Is there a point, where a healthy diet isn't?

[Cyclingwilly]

OK all, with my recent foray into the world of eMTB, I going to rekindle my weight loss plan, it's something my doctor suggested in January 2017. I have been eating quite sensibly over the last few years, with one treat per week, but my lack of ability to partake of very much physical activity, a little bit of weight has crept back on. For most of the last 3 years, I've been bang on 15 stone (95.25 in kilo's for the new school), but I'm drifting up towards 98kg, (weighed on May 22nd) . Since last Monday, I've been eating a very sensible diet, plenty of the usual, very little in the way of carbs and my weight has gone up to 101kg, I'm baffled, all I've had today is 2 slices of toast with lower fat spread, a banana and a few cups of coffee, my tea was Pak Choi and Broccoli with a little oyster sauce for flavour (not swimming in it) and a mug full of cooked rice. I'm not throwing beer down my neck, nor am I quenching my thirst with high sugar drinks like Coke/Pepsi etc.

Can it be a case where a person puts a little weight on at first when changing food habits, then the process commences after a week or two? I know 3 kilo's isn't much in the grand scheme of things, it's not quite a 3% increase, but the effort to carry it about takes it's toll. This time 4 years ago, I was close on 19 stone (over 120kg) and I'm immensely happy and proud of my weight loss, but this small set back of 3 kg has really got under my skin and annoyed me.
I had my tea at 6pm and I'm now starving

 

[Doomanic]

I've lost over 20KG since 12th Feb on the Keto diet.

 

[Doomanic]

very little in the way of carbs

Does not compute.

a mug full of cooked rice

High carb

2 slices of toast

High carb

banana

High carb

Are you tracking your food intake accurately, using an app like MyFitnessPal or CarbManager?

 

[Darren]

^ what he said - it's nearly all carbs you mentioned.
Cut out sugar in as many forms as you can manage; fruit, potatoes, rice, bread, beer, high sugar veg like onions etc
Also never choose low fat options - contrary to what it seems they are normally higher in sugar to compensate for the reduced fat. Choose full fat dairy too.
Fat does not make you fat - sugar is your enemy.

 

[Cyclingwilly]

Thank you for the heads up, the mug of rice was cooked brown rice and looked very little on the plate, I stopped having sugar in my coffee years ago, but use a sweetener these days, I couldn't say when I last had anything potato based and the toast I had was wholemeal, I'm going to have to do some research and keep a diary.

 

[Doomanic]

Warburtons Medium Wholemeal is 9g of carbs per slice. I have less than 22g of carbs per day.

Which sweetener do you use?

 

[Doomanic]

Get some scales. You'll be amazed/depressed at how small most portions of food are when accurately weighed.

 

[Cyclingwilly]

I use Canderel, Sweetex or Truvia, it depends what I can get and if I remember. I have some Salter/HoMedics kitchen scales and they are fairly accurate, I check weigh any foods I'm going to be cooking with. I also have bathroom scales, but I wonder how accurate they are, the ones in my local surgery have me at 2.5 kilos less on their scales than I am on mine. I normally buy Greek yoghurt, but am willing to listen to and take on board any suggestions.
With me being on several medications, I have to watch for certain foods and grapefruit is something I have to avoid, I have to take Tramadol and Naproxen for pain management, along with Amlodipine, Losartan and Ezitimebe, if when I can loose some weight, I hope to be able to cut back or even stop taking some of these meds, it would be a huge blessing if I could.

 

[#lazy]

If you like cooking then this should work !

 

[Cyclingwilly]

Thanks Lazy, I'll take a look at that book, as I live alone, there are times when I physically cannot be bothered or inclined to make anything, it's a crap situation, but hopefully the coming weeks will give me some ease and allow me to partake in real life.

 

[d3ftone]

Getting advice on this forum about diet probably isn't the best idea...

But I'll say +1 for a whole food plant based diet. Look at the work of Dr. Greger (nutritionfacts.org), Neal Barnard, Dean Ornish, Caldwell Esselstyn are a few of the best.

Best of luck!

 

[Bigxmtb]

Take it from someone whos been much much heavier than you im currently down 56kg with still a little way to get to my target but heres few things I did and still do.

Weight fluctuations are natural as your body stabilises to the new diet and that often depends on how rapid you lost weight to begin with. The diet that worked best for me was high carb breakfast such as porridge with some fruit in, a lunch of some kind of protein usually chicken or a fish with either small amount of rice or sweet potatos and the same for dinner. Just control portion sizes is usually the key. A tactic i used initially when I was struggling to control portion sizes was I was only allowed a meal if it fit in a bowl, the bowl was about half the size of my standard plates so it worked perfectly for me but it did limit me to certain meals. I even had stir fry every day for lunch and dinner for months just changing which meat I had every week and prepping it all in advanced.

Someone else suggested a plant based diet, if you can do that its probably one of the best routes for weight loss but honestly I wouldnt be able to survive without a nice bit of meat () every now and then.

Just have to find something that works for you.

Most importantly DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. Wake up have a pint of water before anything get the system woken up and pretty much every meal do the same. Good luck with it though.

 

[Doomanic]

It’s important to pick a diet that is sustainable. The only effective diet is one that you can stick to.
Keto works for me because there’s no cheat days/foods. When I’ve tried other days the cheat days get more and more frequent until I’m no longer dieting and then the weight gradually goes back on. I also get to eat all sorts of foods that most diets don’t allow; eggs and bacon for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do. Pork scratchings? Oh, go on then. Cheese? Yes please.

I do miss bread, chips, chocolate and pasta. I don’t miss the gut.

 

[simonk]

Eating fat, can of course, make you fat. When you eat fat your body has only two options for dealing with it, burn in for energy if neither carbs nor excess protein is available, or store it as body fat. Overeating fat as your main calorie source generally translates to fat gain.

Diets are highly individualistic so you have to find what works for you. I adopted a low fat diet around summer last year after some gall bladder problems and to date have lost around 14Kg. I’ve just had my gall bladder taken out but plan on keeping up the low fat diet as it’s just worked for us as a family. I’ve not paid any attention to protein, carbohydrate or sugar intake.

Get some proper dietary advice would be my advice.

 

[Doomanic]

Change the word fat in the post above for carbs or protein and you get the same results.

Fat is not the problem, overeating is.

Diets in general are a fad. A lifestyle change is what is truly required to loose weight and, more importantly, keep it off.

I’m still watching the calories on Keto, but I generally feel more satiated than on any other diet I’ve tried so the urge to snack isn’t there.

This was my tea the other night...

Flat Iron steak, chaffle, mushrooms, cheese coleslaw and salad with a blue cheese sauce made of Stilton and double cream, cooked in the steak juices.

Did I mention I’ve lost 20KG eating like this?

 

[simonk]

Eating fewer calories than you burn is the answer.

 

[R120]

I have gone down from 13 and a half stone to 12 stone 8 during lockdown, no changes to diet (which is what I would call normal, as in I eat what I want when I want though I have never been a fan of junk food and dont really snack, just cereal or toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch and a proper dinner). I didn't even realise how much weight I had lost till I started noticing my riding shorts where getting a bit baggy round the waist, so though I would weigh myself. I am 6ft.

What I have been doing for the last 10 weeks is a 60-90 minute ride of about 12 -15 miles, quite a bit of climbing, all done in trail mode on my bike, but non stop and at what I guess is maximum exertion, i.e just riding full tilt boogie for the whole ride with no stops.

I have never been one for using devices to measure performance, but I did get a Garmin watch recently as I wanted it to display mode/battery status etc on my bike, as I have gone display less, and it was quite interesting to see the data from my average rides.

Just pulling random example, over a 14 mile ride its telling me average heart rate of 144, max 175, and calories burnt 1320.

So really my observation is that if you go our regularly and ride hard, its doing something!

 

[Darren]

In my experience weight is lost at the supermarket checkout, focus on choosing the right food and then forget calorie counting and weighing yourself as this tends to lead to obsessing over food which is the best way to feel peckish.
Calories in vs calories out is correct in theory but in practice I would do this as a one off exercise when meal planning once a week to avoid the above.
The benefit of drastically reducing sugars is stepping off of the blood sugar spike and crash rollercoaster and hunger / snacking self control becomes easier.
As other have said do your own research but be aware that conventional wisdom has lead to an obesity epidemic in the west.

 

[Cyclingwilly]

I've spent a couple of hours this morning researching sugars in foods and drinks and it's a nightmare, I'm going to write myself a list when I'm shopping and stick to it. My income isn't brilliant and I've had to make a lot of sacrifices over the last 3-4 years, I had to sell a huge amount of my possessions in order to furnish my home and survive, now I'm in control, I can justify spending money on certain things. Yes, I've bought a new bike, but it's really the only thing I have in my life apart from my health and TV/internet. I have to watch my finances, but I dare say I can live fairly well on what money I have, it's just a case of changing my shopping and eating habits.

 

[Cyclingwilly]

Just a thought, once a week, I allow myself a treat, normally it's a marinated grilled lamb or chicken breast, in a flat bread with plenty of salad and coleslaw. I know there's sugar in coleslaw, not very much in a flat bread and maybe a little in the marinade, but in the grand scheme of things, it can't be a dish that's swimming in it.

I've been looking at some foods I eat that I think are low in sugar, one of them is Oats so simple original, the fats, salt and sugar is the lowest, (officially tested with another 14 brands), so they can't be too bad. I'm a big believer in Manuka Honey and stir in a little to add taste.

 

[Doomanic]

It's not just sugar you need to watch, it's carbs. Carbs are converted into glucose. Oat so Simple is over 50% carbs.

 

[NULevo]

I've gone from 90kg in March 2019 to 79kg now, mainly because I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The advice (instruction) was to lose weight and watch what I eat.

The diagnosis came as one hell of a shock as I have never had any symptoms or issues, but sh*t happens and I was told it can run in families (my mother had type 2) as to the reason for having it. I went on a 1 day diabetes day run by a charity and the focus was on what to eat, when to eat and losing weight.

The whole day focused on the usual stuff, calories, sugar, carbs, fat..... but at the end of the day the advice that stuck was 'you can have anything in moderation'. This might be contentious to some, but it worked for me. I still eat what I ate before losing weight, just not as much of it, believe me I know what its like wanting to have a snack or a bar of chocolate and having to say no to myself.

Another thing is not to get fixated on it, thats one reason I got the ebike. It's easy to get bogged down and negative about it, but look for distractions if you can. I spent months researching ebikes, and dusted off my 1990's mtb just to get to know the bike again and tinker around with it.

When it comes to diet, would suggest speaking to the nurse at your local surgery, mine was brilliant, giving me realistic and doable advice.

Finally, don't get disheartened or expect instant results, it a long haul, but once you start seeing results it spurs you on to do more.

 

[Cyclingwilly]

It's not just sugar you need to watch, it's carbs. Carbs are converted into glucose. Oat so Simple is over 50% carbs.

I think I'll just starve!

 

[steve_sordy]

Alcohol is at least 200 calories per pint and apart from tasting nice, making you go "aaaahhhhh" and temporarily making you feel good, it has no other benefits. I know that if I didn't have 1-2 cans per night, then I would lose that 1/2 stone I ought to shed. But I don't want to do it enough!

 

[Doomanic]

Got to love a diet that works...

 

[Gary]

if it ever came down to a fight* my money'd be on the young lad now.

Well done mate. that's some transformation.


*over the last biscuit

 

[OldGoatMTB]

The calorie is king. As far as weight gain/loss it you burn more than you consume then you will lose weight, no matter whether it's fat, protein or carbs.

 

[Darren]

The calorie is king. As far as weight gain/loss it you burn more than you consume then you will lose weight, no matter whether it's fat, protein or carbs.

This is true, but, the problem with this approach is that after initial sucess the metabolism can slowly decrease making your calorie defecit reduce (sometimes to zero) i.e. if you reduce your intake to say 1,800 calories per day and your metabolism slows from 2,500 to 2,000 or 1,800, then you will feel tired, hungry and stop losing weight.
The calorie control diet has been mostly failing people for the last 40 years, hence the increasing obesity we are witnessing.
Low carb or ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting are proving much more successful in the long term.

 

[Mikerb]

I have no doubt certain "diets" have an impact but they always seem to infer eating specific foods whilst avoiding others and that is not always practical or sustainable. It is fairly easy to eat sensibly with a varied and balanced diet. If it comes in a packet it is probably bad! If it is a natural single product that needs preparation and cooking separately you know what you are eating. Personally I just avoid saturated fat products like red meat and cheese etc.
The scales are your worst enemy if you are weight watching. Go by body measurements.