Mediterranean diet for weight loss

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fknlardarse
fknlardarse Posts: 210 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone have a link to a Mediterranean diet plan for weight loss? I totally get the Mediterranean diet as a concept for daily living but I think there’s a plan out there for weight loss (that would tell me each day how much of each food group to eat, how much pasta, olive oil etc). All I can find are links to the general Mediterranean diet or a 7 day menu plan which isn’t what I’m after.
Thank you in advance.

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited August 2018
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    Do you get calorie deficit as a concept for weightloss? MFP tells you how much to eat, anyone can tell you what to eat, but the challenge is to decide to not eat too much, and stick to it.
  • fknlardarse
    fknlardarse Posts: 210 Member
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    Yeah I do get the calorie deficit thanks. I’m just so tired of counting calories and I had heard of a Mediterranean plan that basically does the counting for you by saying have 6 portions of fish a week, this many portions of bread/grains daily, this many portions of veg, fruit, nuts, olive oil etc.
    I’ve seen a food pyramid I think.
    I just want to ease away from calorie counting and get into better life long habits by thinking about portions.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    What is your daily calorie goal?

    You could pre-log some Mediterranean meals and come up with your own or if I’m really bored I could come up with one for you. You would be required to weigh your meats and measure your oils.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited August 2018
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    fknlardarse wrote: »
    Yeah I do get the calorie deficit thanks. I’m just so tired of counting calories and I had heard of a Mediterranean plan that basically does the counting for you by saying have 6 portions of fish a week, this many portions of bread/grains daily, this many portions of veg, fruit, nuts, olive oil etc.
    I’ve seen a food pyramid I think.
    I just want to ease away from calorie counting and get into better life long habits by thinking about portions.
    Ah, but that, or a modyfied version of it, can work. That's what I'm doing now - I'm in maintenance, but the same applies. It's based on food groups/the food pyramid. I have a flexible but structured weekly meal plan. Breakfast is fresh fruit, raw veg, and either 2 crispbread or 1 slice of bread, 100 g milk, or porridge with butter; lunch is the same as breakfast, but not the same items, or omelet, salad, noodles, leftovers, or practically whatever; dinner is protein (+ fat, if not fatty protein), starch and veg, if not vegetable soup, if so I also have dessert, or pancakes/pizza/cheese on toast, then I have raw veg/milk as a side. Dinners rotate through the week so I have red meat, white meat, fish, at least once, and I vary starches and vegs too. I add on nuts, at least a portion per week. I weigh out everything I can't count.

    What I would warn against, is treating this as "a diet", or worse, "the diet", thinking that this is somehow superior to any other diet. A healthy diet is balanced and varied, and there are so many ways to achieve that, so you can eat whatever you want. And trying to stick to "a diet" that is not in accordance with your real life and real preferences, only makes you resentful, and then you'll want to cheat and look for ways to "sabotage yourself". Set yourself up for success from the start.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited August 2018
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    And to piggyback on the two three! other excellent replies (and emphasize a point that might have drowned a bit in that rant of mine), for any weight management diet to work, you have to accept that there will be, and implement, some boundaries. The good thing about MFP is that it teaches you to do it yourself, so that there are no "authorities" to rebel against. (If you think it is a bad thing, you'll have a hard road ahead of you.)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,922 Member
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    fknlardarse wrote: »
    Does anyone have a link to a Mediterranean diet plan for weight loss? I totally get the Mediterranean diet as a concept for daily living but I think there’s a plan out there for weight loss (that would tell me each day how much of each food group to eat, how much pasta, olive oil etc). All I can find are links to the general Mediterranean diet or a 7 day menu plan which isn’t what I’m after.
    Thank you in advance.

    I don't have any links, sorry. Searching my library system produced 91 results for "Mediterranean diet" so perhaps you could find something useful from your library system as well.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited August 2018
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    fknlardarse wrote: »
    Yeah I do get the calorie deficit thanks. I’m just so tired of counting calories and I had heard of a Mediterranean plan that basically does the counting for you by saying have 6 portions of fish a week, this many portions of bread/grains daily, this many portions of veg, fruit, nuts, olive oil etc.
    I’ve seen a food pyramid I think.
    I just want to ease away from calorie counting and get into better life long habits by thinking about portions.
    If you're trying to get away from counting but want to lose weight, and you're interested in a Mediterranean style eating plan, you might consider looking at the original (the book) south beach diet plan. That's the premise of it, basically.
  • fb47
    fb47 Posts: 1,058 Member
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    fknlardarse wrote: »
    Yeah I do get the calorie deficit thanks. I’m just so tired of counting calories and I had heard of a Mediterranean plan that basically does the counting for you by saying have 6 portions of fish a week, this many portions of bread/grains daily, this many portions of veg, fruit, nuts, olive oil etc.
    I’ve seen a food pyramid I think.
    I just want to ease away from calorie counting and get into better life long habits by thinking about portions.

    Can you lose weight without counting calories? Of course you can, but that usually requires knowing and having the experience with eye balling and knowing instinctively if you're eating less than you burn, usually it's someone who has counted his or her calories for a long time. In my case, all I usually need to do is eat the same thing like I normally do and just either skip a meal or reduce my portions.
  • fknlardarse
    fknlardarse Posts: 210 Member
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    Thanks. I don’t mind weighing portions out I’m just tired of logging calories which I have done for 5 years and I believe the Mediterranean ‘diet’ is a sustainable way of life, not a quick fix.
    Anyway I found what I was looking for here. It gives a food pyramid and a guide to what to eat if anyone is interested:
    https://patient.info/health/cardiovascular-disease-atheroma/mediterranean-diet
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,922 Member
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    fknlardarse wrote: »
    Yeah I do get the calorie deficit thanks. I’m just so tired of counting calories and I had heard of a Mediterranean plan that basically does the counting for you by saying have 6 portions of fish a week, this many portions of bread/grains daily, this many portions of veg, fruit, nuts, olive oil etc.
    I’ve seen a food pyramid I think.
    I just want to ease away from calorie counting and get into better life long habits by thinking about portions.
    If you're trying to get away from counting but want to lose weight, and you're interested in a Mediterranean style eating plan, you might consider looking at the original (the book) south beach diet plan. That's the premise of it, basically.

    I think you need to qualify that a bit, because South Beach Phase One is low carb and no alcohol and the Mediterranean diet is not.
  • meagan8376
    meagan8376 Posts: 94 Member
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    fknlardarse wrote: »
    Yeah I do get the calorie deficit thanks. I’m just so tired of counting calories and I had heard of a Mediterranean plan that basically does the counting for you by saying have 6 portions of fish a week, this many portions of bread/grains daily, this many portions of veg, fruit, nuts, olive oil etc.
    I’ve seen a food pyramid I think.
    I just want to ease away from calorie counting and get into better life long habits by thinking about portions.

    Update ?
  • sspell60
    sspell60 Posts: 7 Member
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    Thanks for the link. It helped me also. I have moved from a Leto WOE to Mediterranean. It is just a more realistic and healthy way of eating.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    fknlardarse wrote: »
    Thanks. I don’t mind weighing portions out I’m just tired of logging calories which I have done for 5 years and I believe the Mediterranean ‘diet’ is a sustainable way of life, not a quick fix.
    Anyway I found what I was looking for here. It gives a food pyramid and a guide to what to eat if anyone is interested:
    https://patient.info/health/cardiovascular-disease-atheroma/mediterranean-diet

    Any plan for weight loss ultimately involves calorie counting . Either you are figuring it out, or someone else has figured it out for you. Weight loss always involves consuming less calories than your body burns.
  • TribeHokie
    TribeHokie Posts: 711 Member
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    I realize this thread was started a couple weeks ago, but I felt this question deserved an actual answer as opposed to everyone telling you to just count calories.

    The Sonoma Diet is a modified Mediterranean eating plan with a lot of good recipes. As you requested, it does not count calories and instead gives meal plan guidelines based on visual portions and food groups. Obviously detractors will say this leaves a lot of room for error to over- or under- eat but it is a starting place if you want to get into that style of eating.

    I will say this: While I initially lost 30 lbs on this diet, not having the proper education on calories and nutritional needs eventually led me down the path of eating WAY too little as I got closer to goal weight. I eventually fell off the wagon but was able to mostly keep it off until I discovered beer. I do believe this is a tasty and sustainable way to eat permanently but it is important to have some basic nutritional knowledge on top of it.
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    I follow a Mediterranean diet AND weigh everything/count calories. I weigh/count because that is the only way that I, personally, am able to lose weight. I eat a mostly Mediterranean diet, because it makes me feel amazing--both physically and mentally. Best wishes on your journey. There is a wealth of wisdom and valuable information to learn on these message boards.
  • leduck1
    leduck1 Posts: 10 Member
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    I have been eating Mediterranean-style for the past couple of years and have lost 48 pounds so far (I have about 9 to go before I'm done). However, I am at least calorie conscious and I use a balanced plate method and some measuring to control my portions. For me, this is a very realistic and sustainable way to eat. I was diagnosed as prediabetic and now have normal range blood sugar and A1C, so this has been very useful.

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