The belly is getting bigger, time to stop the rot.

[laoislad]

I know Tony, I blame the missus.  Sometimes plates are put in front of me that would need cribs up the sides to hold the grub on.  She isn't a big eater, and I have gladly accepted these monstrous feeds without complaining.  Time to stop.

What I am going to find hardest of all to cut out are the frys.  There is no way I can cut them out completley.  If I half my weekly intake to 2 a week would that be ok?   

Jaysis ye have great wives.
I still cook the dinner for us when I get home from work even though she is at home all day on maternity leave!

[muppet]

I agree with the lads. Pushing back from the table is the best exercise you can do to lose weight.

As said,

Calories in > calories expended = weight gain
Calories in < calories expended = weight loss

The bad news is that hunger is the feeling of burning tissue calories instead of food calories to get your energy. In other words, if you don't feel hungry, at least a little or for a while, you're not losing weight.

The good news is that when you reach your target weight you never have to feel hungry again. Unless, of course, you resume eating more than you're using and start the whole cycle again.

Surely:

Steady weight: same calories in + new exercise regime = weight loss??

[bennydorano]

There's plenty of people who will disagree with the  simple calories in - calories out theory. High protein v high carb diets where the premise falls down. I've lost about 3 stone over a couple years through cycling. I found the biggest thing to avoid was alcohol, 1pint is roughly 3/4 of a  mars bar, worse than that when you're hungover you've little willpower & crave sugary or savoury rubbish. I try not to eat after 6pm, if i do i keep it to fruit or a bowl of cheerios or the like.

[Dougal Maguire]

KK that sounds like my life. The grazing in the evenings is a killer. A cup of tea and a couple of bars of chocolate wouldnt be unusual. Crisps are a killer too and the missus always has spuds, pasata or rice on the menu as its what the wanes eat. Dont want to get home late from wprk and start making something separate so will have to cut down rather than cut out. One thing I would advise anyone to do is reduce portion sizes at meal times. I horse food into me at a rate of knots and stop when Im bursting. Not good!

You're not me by any chance? I gave up bread and all sweet stuff over Lent but have been on an eat fest since Sunday. Have only lost a couple of pounds even though I go to circuit training twice a week. It's a killer and really disheartening

[pintsofguinness]

My weight has been up and down by stones in the last five years, would go on a tear and get a load off but slip back in to the bad habits of raiding the fridge at 10pm, or eating crisps and chocolate etc etc and back on it would go.
About 18 months ago I started again and have lost 3-4 stone in about 12 months and for the first time in my life I have managed to keep it off.

I completely changed my lifestyle - it's an old cliche but there's no point in dieting, cutting out white bread, spuds (I've never understood what's so bad about spuds) or any of that shit, you have to change and I went at it with an attitude that I was going to stick to this for the rest of my life so I have to be realistic. 

The first thing you should do is start an account with myfitnesspal.com - it's excellent. I can't recommend it enough!
Log what you're eating for a week and you'll be shocked at the amount of calories you're putting away not just for the shite you're eating but also the portions of normal/healthy food. (Change in portion size was a big factor in my weight loss).

I'll tell you what I done:
I decided for six months (or so) there would be no takeaways, absolutely no sweet stuff, crisps or chocolate and then we'd I've weight off I'd re enter them in to my diet in a controlled manner!! because I know I'm not going to go through life without ever eating those things again.

Mornings & lunch:
Normally would have been cornflakes/rice krispies - swapped those for Chocolate Weetabix, which is  surprisingly healthy and filling for something with chocolate in it and the fix of chocolate helped! and maybe a banana or some piece of fruit then I'd take bananas, apples, cereal bars (alpen light bars are quite tasty or Weetabix bars are low calorie and filling) or yogurts or some of that type of stuff with me to work if I got hungry.
I cut down from eating two sandwiches at work with maybe crisps and chocolate during the day to eating one with some of that healthier stuff.
At first I was constantly starving, then a few months I was ok, then about 8 months in was noticing I wasn't eating the fruit in the morning, I wasn't eating the yogurts or anything extra - the Weetabix in the morning and the Sandwich at work with a piece of fruit or one of those weetabix bars (which I've grown to love) was doing me grand! It's the same now. 

Dinners:
Huge factor for me was that I ate two portions of whatever meat/chicken type thing was involved with the dinner and I ate f**k all vegetables. So it would be two chicken breasts, two bits of fish etc. I stopped that, it's now 1 of anything and I bulk up the plate on vegetables. Thinking about it I never really cut down on the spuds but I would never have been one of these people that would sit down to six - I'd always eat about two.
At the beginning it killed me!!! Jeeze there was evenings when I'd eat the dinner and still felt like I'd ate nothing but I'd allow for a snack before bedtime and when I'd finish the dinner I'd think "ok 3 hours till snack time".
Snack time would normally consist of a a bag of those snack a jacks and some sort of cereal bar and I could go off to bed happy.
Again, about 8 months in I was finding I wasn't hungry after the dinner and didn't bother with anything before bed. Same now. 

Exercise wise, I'd mainly walk (The running bores me) and I bought a set of weights for home which are great. 
I did reintroduce takeways and all that - Friday night is generally takeaway night. (It's down to 1 a week from what would have been maybe 3 times a week)
I never went back to eating all the sweet stuff I was because I rarely think about it now! Sometimes I'll feel like a packet of crisips so I'll take them or something but I can't say I've had to control them as I rarely think about it. I was amazed at how much of that overeating was just pure habit and when you get out of the habit you don't think about it.

Before this turns in to my life story! I'll sum it up - be realistic, don't suddenly cut everything out because if you're going hungry you won't feel well and you won't stick to it.  Before you change anything to your diet say to yourself "am I going to do this for the rest of my life" and if the answer is no! then don't do it.

Amen!

[J70]

Time of day doesn't matter. Its what and how much you eat.

[pintsofguinness]

KK that sounds like my life. The grazing in the evenings is a killer. A cup of tea and a couple of bars of chocolate wouldnt be unusual. Crisps are a killer too and the missus always has spuds, pasata or rice on the menu as its what the wanes eat. Dont want to get home late from wprk and start making something separate so will have to cut down rather than cut out. One thing I would advise anyone to do is reduce portion sizes at meal times. I horse food into me at a rate of knots and stop when Im bursting. Not good!

You're not me by any chance? I gave up bread and all sweet stuff over Lent but have been on an eat fest since Sunday. Have only lost a couple of pounds even though I go to circuit training twice a week. It's a killer and really disheartening

I was the same and I'd bet my life portion sizes is the problem. 

[Hereiam]

Falling into this trap of eating rubbish in the evenings. My problem is that I had got use to the set days with the trianing and now my wife works 12 hr shifts and each week is different days. I cant get a routine going, plus 2 young kids dont help.

[Rois]

Woman's pov here: it's all about the food. I'm not kidding here, but Slimming World is a great way of cutting down weight initially. The vital things are no rubbish, make your own sauces and replace food with fruit. You can eat pasta, rice, spuds etc but with lean meat, and frys with grilled low fat bacon and sausages and poached eggs are v much allowed.

Though running is also good and def helps with shaping legs, but am sure that doesn't worry you!

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

I have been battling the bulge for nearly a decade now. I go through of cycles of about every 4-6 months of little exercise, big portions of food (heavy on the meat, spuds, bread and light on the vedge), and regulary scoups of Guinness or the Ale. This is usually followed by about 4-6 months of intense training, healthy portions and food choices, very little or no alcohol. I need to find a balance, this cannot be a healthy trend, my metabolism must be in bits.

[imtommygunn]

I think it's also useful to think about the type of carbohydrates you intake.

Complex carbohydrates (wholewheat pasta, brown rice and porridge) will fill you for longer than spuds / corn flakes etc etc. Substituting these in place of your ordinary pastas/spuds and ordinary breakfast cereals will make a big difference. Slower release energy will fill you for longer so you'll eat less junk.

[Minder]

I am also getting into a rut, was out running twice a week and doing kettle bell workouts until Xmas, when I saw the festive period approaching I just packed up the operation. Haven't done a thing exercise wise since, my wife is pregnant and had been craving curry chips at night so I usually help her eat them.

[Orangemac]

While agreeing with the sentiments of most on this subject, the timing of this thread is not great. I have a house full of chocolate eggs here and they are not going to eat themselves

[bennydorano]

Time of day doesn't matter. Its what and how much you eat.

I'd be interested to see the evidence for that (not being smart). Seems illogical, especially if you are exercising a lot. I've been cycling the guts of 200miles a week recently, eating at the right time is crucial.

[Minder]

Time of day doesn't matter. Its what and how much you eat.

I'd be interested to see the evidence for that (not being smart). Seems illogical, especially if you are exercising a lot. I've been cycling the guts of 200miles a week recently, eating at the right time is crucial.

I read that a few months ago, cat remember the science/rationale behind it.