Dieting

S

Sierra

Registered User
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Hi

I need to lose alot of weight quickly, say about 1 stone 12 lbs in five & a half weeks. Can I do this healthily? There are alot of conflicting ideas about what I can & cannot eat, potatoes, no potatoes, bread, no bread. So therefore I would like the benefit of your knowledge. Now I know about fruit, veg & increasing daily exercise. Since I've increased on all these I don't require advice on these.

1. Are all forms of bread fattening or would 'Light' while bread or granary bread be okay. Is Pitta bread okay.

2. Are all crispbreads okay or would you only recommend Rivita. I bought some other brand the other day 'Cracottes' or some similar spelling. Are these okay if you can figure out which brand I mean.

3. Is low far cheddar cheese okay & is feta cheese okay?

4. Are low cal fizzy drinks or flavoured water okay.

5. Is there much difference in the calorie contact of the low fat milk & the Supermilk with low fat content but with added vitamins. I want to lose weight. not damage my health & think the added vitamins may be necessary.

6. Are potatoes okay or is it just if you smother it with butter or other topping that it's bad.

7. Is low cal mayonnaise okay.

8. Are low fat sausages okay. What about ham and rashers?

9. Is low fat yogurt okay?

10. Is there a low fat gravy I can buy?

Please any other advice on the do's & dont's of dieting would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you plan to lose weight then the best thing to do is adopt a WeightWatchers style approach and get more exercise. You don't have to go to WeightWatchers (and pay the €8 or whatever it is each week just to be weighed!) but you can find information about how to calculate the WW style "points" (reflecting the fat, carbohydrate, calorie etc. content of the food) online and do it yourself as long as you can motivate yourself. A colleague of mine did it this way by himself (although he wasn't great about getting additional exercise - i.e. in addition to the none that he was already doing!) and lost quite a bit of weight. He tracked his progress through weighing at the start and end of the day and plotted his weight and food intake using Excel. It was interesting to see that his weight behaved like a step function with several days of no change then a perceptible drop when the weight disappeared. Ultimately the WW approach helps you to control your food intake usually through a varied and balanced diet and if you get exercise then you will undoubtedly lose excess weight. Hope that helps.
 


Bascially if a food item has 3g of fat per 100g then it is considered a low fat food. Many foods labelled ‘low fat’ actually have quite a lot more than 3g of fat per 100g. So you would need to check labels.



As far as I am aware bread is ok as long as you eat it in moderation, Baguettes have a lot of calories though and are the same as eating several slices of bread.



Flavoured water has a lot of additives and the sugar in the flavor adds unwanted and unneeded calories. The no added sugar miwadi etc. is ok to use in small doeses. Some Diet fizzy drink have calories. Diet Club Orange for example has something like 20 calories per can. Diet Coke has none.



Again, with low fat sausages, rashers etc, you need to check the calorie / fat content on the pack.



Low fat chunky fruit yoghurts by yoplait are 0% fat, and taste nice.
 
Cracottes would be the same points wise as Ryvita i think and not quite as "cardboardy"

granary bread is better than white sliced but still not great, try the weight watchers bread, its as thin as paper but is nice toasted

try go for laughing cow or a low fat cheese spread, these are better than low fat cheddar which is still fairly bad

Go for skimmed milk ( a doctor recommended I drink this years ago rather than low fat because I love my milk but was trying to lose weight )

try to eat plenty of fish because its much lower fat than red meat, or else chicken or turkey.

Potatoes are ok in moderation, if mashing use skimmed milk and no butter, if roasting buy the no cal spray oil

Go for the extra light mayo

hope that helps, let us know how you get on!

Sorry i just noticed......are you really trying to lose 1 stone 12lbs in 5 weeks??? Doesnt sound very achievable to me, unless you try Atkins which having tried it myself I wouldnt recommend. But good luck to you anyway and if you do manage to lose that much in the 5 weeks let me know how you do it!!!!!
 
Thanks alot for the advice so far. I bought some of the 'Light' white sliced bread pans, can't remember who makes them, some big name. Is it okay?

Yeah tml

I'm in a competition to see who can lose the most amount of weight in a given time & the reward is great. A previous winner lost 13 kilos in 8-9 weeks. I've lost about half a stone so for. I reckon to be in with a chance I need to be aiming to lose around that amount if it is possible. I'll try my best anyway. It's a great incentive anyway.

I've heard that Weightwatcher meals are very high in salt content so I only really eat their pizzas & occasionally their salmon dish. I don't want to lose a tonne of weight & have my blood pressure shot to high doe.
 
The only safe way to lose a stone in weith in five weeks is to go to a nutrionist or personal trainer and not do it yourself; unless you are looking to put the weight back on shortly after the five weeks!

You will need plenty of exercise and good advice about food - this is mostly a forum about money matters, how can you put your health between our hands?!!

No offense to anyone on the forum by the way, I do appreciate your opinions but only as part of the big picture.
 
Sounds quite dangerous to me - See your doctor beforehand at a minimum - Any chance that you could negotiate a change to the rules for the bet to extend the timescale to 6 months or 12 months? This would be a lot more healthy, and a lot more effective in the long term.
 
The most "fat" most people's body can cope with losing is aorund a kilo a week

Anything more than that and your body goes into a defensive situation and starts to lose muscle also, a type of hibernation effect

That is the reason why most fad diets do not work

Losing muscle obviously means that you are not losing fat and therefore although your weight is coming down so is your metabolism
Meaning you require less food so when you go bacl to eating normally you would put on weight

If it is a competition although not the most sensible thing to do, it should not have any long term effect on your health

It you really want to lose the weight for a weigh-in, you will "lose" 2/3 kilos on the last day by dehydrating and starving yourself
(We should drink around 2/3 lirtes of water per day, this equates to 2/3 kilos in weight)
Again in a one-off situation this should not effect you long term
Try losing it evenly/healthly over the 5 weeks and then push yourself on the day before and day of weigh-in

This is how boxers and other sportspeople who are required to hit certain weight targets would do it (excepy jockeys, there freaks)

stuart@buyingtolet.ie
 
Hi

Thanks for your answers. I inadvertantly misled youse a bit. I had another look at the brochure & it wasn't 13 kilos the last winner lost in nine weeks but eight/nine kilos. That corresponds to 2 kilo a weeks which is 4 pounds thereabouts.

Now no-one says I have to lose this much to win but everyone I think got a brochure & everyone I think will use this past winners attainment as an indication of what it takes thereabouts to be in with a chance of winning, this time it could require less, it could require more.

Even I'm now beginning to question the sense of offering such huge prize money for losing the most amount of weight over such a short period. I think Ben Dunnes approach is much better i.e. giving people six months to lose the weight mind you I think he's let himself in for alot of winners given that it only requires losing a stone.

Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I wouldn't risk my health for any sum but some might. Therefore I'm beginning to wonder is opening up people to such temptation without being aware of their weaknesses & mindset foolhardy.

Rainyday

I only joined the classes are few weeks ago. I don't feel I'm in a position to dictate to them over the rules, after all the're not telling anybody to lose a specific amount of weight, just who loses the most weight which is all very relative & up to each individual. I'm not sure how long they've been running this competition but obviously nothing has gone wrong yet as far as the're aware.

Stuart

How very interesting, thank you for your feedback. Only think is I've a big workout on the day of my weight in, I hope I don't collapse. Back to the gym this evening.
 
Hi Sierra - I didn't realise that it was part of a class. Is this class run by one of the known organisations, like Weight Watchers or Unislim or similar?
 

Hi Sierra,

The answer to "can I lose x amount of weight in x amount of time" is entirely dependent on a number of different factors. One is your current weight, how long you've been at that weight, your level of fitness etc...
No one here is going to be able to answer that. That is why you're hearing different views on the subject. Only a professional can answer that question for you.

1. Are all forms of bread fattening or would 'Light' while bread or granary bread be okay. Is Pitta bread okay.
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White bread contains complex carbohydrates. Steer clear. Eat brown bread.

3. Is low far cheddar cheese okay & is feta cheese okay?
Click to expand...

The words 'low fat' are bandied about a lot these days. Cheese is high in fat period.

6. Are potatoes okay or is it just if you smother it with butter or other topping that it's bad.
Click to expand...

In moderation potatoes are fine. No more than three with your evening meal.

7. Is low cal mayonnaise okay.
Click to expand...

It's better than full fat mayo...but it's still mayonaisse!!! Still fatty.

Please any other advice on the do's & dont's of dieting would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Okay so...but you asked for it. ALL DIETS ARE A FAD!

ALL OF THEM!!!

There you go...that's my advice.
If you're serious about losing weight and keeping it off then change your lifestyle and your eating habits. Apply common sense. Yes, light mayo is better than full fat, but it's still not that good for you. Supplementing low fat versions of your favourite foods is not always the best way to lose weight.

Eating better, healthier foods and exercising regularly is the slow, painful and much more fulfilling way to lose weight and keep it off. Trying to lose x amount of weight in 5 weeks is sometimes bad for you and generally results in you putting all that weight back on and some more (despite what you might think).

Sorry if any of that sounds negative.
 
RainyDay

Is this class run by one of the known organisations, like Weight Watchers or Unislim or similar?
Click to expand...

Yes the class is run by a known organisation but nothing like you've described. I'm not big into those kind of orgs. It's actually a dance class, a far more fun way to lose weight if you ask me.

Gabriel

Thank you for your input & no you're not being negative, just direct, which I appreciate.

Perhaps I should explain, my weight gain was actually due to comfort eating after my fathers death when I was put through very trying times of a litigious nature which I'm not fully out of yet.

Okay you may think that is no excuse but I don't drink, smoke or take drugs but I do enjoy my food & tend to turn to food should I be particularly upset & need solace. Hell I'm not perfect but this might explain things a bit. Anyway I'm not huge, about 3 stone thereabouts over what I should be & I am doing something about it now.
 
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