It’s been a brave new week and I’ve tried to go on a diet – no starch, no sugar & no carbs. It’s not been too bad so far but I am really struggling today! Cravings for a red bull and chocolate are huge! Anyone have any sure-fire tips to help get through it?

Coffee and tabs kills the appetite or you could just exercise and eat normally.

Coffee – check….I’ll swerve the tabs though.

Sign of the times – moved to Texas in September and the pounds do not shift here. I’m doing 4-5 gym sessions a week (swimming about half a mile at a time + some weights) but no sign of the gut shifting. Nor is it increasing either – just treading water.

Unfortunately, unlike at home, the food is so messed with here and full of sugar that it’s just about impossible to eat normally and exercise it off. For instance, a loaf a bread seems to have a shelf life of 6 months or more and is laced with sugar!

Some folk I know who successfully do a low carb diet have a good supply of cheese on hand for tough times.

Things I personally find have worked for me.

– Mixture of long, slow (Zone 2 rides) to get body burning fat as an energy source, mixed with interval sessions on turbo- trainer.
– Always having apples and almonds next to you to snack on instead of rubbish.
– Stay hydrated and drink a pint of water with meal so i fills you up.
– Sticking to a rigid diet is difficult, so I used to eat whatever I liked on saturdays nights, gives you something to look forward to.

Thats not a diet, its a hunger strike!

A little of everything is OK and avoids the cravings you are experiencing.

I cut out bread and snacking (no bread meant I was forced to find healthier lunch options and it cut out the second course at breakfast) but rest of my meals remained similar to before, and dropped from 80kg to 72kg in three months.

Crucially, its the sort of ‘diet’ (I prefer ‘eating sensibly’) that I can maintain long term.

My wife is doing the same but when she overdid it and just ate salads etc she ended up craving unhealthy food.

My tip is always keep nuts and dried fruit around. I did the cutting out of bread, pasta, potato and rice and found when i got sugar cravings if i ate some cashews and dried fruit like apricot and mango then i felt pretty satisfied.

Why no carb? That’s very hard. Slow carb works better imo.

warm / hot water* works for me (on the 5:2 fast days) – I read something about the volume of water and the temperature triggers a full response, which is what you’re really feeling. You aren’t hungry, as in must have food, just empty, if you see the difference.

* actually, i can’t abide drinking hot water, so i crumble a stock cube in. About 10 cals at most, and it tastes of something (beef, chicken, veggie, any will do)

Thanks guys….have got myself some cheese, banana chips and nuts at my desk. Trying the maximum water thing and just aiming to make it through the first week. I think once I get over that hurdle it’ll get easier as I’ve just programmed myself to like chocolate too much!

the food is so messed with here

You’re not wrong. If you think processed food is bad in the UK, it’s on a whole other level in the US. I was in New York about 10 years ago. Arrived at my digs, knackered and starving, so I just grabbed a box of Sultana Bran from the 7/11. They were laced with so much sugar, they looked like Frosties!

Just get used to feeling hungry – it’s a good sign your body is burning fat reserves and you’re losing weight. Welcome hunger pains.

Teef – I guess that’s one positive spin on it….no pain no gain right?!

Yeah – it’s not even just the processed food….even when you think that you’re buying the most basic of ingredients (milk – tonnes of sugar, eggs – totally 100% bleached white? etc) they’ve been toyed with. I think even the “organic” stuff that I usually view as a fad and total waste of time in Britain has been tinkered with. I mean, what the heck is enriched rice or iodized salt and what’s so wrong with the plain old regular stuff that we get back at home?

Lots of protein and watch your fat intake as it has so many calories. I found it hard to stick to my calorie allowances with no carbs as I was eating quite a lot of fat to make myself feel full. Chicken thighs are awesome for this kind of diet. If you’re doing no sugar then you’ll want to lose the fruit as well as it contains loads. Try to get enough fibre and water, will help you feel fuller and you’ll need all the help you can get when it comes to the bathroom 😆 Spinach, brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale are good for this.. Don’t think its a magic diet either, if you over eat you’ll still put on weight.

good luck, I did a zero (well as close as possible) diet for around 5 months, its tough especially when yiu ride a lot personally i didnt think the fat loss was worth it but im already fairly lean anyway so ymmv.

Best tip is to look for a diet which suits you.

The iDave diet (google that phrase) works for me and was a hit with several posters on here. It’s a good way to eat and is compatible with 2 or 3 days hard exercise a week. The only downside is it needs a bit of planning to make lunches on the go.

It seems to be focused on stabilising your insulin levels which does a number of things. It affects the way your body stores and burns fat and it prevents cravings for sweet and fatty foods. It’s amazing how many things that most people think are good diet foods (fruit, milk, cereal, cheese) can give you an insulin spike which in turn leads to a blood sugar crash which gives you an uncontrollable urge for chocolate.

Once you’ve got that urge, willpower alone can’t stop it.

Edit – You really don’t need to feel hungry on the iDave diet. I only had hunger pangs twice in the first 6 months. You’ll only lose weight slowly but that’s a good thing. Fast weight loss diets make you fat.

Eat less, exercise more. Use myfitnesspal to track the calories. It’s an eye opener and it’s free.

Wow, 15 replies before the “Eat Less Move More” cliche.

It used to be much sooner before that unhelpful piece of advice got aired.

Wow, 15 replies before the “Eat Less Move More” cliche.

In fairness, it’s more constructive than “Step away from the fork, fatty”

fizzy water.

Use myfitnesspal to track the calories. It’s an eye opener and it’s free.

+1 to that.

It’s like appearing on “Secret Eaters” without the public humiliation 😀