Need some tips on small changes to diet

Wanderer2010

So since New Year I have been giving myself a goal of making small changes to my diet and exercise lifestyle in order to shift about 3 stone in total. I know its a big task so I started by drinking more water, gave myself about 3 weeks to establish that habit and now its like second nature, then next was to reduce crisps from every day to every second day and that is now fine but I seem to be stuck in second gear with the next change- do I replace bread with oatcakes, give up all chocolate, walk for 30 mins 3 times a week etc.

It seems if I make more than one change after my initial change I lose motivation after 2 days and then straight back to rubbish food and no exercise but I KNOW I can do this, I have shifted weight before but I guess I'm looking for a few tips from people as to how to slowly change your whole lifestyle and not to see it as a temporary fad or diet.Any advice?

NicoleW85

Hi well done for making the changes youve already made. Don't cut out anything - it'll only make you want it more!! I'm at a Unislim group and its fantastic but I wouldn't push anything on anyone. All I would strongly advise against is fad diets - they are more trouble than they're worth. Low GI is the best way to go - replace white breads,pastas etc with brown and watch your portion sizes. Use less oils,butters, cream,cheese etc and hopefully you'll find that helps. Don't deprive yourself of the odd sweet treat either

colossus-x

You are going to stay in this endless cycle unless you identify what it is that is keeping you that way.

What is keeping you that way is SUGAR.

You are addicted to it and you don't even know it.

Cut out sugar completely. Chocolate , cheap pasta sauces, biscuits, etc etc. Educauate youself. It's sugar that's causing you this addiction and pain.

colossus-x

You are going to stay in this endless cycle unless you identify what it is that is keeping you that way.

What is keeping you that way is SUGAR.

You are addicted to it and you don't even know it.

Cut out sugar completely. Chocolate , cheap pasta sauces, biscuits, etc etc. Educauate youself. It's sugar that's causing you this addiction and pain.

Latatian

Seconding a 'watch the portion sizes'. That could be your next thing. "I will work out what a serving is for my dinner and then only cook that much", or use small plates rather than big dinner plates.

You can go by 'myplate', you know, half the plate is vegetables. Or use the hand rule- a fist sized portion of carbs (or less),a portion of veg is as many vegetables as will be covered by your outstretched hand with all the fingers extended, a portion of meat is palm-sized. Look at serving sizes on packages and get a feel for how much food you need to eat and need to cook.

Small portion sizes, and moderate exercise got me to lose a stone despite eating lots of chocolate and sugar. I just reduced calories overall. Seems more like lots of palatable things have fat and sugar, and severely limiting the variety in your diet by cutting out either of those will make you eat smaller amounts anyway.

You could also try introducing new things rather than getting rid of things. So try new vegetables, new recipes, lentils and beans, try and find a palatable way to cook a healthy food that you don't ordinarily like.

Latatian

Seconding a 'watch the portion sizes'. That could be your next thing. "I will work out what a serving is for my dinner and then only cook that much", or use small plates rather than big dinner plates.

You can go by 'myplate', you know, half the plate is vegetables. Or use the hand rule- a fist sized portion of carbs (or less),a portion of veg is as many vegetables as will be covered by your outstretched hand with all the fingers extended, a portion of meat is palm-sized. Look at serving sizes on packages and get a feel for how much food you need to eat and need to cook.

Small portion sizes, and moderate exercise got me to lose a stone despite eating lots of chocolate and sugar. I just reduced calories overall. Seems more like lots of palatable things have fat and sugar, and severely limiting the variety in your diet by cutting out either of those will make you eat smaller amounts anyway. If it works for you, fine.

You could also try introducing new things rather than getting rid of things. So try new vegetables, new recipes, lentils and beans, try and find a palatable way to cook a healthy food that you don't ordinarily like.

Dtp1979

Don't go following stupid diets like uni slim or similar where fats are considered bad. Maybe start a couch to 5k program instead of just walking.
As suggested above, sugar isn't good for you. Educate yourself on nutrition. Educate yourself on the importance of calorie intake and quality calorie intake. Hanley Posted a good video a while back on the basics of nutrition.
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/98314352

NicoleW85

Fats are not considered bad with Unislim - they are an essential part of a balanced diet. If you have never seen the plan then its safe to say you aren't in a position to make such a statement. Fad diets are meal replacement, extreme calorie cutting etc - something than Unislim (and most weight loss groups) strongly discourage.

Dtp1979

NicoleW85 wrote: »

Fats are not considered bad with Unislim - they are an essential part of a balanced diet. If you have never seen the plan then its safe to say you aren't in a position to make such a statement. Fad diets are meal replacement, extreme calorie cutting etc - something than Unislim (and most weight loss groups) strongly discourage.

Is it uni slim or slimming world who encourage people to eat those pink/white yokes?

NicoleW85

Must be slimming world but I can't imagine anyone would be 'encouraged' to. Nothing is banned but sweet things like that would have a 'syn' value and you have a daily allowance of 'syns' to spend as you wish. If you want to waste your allowance on pink & whites that's your own choice. Its about learning control and changing bad habits. I've done slimming world twice before and I feel they aren't as disciplined as Unislim. They say you can eat as much pasta and potatoes as you want - that's just madness to me! Each to their own - the lucky ones can lose weight on their own accord and the rest of us need extra support. Its a business, but I feel its an investment in my health.

gubbie

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Is it uni slim or slimming world who encourage people to eat those pink/white yokes?

Could be weight watchers...

The only things in SW they ever encourage are the Hi-Fi bars or the awful awful mug shots

Dtp1979

gubbie wrote: »

Could be weight watchers...

The only things in SW they ever encourage are the Hi-Fi bars or the awful awful mug shots

Ye rubbish like that.
Why can a group just do something simple with proper calorie counting and TDEE calculations, and teach its participants about proper nutrition in the process. None of the sins, points or whatever other nonsense is involved.

Dial Hard

Dtp1979 wrote:

Ye rubbish like that. Why can a group just do something simple with proper calorie counting and TDEE calculations, and teach its participants about proper nutrition in the process. None of the sins, points or whatever other nonsense is involved.

Because there's no money in that.

They have to come up with some kind of proprietary system in order to monetise it.

huggles85

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

how to slowly change your whole lifestyle and not to see it as a temporary fad or diet.Any advice?

Hi,if you are committed to change slowly I would focus on baby steps first.I've never been heavy but have lost about a stone in the last year from making small changes and have never felt better.

Would suggest forgetting diets etc,easy in theory but never in practice.
What worked for me was firstly eating breakfast.Everyday,no excuses.
Get up and eat as soon as possible.I mainly stick with some sort of protein based breakfast e.g grilled bacon,whole meal toast,real butter,scrambled eggs or water based porridge with varying toppings.Would recommend staying away from processed foods if you can,ie packaged cereals etc.

Once you've mastered a healthy breakfast the rest will eventually follow.
I stopped eating sugar free and low fat foods and exchanged for real butter,real yoghurt etc etc They will be higher cal initially but long term are better for you.
Other tips would be to prep 11 am and 3 pm slumps with some thing natural e.g fruit,boiled eggs,nuts etc

After a while your body will tell you what it should be eating,sounds funny but it really will.

If you can get a bit of exercise in 2-3 times a week too you'll be laughing but as I said above...little steps.

Think about your breakfast tomorrow and go for it.

Wishing you every success in your journey!

Dial Hard

huggles85 wrote:

Would suggest forgetting diets etc,easy in theory but never in practice. What worked for me was firstly eating breakfast.Everyday,no excuses. Get up and eat as soon as possible.I mainly stick with some sort of protein based breakfast e.g grilled bacon,whole meal toast,real butter,scrambled eggs or water based porridge with varying toppings.Would recommend staying away from processed foods if you can,ie packaged cereals etc.

There's no point in people eating breakfast if they don't want it.

I almost never eat breakfast. I just don't get hungry until lunchtime. For ages, I forced myself to eat it because "it's the most important meal of the day" but I eventually realised that forcing myself to eat calories I didn't want and wasn't enjoying was the most pointless exercise ever.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to eating well. One of my sisters and I are perfectly happy eating only twice a day. My other sister would keel over if she didn't eat at least four times a day.

The key factor in eating well and being happy and healthy is to know your own body, imo. As long as you're eating the right amount and hitting your macros, it doesn't really matter whether you do it over six meals a day or two.

huggles85

Dial Hard wrote: »

There's no point in people eating breakfast if they don't want it.

I almost never eat breakfast. I just don't get hungry until lunchtime. For ages, I forced myself to eat it because "it's the most important meal of the day" but I eventually realised that forcing myself to eat calories I didn't want and wasn't enjoying was the most pointless exercise ever.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to eating well. One of my sisters and I are perfectly happy eating only twice a day. My other sister would keel over if she didn't eat at least four times a day.

Thanks for your opinion on what worked for me Dial Hard. Maybe you could shed some advice for Wanderer2010 on what worked for you?

Dtp1979

huggles85 wrote: »

Thanks for your opinion on what worked for me Dial Hard. Maybe you could shed some advice for Wanderer2010 on what worked for you?

??? He/she just did

Wanderer2010

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

So since New Year I have been giving myself a goal of making small changes to my diet and exercise lifestyle in order to shift about 3 stone in total. I know its a big task so I started by drinking more water, gave myself about 3 weeks to establish that habit and now its like second nature, then next was to reduce crisps from every day to every second day and that is now fine but I seem to be stuck in second gear with the next change- do I replace bread with oatcakes, give up all chocolate, walk for 30 mins 3 times a week etc.

It seems if I make more than one change after my initial change I lose motivation after 2 days and then straight back to rubbish food and no exercise but I KNOW I can do this, I have shifted weight before but I guess I'm looking for a few tips from people as to how to slowly change your whole lifestyle and not to see it as a temporary fad or diet.Any advice?

Make your next step portion size. If you have 2 or more potatoes for dinner, cut down by one. Same for bread at lunch time.
Once you've accomplished that, stop eating after a certain time, say 6pm.
Then start walking, say 10 minutes a day, upping it to 30 minutes a day over time, giving yourself a day off at weekends.
If there is an Operation Transformation in your area, join it, if not this year, then next for the extra motivation.
This is a long term lifestyle change and a little loss every week is much preferable to a huge loss week one, followed by loss of motivation!
Good Luck. You have taken the first step, which is hardest.

Mellor

NicoleW85 wrote: »

Fad diets are meal replacement, extreme calorie cutting etc

Fad dieting isn't limited to meal replacement and severe calorie restriction.

As an example.
Weightwatcher, it it's original format, was an extremely faddy diet. And propagated a number of myths that dieters these says still struggle to shift.

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Ye rubbish like that.
Why can a group just do something simple with proper calorie counting and TDEE calculations, and teach its participants about proper nutrition in the process. None of the sins, points or whatever other nonsense is involved.

As well as the monetizing aspect.
Basic calorie counting and TDEE is simply too complicated for a lot of people. The numbers involved are into the hundreds and thousands which leads people, who otherwise struggle with their weight, to underestimate intake. Which turns deficit days in to maintenance days.

"I've tried calories counting, and it doesn't work"

In reality it works perfectly well, it was the dieter that failed.
Simpler tracking systems work better. The success or failure of a system comes down to food choices.