I think dieting is precisely "control what you eat"... so if your advice is "dont diet but control what you eat", can you please explain the difference? honestly, the picture above is me "before" I got unable to control what I eat. now, I am 20 kilos bigger, and I need help, because I took that weight eating the wrong things over a period of 2 years...

Though I don't know what to recommend you concerning the high-protein diet, I strongly advise you to start doing exercises, walking and running as much as you can until you sweat. But do it on a regular basis.

There are some other things that you can do. I've read about them mostly from the web:

1 - Start walking fast. Really fast. http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2011/01/walking-speed-life-expectancy-walk-fast-die-old.html

another suggestion is that you go to work and back by walking, of course if you do not live too far away from your work.

2 - Try to do whatever you do while standing, no matter at home or at work. It will help you to burn some additional calories. In the beginning you'll get tired fast, but after some time you'll get accustomed to it.

3 - Don't use elevator. Take stairs.

4 - If you feel that you've eaten well and you're nearly full, then certainly do some exercise.

5 - Eat less bread, potato and sweets. Try to substitute part of your daily diet with fruits and vegetables (I recommend carrot and beet).

And again, start walking. Just look at Japanese living in Tokyo, they are very thin and healthy. You'll rarely see a fat Japanese in Tokyo. Why? Because they cover long distances everyday.

the part I need help with is FOOD... that is why I would like some advice on how to keep motivated while starting eating more protein and giving up the fatty foods

Carb Conscious...

Sweet Potatos are a good substitution for regular.

http://www.foodreference.com/html/sweet-pot-nutrition.html

Greek Yogurt has less sugar than traditional

Quinoa is a good carb because it also contains a high level of protein

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/health-benefits-of-quinoa.html

Booze:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/alcbev.htm

I have found adding things to salads spices them up. Mozzarella cheese, almonds, mixed nuts, raisins, apples, strawberries, chicken, avocado...there are a bunch of combinations of ingredients that keep it interesting.

Yogurt and fruit makes for an excellent breakfast, snack, or dessert.

Lately, I've been enjoying things like chicken curry without the rice.

The helpful thing is to keep variety so that it isn't boring. Also, don't keep bread/bad food in the house. Then, when you have a moment of weakness, you can't fail. Will power will not be sustainable. Setting up tools to get through the weak times will.

Good luck.

Hi hope I can be of help.

Here is a list of tasty nutrient packed "superfoods" to help you make good decisions when fueling your body.  You do need some carbs, good carbs in your diet even when trying to lose weight.

Protein

Lean red meat

Salmon

Low fat Plain yogurt

Veggies and Fruits

Spinach

Tomatoes

Broccoli, cabbage

Mixed berries

Oranges

Other carbs

Mixed beans 

Quinoa

Whole Oats

Good Fats

Mixed nuts

Avocados

Extra virgin olive oil

Fish oil

Drinks

Green Tea

Liquid exercise drinks (quickly digested carbohydrate and protein) if exercising.

Hope this helps, keep up the good work keep in mind you need nutrient packed diet to keep your body burning fat, and in good order.

Padobe,

I get it, thus I will advice.  Needless to say, i had to review the totally defeated forum replies.  Reltz666 - sorry inexcusable!

A high-protein diet in not necessarily a fat losing one.  I consume ample protein to bulk-up muscle.  Empirically saying it, the food needs to have fat-loss properties.  Allow me to enlighten you...when you ingest your meals, the nutrition is distributed to various parts of the body. 

The trick here is to identify food that will assist in fat breakdown and metabolism.  From a scientific point of view, L-Carnitine is an amino acid that does exactly that.  Luckily, it can be found is large quantities inside avocado (as mentioned  by Lexillient).  In addition, caffeine enhances fat burning, albeit I advocate the "Americano" variety.  The milky range would do nothing but increase calories.  And on the beverage note, a huge number of bodybuilders swear by green tea (ideally organic).  Apparently, it flashes the human biological system of toxins as well as body fat.  Thus, eat avocado with Greek :-) olive oil salad for lunch and drink a couple of coffees in the morning.  Your afternoon drinks should be green tea and water.  Juice is high in sugar and carbs....steer away. Opt for a grapefruit instead...again this assists in fat loss.

Across lunch and dinners you should consider sprinkling chilly flakes or cayenne spice powder.  Once again, spicy food has proven to kick in the thermogenic effect on the body and massively help in fat loss...but this is not an excuse to order takeaways from Little India.  Currys are by and large high in calories.

I can write until the cows come home, lest I provide a typical "fat-losing" day:

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs (whites, only one yolk) or scrabled, grapefruit, rye or wholemeal toast and black coffee

Mid morgen snack: ryvita with peanut butter, coffee

Lunch: Chicken breast avocado cucumber leaf salad and with chilly flakes. 

Apres midi snack: walnuts or almondsin low fat yoghurt. Green teas.

Dinner: tuna or fish based salad, tomatoes, peppers, leaf and cayenne spice.

Before bed: Vitamin C, Zinc and magnesium (e.g. Almonds, pumpking seeds and celery stick).

Do this for 30 days, be imaginative in your meals and you will be thanking me. Let me end on a cautionary note: you may tempted to try fat-loss tablets....DONT DO IT! These will not only work if you combine with a sensible exercise program.

Taffy some valid points although for fat loss:

Keep away from oats

Keep away from oranges any citrus besides grapefruit

Keep away from pulses apart from white kidney beans (aka Canneloni in Swiss)

I recomend weightwatchers....

High protein diets will make you loose weight but they are not healthy.

WW gives you all the online (or in person) help you need.

a lot of people I know have tried it and had GREAT success and kept the weight off.

Good luck!

Be careful about grapefruit if you are on medication.  There is quite a lot of medical evidence about potentially harmful interactions.  And see if your health insurance will allow you to see a dietician to help you come up with an individually-tailored plan..

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/AN00413

There are Glocals groups for all kinds of walking, running and exercise. Perhaps joining them can help you with keeping up your spirits and motivation..

woaw... impressive reply, and very "scientific", i love it, and i will try it! although i will also try the exercise.

i am just not sure about the peanut butter part for the morning snack?

any suggestions when carvings come in the picture? that is a killer...

and any suggestions on how to stay motivated and not give up?

thks! it helps to have some concrete ideas of foods. just like it helped me a lot to have Chris describe a typical day menu. thks!

yes but what complicates things is the weighing of food... not always feasible. thks anyway!

No-sugar added peanut butter, although oily, is actually quite good in the sense that is has a low glycemic index.  The fat and protein provides lasting satiation (ie you are not hungry again 90 minutes later as you would be with something high-carb).  Almond butter is also good.

The problem is finding the stuff in France or Switzerland.  Every store has one token peanut butter jar and they all contain trans-fat and sugar.  "Real" peanut butter is roasted peanuts and salt and nothing else.  I'm still searching for it.

thks Richard! if you find it, tell me where^^

Chris> You say: "Apparently, it flashes the human biological system of toxins as well as body fat.". Unfortunately, nothing can do that.

reltz> Let's be a bit positive instead?

Padobe> Two pieces of advice only:

1) Do not, repeat, do not listen to people on the internet. You will get all viewpoints and any correct information mixed in will be hard to identify.

2) More exercise and a controlled diet makes sense. Consider the "Dukan diet", made by a French doctor: it is high protein and there's no weighing food involved. In addition, I've seen it work (but that's an anectote only and should be discounted).

If you look for "real " peanut butter: try the organic food stores. The brand rapunzel makes delicious peanut butter : I got addicted ;)!

I'm reading this thread and weeping.  How to confuse a girl.....

I was in the same situation (although only 10 kilos to lose but just as hard) two years ago when someone gave me the best advice EVER.

So here's some "tough love".....

If you have to "read the label" to count the calories, count the sugar content, count the fat content, count the sodium content - then why the hell are you even thinking about eating it - a "label" is on a "food" to tell you how BAD it is for you!

If you can't pull it out the ground, drink it out a stream, kill it (get someone else to kill it - and fillet it, obviously) or yank it off a tree - then why are you eating it??.  None of the above comes with a label because that's what nature intended us to eat - its the reason our teeth are shaped like they are -  grrrrrrrrr :-).

But I appreciate that may be tough - so if you "have" to read the label if it contains any wheat, sugar, E numbers or anything you just don't understand like Xantham Gum (WTF! but used in all "low fat" "foods") - then put it back on the shelf.

Then run around a bit more (three times a week for 30 minutes - absolute minimum). 

And for some entertaining and factual advice - check out www.bodyforwife.com .

And tell yourself, every single day, that you're beautiful, gorgeous, and deserve to have your place on this planet regardless of how many times a day you may "slip up". 

You can do it. :-)

Carolyn: What you describe sounds very close to the Paleo diet concept.  Good thinking.  

A German who likes peanut butter?  For real? 

Padobe  - eat everything you want EXCEPT carbohydrates at dinner (ie pasta, patatoes, rice).  You have to be strict every day and It takes about a month to kick in, and the I reckon its about 3 cm a month and presto.  (just don't start eating cookies before bed either).  Good luck.

Knowing you like I don't, I suspect a bit of sarcasm in there - isn't the Paleo diet something you do once a year in Nyon?  Go to the festival, eat fondue then pizza, drink copius amount of beer, eat some Thai, Vietnamese, drink more beer, watch some bands, eat 10 burgers, then go home and throw up for 3 days?

Fantastic!!

A lot more fun, too :p

That's the other Paleo diet.  =)

Check out the link to the wikipedia article...

Ha! Ha! Thanks Richard.....I apologise in advance for being too quick.  Have now checked out the (real) Paleo Diet - and seems I'm ahead of my time (or even behind the times, we all need to be a bit more neanderthal sometimes....) ;-)

Have you thought to join Weight Watchers?  They are located in Plainpalais (rue de la synagogue) and they've really helped me in the past when I found my eating was "out of control".

Their idea is not to cut out foods, which may throw your body off balance, but to learn about portion control and nutrition,  At the same time, having the support of a group really makes it motivating!

thks! so is this peanut butter without any additive?

so how about stopping the sweet stuff, the cookies, the bread and butter in the morning, the nibbling all day?i need to stop that, and either replace that by good food or stop it altogether, and not fall back after a couple of days, which is what has happened recently

i think this is not for me. Translator talked to me about "trigger" foods, and this is exactly my problem. if I eat 1 piece of bread, i can't stop, and i go on with the whole loaf; if i eat a cookie, i go for the whole box, etc... it seems eating has become like an addiction, and what I need to cut out totally some foods in order not to fall again. the problem is that after a few days, i give up. but if i just try to control the food rations, then i cant manage at all

Meals are OK, just cut out the nibbling.  The reason to cut the carbohydrates at dinner in the evening is that as we don't move at night the energy is not burned but is stored and therefore becomes fat.

So the stuff you eat at breakfast and lunch is OK as it will get burned beore you sleep, however you have to burn it with regular physical activity.  So " . . burn baby burn !"

Fall in love and the weight will fall in the same time!

Damn, I wish!   O_o

There are a number of good posts her particularly from Poster, Chris and Fengshui, here are my ten cents worth. 

Dieting is essential about burning more calories than you eat and ingest so you need to be aware of your eating habits and the best way to do that initially is to keep a diary for a week or so (most people when they do that are surprise by the binge or additional eating they do).   While calorie counting can be a point any recommended diet program will have done the maths for you in general, and while there are set formulas on what a sedentary man or woman (considers normal activity but no sport) needs to function normally each day this will vary for each person depending on the metabolic rate (which will increase with exercise).   I have over the years undertaken diets for both weight training and competitive cycling and past 40 I know how difficult it can be to control and lose weight especially when you see a sub optimal weight for say racing or competitive sports (without losing muscle mass, speed or power).   So in essence: 

So have a realistic weight objective, know what you eat in terms of calories, know what you burn, measure your results to see your progress with a good scale (but don’t become obsessive and weight can go up and do simply through water retention).   Also drink a lot and take multivitamins and minerals.

Well that was a work out!

Good luck

M

I think Maurice makes some very sensible suggestions.  Have patience and set realistic attainable goals as weight loss is like trying to get in shape and if you set the bar too high you will fail early leading to disappointment and giving up.  Weight loss like getting fit is to a great part a psychological/mental/emotional challenge.  Attainable goals mean you attain them and that gives good positive psychological feedback and the opposite is true.

Support of a partner is important for the mental encouragement.

I gram of fat equals 9 calories so if you exercise and burn 900 calories (a lot of exercise!) you've lost 100 grams i.e. 3.6 oz. so at that rate to lose a kilo would require 10 days of the same intense activity.  20 kilos, 200 days.  And you won't be doing anything near that level of calorie burning exercise nor each day!  So be realistic, patient, don't weigh yourself too often as watched kettles don't boil and you might disappoint/discourage yourself.

Obviously (in my opinion) weight gain is a question of calories in and calories out (though we don't absorb all the food we consume).  So cut back intake and increae activity.

As for what you shold eat and what type of diet, look on the bookshelves and there are thousands of different diets all swearing to be the truth and that they work.  Many are supported by poor or non-existent scientific proof.  So eat what you like but less, exercise more (start low and go slow so as not to disappoint oneself too early and give up), and have a buddy to help encourage you.

There are no miracle cures in terms of diets and medications.  Just common sense and patience and realistic goals.

Good luck and all the best!

Mark

I agree with the essence of this statement.  Some diets are simply quackery and based upon nonsense or pseudo-science.  You can end up spending a lot of money on supplements with few results...

First and foremost, pay attention to is your health, including your mental health.  Get a physical, if you haven't already, before embarking on any "program."  If you are suffering from all kinds of stress, there might not be any program that works for you until you learn how to deal with those factors.

Finally, find some kind of physical activity that you love to do...

Thanks for your post... it is interesting to read the different points of view and suggestions, even if I don't agree with all of them...

Hi Padobe,

I've read your post and some of the comments.

I've done diet's on and off for the past 10years, nothing ever worked...

...until now, I've lost 21kg in the past less than 3 months, and more to follow...

I have a persoal coach who put a diet together, and as I want to do my first triathlon in Geneva on July 24th, I have a sports progamme as well.

I am 100 % sure that he can do a programme for you.

I'm more than happy to put you in touch with him, all I can say, he has changed my life, never ever been sooo happy

All the best.

Yes, but perhaps the OP would like more useful details, then?

Yes.  Become a whiskey alcoholic.  Whiskey has a ton of calories yet they are nearly always thin and frail.

Glad I could help!  =)

You cannot win by only changing the foods around. Please don't be under that assumption. It has to be a combined effort of dropping fastfood, cookies, etc. and exercising you enjoy (e.g., gym or dancing for added fun).

I know, you didn't bring it up, but supplements will not help you lose weight, unless they curb appetite, but then again, that's basically unhealthy. What you need is (a medical checkup plus) exercise, then appetite will regulate itself.  Exercise breeds motivation and slowly eliminates stored cookies on your behind or wherever they may be stored.

Hi. I'm in the same boat and would be happy to be your "diet buddy"
I also think a high-protein no carb diet is the best way to go, gradually adding carbs in as the weight goes off. Let me know if you'd like to do this together (it would be great to have encouragement to keep motivation up and to support each other).

GI = glycemic index

I agree with this point, by the way.

Yes, as you imply, you need to stop it altogether. Throw it away - don't eat it. Life is simpler that way.

if only that was true! but maybe finding love is harder than loosing weight!

hi Swiss, thks for your info... and how much does it cost, roughly, to have a personal coach?

well, you can't forget about calories, just as you can't ignore other physical or psychological issues. but i meant that provided i put aside the physical or major psy issues, it would indeed be nice to have concrete examples of what to do and how to keep up with your choices on the long-run if you have quite a lot of weight to loose

yes, everyone, including doctors, say that you should exercise for health reasons. as it turns out, I don't like exercising. I like dancing however (couple dancing), but I feel so bad about myself that I haven't gone out to dance for a few months now...

yes,eveyansas, I would LOVE to get into this with one or several diet buddies. that is a great idea. Let's get in touch by private message. If anyone reading this would like to join in, feel free to message me. I believe this may be just a super way to get motivated, and have support, and fun. One other thing: my plan is to get into a high-protein no carb diet, but also one that would be taking care of my demanding tastebuds! meaning, I am kind of a gourmet, I like good and fine food. It would be fun to make exquisite meals while respecting the hig-protein diet rules.

Do you want to be slim and fit or not? Go to the gym anyway, then dance.

For longterm succes, join a group like WW or similar.

Reltz666: in fact, i do thank Chris for being a sensitive person; which obviously is not one of your concerns at all. considering you said my project of a high protein diet was "some stupid protein diet", and you said that if i eat too much i should just move myself, i think your attitude is quite offensive. it was right from the first post you wrote here. Everyone is allowed an opinion, which i why i posted my problem here, to see what people had to say. But you could be respectful and present your point without aggressing others.

To move off some of the p*ss*ng contest on whose diet is better and who said what, I would suggest you Google "interval training for fat loss".

Many diets may work for the short term (but often really throwing the body off, cutting into lean muscle mass, yo-yo effect etc) but longer term eating good food (not out of a package) in reasonable quantities while looking at what emotional issue(s) might be stimulating the over eating is the way to go.

In a few words, interval traing does some activitiy at a high output level for lets say 20 seconds, followed by a "recovery" period of the same. i.e. run or walk very fast for 20 secs (as fast as you can) then continue at a normal pace for the same amount of time.

The major advantage of intreval training is that, yes you burn calories during the workout, but more importantly it boosts the metabolic rate for up to 36 hrs. Hence you continue to burn calories even when not working out. This approach is much better than any regular cardio program and can be done in a fraction of the time. It can be do with any activity like running (think sprints) then slow run, doing stairs or a hill (like on the US show "biggest looser") where you run up then walk up during the recovery etc.

There is all sorts of resources on YTube so I would suggest you start moving rather than anything too extreme on the diet.

Good luck.

i hv never heard of that. i'll check it out. thks!

As has been said before there are tons of diets on the bookshelves that you can choose from. The problem with (most) of these diets is the yoyo-effect - simply because during the diet you're not eating "normally", and after a few weeks (ideally, having lost a few kilos) you just go back to your "old" eating habits (especially the cravings). For a long term effect you (unfortunately) have to consider a very radical change in your eating and lifestyle habits - more difficult at the beginning, maybe slower to kick in than a radical diet, but for sure more long-lasting and better for your health.

I'm sure there's no universal advice about how to do this, but I would do a complete "check" (either alone or with someone) of your whole lifestyle: food, activities (not only sports! you don't have to do sports if you don't like it....), leisure, sleeping habits, maybe smoking and alcohol consumption, your workplace, love life.... whatever applies to you. Then set some (reachable!) goals for every aspect. Like: replace the "nibbling" once a day; walk 500m more to work; only go shopping with a precise list; etc.

Dear Pascale

You're biggest incentive must be that loads of fellow glocals now know that you have the potential to be slim and absolutely gorgeous.

We've all seen the photo, sweetie - you can't let us down now!

thks Carolyn! you know, this is the opposite from the usual diet stuff; they show a picture of BEFORE and AFTER. in my case it is reversed! lol... the BEFORE is when this photo was taken. and I don't dare socializing anymore because of the AFTER.

But you are right, now that i opened this publicly on Glocals, I have an obligation to succeed. This is actually why I posted my topic, and left my BEFORE image, and humbly admitted I put on 20 kilos. So that I could not escape this anymore and I was trying to shake myself. With all the feedback I get, I hope it is going to work.

You are very nice in your posts, thank you so much for the warm consideration, caring, and encouragement. Hope to meet you one of those days, along with a lot of other nice people who replied to me.

I'll be making a summary of everything i retain from those posts and which i find useful for myself. I'll then make a plan, a daily detailed plan, according to this summary. i'll post it here. Also, I now got myself 1 diet buddy, and 1 walking buddy. That is great. If anyone is interested to join, I'd be more than happy to share.

Most health food shops hve good quality nut butter, not just peanut but almond and cashew too. The one near Gare Cornavin is expensive, but has a great selection.

Address, SVP!

 Richard clearly loves his butter! UrbanBio - Rue des Alpes 19, Geneva 

SWISS (aka Helen) is one of the happiest persons I know so following her advise is right And running helps me to stay in shape (as well as Power Plate). But as Helen said: A coach will be best to find the diet that works for your body.

Spirulina, as mentioned above. is a great source of protein and cuts hunger. Same as wheat grass.

All these can be quite confusing, because there is no magic bullet. I would suggest you read the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories", by Gary Taubes. It is an easy to read,  evidenced based summary of the recent paradigm shift in nutrition advice, backed up by large clinical trials (one of many examples is http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/297/9/969.abstract). It has been shown that diets that limit the intake of  foods high in digestible carbohydrates (e.g. bread, pasta) are better for weight control than those promoting low-fat diets.
The paleo diet, mentioned before by richardm follow these principles and is easy to follow. You might want to take a look at the book "The Paleo Diet", by Loren Cordain.

First of all, congratulations for being brave! You've probably made a big step already by acknowledging, questionning and facing the problem! So well done!

I thought most of the feedbacks you got are very interesting. I'd like to add 2 points which might help your way to success:

1. Guilt: this is something terrible to bear and which leads to failure. If you eat a nice piece of cake or chocolate or if your friend just prepared you your favourite lasagne, well, just enjoy it without torturing yourself with guilt, allow yourself some weaknesses from time to time. After all, we're humans! I think by accepting those inevitable moments of weakness, then we are more prepared and know how to compensate with sport or with a bowl of soup at the following meal instead of punishing ourselves with a another and bigger piece of cake and so on...

2. Pleasure: you mentioned you are a gourmet... so don't cut out all pleasures! Food is like sex, one of the biggest pleasures in our human lives. So make it good; ie. don't be lazy and take the time to cook, invent nice and low fat recipes which will make you sit at your table with joy. Make it look nice, and treat yourself with flowers to decorate your table. Be imaginative. It requires just a bit of time and organisation. Preparing and cooking are like good preliminaries... it stimulates all your senses. Avoid restaurants as much as you can... they don't care much about their clients' health... By cooking, you control the amount of fat and you can choose quality ingredients. Happy to share low-fat recipes if you're interested.

That's all folks!

that is very very helpful. the kind of practical advice needed in order to continue the effort on the long-run.

yes, i would welcome some gourmet recipes; in fact, i think i am going to invent some myself too.

thks!

…this is what I would like to share, my story and my personal info to all “so called” diets.

I have been over weight for the past 10 years (never even had the guts to admit it to myself) and many of you have not known me any other way.

 Until 1998 I used to have between 65 – 68kg and  a size 36/38.

In the past 10 years I’ve tried the following diets: the Oprah Winfrey diet, Atkins diet, BCM = Precon diet, the Karl Lagerfield diet, food combining diets, Kohlsuppendiät = Cabbage diet,tried weight watchers in the UK as in Switzerland, even tried Reductil with my GP and smoked in secret…

I’ve always managed to loose a few kilos, maximum 10 kg = and the result? After a few months I used to have the lost weight & extra kilos back on.  Size 36/38 became size 48 even 50 @ the worst times, not even starting to tell you how awful cloth buying has been over the years.

Begin of this year I set myself a new goal in life: the Geneva triathlon, on July 24th

Soon I started realizing, that buying my first wetsuit in size 48 would be no fun and for the first time in years I had a close look in the mirror…now I can admit it, I cried tears, suddenly I became aware what had really become of me.

There was no other way, than to start a new chapter, a personal coach.

He has put a diet/running/cycling programme together for me, but he does also diet/exercise programmes.

Cost: for 10 weeks, sFr 750.-

The result after almost 3 months, 21kg less, my 17 year old daughter has a new mom (ok, she is now slightly worried that I may be wearing her clothes soon)

My family and my close friends have followed my “new life” on Fb over the past few months.

All I can say, I’m sooo happy, thrilled to bits and very grateful for every moment in my new life.

Over the w/e I’m planning to buy my first “real swimsuit”, in size 40/42 and a new wardrobe will follow after July 24th.

Thnk you for having taken the time to read my story, my final word: If I can anyone else can…

Life with less weight is simply wonderful.

Helen, wow!! I realized the changes the few times we saw each other recently!!

But: No matter what size you wear - you are one of the most warm-hearted persons I know. And no kilo will change that. I am happy for you but what counts is the positive energy and enthousiasm that you have.

Whoever wants to become become more healthy and fit: Helen (aka Swiss) is surely the most encouraging person to speak to. (And she founded Geneva Runners ;)

Hi!
I don't know if I can help, but I'll add my two cents just in case. :)
It seems your problem still remains that you need the MOTIVATION to lose weight, right? You know you should change your diet, but you don't know how you'll be able to stick to it.  

If I were you, I would do a few things. I would find someone who also has the same goals and to whom I could remain accountable--and vice versa.  It's okay to splurge every once in a while, but only allow yourself one day a week, for instance.  And make sure your friend is sticking to the same regime.  

Do exercise, but make it fun.  Or realistic, at least.  While a triathalon would be great, it's not realistic for many of us, and the worst thing would be for you to start somethign and then not be able to do it at all.  I like the idea of trying to walk to work. Every day, walk at least half an hour, if not more.  If you drive, park your car farther away.  If you take public transportation, get on or off at a different stop. It'll also make things more interesting. Take the stairs, too.  I recently started a job on the 7th floor...and I take the steps all the way up! I'm totally out of breath when I get to the top, but I bring a bottle of water and down it as soon as I can ;)

Don't have a goal of 20 pounds or however much in mind when you start, either. That'll just demoralize you when you don't reach it as quickly as you'd like.  Instead, tell yourself 5 pounds in 2 months.  You may be able to lose more, but then you'll just be excited, rather than disappointed if you start out with a different weight.  

Put peppy messages around your place--especially on the fridge or in the bathroom. Encourage yourself! You were able to put on a lot of weight in a little time, it seems, and while it's true that it takes more effor tto keep weight off than to put it on, it's still doable! So you can do it! Watch what you eat, but make sure your diet is something you could keep eating for the rest of your life. You want to keep the weight off forever, right? ;)

Also, try to eat smaller portions.  I, personally, think egg whites are gross. But if you can eat one egg instead of two, that's a great start! Take your time eating. And remember that you're eating to nourish yourself, not because you have to, not to help with your stress or anxiety!

Consider going to a massage therapist if you eat out of stress or anxiety.  You might not feel the need to eat as much anymore if you're more relaxed.  Keep yourself busy, too, and try to eat with others so you don't eat as much.  That's what I do, at least. If I watch tv while eating, I eat 10 times as much as I would otherwise!

Stop buying junk food, too. If you don't have snacks to munch on, you'll be limited to healthy foods to eat, and might be deterred from eating when you're not actually hungry.

If you find that friend to "diet" with, see if you can eat together, too--go out for salads.  Then go for a walk together. A brisk one!

You can also check out websites like The Living Plate (I think it's www.myplate.com) and register so you can track what you eat. You don't need to do it forever, but that might motivate you, too.

Dont' weigh yourself too often. The first weight you'll lose will be notable more in how your clothes fit and how you feel than on the scale. Limit yourself to once a week, if not twice a month.  

I hope this helps!

hi friends,

  im a chef. presonally i recommend to eat white rice powder food. which cooked in steam.100% oil free food. for example you can try south indian food like IDLY,APPAM,RICE NOODLES i think all this you can add as light food. or you should go through ayurvedic food.which will defenitly help to reduce bulk weight.

As an avid health"nut" I do not recommend doing a high-protein diet...or any drastic or "fad" diet.  I believe in the old-fashioned way of counting calories and eating overall healthy with some indulgences along the way.  Of couse, keep an active lifestyle!

A high-protein diet may be difficult to stick to because you may start missing carbohydrates and sugar from fruits, etc.  Also, high-protein diets are associated with liver and cardiovascular problems.  You also need to make sure you are well-hydrated because a large intake of proteins can predispose you to kidney stones.

dear all,

you have all been very helpful and supportive; although I have not answered each post because there were so many, I am impressed by the experience of some of you, and the advice I got. So here is what I did recently:

1. considering the interest in the topic, i opened a group on Glocals called Geneva Gourmet Diet Buddies Group. it is here http://www.glocals.com/groups/geneva/geneva-gourmet-diet-buddies-group.htm . the objective is about the same as what goes on here on this thread, and support people who need advice, friends, and buddies, or sometimes meet to cook, eat, or exercise. The trick is to cook gourmet food while on a diet.

2. in the past 2/3 weeks, I have suppressed all sweet stuff, all starch, and switched to low fat dairies. I stopped nibbling, and was able to reduce my appetite and cravings. I have also started exercising on my elliptic bike. at the beginning, i was able to do only 5 minutes, and was exhausted, with a very high heart beat. Now i do 20 minutes, and i was able today to follow by 5mn of floor exercises. I hope each week I can increase a little. I lost 2 kilos only though, for a complete change of lifestyle. So I decided that the next two weeks, my eating is going to get tougher! I am going to follow something similar to the Mayo clinic diet, but replace all these eggs by lean meat or fish and 0%fat yoghurt. By this replacement, i believe the diet is quite balanced, and I hope to loose a bit more than 1kg per week.

Thank you everyone, and let's meet on the group!

Apparently cross-fit claim fast results with their high intensity work outs, high protein diet and support network. they are chain of gyms (there is one in Basel), but also a exercise/diet philosophy. I am sure they will not suit for a lot of people, but I've seen some impressive results from the converts and they promiss them fast, so may worth to check it out.?

Checking in to see how everybody is doing after a couple of months (of inactivety) - come on ladies, get on scales.

Just to lighten this thread up and keep it going now that everyone has lost 5 to 10 kg, here are some diet things to think about . . . .

I don’t need to diet, I’m a light eater.  As soon as it turns light, I start eating.

I don’t diet, I just don’t eat as much as I would like to.

I once tried a vegetarian diet.  After 3 weeks my plants have never looked so good to me.

Have you tried the seafood diet . . . you see food, you eat it.

A few years back Pavarotti went on a diet.  He lost 4 kilograms.  Mind you, that’s like throwing a deck chair off the QE-II.

I’m on two diets at the moment because I simply don’t get enough to eat on just one.

A friend of mine has been on numerous diets over the last 10 years.  She’s lost a total of 320 kg.

I’m on a whisky diet . . . I’ve lost 3 days already.

Hello all,

I personally lost 5kg of useless fat in one month just by eating only a soup after 6pm, or nothing at all.

"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper" and of course no sweets between meals :)

Good luck finding the diet that will make you happy

I cut my wine intake by half, cut my beer intake to almost zero, and now I'm wearing my belt one notch tighter after two months.  No calorie counting, no additional exercise, no new dietary restrictions.  Bottom line, I was drinking too much.  A side benefit is the 11PM drunk sexting stopped too.  =)

Has any of you tried hypnosis?

Hello Padobe, and everyone else with what is truly "The worlds greatest dilema".

I hope that I'm not repeating anything someone else might have said later in this thread, but I just couldn't get through it all before getting involved.

Padobe, I'm a qualified personal fitness trainer that has worked in the industry for a long time, until only two years ago. I'm not one of those Military-style trainers that makes you burn and ache twice a week until you're forced to cancel due to a strained muscle, or sudden flu. I prefer a balanced approach. One which takes time to accomplish - ahh, the Swiss would love this!!! 

I'm going to keep this simple to start - I'll work with you just like I would any client ;-) ... and it's free!! :-o

What are your goals??? There is so much great advice in this thread, but nobody has asked YOU - what do you really want to achieve? Saying you want to lose weight just isn't good enough. You must be specific. How much? By when? How? Do you want to work towards an event maybe? 

Drop the idea of what you should eat, how you should eat it, how much, when, with what, aarrgh!!!! .... for now. Yes, this is important, but you're trying the "quick-fix" approach. Has it ever worked for all those on numerous diets?? Some might say it has, and great for them, but let's get real, the more you try to control something (your weight), the harder it will be to control it.

If there is one thing I can guarantee you, if you start along the path of diet-swapping, you will be there for a very long time, going up and down like a yo-yo, having good days, then fat-days (All my clients fell into this trap - hence my job). Don't get me wrong, Glycemic indeces, Protein diets, etc., they all have their benefits, but you need to educate yourself, ,,,, and not via the internet one-liners found on page 1 from Google!!!

If you are interested, drop me a message in my inbox. I'll be glad to be of assistance. Good luck! ... I'm off for a swim ;-)

Rei

Motivation wise....

1) visualise what you want to achieve and when the going gewts tough or you are struggling really look at what is better...what you want to achieve or the wrong bit of food thats tempting you.

2) keeping active - most cravings and the feeling of hunger aren't real. It's in our heads. Being bored or lonely can create this. So keep busy, sitting and watching TV can make us want to snack while we are doing it. Join clubs or get out and about, clean the apartment etc etc.

3) Support - Find other people with the same goals who can support you and you can return the favour. Having friends with high metabolisms can be a pain in the butt when you go out with them and they are eating things you can't.

4) Set smaller goals - Set small goals of losing a couople of pounds at a time to start with. Also expect to have moments when you cant lose any or you even gain 1 or two at times. Knowing these moments are going to happen will avoid disappointments and relapses. Think of these moments as milestones themselves and just keep on going.

5) PMA - Positive Mental Attitude. Keep positive, dont get down in the dumps about things. Your body will respond to your mental state.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/prescribing-exercise-to-treat-depression/?ref=health

An interesting article on exercise and depression. One of the great things about living in the area is that there are lots of great place to take walks. 

Hi.

A good friend  of ine has just opened this- give  it a try .

www.fit-and-food.ch

Good luck!

#mine#

Most potent and digestible protein source among green foods.

dollar is weak - good time to buy from the U:S.A.

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/Search?keyword=Spirulina&doSearch=true&ntt=&n=0&ntk=Level1&x=36&y=12

Hi Padobe,

Firstly I'd just like to apologise, as this reply will be a brief one, and all of the above food suggestions and advice contain some extremely useful points, and I understand your main worry is the cravings side of things!

You must understand, that it will be hard at times, if you are truly dedicated to your cause, you must always keep in mind your end goal, set some short term weight loss goals that will be achieveable in 2,3,4 weeks...these will act as a real boost to your motivation.

Now, whilst this suggestion may be a bit of a pain in the a**, try it out for a few weeks and you'll see the benefits, of this I am sure. At present, you're mind isn't conditioned enough to just cut off your cravings, so you need to be harsh on yourself, get rid of the junk foods, if they're not there, you'll not have the opportunity to just creep to the cupboard and snack. Prepare as much of your food in advance, I for example spend most of Sunday preparing my meals for the week, freezing where necessary, this allows me to eat properly BEFORE I get extremely hungry and become less averse to cheating. It takes a little getting used to the extra effort preparing things the night before, or a few days before, but it allows me to eat small meals every 2 1/2 hours, keeping my metabolism nice and fast!

This is just the input side of things, you also need to up your expenditure, this means...exercise! I apologise I don't have the time to go into detail in this reply, but there's some good points in this thread already! I just thought I'd chip in my two cents, as I have been through a similar process, though not to lose weight as such, more to increase conditioning levels and up my ability to cope with higher training demands!

Good luck on your endeavours!

Chris

Quick question... I've seen protein powders on the store shelves here in Switzerland.  I know that prices and flavour can vary widely.  Do any of you have any favourites?

Muscle Milk light!

http://www.cytosport.com/products/muscle-milk/muscle-milk-light-powder

Hi Everyone, I am the coach mentioned by SWISS, who continues to make amazing and inspiring progress since I last worked with her in July.

In addition to the weight-loss program I still offer, some of you may be interested in a new service I'm offering as the ski and snowboard season approaches - the fit4slopes plan will get you to the first weekend of snow with the fitness and energy you need to maximize your fun and minimize the chance of injury. Building strength, endurance, flexibility and reducing weight, the program is designed specifically for you to fit your work schedule and lifestyle. From just CH75 per week, you can guarantee great fitness from weekend one in the mountains and reduce the chance of injury. For further details - http://tinyurl.com/3rpdmgh 

Regarding weight loss, you really need to focus on insulin rather than calories, which means reducing sugar intake and also insulin stimulating carbs. My methods are working for normal people and elite athletes all over the world. Contact me via here, or 079 385 8977

All the best, Dave