Hi everyone
As a newbie to the site I've spent lots of time today flicking around and looking at at the advice which has been great! however, I am now enlightened and feel a bit of an idiot LOL. I have been feeling very smug about my calorie counting and weight loss until the last few weeks when I didnt seem to be loosing anything at all. I was certain that I was sticking to the 1200 calories I allowed myself daily, but decided just to check that I was indeed sticking to that hard and fast er........rule!

My diet is varied and full of fresh fruit and veg, yet I still cant seem to shift the last 7 pounds, that is until I realised that the 3 x bananas I ate a day AND the rather large handful of pistachio nuts ( roasted and salted of course!) counted for about 800 calories on their own. I have now banished both from my daily diet and wanted to share with you what an idiot I've been *sigh* its no wonder I put on a pound this week!!!!!!!!

Its such a great site and I look forward to visiting often.

I call bananas the bread/cake of the jungle! And nuts?! I love them but they add up soooo fast.

Come join in the featherweights. Lots of folks are struggling with those stubborn last few pounds.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158088

Thanks for that SusanB, see you in Featherweights :-)

I most definitely keep bananas and nuts in my diet. Nuts daily, bananas close to daily. But you do have to watch portions! You're gonna do great!

I had no idea about bananas being so calorie dense at first either, Rhymie! When I first started making smoothies in the morning I punched all of my fruit weights into The Daily Plate and realized I had 125 calories of just banana in there, and that was when I was trying to keep the whole thing to 250-300 with milk, yogurt, fruit & protein powder!

I love pistachio nuts too, but can't eat them on their own or I go overboard. I have a trail mix that has pistachio, almond & dried cherry. I eat that when I can to satisfy the nut craving!

Good luck! There are a lot of great resources here!

I would not cut banana out of your diet all together. Just cut back to one banana a day. You did say you were eating 3 bananas a day didn't you??? I try to eat a banana every day (well, work day anyways). I have one for my mid-morning snack. And i never had trouble losing weight. It just kept my potassium levels up and filled me up until lunch time. Same with nuts. I wouldn't cut them out of your diet all together but just add them in like 3 times a week and make sure you measure out a single serving portion.

Thanks so much ladies! I am well stocked at work today with Satsumas instead LOL. I'll keep bananas to 3 times a week and a handful of nuts very occasionally. what do you suggest is the correct portion weight?

Oh nuts! Love em'. But I can't do them "moderately" and they add up SOOOOO quickly, so I tend to stay away from them.

And yes, those bananas are yummy - and caloric. Since I've become a calorie snob, the only way I will do bananas is to cut them up when they're good and ripe and put them in the freezer on a cookie sheet. When they're frozen I remove them from the sheet and put them in a plastic container. They are PHENOMENAL!!! Like banana ice cream. I will take one or 2 pieces. It's incredibly satisfying and I don't have to eat an entire banana at one sitting. I urge you to try them. My teenaged kids adore them too. And my husband. And anyone who walks in my home and I force to eat them.

I don't think you're an idiot. I've been doing this well over 2 years now and there's plenty of stuff I'm still learning. And I suspect I will keep on learning for years to come. Hopefully anyway.

Glad to have you here at 3FC. Come on and pop over into the Maintainers' Forum as well. Hope to see you around.

An ounce of nuts is a serving. The number of nuts in an ounce varies depending on the nuts, and of course, the calories vary as well.

I sometimes have 1/3 a banana in the morning. If you just cut off 1/3 without peeling the banana, the cut end seals over naturally pretty quickly, and the rest is still good.

Jay

To echo what everyone else has said, nuts and bananas are incredibly healthy and chock full of all kinds of nutrients, and there is no reason to avoid them completely. However, since you need a calorie deficit to lose weight, you should watch how many you're eating. Try sticking with 1 banana and 1 ounce of nuts per day.