I am reStarting my diet! I have Put on weight! :-(

I have now been eating like a pig for the last month or so and I have put on weight... :-( so now I am going to start from the beginning, Its easier for me to give you advice as I go along any way.

You have to start by cutting out all of the junk foods and sugar. 

Drink Water :) Water actually speeds up weight loss and boosts the metabolism by 30%. Drink as much as 2ltrs a day, this acts as an appetite suppressant. It flushes toxins and stops you from mistaking thirst for hunger.

Green Tea :) Green Tea boosts the metabolism and may aid weight loss. It's mood enhancing. It has anticancer property's and helps fight against heart disease.

Soup :)  Eat less and burn fat faster, Soup is a super appetite suppressant because its made of a hunger satisfying combination of liquids and solids. Keeps you fuller for longer.

Grapefruit :) A Grapefruit with every other meal in a 12 week period lost an average of 3.6lbs. Vitamin C also comes from the Grapefruit. Citrus fruits reduce insulin levels. Promotes weight loss and boosts metabolism.

Apples & Pears :) Eating 3 small apples per day on a low calorie diet, lost more weight, than women, who did not add fruit to their diet. Fruit eaters eat fewer calories overall. Feel fuller for longer.

Broccoli :) calcium is linked in weight loss, Broccoli is not only high in calcium, but is also loaded with vitamin C witch boosts calcium absorption.

Lean Turkey :) Rev up your fat burning engine with bodybuilding fave. Protein boosts metabolism. Lose fat and build lean muscle. A 3oz serving of boneless skinless turkey breast has only 120calories and 26g of protein. Appetite curbing and 1g of fat.

Low fat yogurt :) Dairy products can boost weight loss efforts. people of a reduced caloried diet who included 2 to 4 servings of dairy foods lost significantly more weight. contains friendly calcium and 2g of protein.  

9 Tips to Stop Food Cravings and Help You With Your Diet

Most of us are "regular" people. We don't eat the perfect diet all the time and have our struggles with food, same as everyone else. But having an awareness of this fact and knowing a little bit about our health and food nutrition can help when it comes to making wise decisions.

Many people struggle with food "cravings." Studies tell us that it's fairly common for food cravings to happen at certain times, quite often at around bedtime. Your guard may be down, you may have had an unusually hard day, and off you go on your not-so-merry way to find that tasty treat. Fatigue and stress often combine to take their toll on the best of intentions.

When food cravings are unconstrained, what starts out as a bedtime snack quickly turns into a full blown feeding frenzy...not something most of us fully understand or appreciate. We head to kitchen and every other place where food can hide, clearing a path as we go.

Most food cravings are not about satisfying a nutritional need or imbalance. They seem to be more emotionally related, or God forbid, are caused by plain old gluttony. Exactly why we over-indulge is not completely understood, however our knowledge about this subject continues to grow.

Listed below are some thoughts and ideas about food cravings:

- If the food isn't available, you can't eat it! Empty the cookie jar and keep it that way! Keep healthy food choices on-hand.

- Recognize the feelings and emotions that lead-up to a food craving. Do you have food cravings when you're bored, lonely, or stressed? If you can identify a trigger, you can deal with the emotion that's making you desire a certain food. Try to deal with the triggers in the best way you can.

- Sometimes, even recognizing that a craving is about to happen doesn't seem to help. Don't beat yourself-up. There is always tomorrow. Call a friend, make good use of your support network and share your feelings with someone.

- Get enough sleep. When you're tired, you're more likely to crave things.

- Never give-up. When you "slip", press-in, bear-down, get a grip, do whatever is necessary to re-gain control. Try to practice restraint most of the time, but don't get legalistic and un-balanced in your weight loss approach. Think moderation and not abstinence at all times!

- Understand that self-control and discipline by themselves, won't cut it! If you depend totally on yourself for control, you will fail. Forming caring and supportive relationships is required. If you do not currently have a support network, start building one TODAY.

- Exercise. It increases feel-good endorphins that cut down on your cravings. Try to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day.

- Use moderation. Instead of stuffing yourself with every kind of food hoping that your craving will go away, eat 100 to 200 calories of your "craved" food.

- Substitute with low-fat foods and complex carbs. If you're hungry for chocolate, eat non-fat chocolate yogurt. Try fig bars or raisins for a sweet craving.

- Never skip a meal. Eat every three to five hours. Try six smaller meals or regular meals with nutritious snacks.

- Understand that hunger craving are oftentimes stress related. Practice other ways to treat chronic stress a walk in the park, spiritual connections, a cozy fireplace, baths...all these stimulate neurochemicals that activate regions of the brain that stimulate pleasure. Relaxation techniques may work by reducing the psychological drives on stress output, which can be the root causes of stress. Bottom line, substitute pleasurable experiences for comfort foods.

- Beware of certain medications. They can stimulate appetite. Drugs used for the treatment of depression and bipolar disorder can be appetite stimulants. Other drugs, both prescription and over the counter, may influence appetite as well. If you are on a medication, and troubled by food cravings, discuss this with your doctor or pharmacist. You may be able to find an alternative that doesn't send your cravings out of control.

- Distract Yourself. What's that old expression...idle hands are the devils workshop? Get busy. Do anything other than cave-in to your desire for food, and keep doing it until the cravings subside.

- One final thought, take a look inside your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets and do some general "house cleaning." Throw-out all that unhealthy stuff that is waiting to sabotage your diet, and start shopping more wisely. A little forethought and careful planning will go a long way for improving your chances of success.

Eat wisely, be happy, and live long!

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/cook-yourself-thin/4od

Good carbs and bad carbs. CARBS

The carbs you want to avoid are the crappy carbs, like white bread, sweets/candy, starches, etc. Good carbs like whole grains, fiber, etc are carbs you want to ingest, just in moderation. 

Good Carbohydrates: (Low Glycemic Carbs)

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Beans
• Legumes
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Whole grain breads
• Whole grain cereals
• Whole grain pastas
• Some dairy products

Bad Carbohydrates: (High Glycemic Carbs)

• Refined grains like white bread and white rice
• Processed foods such as cake, cookies, chips, certain lunch meats, hotdog's
• Soft drinks
• Alcohol

What are Carbohydrates?

According to dictionary.com a carbohydrate is any group of substances containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, especially the sugars and starches found in food. 

This sounds great but let’s read into this a bit further.  Carbohydrates require less water to digest than proteins or fats and are the most common source of energy. Proteins and fat are vital building components for body tissue and cells and are also a source of energy for the body.  In essence, carbohydrates are not essential nutrients.  The body is capable of obtaining its energy from proteins and fats but the Institute of Medicine recommends American adults get 40-65% of their dietary energy from carbohydrates.

How Does the Body Break Down Carbs?

All carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars. These sugars are absorbed into the bloodstream. As blood sugar levels rise, the pancreas releases a hormone called insulin, which is needed to move sugar from the blood into the cells, where the sugar can be used as a source of energy.

Simple carbohydrates are broken down much faster and cause insulin levels to spike quickly where as complex carbohydrates take longer to break down and cause a gradual increase in insulin levels.

What are Simple and Complex Carbohydrates?

Depending on the size of the molecule, carbohydrates may be simple or complex. Simple carbohydrates are various forms of sugar, such as glucose and fructose. Because they are small molecules, they can be broken down by the body quickly and are the quickest source of energy. Fruits, dairy products, honey, and maple syrup contain large amounts of simple carbohydrates, which provide the sweet taste in most candies and processed snacks (i.e. cakes).  Eating too many of these types of sugars can cause insulin levels to spike. Foods containin simple carbohydrates are also considered to be high on the glycemic index.

Complex carbohydrates are composed of long strings of simple carbohydrates. Because complex carbohydrates are larger molecules than simple carbohydrates, they are slower sources of energy. However, energy can be generated from them relatively quickly. Complex carbohydrates occur in wheat products (such as breads and pastas), other grains (such as rye and corn), beans, and root vegetables (such as potatoes).

What does this mean to me?

Well, depends on what your fitness goals are.  If you’re trying to lose weight, eating complex healthy carbs in the right proportions along with lean proteins and healthy fats (yes, there is such a thing) can have great results. In fact, any diet that doesn't include carbohydrates can have adverse health side effects.  However, eating those simple carbs high in sugar (often referred to as bad carbs) will fill your body with empty nutrition-less calories that will provide no benefit other than making you round.

Lets Talk Calories...

Well a major part of my weight loss is down to my calorie counting.
In order to lose weight you need to eat less calories per day than your body needs. To lose 1lb a week you need a negative calorie balance of 500 calories per day. To lose weight at 2lb a week you need to reduce your calorie intake by 1000 calories a day. Easy as that, You can also lose even more by burning off even more calories whilst you cut them down. If you are calorie counting and you haven't lost any thing.. then kick start the weight loss by doing lots of exercising get your heart pumping and your guaranteed to lose the weight trust me.  

Ready made salads!

Florette Garden Salad Bowl 275G

This is such a low calorie Dinner or Lunch, I think at the most it is 100 calories for the whole thing! But feel free to add some tomato's and olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It will keep you fuller for longer. I find if you eat salads you do not get hungry through out the day.  :-) x

Typical Values	Typical values per 100g	per serving (92g)
Energy	87kJ / 21kcal	80kJ / 19kcal
Protein	1.3g	1.2g
Carbohydrate	2.3g	2.1g
Fat	0.2g	0.2g

When in your fave coffee shop, go SKINNY!

I love my coffee shops! But now I have swapped my full fat, creamy coffees for SKINNY LATTE'S! In a tall skinny latte in Starbucks there is apparently only 90 calories. I am going to do more research on this and find out the calories for all the coffee shops we have in the UK. But for now (GO SKINNY) it tastes just as great! xx

No sugar!!!!

Cut out all the sugar in your Tea and Coffee, I used to have about 5 or 6 cups of Tea or Coffee a day.. With 3 sugars in each cup! As soon as I cut that out and went on to sweeteners the weight dropped off of me. Any sweetener is fine but I find this one is really good, it's calorie free and it's cheep. You get 600tablets and that really does last a long long time! Plus it's a handy size so will fit in your handbag or pocket so you can take it to friends houses and when you go out. This is a really important thing in my diet now and couldn't ever go back to sugar.. once you have a coffee with one or how many sweeteners you want.. you will see you do not need sugar. xxx

What I have for my lunch :-)

This is such a filling yet Low Calorie lunch, it's really nice and light. Always read the nutrition guide on all your food. Some times you have to do a bit of maths tho :-) hehe x

A serving contains the following of your guideline daily amount

Guideline Daily Amount Summary

• Calories

  97,5%of your GDA

• Sugar

  3g,3%of your GDA

• Fat

  1g,1%of your GDA

• Saturates

  Trace,1%of your GDA

• Salt

  1.8g,29%of your GDA

Product properties

•   
• 
  

Eat spicy food!

There is evidence to show that spices, especially chilli, can raise the metabolic rate by up to 50% for up to 3 hours after you’ve eaten a spicy meal.

Drinks containing caffeine also stimulate the metabolism, as does green tea.

Don't go out food shopping hungry!!!

Shop for your food only after eating. You will be less likely to buy foods impulsively especially foods you don’t need! :-)

Trick your Body by changing it up!

I believe and have read that if you change the amount of calories you consume every day, you can lose weight, so say on one day you eat 2000 calories, the next day you eat 1400, next day you eat 1700... and so on.. your body doesn't get lazy and neither does your metabolism because it is contently readjusting to burning the amount you have consumed. So you are kind of tricking your body... Try this! 

Frozen Vegetables and Fruit.

Frozen organic fruits and veggies can be just as nutritious as fresh and are great for smoothies and last-minute side dishes for lunch and dinner.


Since vegetables and fruits are frozen at the peak of their freshness, their vitamins and minerals are abundant even more so than their fresh counterparts, particularly those that are imported. Imported produce may have been sitting in storage crates and grocery produce shelves for a week or more, causing it to lose many nutrients.

Walking Burns How Much Calories!!!! :-)

Walking for an hour burns this amount of calories:


miles per hour, 

• 3mph, burns (296 cals)
• 3.5mph burns (331 cals)
• 4mph burns (435 cals)
• 4.5mph burns (557 cals)
• 5mph burns (696 cals)

so get your lil bumbums walking girls and boys! x