Hi

My son is a personal trainer/nutritionalist and he says the most important thing is not to eat carbohydrates after 7 in the evening as that is when we all tend to sit down and relax and they turn to fat if they are not burnt off.

Hope this helps

Yes, Joolz, 15 years of summer dieting has taken its toll! This sort of yo-yoing convinces your body that it needs to store fat in readiness for the next 'famine'. The more you diet like this, the more likely it is that you'll put the weight back on and find it increasingly harder to take it off again. Dieting makes your metabolism more efficient in that your body learns to keep going on a reduced calory intake. This is why the last few pounds towards the end of a period of dieting are always harder to get off than the first few.

A few years back my docter advised me that it would be healthier to learn to love and accept the heavier me than me to keep subjecting my body to periods of weight loss and then weight gain. As a non-smoker and light drinker she reckoned that being overweight (though not necessarily obese) was the better and healthier option than yo-yo dieting/weight gain and loss. So I chucked out the scales, stopped dieting and my weight stabilised and I felt so much more relaxed that the blood pressure actually droppped!

However, in the last 9 months I have dropped 3 dress sizes and there is no sign of the weight going back on again. How come? A friend in the travel industry advised me that in preparation for a trip to Cuba last July I would find the heat much easier to cope with if I increased the protein content of what I ate and reduced the carbohydrate content and especially avoided carbohydrate later in the day. I came back from Cuba with a case full of clothes that no longer fitted properly. I put this down to the 3 hour daily aerobics workout cunningly disguised as a dance class - I didn't see how it could be the food because I ate loads, much of it carbohydrate and fried at that! All that activity made us ravenous and staying with families instead of a hotel meant that we didn't get that much choice of what we ate.

I fully expected the return home to include the return of the weight but it didn't. I did manage to keep up being more active via dance classes but nowhere near at the level of whilst I was away and the fact that I've continued to lose weight - albeit slowly - I put down to the fact that I've stuck with eating fewer carbohydrates in the form of wheat, pasta and potatoes and more protein and I assume that the Cuban experience kickstarted my metabolism again. I'm just back from a return visit to Cuba and again clothes that fitted before I went are now distinctly on the loose side!

So I'm even more convinced that dieting doesn't work - that the secret really is to change your basic eating patterns and stick with them and to increase your physical activity. So I still have my wholemeal toast (with butter - I can't stand margerine!) or porridge for breakfast with eg salad and tuna at lunchtime rather than a sandwich and have something like a vegetable stir fry of an evening, probably with fish again as I don't particularly like meat plus plentyu of fruit. I don't feel deprived, I still eat what I fancy, still have a glass of wine most evenings with my dinner and never give a thought to counting calories. And I really enjoy going out dancing salsa twice a week :-)

SM

Quite a few people are carbohydrate sensitive in that they find it very difficult to lose weight if they eat things like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. I know if I cut these out and stick to meat, fish, chicken and vegetables only, the weight comes off quicker and I feel better.Less bloated. Why not give it a try?

I too am on the dredded diet ready for my summer holiday.

Maybe we should start a diet thread, where we can all record our weights, weigh-ins, progress, etc??

I lasted from yesterday morning until 10pm last night when a packet of crisps and 2 Kit Kats threw themselves at me from the kitchen. Ah well I would rather be fat n happy!!!!

I started three weeks ago, lost 2.5lbs last week then stopped smoking last monday and put back on a pound a half, despite eating less! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Never gonna get into my holiday clothes, five weeks on Monday to go!

Gonna try cutting out the carbs a wee bit!

I decided not to diet, but to change my eating patterns and the types of food I ate. I eat healthily now - no processed food, only fresh, nothing after dinner at night, drinking lots more water and exercising. And no snacking between meals! So far lost almost 1.5 stone in about 6 weeks.

I don't believe that "dieting" works - I would agree with SM's post - I think you are much more likely to put the weight back on if you yo/yo. Not that I'm any expert, but I just came to the conclusion that what I was eating wasn't good for me, and I am eating lots of more interesting things now.

I wouldn't say that the changes I have made have been hard, although sometimes I have been known to sniff Thorntons Chocolates in bags(!) I have given up chocoate and crisps and was amazed to find that not too difficult. When you start to see results you are inspired to keep up the good work. And exercising is defininely helping. Have already dropped a size and am getting more toned. Should look a bit better by the pool in 5 weeks I hope. Good luck to everyone else out there trying - annie I did laugh about those items throwing themselves at you - used to happen to me often, usually accompanied by a glass or two of red wine!!

I haven't even given up chocolate, Meerkat! I just make sure that it is really good quality with a high cocoa solids content. A few squares of Black and Greens Mayan gold or Lindt dark dessert choloate, both of which are 70% cocoa solids, are far more satisfying than a whole bar of cloyingly sweet Cadbury Dairy Milk and the like.

SM

Good idea SM. I've been craving chocolate a lot over the past few weeks, and ended up giving in... I have just been to Holland and Barret for some GTF tablets, they're great if you're not diabetic, they raise your blood sugar level so you're not craving chocolate, I took 1 this morning, and have just devoured a full box of grapes, and that's it, there's an aero bar in front of me, and I've not touched it!

I'm going to try to lose a stone in 9 weeks! just under 2lb a week, so it's not impossable...

I've just bought a pair of trousers yesterday, and I've gone down a trousers size from xmas, I went back up to an 18 over xmas, I'm down to a 16 bottom and 14 top, but I really want to go back down to a 14 bottom 12 top like I was last summer! I've lost just under a stone since xmas. This time it's off for good though!

Talking about sniffing packets of Thorntons I love to sniff the little packets that After Eights come in and sometimes thats enough for my craving!!! Mmmm perhaps I shouldn't be disclosing this in public hahaha

Good luck summer dieters. My biggest problem is that if I can't have the figure of a 20yr old I want to look like Madonna, whose more my age!!!!

Dramaqueen..what does GTF stand for and what exactly are these tablets? If they raise your blood sugar don't you get an insulin rush to compensate then a crash a few hours later when you crave sugar again?

They are sold in the health food shop, they are used in training for a moderate release of glucose, and work all day, they make you feel like you've had chocolate, they are safe as long as you're not diabetic. They stand for glucose tolerence factor... about £3 for about 50 tablets.

I started my diet 1st February and have lost 12lbs Am now at my goal but am trying to maintain! I stick within a certain calorie allowance each day and the more exercise I do the more I earn to eat. It's a web based site called Weight Loss Resources

I don't feel like I am dieting as I still eat things I love but just healthier options

thank god for slimming world . lost the weight and now maintain without trying..my way of eating as changed so much ..just been to goa for 3 weeks ..,weighed in at slimming world 5 weeks after my last weigh in and only gained 1lb .i ate without noticing i was eating healthy, its so easy, eating healthy allowed me to have the sins for my alcohol,no 1 needs to starve or not eat anything they fancy,,i still eat chocolate and crisps,chips and all fried foods and still maintain or lose

hey, hey, hey it's weigh day!! Lost a measly 1lb, but yes I know - "its better than putting it on" If only I could loss a pound every time I heard that! Been to gym 3 times and ate very sensibly all week. 14wks left till hols.

started my diet 12 days ago have lost 5lb so far got till the end of august to lose about 2.5 stone.doing the slimmers world diet,but just using the book not going to meetings.

Well done you!! Keep up the good work. I don't go to a slimming club either. Weigh day takes place every Monday morning at home - in the exact same spot!!

Let me know how you get on next week

trashjono.good work keep it up, i found that if i did myself i failed ,,now i go to meetings every other week ,as im at target, try the meetings they give you strength i think ,the support and help you get from the meetings is invaluable,

The key to any diet is to eat less than 12g of fat per meal, no more than 35g fat per day and exercise regularly. That's it, no faddy systems, no clever drinks or anything else which only makes you lighter in the wallet!

This was the advice given to my wife last year when she was diagnosed with a liver problem which was causing her to put on weight. With this 12g rule and swimming twice a week she lost 4 stone in about 6 months.