Fat Accountant

Fat Accountant

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As I am getting older I am getting fatter, my clother are becoming very tight and I do not feel good. I want to change all this. I intend to carryon working as an accountant in my 80s not relying on State support!

I want to be heathy. I need to lose 3 stones of excess weight I am carrying around. Excess weight as we all know is the key health risk the west faces.

We all know the risks of being overweight- heart failure, cancer, stroke, diabetes ...

I cycle 8 miles a day 5-6 days a week. Clearly I have put on weight since I eat more than I burn.

How do accountants manage to stay healthy? What advice can you offer? Something that lasts rather than just a fad.

I tried Light Life (starvation) diet about 6 months ago. I lost 2.5  stones and put these back on within just a few months. Waste of my £70 pw.

Replies (40)

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By taxhound
07th Feb 2011 06:50

Weigh yourself weekly

I think it is important to weigh yourself weekly.  If your weight then starts creeping up, you take action immediately.  I am (glad to say I am) not overweight, but Christmas has left me a few pounds heavier.  I get very annoyed by the people who say to me "Why are you on a diet, you don't need to lose weight".  What I am doing is trying to get back to my pre-festive weight, because if I allow myself to put on 3-4 pounds each Christmas, I would be a barrel in a few years.  And no, I am not on a strict diet now, I am just not eating cakes etc.

Incidentally, my husband managed to lose 1.5 stone over a period of time simply by cutting out a daily mars bar (infuriating - I don't have a daily mars bar to cut out!) so it is the little things which can make the difference, and expect ot to take time (dull though it is).

You should also watch "The Biggest Loser" on Channel 4 tonight to see what will happen if you do nothing!

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By thisistibi
07th Feb 2011 08:40

Just a fad

You're quite right about diets being a fad.  If you want to make a long term change, then you need to actually change your lifestyle.  The mars bar example by Taxhound is the perfect example - an easy lifestyle change to make.  It's those between meal snacks that need to be cut-out or replaced with something healthier (assuming that's sustainable!).

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By Steve Holloway
07th Feb 2011 08:46

Decent breakfast ...

and I don't mean either a fry up or chocco megga flakey things. Personally I enjoy basic oats and milk (not made in to porridge) as it is quite light when you eat it but spends the rest of the morning swelling up to keep you from snacking. I used to drink lots of coffee with 2 sugars as well ... at new year I switched to decaf and artificial sweetners ... takes about 2 days and you don't notice. Finally,  we have a takeaway about once a month only ... mind you we have to drive half an hour to get it so its no hardship!

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By thisistibi
07th Feb 2011 09:02

Takeaways & eating out

Both very unhealthy.  Someone I work with has takeaways half the nights of the week, fish & chips on a Friday, restaurant on Saturday.  Jeez, not hard to work out how to improve the lifestyle there!!  The "open" kitchen in my local chinese takeaway is a real eye-opener as to what goes into it......

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By andypartridge
07th Feb 2011 09:20

Taxhound has hit the nail

As an accountant who lost over 20 lbs in six weeks I agree wholeheartedly with Taxhound's take on this.

I too would have a daily Mars bar at lunchtime. I also have a penchant for butter shortbread.

If you can identify those things that you should cut out, then cut them out totally and do it now. It doesn't need to be forever, but until you get down to your target weight.

Now I still abstain from chocolate like a zealot from Monday to Friday. At weekends I can eat what I like. I am not losing weight but I am not putting any on either.

Incidentally, I still weigh myself daily at the same time. In the event that I am above my target weight come Saturday morning I would forego the weekend choc and bics. That is an added incentive to stay fat-free during the week.

-- Kind regards Andy

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Red Leader
By Red Leader
07th Feb 2011 09:28

I agree but...

...I wonder what non-accountants reading this would think! "What a bunch of control freaks!", etc. I should emphasise that I agree with the comments made - especially to take action without delay whenever the waist band gets tighter, small actions over time build up, etc - but in my experience most people just don't have this sort of willpower.

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By cathygrimmer
07th Feb 2011 09:40

New approach

For a new and interesting view on what causes obesity and weight gain generally, and how we should change our diet, read The Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes - not a diet book at all but a look at the (flawed?) nutritional advice put out by governments and scienctific research into obesity, heart disease, diabetes etc since such research began , by an American science journalist. Hard reading if you're not a science buff (and big enough to make a good doorstop) but illuminating if you stick at it.

Can't tell you whether he's right yet as I've only just finished it and am making some changes to what I eat so we'll see. I've only got a few pounds that I'd like to lose (put on at Christmas, of course!) so I'm not likely to see any dramatic effects (but if I miraculously drop to a size 6, I'll let you know!!).

Wish I had a daily Mars bar to cut out! Or sugar, or cakes - I eat a very healthy diet (in the government sponsored sense of the word 'healthy') - lots of veg, low fat, not too much meat, very little alcohol - and still struggle to keep the weight down. Perhaps that's why Gary Taubes' book makes sense to me. But I guess age has a hand in it too!!

Happy February everyone!

Cathy

[email protected]

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By Comptable
07th Feb 2011 09:45

and then of course there is alcohol....

and then of course there is alcohol which looks harmless and contains lots of calories.

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By taxhound
07th Feb 2011 09:53

@Red Leader

This people who might accuse us of being control freaks (and I don't think I am, I am just careful), would be the same ones who say to me "You are so lucky with your weight - you can eat what you want." 

Err, no actually.  Yes, I do tend to relax at weekends, because I enjoy food, but I work hard to make sure it does not become a problem in the first place by taking care during the week.  If I ate what I liked, I would be a size 20+.

And yes, vegetable soup with ryvita for lunch is dull, but life could be worse.

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By Richard Willis
07th Feb 2011 10:16

Comptable is right

The directors' secretary at my old company lost loads of weight and when I asked her how she did it she said 'I just stopped drinking wine every night.'!

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By bduncan
07th Feb 2011 10:22

Cut out coffee

I was drinking over 12 cups a day and because I have young kids at home and because it tastes nicer I was using full fat milk. I worked out that by cutting back to a more reasonable 3-4 cups and using semi-scimmed milk I could save about 500 calories a day equivelant to aboutl 1lb per week.

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By MikeyBaby
07th Feb 2011 11:37

It's all about the carbs.

Ditch, or seriously restrict, the carbs - particularly heavily processed carbs, such as breads, pasta, etc.

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By gerrysims
07th Feb 2011 11:56

Walking

Don't buy doughnuts from Tescos on Sunday. Get out into the countryside and walk instead.

Seriously, sitting on your backside all day doing this job is not good, stress with no outlet. Walking is good, easy and you get to appreciate the world outside the office.

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By Ken Howard
07th Feb 2011 12:07

Exercise little and often

I've been fat since childhood and have tried all the fad diets etc - none of which work.  Now approaching 50, I've got high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes - inevitably.  I've spent decades trying to cut calorie intake - always works at first, then the weight comes back and more.  Trouble with me is that I binge - just like an alcoholic on a bender - I don't need the food, sometimes don've even like what I'm eating, but just can't control it.  

A couple of years ago, I decided to change my outlook.  I made myself forget about dieting - it takes over your life and if you're constantly thinking about food, you tend to want to eat more of it.  For two years now, I've just eaten what I want to for normal meals, however "bad" that may be, but have concentrated on not bingeing which I've had mixed success with doing by avoiding "trigger" points which caused bingeing - like stopping myself from buying multi-packs or bigger packs on offer - I'd just eat them all in one go!  And stopping myself from passing shops etc where I'd got into the habit of going into for extras.  Not worked 100%, but helping nonetheless.

But the big success for me, which is causing weight loss, BP reduction and better control of the diabetes is exercise.  No, I don't mean spending an hour in the gym a few times per week or going on mega bike rides.  I mean just making myself be active during the day.  It's far too easy for an accountant to sit on their [***] all day and easy to make excuses for being too busy to get out of the chair.  I got a mobile phone with a step-counter (I didn't know it had and didn't buy it for that) and it's brilliant to motivate me.  Now, my typical working day is:

a. Stand up and walk around when on the phone.  I can get a few hundred steps just walking around the office when on the phone for 20 minutes or so.

b. Walk home to work and back again rather than driving the couple of miles.

c. Walk around the village at lunchtime - 30-45 minutes  out of the lunchtime.

d. Walk to the post office and back to post the mail instead of driving there or just guessing stamps and dumping it in the post box outside (saves a lot of money on stamps too).

e. Get up from the desk at least every hour to go to put the kettle on, do some filing, or whatever you can think.

By doing the above, I can easily get up to 10,000 steps per day which is around 5 miles - all taking little effort and not eating in to too much of your day.  Certainly a lot easier to find time rather than wasting a whole evening at the gym a few times per week.  The aim is to keep the body moving and metabolism working all day and you can best do that by keeping active - keep doing a bit of movement to keep your metabolism topped-up.  

It's definately working for me - lost a few pounds, lower blood sugar levels, lower BP levels, and what's more, it's sustainable for the long term.  Clearly, it's not a quick fix and will take a few years to get down to healthy weight, but that's better then my previous 40 years of yo yo dieting where weight trend was up and up.

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By Roland195
07th Feb 2011 12:16

Thin is not the same as healthy

You cite the fact that you want to be healthy as your motivation. I have no idea by what method you calculated you are 3 stone overweight but you should consider that you may not be as overweight as you think. Cycling 8 miles 5-6 days a week is not something which someone who is particularly unfit could manage.

Try giving up bread & other baked products for a fortnight then see if you notice the difference. Be careful of eating too much in the way of fruit and especially fruit juices.

 

 

 

 

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By leather
07th Feb 2011 14:57

Creepy crawly!

Buy and digest a tapeworm - job done!

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By leather
07th Feb 2011 14:59

Creepy crawly!

Actually no - only joking! - I try to miss a meal - either breakfast or lunch not both, then a normal dinner, I too sit down and dont move at all and it seems to stop me piling on the pounds, so really its eating less.

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By thisistibi
07th Feb 2011 15:07

Simple formula

Weight gain/(loss) = Calories eaten (A) - Calories burnt off during exercise (B) - Calories required for body functions (C)

So it seems pretty obvious to me that since you can't change C, you need to work on A and B!

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By cymraeg_draig
07th Feb 2011 15:33

Lifestyle

OK - I'm lucky - I'm the same size now as when I was a teenager. However, I dont think it's an accident.

Stop going to supermarkets - definitely never ever go there on a Sunday :)

Get fresh vegitables from a real greengrocer.  Better still, grow whatever you can yourself.

If you eat meat, get it from a real butcher, preferably one of the few who still do their own slaughtering, or fish from a good fishmonger.

Every day have one real meal, fresh food, free from chemicals, additives, preservatives, and all the other junk that supermarkets add to their pre-packs rubbish. When you eat, have a good meal and sit for an hour afterwards, watch TV or whatever - this aids digestion and is good for stress levels.

And learn to relax. If you're going to see a client drive the scenic route, stop, take a camera with you, and have 10 minutes of "me time" on your way there.

And if you must lose weight, do it slowly.  Forget diets, you will always bounce back and end up even heavier. Far better to make small adjustments to your lifestyle and lose the weight slowly. Does it matter if it takes 3 years to lose it ?

 

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By Steve Holloway
07th Feb 2011 15:33

Get dogs!

4 - 5 miles walk every weekday, 6 - 8 at the weekends .... they will never get bored. That way I can keep eating carbs which I love!

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By cheeeetah
07th Feb 2011 16:05

Weight Watchers

 

Normal

All the above have their merits.  Exercise sounds great too, but it is hard to work at a computer while running down the street.  More running = less work = less income/upset customers = lower standard of life = well, all sorts of nasties.

I read somewhere -- actually, there are so many 1000s of theories on this rather basic subject of running the human body, whereas there is only one manual for each car, invariable, as regards running it efficiently....very strange, that.  Anyway, I read that a starvation-type diet, which most of them are, reducing food intake, causes the body to resist: it alters itself to run with less food/energy input....then when you release the handbrake a little, that extra food counts double on adding kgs.  The body still running on eco-style needs less than it did before, so the same food really tells.  So you can do a diet, take a win....then relax slightly and, wow, the same weight is back and you are still eating less than you were in the beginning.  Next thing you weigh more than you did when you started!  Very unfair!

So, you have to do it gently, gently, so the body does not see a famine approaching, and then take all that evasive action referred to above.

One other thing of interest is the Weight Watchers scheme of things.  I thought they all stand around the scales and laugh at anyone who does not make the target for that week.  Er, no thanks!  It is bad enough with the extra kgs/stones, thank you. 

But wifie went along there a short while ago and came away with an odd/special calculator and a point-counting system, where you look at a food label and, using the fibre, calories fat info etc, it all comes out to a number of points....and you have so many points per day to 'spend' as it were.  She only went there to get the calculator and points system (one visit) and she is off and running on her own, now.

I've been taking a watching stance on this, of course.

There are some interesting discoveries.  Using the points, some food is better/worse than others.  Which ones?  Well, that is the trick, of course.  Each has to be counted and wifie now has a schedule in the kitchen with typical servings and their equiv points.  eg, roughly speaking: mince pies, cream cakes, or 'Hot Cross Buns', for example are very high points (worse with butter/jam added to the h/c buns).  A large Toblerone knocks out the whole day's points.  Wine+Beer are high too, as you might expect.  Vegetables & fruit are practically zero, however.

The plan is not to starve or even knock out these foods completely but to eat them with the ceiling number of points -- well, that's how wifie does it and the kgs are coming off noticeably.  For me it has had a light impact, as I might be eating turkey instead of salmon, as it is lower points etc.  Things like that (wifie does the cooking/meals).

Another interesting thing is between means....well, biscuits and coffee, yes?  Yes, sadly, me too.  But, how about fruit or a veg soup?  These fill and have very little points (whether you count the points or not).  Those fruit+veg snacks can get you through without too much damage.  And the body does not see the famine going on, either.

So, TIP-1. get wife all enthused about weight watchers so she can do all that scheduling of food/points etc, and adjust the food she cooks for you. 

TIP-2. Look into having soups and fruit between meals or even instead of some meals if you like.  It will help the battle.

TIP-3, Well, the rest is up to you.

 

 

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FT
By FirstTab
07th Feb 2011 19:46

A very big thank you all. I am amazed with the variety and the depth of the response.

I thought I will just get 5 or so people responding.

There are many, many helpful points. I particularly like Weight Watchers idea. You dont starve yourself but at the same time I will control what and how much I eat. I think this combined with my cycling should work. I will look into Weight Watchers. I had a quick look and I was pleased to see WW online. They also have an Iphone app to look up and record points. This would make things easier.

 

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By thisistibi
08th Feb 2011 08:20

Weight Watchers

I am sure this comment will not go down well with some.... but it seems to me that Weight Watchers promotes switching from fresh food to pre-prepared rubbish, full of preservatives and salt which may make your diet more unhealthy than it is at the moment (even if you do lose weight).

Slimming World is a better scheme since it promotes eating fresh food....

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
08th Feb 2011 09:29

Start with your mind

I'm vegan and, although not enough, I get regular exercice, walking the dog, walking to work most days, mountain biking & swimming (not at the same time) however I have a constant weight problem because for me and many others food is an addiction and, because I do most of the cooking in the house I can't resist making more than we need. 

One theory is that we only stopped hunter gathering 10K years ago and our bodies are still designed to binge when we see plenty, to protect us againt the famine that may happen next week, but in London that's unlikely to happen (for the time being).

A family member is an eating disorder advisor and she says that with people like me the last thing I should do is weigh myself regularly, it just increases the anxiety and feeds back into the craving for more food.

She follows the principle of eating regularly (maybe 5-6 times a day) in small quantities, this trains the body in not having highs & lows but also enables you to recognise when you feel full up.  In the past I never gave my body the chance to feel full up but I'm sure many have experienced eating a small quantity and leaving it 20 minutes (by accident) for the body to catch up and not then feeling hungry for the next course.  Ordinarily, being in a rush, I don't give it a chance and so finish whatever is in front of me whether it's too much or not.

The best example of it being all in the mind was my addiction to cakes, biscuits & especially croissants.  I tried everything to not buy them on the way into work but failed dismally.  I was veggie at the time but had been battling with the horrors of the dairy industry for a couple of years and so decided to try vegan.  Not only did my craving for croissants vanish on that day but I hardly consider them now.

I will always have a food problem but I feel so much better now, even if I am still overweight, and it was a revelation to rediscover the feeling of hunger as opposed to craving.  Everyone who craves food does it for their own reason but there are usually issues of stress, low self esteem, anxiety and depression that we tend to feel can be eased by the pleasure of eating.

 

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By cheeeetah
08th Feb 2011 09:56

Fresh food tends to be better on the points

"...it seems to me that Weight Watchers promotes switching from fresh food to pre-prepared rubbish, full of preservatives and salt which may make your diet more unhealthy than it is at the moment (even if you do lose weight)."

No, that's not the case, as far as I can see.  Most of the processed pre-prepared stuff has higher points.   The more clever cooks prefer to prepare their own food with ingredients selected with regard to the scoring scheme.  You can eat the preprepared foods, of course, but it costs you more points and the normal trick is to be rather stingy with the points so it stretches further.....like buying the shopping.

But, check into it properly and find out for yourself, by all means.

{Note, I am unconnected with them and have no vested interest, save passing on info that may help OP.}

My own personal theory of why we over eat is mostly that the psychologist have been monkeying with our food, adding in E-numbers to make the food excite our taste and smell sensors.  Yes, the E-numbers are mostly natural flavourings but they are not supposed to be in the food -- they were particularly added to make that food cause an effect on our taste/smell of the food when we come near it or eat it.  Drugging, basically.  We eat a certain amount because we are hungry but the rest is because of the excitement caused mostly by these E-numbers, added only to make the food more pleasurable to eat.  It is rather like the cocain that used to be added to the soft drinks, Coke and CocaCola, and more recently changed to cafine, which is purely a drug added in to keep you buying more of their product.  (Being cafine, it probably encourages coffee a little, too, or at least rides on the coffee drinker's existing liking for that drug.  Oh, plus all the sugar added into things like meat, which has no business being there except to hook those brought up on a sugar diet (like me).

If they took out all those added things and brought food back to its boring basic taste, we would have had enough of it by the time we satisfy our hunger.  Try a diet of poridge oats (only)...yuck!  (And no cheating with flavoured oats or adding sugar and jam etc.)  You certainly would not overeat on that, I suspect.

 

 

 

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
08th Feb 2011 10:31

Real Food

In his book In defence of food Michael Pollan suggests we have lost sight of what food is and, certainly in the West, instead of food we are consuming edible foodlike substances.  We are also so concerned with scientific pronouncements that the more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we become.

He reminds us that evolution has taken millions of years to develop an apple and so even if the scientists can provide us with a pill that contains all the nutrients an apple contains they still haave a long way to go.  So stick with the apple.

So there are two rules of thumb, if your grandmother wouldn't rave recognised it or if the label lists more than say 5 ingredients, it's not food.

Even on a Vegan diet I have to fight off a mass of manufactured products.  Veganism is so much easier than it was 10 years ago but I'm not sure Vegans are any healthier.

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By Moonbeam
08th Feb 2011 11:43

The No Diet Diet

I have just borrowed this book from the library and it was written by a prof of psychology. He claims that you don't need to go on a diet, but to do lots of different things to get yourself out of many of your habits. The book is a 30 day change plan where each day you do something different.

For example, one day you go without your favourite drink (in my case tea). On another day you don't watch TV at all, and so on. You sit in a different place in the lounge/dining room occasionally, and go for lots of walks. You plan for as many changes as possible, and in the meantime you should notice you aren't eating as much.

I guess the idea is that many of us eat out of boredom - I do, anyway. So this book might help me to shift half a stone. I have noticed myself not carrying out the book's instructions after 7 days, and this is laziness on my part, as I don't seem to persevere with anything like this for long. So I will get cracking again when I've finished work.

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FT
By FirstTab
10th Feb 2011 13:59

The State will pay me to lose weight!

For those of use who want to lose weight, the State will pay us for every pound we lose http://www.weightwins.co.uk/ I think for long term it would save money - burden on NHS and other support services.

It just does not sit right with me. I will still join the scheme.

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By ShirleyM
10th Feb 2011 14:26

Exercise machine

We have noticed our weight creeping up since we went paperless. It may sound silly but everything is now accessible from our PC's and we don't walk backwards and forwards to the filing cabinets anymore (or it could just be that we eat too much!).

This week we ordered a 'gravity walker' for the use of our staff and it arrives next week. Hopefully, the office camaraderie will ensure it gets used and we can have a bit of fun as well.

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By janelm
11th Feb 2011 11:11

CrossFit and Paleo diet

I wonder if there are any fellow accountants who have opened a gym? This was my solution to the inactive life of accountancy (although I have never had weight issues) - taking 3-4 classes a week and trying to keep ahead of the members is keeping me very motivated.

I would recommend measuring and tracking both your weight and your exercise regime (how long it takes to go how far, etc, aim to do more in less time every week, set goals).  Short intense exercise gives more benefits, particularly in a group motivational environment.  CrossFit proved itself to me with its results, constantly varied functional fitness at high intensity.

Natural unprocessed foods are best, as many have mentioned, trying to stick to "good" carbs (fruit, veg, low glycemic index) and avoid "bad" carbs (heavily processed foods, pasta, white bread etc). Giving up/cutting down sugar is a good starting point (but not replacing it with chemical substitutes).

 

 

 

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By Lisa_Mandy
11th Feb 2011 11:36

Get yourself to a group

I can personally recommend Slimming World.  And since you're already doing a lot of exercise, you know it's your diet that now needs attention.

I like the support going to a group meeting gives, plus I am very childish about shiny stickers for losing each half stone!  As an added bonus, I have made some really great friends at the group meetings.

My personal advice is

1)  Eat 3 balanced meals a day, and nothing in between.

2)  Drink 8 big glasses of water every day - it's hard to distinguish between hunger and thirst sometimes.

3)  Give yourself a break.  And buy a bigger pair of trousers. 

 

Good luck with it!

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
11th Feb 2011 11:45

Sorted!

My colleague Tracy is in today and her solution is brilliant, Duct Tape, over the mouth.  Tried it and it works. 

She also said "eat less move more" but I told her other's have said that already.

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By pollyanne
11th Feb 2011 11:47

diets..

I have a friend aged 60 who has dieted all her life and still ended up at 20 stone.  She has now discovered the Dukan diet which takes what worked out of Atkins but adds healthier eating to it, so, heavy on protein and cutting out carbs until desired weight is reached then gradually reintroducing them to remain stable.  After all why not remain stable at 10 stone rather than 20?  She is now 13.5 stone and still reducing, walking every day (which she couldn't before because of pressure on her knees and lungs) and looking amazing.  She enjoys bacon, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms for breakfast, snacks on prawns or slices of ham or beef where she would have devoured biscuits or chocolates and enjoys a steak and salad at night.  She has reduced wine drinking from daily to to a couple of glasses a week which has helped.  We put on weight because we eat more than we need and excercise less than we need.  Or as one well-meaning "friend" told her...look in the mirror and tell yourself "I am greedy and I am lazy"!   Ouch!  She has also invested in some scales which read off her weight, BMI, body fat, muscle mass, water content and visceral fat levels and is thrilled to print these off onto the excel sheet each week and chart the changes.  She is in no rush and knows this is for life now, so doesn't beat herself up if the loss slows down some weeks. I go round for tea with her once a week and am so inspired to see the change in her.

PS: I am not associated with Dukan in any way!!!  Website lets you check out your ideal weight and how long it should take to reach it in the various phases.  My friend did not join this but did buy his book to read how it all works and for the sample receipes. 

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By Tricias
11th Feb 2011 12:42

SUPER FOODS

OOO a subject very close to my heart...Yep you need to do something now rather than later if you want a fit old age ...Try and only eat fresh and wholemeal foods  it easier than your think and cheaper ...anything processed has hidden sugars and fats your body becomes addicted and craves more, hence the big belly and muffin hipped girls and boys you see more and more of today...

Always have a good breakfast - my preference is a mixed bowl of all bran, porrige oats, muesli topped with berry fruits, sunflower seeds, nuts, tablespoon of low fat probiotic yogurt and skimmed milk - takes me 10 mins to eat but i dont feel hungry until much later on - slow release energy super foods are really good and they work - Alternatively eat poached eggs, grilled bacon, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, toast  etc. If you miss breakfast anything you eat later on will be a quick fix and turn to fat on the belly

Lunch should be as fresh as possible...chicken, fish, lean meat, salads, pasta, rice, wholemeal bread - high carbs are fine if you are cycling home.

Dinner - again should be fresh as possible and mainly protien ...too many carbs at night will stop you sleeping,  if you are eating with a family you need to retrain your wife ( ha ha good luck) to not buy proceesed foods, Crisps, cakes, sweet bars , coke etc ...

If you are eating on your own, its easy to be lazy and grab anything to hand cos your too tired to bother ...but you must bother, cook for a couple of days in advance, a Spag bog sauce will last for a week in the fridge, as do red meat curries ....no JAR SAUCES mind lots of sugars!!..look at the Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals - I have been cooking this way for years - if it can't be cooked in 30- 40 minutes it's a real pain - working full time, single parent, with 3 sons it had to be quick, filling, nutritious and loads of it ....

TRY AND STICK TO THIS GENERAL RULE ...anything that comes out of a packet is full of added rubbish that your body cannot filter and stores as FAT!....not totally true of course but helps as a guide and makes you check before you buy or eat it ....

Keep bowls of fresh fruit and salad in the fridge so if you feel peckish in the evening

The hardest thing is cutting down on the booze and take away curries - you can still do them just less often and not so many !! Gin & Slimline Tonic is low in calories, sugars etc

Once you RE - TRAIN your stomach (and Wife :)) and brain you will not go back to the rubbish as you will realise how salty and sickly it is.

All the best and good luck

 

 

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By graffle
11th Feb 2011 14:17

easy way to count the calories without actually dieting

 As others say, don't "go on a diet" but do limit your calorie intake.  Have a look at Weight Loss Resources website - great databases of calorie counters both intake (ie food) and output (general activity level and specific exercises).  It's good just to keep a tab on things.

It's not rocket science but it does make sense.

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By Lucyruth
11th Feb 2011 16:28

Soup

Try eating home made soup for your main meal.  With a couple of slices of bread I find this really fills me up and, depending on the ingredients, should not have many calories. Soup is easy to make, has so many variations you can do, can use up many ingredients you have hanging around and you can do big batches and freeze helpings in the freezer.  It can also be very cheap but nutritious!

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By zarathustra
11th Feb 2011 17:20

"duct tape over the mouth"

Now all you need is to tape his fingers together to stop him posting so much on here !!!

(Only kidding First tab- I actually quite enjoy all your questions).

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By asillahi
11th Feb 2011 19:11

Holy crap

Cycling 8 miles a day and still putting on weight. It can only mean that there is something seriously wrong with your diet. My personal experience is that I don't change what I eat although I have cut out seriously fatty stuff like muffins, etc and I try a bit of porridge (not bad with honey on top) instead of toast in the mornings but the main thing is to control the quantity. I find that as I get older you become more obsessed with food so we need to redress the balance towards eating to live as opposed to living to eat. Just this change in attitude can do a lot for you. I find the best thing to do is decide before filling your plate how much is going to be enough and just stick to that. There is very rarely any need for seconds. I'm fortunate in that I don't drink alcohol.

Exercise wise, get yourself down to the gym. I only do Sat & Sun and even then only 30 mins each day on the cross trainer. Point is, find what suits you and go with it. I can't stand treadmills as they do my back in.

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By anndartnall
14th Feb 2011 10:06

Eat thoghtfully

Eating thoughtfully means taking the time to enjoy each mouthful of food and stop (whatever is left on your plate) when the latest biteful doesn't taste as delicious as the preceeding mothfulls. This will resize your stomach over a period of time and you will notice the "I am full" signals your body sends out. No dieting is required.

 

 

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By cheeeetah
14th Feb 2011 16:07

Drink more water

Read something yesterday that we tend to eat when we are thirsty, rather than drinking water.  Six glasses of water a day -- I guess thats half-pint glasses -- is the kind of amounts we should be getting. (gulp!)

I drink coffee/tea but nothing like 6 glasses.  I will give it a try -- can't hurt.

 

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