Please Help

LCFin.yay

Over the past year I've noticed changes in my weight and overall look of my body
I'm just about to start doing my Leaving Cert, though I have to admit I'm not that stressed about it anymore. I haven't been strict about diet at all over the past year putting majority of my attention to study.
It has really started to bother me recently. Over the past month I've been walking nearly everyday (apart from the odd rainy day) around about two miles. I live on a lovely steep hill.
I've noticed no results. I'm completely new to actually watching my weight as it hasn't ever been an issue before.
I had a flat stomach last semptember but this is no longer the case.

I'm 18/female/size 8/have a min of 2L of water a day/never drink/don't smoke

I love chocolate but have tried cutting down. I think my diet is fairly healthy. I always have the "5 a day" fruit/veg...

Could someone please give me some tips into getting back to the space I was in september...

EileenG

Diet is nearly always the first place to look. Most people, and especially women, have taken the Low Fat message too literally, and as a result, eat a diet that has way too many refined carbs.

Base your diet on fresh fish, meat, eggs, lots of green vegetables, some fruit, some wholegrain, nuts and seeds, some dairy (full fat is fine!). Avoid all forms of transfats, sugar and white flour. Limit anything processed or with refined carbs.

Start with your breakfast. Ban all box breakfast cereals and bread/toast. Instead, go with porridge or eggs. Something like a mushroom omlette makes a great start to the day.

If you are carrying your lunch, then something like a tuna or salmon salad (you can use tinned fish and a big bag of washed salad) is a good lunch. Anywhere you presently eat a sandwich, you can eat the same filling but with a big salad instead.

At dinner, keep your meat/fish/chicken but reduce the amount of potatoes or rice, and eat lots more vegetables instead.

Things like nuts or seeds (raw and unsalted is best) or a piece of cheese, or a tub of cottage cheese, or an apple or two make good snacks. Ryvita is better than most bread.

Eat your fruit whole, not juiced or smoothies.

Real wholegrains are things like porridge oats, barley, millet, etc, not Cherrios or bran flakes, and not most types of brown bread.

LCFin.yay

Am, there's bad types of brown bread?

EileenG

Definitely. Brown pan bread is just refined white flour with a sprinkle of added wholemeal. Things like brown pitta or tortilla wraps are almost identical nutritionally to white ones.

A better choice is something like McCambridges, but even that has a serious amount of calories (around 80 per slice) for the amount of nutrition in it. 80 calories worth of broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, green beans, fennel, etc provide a huge amount of food, far more fibre and lots of micro-nutrients.

Not saying to avoid bread entirely, but keep it for when you will be burning off the energy in it soon after.

LCFin.yay

I have followed the advice so far but I'm still quite bloated around the tummy, I know it hasn't been that long lol, but could I be doing something wrong?
Anything that stops bloating maybe?

EileenG

Post what you are eating, with quantities if possible. We'll see if anything jumps out.

RacoonQueen

You're a size 8 and you're worried about your weight/size?

LCFin.yay

For breakfast I always have oats porridge with whole milk and honey. Lunch/dinner (usually about 1 because dad likes a meal during the day not the evening) is whatever my parents make. I think they're fairly healthy. turkey and ham with potatoes and veg... or other kind of meat with potatoes and veg... and we'd usually have some sort of fruit after dinner with coffee or tea... and for tea I'd usually make a toasted sandwich or have whatever is leftover in the fridge.
I've cut down on snacking on chocolate or sweets between meals, hardly have that much anymore.




I'm not trying to loose weight, I just want my flat stomach back

aye

are you still walking up the steep hill?

might be time to up the intensity and jog up it.

if you went running and did some interval training, you'd prob notice a difference soon enough.

do you use a gym at all?

mack1

EileenG wrote: »

Real wholegrains are things like porridge oats, barley, millet, etc, not Cherrios or bran flakes, and not most types of brown bread.

EileenG wrote:

Post what you are eating, with quantities if possible. We'll see if anything jumps out.

LCFin.yay wrote:

and for tea I'd usually make a toasted sandwich or have whatever is leftover in the fridge.

1. Bread in the evening, unless you are doing exercise afterwards, you don;t need the carbs.
2. what is left over in the fridge? If roast/grilled chicken/turkey/fish then good!

Dinner in the middle of the day is fine, actually probably better than in the evening because you have the rest of the day to use up the energy from your mail meal. But watch your portions, sometimes people who prefer to eat a main meal in the middle of the day have livestyles that allow them use up plenty of calories etc and hence tend to have big portions.

AS per Eileens advice, but switch lunch & dinner - so have that salad with chicken or tuna in the evening instead of the toasted sandwich.

Also - try eating smaller portions more often, you are only eating 3 times a day you are going to be bloated after a big meal - try have 4 or 5 smaller meals.