Lose weight, but not easily

[Farjo]

I've lost about one and a half stone in the last year. It's been slow but steady - not a crash diet.


How? By cutting out one ingredient: processed sugar. I haven't restricted my diet in any other way. For two months (Jan -Mar this year) I ate a big bowl of popcorn every evening I've just eaten what I fancied.


Sounds easy, but it's bloody difficult because processed sugar is in everything. Not just sweet things, not just ready meals or tinned food or packeted food, but in stuff like tomato ketchup, bread, stock cubes, flavoured yoghurt, twiglets (gutted!), flavoured crisps, pies, anything with a bbq flavour, anything with a fruit flavour, things that've had something done to them (e.g. spicy beetroot, sold in the Fresh Veg section alongside ordinary beetroot), almost all breakfast cereals (including muesli, Wheetabix and flavoured Shredded Wheat), even things that say "All Natural Ingredients" or "Made to a Traditional Recipe" will likely contain processed sugar.


And in fact I'm not 100% sure if the weight loss is due to losing the one ingredient or to the change in my diet from convenient to self-made foods.


However whatever the reason, that weight has gone since cutting out processed sugar. So if you want to lose weight *just* cut out the processed sugar

[sinto]

Sounds good man. Well done you.

I lost about 3 1/2 stone in less than 4 months, was simple to figure out why it happened too.
I started smoking again after having stopped for 12 1/2 years, the weight just fell off as I lost my appetite again, didn't eat much, just when hungry which is only every couple of days, and my waistline went from 36 inches to 31 inches. Yes I know a few of you will be reading this and thinking too much too quickly and I would agree, but I feel far better now than I did when I didn't smoke and was too fat. Now on ecigs and working up to a 50/50 split.

[fazersharp]

I dont eat any (much ) processed crap so dont get any sugar that way and I always make sure that I drink high strength beer so that all the sugar has been turned into alcohol 

[darrsi]

I've lost about one and a half stone in the last year. It's been slow but steady - not a crash diet.


How? By cutting out one ingredient: processed sugar. I haven't restricted my diet in any other way. For two months (Jan -Mar this year) I ate a big bowl of popcorn every evening I've just eaten what I fancied.


Sounds easy, but it's bloody difficult because processed sugar is in everything. Not just sweet things, not just ready meals or tinned food or packeted food, but in stuff like tomato ketchup, bread, stock cubes, flavoured yoghurt, twiglets (gutted!), flavoured crisps, pies, anything with a bbq flavour, anything with a fruit flavour, things that've had something done to them (e.g. spicy beetroot, sold in the Fresh Veg section alongside ordinary beetroot), almost all breakfast cereals (including muesli, Wheetabix and flavoured Shredded Wheat), even things that say "All Natural Ingredients" or "Made to a Traditional Recipe" will likely contain processed sugar.


And in fact I'm not 100% sure if the weight loss is due to losing the one ingredient or to the change in my diet from convenient to self-made foods.


However whatever the reason, that weight has gone since cutting out processed sugar. So if you want to lose weight *just* cut out the processed sugar

If i cut out all those foods you mentioned it would be like a hunger strike! 

[darrsi]

Only place i can quickly lose weight is in the dentist chair, i'm not a very good patient at all and i remember peeling myself off the chair once after an hours treatment and i had sweat running down the 'outside' of my winter jumper.
My new dentist is about 5ft in height, if that, and probably half my size, but once she's got me seated and has her power tools switched on she's simply an evil bastard who won't take any nonsense from me.
I've always said you have to be a sadist to do that job, and you have to pay them for the 'pleasure' too ??? 

[brooker81]

Found out few month ago I was type 2 diabetic so have had to cut the sugars down so the weight has just been slowly falling off since then. If only I could keep off the beers I would look like Mo farrah. I hoping to loose another 2 stone to take me down to about 10 1/2 stone for my summer trip away (so I can go faster) also my weight has always fluctuatated over the years big one year small the next, problem is bought a load of decent biker gear and can't fit into it at the moment  coz I must have bought it a year when I was skinny. I'm a bit of a fat foc at the moment.

[locksmith]

Blinkin ell Frazer, is there anything left you can eat?

What do you look for on a label?

[Mark YPVS]

well done on the weight loss, its not easy , i had a gastric bypass 4 years ago went from 21+ stone to 9 stone in a year , gone back up to 12 stone now and i still struggle to lose weight ( 1700 calories a day)
keep it up mate well done 
Mark

[crickleymal]

I'm doing a Slimmimng World diet along with my wife. So far I've lost about 2 stone in just over 2 months. The weight loss seems to have slowed right down for a while but is beginning to start up again. I've got below 16 stone for the first time in several years. I feel much fitter, my hips which were giving me gip are better and best of all I'm beginning to go down caves that I would have not attempted two years ago.

[Grahamm]

Three simple things to remember:

1) Find your Basal Metabolic Rate: This is the amount of calories your body needs every day to keep ticking over if you do no exercise, then multiply that by how much exercise you get to find out the total amount of calories you need to eat.

2) A pound of fat is about 3,500 calories.

3) Keep a Food Diary, ie every time you eat or drink something, note down the number of calories in it.

If you eat 250 calories a day fewer than you need, you'll lose a pound in a fortnight. If you eat 500 calories a day fewer, you'll lose a pound a week. It's as simple as that: no fancy diets, no "you can't eat X" or "you must eat Y". Also, of course, if you up the amount of exercise you do, that will burn more calories too. I did this and went from over 12 stones to under 10 in a bit over 6 months without a lot of hassle.

Cutting out processed sugars certainly will help, because they contain a lot calories which you don't actually need.

[Dead Eye]

I've done various dieting techniques to try and keep my weight down and in a more sensible area. The fastest I dropped weight was about 5 stone in 6 months (from 20~ stone) by going on to a Ketogenic diet - basically, no carbohydrates. Atkins is a similar diet, but it does reintroduce carbs later on, which full ketosis doesn't. I've used it 3 or 4 times now and had good results but it definitely works better the higher your body fat percentage. Done a bit of calorie control which works and also a bit of 5:2 which also works, but is slower.

At my lowest (last year) I got down to 13st 3lbs I believe but realistically a "healthy" weight for me is more like 11-12st. However, over the past year I've begun weight lifting (more so in the past 9 months) which has seen a reshape and introduced muscle tone. Most of my fat is now confined to the stomach area which naturally is the hardest to shift... I don't think I'll ever get to a stage of have a flat stomach or showing abs etc, but these days I try to eat less shite without depriving myself.

I might get on keto again as my weight has risen again (I'm gonna put some blame on having more muscle mass though! ) Over the summer I want to get in to my weight lifting a bit more seriously (had some back issues over winter) and begin cycling more like I used to when I was a teenager - I still maintain that getting a drivers licence made me fat :P

Oh and for tracking food as mentioned above, I've found MyFitnessPal to be pretty awesome http://www.myfitnesspal.com

[Farjo]

Three simple things to remember:

Hmmmm not convinced that all that calorie counting works. Of course the fact is that if calories in > calories out then your body will store what's left over as fat, it's just that if someone craves more food than they burn off then it's difficult short term / impossible long term not to eat more. If it were that easy then there would be nobody struggling with diets.

I imagine the trick is to get your body to want less calories, and perhaps that has happened by not eating processed sugars. Perhaps what's needed is a calories to satisfaction ratio. I imagine that anything high in processed sugars is low, but those high in 'complex carbohydrates' will be high.

[crickleymal]

The Slimming world diet seems to be a combination of Atkins and calorie counting. Frinstance I can eat as much chicken or ham as I like provided the skin is removed and any visible fat taken off. Bread counts as something to eat in moderation but rice and potatoes don't. So I can have a stonking big curry and not have to be too concerned. All a bit confusing so I leave it up to SWMBO to decide what to cook and just leave it like that. Seems to be working well so far.

[noggythenog]

Three simple things to remember:

Hmmmm not convinced that all that calorie counting works. Of course the fact is that if calories in > calories out then your body will store what's left over as fat, it's just that if someone craves more food than they burn off then it's difficult short term / impossible long term not to eat more. If it were that easy then there would be nobody struggling with diets.

I imagine the trick is to get your body to want less calories, and perhaps that has happened by not eating processed sugars. Perhaps what's needed is a calories to satisfaction ratio. I imagine that anything high in processed sugars is low, but those high in 'complex carbohydrates' will be high.

I do believe there is [size=78%]a "satiety index"[/size]

[Farjo]

[noggythenog]

I need to lose 1 stone in 1 month as part of a challenge with my brother in law...theres £50 in it.


Ive already lost a stone & then i went on a drinking & eating fest so thats why ive only got a month.


What works for me is a kind of intermittent fasting...i dont eat between 9pm and 1pm the following day....the rest of the time i can pretty much eat what i want within reason...but i find that i tend to then want healthier options whereby if i was picking all day i feel more hungry and go for crap stuff.


Unlike other fasting regimes i find that it leaves a natural eating window for me as i find it easy to wait until 1pm before breaking the fast & i can still eat in the evening...just not passed 9pm.


Like deadeye i found the gym and weights & ive been trying a few things out but for weight loss or fat loss that complete body workouts are the best doing all the big moves for the whole body in 1 hour with minimal rests in between.

[fazersharp]

 i can still eat in the evening...just not passed 9pm.

Why what happens after 9pm if you eat

[chaz]

the best way to lose weight is sex and lots of it. From leaving school to getting married I never put an ounce on but that was a very looooooooong time ago, now it's dieting that's the only way...............

[Grahamm]

Hmmmm not convinced that all that calorie counting works. Of course the fact is that if calories in > calories out then your body will store what's left over as fat, it's just that if someone craves more food than they burn off then it's difficult short term / impossible long term not to eat more. If it were that easy then there would be nobody struggling with diets.

It works, but how you achieve it (and how you stop over-indulging) is a different matter.

There was a documentary a month or so ago on the BBC which dealt with this.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05psf4l but note that it's only available for the next three days before it expires.

[noggythenog]

Hey graham is that the prog where they monitored different families on different regimes????


If so then it was interesting & going back to your bmr from earlier it showed that most calories used was just doing nothing....& then the best way to burn off extra was to keep moderately active throughout the day......theres a name for that but i cant remember it...neet or neat i think but basically none excercise activity........otherwise known as keeping busy through the day with various tasks instead of slumped at the tv.

[darrsi]

"... best way to burn off extra was to keep moderately active throughout the day..."

Where i come from they call that "WORK". 

Never been a fan of intentional exercise, ever since leaving school where i used to really enjoy running and cycling, but i'm constantly walking and heavy lifting at work so that'll do for me.
The thought of a sitting down office job horrifies me.

[darrsi]

MODERATORS.......why does it constantly do that? ^^^^^^^

[Grahamm]

Hey graham is that the prog where they monitored different families on different regimes????

Actually I've just had a look at that link and it wasn't the one I was thinking of (although it's still an interesting documentary).

The one I was thinking of was a Horizon programme called What's the Right Diet for You?  They took a number of overweight people and found that they could divide them up into groups depending on whether they were Comfort Eaters (ie ate when they were stressed or upset), the "Feasters" ie those who didn't get the "I'm full" message from their systems or the Constant Cravers, those who eat throughout the day.

They then worked out diets which were tailored to the groups' eating habits and found that all of them managed to lose weight.

Unfortunately it's expired from iPlayer and the link on YouTube goes to the wrong documentary

[mickvp]

MODERATORS.......why does it constantly do that? ^^^^^^^

Not sure mate, but I've sorted your post now

[darrsi]

MODERATORS.......why does it constantly do that? ^^^^^^^

Not sure mate, but I've sorted your post now