OV9

Explosive Newt wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 5:45 pm Calorie counting is the only thing that has ever worked for me. Suprise suprise, if you eat fewer calories than you burn then you lose weight!

This. I got the MyfitnessPal app when I wanted to lose weight, set myself a target, and it was straightforward to get a good chunk off. I find that if you're monitoring it you tend to ask yourself whether you really need that snack or just want it because you're bored or something.

That said after 6-8 weeks the weekly lbs lost start to tail off and it gets less rewarding. For me that was about 0.5kgs from where I wanted to be so I decided it was close enough. Undone it all since of course, so time to have another go soon, but that's just life from now on.

Calorie counting never worked, it’s only when I had food which my body used that I kept with it.

If I eat like a veggie then I have enormous shits and am
permanently hungry. It’s the same when I have a lot of bread or pasta etc. Full and then 2 hours later I’m hungry again.

Dave!

Well you're obviously a special case Dave!

duncs500 wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 12:27 pm

Explosive Newt wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 5:45 pm Calorie counting is the only thing that has ever worked for me. Suprise suprise, if you eat fewer calories than you burn then you lose weight!

This. I got the MyfitnessPal app when I wanted to lose weight, set myself a target, and it was straightforward to get a good chunk off. I find that if you're monitoring it you tend to ask yourself whether you really need that snack or just want it because you're bored or something.

That said after 6-8 weeks the weekly lbs lost start to tail off and it gets less rewarding. For me that was about 0.5kgs from where I wanted to be so I decided it was close enough. Undone it all since of course, so time to have another go soon, but that's just life from now on.

I find calorie counting very useful, it allows me to change my body shape whenever I want. It took a long time to learn what my maintenance calorie intake is, becuase it changes with different levels of exercise. But once I got a good handle on that, it's then easy to play with weight gain or weight loss. Limiting calories is how I lost nearly 30kg, it wasn't complicated, it simply worked. I kept it off too, because I didn't want to go back to how I was.

@V8Granite Having played around with a LOT of different ways of eating over the years, I agree with you. When I focus on lots of fruit and veg, with quite a lot of calories coming from carbs, I'm permanently hungry. When I was vegetarian/accidental vegan, I was always hungry. When people asked me how to stay so thin, the answer was to eat less than you need, to always be a little hungry. In retrospect that sounds quite unhealthy . Since trying a lower-carb diet, I feel satiated at the end of day, even when I've eaten less than my calorie target.

The only problem is that a low carb, high fat diet is that it can rely on high carbon foods. Choosing sustainable oily fish is probably the best way to mitigate the impact.

When I'm calorie counting I do still push myself to eat plenty of meat and other high protein foods, no doubt it's an essential part of any diet. I do try to keep fat and sugar down though.

I generally say bullshit to the carbon impact of the meat I eat. I get steak and beef mince (the main meat I eat) from cows I can see about 2 days before I eat them. I have no idea of the impact of all the other food I eat but I genuinely don’t care.

Local produce which is seasonal would be a great way to live but we are all so used to strawberries in December that I can’t see us as a society ever changing.

Now if we do more greenhouse farming with CO2 producers (use Bergen engines please to keep me in work) but I’ve no idea on how good this produce is compared to naturally grown stuff.

It’s a big minefield with a lot of agendas around I think.

Now the dog food, that’s probably accounting for 50% of my families carbon footprint alone!!

Dave!

I’m sure diets of any type work because they force you to think what you’re eating, which means you automatically keep more of a track of your calorie intake.

V8Granite wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:26 pm Now the dog food, that’s probably accounting for 50% of my families carbon footprint alone!!

Dave!

I think 90% of the meat we buy for the house is cat food, it’s a pity that it’s also the hardest to trace sources etc for

The nice thing about cat food and dog food is that the manufacturers don't need to add in essence of vomit and faeces to make it more appealing for your pet to eat.

ZedLeg wrote: Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:31 am

V8Granite wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:26 pm Now the dog food, that’s probably accounting for 50% of my families carbon footprint alone!!

Dave!

I think 90% of the meat we buy for the house is cat food, it’s a pity that it’s also the hardest to trace sources etc for

25kg a week here for the dogs

It’s supposedly well sourced but I have never checked, I’d happily eat it though as the standards are (well used to be) higher than for our own food. It could be horse meat at the end of a race track for all I know.

Dave!

V8Granite wrote: Wed Sep 07, 2022 4:45 pm

ZedLeg wrote: Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:31 am

V8Granite wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:26 pm Now the dog food, that’s probably accounting for 50% of my families carbon footprint alone!!

Dave!

I think 90% of the meat we buy for the house is cat food, it’s a pity that it’s also the hardest to trace sources etc for

It could be horse meat at the end of a race track for all I know.

Dave!

Would that count as fast food or not-fast-enough food?

Maybe just food that had promise ?

Dave!