Let's lose a bit of weight

[di]

I've just done my exercise DVD (see above). Wow. I have no co-ordination whatsoever!
I'm so grateful I was in my sitting room, not in a class, lol

I'm running with sweat & I've kicked the sofa a few times, but it's exhilarating.. oh no, now the evil cow is making us do press-ups

LOL.I got the Cher workout years ago....the aerobic dance bit was totally impossible(for me!)...I think I probably burnt as many calories as I should have by trying to keep up,but no way were my arms and legs going to suss which direction they should have been going in!

Which one have you got?

[OverWyreGrower]

Well, I didn't have any chocolate yesterday, instead, I had 2 small scoops of my favourite ice cream after tea....

[smallblueplanet]

...

Diet plans like Atkins are the saviour of many a person. If you look at it carefully (ie read the book) you will see that it is not at all crazy but a diet for life. The word diet is only a shorthand for what we eat after all.

But they are NOT the saviour as you can see when people talk about going on them again or trying a different one! (The Atkins one is not recommended long term anyway I thought?)

I'd have thought if you were really obese that cutting down your portion size and cutting out most cr@ppy food/drink should have a reasonably quick result...perhaps its only the diet sellers that would have you believe otherwise!

[piskieinboots]

...I'd have thought if you were really obese that cutting down your portion size and cutting out most cr@ppy food/drink should have a reasonably quick result......

..and getting at least 30 mins exercise a day

[Alison]

But they are NOT the saviour as you can see when people talk about going on them again or trying a different one! (The Atkins one is not recommended long term anyway I thought?)

I'd have thought if you were really obese that cutting down your portion size and cutting out most cr@ppy food/drink should have a reasonably quick result...perhaps its only the diet sellers that would have you believe otherwise!

The one that really gets me is the stomach reduction surgery you hear people on the TV saying that they've lost all this weight as a result of the surgery when really it's cos they've eaten less as the band (or staples or whatever) doesn't let them eat more. Surgery like that is dangerous and it's a shame that such people can't be given the motivation without resorting to such barabic means

[di]

But they are NOT the saviour as you can see when people talk about going on them again or trying a different one! (The Atkins one is not recommended long term anyway I thought?)

I'd have thought if you were really obese that cutting down your portion size and cutting out most cr@ppy food/drink should have a reasonably quick result...perhaps its only the diet sellers that would have you believe otherwise!

I think they have their place...not everybody finds it possible to just cut down.Having a list of what you can eat and knowing that anything else is out of bounds,just for those few weeks really does help some people to kick start their weight loss.
Of course it's not ideal,but if it helps some then short term is there really anything wrong with it?(other,of course,than the fact that people are making their miollions out of selling the books/foods/DVD's etc etc!)

I already mentioned earlier that I put on lots of weight after having Ash.I'd got into the habit of having "just a little" of this and that...just a few too many times in the day.What worked for me was following a strict two week plan from a mag,it told me what I could have for breakfast dinner and tea and two or three allowed snacks in between...no way could I have done it for more than two weeks,but that restriction was exactly what I needed to retrain my body as to what it needed to keep going.

Whatever method people choose...Keep it up!

[annacruachan]

But they are NOT the saviour as you can see when people talk about going on them again or trying a different one! (The Atkins one is not recommended long term anyway I thought?)

I'd have thought if you were really obese that cutting down your portion size and cutting out most cr@ppy food/drink should have a reasonably quick result...perhaps its only the diet sellers that would have you believe otherwise!

The difficulty, as I said earlier, is a psychological one. When eating for comfort is the way one usually deals with stress, it takes some stern determination to change when life falls in on your head. Some people do do it, and I am full of admiration for them since I know what a superhuman effort it requires, but many of us, having had initial success, fall back into old habits. It's not the diet that is at fault, but the individual psyche.

I would imagine that most gardeners do not fall into the obese category, and neither do I. It has been 40 years since two miscarriages and two babies in three years piled the weight on for me, and it has been my experience that the measures you suggest do not have a reasonably quick result. As an ex-healthcare professional I am no more convinced by the commercial diet gangsters than you are, but there are methods which work, one of them being Atkins which with its three stages is indeed a healthy way to lose and maintain weight. That I have not managed it yet is a reflection on me, not on Dr Atkins.

I would add that I don't eat crappy food but love my homemade bread and homegrown spuds - ie I have a carbohydrate problem. This is what Atkins sets out to change.

[Two_Sheds]

I think Atkins is onto something

Why carbs make you fat

We need to eat about 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat if I remember rightly.
But if you have a tuna sandwich for instance, that's what, more like 80% bread and 20% tuna? If that?
Baked potato and beans: 80/20 again
Toast & jam: 99% carbs?

We eat too many carbs.

I think the lunchtime carbs can be balanced out if you say "no carbs after 5pm" and have fish or chicken & salad or something, and follow a semi-Atkins plan.

[OverWyreGrower]

Why carbs make you fat

We need to eat about 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat if I remember rightly.
But if you have a tuna sandwich for instance, that's what, more like 80% bread and 20% tuna? If that?
Baked potato and beans: 80/20 again
Toast & jam: 99% carbs?

We eat too many carbs.

I think the lunchtime carbs can be balanced out if you say "no carbs after 5pm" and have fish or chicken & salad or something, and follow a semi-Atkins plan.

See, I find not eating/lowering my intake of carbs very difficult. I'd struggle on the Atkins plan as although I'm not a veggie, I don't eat a huge amount of meat.

I tend to eat carbs at nearly every meal!

[smallblueplanet]

...That I have not managed it yet is a reflection on me, not on Dr Atkins.

I would add that I don't eat crappy food but love my homemade bread and homegrown spuds - ie I have a carbohydrate problem. This is what Atkins sets out to change.

But you say that the fault is "yours not Atkins"! Well why not say the fault is "yours not healthy, moderate eating & drinking"?

Why do you need Atkins when you know what your problem is? Sorry I can't see what good 'faddy eating' does - if someone has a psychological problem that manifests itself in over eating/drinking then that should be dealt with seperately.

[smallblueplanet]

Remember the big picture: Populations that stick to traditional high-carbohydrate diets (for example, Asian rice-based diets) typically have low rates of obesity and diabetes.

Why the Vegan Diet is Best - Diabetes Health

So how does that work then according to Atkins?

[piskieinboots]

I would struggle to give up carbs, in fact I would struggle to give up any one single food group - not struggle through lack of will power, but struggle because I believe we need a very good mixed 'diet'.

I try to keep to a low-fat(ish) way of eating, but for health rather than any weight loss thoughts.

Portion control and exercise is my chosen (proven) method.

[Two_Sheds]

A study in Australia .. found that the Atkins diet is, along with Weight Watchers, the most successful of all time; slimmers lose on average 11 pounds in two months on the carbohydrate-free diet. Atkins: A diet you can trust? - Healthy Living, Health & Families - The Independent

[annacruachan]

But you say that the fault is "yours not Atkins"! Well why not say the fault is "yours not healthy, moderate eating & drinking"?

Why do you need Atkins when you know what your problem is? Sorry I can't see what good 'faddy eating' does - if someone has a psychological problem that manifests itself in over eating/drinking then that should be dealt with seperately.

Why are you so angry about this? You are free to eat as you please - and so am I. Many people don't find it as easy as you obviously do, but that does not mean that your way is right for everyone.
Eating is one way that the body deals with stress. If everyone with this way of dealing with stress consulted a psychologist the majority of the population would be in therapy.

[smallblueplanet]

A study in Australia .. found that the Atkins diet is, along with Weight Watchers, the most successful of all time; slimmers lose on average 11 pounds in two months on the carbohydrate-free diet. Atkins: A diet you can trust? - Healthy Living, Health & Families - The Independent

That isn't a link to the study, just someone who's a 'convert' ranting about it...

There was no way I was going to cut out fruit, though. This is one of the things you are supposed to do in the initial stages, in order to achieve the state of "ketosis" � whereby your body starts burning its fat stores. I was put right off that when I met a girl who was in ketosis � not only did she stink (ketosis produces foul-smelling chemicals called ketones), she told me she was miserable because of it: I wasn't prepared to suffer that much to be thin.
After a painless fortnight eating fewer carbs, the weight started to come off. I became an Atkins zealot: this marvellous thing had made me thinner and feel better, and I wanted to tell everyone about it.
But there grew a steady chorus of opposition to the Atkins concept. Evidence emerged that staying on the diet for too long was bad for your kidneys � it became pretty much the most controversial thing you could do with food.

I think I'd rather not...