The practical diet plan?...

[shark_90]

Those of you who've met me know I'm not the skinniest guy on the planet, nor do I want to be, however I do think I should be eating more healthily and I would like to lose a bit of weight (1.5 - 2 stones).

I have never really tried a diet before but I think it's about time I did. I don't get any exercise at work as I drive a lot of the day and my job is rarely physically chalenging, and my diet tends to be crap because I'm on the road all the time and usually live off a service station lunch...on top of that my skin is rubbish (I get dry skin quite a lot) and I generally feel tired and lethargic.

There's allsorts of diet plans on the net and I've looked at a few, but I start reading and generally think "WTF?!" before getting further than 6 lines in.

What I'm looking for is an idea of the foods I should and shouldn't be eating, within reason. But I also want something that is practical, so I can take a lunch to work with me and stick to it instead of shelling out what is easily £5 a day on what is essentially junk. Then when I get home I want something that I can cook for 1 that is going to do me more good than harm.

The other thing is that I never eat breakfast and never eat fruit. I understand that I should do both. Can anyone suggest a good thing to have in a morning? Also, as I don't really eat fruit (I just don't like it ) should I take vitamin tablets and is it worth investing in a blender so I can trick myself into having fruit without "eating" it?

I am also going to try to go back to the gym (I've been paying a ridiculous membership fee for months and not been) to try and get myself physically fitter.

I don't drink much so I don't think alcohol is a consideration, and I have stopped drinking Coca Cola and switched to Pepsi Max.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I want to get myself sorted out

[scooby_simon]

This is my wife's line of work.

She would say "eat a more balanced diet etc.." - 5 portions of fruit and Veg a day - avoid the worse foods most of the time - afterall, life would not be worth living without curry !

eat an apple instead of a Snickers etc.

Or instead of a packet of crisps, eat a small pack of Sun maid Raisins etc. (but not too many )

It really is a case of cut most of the crap out, most of the time and you will feel much better.

I also suffer from the "nerver eat breakfast" problem and I try and eat the odd bowl of cereal at work and the odd pack of fruit instead of a bacon sarnie.

Also, you say you get little chance for exercise, do you go to places with lifts ? If so, don't use them !

[D1MAC]

Sounds a lot like me only I'm chained to a desk all day, almost every day so nil exercise (and I probably drink a bit more ).

I reckon first start is that you must have breakfast & eat fruit!

The other one might be (and it's difficult for a bloke to contemplate this) to suss out one of the better diet clubs, if only for the degree of discipline it might instil. Mate of mine took the plunge and along with some exercise has lost 2 stone in 3 months or so.

If not then it's either looking at something like GI/GL or fill your diet with plenty of fresh, lean meat, fish and loads of fruit & veg. If you can be bothered, you might rustle up stuff yourself for lunches to avoid service station

Exercise - Unless you have a cracking pair of moobs then I would recommend swimming. Only time I ever lost significant weight was when I knocked the ale on the head for a while and went swimming 3 or 4 times a week. Could go twice a week there and twice a week to the gym

Here endeth the first 'don't practice what you preach' session

[Mook]

Forget drinking Pepsi Max - all you're doing is replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners.

Yes, grab some multi-vitamins like Centrum, and take them in the morning. You would also be better off taking cod liver oil capsules as well - it's great for your skin.

One of the most important things is to think about when you eat, as well as what you eat. What you eat, however, is up to you - there's no point eating stuff you don't like, or you'll just stop eating it and revert to eating crap again.

Always try to avoid eating carbohydrates (a.k.a. "carbs" like pasta, potatoes etc.) after 8pm. Because your body is slowing down at the end of the day, it ends up converting carbs into fat while you sleep. That's why people end up with a beer gut, because beer/lager etc is full of carbs - late night drinking - stored as fat overnight. Hey presto, where the feck did that extra weight come from.

One thing that's a real pain in the a*se is trying to count calories - you need about 2,000 a day. All you need to do is glance at the back of stuff and keep a rough count. As soon as you pick up a Mars or a Snickers or whatever, you really need to think twice about it. I used to eat two or three a day. I've not stopped altogether - I probably have one every couple of weeks or so and replace my daily urge for chocolate with something else. I've got an addiction to bananas at the minute - I eat about three a day.

If you're starting to go back to the gym, see if you can find someone who wants to go as well - it's massively motivational if you're both driving each other, and no, I'm not referring to pumping iron - things like cardio exercises on bikes, cross-trainers, treadmills etc, seeing who can get to 2km first, trying to row 2km in 8 minutes etc.

Best of luck, Ben

[Hopsta]

Shark,

Like you i've never really been a dieter, but about 3 weeks ago I decided to brush the dusy off the gym membership card and i'm actually starting to enjoy it. Sometimes i'll go with the misses and others on my own.

I've also started sensible eating cutting out the crap aka chocolate sweets, crisps and not eating food just for the sake of it. Drink water if you feel hungry (unless it's a meal time) this will help kurb your quick fix binge eating. If you still feel hungry afterwards then you should eat something. Do you like cucumber and carrots? chop them up and stick them in a back to eat throughout the day. Sun maid raisins are another good snacker aswell as Simon said.

On the move food is pretty shite unless you really look at what you're eating, I picked up a sandwich yesterday in Tescos Express and it had 850 calories!

Weight loss to date 5lb, not superb but its a steady progress without going 'diet mad'

[N3WOB]

[ QUOTE ]

You would also be better off taking cod liver oil capsules as well - it's great for your skin.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah but there for the over 50's and your breath afterwards is vile, probably not unlike a tom's!

[Mook]

Don't drink the stuff from a bottle, you muppet

Seven Seas stuff is fine.

Anyway, I'm not 40. Erm, yet...

[Hopsta]

[ QUOTE ]

An Irishman was terribly overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.

"I want you to eat regularly for 2 days, then skip a day, and repeat this

procedure for 2 weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at

least 5 pounds."

When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60

POUNDS!

"Why, that's amazing!" the doctor said, "Did you follow my

instructions?"

The Irishman nodded..."I'll tell you though, by jaesuz, I t'aut I were

going to drop dead dat 3rd day."

"From hunger, you mean? " asked the Doctor.

"No",said the Irishman."From from all that ****in skippin' !"

[/ QUOTE ]

Simple

[stevie_d]

[ QUOTE ]

Don't drink the stuff from a bottle, you muppet

Seven Seas stuff is fine.

Anyway, I'm not 40. Erm, yet...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I take cod liver oil with my vitamins, does make me feel better during the day...when I can remember to take them that is

Shark> I'm also looking to lose weight and altho my main problem is alcohol.

What I am trying to do is to eat little and often. Have your main 3 meals, but snack in between. A day as follows would be good;

Breakfast: bowl of cereal or scrambled egg on brown toast

Snack: fruit or ceral bar

Lunch: sandwiches are fine, but try and use brown bread. Also try to mix things up, maybe cooking some pasta the night before and having that for lunch?

Snack: Rice cakes or similar

Tea: Meat and veg. Try to grill your meat and get a lean cut. Also steam your veg, it will taste nicer, be easy to cook and will hold more vitamins.

Before every meal I try to drink a pint of water. This fills me up a little and helps to stop me cooking/buying too much. Another nice tip is to buy your lunch (if you're out and about) just after breakfast. This way you'll be shopping when you're full and less likely to buy that pork pie or choccie bar.

Exercise is key, but it's not always easy with a hectic business life style. Try not to do just cardio, as building muscle mass will burn calories in the long run. Also, altho taking the stairs instead of the lift is a good idea, don't expect it to make much of a difference. Our bodies are amazingly good at walking1

Whatever you do, weigh yourself and remember to treat yourself (sensibly). For example, I like curries and I used to order one every week from a take-away, I'd order a starter, fried rice, curry and a naan. I dread to think how many calories is in this! Now I cook my own curry, it's fun, I have boiled rice and I can control how fattening the curry is (i.e. I don't dump a litre of oil in the pan...). Plus it's also cheaper.

Best bit of advice is to take it slowly and make sure you can keep up the lifestyle change! If your diet is not sustainable then there's really no point, so make things simple and fun!