Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

Linda, I don't count calories and Ive managed to lose a stone since Christmas

For me its portion control as well as stopping the daily packet of crisps, the mid morning biscuit and cutting out alcohol. I still like a drink but Ive swapped the calorific red wine to either a G&T or a scotch and diet coke

I have a small plate for my dinner and a really small bowl for my muesli in the morning. Its pretty hard to over eat when you cant pile in on the plate. I also portion before I even start to cook. Like sausages for instance, one actually does me, but Id often eat two or three because Id cook the whole pack. Now Im happy to freeze odd sausages

Basically Im eating like we used to in the 60's and 70's Home cooked, ate at meal times, no snacking, no getting a crafty burger or a bun with a coffee when out shopping

Just doing the above hasn't really been a hardship

Oh don't get me wrong, Im not a saint, Show me pasta and Ill show you a person who can happily sit and eat a whole saucepan full in one sitting, and I have done on many occasion I still eat a Chinese take out and when we have chips, they are real chips cooked in the pan and if someone in work brings in cake, it would be rude not to

For me the small portions on small plates work. As does always sitting down at a table to eat

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

Hi

My BMI is 26.4 and I would like to get it down to 22.

I am not a great believer in quick diets so 3lb a week is fine for me.

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

Offend me? Not at all!

Have I tried other ways of losing weight? How much time do you have?

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

Congrats on the weight loss

I already know what my main problem is...alcohol. If I would stop drinking, I'd drop weight like a hat.

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

And thats what piled the pounds on me

I discovered red wine, and we had a love affair lasting 4 years

Not touched a drop of it since New Years Day and its really helped with the weight going with such ease. Truth be told, most of my calorie intake was booze because I really am one of those people who not only say I eat very little, its true

Like I say I still love a drink, but Ive switched to the lower calorie stuff and also keep it for the weekends down the pub.

Funnily enough the less I drink now, the less inclined I am to have a drink

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

Slimming World does seem a bit complicated to me as well Mups, but I am only on my second week. To use a pun I am beginning to think they like folks to "make a meal of it"
I have heard of the 5:2 but never tried it. Does it mean five days on diet and two off and if so what do you eat on the five days on - are those days calorie counted?

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

All these slimming clubs operate a similar $billion business model which relies on punters repeatedly coming back.

The statistics on members who DO lose weight but FAIL to keep it off within 1-2 years is absolutely APPALLING.

Honestly you would be much better off understanding that a healthy regime is the primary importance and weight is just a by-product of that.

While ever your focus is losing weight you will never imho, achieve any lasting results.

Food education is absolutely paramount for a healthy regime which will deliver permanent results.

Read this:

Do Slimming Clubs Work?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23463006


In the end, like many things in life, we have to be honest with ourselves. We have to come to a point where we understand our humanity, understand that what our ego wants is not important and that the body is an object that needs the right fuel. Without that basic understanding and acceptance, we will always continue to live an unhealthy lifestyle and as a result will be ill, which includes being over weight.

Following diets and using silly slimming clubs to try and lose weight is like trying to cure a self-harmer by giving them sticking plasters to cover their cuts. Pointless.

You have to address that root cause. Understand who and what you are and resolve to put aside the silly things in life and treat the body as an engine that needs the right fuel.

Diets and clubs will screw you up further than your current position. They will mess up your metabolism and brain and health. You will be duped by seemingly good initial results, but that's how the business models work. The results will not last and the regime will be unsustainable.

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

For Realist:
But do you think that when a group gets together they can offer support to each other which helps maintain motivation and staying on track. This is part of the ethos of Slimming World - I know they take money off you and the business makes serious profits, but it would not be easy to get a group of strangers together each week to talk about their eating habits, get weighed and generally have a chin-wag about their experiences. I think Slimming World do offer reasonably good nutrition advice, but as I said in another post, I am very new to the group and have not yet come to an informed conclusion about the benefits or otherwise.
I am not likely to follow any diet which is detrimental to my health as I have a reasonable knowledge of nutrition. It's just the losing weight bit which I need to get to grips with and I would like to explore different ideas of how to do it. I suppose at the end of the day it comes down to motivation and willpower - at the moment both are high for me, but as time goes on I may well get fed up, or disappointed, or bored and fall off the wagon. Don't know yet, but the more ammunition I have, the better I might do - I think.

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

I'm not much of a wine drinker, although I do have a favorite brand and flavor and will have a glass occasionally. I prefer Canadian Whiskey. I mix it with diet soda (yeah, I know, that's not good either) and my drinks are kind of wimpy, actually. Probably 1/4 alcohol and the rest soda. But I would still save a lot of calories if I wouldn't drink at all.

Re: I just can't do it without counting calories

My OH drinks quite a fair amount of whisky (neat or with water) but he never puts on weight - most annoying. I am not fussed about wines, beers or any alcohol really. I'll have a glass of wine occasionally, but it has to be a wine I like. I don't even like fizzy pop, which has to be a bonus. I do like fresh juices though which I have discovered are a lot higher in calories than I thought they were and they don't have the fibre that fresh whole fruit has, so I think I am going to change over to whole fruit only and drink water.