Weight Loss Tips Thread

[ratty]

Let's try and get a thread going that combines all the weight loss tips into one.

[Addy01]

Basic weight loss tips:

Don't diet! Phsycologically, once you "diet" and start to deny yourself things, your mind craves them, Then when you reach your goal weight, you start to eat all the things you have craved which means the weight is regained. The only way to lose weight is to change your eating habits for good, but still allow yourself the odd indulgence.

To maintain your current weight a woman needs to consume about 2,000 calories a day, it's about 2,600 for men. Be aware of what you are consuming in calories. If you wrote down everything you ate for a week and added it up, you will probably find you are consuming way more than 2,000/2,600 a day.

Reducing your intake by 500 calories a day should result in a 1lb weight loss a week. Losing weight at this rate is far more sustainable. NB 2,000/2,600 calories a day is based on no change to your current routine, if you increase your excercise then you need to increase your intake.

9 times out of 10 when we think we are hungry, we are actually thirsty. You should aim to drink 2l of water a day. Have a 1l bottle of water with you at all times and if 2l seems unmanageable aim for 1l and then build up from there.

It takes 20 minutes for the brain to register that you have started eating and curb your hunger pangs. Have a salad, a bowl of soup or a glass of water before your main meal. This means by the time you start your main course your brain is registering food is arriving and you eat less.

Avoid drinking water WITH your meal as it can affect the absorption rate of your food. Drink it before or after instead.

Put vegetables and meat on your plate first. This leaves less room for anything stodgy like spuds.

Stick to tomatoe based sauces with pasta, rather than claorie laden cream based sauces.

Avoid fizzy drinks. They are loaded with sugar (about 26 teaspoons in a 33oml bottle of coke) and they don't refresh you. Water is best. I used to drink a small bottle of coke a day with my lunch. Changed that to water and lost two stone in 3 months!

Substitute honey as a sweetener. It is a very pure sugar which is quickly metabolised. Maple syrup is even purer.

Decide how much you want to lose and then break it down into manageable amounts. Aiming to lose two stone in 3 months is a massive pressure. Aiming to lose half a stone over a month is more achievable, you can even break it down to 1-2lbs a week. Achieving goals in the short term keeps your spirits high and keeps the inpetus going.

Do look a the calorie content of things. Ordinary Rich tea bicuits have 34 calories per biscuit. Rich tea lights have 36 calories per biscuit!!!!!!!!

A shop bought chicken salad sandwich had about 500 calories,the low cal version contains only about 300.

If you like crisps as a snack, stick to Qauvers, Wotsits, Squares, French fries and Hula Hoops. They have abour 120 calories a bag. The average bag of Walkers (including the light version) have about 180 calories.

[swan]

See your dietary needs as looking after yourself rather than denying yourself comfort. Addy's right, we crave what we're not allowed.

Cut out wheat and the weight will drop off, don't eat any processed foods they're full of sugar, stick to fresh food that you prepare even if it's the day before.

A supplement you may want to research is Chromium.

I know people who swear by food combining, eating certain foods together to maximise their nutritional potential, so maybe worth reading up on. I've found I do some of it already.

[belinda]

.
In no particular order:

Get a friend to weigh you once a week at the same time of day. Never go anywhere near the scales on your own at any other time. Don't worry about what you weigh - just look at how much you lose each week.

Use a size smaller dinner plate. Use strong-coloured blue crockery, blue being an appetite depressant.

Always set a place at the table and eat there, never eat off your lap (or even off a plate on a tray on your lap ) and turn off the TV and radio, put aside the book or magazine or newspaper. Concentrate solely on your food. Put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls and never carry on eating "just to clear the plate" when you are no longer hungry.

Make sure you have 3/4 pint skimmed milk / 1/2 pint semi-skimmed milk / 1/4 pint full cream milk a day - and no more. Substitute an equal quantity of yoghurt if you like.

Divide your plate into thirds - one for the meat, one for the veg, one for the starch. No portion should be "taller" on the plate than the others.

Avod the 3 Ps - peas, potatoes, parsnips - unless you are eating vegetarian-only.

If you drink alcohol, no more than twice a week and drink single-measure spirits with a low-cal mixer, and make them last at least as long as a mate takes to down a pint.

If you really can't face "proper" exercise, increase your energy consumption by stepping everything up one level: Don't lie if you can sit, don't sit if you can stand, don't stand if you can walk, don't walk if you can run (or power-walk). If taking several things from one room to the other, take each thing individually so you make lots of short journeys instead of just one.

Never let anyone tell you you cannot eat anything "because you are on a diet". You are eating what you want to eat - and if that is mainly healthy food and an adjusted diet, all power to you - but it is your choice so having a small piece of cake is really nothing whatsoever to do with your mate and all part of your choice.

Grill meat rather than fry so the fat can drain away. Roast meat on a rack so it doesn't sit in the fat. If you can cook a stew the day before you are to eat it, store it in the fridge overnight and then scrape off any fat on the top before reheating.

Remember - willpower is really just another muscle - the more you use it the stronger it becomes.

i used to have dozens of these... hope these few help, anyway.

.

[Jo van]

What's wrong with peas....?

I am stunned.........

And if you're "dieting", you have to buy three different sorts of milk....?

Surely all you need to do is know when you've had enough food?
We could all eat a bit more, but if you're trying to lose weight you need to eat less than you burn for a while,
and if you feel "hungry", that's what you want isn't it?
It's a bit like exercising, if it's hurting, it's working.... (and I don't mean injuries!)
But a little bit of "delayed onset muscle soreness, is a sign that you "hit the spot".

I'm not trying to trivialise it, I know it's not easy, it usually takes longer to take off, than it took to put on, and it's a whole lot less "pleasurable" too!
My tips would be:
Don't buy biscuits, don't buy cakes, don't buy chocolates, don't buy cheesecake, don't buy pizza, don't buy rhubarb crumble and cream, don't buy anything that will make you 4 stone too heavy if you keep eating it.
Just don't buy it, then you can't eat it!
Don't snack, and if you're bored, and fancy some chocolate hobnobs, go for a brisk walk instead!
And then congratulate yourself for not listening to your greedy stomach!
Oh! And the odd glass of water will make you feel "fuller"

[belinda]

What's wrong with peas....?

Packed full of sugar. Shock news - that's why they are sweet!

And if you're "dieting", you have to buy three different sorts of milk....?

Nah, silly boy! One only, just different amounts of each sort you can drink.

Surely all you need to do is know when you've had enough food?
We could all eat a bit more, but if you're trying to lose weight you need to eat less than you burn for a while,
and if you feel "hungry", that's what you want isn't it?

No! NO! NO! Well, yes, OK, eat less than you burn.

BUT

If you feel hungry your body thinks a famine has occurred; very old-fashioned, your body. So it shuts down everything it can to hold on to its reserves of food - glycogen and fat. Metabolism slows right down. Makes it actually harder to lose weight. And what do you do when you are hungry and have eaten your carefully measured meals? Find something else to eat, of course! Not helpful! The bestest way to lose weight would be to continually eat. It keeps the metabolism working hard. Just make sure the calories you take in are less than those you burn.

And a lot of people who gain weight don't have a proper "stop when you have had enough" mechanism. Especially if you eat quickly and / or eat food you don't have to chew a lot. It's mainly the chewing mechanism that tells the brain you are sated, surprisingly. There's a new device out that measures how quickly dis-ordered eaters, both anorexics and bulimics, are taking each mouthful. By telling them to slow down they actually regain control of that mechanism. That's why i said "concentrate solely on the food" when eating.

[Edit] Don't snack,

See above. Snack on the right things to keep the metabolism roaring away like a good ole furnace and the weight will come off quicker.

Mind you, i must admit to two things. i used to do this sort of stuff for pin money for a well-known slimming organisation. That's the easy one. The harder one to admit is that i know what to do, i just seem to have never got around to doing it again. Earlier today i did go and buy the makings to start again tomorrow, perhaps having been open in a forum about it i might manage it this time!

.

[Addy01]

Jo, as we get older our metabolism slows down and therefore we tend to put on weight (middle aged spread?).

This can be very hard when like me you have never dieted, always eaten relatively sensibly and all of a sudden the weight startsgoing on.

Don't buy cakes, chocolate, etc? Ok-but I never have. I'm not a big chocolate fan (yes I am female, I'm just not a choccy scoffer LOL!). I don't have cakes etc in my cupboards, have always preferred fruit etc. I don't like choccy biscuits and never have a desert apart from on a Sunday. Not because I am denying myself, but because I'm not bothered about them.

So in the last few years when I have put on a few extra pounds, I notice it, but how do I change what was an already relatively healthy diet?

As you said water is a great one. I said in my first post how I swapped my fizzy lunch time drink for water? I can't bear fizzy drinks now, apart from when I have them as a mixer and I don't drink spirits that often.

I do think it's a conspiracy that just at the point where your joints start aching and paining , your metabolism slows down though

[Pauline]

Diet alone won't work as well without exercise. That's just my view. Exercise keeps you motivated to eat less junk. It will tone you giving the impression that you look slimmer even if you put weight on due to building muscle.

[Jo van]

Diet alone won't work as well without exercise. That's just my view. Exercise keeps you motivated to eat less junk. It will tone you giving the impression that you look slimmer even if you put weight on due to building muscle.

I agree, the main reason people get fatter as they age, is that they are less active, but eat the same as they did, you either need to do more, or eat less, or both ideally!


Sorry to hear about your mum's cat P.

[Pauline]

Diet alone won't work as well without exercise. That's just my view. Exercise keeps you motivated to eat less junk. It will tone you giving the impression that you look slimmer even if you put weight on due to building muscle.

I agree, the main reason people get fatter as they age, is that they are less active, but eat the same as they did, you either need to do more, or eat less, or both ideally!


Sorry to hear about your mum's cat P.

Thanks.

I've seen so many people over the years lose loads of weight, put it all back and more. People really do need to think about upping their exercise routine as well if they want to stay in shape.