Winning Tactics For Giving Up The Diet

You might disagree, but hear me out on this, if you're thinking of going on
a diet to lose those extra pounds think again. Long-term weight control
through dieting is near impossible, for the simple reason is that diets
promote only short-term solutions not long term.

After dieting you'll certainly look lighter on the scales, but in most cases
this is because you've dumped a few pounds of body fluid and muscle, and not
because you've lost any significant amounts of body fat.

One of the main reasons diets don't work is because they send the body into
starvation mode - a survival mechanism for times when humans faced periods
of famine. Cutting back on our energy intake causes the body to lower its
metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat.

At the same time, hunger signals increase and we quickly start to crave high
energy foods loaded with fats and sugars - the exact foods we are trying to
do without!

Alarmingly, research has shown that repeated dieting actually makes it
harder to lose weight and easier to put it on.

This is because when you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits,
the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old eating
habits actually represent excess in calories.

Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but you may even gain a bit
extra.

Five more reasons to stop dieting

* Diets sap energy - Too little food means not enough energy for physical
activity.
* Diets lower your metabolism - Dieting causes your body to conserve energy,
making results harder to achieve.
* Diets are unhealthy - A cycle of rapid weight loss followed by weight gain
can lead to a loss of lean tissue from your body and calcium from your
bones. It also strips the body of essential vitamins and minerals.
* Diets make food the enemy - Food provides nourishment and comfort. Diets
can make you afraid to eat, depriving you of one of life's pleasures.
* Diets cheat your confidence - Going from one failed diet to the next can
leave you feeling depressed and create a cycle in which guilt battles
against food.


Regular physical activity and a healthy, balanced diet aren't as glamorous
as the quick fixes, but they do get better results.

Start with one extra exercise session and one less fatty takeaway meal per
week, and gradually work towards a lifelong plan for achieving your best
weight.

If you change the way you eat or exercise to lose weight, ask yourself this
question. Can I see myself sticking to this routine for life?

If the answer is "no" then its time to change what you're doing. Any healthy
weight loss plan should include the following:

* A wide variety of foods.
* Regular and enjoyable exercise.
* Enough filling foods to avoid constant hunger.
* At least 1200 calories a day.
* Flexibility for treat foods and social occasions.
* A realistic goal of your best weight (not necessarily your lowest weight.)

Fact

A realistic weight loss is around one to two pounds per week. Fast weight
losses are not fat loss but glycogen and water. If you lose weight quickly
then you will probable
return back to the weight at which you started as quickly as it was lost.

Fiction

* Weight loss is quick and simple.
* Exercise is not necessary.
* Certain exercises can spot reduce.
* Carbohydrates (for example, bread, potatoes, rice,
and pasta) are fattening.


Eliminate calorie-dense foods such as cookies, sugary desserts, chips,
fries, pizza, candies, crackers etc. Research on people who have
successfully lost a lot of weight and kept it off long term, shows that the
vast majority succeeded by consuming a low fat diet high in fibre coupled
with strength training and cardiovascular activity.

These are the basics you'll need to aim for.

A sound weight loss-eating plan should:

* Be nutritionally sound, providing all the nutrients you need.
* Never promise fast weight losses.
* Offer an eating plan based on real food.
* Allow you to eat out.
* Avoid expensive meal plans, products and supplements.
* Not avoid carbohydrate foods, e.g. bread, rice, pasta, cereals and
potatoes.
* Make gradual dietary changes.
* Provide knowledge.
* Allow you to eat all foods
* Recommend physical activity.

Fat calories are more fattening than carbohydrate calories. Your body can
easily convert the fat you eat in food into body fat, so to lose weight you
need to cut down on fats and foods that contain it.

Consider the following steps to reduce fat in your diet.

* Use skimmed or skimmed milk in drinks, cooking and on cereals.
* Buy a non - stick frying pan.
* Buy a cheese slicer
* Cut the visible fat from meat.
* Eat very little pastry.
* Learn how to read a food label.
* Substitute low fat yoghurt for cream.
* Remove the skin from chicken and turkey.
* Eat fruit as snacks rather than eating chocolate and biscuits.
* Eat fewer burgers and sausages.

In conclusion the way to lose body fat and maintain muscle is to have a food
program for life and more energy output. Increase the amount of fruits,
vegetables, non-fat dairy products, whole grains and beans that you eat.

We know. That's why we are here - for mutual support to stick with it
both as the weight drops (62lbs in my case, more in some others, and
some have just started), and to maintain the weight loss once we have
reached our personal goals. Some of us have been at our personal goals
for some time now (years rather than weeks or months) and are here to
help others and keep on track themselves.

Now, do you have any useful recipes, suitable for whole families, that
will help us maintain our *already chosen* healthy way of eating? Do
you have any useful information about how to plan meals for a family
following a healthy diet *for life*? Where do you shop for your healthy
foods? How do you stay on track when away for business trips and
holidays? How do you cope with celebrations and religious observances
that have particular food requirements (like Passover and Ramadan, or
Christmas and Devali)? How do you manage when on holiday in foreign
parts - especially when food is bought from markets and loose in shops
and comes without nutritional information on any packaging, because
there *is* no packaging?

Rather than merely telling us stuff most of us here are very well aware
of, why not give us some real concrete information that will help us do
these things we already know?

This is a Weight Watchers support group, and this is what WW does for
us, each in our own parts of the world. It tells us what to do, teaches
us how to do it, shows us where to get the best foods for doing it, and
gives us little treats along the way. It forgives our lapses, supports
us when we don't do it right, and helps us get back on course.

Personally, I'd like some information about where in the SE of England I
can buy Skinny Cow ice creams, so I don't feel left out when my son has
an occasional cold treat, where I can buy better quality butternut
squash, and if anyone can supply me with Old Bay seasoning here in the
UK, as the tin I was sent as a prezzy is rapidly running out! It's such
a nice mix, and herbs and spices are POINT FREE!! Yyaaayyy! I can
still eat Chicken Korma on a WW 'diet'!
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Kate Dicey wrote in
:

and if anyone can supply me with Old Bay seasoning here in the
UK, as the tin I was sent as a prezzy is rapidly running out! It's such
a nice mix, and herbs and spices are POINT FREE!!

E-mail me - I"ll gladly send you a tin. I live in Old Bay country.

Donna
(also on alt.sewing)

Donna wrote:

Kate Dicey wrote in
:


and if anyone can supply me with Old Bay seasoning here in the
UK, as the tin I was sent as a prezzy is rapidly running out! It's such
a nice mix, and herbs and spices are POINT FREE!!


E-mail me - I"ll gladly send you a tin. I live in Old Bay country.

Donna
(also on alt.sewing)

Answered privately!

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Kate Dicey wrote in news:44438d31$0
:

Answered privately!


Didn't get it - try donna(skipthis)apperson(skipthis)@(blah blah blah)
earthlink.net

Donna wrote:

Kate Dicey wrote in news:44438d31$0
:


Answered privately!



Didn't get it - try donna(skipthis)apperson(skipthis)@(blah blah blah)
earthlink.net

Yeah, it bounced! I'll try again.

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

As Gary so kindly summarized... In conclusion the way to lose body fat and
maintain muscle is to have a food
program for life and more energy output. Increase the amount of fruits,
vegetables, non-fat dairy products, whole grains and beans that you eat.

Exactly. Weight Watchers Recommendations. Probably why I have kept off the
200+ pounds I lost.
--
Lesanne

this is one of the best posts I have ever read, and if you want me to ask dh
to price and send you the seasonings, send me an email with what you want,
size, and so forth and I will see what we can do, Lee
Kate Dicey wrote in message
...

We know. That's why we are here - for mutual support to stick with it
both as the weight drops (62lbs in my case, more in some others, and
some have just started), and to maintain the weight loss once we have
reached our personal goals. Some of us have been at our personal goals
for some time now (years rather than weeks or months) and are here to
help others and keep on track themselves.

Now, do you have any useful recipes, suitable for whole families, that
will help us maintain our *already chosen* healthy way of eating? Do
you have any useful information about how to plan meals for a family
following a healthy diet *for life*? Where do you shop for your healthy
foods? How do you stay on track when away for business trips and
holidays? How do you cope with celebrations and religious observances
that have particular food requirements (like Passover and Ramadan, or
Christmas and Devali)? How do you manage when on holiday in foreign
parts - especially when food is bought from markets and loose in shops
and comes without nutritional information on any packaging, because
there *is* no packaging?

Rather than merely telling us stuff most of us here are very well aware
of, why not give us some real concrete information that will help us do
these things we already know?

This is a Weight Watchers support group, and this is what WW does for
us, each in our own parts of the world. It tells us what to do, teaches
us how to do it, shows us where to get the best foods for doing it, and
gives us little treats along the way. It forgives our lapses, supports
us when we don't do it right, and helps us get back on course.

Personally, I'd like some information about where in the SE of England I
can buy Skinny Cow ice creams, so I don't feel left out when my son has
an occasional cold treat, where I can buy better quality butternut
squash, and if anyone can supply me with Old Bay seasoning here in the
UK, as the tin I was sent as a prezzy is rapidly running out! It's such
a nice mix, and herbs and spices are POINT FREE!! Yyaaayyy! I can
still eat Chicken Korma on a WW 'diet'!
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Stormmee wrote:

this is one of the best posts I have ever read, and if you want me to ask dh
to price and send you the seasonings, send me an email with what you want,
size, and so forth and I will see what we can do, Lee

Thank you, Lee. Another tin of Old Bay is on the way from another
group member, so I shan't need more for a while yet. The offer is sweet
of you, and I will remember it.

Indian spices are no problem he this is England, after all - home of
chicken tikka masala (invented because some Brit wanted gravy with his
chicken tikka!) and the balti curry! There are whole Indian and Chinese
supermarkets not too far away (I live but an hour from London), and this
is the country where Patak's sauces, pastes, and curry mixes are made,
should I need a quick fix rather than roasting and grinding my own.
Mind you, there's a whole sensatory delight in doing that... I even
have a WW korma recipe!

My biggest problem with holidays is such things as how many points in a
slice of Sachertorte in Vienna/Frankfort, or what to allow for a
mushroom filled crepe in the market place in Tour, or how many hours
swimming do I need to make up for confit de canard in a little
granny-run eatery in a village in the Dordogne? Or what do I do when
lunch in Amsterdam is a mug of hot chocolate and a ham and cheese
croisant, and dinner will be the ricetaffel at the best Indonisian place
in town, just because it's attached to the hotel we are staying in? How
much do I allow for lunch in Zurich with a friend, and a visit to
Switzerland's premier chocolatier? Is it 12 or 15 points for scones and
clotted cream in Tintagel? All these are adventures well within my
experience! Now that I need to watch the fat intake and the points,
what do I do? If the naggy poster would answer those questions rather
than just boring on in sweeping and far too general terms for use, we'd
all be better pleased! He's as bad as that George! hoc - ptooie!

My Next Big Cooking Adventure may well be converting some
Persian/Iranian recipes to the WW way. Lamb and apricots, and bulgar
wheat with the gentle fragrance and subtle colour of saffron... I want
a tagine! God knows where I'd STORE the damned thing, but I dearly want
one!
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

"Kate Dicey" wrote in message
...
Stormmee wrote:

this is one of the best posts I have ever read, and if you want me to
ask dh
to price and send you the seasonings, send me an email with what you
want,
size, and so forth and I will see what we can do, Lee

Thank you, Lee. Another tin of Old Bay is on the way from another
group member, so I shan't need more for a while yet. The offer is
sweet of you, and I will remember it.

Indian spices are no problem he this is England, after all - home
of chicken tikka masala (invented because some Brit wanted gravy with
his chicken tikka!) and the balti curry! There are whole Indian and
Chinese supermarkets not too far away (I live but an hour from
London), and this is the country where Patak's sauces, pastes, and
curry mixes are made, should I need a quick fix rather than roasting
and grinding my own. Mind you, there's a whole sensatory delight in
doing that... I even have a WW korma recipe!

My biggest problem with holidays is such things as how many points in
a slice of Sachertorte in Vienna/Frankfort, or what to allow for a
mushroom filled crepe in the market place in Tour, or how many hours
swimming do I need to make up for confit de canard in a little
granny-run eatery in a village in the Dordogne? Or what do I do when
lunch in Amsterdam is a mug of hot chocolate and a ham and cheese
croisant, and dinner will be the ricetaffel at the best Indonisian
place in town, just because it's attached to the hotel we are staying
in? How much do I allow for lunch in Zurich with a friend, and a
visit to Switzerland's premier chocolatier? Is it 12 or 15 points for
scones and clotted cream in Tintagel? All these are adventures well
within my experience! Now that I need to watch the fat intake and the
points, what do I do? If the naggy poster would answer those
questions rather than just boring on in sweeping and far too general
terms for use, we'd all be better pleased! He's as bad as that
George! hoc - ptooie!

My Next Big Cooking Adventure may well be converting some
Persian/Iranian recipes to the WW way. Lamb and apricots, and bulgar
wheat with the gentle fragrance and subtle colour of saffron... I
want a tagine! God knows where I'd STORE the damned thing, but I
dearly want one!
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Kate, when I have those wonderful food experiences I just right them
down but leave the points blank. I just try to limit portions and not
overindulge especially in too many sweets in one day. WW food books
really don't cover all of the amazing foods in the world. I admire those
here who live in countries where caloric content, fat and fiber are not
always available but still try to track points.

The lamb recipe sounds so good. Last night we had leftover lamb
sandwiches from lamb my son barbecued slowly on the rotisserie Saturday
evening.

Audrey