Getting back to losing weight

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 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.

Bellasnana I haven't noticed my appetite reducing as I've got older! If only

Nellie as you've lost heart with 5:2 why not try something like low-carb or calorie-counting (say 1500 a day) just to get you going again.

Jings adding a few spices or new ingredients isn't fancy cooking. To stop fish or chicken being boring I sometimes add a few pieces of chorizo sausage.

Yesterday in the slow cooker I put, starting from the bottom of the dish, sliced red onion, drained tin of cannellini beans, half can of chopped tomatoes, bit of tomato puree, cubed frozen cod loins and chunks of chorizo and salt and pepper. I do the same with chicken thighs.

It's really tasty, full of protein, so easy and not boring!

Thank you riverwalk. I'm sure that is very nice, but as I'm suffering from GORD at the moment, onions and anything tomato-ey are off the list for me. This does make cooking very restricted. For anyone else it would be lovely though.

I am sticking with meat and two veg cooking. It served us for years. I brought up three healthy children on it. I will continue to simply cut calories.

Looking back, I am sure my weight increase from 8st 4 to present day 9st 12, has been down to too much cake!

Jing I am trying to get to your weight now, that's a stone off for me. Can we swap bodies for a bit ?

Since Friday, I have cut all sugar out of my diet. No more cakes, biscuits, sugar in tea and coffee. I don't very often drink soft drinks anyway; when it's not wine, it's water - so now, it's just water! I have also cut right down on bread and potatoes - giving up sugar is hard enough so I'm not prepared to go the whole hog. Yet. Needless to say, I am not my usual little bundle of joy and laughter at the moment, and we are going out for a meal to celebrate DH's b'day this evening, so I will have to BE STRONG! .

That is brilliant Greyduster. Do join us on the low-carb thread for ideas and support.
We don't eat out very often, but have found it relatively easy to miss out the heavy carbs.
Remember to enjoy the cheese course!

Riverwalk I think its more a matter of feeling un motivated and having been greedy on holiday and cheating that is the problem.
I have also been eating portions of cereal that are just too big. Portion control is very important
I am doing a 500 cals today. Then I can have a toasted cheese etc tomorrow as long as I don't over eat 1200 cals.

Good on you greyduster - and do allow yourself a small glass of wine a couple of times a week.

I am not at all surprised that people still eat 3 meals a day! You are supposed to be hungry when you eat. If you spend your time grazing you eat far more than you think, you eat without feeling hungry and you are constantly thinking of food.
My first meal will be breakfast which is a bowl of porridge- I then won't even think of food again until lunch - which is a sandwich or soup or similar with fruit. I then don't need to think about food again until the evening meal.
I do have chocolate at some time in the evening but never more than one, or one square.
Once you stop snacking it is easy.

I do have wine occasionally, but not generally during the week.

I think it is misleading to think that on the 5 days of the 5:2 diet you can eat as much as you like. When I did it, while not counting calories on the non-fast days, I did keep an eye on how much I was eating and tried to eat a bit less than normal.

I am fortunate that I do not have a sweet tooth, so biscuits, sweets, desserts etc have no appeal to me anyway. I also LOVE vegetables, which means I can always bulk up meals with vegetables.

I do eat much less than I did before the menopause - but that is when my weight started rising and my usual measures of calorie reduction and more exercise didn't work. I tried a low carb diet twice, but on each occasion it made me really unwell and the unwellness went away as soon as I ate some carbs. This, for me, is the advantage of the 5;2 diet it is not prescriptive about the food you eat, just the quantities.

Well it is just over a week since I started the thread and I have to say it has been very encouraging to know many others are working at losing weight with me. It's like being in a Slimming club but not having to pay for it.

I have generally followed the NHS Choices Eating Plan, however I haven't counted calories but I have reduced all my portions, cut down on alcohol, walked every day and bought myself a rather cute smaller plate to eat from.

I weighed myself this morning and have lost 2 lbs.

My aim is to get to 10 stone so that is 13lbs to go.

I will leave it a week or two before I do my blood pressure again in order to keep the Doctor quiet.

Onward and downward hopefully.

As usual I've been away for a couple of weeks and my weight has gone up half a stone. I was determined to maintain the 9 1/2 stone I was at prior to the holiday. Really annoyed with myself.

Holidays are everybody's downfall. I am currently 5;2ing as the result of eating over enthusiastically on holiday.

We have guests and family this weekend and we are eating out tommorrow evening and I am planning a feast on Saturday. This is bad, because when everyone else is stuffing their faces eating their fill, I will do it too! And !! I've been very good since last Friday, and I lost a pound (do I hear hoots of derision?) but it will be coming back to the fold soon! I will begin again when everyone has gone home and hope to stay on track!

Well 1lb is a start! Actually in the early days of low-carbing you can get a lot of variation with fluid retention so your clothes feel looser before the scales change much. I think with visitors all you can do is try and keep portions small (yours obvs!)

I have been going Slimming World for nearly five yrs four at target. It's good healthy eating and a change of lifestyle not a diet. I'm proof that it is sustainable for life and it's on of the best decisions I've ever made.

Well I have lost 4lbs since starting this thread and already feel my clothes looser around my waist.

I have started using a smaller plate to eat my meals on and just reducing the portion size of everything I eat.

11 more pounds to go.

Hopefully I will have managed to reduce my blood pressure.

I started low carb in January and have maintained it effortlessly - even on holiday. My cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure have all reduced immensely, but the most amazing result is that for two weeks now I have not taken my daily dose of Omeprazole because I was beginning to suspect I could manage without. And I have had no problems! I've been taking it for years and usually just taking my dosage late would cause me discomfort, so to have done without altogether feels pretty much amazing to me. I think that one 'diet' doesn't suit everybody, but low carb is definitely the one for me - I don't even think of it as a diet, it's just become a lifestyle.

Well done grannyactivist.
I agree about the effortlessness of the low-carb way of eating. Twenty months for us and all the benefits you list above. We have both maintained target weight for about eight months now and have been able to add back small portions of new potatoes and durum wheat pasta into our diet.
Tomorrow I am going to the doctor to see if I can cut out my BP medication completely. I stopped half of the combined tablet three months ago and my BP has stayed at 100/70 so I am hoping for the best!

That doesn't surprise me GA I was only an occasional sufferer from 'heartburn' but haven't had one single attack since starting on low carb, and it's been many months now.

Since I posted in early September, I lost half a stone, principally by cutting down drastically on sugar, and not eating so many carbohydrates. Then we had visitors and it went to pot a bit! Then we spent this weekend with friends we only see once or twice a year and they feasted us. It seemed churlish to refuse! But I'm only a couple of pounds off track, so onward and upward! I have a friend who has gone not a low carb diet and it seems to be working for him.

I agree Greyduster an occasional falling off the wagon is allowed as long as you get straight back on. I too am almost on half a stone and it is lovely to pull my trousers on with ease.