BREAD is the enemy !!!!

[Showmeheaven]

Its taken me a lifetime to come to this conclusion, but bread is the reason I am FAT.

Over the years I've wrongly blamed every other foodstuff for my ever expanding muffin top. I've blamed cheese, chocolate, butter, fat, meat, crisps, puddings, curries, alcohol - you name it. But never bread.

You see, I could never imagine life without it. Toast & marmalade in the morning, a sandwich for lunch, crusty french baguette at the weekends, warm scones straight out of the oven, bruscetta, potato bread, naan -just a few of my great loves. I just couldn't contemplate life without it.

But I cut way down on bread & pasta a few months ago and I can't believe the difference its made. I've lost half a stone and the most of it seems to have come off my tummy.

I haven't cut it out completely though (life wouldn't be worth living!!). I don't eat it Monday to Friday. At weekends I treat myself to toast, naan with my curry, a croissant or 2 on Sunday morning. I then go back to my no-bread diet on Monday morning again. I haven't done anything else differently. I still eat other carbs like rice & potatoes during the week. I eat anything else I want (within moderation, of course). I even have a couple of squares of chocolate in the evening with a cuppa!

I tried Atkins many times before, but I found it way too strict. Plus all that meat & fat use to make me feel ill. This way, I'm not cutting bread completely out, so I'm not craving it.

I started this new regime before going on holidays to Italy in July. Needless to say, while there I lived La Dolce Vita. I pigged out on pizza, pasta, lots of bruscetta & bread while there (how do those Italian girls stay sooooo slim!!!). I only went for a week but when I got home I couldn't believe the damage I had done. In the photos my face was bloated beyond belief (I now call it my "Carb Face"). I couldn't button up my jeans and I was bursting out of my work suit trousers. I was miserable and terrified I wouldn't lose it.

I immediately cut out the evil one on Monday morning and after a couple of days I felt fantastic again. Slimmer, lighter & healthier.

I still have another stone to go, but I'm getting there. I refuse to do anymore crazy diets ... starving myself for weeks, then going on a mad binge and putting it all on again. This is my new lifestyle for LIFE.

Now I see so many women walking around with multiple spare tyres around their middle and I'd love to go over and whisper in their ear "Give up bread - thats all you have to do".

But, of course, I wouldn't. I wouldn't mortify them for starters, and, like me, up until very recently, I wouldn't have believed that a simple slice of bread is responsible for so much misery.

Just thought I'd share my story with you all. I've spent a lifetime struggling with my weight and I wish I had discovered this earlier.

I'd love to hear your comments/thoughts. Is anyone else a bread addict ? Do any of you control bread in order to control your weight ?????

You sound like me. I don't eat much bread, if I do I get Carb Face (very appropriate term!). I think it gives me water retention, so when I stop I lose the excess very quickly. Not eating bread means a lot less butter too.

I find I am always thinner if I give up caffeine too.

i loooove bread.

bloody hell, showmeheaven, are you me?!?!

I quit eating all wheat for a year, a couple years ago. lost loads of weight. went travelling, found it all too hard (what with being veggie as well, people just can't cope )

Have just recently read feature in the grauniad about how bread is the culprit and said to my dh, 'oh yeah...' We were just talking this morning about cutting it out and I like your compromise way of doing it, think I will nick it if that's okay with you

I love love love bread... I have lost 4 stone over a couple of years and I have to say, I cut out a lot of bread, just like you showmeheaven.

But

I dream of bread and miss it sooooo much. I used to have toast every morning with butter, a sandwich (uncut crusty loaf.. mmmm) lunchtime. I now only have it occassionally but I yearn for it so unfortunately the desire doesn't go away! I could easily eat a whole loaf of crusty bread, just like that... but have to face the fact that it makes me fat!

Yes, the power bread has over us is incredible. I find it a real comfort food.

But its also deadly for us dieters and if you want to be slim than it has to be cut out ..... or at the very least, controlled.

I don't know of any other food that makes me feel so bloated immediately after eating it. And if I continue eating it, after a couple of days the weight starts to creep on. And for what ????? A big chunk of white nothing. I mean, come on, its not THAT nice !!!!

Carb Face is a good term and another good term is Carb Body. You can identify overweight people who are overdoing the carbs by the way they look. As well as showing up in the face, the fat seems to gather all around their middle & tummy and its wobbly. Now, you may say all overweight people look like that, but not necessarily. Have a look and you will see what I mean. Its a big sign someone is overdoing the carbs.

Phdlifeneedsanewlife, I find breakfast the hardest meal to have without bread/wheat. What did you eat for brekkie when you gave up for a year ???

Yes and many diets for depression have people cut out sugar and white flour too - it affects mood as well. I am intolerant to yeast and felt much better when I gave bread up 100%. I do have carbs but not bread. You get used to is after a while. I couldn't have a bit. I have to have all (which makes me feel bad) or none. It's like alcoholics - you can't just have one drink.

My breakfast is bacon eggs and a little bit of warmed up brown rice which may not sound very nice but it is.

I seem to have developed excema on back of knees this year, very dry skin elsewhere and dermatitus erm, down below. Itchy hands, all between my fingers too.

I definately feel worse if i have eaten too much wheat. Have noticed this over the last few weeks.

I love pastry, bread, the lot, but I have also put on about 4 lbs the past few weeks too.
I realy think my body is complaining.

Bread is the devils' poo!!! I've done Atkins and it worked beautifully but it was quite strict. So I've devised my own plan that basically cuts out wheat products and processed food for the most part. And if weight creeps back on and my eating gets out of control, I go back to my own version of induction. Other than that I eat brown rice, oats, lentils but very little pasta or bread.

It works. But it works partly because I'm cutting out the things I crave so eating becomes nutrition rather than a hobby