[mr__j5]

I would suggest that missing meals provides a similar problem to eating lots of sugary carbs.

Careful eaters can probably do either of these things and still only eat the required amount of calories in a day. However, for many people trying to manage their weight, they are in the situation due to eating by instinct. So if they feel hungry, then they will eat more.

Sugary carbs, don't fill you up, so you stuff more food in that isn't required.
Fasting and therefore feeling ravenous at the next meal, can mean that you still feel hungry after your meal and so you go looking for more. Even though, if you waited a while longer, your body should catch up and realise that you aren't hungry anymore.

[Fultonius]

Small bowl of muesli with yoghurt (not low fat) is the best breakfast I know of for keeping you full without having to consume too many calories. (or porridge if you like that manky greul...)

I don't think there is a magic bullet and everyone reacts differently. I'm now partially vegetarian because I do all the cooking, my lass is a veggie and I can't be bothered to make 2 meals. This probably won't help you.

Anyway, what I have found is that the only way of having a sustainably lower calorie diet is by making it appealing. I know some people can shove protein shakes down their throats 3 times a day but I find them rank, so can't do it. I'm also a bit lactose intolerant so milk based shakes are a bit of a no-no anyway.

Our diet is relatively high in fat (plenty cheese, eggs, olive oil on salads etc.) but we eat a lot of vegetables. I mean, A LOT. so it always feels like you're stuffing your face.

If you're going to be sticking to the meats, just cut down the volume of the meal in general. Be strict with portions when preparing the meal and you will be less tempted to "have another spoonful". It'll take a while for you to adjust to the new volume of food. Make sure the space in your plate is filled with green beans, carrots, etc.

Pizza is fairly bad (simple carbs from the bread, not much veg, usually lots of cheap processed cheese) but if you only have say 1/3 and have it with salad it's not so bad.

When I say salad, don't think I mean a bit of lettuce and tomato - most of our salads involve no lettuce, but have potatoes, lentils, beans, eggs, spinach etc. etc. I like nice food so I put in a fair bit of effort to make sure it's tasty and has enough protein. 


Basically, try not to think of it as a "diet" but a subtle modification of the way you view food in general. Good luck!

[Falling Down]

Some simple stuff:

- If it wasn't food 100 years ago don't eat it.
- If it didn't have a face or grow in the ground don't eat it.
- Don't buy anything frozen in a box or a bag
- Get a third of your calories from fat, protein and carbs respectively.
- Drink a lot less or not at all.
- Reduce your portion sizes and don't eat until full
- lift something heavy a couple of times a week as well as the aerobic stuff

It'll drop off....

[galpinos]

Your Facebook photo certainly proved it works for you FD........

[Fultonius]

Some simple stuff:

- Don't buy anything frozen in a box or a bag

  Can you be more specific? We eat frozen peas and spinach quite a lot as it's cheaper, more convenient, and I thought reasonably nutritious...

[Falling Down]

Your Facebook photo certainly proved it works for you FD........

I didn't say I was following it..  Trust me it does work though for us not blessed with a skinny frame.  Mines starting today....

Fultonious, frozen veg is great.  I meant any ready meals or pizzas, lasagnes, nuggets, fishy fillets etc.

[nai]

So I've always been known for being an underachieving fat nature helm and every year I work hard at losing weight before Font and put it all back on over the course of a summer's fishing!

so stop messing about sitting on a box wrestling a pole all day, get yerself some Carp gear and do star jumps and pressups til you hear the buzzer sound. Simple innit 

[gme]

Not a big dieter but did start to watch my weight last year when i got properly back into my climbing and shed 9 lbs by just eating less and starting biking (pretty much the first aerobic exercise i have done since school). Its pretty simple just consume less calories than you use, ideally from healthy stuff but the calories are the important bit.

First thing i did was record what i ate on an app, (i used myfitnesspal) bit of a pain recording it but not too bad. It scares the shit out of you when you see how much you eat. All the little bits add up to a lot, Latte here, flapjack there, quick pint after the wall, glass of wine before bed.

Makes eating a bit of a guilty pleasure but i fond this went away after my second pint, allowing for the Kebab to be eaten guilt free after the pub.

The app also showed up that, despite eating relatively well, i had some massive vitamin gaps. I have therefore asked the broadfield to rectify this in there "wellman" pie.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Some good stuff here already, some of which I haven't read thoroughly so apols for repeats. Loosing weight is not rocket science, burn more cals than your consuming and you'll lose weight, I know it's made a little bit more complex by your metabolism and some of us are lucky enough to have reasonably high RMR's (resting metabolic rates) so burn off more cals whilst sitting still. So the first thing to do is exercise more and you sound like you are doing this.

The whole missing meals thing is a bit of a red herring, the theory is you starve yourself and your body goes into 'famine' mode and starts storing fat for energy. Where this is a big deal is with pregnant women starving themselves, the baby is much likely to become obese as it thinks it's being born into a famine. Sorry but it's a bit late if this has already happened to you. I think the bigger risk of skipping meals as an adult is you are much more likely to snack on shite.

I don't eat too much crap but do like my food. Last year I wanted to drop a few kgs so cut out crisps, most cakes etc, big sarnies for weekday lunches. I just had a can of soup for lunch, maybe a roll and that was enough to slowly drop a bit over a couple of months.

People seem to be down on bananas and other fruit, personally I think you'd be sick before you ate too much fruit. Yes they contain some natural sugar but it's a world apart from the processed shit in biscuits, coke etc. How many obese monkeys or fruit bats do you see?    If you want a snack between meals fruit is probably the best thing you can have.

[Sasquatch]

Questions -

1. Am I eating too much/not enough fruit - aware that there is a lot of sugar etc.
2. Should I bite the bullet and cook one meal for me and one for the rest of the family?
3. Will the feeling of being hungry all the time fade?

Many thanks!

1) Variety is important, as is enjoying food.  If you want a bit more fruit, then eat more fruit.  If you're happy with your current, then great.
2) No
3) Maybe, and this is one of the hardest ones to deal with. 

From about 1999-2009 I fluctuated from about 85-90kgs every year.  from 2005-2009 I got into major endurance stuff including marathons, 200mi bike races, and an ironman.  Even with doing 20+ hrs a week of cardio my weight was still around 83-85kgs when I did the ironman.  Over the last 4 years, I've managed to slowly drop my weight to around 76-80kgs. My goal is to get it down to 72-76kgs in the next 4 years.   You can diet and drop the weight, but your body will want it back, and as soon as you relax it comes right back.  People talk about the need for lifestyle changes to really keep the weight off. 

Not picking on you GME, but in my opinion and experience

Its pretty simple just consume less calories than you use, ideally from healthy stuff but the calories are the important bit.

is mostly a load of crap when it comes to application.  While it is true in fact, the problem with it is that what you eat/when you eat/exercise/sleep/stress/etc affect how many calories you use. So if you have a perfectly steady life then great, I'd guess you don't as most of us don't.

The question is how bad do you want to lose the weight?  Slow and steady is really the right way, but you have to really take the long view.

To also give credit to GME,

First thing i did was record what i ate on an app, (i used myfitnesspal) bit of a pain recording it but not too bad. It scares the shit out of you when you see how much you eat. All the little bits add up to a lot, Latte here, flapjack there, quick pint after the wall, glass of wine before bed.

Makes eating a bit of a guilty pleasure but i fond this went away after my second pint, allowing for the Kebab to be eaten guilt free after the pub.

The app also showed up that, despite eating relatively well, i had some massive vitamin gaps. I have therefore asked the broadfield to rectify this in there "wellman" pie.

is perhaps the best bit of advice on the whole thread as well. 

Back to the 3rd question you asked above.  At first I was hungry all the time as my body adapted to not eating all the time, but that went away after a few weeks of consistency.  The key is not to binge and to sleep well.  There are days when I'm hungry no matter what, and 9 out of 10 times now its related to my sleep and stress patterns. 

Good Luck!

[cheque]

If it wasn't food 100 years ago don't eat it.

I apply a similar approach to choosing trad routes.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Got home and checked my FACTS with Mrs Obi who knows her sh1t when it's comes to this (it's her job)..many interesting things, I might ask her to do a summary on it. Meanwhile some of the stuff I remember...

- Always eat breakfast when you wake up, it's what kickstarts your metabolism into 'awake' mode. Without it you'll be in 'asleep' mode, ie. burning fuck all cals til lunch
- Ignore what I said previously, your metabolism is constantly changing, so if you fast for as little as 4hrs it will kick into famine mode and start storing energy so DON'T SKIP MEALS!
- Porridge is about the best breakfast you can have. You need low glycemic food to slowly release energy. Protein is also good for this (as someone above mentioned)
- Most faddy diets do worse than fuck all, some can be highly damaging. Things like the 5:2 diet sucks donkeys (not her words)
- Banana FACT: As they ripen their sugar content massively increases, so stick to fresh ones! They are HIGHLY good for you.
- Significant weight lose or gain within the first few days of a diet/binge is invariably water storage/dissipation.

[mrjonathanr]

protein shakes give a really good satiety: calorie ratio.

You probably don't need more protein, but you probably like feeling full on 200ish calories. As evening snack works well.

Buy Racing Weight QS

[Luke Owens]

Really useful stuff here guys thanks. I particluarly value other people's experiences.

Luke, what shakes do you use/where do you get them from?

Probably being a tad lazy here...

I've sent you a PM with all the details bud.

[Whyatt]

Bit off topic but what weight would you say for a 6ft 2 fella? think I am 11half-12 stone

[SA Chris]

I would say "you scrawny bastard"

I'm the same height and currently 14 st.

[SA Chris]

- lift something heavy a couple of times a week

Does lifting my ass of the couch to go get another beer count?

[Fadanoid]

Small bowl of muesli with yoghurt (not low fat)

Why not low fat yoghurt?

Its what I try and have with muesli most days.

[tomtom]

I'l late to this thread - and skimmed it - so forgive me if this has already been said.. or is not relevant etc.. My tips - which I'm not following at the moment :/ but probably will!

Reduce portions - we get used to 'eating until we are full' - well you don't have to. Put 75% of what you'd normally have on a plate and finish that off instead of eating until you are about to burst..

RE family meals - I understand you're making a meal for everyone - but you could always whop a veg-burger under the grill for yourself instead of a slice of pie (for example)?

Booze.. one pint = 300 calories - ie the amount you're trying to shave off your daily total....

Calorie tracker apps/programs. I had one of these on my ifern a few years ago - and you enter in your meal every mealtime and it tracks how many calories you've eaten - and also sutracts those burnt during exercise... seemed to work for me.. I went for 2-2.2K calories a day intake and lost weight over a 6 week period (then all was good so I stopped). At the least it gives you an idea of how much you're intaking each time...

Buy a leather jacket and move to London (thats for FD )

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Small bowl of muesli with yoghurt (not low fat)

Why not low fat yoghurt?

Its what I try and have with muesli most days.

In most instances Low Fat = High Sugar. Modern thinking points towards sugar actually being worse for weight gain than fat. Your body needs fat it doesn't need sugar. [caution probable over simplification]

[fatneck]

Loads of good stuff here chaps, many thanks and keep it coming!

Just for added info, I'm training 3 x a week (fingerboard - CWP hangs, press ups, pull ups, core etc) and climbing indoors 3 x a week at the moment but no cardio (I hate it but appreciate I might have to start doing some).

I'm also off all alcohol (apart from my birthday at the end of Jan when I will be partaking in a particularly fine bottle of vin rouge I've got saved...), we really only eat pizza every couple of weeks and yes, I will be abstaining from that particular meal.

FWIW I'm now below 90kg so heading in the right direction! Will keep updating the weight as a nice excercise in catharsis...

Really appreciate all the input guys, thanks 

[fried]

I lost 8kg back in the early 2000s. What I found really motivating was keeping excel sheets of my weight loss. This was back pre-app days. Just seeing the graph heading downwards was enough to keep up the suffering!

[slackline]

I lost 8kg back in the early 2000s. What I found really motivating was keeping excel sheets of my weight loss. This was back pre-app days. Just seeing the graph heading downwards was enough to keep up the suffering!

Simple Weight Recorder

[Fadanoid]

In most instances Low Fat = High Sugar. Modern thinking points towards sugar actually being worse for weight gain than fat. Your body needs fat it doesn't need sugar. [caution probable over simplification]

From NHS eat smart website:
Nutrition labels often tell you how much sugar a food contains. You can compare labels and choose foods that are lower in sugar.

Look for the "Carbohydrates (of which sugars)" figure in the nutrition label.

•high – over 22.5g of total sugars per 100g
•low – 5g of total sugars or less per 100g
If the amount of sugars per 100g is between these figures, then that is a medium level of sugars.

The sugars figure in the nutrition label is the total amount of sugars in the food. It includes sugars from fruit and milk, as well as the sugars that have been added.

The total Yoghurt has 4g per 100g of sugar so I guess its not too bad.

[petejh]

Eat wholesome unprocessed food.
Take Niagen.
Take high strength EPA/DHA.
Regular moderate exercise.


#2cents