Losing Weight Advice - Exercise-Diet Combo

ShaShaBear

Just looking for any advice people might have on losing a steady amount of weight combining diet with exercise outside of the gym.

I'm not interested in Slimming World/Weight-Watchers etc (they don't motivate me and my palette doesn't agree with their diet plans ).
I don't like the gym atmosphere, I don't mind working out at home or walking (running is very difficult but I'll do it).

I'm really looking for advice on how often I should eat, what I should include, what I should leave out and especially what will give me the energy to get out and about. I will quite happily walk until I am blue in the face, so I'm wondering how much exercise I should plan to get in a day for it to be having any effect. Not really looking to tone up, just trim the fat.

I'm 5"5 and just over 12 1/2 stone.
My diet until now has been entirely stingy-student style :rolleyes:
I'm not a massive meat lover, certain meats cooked certain ways, breakfast is always my largest meal, I love fruit but am not too keen on most vegetables.
And I have 32 massive sweet teeth

Stench Blossoms

Have you read the stickies?

There's some good tips in there for what you should eat.

azzeretti

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Just looking for any advice people might have on losing a steady amount of weight combining diet with exercise outside of the gym.

I'm not interested in Slimming World/Weight-Watchers etc (they don't motivate me and my palette doesn't agree with their diet plans ).
I don't like the gym atmosphere, I don't mind working out at home or walking (running is very difficult but I'll do it).

I'm really looking for advice on how often I should eat, what I should include, what I should leave out and especially what will give me the energy to get out and about. I will quite happily walk until I am blue in the face, so I'm wondering how much exercise I should plan to get in a day for it to be having any effect. Not really looking to tone up, just trim the fat.

I'm 5"5 and just over 12 1/2 stone.
My diet until now has been entirely stingy-student style :rolleyes:
I'm not a massive meat lover, certain meats cooked certain ways, breakfast is always my largest meal, I love fruit but am not too keen on most vegetables.
And I have 32 massive sweet teeth

Personally, I think you (everyone) should be eating every 3 hours (4 at a max). This helps in more ways than one but specifically it will stop you from getting too hungry. This depends on the type of food you eat too (high sugar foods increase insulin levels quickly and once they balance you will be hungrier and tried). I would try to always get some protein, carbs and fat in every meal (you would have to decide which foods you like best here). The protein (IMO) is the most important as it helps maintain your lean muscle (which has a big affect on your resting metabolic rate, which in turn is good for fat loss!). However, almost as important is the carbs (without carbs protein has a difficult time getting to your muscle) and particularly the type of carbs. You should be trying to avoid anything high in sugar and simple carbs and focus on complex carbs (veg, oats, wholemeal bread, brown rice/pasta - endless list) these will keep you full longer and stop your insulin levels spiking which causes tiredness and hunger later on. Fitday is a great site to help track what you eat and this way you can record foods you like and use them more often.

For example, here is how I eat typically, this provides about 2000-2200 cals per day (which is what I need to maintain my muscle mass at the moment):

Breakfast (7:30):
40g oats + flaxseed oil
200ml Skimmed Milk
120g chicken breast
50g cottage cheese

Snack 10:30:
1 x wholemeal pita bread
113g tuna
15g light mayo
1 cherry tomato

lunch 13:30
60g brown rice
113g tuna
homemade tomato sauce

snack 16:30
4-5 egg white scrambled
40g oats
protein shake

Dinner 19:30
120g chicken
100g sweet potatoe
green beans

Snakc 22:30
2 oat cakes
3-4 egg whites
flax and supplements

Regarding exercise, just get active. If you like walking - go walking. Swim, cycle - there is loads to do to get active. I would always recommend weight training as part of any weight loss program (you will not bulk up and get big from simple weight training and it really helps fat loss) but I can understand if this is difficult.

The mechanics of losing weight is very basic - calories in must be lest than calories out. With this in mind you need to try and see what you are eating at the moment over a few days - log everything. Then try and reduce this amount with the next week (again, logging everything) and see how your weight goes - increase/decrease as desired until you are hitting about 1-2lb per week.

Good luck - in a few weeks you WILL feel better!

Orla K

azzeretti wrote: »

For example, here is how I eat typically, this provides about 2000-2200 cals per day (which is what I need to maintain my muscle mass at the moment):

Breakfast (7:30):
40g oats + flaxseed oil
200ml Skimmed Milk
120g chicken breast
50g cottage cheese

Snack 10:30:
1 x wholemeal pita bread
113g tuna
15g light mayo
1 cherry tomato

lunch 13:30
60g brown rice
113g tuna
homemade tomato sauce

snack 16:30
4-5 egg white scrambled
40g oats
protein shake

Dinner 19:30
120g chicken
100g sweet potatoe
green beans

Snakc 22:30
2 oat cakes
3-4 egg whites
flax and supplements


Good luck - in a few weeks you WILL feel better!

That diet looks crap and boring! Where are the vegtables? Why starchy carbs with every meal? Why cut out the healthiest bit of the egg? Why avoid fat? You don't need to eat so many meals either, you could try intermittent fasting. What is the protein/fat/carb grms/ratio for this?

azzeretti

Orla K wrote: »

That diet looks crap and boring! Where are the vegtables?

tomatoes, sweet potatoe, green beans, home sauce (garlic, onions, mushrooms, celery, peppers)

Why starchy carbs with every meal?

There are fiborus carbs there, if you look!

Why cut out the healthiest bit of the egg?

eh, I don't, this is a typical menu. If I eat 10 eggs a day I don't want 10 egg yolks - the odd ommellte I will leave in a couple of yolks. Best part of the egg :eek:?

you could try intermittent fasting

Yes, that is just what my metabolism needs - starvation.

Why avoid fat?

And I'm avoiding fat on a 40-40-20 split, how exactly? Chicken breast, FLAXseed oil, cottage cheese, mayo, fish oil supplements!? Are you even reading this!?

You don't need to eat so many meals either, you could
try intermittent fasting. What is the protein/fat/carb grms/ratio for this?

Well, then, I guess the last 4 years training and seeing excellent results and great overall fitness (cardiovascular, muscular, skin, hair) improvements is fluke.

Silly me, I will retreat from this forum and never give an opinion again.

EDIT: Added intake break down graph, slight protein heavy for that day, overall not bad - There's the fat by the way.

Gracie_S203

I have to admit weight watchers does work..but it does get boring..I quit after xmas and started doing it on my own with a friend and have lose almost 2 stone ...I , much like you hate the gym.I used to like it mainly cuz the trainer was nice (and good looking) but he left...I find classes are great if you don't like the gym atmosphere.You get a personal trainer and a group setting which I find motivates me more! I do circuit classes which are great for fat burning, also my friend swears by kettlebells for weight loss and toning!

With diet...you should try to eat not as much carbs! I've cut down but not cut out my carbs..not eating much pasta and potatoes..have about 2 slices of bread a day with porridge in the morning. Also salads and stir frys and omlettes are great! I try to stay away from canned sauces so make my own (ww inspired) sweet and sour sauce to add a little flavour to stir fries (2tblsp sweet chilli sauce and 1tbsp soy sauce)..

hope this helps

azzeretti

Gracie_S203 wrote: »

I try to stay away from canned sauces so make my own (ww inspired) sweet and sour sauce to add a little flavour to stir fries (2tblsp sweet chilli sauce and 1tbsp soy sauce)..

This too ^^^.

I make a large amount (enough for a week) of sauce on Sunday evenings. I use only fresh veg and flavours and it taste better than most things you'd buy, minus the hidden sugar. The kids eat it now too and love it. The great thing is you can throw anything in there.

Orla K

azzeretti wrote: »

tomatoes, sweet potatoe, green beans....
There are fiborus carbs there, if you look!
eh, I don't, this is a typical menu. If I eat 10 eggs a day I don't want 10 egg yolks - the odd ommellte I will leave in a couple of yolks. Best part of the egg :eek:?
And I'm avoiding fat on a 40-40-20 split, how exactly? Chicken breast, FLAXseed oil, cottage cheese, mayo, fish oil supplements!? Are you even reading this!?
Well, then, I guess the last 4 years training and seeing excellent results and great overall fitness (cardiovascular, muscular, skin, hair) improvements is fluke.
Silly me, I will retreat from this forum and never give an opinion again.

To me sweet potato doesnt count as a veg, tomato and green beans do but that is low on the veg.

As for eggs link1 link2
the 40/40/20 split is low fat, I did see the chicken breast which I figured could be without skin which would be low fat, light mayo, skimmed milk cutting out the fat part of the egg. Yeah there's flax seed oil (you hadn't mentioned fish oil yet) but that's not going to be much.

It wasn't a fluke, you put in the work and stuck to it, it's a hell of a lot more than most people do! Well done! Now I think you should delve further into what to eat and instead of focusing on your 40/40/20 split look at what you eat and how to improve your health with food not just your fitness.

You shouldn't shy away from the entire forum just because one person disagrees with you that would be silly.

ShaShaBear

Well I can be straight and honest now, the day I have a chicken breast with my breakfast porridge is the day you can admit me
And no offense, but I wouldn't last two days on a diet like that - if I didn't starve, I'd turn to chocolate and cans of coke within 4 hours! As for weight training, just like the gym in general, I'm not the kind of girl that finds motivation in strenuous work. I have to make it seem like it's something natural (AKA walking for an hour on a treadmill just seems silly to me when I could walk to college and back in the same time :rolleyes: )
The one thing I liked about slimming classes was they incorporated real people food, but the problem is they encourage pasta (for example) but the sauces you buy to put on them are pretty much your Syns/Points for the week, and I havn't got the funds to be making my own Carbonara

Also, made a Fitday account, I really like the look of it! Does it have an Android app perchance?

azzeretti

Orla K wrote: »

To me sweet potato doesnt count as a veg, tomato and green beans do but that is low on the veg.

As for eggs link1 link2
the 40/40/20 split is low fat, I did see the chicken breast which I figured could be without skin which would be low fat, light mayo, skimmed milk cutting out the fat part of the egg. Yeah there's flax seed oil (you hadn't mentioned fish oil yet) but that's not going to be much.

It wasn't a fluke, you put in the work and stuck to it, it's a hell of a lot more than most people do! Well done! Now I think you should delve further into what to eat and instead of focusing on your 40/40/20 split look at what you eat and how to improve your health with food not just your fitness.

You shouldn't shy away from the entire forum just because one person disagrees with you that would be silly.

Firstly, this. I was being facetious, I thought you were very quick to shoot down my post.

Also, 40-40-20 is generally considered to be a healthy balance (although this depends on where you read) not low fat. This can also be applied to eggs, I have lost count with how many times "experts" have changed their mind about eggs!

Fat is hugely important in my diet (for various reasons - fat soluble vitamins, muscle growth etc.) and I don't consider this to be a low fat diet.

In the winter, I will start uping my calorie intake to about 2500-2750 per day and the split will tend towards larger carb intake. This is because I will bulk up for the winter (increase muscle) and do to this you need more calories (I change my intake, menu, meals, training routine very regularly).

Hey, at the end of the day I can only impart my knowledge, it is up to you (or anyone else) to use it or ignore it. But you don't have to be rude doing it!

Stench Blossoms

I don't think Orla was being rude.

I agree that that diet isn't great. It looks quite boring and I doubt the OP would be able to sustain something like that.

OP: I'd go for

Breakfast: porridge or eggs
Lunch: chicken/tuna salad and soup
Dinner: Crap loads of veg (green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots) and a chicken/salmon fillet.
Snack: Usually I don't need to snack but if I did i'd get a greek yogurt or apple and cheese.

ShaShaBear

Snacking isn't too bad, I adore fruit, especially pears, apples and grapes (hopefully fights off the incredible chocolate urges)
Porridge is something I always eat, but I can only make it with milk, so I cheat a bit

Stench Blossoms

That's not cheating I make mine with milk as well. I used skimmed milk though as I find full fat milk is a bit heavy.

Fruit can be high in calories. I know myself I used to plow through a punnet of grapes no problem so maybe cut back a small bit if your eating a lot.

Weight loss is basically about keeping the calories in less than the calories out.

Have you worked out how many calories you should be eating?

ShaShaBear

Yeah I used Fitday, and got an average of calories I should eat, how many I have eaten and then how many I burned off It's really motivating and the wide range of normal activities that it includes, like mopping and doing laundry, make me feel like I'm not lazy for just doing two hour-long walks and then shutting myself away in the house to escape Pringles and Coke :rolleyes:

Stench Blossoms

Ok...

This is what I think is the downside of myfitnesspal and fitday. They are not very accurate in regards to exercise calories. Everyone is different so there is no way that they could get it right for everyone.

Unless you have a heart rate monitor (which aren't 100% accurate but better )I wouldn't bother logging exercise.

Also, doing laundry and mopping is not exercise and shouldn't be logged. These 'activities' should be included in your lifestyle ie. sedetary, lightly active etc.

The problem with this is that you'll think you've burned more than you have and usually people tend to think 'oh I can have that chocolate bar' when they probably shouldn't.

Hope that makes sense.

Lia_lia

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

I don't think Orla was being rude.

I agree that that diet isn't great. It looks quite boring and I doubt the OP would be able to sustain something like that.

OP: I'd go for

Breakfast: porridge or eggs
Lunch: chicken/tuna salad and soup
Dinner: Crap loads of veg (green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots) and a chicken/salmon fillet.
Snack: Usually I don't need to snack but if I did i'd get a greek yogurt or apple and cheese.

I would actually starve on that diet o.o

I don't know, even though I also find that diet azzeretti posted a bit boring, I can see his/her point. Eating every few hours is important in my opinion, but it depends on how active you are I guess.

Op, how about going to some fitness classes like kickboxing or zumba? They are usually good fun and a great form of exercise!

I'm a student too and eat well enough on about €30 (or less) a week. But I don't eat any meat so I'd get by on less money I guess! Eggs are great. I say it all the time...so versatile! I eat omelettes everyday

Also, just don't buy any crap food like biscuits/cake etc..I never do in college so I just don't eat it.

Silvics

Cut out white food-carbs, eat a large bowl of porridge for breakfast, no snacking on choc/sweets and drink lots of water. Keep a pack of raisins/nuts to chew if you feel peckish.
When you put on weight it's because you have eaten excess and your body stores this excess.
Walk a little faster, use the stairs rather than the escalator /elevator. And if you exercise, exercise briskly and don't make any excuses to avoid going-stick to a routine.
In 6 weeks, Kate Moss will be calling you for tips. Good luck.

Orla K

Lia_lia wrote: »

I would actually starve on that diet o.o

I don't know, even though I also find that diet azzeretti posted a bit boring, I can see his/her point. Eating every few hours is important in my opinion, but it depends on how active you are I guess.

It's portion sizes, that wouldn't be to far off what I eat but it would be about 3 eggs with veg, a large bowl/plate of salad with hot chicken and a dressing that I've made(I tend to make everything myself) maybe some parmesam dinner might be a crap load of veg(and I mean walking carefully with the plate in case any of it falls off) and salmon baked with pesto or cajun salmon or some other meat, maybe some potato or rice depending on my hunger and activity level for the day.
Somewhere in the day I have a protein shake but thats mainly cos I have to take something which the doctor can only give me in powder form, and the flavoured protein takes the horrible taste out of it.

I find it difficult to eat much more unless I eat wheat, it seems that when I eat wheat I'm hungrier, I eat more and I want crap food!

Eating every few hours for metabolism to avoid starvation is a load of crap, it doesn't work like that, it's only really useful for people on bulks (easier to overeat that way, although I haven't tried) or if your hypoglycemic and will get lightheaded/faint but avoiding carbs(except veg) will be much better.

I'm gone off topic, mainly op stick around read as many threads as you can some of it may not make sense but the more you learn the more you will understand.

azzeretti

Orla K wrote: »

Eating every few hours for metabolism to avoid starvation is a load of crap, it doesn't work like that, it's only really useful for people on bulks (easier to overeat that way, although I haven't tried) or if your hypoglycemic and will get lightheaded/faint but avoiding carbs(except veg) will be much better.

OK, firstly I just want to state that I am not intentionally trying to be difficult in this thread so sorry if I come across that way.

Secondly, this statement above is mind boggling and (trying to put this nicely) myopic, misleading and really unhelfpul. A little back story first so you can see where I am coming from:

A few years ago I had a BMI of 43 (which is morbidly obese) , 55% body fat, was months away from gastric bypass and had tried every diet, pill and fad I know of - some legal, some illegal, some just insane. Think of the massive guy you see on the TV (re-enforced shower room - little kids pointing and laughing at me on the street) and you get the idea. I have dealt with endocrinologists, dietiticians, nutritionists, psychologists and most other “ists” too! There are many things that contributed to my obeisity (and I won't go into them here) but the bottom line was that I was consuming more calories that I expended. This is the simple – cannot be streesed, nor repeated enough – FACT. There is no magic pill, there is no magic food combinations, no “special” shakes, no food timing tricks, no “pat your belly and rub you head” vudoo rubbish. There is only this: take in more calories than you need and your body will store this as fat (mostly).

So? What has this got to do with Orla's comment above? A lot actually. There are many great tips and rules I picked up over my journey and one of them is that I never dimiss anything without firstly; reading and researching it as much as possible and secondly trying to verify the material as being concise, respected, tested and accepted. For example, I once tried (before I started to question things!) a diet that involved eating 2 bowls of soup a day and one healty dinner. Now, there were books about this diet, websites and forums all barking on about how great this diet was. There was testimonials, quotes – the works. It all seemed fairly plausible at the time and I was certain this would work. You can apply this to any diet fad around. Another example is Aitkens. I stayed on the Aitkens diet for about 6 months. I lost a few stone, felt really good and thought it was great – after all there was millions of books being sold, websites, celebrities all endorsing this 'wonder' diet to hearld in the end of obiesity across the globe. What happened? Well, firstly I developed heart arrhythmia, then my hair started falling out! I went to a cardiologist at the time (a very good, respected one) and told him about the diet. He bet me (pyhsically put his hand out) that if stopped Aitkens my arrhythmia would dissappear! Well, I didn't straight away but it got worse and I eventually stopped the diet – 6 years on and I have not had one reoccurance. My point in all this is that anyone can post something to a usergroup/forum. Anyone can claim, well pretty much anything really. What you need to do is educate yourself as much as you can and then, based on it all, make an informed and educated decision on how to proceed.

There are many clinical studies (many, many of them) that show, repeatedly, the effects on frequent eating has on your metabolism (don't take my word for it – serioulsy, don't – get onto the 100's of online reseach sites and see them for yourself) and in my case, this was to biggest (well second biggest really) single factor in my weight loss.

I posted one daily plan earlier in this thread and I can completley see how some, if not all, would find it boring. I wasn't really posting it for it's content (as that changes for me frequently) but more for the meal frequency. A large problem with my weight gain was my appeitite – every professional I saw I repeated the same thing - “I'm just never feel full” or “I am constantly hungry”. It wasn't until the last one I saw that I got asked the one question I never had been asked before - “if you're hungry, why don't you eat!?”. Eh, cause diets are about restricting your eating and eating less. “NO” diets are above calorie equations – less in, more off. This dietician explained to me about metabolism and the importance of keeping it high and how meal frequency helps. She also explained about my resting metabolism and how having some musle on your body helps this a lot. Then she explained that because of the science behind calories equations I could offset my eating with excersise. This last part was never made obvious to me before; diets were all about eating less, weren't they? Not about eating more! This brings me to another point in this thread about exercise:

Also, doing laundry and mopping is not exercise and shouldn't be logged

I don't agree with this either (mostly) as it's relative. In my case, hoovering was my excersise. I was so big and unfit I couldn't walk for more than 4-5 miuntes so I used to get the hoover out and run it around – sometimes with it switched off! I would walk up and down the stairs in the house, once or twice to begin with but increasing over time. Obviously, if you are fitter than I was you might need more heavy exercise but YOU need to find your comfort zone to begin with – don't let anyway tell you what is or isn't enough as it will always be relative to your pyhsical state.

I said above that educating myself was the second biggest thing I did to get my on the right track. Well the biggest thing was the realisation of the following: “You have to want it – it will not be easy”. All the years before I was looking for the quick fix.
“I wonder how I can lose 14 pounds over the weekend?”
“Maybe I can eat well for 3 days a week and go nuts on the weekend?”
“This diets pill will shred the pounds away!”.
I found out the hard way that there is no quick way to get healthy and the first few months or years will be tough and there is no way around that.

Finally – I'm nearly there – the best few tips I have to get in shape are below:

1) Want to, really want to work at it.
2) Educate yourself. Don't take anything you read on a website as gospel. Research for yourself and make an informed decision based on all the evidence you can find
3) Calculate how many calories you need to sustain your self right now (google “Harris-Benedict” or “Katch-Mcardle” for a guide)
4) Calculate what yout current calorie intake is. This involves eating as you are now but logging everything goes into your mouth. This is only way you will know where you stand
5) Once you get your total daily calorie requirment you will need introduce a deficit. Start low enough and see how it goes.
6) Split your total into small meals throughout the day. E.g if you need 2000 cals per day, eat 5 meals of 400 cals. This will keep your metabolism up and will stop you from getting hunger pangs
6a) Watch the type of food you eat - I won't go over it as it's all over the stickies and internet in general. Good clean fruit, veg, protein and complex carbs.
7) Excersise – walk, swim, hoover, clean windows – excert yourself for consistant levels a day (not too much!)
8) Do take anything I have said as gospel. Ingore it if you wish (sure didn't I tell you do that already!) but at least research what I have said and see how you feel about it.


One last thing; there is a lot of good information in this thread. I agree with Orla about a lot of things she says. I just implore you (anyone reading this) to read up (not on other forums! - I mean research documents, whitepapers, clinical trials etc.) and educate yourself then tailor it for your needs.

Sorry for the long post!

Stench Blossoms

Fair play azzeretti on the weight loss.

But you were extremly overweight, the OP is not. So hoovering isn't exercise for her

azzeretti

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Fair play azzeretti on the weight loss.

But you were extremly overweight, the OP is not. So hoovering isn't exercise for her

azzeretti wrote:

Obviously, if you are fitter than I was you might need more heavy exercise but YOU need to find your comfort zone to begin with – don't let anyway tell you what is or isn't enough as it will always be relative to your pyhsical state.

Weight, mass, size has nothing to do with it. It is about fitness level. The OP needs to find what activity raises her heart rate enough for cardiovascular benifit. You, nor I, can tell her what exercise she needs. She needs to gauge that herself. Hoovering one room might make her reach for the oxegen tank - you cannot know this based on height, weight, age.

Stench Blossoms

ShaShaBear wrote: »

I will quite happily walk until I am blue in the face

Pretty sure she'd be grand hoovering a few rooms.

azzeretti

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Pretty sure she'd be grand hoovering a few rooms.

OK. We're knit picking now I feel. My basic point stands; someone wishing to lose weight and exercise should gather as much information as they can from reputable sources and make educated decisions based on it. "Pretty sure" is really all you are, isn't it? - pretty sure. She will know for certain though.

Stench Blossoms

Did I not tell her to read the stickies??

gosuckonalemon

azzeretti wrote: »

For example, here is how I eat typically, this provides about 2000-2200 cals per day (which is what I need to maintain my muscle mass at the moment):

Breakfast (7:30):
40g oats + flaxseed oil
200ml Skimmed Milk
120g chicken breast
50g cottage cheese

Snack 10:30:
1 x wholemeal pita bread
113g tuna
15g light mayo
1 cherry tomato

lunch 13:30
60g brown rice
113g tuna
homemade tomato sauce

snack 16:30
4-5 egg white scrambled
40g oats
protein shake

Dinner 19:30
120g chicken
100g sweet potatoe
green beans

Snakc 22:30
2 oat cakes
3-4 egg whites
flax and supplements

I'm sorry but this diet is ridiculous. I would agree little and often is better than 3 square meals. However, having chicken breast and cottage cheese at 730am and tuna at 10.30am is unnecessary.

And who has a "snack" consisting of oat cakes, flax and "supplements".

You could subject a racing pidgeon or greyhound to this kind of strict regime if they are training, but not humans.

It is WAY easier to eat a healthy, TASTY, well balanced diet than follow this regime.

azzeretti

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

I'm sorry but this diet is ridiculous. I would agree little and often is better than 3 square meals. However, having chicken breast and cottage cheese at 730am and tuna at 10.30am is unnecessary.

And who has a "snack" consisting of oat cakes, flax and "supplements".

You could subject a racing pidgeon or greyhound to this kind of strict regime if they are training, but not humans.

It is WAY easier to eat a healthy, TASTY, well balanced diet than follow this regime.

Did you read my follow up thread? In it I agree with you and more.....

Eating protein every 3-4 hours certainly isn't unnecessary - again anyway can say anything but if you could back up that sweeping statement with some clinical research then the OP might be better to decide.

I am not trying to make her eat like me at all - I am just advising her and urging her to educate herself.

And who has a "snack" consisting of oat cakes, flax and "supplements".

Eh, me. Obviously. The OP will need to define her own needs, that post was specific to eating reguarly (even if I didn't make that clear in the first post)

azzeretti

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Did I not tell her to read the stickies??

You did!! And that's fine. I wasn't getting at you in any personal way! I just wanted to let the OP know that she is the only one that knows where to start for physical exercise!

BostonB

ShaShaBear wrote: »

...I'm not interested in Slimming World/Weight-Watchers etc (they don't motivate me and my palette doesn't agree with their diet plans ).....

I didn't think WW restricted you to a specific diet, I thought its simply a simplistic way of counting/monitoring what you eat, make smarter choices and exercise. It doesn't stop you from eating anything. So I'm a bit puzzled how palette comes into it? No matter what way you choose to do it , are you not going to have monitor what you eat and pick smarter foods.

Orla K

Two posts from two knowledgeable posters, about meal frequency. Which are actually from the same thread that has a link from El D. Eating every few hours can have it's place but most of the time it's unnecessary.

Hanley wrote: »

This only becomes a concern over weeks, not hours.

I've also heard of a study and data showing 3 days of intermittent fasting actually increasing metabolic rate by 5%. Haven't read it myself so can't comment but it was stated by someone I've a lot of respect for.

The metabolic thing is BS imo. If you need to eat frequently to stop yourself binging, go for it. But it's not making any significant difference to body fat levels directly.

Transform wrote: »

Emm no - all and every piece of research into intermittent fasting would point in the direction of life extension and increased metabolism particularly of fat.

Overall skip bfast if you wish but if it leads to poor food choices then...

azzeretti

Orla K wrote: »

Two posts from two knowledgeable posters, about meal frequency. Which are actually from the same thread that has a link from El D. Eating every few hours can have it's place but most of the time it's unnecessary.

So I am going stop with this thread now. Orla, you have proven my point. Random posts from users (knowledgeable - why? post count? they sound knowledgeable?) is absolutely meaningless unless it can be backed up by concrete clinical trials.

Rubbing some sun cream on your left ear lobe, twice a day, while hopping on one foot is a sure fire way to lose weight.
Now, is this statement true because someone posted it to a forum?

How about eating 20g or less of carbs a day and overloading on fat only ?

What if I told you using a certain soap will wash away fat, as La Parle did in the early 1900's?

or why have some binge-purge days!?

My point is that you need to make your own, informed decisions, that way the onus is on you. I am all for help, guidance and advice but nobody should take anything they read on a forum as certain fact.

My point about eggs is pertinent here. I estimate that the opinion on eggs has ebbed and flowed for years. At one stage an egg a week was enough! Then 1 a day was fine. Now?

Anyway, I think I've derailed this thread enough. OP: good luck in getting to your target. You'll feel better once you get there!

vard

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

That's not cheating I make mine with milk as well. I used skimmed milk though as I find full fat milk is a bit heavy.

Fruit can be high in calories. I know myself I used to plow through a punnet of grapes no problem so maybe cut back a small bit if your eating a lot.

Weight loss is basically about keeping the calories in less than the calories out.

Have you worked out how many calories you should be eating?

Unless you're plowing through mountains of it, no, fruit is not high in calories. It can be high in sugars, but I'm sure we're all aware of the various health benefits and importance of fruit in our diets. What is high in calories however is fruit juice - I'd avoid all fruit juices unless they are specifically marked ad low calorie / calorie free. Fruit itself is fibrous, healthy and very low calorie gram for gram as its mostly made up of water.

rocky

azzeretti wrote: »

...

We had this chat before here, about metabolic advantages of many small meals over 1/2/... larger meals. Turns out it's not true. Studies were posted. Search this forum for details

Orla K

azzeretti wrote: »

So I am going stop with this thread now. Orla, you have proven my point. Random posts from users (knowledgeable - why? post count? they sound knowledgeable?) is absolutely meaningless unless it can be backed up by concrete clinical trials.

Knowledgeable because Transform has been a personal trainer for over 10 years with a lot of experience and knowledge and one that keeps up to date with the research. As for Hanley well he's Hanley! he can take a while to get use to but he's shown himself to know what he's talking about and again keeps up to date with things.
Transforms site
Hanleys
There are countless studies to show that intermittent fasting is beneficial to your health and that it doesn't impact negatively on weight. If the eating every few hours was true we'd have to be waking up in the middle of the night a few times to eat just so that we wouldn't start to waste away. Have a look at google scholar.

As for telling everyone to do there own research, it's a good idea to learn, it really should be done but saying it to someone who may have never looked at a research paper before is kinda pointless as they'll just be looking at something they won't understand, will just read the heading and will form an opinion from partial and bad information, it'll be much better to point them in the direction of people that they can interoperate the info properly. It's a good idea not to follow just one person either.

Lia_lia

Orla K wrote: »

or if your hypoglycemic and will get lightheaded/faint

That's the main reason why I eat every few hours, should have stated it.

Anyway, just makes sense in my opinion to eat small portions frequently, you'd be less likely to binge on loads of food when you realise you are really hungry, no?

I don't know, I don't know much about diet compared to most people here. Just stating what works for me and I've never been overweight in my life. Depends on the person I guess. Good luck op!

Hanley

Orla K wrote: »

As for Hanley well he's Hanley! he can take a while to get use to but he's shown himself to know what he's talking about and again keeps up to date with things.

Hahahahahahahaha I genuinely laughed out loud that that one - thanks

My take on meal frequency is still that it just doesn't matter. Whatever frequency you can sustain your energy levels with, and prevent yourself from binging on is the right one.

There's advantages to IF for sure, but for most people I really don't think it matters. And tbh I would probably recommend eating every 2-3 hours.

But again, that is PURELY for diet adherence. There's no metabolic advantage from it. The advantage is you're not stuffing your face with chocolate because you get so hungry.

Orla K

Hanley wrote: »

Hahahahahahahaha I genuinely laughed out loud that that one - thanks

My take on meal frequency is still that it just doesn't matter. Whatever frequency you can sustain your energy levels with, and prevent yourself from binging on is the right one.

There's advantages to IF for sure, but for most people I really don't think it matters. And tbh I would probably recommend eating every 2-3 hours.

But again, that is PURELY for diet adherence. There's no metabolic advantage from it. The advantage is you're not stuffing your face with chocolate because you get so hungry.

I had no idea what to say about you, that took me ages to write out.

I think if there's someone wanting to lose weight what they eat matters more at the start than meal timing or calories in/out. Get your eating habits right and learn what food you can and can't eat, for me knowing what makes you crave the wrong food is far better for diet adherence.

Hanley

Orla K wrote: »

I had no idea what to say about you, that took me ages to write out.

I think if there's someone wanting to lose weight what they eat matters more at the start than meal timing or calories in/out. Get your eating habits right and learn what food you can and can't eat, for me knowing what makes you crave the wrong food is far better for diet adherence.

Absolutely. Food quality first. Quantity and timing second.

UL_heart_throb

There's just something about Hanley.

El_Dangeroso

Dayum! Hanley is Hawt!:D

My bugbear with the eat every 2 hours thing is that you never give your digestive system a break. Digestion is a considerable task for your body, it diverts efforts from general housekeeping to focus on getting the nutrients out of food. It's an entirely alien to our bodies to have a constant stream of food. Never mind it's damn inconvenient to eat that often when you work in an office with no canteen at all like I do.:)

Check out your grandparent's generation, breakfast lunch and dinner with pretty much zero snacking. Complete anecdote but there are two common factors I have noticed in healthy octogenarians:

1. They eat 2-3 meals a day
2. They eat the same food over and over and over, often very plainly cooked.

Not to say that IF is the only other choice, I actually think that daily IF is the other extreme in the spectrum and may not be healthy long term for everyone, at least in my and a few other people I know's experience.

In terms of not going hungry, you can train the ghrelin response in your body to stimulate hunger at an appropriate times. It takes about 14 days. So if you're getting hungry 2 hours after eating, you didn't eat enough filling food at the meal or you need to just train yourself to a lower eating frequency.

Probably the only reason to select that kind of meal frequency is if your trying to bulk and eat a huge amount of protein. Very hard to squeeze in a lot of protein in a short period of time.

If people are finding they are getting hypoglycemic two hours after they eat, they should stop eating food that makes them hypoglycemic so soon after eating!

ShaShaBear

Well thanks to everyone who has given me advice on eating habits and exercising. I should point out that I don't hoover - I sweep and mop, which leaves me sweating considerably.

Since the 22nd, when I opened the thread, I have lost a total of 6lbs. I know this is more than one should lose in a week but I'm really happy with the massive amount of result in cutting out all crap-food and walking 6 miles a day