a glass of wind most evenings

to be fair, there's not many calories in wind.

Breakfast like a king
lunch like a prince

dinner like a pauper

and snacks are a few raw vegs and fruits

what is the opinion on the largest meal of the day being the last one
dont seem right

what is the opinion on the largest meal of the day being the last one
dont seem right

It's not – meals should get smaller as the day goes on, trouble is finding time for the 'king's breakfast' 😥

The 'snacking on fruit' thing can also be overdone, if you want a low calorie snack the raw veggies are far better.

Anyway, back to OP – Ton, it wouldn't be too bad to stick with the bacon buttie brekkie: grill the bacon, no spread on the bread, bit of tomato and it's not that unhealthy.
You're more likely to last the day on scraps if you've had a decent breakfast. Don't 'punish' yourself, just 'treat' yourself more healthily 😉

Taken from my recent posting on this thread:

Not sure if someone's mentioned this already, but you might like to consider this:

Seems capable of helping you lose fat as opposed to just weight/water, etc, and also enables you to change/understand your eating habits so as to keep it off.

I'm giving it a go for a month to see if I can lose a stone (and sustain it). Only difference is I'm carbing up a little before/during a ride. And I'll probably have the odd blow-out once a week or so. But I figure that because I vary my training enough (stamina, intervals, hills, etc) I'll make up the difference and generally lose/burn fat as well as improve definition and fitness.

…

See my post above. Cutting right back on non-exercise days, and eating only minimal before a session, e.g. peanut butter sandwich, banana, energy bar.

All others carbs/starches are out: sugar, cerals, breads, cakes, biccies, pasta, rice, potatoes, crisps, chocolate, pizza, beer, white wine …

Hasn't been a problem so far (5 days in) because I don't miss any of them. Subsituted with more of the healthy stuff that I like eating anyway. I'm just curious to see if it works and how genuinely sustainable it is.

EDIT: oh yeah, and fruit's off the menu as well – substitute with vitamins. But the whole low-carb thing only applies in full while you're in the weight loss period, e.g. 4-6 weeks – you then introduce them on a balanced level thereafter. By then, your cravings, especially for the unhealthy carbs, should be either manageable or completely eradicated, hence enabling you to maintain size, shape and healthy diet.

I thought the same as druidh, to be honest. That may be a typical day's rations, but either the evening meal is massive, or the average intake is a lot higher somehow.

There was article in STW a couple of years ago which recommended making sure you were actually hungry each day. That seemed to be rather good advice. I don't have a weight problem, but I do eat some rubbish – almost always because I feel low rather than actually hungry.

Anyway, good luck with it. 🙂

As I write, I'm tucking into scrambled eggs, ham, tomatoes and mushrooms – nom nom. Lunch will be mackerel with salad, and supper will be be salmon, asparagus and some other veg.

I weighed myself on New Years day 2007 and I was just over 17st (I'm 41 and 6'1). It was by no means easy but in just over 6 months I got down to 14st 10 but am now hovering around the 15st mark, which I'm happy with for my build.

I stopped eating bread. It's not easy to do, especially if you take sandwiches to work but I soon got used to replacing bread with fruit (got through one or two melons per week) and I cut out milk in tea and coffee, only having one coffee at breakfast and a tea in the evening but other than that I just ate slightly smaller portions at meal times. I also drank loads of water (often, hunger feelings are actually due to dehydration – don't be tempted to add cordial!) and I took up running. I could barely do a mile when I started – but now run 10k at least 3 times a week, running is fantastic for weight loss. Best decision I ever made, I now look and feel five years younger.

good luck mate

i drink far too much coffee/tea both with 1 sugar {15 cups a day}

I'm a sweet tooth, used to have 3 sugars in my tea, and put sugar on Frosties and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. Cut down to one sugar in the tea, and stopped putting sugar on pre-sweetened cereals (my Weetabix still look like the Alps though).

Try switching to a sweetner – easy calorie saving if you're happy to ignore the OMG IT CAUSES CANCER concerns. I use Splenda, as it pretty much tastes like sugar, I find the aspartame based stuff (Canderel, etc) tastes a bit too chemically and leaves a weird aftertaste.

I've always been overweight despite eating quite healthily and getting plenty of exercise. My problem is I eat huge portions. I try to cut my portion sizes but then I get hungry. I'm not helped by the fact that shift work puts regular eating patterns out the window, forcing me to eat when I can and snacking when I'm hungry.

I tried 'superslim pomegranite' on the recommendation of a colleague. It does work, in that I never felt hungry, also had more energy and required less sleep. It felt a bit like cheap speed TBH. After a week or so I felt less speedy, but was still sweating a lot, dry mouth all the time, not sleeping well and feeling quite agressive/depressed (although that may have been related to other events going on). I lost a lot of bulk and approx 5kg (though I was also exercising more). had a few months off it and took one this morning since I found some in the back of the cupboard.

TBH, I wouldn't bother, they seem to work, but at what cost? I certainly didn't feel healthy and the weight loss was negligable, certainly no more than a good case of D&V would cause!

Like most people above, drink lots of water, and eat massive breakfast medium lunch and small dinner. I also increased my fibre intake, since it makes me windy, but feel full (and poo like a good'un!).

Hope that helps a bit!

We all have too much carbs in our diet

Rot – target fats and sugars but there's nothing much wrong with carbs.

Don't eat after 5pm

More rubbish (old wive's tales)

If you do anything drastic straight off you won't sustain it because you'll feel like you're suffering.

Regularising blood sugar is key to reduction of appetite so look at cutting out things that cause blood sugar spikes.

The principles of the primal diet and similar are pretty sound here, since they try to mimic the diet we would have had before civilisation and agriculture – which is where our physiology still is.

They aim to reduce your High glycemic index carbs. So, potatoes, rice, starchy food, bread, sweets and sugar, etc… Dump the sugars in your drinks for sure.

Notice I said reduce, not cut out, because carbs have their place, especially for high intensity exercise like what we do. I go straight through 6 of seven elevenses on a big ride twice a week, and they're basically pure carb.

I don't miss potatoes at all, except as roasties and chips, but bread is harder to do. Shift to granary breads and generally reduce intake.

There's tons (forgive the pun) of evidence to suggest that eating protein when you have what you think is a sugar craving is actually the way to go. Obviously this doesn't allow you to stuff in fat dripping bacon soaked in butter every time you feel peckish.

my mate is an elite triathlete and really knows his onions when it comes to diet and fitness – he reckons all that about only eating a small evening meal is rubbish. reckons it's all about the total daily intake/expenditure of calories, not when in the day they are taken on board???

it's all about the total daily intake/expenditure of calories, not when in the day they are taken on board

Correct – there are some fundamental physical laws in our universe including conservation of mass and energy. These fundamental laws do not change at 5pm.

Thats true higgo, but your energy demands change when you go to bed, and if you're full of food, more of it will be metabolised and stored as fat since theres no demand for it over the 8 hours you're lying there, doing nothing.

There's tons of evidence to suggest that eating protein when you have what you think is a sugar craving is actually the way to go.

Any of it peer-reviewed and published in credible journals?

I've found that taking Vitamin B complex from boots at the start of the day seems to keep me feeling fuller for longer. Apparently it releases the energy from your food at a steadier rate. I have no idea if it actually does this, or if its a placebo, but it makes me eat less so I can't complain!

Ton I think I was about your weight a few years ago, I'm now down to 17 stone (and still going slowly). It looks like you already do loads of cycling though so I think its all in the portions and trying to eat less fatty/calorific stuff. Stick to about 1500 (or less) calories if you can. This all worked for me but I suspect I may be a lot younger thus potentially have a higher metabolism..

I don't know higgo, I've just read around the topic. I don't think many of us here are experts. Since protein does fill one up and reduces appetite, it would make sense though wouldn't it?

I feel awful if I go to 1500 calories a day. Thats basal metabolic requirements isn't it? Which would force your body into catabolism. Not exactly what you want to lose muscle bulk.

Lots of things 'make sense' intuitively but turn out not to be true when properly examined.

Ah. Pooh poohing without justification. The STW way.
🙁

Strange that some of you guys simply don't seem to have experimented with your own feeding and bodies!
Maybe you're all 21yr old judging by some of the stuff written here.

I never eat after 5pm if I can help it, wife's tale or not, it works for me.
I eat a mix of carbs and proteins and it works for me.

If you're looking at dropping weight or putting weight on, don't combine carbs and proteins at the same meal, it's worked for me.

See a pattern forming here?
What works for one might not work so well for another. Keep the blood sugar levels steady and cut down on portion sizes, cut out the crap you eat and drink. This is not rocket science you know, if you ingest 1500 calories but use up 1800 calories, you'll slowly shift the fat.

Mephedrone worked a treat for me.

Shame it is now illegal though…

Foods like vegetables and nuts will help keep you feeling satiated for longer. Eating healthier in general I find tends to help stop cravings. Drink more water also. Sometimes what you think is hunger is actually just thirst.

Main benefit I found is that cutting out carbs does suppress appetite

This.

For all intents and purposes, I've been doing Atkins for a few weeks. Still keeping it healthy with lean meat and salads but I've completely dropped the carbs which were my "trigger food" and probably more importantly the booze, and I'm never hungry now other than at meal times.

Scales are broken at the moment so I don't know how much weight I've lost but I've dropped a couple of inches around my waist after 2 – 3 weeks.

Today's menu is:

Breakfast – smoked salmon

Mid morning snack – handful of macadamia nuts

Lunch – Sliced chicken breast with avocado, salad and olive oil. Small piece of cheese

Dinner – Steak and salad

I am/was in the same boat as Ton,Played district rugby,6"3" and about the 18.5 stone mark,quit rugby at 36,still weight trained.I hit 40 and suddenly couldn't carry it around anymore.I was struggling when hillwalking and cycling.I started dieting as having spent 20 years going to a gym to bulk up I hated the idea of treadmills.I eat less,usually somthing nice like a decent cereal, cup a soup and pples during am,spud with sald and a little filling at Lunch,more apples (3/4 a day)and a meal at tea time.I seem to have stayed away from bread (and anything by the Orkney brewery) midweek.I have lost 3 stone in a year by replacing dairy milk with a chocolate drink etc.)I think it is in the details,for me it was realising that yes,I had polished off a bar of chocolate during a free period,and putting that right.

It sounds like you don’t currently have a massively bad diet; perhaps too much quantity and I’d guess you’ve maybe left details on booze/snack consumption a touch hazy?
But I think it all comes down to that old chestnut the “Balanced” diet, all things in moderation, Carb’s are not evil, they are merely a single component within a sensible diet and by diet I mean how you eat from now on not until you loose a few pounds, ten revert to old habits…

Oh and DO eat fruit, to read some of the posts so far you’d think it would send you spiralling into a diabetic coma or something, don’t live on it obviously but one or two pieces a day is actually not going to kill you…
You’ll get more benefit leaving the sugar out of your 15 cups tea/coffee, than cutting out an apple each day…

You mentioned your typical diet includes a “Meat and 3 Veg” dinner every night, is that actually every night?
If so that’s quite a bit of meat you’re getting through in a week, plenty of protein, but I’d guess a fair dose of fat and certain meats can take a while to digest, the healthiest diet the UK has ever known was during WW2 we’re often told (rationing basically) where we ate lots more Veg, and far less meat and sugar, try cutting your meat intake drop it for a couple of evening meals a week, and where you are eating the animals go for white meats more often than Dark meats, Chicken, turkey and Fish over Piggy and Moo…
Keep the Bacon sandwiches for the weekend, it’ll taste better when it’s a more of a treat and maybe go for leaner bacon too…

It’s worth having healthy snacks on hand as/when required, by health snacks I don’t mean overpriced, sugar packed cereal bars marketed at bulimic self loathers who’ve read too much Bridget Jones, I mean proper food with some energy content, Nuts are very good, most seed type things are and it’s not that hard to make a moderately healthy flapjack, use honey and Marge instead of syrup and butter, Oats are and excellent source of energy…

Eat 3 square meals, have healthy snacks between, you already have an exercise routine due to cycling etc, so half the battle is won…

Eating like a sparrow and totally cutting out all foods that aren’t zero fat/sugar will just make life a nightmare, moderate your intake and have a little of what you fancy now and then, you’re more likely to stick to that sort of diet long term where as living on Muesli, water and dry toast will have you back on the bacon within a week…

I lost a stone in a month once by just eating veggie, low fat food. Ate as much as I wanted as hated feeling hungry and it worked for me. Now just do as many miles on the road bike as I can fit in and eat sensibly – 11 lbs lost in 12 months without really trying – don't really need to lose weight now just aiming for 10% body fat.

The healthiest diet ever was actually because rationing fixed prices,so the poor could (in theory) get the same as the rich.It wasn't the actual content of what was a fairly healthy diet,it was the fact people had access to it.

Eat 3 square meals, have healthy snacks between

Just how much food are you guys getting through?
The above above reply started off OK but descending into extremes, which is not balanced.

Whatever you do at present is not working and has not been working for a long time. Radical steps might be needed to get you to seriously turn your own feeding on its proverbial head. Adopting a softly-softly approach is taking the easy route and will fail. However, you need to be able to sustain whatever life-style changes you do make, so be educated about the changes you do put into force if it's going to succeed.

Good luck!
(ps – for my bbq breakfast I had 2x pork chops, mushrooms, a chicken breast, olives, onions, beetroot and some salad with cashews – but I haven't eaten since about 2pm yesterday).

Tony – I just started to use this website: My Plate partly to support my hubby who's trying to loose weight and partly because now I'm breast-feeding I'm finding I'm eating a lot of junk! (especially freddos!)

It's amazing how much of a difference just recording what you're actually eating makes (I was amazed how many 'freddos' I'd eat in a day without really realising! And how many hundreds of calories they contained!)

It's pretty easy to use as you can just enter you're height, weight & how much you want to loose each week – it then works out how many calories you can consume each day. You then just enter what you eat and it works out the calories for you (even specific to the brand!). You can also enter what fitness you've done as that obviously 'cancels out' some of the calories. I'd definitely recommend giving it a go – it's working for us. (and no, I'm not on commission!)

Hope it helps and all the best with it!

energy-expenditure

Calculates what you need to stay constant – quite interesting IMHO.

Actually the food log is an excellent idea, perhaps combine it with an activity/exercise log…

Do that for a week or two and then perhaps take it along for a talk to a dietician…
Explaining that you expect to maintain the same levels of activity/exercise so need a diet that sustains your energy levels for this while allowing weight loss, it’s worth at least talking to some with a relevant NVQ than some bunch of armchair experts on a forum…

Like I said though Balance and having a diet you can actually live with is important, you obviously like your food (no offence like) eating healthily shouldn’t become too much of a chore, you should still be able to enjoy a meal…

Sudden changes and crash dieting will not work as a long term approach, it’s not enough to get the weight off quickly, you want it to stay off…

I shifted about 3 stone a few years ago, in about 5 months on the Atkins diet. Biking fitness really suffered, towards the end I was useless, barely had the energy to get out at all. And yet I was carting less weight around!!!. Had obviously shifted a lot of muscle also. Fast forward a few years, & the lots gone back on, plus a bit more. Have lost a couple of kg since the "Lose 10kg in 10 wks" thing started on here, & not exactly trying hard this time. But I did kick it off by going OTT & actually gained the first week. Second week, the Wife took over matters.
Breakfast…30g. A proper size portion. Was amazed that without thinking I'd cram over 100g into a bowl. Started using a smaller bow also, seemed less empty that way. A sprinkle of dried fruit also helps.
Lunch…Wife does me a bowl of fruit, water melon, strawberries, pineapple & blu-berries. Am also allowed 4 cream-crackers with cheese spread, just 4 mind. Takes some will power but just have to be strong. When finished, get up from desk & walk around a bit.
Tea/Dinner…always a difficult one for me. I do the nursery run so generally arrive home with rampantly hungry kids & would start snacking. Takes a LOT of willpower to prep their tea without snacking. Gets easier though. Usually eat later on when Wife gets home. Not silly sized small meals though, just a bit od moderation. Just not feasible to eat earlier.
Ton, good luck mate. Its about more than shifting weight, its about a change of mindset also. For a few weeks get used to fighting the "hunger" thing. I'll admit, I felt crap over the weekend, constantly thinking about food. Dont go mad though, sounds like your a big chap anyway.
I'm just starting running, did first run the other night. Literally a few laps of the footie pitch. Was bloody hard work. Amazing really, I can generally keep up with most on the bike, but on foot… Had to stop & walk a bit on each lap, but actually looking forward to another run tonight. Took maybe 30 mins out of the day, including a shower after. Maybe give that a go, but before you do get some shoes to suit. I tried it a while ago & nearly killed my knees. Had feet analysed at a sports shop & they recomended suitable shoes. Makes a lot of difference.
Good luck.

30g bowl of cereal – that wouldn't keep me satisfied for long. Need a good energy boost in the morning.

Scienceofficer – Member
Thats true higgo, but your energy demands change when you go to bed, and if you're full of food, more of it will be metabolised and stored as fat since theres no demand for it over the 8 hours you're lying there, doing nothing.

But your body burns fat mainly while you're sleeping

Another top tip I've found.

Do stuff.

If you're lying around the house boredom will lead to eating. Do anything that occupies your mind and you'll be far less prone to snacking.

I started having a poached egg in a toast sandwich (no butter needed although I do need some tommy sauce) for breakfast a few months back (instead of sugary cereals) and it makes a big difference on my cravings (fine until about 2-3pm so as long as I have something for lunch I'm sorted without snacking on crap). A Tefal Toast'n'Egg is genius for convenience btw 😉

started my new regime today

1 slice toast, small tin of beans 2 scrambled eggs

i tin of fruit in own juice

1 granary breadcake with salad and beef

1 coffee, no sugar

1 large bootle of evian so far

got another tin of fruit for a snack later, and another bottle of evian.

8)

Ti29er; just because I'm nosey – do you work wierd hours or just not eat at all after lunch? I'm barely home by 6:30, then it's kids to bed, cook dinner etc and finally eat around 8ish.

(180cm and 75kg btw)

The opnly reason eating lots late is bad is because it diverts blood supply to digestion, and this impacts on many peoples quality of sleep.

Like acjim above I've no hope of eating before 19:30 once the family evening routine kicks in after work.

Just out of interest, I take it “Breadcake” Northern speak for Sandwich, Right?