Weight loss help

[SnappyPix]

Trigurl

Hang on in there! I too need to hone up - but I wholeheartedly agree with LBTC, don't get too hung up on the scales - or the calorie number crunching, otherwise you'll develop a really unhealthy obsession with food/nutrition/body image and cease to enjoy the food you eat.
After all, it's body fat you want to lose, not weight. It's irrelevant what you weigh. Your body is made up of fluctuating elements, water, muscle, fat, blood - the only really important factor is the percentage of body fat you're carrying (and the energy you're inputting/expelling).
I know this isn't especially helpful in a practical sense - you want specifics of what you should be eating, what your calorie intake should be, but everyone is so individual that only you will know what's right for you through trial and error. Fitday is a good free resource for tracking food and balancing the energy in/energy out equation (and food groups), but remember to stay happy and healthy and fuelled. Are you honestly prepared to spend your days weighing food, sitting with a calculator to work out your rations - life's too short to be a slave to the scales.

I eat a really healthy diet, but probably just too much (hence the extra saddlebags!) - I need to get on track with portion control, reduce the amount of carbs I eat.
Just because something's natural, doesn't mean it's the best form of food to eat and it matters what quantities of something you eat too! Granola bars can contain lots of hidden sugars, as can fruit! Nuts can be high in fat, low fat can be high sugar, high sugar can be low fat!
You need a healthy mix of low GI carbs (that will release energy over a sustained period - ie wholewheats, bananas, pulses, grains, fruit), proteins (cottage cheese, lean meat, oily fish), fats (healthy fats from nuts, lean meat etc), veggies and lots and lots of water.
See, I know all the theory, I just don't have portion control!
I'm going to cut out alcohol for a month (only have a couple of bottles of wine a week max tho at the most), and prepare myself scrummy salads to eat for lunch. Rice salads, couscous salads, with rocket, pumpkin/sunflower seeds, chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, etc. etc.

We only get one body and it's up to us what we do with it - I figure there's no point buying carbon bits for my bike when it's my arse that's carrying the excess, not the bike!
It's easy to get body image out of perspective - especially self-perception, but if you want to measure anything at all, measure body fat percentage - get yourself a set of scales that read bf, or a set of calipers, or a reading from the gym. As with weight, there are lots of variables, and readings can vary to within +/- 5% (and the different methods of measurement can vary, so pick one and stick to it), but if you want to map your progress and see the numbers fall, it'll give you a more realistic stat to crunch than how much your body weighs on any given day!

Good luck Trigurl, rooting for you (and myself!), you can do it - it just takes tweaks and patience.
<<<Group Hug>>>

[MightyMitre]

I figure there's no point buying carbon bits for my bike when it's my arse that's carrying the excess, not the bike!

LOL - very true!! Join the club

In the past I've lost weight through portion control and it worked. I didn't cut out any foods, in fact I ate anything and everything, just in smaller and smaller amounts. Sometimes if I felt like some nice gooey blue cheese or something equally 'bad' I'd just go for it, but instead of eating a normal portion I would have maybe a mouthful or just a taste.

Admittedly this does require a lot of discipline to begin with but I believe if you forbid stuff it's not constructive. By just having a taste, ok, you're 'giving in' but at the same time it's then out of your mind, and you're not craving or obsessing.

I also agree with LBTC - actually paying attention to the taste, texture and flavour when you eat is vital.

Try this test: make yourself a snack, say hot toast and butter, or whatever is your favourite, then sit in front of the tv or computer and eat your snack while being absorbed in the TV. Nice snack? Did you even notice what was going in your mouth?

Repeat the next day, but with TV/ computer/radio etc off and taste the difference!

Good luck everyone trying to loose weight - (I'm hoping to drop 8lb before my wedding in May) It aint always easy...