for vegan alternatives, like the quorn fake chicken.
-Using an olive oil spray for frying/roasting instead of freely pouring olive oil into the pan.
-Lots of eggs!

Fwiw, I had a bit of chocolate or a couple of biscuits most evenings with a cup of tea factored into my calorie goals.

It's all very well saying don't deny yourself anything and everything in moderation. Sounds harsh but I'm afraid it wasn't until I:

• gave up alcohol
• gave up snacking
• measured portion sizes
• only allowed sweet treats, including fruit, that came within my calorie allowance on MFP

-swapped extra veg for pasta or rice where I could

that I started consistently losing weight.

Exercise didn't really come into it tbh. Once I'd lost some weight I treated myself to an iwatch, increased my activity and that has since helped to keep the weight off and be a little bit more relaxed about what I eat. I still don't really drink alcohol or really sugary food though, I seem to have gone off it now.

There are a lot of principles there. I think I'd lose track.

If you don't mind a bit of swearing - have a look at James Smith (Academy) on FB.

There is only one principle: A Calorie Fucking Deficit.

His videos are good, his academy better (though he talks enough on social media to get a good idea of the premise); he styles himself as trying to break down the crap of the fitness/diet industry. I have a lot to lose, but for some reason this guy has struck a chord with me. He is well read about his topic, won't speak about it if he doesn't know it/hasn't researched it, and is amusing to watch.

I don't work for him, or know him personally but he is worth looking at if only to guide principles.

www.facebook.com/JamesSmithPT/videos/1365008556937423/

Dietdoctor.com
You won't be hungry enough to want snacks

Mine are as follows (currently attempting to lose weight):
Eat more slowly and savour each mouthful.
Try to limit snacks, even fruit as that just seems to make me more hungry.
If I feel peckish, have a glass of water/clean my teeth/go for a wander. If still hungry 10 mins later then eat something.
No eating in front of the TV.
At least 10,000 steps per day, or do some random workout off the Internet.
Try not to eat breakfast, it just starts the whole cycle of being hungry for me (controversially).
Try to accept the feeling of hunger, it’s just hunger pangs not starvation.
If you fall off the wagon and binge eat, don’t give up, just move on and have more control next time.
Don’t tell people you’re dieting as they may sabotage it. Just say you’ve been told to cit down a bit by the doctor if people start pushing cake on you (this happens a lot a my work).

windinmyhair thanks, have followed him 👍

I had some basic training in coaching this week as part of my job and think I need to actually apply a bit of it to myself!

Do you think it’s possible to allow yourself pasta once a week and still lose weight? If I make it wholewheat and have a tomato based sauce with it?

So far these have worked for me, 2,5 stone off in 6 months, 2 more to go:

• track everything on MFP and I mean everything, even a crust you pick up off DC’s plate.

• don’t beat yourself up if you go over your calories occasionally, don’t let it give you an excuse to give up.

• try to walk whenever you can, don’t use the car for journeys that could be done on foot

• weigh yourself every day and use the weekly average to track progress. I find I can fluctuate a pound or so and that was demotivating but the weekly average has always been either the same or lower, never higher

• limit alcohol. I very rarely drink now. Not only did it add calories I also gave zero willpower when I’ve had a drink and end up eating loads