Welcome,
Read all the FAQ’s and plan what you are going and eat and drink on fast days. You may shrink and the scales may be slow to catch up, so measure your vital statistics, upper arms, thighs and calves. One month, the scales didn’t move at all but I lost 7 inches all over!

If you are a saint on FD but scoff on non fast days then you are wasting your time. There have to be changes to what you eat and how much, for ever. Avoid anything ‘low fat’ or ‘diet’ as it is usually full of sugar. Write everything down that you eat and drink for a week, which should show you what and how much is making you put on weight. If you add up your daily consumption of food into calories then you can see what the culprits are and then reduce them.

There is loads of information on these threads and lots of support.Remember, this is a way of life and not a diet.

Don’t eat diet bars which are based on whey protein. It spikes your insulin levels. Don’t eat processed grain based products like bread, pasta, pizza etc. Don’t eat SUGAR!! Don’t eat cakes biscuits chocolate ice cream or anything with added sugar.

Eat lots of veggies. Lean meat like chicken, tuna. Full fat low sugar yogurt, cheese, avocadoes, nuts like almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts. Eat tofu, eggs, beans and legumes.

Good luck it works if you want it to.

Hi Rills,
Have you had a look under ‘resources’ then BMI calculator for your TDEE(Total Daily Energy Expenditure) which is based on your weight/height/activity level?

For breakfast weetabix with full fat milk sounds fine. Why not have the banana as a snack later? Ditch the honey-just concentrated sugar. Yoghurt-was it full fat? Plain? If it is fruit yoghurt then it was likely to have a large amount of sugar in it. Walnuts/almonds all good but ditch the sultanas-very high sugar. Diet coke must go completely, so ditch it as public enemy no.1! It will make losing weight and maintaining that loss very difficult, so kick it into touch..and start today. I gave up sugar in my tea after 40 years+ and thought it was impossible, it isn’t and if I can do it…then anyone can!

Aim to make protein the star of the show and then add vegetables/salad. I have cut down how much and how often we have pasta/rice/potatoes as a family and are all slimmer as a result. Have a look at jar tomato sauces, the amount of sugar in each jar is staggering and Mary Berry has a recipe for meatballs in tomato sauce that is lovely and easy to make(I make it in bulk and freeze it in portion sizes).

Exercise is great on may levels, just don’t expect to lose weight…that is all down to what you eat and drink..or don’t. The key really is planning what you are all going to eat and when with 3 children under 7. Menu planning is going to be essential. Can you bulk cook and then freeze into portions?

I am quite fussy and always chose to have food that I really like on a FD, which for me means fish. My boys were not fans of fish, so I used to make them chilli and rice which I can’t stand! You might find it useful to make a list of what the children eat and if you eat with them, what tweaks you can make to reduce the carb load for you.

Any help?

Hi,
Full fat is more filling and has far less sugar than diet anything. I certainly feel fuller with full fat yoghurt for my breakfast. Robert Lustig advocates eating wholefoods, so whole fruit, nuts, cheese, avocados, unprocessed meat, fish, wholemeal bread and pasta, wholegrain rice, seeds, beans, vegetables…and cooking from scratch. Jason Fung advocates fasting, so try to stop snacking to allow your body to have time without food. Have a look at them both-very interesting.

Lustig would say that the first thing to do is to stop the Coke. If you keep drinking it, then making other changes is going to be much harder. Well done for giving it 100% to stop, but in the meantime decide how you are going to reduce your consumption.

Think about how much bread you eat and then what you put on it. Can you have a day without any bread at all? Can you increase that to 2 days?

As a single mum of 4 who was also working, I understand.BUT, putting yourself first will benefit everyone else. Planning is the key.

Think about making small changes..they add up to a very big change. You can do it. If I can…anyone can(3 stone less).

Hi rills im also mother of 3 , ive put on alot of weight recently ive gone from 12 stone to 15 stone in just over a year. Ive only been doing it for 2 weeks lost 5lbs already. Be nice for us all to share our success and give eachtoer support. X

I drink some alcohol but I have to have a god reason to do so. The weekend or its 5 O clock isn’t a good enough reason. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram. It must be processed by the liver and MUST be stored as fat. Mostly in the liver itself and when that is full of fat it is stored in adipose (fat cells). To put it into perspective, carbs are 4 cal per gram. Fat is 9 cal per gram and alcohol 7 cal per gram.

If you need to have alcohol then red wine has at least some antioxidants that are beneficial. A small glass or two is OK, beyond that and its all down hill. Sorry.

Things marketed as diet are usually low fat. What they substitute the fat with is sugar. You can make cardboard taste nice as long as you add enough sugar. Steer away from anything with sugar. Start reading food labels. Anything with more than about 5% sugar in it, put it back on the shelf.

Sugar spikes you insulin levels, this will prevent you from accessing stored fats. Really quite counter productive if your primary aim is to lose weight.