Healthy and Fit

I started my fruit and veg detox today.  I've stuck on it but I'm really craving some mac and cheese!

I can't wait to finish work so that I can go start the 30 day shred thing!

Even though I had a bad-diet day on Saturday, I still managed to lose 2 lbs last week!

Even though I had a bad-diet day on Saturday, I still managed to lose 2 lbs last week!

Congrats on your weightloss Bmore!!  

I almost did my whole routine today I left out only 2 things slowly but surely I will get back to my original routine.  

I'm well knackered again probably another early night for me.  

I can't wait to finish work so that I can go start the 30 day shred thing!

You say that now but you'll be cursing Jillian Michaels soon enough!

Well even though I've been eating A LOT...I'm talking muchos grande...amounts of homemade bread...I've managed to lose 6lbs (in 2 weeks) so I'm happy with that.  Planning to continue with what I've been doing as it seems to be working for the moment.   

Congrats on your weightloss Bmore!!  

Thanks! I actually thought to myself, hey, Shugga has cheat days and she still loses weight! One day won't kill me! 

Thanks! I actually thought to myself, hey, Shugga has cheat days and she still loses weight! One day won't kill me!  

My Dietitian & Trainer both agree that I should have a cheat day for a couple reasons. 1. a cheat day throws off my metabolism for a bit which is a good thing. 2. a cheat day gives me something to work towards & something  to look forward to as well!!      Oh Yeah an also Bob & Jillian from the Biggest Loser always say on the show you should have a cheat day just don't go overboard on it though.    

Hey, everyone .

I thought I'd come and join in the thread, since I'm trying to lose a few pounds at the moment. I haven't really bothered with dieting or seriously thinking about exercise until now because I've been working in a job where I've been on my feet all day and so I've basically been able to eat what I felt like and then maintain my weight by walking it all off in the day (I was probably walking maybe 3 or 4 miles a day at work).

Unfortunately, though now that I'm sitting down at work all day, I've actually put on nearly half a stone since October - a combination of lots of snacking in the evenings and not actually doing any exercise at all other than walking into town occasionally!

Although I'm not overweight, I'm a bit heavier at the moment than I usually like to be and I realised a couple of weeks ago that if I don't start doing something then the weight is just going to keep piling on...as evidenced by my final year of uni: I was feeling quite down that year and basically comfort-ate, and as a result I put on about 18 pounds. Then, when I went back to work in retail after graduation, I lost 21 pounds in 5 months by not eating as much and walking all day .

Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I bought a fitness DVD (as I hate the gym, I can't run very far and haven't got round to finding the swimming pool yet ) - I didn't want a generic aerobics one, so I went with the new Step-Up Dance Workout DVD and I've been doing it for 30-45 minutes each day (I've also now finished all my Christmas chocolate, so I'm trying to eat healthily as well).

I'm feeling quite good about the exercise/healthy eating plan at the moment, because according to the scales this morning I've lost a pound since last week (which is pretty good already, as I'm only trying to lose about 7 pounds in total), although that might be because I haven't had much food in the house (nothing to snack on) !

Hi ksand24. I am like you, not overweight but have put on some weight( also close to 1/2 a stone) , so have gone back to my old way of eating - mostly influenced by DH who is overweight and has succesfully been losing weight - and I am back to my original weight.  This is what I have been doing.

1. No snacking in between meals.
2. Wait at least 4-6 hours before eating before I can eat again. The theory is that if I get hungry because of a drop in blood sugar after eating, I give the blood sugar a chance to go up by itself. (When your blood sugar gets too low, your liver reduces a hormone that takes glucose from your cells and puts it back into your bloodstream. - N.B. I am not diabetic, so don't have to worry about insulin or medication dropping by blood sugar dangerously low) Also, it prevents me from mistaking the feeling of digesting food for stomach pains. And it prevents me from eating because of appetite, rather than actual hunger.
3. When I eat a meal, as soon as my stomach starts to feel uncomfortable, stop eating. Don't eat until I feel completely full.
4. No breakfast cereal, granola, etc. For breakfast I have been having 1/2 a pot of plain yogurt.
5. I've also increased the amount of exercise I get - although I was exercising quite a bit to begin with.
6. At the beginning, ignore hunger pains, because the only way my body is going to start burning fat is if I eat less than I need to maintain my energy levels, and if I eat less than I eat to maintain energy levels, my body is going to tell me that it is hungry. If I don't eat and have any excess fat on my body, my body will burn fat for energy. I won't starve.

I used to eat in between meals a lot (although healthy foods) and eat larger meals (because of cooking for my much larger husband), and the first few days of doing this I was getting  hunger pains. But then the hunger pains went away and my stomach seems to have shrunk, because when I serve myself my newer, smaller portions, they aways seem like too much and my stomach starts to feel uncomfortable from eating quite quickly.  (Saves me money, because I don't have to buy as much food.)

I've also noticed that I don't have as much of an appetite and can go much longer without wanting to eat or thinking about food. And I am finding it easier to concentrate on other things and I have more energy.

If I keep losing weight and my BMI gets too low,  I'll add an extra (healthy) snack in there.

DH and I had an argument at dinner last night. It's very hard cooking meals when I'm trying to lose weight and DH is trying to maintain his (he's a runner). He definitely doesn't need to lose any weight.

He was annoyed because dinner was low carb (marinated chicken breast, cauliflower casserole, steamed broccoli). I did tell him to stop and pick up some bread for him to have with dinner because I knew he would want carbs. But, if I cook a meal that's high in carbs (like chicken and cashew stirfry) then he thinks it's too fattening (which it wasn't). I feel like I can't win no matter what I do. Basically, he would be happy to eat chicken, potatoes, and broccoli every night. Well, I would not be happy doing that. I told him that from now on I will boil him some potatoes to have with his dinner every night! 

Thanks, sweetpeach .

My main issue has really been eating too much chocolate in the evenings (until now, I've always had to have some chocolate in my room all the time) and not doing any exercise to burn it off! Apart from that, I don't eat all that much (I don't have that big an appetite) and it's relatively healthy, although at the moment, I'm probably not eating enough fruit and veg . I worked out earlier this week, that if I take out the chocolate, I'm only actually consuming about 1,500 calories a day!

1. No snacking in between meals.

At the moment, I'm not snacking much, but we do get free tea and biscuits every morning and afternoon at work, so I do have a couple of biscuits (usually chocolate) in the morning and afternoon .

2. Wait at least 4-6 hours before eating before I can eat again. The theory is that if I get hungry because of a drop in blood sugar after eating, I give the blood sugar a chance to go up by itself. (When your blood sugar gets too low, your liver reduces a hormone that takes glucose from your cells and puts it back into your bloodstream. - N.B. I am not diabetic, so don't have to worry about insulin or medication dropping by blood sugar dangerously low) Also, it prevents me from mistaking the feeling of digesting food for stomach pains. And it prevents me from eating because of appetite, rather than actual hunger.

I'm currently eating breakfast at about 8.30, then biscuits at 10.30, lunch at 1pm, biscuits again at 3pm and then dinner at 6-7pm (that's pretty much a set timetable because we're in classes at the moment and have set breaks and lunch times). After that I would normally snack on chocolate stuff, but since I don't really have any in the house at the moment, I've been refraining this week .

4. I've also increased the amount of exercise I get - although I was exercising quite a bit to begin with

This is the main thing I need to do really, since lack of exercise is the reason I've put on weight. Also, I don't think I'm all that fit, so that's another reason to exercise more (I've probably been doing the 'I'm not fat, so I must be healthy' thing, but I know that's not necessarily true).

Only problem is that because of my body shape most of my wait loss seems to have been in my behind, which is now getting flat.

My main target area is my hips and thighs because I'm feeling a bit bottom-heavy at the moment (I've always felt that my thighs are a bit bigger than I'd like). I'm also realising that I'm not a 'young adult' anymore ... and it's going to get harder to stay thin as I get older, so I'd better get into the routine of doing exercise and eating better now, especially if I'm going to be sitting down for the rest of my career!

I really want to just cut down on the amount of sweets/chocolate I'm eating and do more exercise. I don't really like to 'diet' in the sense of going low-carb or low-fat - I tend to stick to normal meals (meat and two veg, potato, lasagne, cheese etc.), but I just don't eat too much of it and I eat what I want when I go out for dinner. For example, tomorrow night, I'm meeting a friend for dinner and we'll probably go to Pizza Hut or Nando's... but I'll be getting a pizza and a dessert and probably garlic bread too...I won't be holding back .

I've also set myself a goal - I bought a really nice dress in the sale in Next at Christmas, but they only had a small size... the top half fits, but the bottom half is a bit too tight. Also, I'm going to have to wear a suit for briefings at my one-the-job training in April, and my one good suit is a bit tight on the hips at the moment... so my goal is to lose enough from my hips to fit into the dress and the suit properly (as this time last year, they would have fit perfectly) - and I've basically got until April to do it .

Ehhh, I am all thrown off this week!!!  Again 


Does anyone travel for work frequently?  I go and visit suppliers/vendors quite a bit in my new job and they always want to wine and dine you- they take you to lunch, give biscuits and tea and cakes for meetings and take you to very posh meals out with expensive wine.

Then, when I travel with co-workers there is peer pressure to go out in meet in the bar, go out to the pubs, etc.   Since I know, by far, alcohol is my biggest downfall and has made me fat, it's very hard for me to resist in these situations.   

I want to find ways to fit in exercise when I'm on the road -i.e going in the pools or going walking on the treadmill, but with 15 hour long meetings and trying to do my day job, plus sometimes dealing with time zone differences ,etc, you get shattered and can barely make it outta the room on time for the meeting, then to get up early to exercise...


So, frequent fliers, any tips??

DH and I had an argument at dinner last night. It's very hard cooking meals when I'm trying to lose weight and DH is trying to maintain his (he's a runner). He definitely doesn't need to lose any weight.

He was annoyed because dinner was low carb (marinated chicken breast, cauliflower casserole, steamed broccoli). I did tell him to stop and pick up some bread for him to have with dinner because I knew he would want carbs. But, if I cook a meal that's high in carbs (like chicken and cashew stirfry) then he thinks it's too fattening (which it wasn't). I feel like I can't win no matter what I do. Basically, he would be happy to eat chicken, potatoes, and broccoli every night. Well, I would not be happy doing that. I told him that from now on I will boil him some potatoes to have with his dinner every night! 

Bmore...I have a similar problem.  I'm trying to eat uber healthy (but also keep a good variety so I don't get bored) but DH is pretty thin anyway and DD is super skinny so I try to cook food for them that is semi-fattening (not unhealthy fattening...but more fattening then what I'd be eatening).  My diet is actually quite high in carbs.  I'll boil some potatoes and then take them out for me and just eat them plain...but maked mashed potatoes for them with butter and full fat milk.  Also I'll cook some pasta and I'll eat it with a little olive oil and chives but I'll make theirs with butter, cheese and full fat milk.  I've had to do little things like that to adapt as I got sick and tired of cooking 3 individual meals for each of us everytime we ate together.

Bmore...I have a similar problem.  I'm trying to eat uber healthy (but also keep a good variety so I don't get bored) but DH is pretty thin anyway and DD is super skinny so I try to cook food for them that is semi-fattening (not unhealthy fattening...but more fattening then what I'd be eatening).  My diet is actually quite high in carbs.  I'll boil some potatoes and then take them out for me and just eat them plain...but maked mashed potatoes for them with butter and full fat milk.  Also I'll cook some pasta and I'll eat it with a little olive oil and chives but I'll make theirs with butter, cheese and full fat milk.  I've had to do little things like that to adapt as I got sick and tired of cooking 3 individual meals for each of us everytime we ate together.

That makes perfect sense, but if I cooked for him with full fat milk and cheese he'd tell me it's too fattening.  I don't know, maybe he was just upset because it has been over 3 days since we have had potatoes. 

Thanks, sweetpeach .

At the moment, I'm not snacking much, but we do get free tea and biscuits every morning and afternoon at work, so I do have a couple of biscuits (usually chocolate) in the morning and afternoon .

I'm very lucky in that I no longer work in a big  office, so I'm not surrounded by food.  It's just me, DH and a part-time workers, so the only food I ever see is my and DH's lunches. I remember when I used to work for big companies there was food everywhere. People were constantly bringing in treats for birthdays or other reasons.  When you  haven't eaten for a little while and your blood sugar is starting to drop, it becomes very  hard to resist an open box of biscuits or chocolates on the next desk. It's so much easier to  not think about food when you don't constantly have to look at food.

I don't really like to 'diet' in the sense of going low-carb or low-fat - I tend to stick to normal meals (meat and two veg, potato, lasagne, cheese etc.), but I just don't eat too much of it and I eat what I want when I go out for dinner.

I agree. I think it is more about eating smaller, more reasonable portions.

I realized that since DH is much larger than me (a foot taller and much broader),  I've gotten used to eating larger portion sizes than I used to, which isn't necessary.  Now I just serve myself much less than I serve him, and sometimes include things in his meal (like potatoes or baked beans) to give him a little more calories, because he needs them, while leaving them out of mine.

(He is losing weight so I am not over-fattening him.)

I also try to bring my own lunch from home because purchased sandwiches and salads, from sandwich shops or prepackaged, are often larger than necessary and it's  not convenient for me to eat half and store the rest.