Stu's diet and weight loss thread
 

Ok heres the situation

age 34

height 5ft 7 , current weight 15stone 12 pounds

Target weight is 12 stone 7 pounds , so total weight loss will be 47 pounds , or 3 stone 5 pounds

It starts now , as of 10.43am im on my diet , had a bad breakfast this morning of a pizza with loads of ketchup so the day got off to a bad start and it was after i ate the pizza i thought thats it something must be done !, a few years ago i was maintaining my weight at 13st 8lbs fine , still over weight but i didnt really worry about it , but since i hit my thirties the weight has steadily increased, so its now or never !

Im planning early morning walk before a healthy brekkie and also a bit of weights and punch bag after tea time , no food after 6pm apart from a bowl of cereal for supper , im cutting out white bread, crisps, sweets ,biscuits, fizzy drinks and sauces ie mayo, salad cream and ketchup.

Ill keep you up to date on my progress , next weigh in a week today

I think that sounds great, except you may want to cut out the cereal for a banana or something. I stopped eating carbs from wheats after about 3:00pm and it has really helped me.

Thanks for the tip , yes the diet will probably need adjusting as i go along , but at the moment i eat most of my food after 6pm , huge evening meal usually and constant snacking , i also eat in the night which is a major problem and trying to stop that aint going to be easy , i believe its a disorder call NES - night time eating syndrome , its been going on for years and i always wake with hunger in the night.

Try salads. It doesn't matter if you don't like them. You will learn to.

I started off at 20 stone and they worked a treat for me. Not eating dinner worked real well for me too.

And I still drink beer and wine but resist the munchies.

Try a small portion of protein before bed...should help with nighttime hunger.

Thanks for all the tips ,

Had lunch today at 2pm , went to the supermarket to buy something and after looking around at filled rolls and sanies i opted for a Chicken Pasta Salad , healthy choice version , 330 calories , 7.5g fat, saturates 0.7g , sugars 5.5g and salt 0.7g , i really craved a sandwhich but resisted as most were about the 450 calorie mark. I resisted something sweet and my usual packet of mcoys and tin of pop , so feel quite pleased with myself.

So im planning a couple of boiled eggs with 3 roast beef slices i bought at 45 cals a slice with some lettuce, tomato and cucumber. With the beef slices then technically i aint missing out on my Sunday roast :)

When you say supper you mean eating something after dinner right?

I don't suggest skipping meals, your eating habit sound very close to mine. If you are anything like me, your downfall is probably feeling hungry! I tried the skipping meals things which led to extreme binge eating.

For me, I just try to avoid feeling hungry. I do avoid all carbs from breads after 3:00pm and try to avoid them with fruit too. Though I do have a banana for dessert.

I don't know if this will work for you but I did the Sonoma diet (pretty much the Mediterranean with slight variations) starting with wave 2 (it was too hard for me to avoid all carbs) and I follow the Paleo for dinners. So no cheese or bread with dinner. I actually also avoid dairy after breakfast as well. I also found that having my biggest meal at breakfast curbed a lot of hunger but you might feel different. My co-worker is dong the same thing but her biggest meal is at lunch.

Just try to find what works for you!

Another tip for starting out, is if you do eat a sandwich. Take off the top piece of bread and eat it with a fork and knife.

You eat it much slower that way and realize you are full faster but still get you sandwich fix. And obviously taking off the top piece of bread gives you less carbs!

Hi Patlib ,

Thanks for the advice , yes supper is eaten about half an hour to an hour before bed, its usually a binge for me but no more !

ive just had my salad and included beetroot which seems very low calorie, it was quite filling but i have to say i missed the carbs, nearly got a couple of slices of bread and butter at one stage but again resisted the temptation. now the long wait till brekkie begins :( , sure ill make it, either way ill post how tonite goes

You'll rock it Stu. I'm British by the way. Living in the US. But currently traveling on work in Turkey for two weeks.

Nuts.

Thanks for the encouragement Ian

Well to say that was a long night !

And im afraid i ate 2 bannanas on the night one at 1.30am and one at about 4am , the hunger pains were relentless and i couldnt sleep because of them , i feel bad but at least it was fruit , will try and cut off my supply tonight as i cant be trusted at the moment, just had breakfast , one slice of brown toast with thin spreading of butter and a small bowl of savoury rice with a cup of tea with skimmed milk, i did plan for cereal but had to go run my dad to the airport this morning so i actually had breakfast at my parents, but tommorow ill be on cereal, i opted for fruit and fibre so we will see how that goes , have an apple in my pocket for a snack and planning soup at lunch and an evening meal of beans on brown toast with sliced tomato

Well i lost but it was not much , only 2 pounds , i think i started well but my old habits keep coming back , im trying but things aint going good and its a constant struggle , If i eat good threw the day then my hunger after six pm is so painful its nearly unbearable , dont really know what i can do apart from cut of the supply and keep no food in the house ,

Good effort Stu. Have you thought about a boiled egg instead of those bananas if you do need a night time snack?

Just 70 calories and a great source of protein.

Or a tin of cockles? I love cockles but they are 7 quid a tin in the US. I still buy them though!

Super high in protein and quite low in calories.

Thanks Ian , ill try your tip and battle on , there is bound to be upsets and times it goes off track but ill keep fighting , just away for a walk then some weights later , then my tuna salad for dinner , cant wait :)

There is a book called 'The Beck Diet Solution' that you may find helpful. It teaches you to change your behaviors around eating. You try something new each day, such as sitting down when you eat, not eating in front of the television, ect. I read something in there that has helped me immensely when it comes to feeling hunger. It said that some people panic when they feel hungry, which I used to do and to remind yourself and your body that you aren't starving, you do have a source of food and that you will not die just because you feel hungry. It's a natural response that is just a bit out of control for some of us. If I can tell myself 1) that I'm going to be able to eat in 3-4 hours and 2) that your body is using its own fat as fuel when I'm hungry, it helps. Just wanted to pass that along and also say that 2lbs is a great start! You learn as you go and it's just important not to give up. Best of luck to you :)