healthy eating

[nuggety goodness]

well as a part of my goal to lose some weight i have decided to eat a bit better than what i had been previously. Mrs NG has got on some weight loss accelerator thickshakes so instead of eating a meal she'll have a shake and a piece of fruit for breaky and lunch then eat a normal dinner. seems ok and i'll update on her results later on. from experience does anyone know if they work at all?!?

anyway i'm on the fruit and salads instead of chips and chocolate and water instead of softies which will obviously help.

what else is a good way to enjoy food while keeping it healthy?

i've just picked up some tuna and saladas, is the tinned/packaged tuna any good? (i got it for free too thanks to those lunchbox giveaway things woolies were doing previously...)

this may help all of us fatties out there, unless i'm the only one!

[Booney]

Although not in the weight loss challenge ( I dont really like watching numbers to be honest, just make subtle changes and the numbers will take care of themselves ) I have been able to drop over 5kg's since Xmas nuggety by not really changing my diet. I have dropped soft drinks during the day for water and generally my week day meals are ok. I never buy hot dogs/pies/chips etc just have salad rolls or sangers from home. What I have done is added 3 or 4 good sessions ( 45-60 mins ) at the gym each week.

I've been going Mon,Wed,Thurs after work and Sat morn, even with hangover on board on two occasions. I like my food ,I like my beer and I'm not willing to give them up, so, I need to exercise more and it's working for me....so far.

A while ago ( pre-Xmas ) I went on full tuna/salad lunches, no crap,no soft drink for nearly three weeks ( kept the beers going ) and didnt drop a kilo! Sod that.

Eat what I want and enjoy my beers, just go and punish myself* in the gym to compensate....

[JK]

Low Fat Yoghurt
Unsalted Almonds or Cashews (handful only)
Wholemeal or Wholegrain bread instead of White
Plenty of protein - Tuna, Chicken (skinless breast), trim steak, roo etc, Egg whites etc
Smash the water

Eat 6 meals a day of smaller portion

[maxyoz]

well as a part of my goal to lose some weight i have decided to eat a bit better than what i had been previously. Mrs NG has got on some weight loss accelerator thickshakes so instead of eating a meal she'll have a shake and a piece of fruit for breaky and lunch then eat a normal dinner. seems ok and i'll update on her results later on. from experience does anyone know if they work at all?!?

My wife lost 23kg doing that - worked very well, for her. Not for me.

4 basic tips:

If you are hungry, eat.
Eat what you want.
Eat slowly, taste the food.
Stop when full, don't eat everything on the plate.

Do that, lose weight.

[devilsadvocate]

Eat what I want and enjoy my beers, just go and punish myself* in the gym to compensate....

That used to be my strategy too. Generally it worked.

Now I just eat what I want and enjoy my beers and sit on my ever growing ass in front of the TV!

Good luck though NG!

[Mythical Creature]

My missus is doing the shakes and they are working fine for her. She always complains that she is hungry though and wonders why. I refuse to do shakes because in the long run it surely can't be good for you.

I have lost about 12-15 kilos in the last 12 months by only making a couple of changes. I don't drink soft drink anymore and only drink water and alcohol. I love my food and have tried dieting and it doesn't work for me as I'm always "cheating". So I just eat when I'm hungry and don't eat when I'm not. Sometimes I will eat a whole meal other times I might leave half on the plate.

The only thing I have found that works for me is regular exercising. Basically I try to work hard for at least half an hour every day. The more exercise I do the more weight I lose!

[A Mum]

I'm on the same road as you NG

I have a friend who is on the shakes - and it is working - she's losing weight - but in all honestly it's not teaching you to 'eat properly' as a habit for the rest of your life

Low fat and high fibre is the way to go and you must eat almost constantly and lots of water !

I am seeing a dietician and the key is:
Breakfast
snack
Lunch
snack
Evening meal
snack

They work on the fact that your body is recieving the energy and so is consistantly burning it up. Of course we're talking small servings not 6 huge ones !

What I'm currently doing (As an example)-
Breakfast:
High fibre breakfast - low fat milk
Snack:
Piece of fruit
Lunch:
Tuna in brine etc (Not oil) for lunch on wholegrain toast no butter
or Lunch wrap with lettuce, tomotoe, cucumber etc with a low fat meat.
Snack:
piece of fruit
Evening meal - as normal but smaller serving (lots of veggies, less meat)
Dessert:
Watermellon

I am also seeing a exercise physiologist and this is really helping.
As I am extremely unfit from sitting in front of a computer screen all day and not leaving the house !
He has got me doing 3 x 10min stints in the short term on my treadmill per day.
And I will work up to longer stints and I go along - research has shown the key is not the lenght of time in once stint that you do the exercise for, but the amount of exercise over the whole day.

I have only gotten stuck into this regime for the past 2 weeks and I already feel much better.
It becomes habit and you just do it - eat it etc.

Now they have told me that if I crave something like chocolate etc - to just have a small bit.

I successfully lost 10 KG years ago and what I did was just eat healthy and had one day a week that was called "Junk food day" where I'd be allowed to have some chips and choclate etc (Which I've adapted to now..lol).... the key is eating healthy the majority of the time and exercise of course.

It's amazing how fast JFD came around and you don't miss the 'naughty' food in-between

I don't own scales that work - so am leaving that part of it to the exercise and dietician people.

I will be posting up how much weight I've lost after my next appointment.

Wish me luck !!!

[Booney]

I've been hitting the treadmill 3 or 4 times a week for about 5 weeks now Mum. The first week I was struggling to run 1km. I backed off from the running and did a brisk walk for 3 or 4k's with just 100-150m jogs thrown in.

I'm now running nearly 3k's without too much trouble.

I too sit at a desk all day. I get to work at 7:30 and other than loo, coffee and lunch I dont get up. Phones, emails and the odd internet visit and I dont move.

Feeling better for the exercise I can tell you.

[A Mum]

I know what you mean Booney
Those first few days although only small amounts of time killed me !
Now I feel I can do the 10 minute stints without even realising..lol.

And the key to my treadmill success is having it 3 metres away directly infront of the Telly

Also routine means everything to me - I have to do this eat/exercise thing to the clock to succeed

So far so good

[Gingernuts]

Although not in the weight loss challenge ( I dont really like watching numbers to be honest, just make subtle changes and the numbers will take care of themselves ) I have been able to drop over 5kg's since Xmas nuggety by not really changing my diet. I have dropped soft drinks during the day for water and generally my week day meals are ok. I never buy hot dogs/pies/chips etc just have salad rolls or sangers from home. What I have done is added 3 or 4 good sessions ( 45-60 mins ) at the gym each week.

I've been going Mon,Wed,Thurs after work and Sat morn, even with hangover on board on two occasions. I like my food ,I like my beer and I'm not willing to give them up, so, I need to exercise more and it's working for me....so far.

A while ago ( pre-Xmas ) I went on full tuna/salad lunches, no crap,no soft drink for nearly three weeks ( kept the beers going ) and didnt drop a kilo! Sod that.

Eat what I want and enjoy my beers, just go and punish myself* in the gym to compensate....

I have also done exactly this since Christmas and have lost about 6 or 7 kilos. More importantly I have lost several inches from my waist and put on a lot of muscle, it's amazing how your body responds when you get fair dinkum about exercise. This is also why I don't watch my kilos too much, technically I haven't lost any weight for the last month but I can tell by looking in the mirror that I've replaced a lot of bad weight (fat) with good weight (muscle).

About 3 or 4 years ago I lost nearly 30 kilos by this system.

I always pack my lunch, and if I don't have time I only ever get a sandwich from the deli, or in winter maybe some soup.

In the long run it's about doing something that you can sustain. I have come up with these basic rules that work for me:

- Don't each a 'main meal' for lunch
- Pack snacks for work for between meals, a bag of rice snacks, a healthy muesli bar, and a piece of fruit. Eat them when your hungry, not just for the hell of it.
- Have a few beers if you want, and likewise don't feel guilty if you hit up the junk food every couple of weeks or eat out with friends occasionally, just don't do it every second day/night.
- Just keep up the regular exercise, minimum 3-4 decent sessions a week if you want to get fair dinkum.

Good luck!

[Lightning McQueen]

After splitting up with a former girlfriend going back in my early 20's I found myself overweight and no self esteem.
I was working in a factory doing some physical work and had the opportunity to work up to 14 hours a day.
I ate no meat at all for around 6 weeks, still went to Hungry Jacks with my workmates during nearly every meal break, I just resorted to vegie burgers, I still drank plenty of beer on the weekends.
I ended up going from 96kg to 73kg, I was riding my bike from Largs Bay to Gepps Cross everyday to work and back aswell.
I'd be stuffed if I could do it now, I'm a bit overweight and I don't really have sustained will power to do anything about it.

[Pseudo]

I have lost about 4 kilos since Xmas. My own regime involves:
- going for a half hour walk every day, unless I am already doing my chosen "sport" on that day
- no booze
- intelligent food choices

My missus has been doing weight watchers for a while. The idea behind it is that one accrues "points" for everything one eats, and one has a daily allowance of points which one must consume - no more, but ideally no less either. While I am not counting points myself, I happily let her tell me what the points are for various foodstuffs, and I make eating choices accordingly.

[Footy Chick]

I've lost almost 7kg since christmas - everything in moderation.

I'm not hitting the gym, I might go once a week if Im lucky. The idea is that I didn't want to go gangbusters in the off season and stop going to the gym completely during footy season as I just don't have time.

So far so good I guess and I'm never hungry - and that's the main thing.

Only about 20kg to go but i'm happy to do it slowly this time if it means Im less likely to pile it back on and then some.

[fisho mcspaz]

I've never tried the shakes because I don't think I'd do too well on that sort of thing - how does a shake replace a meal? Even if it does cover all the nutrients and stuff and made me feel full, I'd still be thinking 'OK, it's a DRINK, so I still have to eat something.'

I'd recommend adding a big green salad to whatever else you're eating. I'm not a fan of salad on its own but when it comes with something else it's a good way to fill up.

Also, get rid of the white bread and replace it with grain or wholemeal - more fibre and better for the digestion.

Green veg and lean red meat are going to be especially important for the iron value - low iron levels make you tired as hell.

[A Mum]

It would appear that there are lots of safooty.net members who are well on the way to a healthier lifestyle and hence weight loss achievement.

(Well done I say )

We should add up all the kilo's we lose at the end of each month-

Like you see on Today Tonight - "X town has shed 150kg's between them"

"safooty.net has shed ... kg's"

[Drop Bear]

I lost 5kg after Christmas just going for a walk each night. I think the trick is to keep doing something regularly.

[Lightning McQueen]

I lost 5kg after Christmas just going for a walk each night. I think the trick is to keep doing something regularly.

And poo a lot.

[A Mum]

They say that every person should aim for a minimum of 10,000 steps per day

I think your avatar's got it covered Drop Bear

[Footy Chick]

Also, get rid of the white bread and replace it with grain or wholemeal - more fibre and better for the digestion.
.

Not even Fisho - wholegrain and wholemeal still have traces of white flour in it and is still a fairly high GI. Chuck it all out and buy soy and linseed - it's the only bread I eat now - and no more than 2 slices a day. ESPECIALLY good for womens health and wellbeing - but the linseed is good for your skin hair and nails.

You get all the naturally occuring carbs you need from vegies.

Another tip - always start your meal with a couple of mouthfuls of protien, as your body will start to process this first and at a faster rate than carbs so will improve your metabolism.

[Sorry Dude]

Last November I was informed by my wife that we are expecting our 1st child. My 1st thought was Sh!t how can i teach my child a healthy lifestyle, when i dont do it myself. so since then i have dropped 8 kilos by watching what i eat and when i eat it, i have cut soft drink and beers back (footy season will be the test) by half and doing 1 main work out session of up to 90 mins and then aim for 2-3 between 30-45 mins. so fingers crossed i can get back down to the 85-90 mark and be a good role model.