Faddy diets make you fatter, fact!

I was chatting with a friend earlier this week about slimming and she brought up the subject of meal replacement plans.  She was trying to find a "quick fix", something that will help her lose weight quickly for a holiday and my immediate reaction was to say "Don't do it!!"  I don't doubt that in some very rare cases people will lose some weight and keep it off, but for the vast majority of us they will not work in the long term. 

I've been driven on more than one occasion to try either a meal replacement plan, or the sort of diet that greatly reduces what you can eat.  Anyone tried the Cabbage Soup Diet, Slimfast, Heart Foundation, Lighter Life etc etc?  If so you probably know exactly where I am coming from.  There are probably a lot of you that have found yourself in a similar position.  My own experience with this came from a horrible shopping session where I'd found it really difficult to find something to wear for a night out.  I'd just had my first child and as a result my body shape had changed quite a bit since my last night on the tiles.  I had a clear picture in my head of exactly how I wanted to look, but I was faced when looking in the changing room mirror with the harsh reality that unless I lost a big amount of weight I was never going to look like I wanted to.  Absolutely detesting the somehwhat lumpy creature in the mirror, panic ensued and I bought a shedload of meal replacement milkshakes, determined that I was going to look like the sylph-like creature on the tin in a matter of weeks. 

The harsh reality was that it never happened.  I managed to stick to it for less than a fortnight and yes I did lose twelve pounds, but these were pounds that were very quickly gained back plus another stone more when I started to eat normally again.  This is a cycle that I'm ashamed to admit has been repeated several times over, not always with meal replacements but often with other short term quick weight loss fads that gave me an initial great loss that was never sustained or kept off.  I learned the hard way that this is a damaging process both physically and mentally.  It is very difficult to lose weight in the long term when you are caught in this sort of cycle.

One great reason not to embark on any regime of this sort is the impact that this can have on your health.  For example, research tells us that around 25% of the weight you will lose in restricting calories drastically or using meal replacments will be muscle mass.  Your body goes into "fight or flight" mode and tries to hang onto the fat for as long as possible, who wants to lose lean tissue over fat??  Also, a person who uses meal replacements (usually less than 800 cals per day for a typical plan) will not lose any more weight than a person who is eating a healthy balanced low fat and sugar diet so why put yourself through any suffering?  And you will suffer, lack of energy, light headedness, headaches, nausea and lots of other horrid things you wouldn't want by choice.  Anyone want to experience that lot when you can follow a healthy meal plan and eat a wide variety of foods that satisfy your hunger?  I think not.

The most sensible way to achieve better health and lose excess weight in the process is to educate yourself on what the sensible choices are, and make conscious decisions on what you are eating.  Don't deny yourself something if you want it but make it a conscious choice and consider what effect it will have on your body or the health goals you have set for yourself.  You can make a big difference by doing exactly that.  I have lost 18 pounds recently in using this approach and am three stones lighter than I was three years ago, and I've dropped seven places on the BMI chart which is a great indication of the positive effect this will have on my overall health.  I'm hoping to take this even further because I still have a bit to lose and I'd really like to be able to help anyone else who has found themselves in the same situation so I'm currently studying Clinical Nutrition and Weight Management, knowledge is power as they say :)

Don't forget to leave me a comment if you've made small changes that have had a big impact.  I get real motivation from hearing how everyone else is doing and I know that some of you that read reguarly are really trying hard xx

Counting versus calculation?

Before making the decision to become more healthy by looking at what and when I eat, I had tried all of the different diets known to man.  I'd restricted carbs in trying the Atkins and South Beach diets, I'd tried the GI plan and I'd attended every diet class going.  I'd also gone through a phase of counting calories, something which for a while I thought was the be all and end all of losing weight but I hadn't considered at that time that it wouldn't necessarily make my body healthier.  I spent an awfully long time scrutinising calorie counting websites and the packets of everything I was eating in order to ensure that I was eating the correct "numbers".  In doing that though I gave no consideration to what was behind those numbers, that being the rest of the nutritional content.

My change this week is to better educate myself on nutritional content.  In researching this I have discovered that in order for a food to be sold as a low fat item, it has to contain no more than 3 grams of fat per 100 grams (5g is still fairly low so I will eat foods that contain up to 5g and will use the 3g rule when I really need to cut back).  For sugar, it should be between 5-15 grams per 100 grams of product to be described as having medium sugar content, and 5 or less to be described as a low sugar product.  So, in order to get my pantry and fridge in order I spent some time hanging out in ASDA checking out labels (I have now stopped this and am using the website as I think they thought I was a stalker :) ).  I was really surprised at what I learned, for example if a food is labelled as any of the following things, it's probably not low in both fat and low sugar in the true sense of the Food Standards Agency descriptions:

• Light
• Lighter
• Leaner
• Lower
• Reduced etc etc etc

The list of phrases that manufacturers have coined in order to convince you that you are eating healthily is endless and unless it specifically states "LOW FAT" or "LOW SUGAR" you can guarantee that it's higher than the FSA advises.  Also, lots of things that are low in fat are an awful lot higher in sugar and vice versa, and you know what happens if you consume more sugar than your body can utilise?  Yes, that's right it turns to fat so it can be stored and used by your body at a later date. 

I came across this article in the Daily Mail this morning which I also found to be interesting reading:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2013267/One-start-diet-month-help-putting-sweet-treats-baskets.html

It reports on the results of a survey carried out by the vitamin and minerals company Seven Seas.  It makes for really interesting reading as it talks about how around one in five of us starts a "diet" each month and that around a third of us also shop for low calorie food without necessarily considering what nutritional benefit we will get from what we eat.  

Dr Emma Derbyshire, a nutritionist from Manchester Metropolitan University who contributed to the report, said: "While magazines and TV schedules are full of celebrity chefs, food and recipes, our diets seem to be losing their balance with potentially-alarming consequences.
'It would seem that we are still struggling to grasp the concept of "good nutrition" and the reason why we eat food in the first place.

'Though it is important to acknowledge calorie intake, this must not come at the expense of eating a balanced and varied diet, low in saturated fat but also rich in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.
'Often, processed, low-calorie food can contain high levels of sugar and additives, and so may not be as healthy as people think."

So there you have it, literally food for thought; think about your food and you will see the benefits.  I'm so much more conscious of what I'm putting in my mouth as a result that I am seeing great results on the scales again this week with another two pounds off so that 16 pounds in total during the last five weeks :) 


I'm going to leave you this week with something that has become an enduring image in my head, one that I am having trouble shifting at the moment but it's something which will definitely help me cut out something which I do that is detrimental to my long term goal.  My gross fact for this week is all about wine.  I do love a nice big glass of icy cold Rose of an evening, but I discovered this weekend that there are more calories (and these are those empty calories with no subtance behind them) in a medium pub sized glass of wine than there is in a tablespoon of lard!  Now every time I think of wine, I'm thinking "Lardy wine" and have a mental image of licking it off the spoon. Yuck!


Don't forget to comment if you have committed to a change, I'd love to hear how you are doing.



 

It's all in your head...

Well that's week four done and over with, and with it it's brought me a stone off in total so far.  I won't lie and tell you that it was easy to do, it's something which has required a lot of conscious thought and effort in thinking, but it's working so I'm sticking to it.  My new target is to lose another stone and I'm not setting a deadline on this.  I know that eating in the pattern that I've established is not a quick weight loss miracle, it's a way of establishing new long term healthy eating habits and the weight loss is bound to slow down soon.  I'll be happy as long as I can see it moving in the right direction each week, be it half a pound or two each week.  

So, I've lost a stone, I'm feeling confident and happy with the results, and this is the point at which my willpower usually starts to wane.  My mindset changes into one that says "I've been really good, I deserve a reward" and then I start introducing treats then willpower and all my good intentions disappear into the ether.  But forewarned is forearmed as they say, and as I know that this is my usual pattern of behaviour (it's happened at least 20 times in the last 15 years) I can prepare in advance for this not to happen.  In trawling the internet again in the last week I found various articles that talk about using the subconscious mind to help with breaking negative behaviour patterns (bad habits to you and I) and this is something I find hugely interesting.  Anyone who knows me will know what a huge Paul McKenna fan I am and this is one small thing he advocates using to help with weight loss.  Sciencey bit coming up right here:

• Frequently, your mind is more motivated by pictures and visualization than it is with words and written exercises. The right side of your brain is where your creativity comes from, and it thrives on pictures. Many times the right side of your brain takes precedence over the left side, which thrives on words. In the past, you may have just written words down to reach your goals. Add this new dimension to your process.

• Draw, cut out pictures, or take photographs of what you want in life. Put pictures up on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, or any place that will remind your subconscious mind of your desires to reinforce your goal.  Every thought you have uses electrical energy to imprint a new picture in your subconscious mind. The efforts of your subconscious mind are to match the pictures in your mind with reality.The more you deliberately plant pictures of what you want, the faster you will attract it into your life. It's very important that you allow yourself to fantasize about what you want in your life - let your imagination run wild!

• To achieve what it is you want in life, you must think about it. There are no limits except those we put on ourselves. This is your life and you will be cheating yourself if you don't go for what you want! You must feel your success before you can manifest it in reality.  (Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/132242)

I'm definitely going to have a go at putting this into practice so, if anyone sees me staring into space this next week with a dreamy look on my face, I'm picturing the thinner thighs and tauter tummy I will have at the end of all of this.  Of course it helps to have a realistic target to help with all of this, so I'm aiming for thighs that are more Beyonce than Beckham because I know that my body shape is prone to having heavy legs.  That said I do have a really small waist in comparison so I'm definitely aiming for curves and not wispy waifiness :)

Thanks to everyone who has read this.  As well as the visualization thing I think it definitely helps to write down goals and writing the blog is really helping with my motivation.  Please forward the link to anyone you think might be interested.  Same time next week xx