Personally this is the food pyramid I follow, I lost a good amount of weight by going down the training/carbs/cut out junk food routine but after eating this way i feel much, much better, and the more stubborn fat is now melting off me. I sleep better, have more energy and just generally feel so much more healthy.

*edit – found a better pyramid.

Ritter Marzipan bar is 100g but it is a loads of sugar and lots of sugar has the effect of telling our body to store fat I believe.

David can

WTF.

all he wants – all I said was following this regime works for me – lost 3 stone in one concerted effort some years ago without much pain. Baked potatos figured highly at that time 🙂

It is the constant feedback loop that matters.

Addressing why you eat as you do is essential. A friend is going the whole hog, and applying a Buddhist/Mindfulness approach to her eating. For me, I just asked myself some searching questions.

I eat because:

– work is boring
– work and life have been very stressful for the last couple of years
– I suffered from depression for a while – chocolate gives an instant serotonin hit; anti-depressants make you crave sweet stuff
– I’m lazy, and so choose instant food, rather than creating time to make it

A few weeks ago, I went on holiday. I ate and drank plenty. It was great. When I came back, I was refreshed, and started on the idiet approach. I’ve *only* 2 stone to lose, but after 2 weeks I’m 25% of the way there.

I am cooking regularly (and really enjoying it). I seem to have found pleasure in creating meals that I never had before. It’s great.

my doctor just had the best advice:

Eat the right food, and find a smaller plate to eat off.

small plate=less food results in less calories.

Stick with it, and your stomach will require less stuff in it to keep going.

I think Slim fast shakes in the car (in a handy bike water bottle) would stop you buying rubbish from the service stations too.

small plate=less food results in less calories.

A pretty simple trick that my brain certainly won’t fall for. Smaller plate = two helpings! It’s not like all the food I eat comes off a plate anyway, so it’d be more like smaller plate = more snacking.

You can’t fool yourself. You’ve got to attack the root cause, which is your brain’s addiction….

Am I the only person who likes the feeling of being hungry?

Am I the only person who likes the feeling of being hungry?

Yes*

*Weirdo.

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels etc.

I dunno…..

Balls, I wasted my cheat day…

TSY, unless you are full of shit, which I doubt you are, you appear to do enough exercise to warrant having cheat weekends/weeks.

really like it actually going to bed hungry, get up have massive bowl of porridge is ace, then slowly through the day, it’s like it’s being drawn out of you slowly, maybe wrap for lunch, then run when you get home and bowl of soup or veggie curry/casarole later.

the pig out at weekend with giant cake!! LOL

Well, if that’s what makes you happy Emsz, that’s all that matters.*

Personally, the idea of going to bed hungry seems like hell on toast.

*Weirdo.

You’re right Jamie, I just wanted to test this iDiet malarkey out for myself, well dropping easy carbs anyway. It does work, even after pigging out all day yesterday I reckon I’m still below 12 stone.

Jamie, I luv cooking, constantly making giant Lasagne and Curries and stews and all sorts of puddings for Housemate and all his useless (at cooking) friends LOL, and GF coming over is always excuse for experimental dinner for two 😳 , but during the week, can’t be bothered with it. Can’t remember the last time I had choccy bar.

I have had excellent results by using the iDave diet since May. I am lighter, slimmer, fitter and healthier as a result.

I always thought I would have a great deal of difficulty resisting the temptations but one of the benefits is that it reduces cravings.

And if you’re on the road it’s amazing how much good stuff you can find in Tesco. Hot chicken legs, Onion Bhaji, V8 vegetable juice and coleslaw. Yum.

I only follow the plan 4 1/2 days a week so the weight loss is slower but I think the plan is more sustainable for me.

I love cooking but also like feeling hungry and also cold – like on the verge of shivering.

I plan to march on Leningrad later today.

*chuffed for not-soBigJohn*

yey, see, I’m not the only one

*blows big rasberry at Jamie*

Emsz, i dunno how you can go to sleep hungry – i can’t sleep if i’m hungry! You don’t sound like you eat nearly enough for running either.

dirtygirl, s’ok, I know I’m ‘funny’ with food, GF and housemate are constantly on at me about it as well. Weight has stayed about the same now for years so it’s ok I think. and I’m not constantly think “oh, I should be skinnier” or anything, TBH I’d love some boobs and a bum LOL, but mum is small and skinny, dad is small and skinny…there’s not a lot I can do about it.

I’d love some boobs

I quite often have that thought as well – although not ones attached to me!

TBH I’d love some boobs

philconsequence has a bucket of them somewhere

How are people managing the potential for muscle loss?

I#m mindful that, having lost 25% of my target in the first 3 weeks, that there is no change to my appearance of fat. I know about the loss of visceral fat first, but I’m getting paranoid about muscle loss.

Thoughts?

Emzs, I used to be funny with food too but have found that eating more has seen huge improvements in my running times and riding performance too. It took quite a lot of hard work on my part though to eat more and ‘properly’ too – looking back i can’t believe i could go for a 10k run and then just have a bowl of soup as my main meal afterwards!

To the op, keeping a food diary will help you see what you can cut out.
Once a week mtb’ing isn’t a big calorie burn at all. Try to fit in exercise where possible i.e can you walk to the supermarket instead of driving? Can you go for a short walk during a lunch break?
Be organised – once a week cook up big pots of healthy meals that can be frozen for during the week/lunches.
Snack on carrots, peppers etc instead of chocolate/crisps. Its hard but you will get used to it.
Ditch any fizzy drinks – nothing but empty calories.

see no reason why you’d lose muscle if you remain active and eat enough

Without doubt if your on the road M&S is the healthiest choice they do some great healthy food. Get familiar with where they are and save them in your satnav.
If water isnt your bag try drinking fruit smoothies instead of the coke, buy the bigger cartons as the small bottles are too expensive.
After eating healthy foods for a while you will find you dont want to eat junk as it just makes you feel rubbish in comparison to the good stuff.

lodge, I think smoothies have just as much sugar as coke, and it’s sugar that makes you fat.

don’t drink fruit smoothies!! they’re a terrible choice!

MTFU and drink water or black tea/coffee

Fruit smoothies arent particularly healthy, probably more sugar in them than coke!

Eat fruit but drink water.

see no reason why you’d lose muscle if you remain active and eat enough

Need to increase the first – finally back on the bike. And work out the balance for the other (don’t think I have been eating enough).

Without doubt if your on the road M&S is the healthiest choice they do some great healthy food.

They also do some shocking stuff masquerading as “proper” food – M&S sandwiches in particular.

Yes M&S do some unhealthy food like every other supermarket but there range of salads and meals to go are superior to what there competitors are doing if your looking for something healthy, 3 bean salad, nutty quinoa salad, super wholefood salad etc theres lots more.

Yes fruit contains sugar but its unrefined natural ocurring sugar theres a big difference.

show me a fat fruitarian.

Tea and coffee not a very healthy choice as makes you hypoglycemic and is toxic to the human body.

Tea and coffee not a very healthy choice as makes you hypoglycemic and is toxic to the human body.

The dose makes the poison. By your reckoning, unicorn farts are toxic, because if you breathed nothing but unicorn farts, you’d be dead.

check Tron out with the intellectual post.

“Tea and coffee not a very healthy choice as makes you hypoglycemic and is toxic to the human body.”

what’s that based on other than your opinion?

Jezus on Stick !, this thread is mad, some really stupid stuff being spouted here.

OP. If this is to be the start of forever, then do the iDave thing. It’ll set the ball rolling and put you on a path to taking more interest in what you feed yourself on.

I spent most part of a year sorting out my diet.
During that time, I still enjoyed cycling and walking, but didn’t look to these activties as a principal method of controlling body weight.

Once the diet was sorted and I was happy with the food choices I was making.
Then I got focused on my exercise schedule.

So, finally, its coming together. Its taken over a year for me to get to where I am now, its been a good trip.
And its one anyone can take.

As big John posts. It gets better.
😉

If you’re serious, listen to iDave.

If you need some amusement, read the posts from the others.
Me included, if you like.

Edit:
If you’re on the road as I have always been.
Then Hummus is your friend, kinda.
Along with tomatoes, celery, scotch eggs, tinned mackerel in olive oil, etc, etc.

Yes fruit contains sugar but its unrefined natural ocurring sugar theres a big difference.

Yes, thats right. But I thought as soon as you stick it in a smoothie maker it changes how the body processes it. It is no longer a “low GI” option. Plus you need loads of bits of fruit to make a glass of smoothie. Definitely not good for weight loss.

Well, all you need to have is self control. If you can control yourself from doing the things that causes you to be overweight it will have a good result. And probably you won’t regret at the end.
At first it’s hard to stop the usual thing you do especially if it is your habit for a long time. But if you have the perseverance, everything will be possible.
There are things that we want and sometimes it make as a habit. Like in your case. It is your habit to eat and the result.. Overweight.. Well, there are times that we can’t control the situation, like those people who love sports. Wherein the Cost of sporting events makes being a fan an expensive habit.

Sports of some sort, and also sports, have been a celebrated part of nearly every human civilization known to history. That said, being a die-hard fan is a pricey undertaking, as competitive sports are prohibitively costly.

Do you think it is a good habit?

I struggle with long sentences etc.

But I would take iDave’s tip and ask him for advice.

The best thing about his plan is that it cuts out urges for fatty sugary foods.

The second best thing is that you can tuck into some really nice lunch snacks from Tesco to eat in the car when you’re on the road.

Chicken wings, chicken pakora, onion bhajis, nuts, bombay mix, tomato juice, 3 bean salad, coleslaw etc Yum.