Advice on eating habits/exercise?

artvandalay

Hey,
I am looking for advice on my diet. I am a 29yo female (nearly 30 :eek:), 12.5 stone & 5ft6. My main aim currently is to lose weight, but I want to do this in a healthy manner. I want to change poor eating habits, incorporate more exercise etc.

I have a couple of questions -

• I drink alot of tea. I dont know anyone who drinks as much tea as I do. Are there detrimental effects?
• I also drink a fair amount of Diet Drinks with little calorie content. Should I cut these out?
• I eat 2 to 4 slices of brown bread per day. Should I cut out bread totally from a weight loss point of view, or just cut down.
• I eat out alot and I find it difficult to choose low calorie, healthy options. Is the salad always/usually the best option? Asking for the dressing on the side?
• I find that toast or cereal does not fill me for long in the mornings, so I am going to switch to porridge. However I only like porridge with skim milk and salt? I was thinking of alternating All Bran and Porridge every second day?
• Any thoughts on Spinning Classes as exercise (& walking)??

Any comments/advice is greatly appreciated. Apologies if some of the questions are fairly basic or have been covered before.

taram

artvandalay wrote: »

Hey,
I am looking for advice on my diet. I am a 29yo female (nearly 30 :eek:), 12.5 stone & 5ft6. My main aim currently is to lose weight, but I want to do this in a healthy manner. I want to change poor eating habits, incorporate more exercise etc.

I have a couple of questions -

• I drink alot of tea. I dont know anyone who drinks as much tea as I do. Are there detrimental effects?
• I also drink a fair amount of Diet Drinks with little calorie content. Should I cut these out?
• I eat 2 to 4 slices of brown bread per day. Should I cut out bread totally from a weight loss point of view, or just cut down.
• I eat out alot and I find it difficult to choose low calorie, healthy options. Is the salad always/usually the best option? Asking for the dressing on the side?
• I find that toast or cereal does not fill me for long in the mornings, so I am going to switch to porridge. However I only like porridge with skim milk and salt? I was thinking of alternating All Bran and Porridge every second day?
• Any thoughts on Spinning Classes as exercise (& walking)??

Any comments/advice is greatly appreciated. Apologies if some of the questions are fairly basic or have been covered before.

Only going to answer breakfast one because just going to sleep, sorry! Porridge with skim milk is a great breakfast, salt is okay if only having a tiny bit. All Bran is very high in sugar (19% sugar http://www.calorie-counter.net/calories-in-breakfast-cereal.htm) you'd be better with a cereal like shredded wheat which is all wheat and no additives, it's nice with some fruit or low fat yoghurt spooned over.

tscul32

would you consider joining weight watchers - would help point you in the right direction

artvandalay

I have done weight watchers before, however I am going to make an attempt to try to make changes and cut down myself first. If I find that its not working out or if Im lacking motivation, I may join at that point.

I know the points system generally, as in I realise that tea, diet coke etc have no points, however I am interested in possible reasons I should cut these out from an overall healthy lifestyle point of view.

I more or less know where I have to make changes, as in I realise I have to reduce the fat/bad carbs content of my diet to lose weight. No more takeaways/cut down on beer:(/no more chips at lunch/more fruit & veg

I suppose what I am trying to do is change habits with a view to sustaining the changes longterm.

Thanks for the replies..

ntlbell

artvandalay wrote: »

Hey,
I am looking for advice on my diet. I am a 29yo female (nearly 30 :eek:), 12.5 stone & 5ft6. My main aim currently is to lose weight, but I want to do this in a healthy manner. I want to change poor eating habits, incorporate more exercise etc.

I have a couple of questions -

• I drink alot of tea. I dont know anyone who drinks as much tea as I do. Are there detrimental effects?
• I also drink a fair amount of Diet Drinks with little calorie content. Should I cut these out?
• I eat 2 to 4 slices of brown bread per day. Should I cut out bread totally from a weight loss point of view, or just cut down.
• I eat out alot and I find it difficult to choose low calorie, healthy options. Is the salad always/usually the best option? Asking for the dressing on the side?
• I find that toast or cereal does not fill me for long in the mornings, so I am going to switch to porridge. However I only like porridge with skim milk and salt? I was thinking of alternating All Bran and Porridge every second day?
• Any thoughts on Spinning Classes as exercise (& walking)??

Any comments/advice is greatly appreciated. Apologies if some of the questions are fairly basic or have been covered before.

If you're putting milk and sugar in the tea maybe reduce the amount of cups you drink or cut out the milk/sugar maybe try a green tea?

diet drinks don't give you anything really and usually full of crap I'm sure the odd bottle is fine and up your intake of water instead.

up to 30 slices of bread a week sounds like a hell of a lot.

about just cutting down to 3-4 slices a week at the start and see how it goes?

I don't know where your eating out and how often is often, maybe keep an eye on the portion sizes chicken + veg+ fish options/ vegitarian options are often ok ask them what's in it, don't be afraid to question them.

have you tried vanilla whey with the porridge? honey? almonds? rasin's etc? some fruit?

keep trying things i'm sure you'll find many combo's you'll like.

any exercise is better than none.

everything in moderation including moderation