a few dietary questions

jobless

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone could help me out with a few questions i have.
I've started going to the gym but i know that only going to gym isnt good enough if i want to see results....my diet needs to be good also.
I think i eat reasonably well but have a few questions regarding what i do eat...
1. Spuds - i usually have spuds three of four times a week (usually 3-4 spuds per sitting)....should i cut down on spuds if i want to lose weight?....i always feel very full after eating them.
2. I eat spagetti bolognese once or twice a week also.....is this a no no if i'm trying to achieve weightloss?....

to be honest i'm clueless about what meals are good and what are bad (pile on the weight) so any info would be appreciated....
also if anyone could share their preferences for healthy meals or even post links that could give me an idea or what i could make i would be thankful

thanks

Dragan

Hey there,

i suggest you give us your age, weight, height, rough BF% if you know or can judge it and also what your mains goals are?

jobless

Dragan wrote:

Hey there,

i suggest you give us your age, weight, height, rough BF% if you know or can judge it and also what your mains goals are?

Yeah no probs...
Age:28
Weight: 17 stone
Height:6' 4"

well i would like to lose a bit of weight and get fit......but i'd like to learn more about whats good to eat for your main meal of the day and what to avoid so i can keep my weight down at times when i'm not training

HammerHeadGym

Hey jobless,
i recommend the zone diet or the paleo diet. Just google either one.

hope this helps.

jobless

cheers...will have a look

bruce.cavallari

Try and stay away from white bread, pasta and cheese! (Well all wheat Breads really) It really piles on the weight! Do your best to avoid!

Also if you could get 30mins walking in a day, that would really help the weightloss.


http://naturalweightloss.anosen.com

CarPark

I'm no expert on this, but i can tell you what worked for me. I basically cut all biscuits, cakes, chocolate, ice-cream, crisps etc. out of my diet. People put huge effort into complicated diets, when often really ssimple things will yield huge results.

step one
keep a food diary for a week.

Step two
Cut out all the junk, as listed above. Consider cutting out drink. Chips are an absolute no-no, ever.

These two steps will make a lot of progress and they are very simple.

Step three
Look at your remaining food intake. How much is highly processed food. e.g., white bread, ready meals, sauces from a jar, chicken kievs etc. Try to cut them out, get back to basics. Look at your meals, the food you use to prepare it should be as close to the source as possible. For example, with your spag-bol. Use wholemeal pasta, not white. Instead of a Ragu or Dolmio, use a can of tomatoes, a can of tomato puree, a spoon of pesto, garlic, and loads of veg (peppers, mushrooms, onions etc).

In sandwiches, always use brown wholegrain bread. The effect of getting back to the source is that you will have more fibre (make you feel full, with less calories), and less fat.

Step four
Look at the fat content of your diet. milk is naturally low in fat, but if you consume a lot, would you consider skim milk? Start looking at the labels on your food, notice what is high in fat, and use it sparingly.

Look at the sugar content of food. Coke may have very little fat, but its loaded with sugar. Sugar will give you a quick burst of energy, but it will be quickly stored and you will quickly end up with stored energy (eventually turning to fat) and hunger pangs.

Make sure you get loads of fibre. Two main sources,
a) wholegrain and wholemeal foods, e.g., certain breakfast cereals, brown wholegrain bread, brown pasta
b) Fruit and veg. Eat loads of these.
Fibre will make you feel fuller, for longer, with less calories.

---

Additional tips
a) Always eat breakfast, it will stop you reaching for donuts at 11. Its really important, look at porridge, sugar free muesli, etc.
b) This may or may not apply to you, but some people use food as a crutch, i.e., comfort eating. If you do this, consider what makes you reach for the biscuits, and try to find another way to deal with it.
c) Don't expect really quick results. You won't have a 32" waist for christmas. But if you stick with it, you might have it for next christmas!
d) Stay motivated.
e) continue to exercise.
f) don't try any quick fix diets, you will be back to your old habits within two months, and by next christmas your waist will be even bigger.
g) as you change your diet, people may react strangely. Irish mothers tend to love to feed up their sons. People will keep offering you biscuits and cake and may even push this on you. People do not like change, and may not always encourage you. Use this to motivate yourself.


Most importantly:
Take the steps one by one. Don't try to do evrything at once. When you make progress on one step you will feel encouraged to move to the next step.

Best of luck.

CarPark

To answer your questions:
Spuds have a high glycemic index, meaning that they are converted into sugar more quickly than alternatives. Thus, if you have dinner at 6, youmight end up hungry again by 9, and end up eating biscuits to fill the gap. In this respect, wholemeal pasta or basmatti rice might be a better option. But once or twice a week, you should definitely have spuds, as you don't want your diet to be all wheat (pasta, bread etc.). But in terms of weight loss look at the biggies, before you deal with the smallies like spuds, i.e, as an offender, spuds might score a 1, whereas 6 pints and a bag of chips on a saturday would score 250!

If you make spag bol like a mentioned above it is IMO a very healthy dinner.

As for other healthy meals, look at fish, and lean meat (all fat trimmed off). Get a good balance (fish, red meat, chicken etc). Always have a) meat/fish/chicken, b)loads of veg and c) some carb (pasta, rice, spuds).

BTW, i don't mean to make any assumptions about your diet. I'm not trying to gratuitously insult you, i'm just presuming based on your weight, that your diet can't be great. In ireland drink, chips and biscuits tend to be the most common baddies.