Getting back to losing weight

I think those of us who have been on a low-carb way of eating would describe it as moderate fat. You do need to eat good fats from natural sources, like olive oil and you do need to avoid the artificial fats. Because you don't eat sugar or refined flour you avoid the fat/carb combination in cakes, biscuits, puddings. You don't eat much butter if you don't eat bread!
In fact I think the single most important message is "eat real food". I don't need to look at labels because by and large I don't buy much food with labels on (tinned toms excepted).
I completely agree that it is not generally suited to quick meals though. You do need time for planning and preparation. Having said that spag bol with courgetti is just as quick as the ordinary sort.

I agree that it is best to eat three lighter meals a day. You need to keep your blood sugar controlled.

For me, I was initially put off the low carb diet when it was described as a high fat, low carb diet. I think it is good to eat less carbs from bread and perhaps, potatos. But can't go along with high fat.

I find it hard to come up with enough protein components of a meal. I c.b.a. with fancy cooking, and I don't want to go overboard on the red meat. And ham and bacon is no longer good for us. That leaves eggs, chicken (boring) and fish (boring if not at least surrounded by by seeds).

I don't think it is a good idea to skip meals though, the three meals don't have to be huge and I would have thought three small meals spaced out over the day are better for you?
I am a genuinely a bit puzzled as to why people are reluctant to try the low-carb way of eating. We have found it easy to lose weight and easy to stick to with enormous health benefits. Why do people not want to try it?

Right now I seem to have lost motivation to continue the 5:2 diet to keep my weight stable. I piled the weight on when I was on holiday but I am having trouble sticking to the 2day 500cals.

Feeling right fed up generally might be part of the problem.

I am surprised that so many people still eat three meals a day. As we age, I believe we need less food, especially if we are not as physically active as in our youth. I know it is hard to break the habits of a lifetime, but it is possible to adapt if you really want to.

My advice is stop the grazing. You eat far more than you think. Stick to 3 meals a day, smaller portions, cut out processed food and then you can eat what you like.

I feel for you Rowantree it sounds that like me you really enjoy your food. I love a proper roast dinner too.

My new take on this problem is to still have what you want but reduce the size, so half a piece of cheesecake, one chocolate etc. having said that I am better having no sweets and chocs because I must be addicted to them and once I start it is hard to stop.

If we go out for coffee and cake, we buy one cake and I have a third of it and hubby two thirds. I sometimes just want the taste of something not the quantity.

I want to be about for my GSs and that spurs me on to really being serious about weight loss.

I think the 5:2 is a slow weight loss diet only an out 1 pound a week. Only weigh yourself after the second fast day of each week, not every day.

I really need to lose several stones :-(

I'm 5 foot nothing and obese - about 78kg, whatever that is in old money. I've been on the 5/2 diet for ages but the weight bounces back again, even though I've now added two fierce gym workouts to my week's efforts and more walking if I can do it (9 weeks ago I did no exercise at all to speak of). Still very little change :-(

On non fast days I keep vowing NOT to eat bread and potatoes but today MIL did a roast beef dinner and I had 4 halves of roast potatoes with it, plus a slice of cheesecake for pud, a couple of chocs, some white wine and a piece of lemon cake earlier today.

On fast days I eat no breakfast or lunch and eat a light dinner of fish with salad or veggies, or homemade soup. I lose about 1/2-1 kilo on those days, then it creeps up again till the next fast day.

Very fed up - wondering if I have to fast EVERY day.....what now??

That is really kind of you MOnica. If I go down the route of 5.2 I will PM you.

Ten years ago I followed my own diet of less food and more exercise and I lost 3 stone. I have found out all my old notes on what I did then and am following it. I already feel less bloated and better with myself.

Keeping an eye on food consumption is an ongoing process.

The salmon and grilled tomatoes sounds nice so I will try that.

NanKate, we usually have 2 meals, one at lunch and one in the evening.
I have gathered recipes from the internet and adapted recipes I already have.

Our main meal at lunchtime will be something like a piece of salmon, grilled tomatoes and a few potatoes, or a veg stew, or a piece of fish with ratatouille. Our evening meal will be a salad of some kind or home made vegetable soup and a roll. DH has mild diabetes so usually has his 100 extra calories as a breakfast of a scrambled egg or grilled rasher of bacon with tomato.

If you want to know more, pm me and I will let you have some of my recipes.

The 5:2 diet, even my husband joins in which makes it easier.
Lots of meals accompanied strangely by stir fried veg as cooked in the diet book, which leave you full AND mean you've had your 5 a day. A pack of Biltong handy in my bag for when I get the desperate munchies and walking. It's amazing how, when I'm on holiday and we walk far more than usual, it doesn't seem to matter what I eat. I didn't believe the 5:2 till I tried it, but it has the added bonus that you remember what you need to eat even when the book is not to hand.

Thanks Chelsea 500 calories sounds minuscule to me.

At present I am eating less of everything and at my weigh in next Thursday I will see if any of those pesky pounds have vanished.

I got on ok with the 5:2 diet until DH said he wanted to do it with me. Quite honestly, counting all his calories as well as mine was a pain. He doesn't like a lot of the foods that would make it easier for me and he doesn't need to do it. If I do it again, which is likely, I will insist on doing it on my own.

NanK??te, on the 2 fast days you eat what you like up to 500 calories . I tend to skip breakfast, cuppa soup for lunch, ready meal or hairy dieters meal in evening. Men get 600 calories. Michael Mosley and Kate Harrison have good websites and there is a support group on Facebook. In theory you eat normally on the other 5 days.

Greyduster
I see from the press that the Queen is a low-carber.

I may even try cauliflower mash !!

I have made up my mind to cut out as much sugar as I possibly can, cut down on the carbs and cut down on the drink although, in truth, i only drink on about three days a week and of late have started to go off wine unless I have a glass with a meal. If that doesn't work, I will go back to the 5:2 diet. Of course, it doesn't help if you are making and icing cakes, as I am this weekend, and like to lick the spoon, or if DH goes out and brings back a large tin of sweets. Curses !

One of the best bits of advice I had was to get a smaller plate!

I read Hannah Betts in todays Telegraph who says she has stopped drinking altogether (by her own account she was a monumental boozer) and has lost a stone and a half. I am going to cut my wine drinking down drastically and stay with the healthy food (some of Jamie's new recipes too) and exercise and see what happens.

Sorry - Marko

Oh, I think marco's quote from the bible is very good! Says it all really. (Perhaps not the knife to the throat bit though)

Thanks for the clear explanation of the low carb diet Mamie. I didn't really know what it was.

MOnica what do you eat on your 2 days please ?

Well, there we are, with helpful suggestions like the above all our weight problems are solved.

Personally, since my weight gain has had more to do with the hormonal changes of the menopause than gluttonously overeating and I have never been anything but a very light intermittent drinker, I will choose to ignore them and rely on the 5:2 diet. It works (for me) where all the alternatives failed.