A few years ago I had a gastroenterologist finally scare me into losing weight. I had tried to lose weight for years. I saw dieticians who frankly didn't help. I saw specialists. The advice I got was often too broad. I would often be told to eat more, that I was starving myself too much. Then my immunologist said, "It's simple. Calories in, calories out." While I don't fully agree with that, when I finally began to lose weight, that was pretty close to it.
What helped me - first, doing it for me, because my health was not good. I had fatty liver (not from drinking - when I first started having liver problems I cut out all alcohol even though I didn't drink much anyway). I set some general rules in place - cut out certain foods entirely, allow others in unlimited quantity, try to eat certain foods each day. The other really important thing - don't say, "I must be size X by such-and-such a date," because you're setting yourself up for failure. Don't lose the weight just to show someone else. Lose it for you. And if creep-features cow doesn't notice you've lost weight (and honey, she will notice but if she said anything it would be to tell you that you look gaunt, everyone's talking about it) don't worry about it. If you know you've lost 20 pounds and nobody says anything, then you obviously didn't look that bad to begin with. But I bet you will feel a lot healthier, and this is what this is all about.
Forget what you look like. Do this to feel good. And do it slowly. I kept most of the weight off for a number of years. I've gained weight recently but I'm still a fair bit below the weight I was when I began my diet.
My rules that worked for me -
1) cut out all sugar and foods with added sugar. That means no sweets (I did eat a couple of squares of dark chocolate every day, though - dark chocolate is good for you but you only need a tiny amount).
2) Cut out refined carbs. I eliminated all potato, for example. For a while. Cut out all white rice. Utterly, completely. Eliminated all white bread. Instead, I would eat a small amount of brown rice (cooked my own, would re-heat my serve in the microwave). By "small amount" I mean about two Tablespoonsful of cooked brown rice. One slice of wholegrain bread a day, max. I used to make an open sandwich.
3) Eliminate as much fat as possible. Don't put butter on your bread, but a small amount of mayonnaise instead. Or I might use a little pesto sauce as a base for a salad sandwich (open face).
4) Don't eat yogurt, don't drink milk. In your coffee and on your cereal is okay, but don't consume in quantity, there's a lot of lactose in milk and it puts the weight on. I would sometimes give in and drink milk, then find my weight loss had stalled for a few days as a result.
5) Eat at least 12 different plant products a day. You can 'cheat' and use mixed herbs as several plant products, but it can become a game. it also means you're eating a variety, often of what is in season, and this helps you feel less jaded by your diet. It also keeps you healthier.
6) Eat all the vegetables you want (other than the potato I mentioned). You can have sweet potato and pumpkin. You can use sauces and a smear of butter for flavour, but be sensible.
7) Limit yourself to one piece of fruit a day. If you're active, then you can have two. This does not include bananas - they are off your list. But you can eat all the strawberries and mangoes you want. They don't count.
7) Eat protein for two meals a day at least. The amount of protein - about the size of the palm of your hand at each meal. I love fried eggs and have a non-stick pan. I would rub a stick of butter over the cold pan (then put the butter back in the fridge). Heat the pan, and break in the egg. Two eggs if they were small. I would eat them on a plate, not on anything. Just the eggs, no toast.
8) If you're feeling hungry, keep telling yourself that you don't need it. Have a glass of water instead, unless it's been two to three hours since you ate anything. Then, if you're really feeling faint, eat something sensible. Eat a small amount and wait. If you're really famished, your blood sugar will respond within seconds and help you feel better (if that is what's wrong). It doesn't take much - remember the hypoglycemia attack in Steel Magnolias with Julia Roberts? A couple of minutes, tops.
I find that eating fast food is tricky. Finding something healthy is the problem. When you put these rules in place, you can discover, when you're out shopping for example, how hard it is to find something to eat within these rules. That is when I began to realise why I had been having so much difficulty losing weight.
For example, I avoided the burgers with their large, starchy bread rolls. No fried foods such as fried chicken. Definitely no fries - eat one, and you want more. So early in my diet, I saw a health food shop selling rice paper rolls - a selection of healthy things like snow pea sprouts, some shredded cooked chicken, shredded carrot, all rolled up in a rather glutinous rice paper wrapper. I figured, most of it is good stuff, I can get away with the wrapper. I bought one. Bit into it, and found that they had put in the good stuff, true, but also included a large amount of rice vermicelli - pure carbs. I enjoyed it but it was actually no healthier than a Big Mac (except it was a lot smaller).
It took me ages to hunt around to find fast food that came in small packages that was also relatively healthy and not carb-laden. I've realised that most fast food places make their money from carbs. Cheap calories for them. So shops that sell takeaway curries or stews serve them with a lot of rice. A LOT of rice. Sandwich shops often use thick rolls, and even where they use bread, they're large slices. Or thick slices.
What I have eventually settled on - it works for me, in Australia, you mightn't have the same options. But keep your eyes peeled, and apply those rules where you can. So I found an Indian takeaway food, chicken tikka, which is basically a marinated barbecued chicken thigh fillet. It's delicious. Normally people buy several of them and have them with rice, with poppadoms or with naan bread. All delicious, of course. But I've started buying just one tikka, and on its own. Or some shops will serve it on a plate with a little plain salad and some minted yogurt (it's a sauce, so it's permitted). Another plus - it's a really cheap meal. It might only stop me from being ravenous for a couple of hours, but it does make a difference. You can't lose weight without feeling hungry and without craving the bad stuff, but if you can persist, you can overcome the cravings. If you give way, don't beat yourself up about it, just get back on the wagon again after your 'treat'. But not too many treats too often!
Other fast food that helps (in moderation) - sushi. I look for sushi pieces that are not too big, and that have some protein and a few different plant products in them. We have one called "California roll" which fits the bill, although my favourite sushi has raw tuna and red caviar. Again, cheap but not as cheap as chicken tikka.
You will have to source your own. Something I have done, is ask for a burger on a plate, no bun. Lie and tell them you're gluten-intolerant. It might cost the same, but trying to save money by buying the whole lot, means that if you eat that burger bun, all the calories are going onto your belly and that is not good economics.
If you're hungry, splurge on strawberries and mango. Or eat a carrot. Or three. A bowl of hot mashed sweet potato makes a great base for a slow-cooked casserole. Aim for lots of flavour in your cooking. The more you cook for yourself, the healthier you will be. If cooking is not your favourite thing, then cook in bulk and eat the leftovers over the net few days, or freeze leftovers in meal serves. Take one of your home-cooked meals in to work for your lunch - as I said, any food you buy away from home is likely to be overloaded with carbs or sugar, and hidden calories. You can eat a healthy, filling meal that is just as satisfying (and cheaper) if you cook your own. Don't tell people you're on a diet. Tell them it's a health kick. Or natural living.
As the weight comes off (and I do recommend you buy some scales, weigh yourself the same time every day, naked) then you can relax the diet a little. Eat one roast potato. A small amount of mashed potato. But you will notice, the first time you ease the rules, that eating carbs leaves a sour taste in your mouth a few minutes after you've finished it, and it makes you want to eat more of it to make that taste go away. When you eliminate it, you don't notice that aftertaste.
Good luck!
Marg
