Have I been getting it wrong all this time?

[user87899]

I just thought I'd share this in case anyone else has experienced the same, because I'm quite baffled by it!

I am one of life's eternal dieters. From the age of 15 (I'm now early 50s), my weight has yo-yoed and there isn't a diet I haven't tried. Like lots of us, I have subscribed to the low-carb/high protein way of eating and breakfast is usually Greek yoghurt and blueberries. My weight has been stuck for about three years though, so I thought it must be menopause-related (I'm on HRT) or I've screwed up my metabolism.

A few weeks ago I decided to have a break from obsessing about my weight and treated myself some cereal for breakfast - I have Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, so it was a GF knock-off combination of Bran Flakes and Special K. Lots of buckwheat and very high fibre, but high calorie and with added raw sugar cane. Honestly, the first mouthful was the most amazing thing I'd tasted in yonks!

Since then, I've been having 40g with semi-skimmed milk every day and the weirdest thing has happened. I am no longer peckish mid-morning. I can get to lunch without needing to snack. I'm not having massive sugar/junk food cravings throughout the day. I'm losing weight – 5lbs in three weeks – and my mood has lifted, so I'm making better food choices the rest of the time and I'm motivated to go for walks.

It has to be the high fibre, no? I have changed nothing else about my diet – still drinking wine! No HRT medication change either. All I've done is re-introduce the cereal I have avoided for well over a decade because I was convinced by the low-carb mantra that cereal for breakfast is really bad. Now I'm kicking myself I might've been getting it wrong all these years!

Anyone else experienced similar?

sounds like you really like your new cereal which is great.

One of the things about special k which might be true of this cereal too is it's designed to have a low glycemic index which means it releases the energy nice and slowly. Between that and the higher fibre content it seems to be working well for you.

thanks for sharing

I'm slim and swear by a hearty breakfast. Do you like porridge op?

porridge is also excellent fibre and low glycemic index (gi)

When you plateau it's because your body has got used to the reduced calorie intake and goes into 'starvation mode', holding on to every calorie in case there isnt any food available. (It's a survival thing from when we were hunter gatherers!) If you increase your calories your body thinks good times have returned, food must be bountiful, so it's able to release the excess rather than storing it. It will work for a while but you might plateau again so be aware of that.

I subscribe to the low-carb approach generally (no pasta, rice, bread) but found I could only stick with it if I had a good brekkie. Oatbran (40g, made with 200ml oatmilk) is only 226 calories, is high in fibre and gets me to lunch at about 12.30 with no need to snack. I tried the daily eggs thing but it gets super old super quick eating that every day, where for me the oatbrand doesn't for some reason and I do eggs at the weekend. It's just finding what works for each of us, and having the gumption to stick with it. But the real clue I think it the attitude shift.

I do think that high fibre, higher fat is a good way to go

Low fat foods just make me starved

I have porridge every morning but it has to be made with full fat milk. That way I'm full till at least lunch

If I make it with water/skim milk the hunger is ridiculous

I've kind of had a similar realisation this week. I've been and off the boring diet trained since early teens and this year really struggled to lose weight (lost lots of weight, gained half back, same old same old)

I decided I would strictly count my calories but have allowed myself to have whatever I wanted. Nearly every day for lunch I have had a ham and egg sandwich, packet of crisps and a biscuit for lunch and honestly it was like nothing ever tasted so good! I think we're I'd been going wrong was trying to keep my lunch as low calorie as possible so I could have a normal dinner and a decent supper, but because I wasn't eating very much I was starving and then snacking so by the time I got to dinner time I had eaten loads of snacks that didn't really fill me up.

I never normally let myself eat crisps, biscuits, rarely ate bread and I always felt deprived and resentful that I couldn't eat like a "normal person" and constantly had to chose the "boring" healthy option.

So this week I have had my sandwich, crisps and biscuit every day and it's been enough to keep me full till dinner time. And I don't feel that I missed out. Lost 2lbs this week and really chuffed with that. I know it's not the healthiest food to eat, but right now I'm just going to stick to doing what I'm doing and hope that it keeps working!

Thanks for all the responses! I've lost another 1lb! I also feel weirdly less bloated - the opposite of how I expected to feel on a high-fibre diet. Last night I had a jacket potato with the skin on - a carb I'd have run a mile from usually.

To everyone asking about oats - unfortunately my NCGS means I can't tolerate even GF oats. I get all the same awful symptoms as if I'd eaten a slice of wheat bread.

@pumpkintits Sounds like we've had the same realisation! For lunch yesterday I had a cheese sandwich instead of bloody eggs and it was delicious! I must be losing weight for the same reason - I'm so full after my meals I don't feel the urge to snack. I guess it's like our grandmas used to eat - three square meals a day and nothing in between!

@Bookworm1111 - yes I reckon that's the key. High Fibre! I eat three decent sized meals a day and never need any snacks inbetween meals.
All my meals are very high fibre. I've eaten like this for years and I don't put weight on, even though I became post-menopausal at 39 -so early. I've been on HRT for several years!

It feels almost revelatory, like I've discovered a new way of eating! Yet it's how everyone used to eat before the diet boom in the Seventies.

No it doesn’t. This is a total myth.

Sorry, I was replying to @SleepingisanArt about the “starvation mode” myth!

I think we're I'd been going wrong was trying to keep my lunch as low calorie as possible so I could have a normal dinner and a decent supper, but because I wasn't eating very much I was starving and then snacking so by the time I got to dinner time I had eaten loads of snacks that didn't really fill me up.

I never normally let myself eat crisps, biscuits, rarely ate bread and I always felt deprived and resentful that I couldn't eat like a "normal person" and constantly had to chose the "boring" healthy option.

I agree with this.

@Bookworm1111 can I ask what the cereal is please? I’m looking for a non wheat non porridge filling cereal.

Hi @Peridot1, it's this one:

https://naturespath.com/en-gb/products/mesa-sunrise-cold-cereal-np-uk

You can buy it in Sainsbury's, Waitrose, from Ocado, etc. It tastes just like Special K but really keeps its crunch in milk! (Which appeals to the part of me that would eat crisps non-stop if I could.) One bowl keeps me full until lunchtime.

It doesn’t look very healthy. Sugar is the second highest ingredient.

I didn't pick it because it was healthy though. I picked it because I was craving cereal! I did say in my OP it was high calorie and had added raw cane sugar.

Absolute nonsense.

Thanks @Bookworm1111. A bit high in sugar for me I think. Although from reading some comments they are aware and are working on a lower sugar version so I’ll keep an eye out.

I think if the rest of your diet is low in sugar, it's not too bad. But I don't have a sweet tooth anyway, so if I snack it's usually on salted nuts or crisps. I did wonder if it would raise my blood sugar but there doesn't seem to be an impact – I'm still lasting until lunchtime without any hunger pangs or cravings. I'm also losing weight eating it! In two weeks I've dropped half a stone. I can't get my head around it!

Wow that’s amazing. Good for you. Maybe I’ll give it a try! I don’t have a lot of sugar either generally. But I did try a low carb granola a while ago that made me hungry all day. Maybe it wasn’t enough fibre. Porridge does the same to me. Leaves me hungrier.

That's always been my issue with cereal and why I haven't eaten it for so long! Maybe it's because it's also packed with fibre? Driven by this, I've been reading up a lot in the past few days and lots of dieticians say fibre is the key to feeling fuller. Whereas low-carb diets tend to lack it, which makes sense. But I've gone from having Greek yoghurt and berries for breakfast, two-egg veggie omelette for lunch and meat and veg only for dinner to having this cereal, a cheese sandwich and crisps and spag bol with actual spaghetti/roast dinner with potatoes etc and I'm losing weight! And still drinking booze. I'm just barely snacking because I don't feel hungry between meals.

Have you tried fasting OP? I do 16:8 so eat dinner at maybe 8 and then don't eat until 12. Really keeps your weight under control and I don't miss breakfast at all.

This seems an odd response to someone who has just started eating a larger/more carby breakfast, is enjoying it and is losing weight since she did.

I have tried it, but I have a history of BED and it triggered the most horrendous binges, so it's not for me.