Following on from the "How to reach your ideal weight" post, I thought it would be a good idea to start two other threads, Diet Tips and Fitness Tips. So please feel free to post anything to do with diet / nutrition / any tip that works for you etc. etc. here.
When I get a minute, I'll go through the original post and pull out anything diet related.
Here's my first one:
If you are craving chocolate, buy yourself a bar of Lindt EXCELLENCE 99% CACAO.
The tiniest portion, (half a square) will more than deal with any craving and it is good for you too!
A selection of diet tips culled from the original thread for you to peruse....
I've been trying the Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, and it works for me (someone who can't stick to diets for love nor money). My OH even did a couple of fasting days over the Christmas and new year period, which is a minor miracle. We also lost weight using the Hairy Dieters book a couple of years ago. The recipes are fab - the chicken and ham tangle pie has become one of our regular meals, dieting or not.
I'd recommend the Dukan diet. It's amazingly effective and when I did it I went from 90kgs down to 75kgs in about five weeks. The weight just fell off and best of all it's actually quite an easy diet to follow as you get to eat a lot and the exercise is nothing more than regular walking. Don't bother paying for his website monitoring service, just buy the book and find some of the free forums with tips and recipes.
One more thing that worked with me - eating cycles - I do not have breakfast dinner or whatsoever, I try to eat smaller portions every two hours by keeping the same overall amount of eaten food for a day.
I used the Fitness Pal app - you type in what you have eaten (most things are listed - I didn't weigh stuff, and if the brand I ate wasn't listed, I just put in what I figured was closest..)You also list what excercise you have done ( i loved that cooking dinner was listed as cardio), even if it was just five minutes worth. At the end of each day, it tells you what you have eaten, and what you have burned - you set targets, depending on your goals - pretty good.
Eat less; exercise more.
I lost 10kg last year mostly from giving up bread, rice and pasta. I ate chick peas, pearl barley, haricot beans instead. I ate when ever I was hungry but filled up on big plates of salad (lots of lovely tastes and textures in there not just lettuce!). I made large amounts of fruit salad and kept it in the fridge for emergencies and I ate MUCH slower - really makes a difference.
The great thing about the Vishala restaurant was that everything was cooked in the open so I went looking and learning. They clearly soak lentils (they had the orange ones, but I prefer the 'green', dark brown ones) and throw them into a pot in which water is boiling. That was cooked for 5-6 minutes with only a very little salt added (I think they only put a level tablespoon in a large pot of around 20 litres). They put the dry fruit in a wok type of pan in a very little water to braise and sprinkle the spices on and stir in immediately. After about two minutes they take a large scoop of the cooking lentils into a larger 'wok' then tip in the fruit so that the proportion was 2/3 lentils, 1/3 fruit, mix in then cook until the lentils are ready. That is what I try to do as closely as possible. I love lentils anyway, with the little white beans it is interesting, but also with couscous, bulgur wheat or brown rice. It is the nutty tastes that go so well with the rich spiced fruit.
I will try it Brian. I put fruit in with rice and with couscous but have never tried lentils with fruit. I can't quite imagine it but I will give it a go. Any hints on prep?
I forgot one thing about my Indian tip. When cooking the fruit with the lentils (or beans) use dried fruit rather than fresh and add a few sharp spices.
Always have a couple of choices of healthy prepared food in the fridge which you can snack on if you are hungry between your meals. I love radishes which can be kept in a water-filled bowl so they are always crispy and fresh. A Tupperware-type container with cooked chicken or thinly sliced lean ham, or something similar to dip into without guilt. If things like this are not available then it's easy to reach for the biscuits, crisps, chocolate bar etc.
I know that slimmers are advised not to weigh themselves every day. It was when my bathroom scale broke and I was unable to weigh myself daily that I lost track and ended up at 22st 10.5lbs at my worst. I was 22st 7.5lbs when I had my mini gastric bypass in July 2011 and sixteen months after losing just over 11stone I have maintained that loss without dieting in any way - I eat whatever I want whenever I want - I feel very fortunate. I weigh myself every day - just to make sure that I am staying where I want to be although I really do nothing towards that in the way of reduced eating. www.minigastricbypass2011.blogspot.com.
I know having tried dieting and failed again and again and again that surgery was the only answer for me. I wish all of you going the slimming route very good luck.
I lost just over 2 stone (30 pounds to be exact). I lost it by cutting out anything white (bread, potatoes, rice, sugar, most alcohol, and eating more lean protein, nuts, cheese, veg, and fruit, working 1/2 hour each day with small weights, 1/2 hr of floor exercises, and walking about 1 hour each day, with my dog. I have added back bread, the occasional bit of chocolate,wine,rice and pasta in small amounts. Made it through Christmas without weight gain for two reasons: continued exercise and only eating when hungry and then using portion control. For me, all these elements must be present to lose and to keep it off. I think it will also work for most of you.
Eat 5 snacks a day - no large meals. Cutting down on the size of the normal 3 meals a day leads to a loss of energy between meals so eating 5 times a day prevents the temptation of a sugary food to get a sudden energy boost.
The snacks should be high in protein, low in sugar & carbs & fat. NEVER miss breakfast & don`t eat too close to bedtime.
Got sent this press release yesterday. Might be worth a nose inside the e-book?
**A new ebook offers "a simple and effective new approach to permanent weight loss without feeling hungry".
Excessive sugar consumption is the current diet hot topic. But why is it the problem and what is the solution? Rather than being a high protein diet, the Protein Intuition approach is to eat just the right amount of protein throughout the day. It may seem like a small and subtle difference, but many people fail on other 'healthy eating' diets because they eventually succumb to hunger. Adding a little more protein solves that problem.**
Oh sh*t, along with Bournville you have just mentioned my favourite chocolate which is on my no-no list still :-(
I have an Indian food one. I used watch Madhur Jaffrey's BBC programmes enthusiastically wishing to get away from what is served as Indian food in the UK. Whilst working in India I did some training in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The majority of people there are vegetarians. Anyway, one of the TV programmes had featured a 'restaurant' that was constructed like a traditional village called Vishala. Imagine my delight when the whole workshop was taken there for the group dinner. As the trainer I was at a top table! Anyway, we ate vegetarian food for several hours, dish after dish. One thing that stuck with me though was cooking lentils with fruit. I do it myself since, I also do it with beans. Fruit like plums, apricots, peaches, mangos and other soft fruit that cook well are great. The food fills, is protein and vitamin rich, extremely tasty and you do not put on a single gram. Sounds weird perhaps but give it a whirl and find out.