My Diet - some advice needed

[The History Man]

Crisps are the devil's work. They should be banned along with CHEESE

 

[widowmaker]

Crisps are the devil's work. They should be banned along with CHEESE

AMEN !!!

And try not to mistake boredom for hunger, adverts are there to make us put the kettle on and grab the hobnobs.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Crisps and cheese are my Kryptonite.

 

[hamster]

Having done a similar thing recently, here is what I did:
1 Reduce meal sizes slightly - it takes about a month or two to get used to them.
2 Give up weekday drinking (Friday and weekends only)
3 Bought a Fitbit activity tracker - I found it worked really well as a motivator
4 Ate an apple whenever I wanted to snack instead of crisps etc.

 

[Harryburgundy]

I don't think it is quite as simplistic as calories in and calories out. You have to look at the balance of fat, protein and carbohydrates. I think everyone should read and learn from the glycemic index.
Def avoid processed sugars in all its forms...many hidden ( fat free yoghurt for example...not exactly healthy as the flavour lost by reducing fat is replaced with sugar).
Avoid processed foods and most white things...sugar, white bread, white patsa etc. Eat the whole meal version in moderation.
Snacking is fine...and good really as it moderates are insulin production from our pancreas. Fruits and seeds are good but check the GI index of fruit. Ripe bananas for example are sugar bombs.
I started to weigh my portions too...especially things like pasta...all too easy to boil to much and then eat it just because its there. You soon get used to what a healthy portion looks like.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

You can tune and enhance the process by paying attention to the balance of carbs, sugars, fats, but the bottom line of calories in/calories out is fundamentally correct. An extreme example, but how many fat prisoners were released by the Viet Cong? Not one.

Or as Jasper Carrot succinctly put it, "This hole (mouth) is bigger than this one (arse)"

 

[NeilM]

I don't think it is quite as simplistic as calories in and calories out. .

I did say it was a VERY simplistic view, and I also said I typed this after talking to a professional nutritionalist.. who I happen to be married to and who teaches the subject for a living.

Yes of course you have to look at the balance of what you are eating, you can also look at the different types of sugar, the effects they have on the body and the relative speeds and ways in which they are used and absorbed, but the long and short of it is that if you eat and drink 5000 calories and do enough work to use 3000 then some of the remainder will be laid down as reserves, reverse that and the reserves will be used up (eventually).

 

[Neil]

I don't think it is quite as simplistic as calories in and calories out. You have to look at the balance of fat, protein and carbohydrates. I think everyone should read and learn from the glycemic index.
Def avoid processed sugars in all its forms...many hidden ( fat free yoghurt for example...not exactly healthy as the flavour lost by reducing fat is replaced with sugar).
Avoid processed foods and most white things...sugar, white bread, white patsa etc. Eat the whole meal version in moderation.
Snacking is fine...and good really as it moderates are insulin production from our pancreas. Fruits and seeds are good but check the GI index of fruit. Ripe bananas for example are sugar bombs.
I started to weigh my portions too...especially things like pasta...all too easy to boil to much and then eat it just because its there. You soon get used to what a healthy portion looks like.

The truth / reality is always somewhere in the middle.

CICO is never defeated - energy can neither be created, nor destroyed.

But there are variables - metabolic rate, rate of absorption. There are other factors, too - hormonal response, insulin, leptin and ghrelin. Satiety and adherence are always of huge significance too.

Numbers can be reasonably black and white, but the behaviourism ISN'T. And those that try to hand-wave about it all being so very simple and just down to self-discipline, often over-simplify because they either don't understand, or don't want to understand about the other complexities. Some people just like things nice and simple, in order to stick something in a box. But what people of that ilk miss - and unfortunately, it's of GREAT significance - is that basing a rationale that demands will-power and self-discipline is fundamentally flawed - because humans, en-masse, really suck at self-discipline - we fail, more than we succeed with it.

If ever there was any simple rationale, it would probably be this: CICO is absolute, nothing breaks it (although variable factors influence the in and out bits... oh er, I mean absorption variances, plus variances in metabolic rates). Content of the diet can affect body composition, adherence, hunger response and satiety.

So from looking at it in a pure black and white manner - purely for weight control, CICO matters. But then things aren't just black and white - there's things like satiety and adherence to contend with. Plus as you suggest, there are other factors - the different types of nutrients. Some fats and protein are essential, ultimately you die without sufficient. Some fats are problematic, and simple sugars can often be problematic for many. Moderation is a great concept. Problem is, as I said, on the whole, people suck at it.

My notion of the best approach is dealing with the essentials / very important bits. Then normally there should be a bit of wiggle room - a bit of moderation and things to keep people sane / satisfied. But again, people (as a generalism) suck at will-power and self-discipline. So the answer isn't just diet - just as the problem isn't purely just increased consumption of calorie rich, and some troublesome content - it's a combination of that and being less active. Trying to do it all on one front breaks my rule 17 about people in general, sucking at will-power and self-discipline. So my view is tackle it on two fronts - increase activity, decrease calories. Then neither need to be as drastic, and the change isn't quite as singularly significant that could make it more of a challenge to sustain.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Re:

My wife won't go a day without a run. Whatever the weather, no matter how much is on.

Think about how active you are, and work out how to increase. Try to integrate more activity into your daily life, rather than scheduling gym time or specific 'rides' or whatever. Even stuck in an office it is surprising how many ways you can change your day to accommodate more activity.

Get a mistress.

The sex won't burn many more calories, but the worry and stress will see the pounds fly off; and then there is the running from the angry wife.

Well done by the way, 2 stone is a serious load to shed!

 

[Harryburgundy]

Yes, agree with you all but I didn't put it very well.. Sustainable weight loss and a healthy body is they key...not just weight loss per se.