Is everything you knew about losing weight wrong?

[mummymels]

Did anyone see this article in The Sun today? It's an interview with the lady who founded Go Lower (the diet I am losing lots of weight with!) about her new book and the diet. I don't feel so bad now about my lack of exercise after reading this.

can you link?

Is everything you knew about losing weight wrong?

Didn't see it, what did it say? I need to feel better about lack of exercise too!

I put the link above. Lol, I am terrible. I always tell myself I know I should exercise. I know its a feeble excuse but its hard finding the time!

This is basically Atkins repackaged. Eating high protein/high fat/low carb may give you dramatic weightloss to start with but no-one gets skinny eating like this. If you don't believe me, have a look at the forum for the India and Neris Idiot-proof diet. There are hundreds threads for people just starting out on it and a scant handful for 'maintainers', or those who've reached and stayed at their goal weight.

The exercise thing is true in terms of weightloss; something that the government really hasn't caught up with in its strategies for dealing with with burgeoning obesity in this country. However there are a lot of other good health reasons (improving cardio-vascular function, maintaining bone density, warding off mild depression) to include it in your routine.

Ok I've just read it and I can sort of see where she is coming from. Is her diet a no carb one?

But eating the amount that you're body needs and no more will make you lose weight no matter what you eat.
No carb will of course make you lose weight but is it sustainable for a long time?

A baked potato isn't a bad option for a meal as long as you don't put loads of full fat butter and cheese on it, but even if you did as long as you ate within your calorie limit you would either lose weight or maintain the weight.

Carbs have a bigger effect on the amount of insulin the body produces and it's good to keep refined carbs and sugar to a minimum to stop that effect but if you eat a plate of pasta won't the body deal with it as it should? From what I gather about diabetes (not that I'm an expert) a person without any sort of diabetes will produce the right amount of insulin to cope with it.

But the doctor person at the end is right I think, that the body will store excess calories as fat regardless of where they came from.

I have done low carb before and I did 4 days of Atkins once and the weight loss was great 4lb in 4 days I think (it was ages ago), butI remember feeling ill like I was coming down with flu adn I wasn't 'all there' like my brain didn't work properly. So I couldn't keep it up.

But I am tempted to do it just fro the quick weight loss, only problem is I couldn't do it forever so won't the weight come back onagain?

And I'd just like to say that the article is a bit misleading when it says the metabolism slows which is why most dieters watch pounds fall off in the first two weeks before grinding to a halt - this is nonsense, 2 weeks of eating less will not slow the metabolism to the point you will not lose weight.

If you eat practically nothing your metabolism will slow down but still not to the point that you will stop losing weight, and even to get to this point will take a hell of a lot longer than 2 weeks.

The exercise/calorie thing is also very misleading. I can burn 240 calories running for 25/30 mins (for me it works out at roughly 80 cals per mile, and that takes me between 8 and 9 minutes). Even a slow runner would burn about 200 calories in that time. Lying on the sofa burns roughly 1 calorie per minute, or 30 cals total. So her figures are totally manipulated.

I have to admit I don't know much about the science of it all but all I know is that the diet is working for me and for me that's what counts. In the past I haven't been too good at keeping to diets but I have found this one really easy and I am losing the weight too.

She seems to be saying exactly the same as Zoe Harcombe in the harcombe diet

As a old low carber, i can pretty much guarantee that if you do a low carb plan and then go back to eating carbs like you used to, you WILL put all the weight back on (and more!). I have learnt this lesson well and for that reason, although i lost alot of weight low carbing, i dont think i can do it again because i am such a carb addict.

I do believe that eating whatever you like and sticking to your calorie allowance on a daily basis is the best key to losing/maintaining weight. However, you will obviously lose more weight if you stick to lower saturated fat foods and choose healthier choices of food etc etc.

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record here but I don't know much about Zoe Harcombe diet either although there seems to be a lot of people doing it on here.

RGPargy - I obviously haven't got to that stage yet but I am hoping I can change my whole wy of eating once I finish the diet.

IME you don't put all the weight back on again when you come off lc unless you go back to eating huge amts of crappy carbs. I maintained my weight loss after low-carb by eating a moderate 'normal' healthy diet and doing lots of running. LC is great for losing but I decided after a couple of years that I could not do i forever - it was too restrictive.

But....you can do green days on slimming world and litererally eat your weight in potatoes, rice and pasta and still lose weight

• which quite frankly has always completely baffled me, but it does work

It is prefectly feasible to lose weight on low carb diet and keep it off by sticking to a low gi , no processed carbs way of eating.
I know several people who have done this succesfully for yrs.

I watched a BBC programme ages ago, 10 scientifically tested tips to lose weight, and one of them was that the after affects of exercise are that you will keep burning fat even when asleep.

So after my slow run for 1/2 an hour burning 200 calories, the effects are beneficial. I've eaten too much this week, so I hope that's true .

Ormrenewed - yes you see but i did go back to eating rubbish so serves me right for being a pig i suppose!

The Slimmers world diet works 'cos it is Food combining; not mixing carbs and protein eg No burgers or ham sandwiches etc it's a much healthier way to eat I maintain my almost slim figure that way. Also i have lost weight (when i was younger) with no extra exercise as Paul Mckenna says everyone does exercise (especially mums!).

I agree. Whoever first suggested that it was fine to 'fill up on carbs' as long as you went low fat has to shoulder some of the blame for rising obesity. As someone further down said, it doesn't matter where your calories come from, in terms of weight, you will gain if you eat more than you need. The filling up on carbs just encouraged a whole generation to eat bigger meals.

And the government really needs to bite the bullet with the exercise message - 30 minutes 3/5 times a week isn't enough. It's a good start but you need to be exercising for longer than that to encourage weight loss; a stroll to the shops or the school run and a bit of gardening won't cut it.

"It's a good start but you need to be exercising for longer than that to encourage weight loss; a stroll to the shops or the school run and a bit of gardening won't cut it"

yes saggar! I posted an entire thread based on this idea and got a lot of 's. Exercise IMO is a much more positive and mentally healthy way to keep weight down that constantly obsessing about food.

Absolutely Orm.

(how's your dad?)

Just about 100% thanks

It is really reassuring the hear from others that as long as you are sensible you don't put all the weight back on after a low carb diet. I am enjoying my diet at the moment but can't imagine that I will never have a carb ever in my life again.

I slightly take her point on exercise (even though the numbers she quotes are pretty poor- it would take at least an hour to burn 100 calories lying on the sofa- in an hour's run you could burn 700cals).

That aside, to burn 1lb of fat the average woman would have to run 30 miles (3000 cals at 100cals per mile)

I think a lot of people, and especially women, miss the benefits of strength training. Weight training not only uses a lot of calories while you're doing it, but it also raises your metabolic rate as your body needs more calories to maintain the new muscle mass. You also get better definition so your body looks better at any weight. A lot of women are scared to "bulk up" and waste time doing 100 reps with tiny weights, when to get definition you need to do sets of 12/15 to failure (this is when the muscle builds). You wont bulk up like a bloke because women lack the testosterone. Also, weight training does improve cardio fitness as well- try doing a weights circuit and you'll find that your heart rate is elevated as much, if not more than in a cardio session.

Since I started strength training, I just do 2x 1hour sessions of that per week and then play tennis a few times. I can eat what I want and maintain a healthy weight - I'm 5'7'' and 143lbs. By contrast, all through my twenties I spent hours doing cardio and still struggled with my weight.

Ladies, pick up your barbells. You have nothing to lose but your love handles

Thanks for the advice ArcticFox, I'll have to look into it. I have to admit I am terrible with doing exercise but I think I would find this more manageable than going for a run for example, although I am not very strong so not sure how good I'd be at it.