Why We Eat (Too Much) Thread 3

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

We’ve chatted as much as we (used to) eat! New shiny thread for more support.

General principles:

No sugar
No wheat
No processed foods
Honourable mention to tipping the balance of omega 3 and 6, but that’s mostly achieved by doing the above.

Everything else is fair game!

Fantastic news tired !!! Great inspiration

I weigh in tomorrow so fingers crossed...I have been pretty much on plan this week except...

I had cheese on toast with two small slices of Jacob's sourdough ciabatta bread at lunchtime. The first was so good I had to have another... cue mild discomfort afterwards. The rest is frozen. I suspect I have some sort of issue with wheat also.

More delicious sweet potato chips tonight- with smoked haddock and chard ( another veg I was wrong not to like) for dinner

Great news tired!

Words what do you do with chard? I've tried it previously & just couldn't get on with it. Do you have any good recipes?

Guess what? two pounds down this week! I am thrilled. Biggest loss since end May. (I started this plan about a month ago I think, and started the whole weight loss thing last October.) I have a stone and a half to go to my goal of healthy BMI plus some slack, but I will get there!

I thought I felt a bit lighter this week and I was right!

I've eaten pretty much on plan this week, except good quality chocolate, which I allow myself. The first week or so I really went to town on all the cream and butter, but have reined that back in now, and am also eating more fish than I used to.

Interestingly I've been to the gym less often than usual this week, but really worked hard when I did, and also two Pilates classes during the week. Did a big hike last Sunday but my step count is a bit down. Things are certainly more complicated than cals in versus cals out.

Anyone else do Pilates? I am starting to really enjoy it. Struggled at first as I am very badly co ordinated and had poor core stability. Tried a reformer class yesterday and OMG it was great. It sort of holds you in the correct position for maximum effect. I much prefer it to all that business squirling around on the mat.

Hi @LegoCaltrops. Chard- I just steamed it briefly in the end. It made a nice change from spinach and kale. Tasted very slightly like rhubarb- I wonder if it's the same family?

Didn't wash it thoroughly enough so mine was a bit gritty. Will remember for next time!

@words I started mat Pilates about a year ago, and absolutely love it. Initially thought - this really isn't doing anything, but as it's become more advanced, I feel much stronger, and after every session, I feel like I've stretched out and my posture has realigned! If I didn't have some chub on my stomach, I'm sure I'd have the beginning of abs

I've never tried a reformer class though - sounds great. My studio does aerial Pilates which I'm dying to try when I'm more advanced!

@Manteo my life is changed!!!

Carrot cake porridge is sublime!!! 😋😋🤯🤯

I was up early at 5am to watch the Olympics and decided to give it a try.

Oh. My. Goodness. Delicious!!

considering whether having such an early breakfast means I can have seconds now

seriously contemplating also having it for lunch

Well done on the weight losses.

I did reformer Pilates for a good few years. Really enjoy it. I find it great the day after a ATN session. Still working the muscles but getting a good stretch too.

Long weekend here and will be out for drinks on Sunday. I'm dithering all over the place on what I'm doing re eating. Had such a massive binge the other night. I really need to talk to myself and get going again. Freezer is full of batch cooked stuff that suits this woe. Must get going again.

Carrot cake porridge now on my list too! Did we establish whether to put carrots in at start or at end?

I'm not the expert though I anticipate practising regularly until I am but I cooked the porridge then added raw grated carrot, sultanas, honey and cinnamon afterwards.

The only change I intend to make is to squeeze a little of the water out of the carrots after grating before adding them next time.

Honestly, so delicious! Thanks @Manteo for this!!

Yay for the carrot cake porridge love!

I put them in raw and grated too.

How is Pilates different from yoga? I don't really know what Pilates is but I'm wondering if I should be trying it now. It would be via YouTube though as I'm generally working or looking after a 7 year old.

I'm staying with family for the weekend so not a huge amount of control over what I eat, luckily they are fairly healthy people though so it's not too bad. Had scrambled eggs on seedy wholemeal toast for lunch and about to have a roast for dinner. Brunch out tomorrow and then BBQ later, pray for me!

Hey! I'm back from glamping by the sea. As it was holiday, and we had a fire to cook on, I was a bit more relaxed food-wise. I think I might be coeliac though - with giving up grains, I haven't had gluten, but both times I've had it this week (once in breaded chicken, and the other time in vinegar on my fish and chips) I've been sick as a dog! 🤮
Back home, 1lb heavier - but we did eat fish and chips and snacks quite a bit! Back to cutting out processed food and veg oils!

How's everyone? That carrot porridge sounds nice!

I had carrot cake porridge again this morning, just as good as it was yesterday 😋😋

Meeting friends for lunch and they're cooking, so I'm not sure what I'll be having. Will try to stay on-plan if possible, but not going to beat myself up if I can't. Haven't decided what I'm having later this evening, will wait to see how lunch goes first.

Afternoon all

Sunday dinner today so just picked at a bit of ham earlier. Will be having cauliflower cheese again as I have a glut of cauliflowers but am OK with that. May possibily treat myself to a small portion of cheesecake afterwards as well cos sunday funday.

Have had a good week since back from holiday, no bread, no wheat except a bit of flour in cheese sauce, plenty of veg and salad and activity levels gone up massively due to bringing the ponies closer to home and doing them myself, so mucking 2 out, grooming, poo picking the field etc.

Hopefully will have a loss to show for my troubles, hopefully the bit I put on while on holiday.

Hello All - may I join?

A few years ago I had to start taking medication that lead to me putting on a lot of weight. I initially tried Slimfast and lost a couple of stone over 6 months but then it was Christmas, then my DC's Birthdays and Easter...and I had put most of it back on. So a couple of months ago I started SW online and have lost a stone. But I just don't feel it is something I can do long term. I've not really enjoyed it and the same as SF I think I get obsessed with the mostly unhealthy snacks I can have and still be 'on plan'! I don't eat a large amount of these (as obvs they are restricted on the diet) but I have a desire to horde the snacks!! To give an idea I was horrified when I was sorting out my pantry to find I had a drawer full of Slimfast bars, Hifi bars, Cadburys chocolate fingers and the 'slim' Mars bars, few cereal and nakd bars. I then found another box full of Slimfast cookies, pretzels and crackers, fudge bars, kitkats and Jaffa cakes! Then about 6 packs of more Slimfast chocolate bars, some packs of Alpen Light bars and a large package of Nakd bars! Sugar addiction or what?!

Anyhow, I read the book a week ago and it really resonated with me. I have to take baby steps though or I get overwhelmed so this week my first goal was to eat 2 breakfasts high in protein/fat. I had scrambled eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms one day and cheddar, olives and an apple with some Greek yogurt and nectarine the other. So my goal from tomorrow is to have 4 high fat/protein breakfasts. Thanks to these threads I have also read the Feel Great Lose Weight book which really compliments the Why We Eat book. I have ordered some dumbells and will keep one by the kettle to get in some movement while the kettle boils as suggested!

Hello@UndertheCedartree 

That sounds like a really good plan re breakfast! I must try the Chatterjee book. He seems from the excerpt I have read to be saying pretty much what Why We Eat is saying. Makes sense, doesn't it!

@Manteo I am new to Pilates and only tried yoga once, overbalanced, started giggling and got told off

Pilates is all about small but powerful movements that tone and strengthen the whole body, but especially the core. The reformer is a piece of equipment that looks like it belongs in a torture chamber, but the session I had last week sold me on it. Supports you in the right position whilst doing various exercises. I plan to mix sessions with that and sessions with the mat exercises.

I've had about 14 sessions now and really feel the difference in flexibility and improved posture.

Someone now needs to tell us about yoga!

Try again @UndertheCedartree

Hi everyone, sorry for the radio silence recently. We've had various rounds of visitors, combined with a hectic time with work.

As a result it's been a fairly mixed bag in terms of eating over the past couple of weeks - quite a few meals out, replete with bread and chips (though not excessive amounts) and custard tarts.

I've also, sad to say, had a couple of weird slip-ups psychologically, and binged on junk a couple of times, for no reason whatsoever.

I have been getting a decent amount of exercise though, thanks to holiday activities like paddling boarding and hiking, so my weight has stayed the same. Plus ça change, apparently.

Anyway, we've got a clear few weeks before the next planned get together with friends, so we're going to really aim for goal weight by the end of August. Low carbs and sugar, easy on the cheese and dairy, very limited alcohol, plenty of exercise.

Let's see...

I do yoga, by the way. I love it. I've had some in-person classes at various times over the years, but these days I use an amazing app called Down Dog. It's cheap as chips and you can do as many customised sessions as you like.

I'm quite flexible, but I struggle with some of the strength-based moves because my arm and core muscles are not good enough to do things like head stands yet. I also seem to vary day to day on whether I'm any good at the balancing poses.

It's so good for strength, muscle tone, flexibility and mindfulness. I set my practices to have a five minute savasana (that's the lovely bit where you lie down, rest and contemplate at the end) and do some meditation during that time.

I've put on more weight. I'm sure it's HRT (I've been on it a month now) related because although I still can't run I'm fast walking 50 miles a week, cycling 160 miles a week and sticking to plan, no wheat, in fact very few carbs at all, with the exception of 85% chocolate.

I made some chia pudding this week, but it strongly ressembles frogspawn. I made it with unsweetened almond milk and chia seeds, is there anything else I can add to make it, well, edible??

@words - yes, Chaterjee has a similar approach looking at lifestyle not just diet and broadly agrees with Why We Eat but adds a few other things in too. Unlike Why We Eat it is in simpler language and gives lots of ideas of how to put things into practice so a great complement

@samthebordercollie - chia pudding does look like that but I like it! I have always made chia pudding with cocoa. I have also been adding chia seeds to overnight oats which is nice. Maybe mix some Greek yogurt in to make it a more creamy texture?

Welcome back @TheLeadbetterLife !

Sam - can you eat dairy, if so double cream stirred in? Also most things are improved with a sprinkle of cinnamon. How about adding raisins or chopped dates? Or berries?

OTOH maybe it's not worth rescuing if you really hate the texture?

Just a test post - this thread is behaving weirdly for me, anyone else? It keeps skipping to the first post.

Has anybody read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan? Sounds like it might be useful too.

Maybe on the next thread we could put a list of useful books/videos in the first post? I watched that sugar documentary on Amazon. If there is another thread, it seems to have died since I joined!

No the thread hasn't been behaving weirdly for me, not that I've noticed anyway.