We need help selecting a diet

Hi

Married couple in our mid 50’s. I m a little overweight and my wife more than me.
We have a hard time sticking to what we say when we decide to eat better.
How do you find the willpower?
I have more willpower than my wife but still not enough.
She wants us to go on nutrisystem but I haven’t had the time to look into it yet.
I can’t do the low carb diet, it constipates me so don’t mention that one.

Thxs so much

Pat

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Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,849 Member
    vaindioux wrote: »
    Hi

    Married couple in our mid 50’s. I m a little overweight and my wife more than me.
    We have a hard time sticking to what we say when we decide to eat better.
    How do you find the willpower?
    I have more willpower than my wife but still not enough.
    She wants us to go on nutrisystem but I haven’t had the time to look into it yet.
    I can’t do the low carb diet, it constipates me so don’t mention that one.

    Thxs so much

    Pat

    If I focus on foods that satiate me, very little willpower is required :)

    I've long known I don't find fat especially filling, but then I decided to reduce fat for a medical condition, and that made creating a calorie deficit much easier for me.

    I'm not even technically "low fat" - I'm just staying under the MFP default of 30% fat and the saturated fat default, when previously I would often go way over.

    Because I'm doing this with fat, I've also reduced foods like baked goods, so my carbs are coming from foods like fruits, veggies, grains, legumes, etc., which I find filling. I also made a point of hitting my fiber goal as well.

    (Note: satiety is very individual, so what fills me up may not be the best macro mix for you.)

    Here's a good article:

    Understanding satiety: feeling full after a meal

    ...Tips on how to feel fuller

    So how can we best try to enhance these feelings of fullness to help us control how much we eat? Here are some top tips for helping you feel fuller:
    1. Foods high in protein seem to make us feel fuller than foods high in fat or carbohydrate, so including some protein at every meal should help keep you satisfied. Foods high in protein include meats such as chicken, ham or beef, fish, eggs, beans and pulses.
    2. If you are watching your weight, opt for lower fat versions, using leaner cuts of meat, cutting off visible fat and avoiding the skin on poultry as this will help reduce the energy density of the diet, which can help to enhance satiety (see below).
    3. Foods that are high in fibre may also enhance feelings of fullness so try to include plenty of high-fibre foods in the diet such as wholegrain bread and cereals, beans and pulses and fruit and vegetables.
    4. Alcohol seems to stimulate appetite in the short-term and therefore drinking alcohol is likely to encourage us to eat more. Alcoholic beverages can make you forget about your intentions to eat healthily by making you lose your inhibitions. Alcoholic drinks are also calorific, so you should cut down on alcohol consumption if you are trying to control your weight.
    5. The ‘energy density’ of food has a strong influence on feelings of fullness or satiety. Energy density is the amount of energy (or calories) per gram of food. Lower energy density foods provide less energy per gram of food so you can eat more of them without consuming too many calories. Low energy density foods include fruit and vegetables, foods with lots of water added when cooking such as soups and stews, and lower fat foods. Click here for more information on energy density.

    Read more: http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    vaindioux wrote: »
    Hi

    Married couple in our mid 50’s. I m a little overweight and my wife more than me.
    We have a hard time sticking to what we say when we decide to eat better.
    How do you find the willpower?
    I have more willpower than my wife but still not enough.
    She wants us to go on nutrisystem but I haven’t had the time to look into it yet.
    I can’t do the low carb diet, it constipates me so don’t mention that one.

    Thxs so much

    Pat

    If I was going to do a named diet, it would probably be South Beach. Phase I is the most restrictive in that it's pretty low carb, but it's typically only for two weeks before moving to stage II. Stage I typically results in a pretty big chunk of weight loss in a couple of weeks, much of which is water weight. Stage II reintroduces fruits, whole grains, etc. and is usually run until total desired weight loss is achieved. Stage III is basically maintenance stage.

    I would say I eat pretty similar to Stage III for both weight loss and maintenance...which is basically eat well for the most part with indulgences here and there. I tried it with my wife years ago when we were still dating...I found Stage I to be too restrictive for my taste (not to mention unnecessary for myself), but Stage II was pretty easily doable. I didn't really need to lose weight as I was at a healthy weight, but I lost about 10 Lbs and got pretty dang lean. My wife started with Stage I for a couple weeks and then into Stage II. As I recall, we ran it for a couple of months.

    Even if you just used Stage III, it's more likely than not to lead to weight loss as it is very whole foods focused and as a general observation, it seems a lot of people lose weight focusing largely on whole foods...not to say it's a gimmee as calories are king...but often a switch from lots of high calorie, low nutrient processed foods and eating out, etc to whole foods produces good results.

  • Niteman3d
    Niteman3d Posts: 157 Member
    Agree 100% with the scale purchase to eliminate the guesswork.


    You don’t need help with selecting a diet but maybe selecting a food scale. I bought mine at Costco. Best purchase ever. Otherwise you are winging it.

  • freda666
    freda666 Posts: 338 Member
    vaindioux wrote: »
    Hi

    Married couple in our mid 50’s. I m a little overweight and my wife more than me.
    We have a hard time sticking to what we say when we decide to eat better.
    How do you find the willpower?
    I have more willpower than my wife but still not enough.
    She wants us to go on nutrisystem but I haven’t had the time to look into it yet.
    I can’t do the low carb diet, it constipates me so don’t mention that one.

    Thxs so much

    Pat

    There is no magic - sorry.

    You do this or you don't do this - a function of how much you want to lose the weight.

    As for "which diet?", just count calories and leave out all the faddy "low carb" or whatever nonsense.

    Good luck!
  • Trish1c
    Trish1c Posts: 549 Member
    If you are used to large portions understanding what a serving is will be eye opening.

    When I first started I was hungry ALL the time & felt obsessed with food which made it much harder to stick to my MFP calorie limits. I learned to eat smaller bits more frequently. I would eat breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, a mid afternoon snack, dinner & a small treat after dinner. I tried to keep my snacks under 100 calories. Fruit was my favorite but I also discovered fiber one bars. I never get enough fiber. Those little sweet bites, especially the brownie, made me less deprived. My late night treat was often a lindt truffle which was about 36 calories or 1-2 Hershey's kisses. You need to learn to eat more slowly & savor each bite. Eating slowly helps you to listen to your body & understand the signals that you are, in fact, full.

    Adding exercise & reducing the calories you drink -- soda, juice & alcohol being the biggest culprits -- also helps.

    You may want to invest in a food scale. That really helps with portion control.

    Good luck!
  • NerdyScienceGrl
    NerdyScienceGrl Posts: 669 Member
    edited June 2021
    If you were entertaining the idea of a program and willing to spend the money, it might be worthwhile to consult a nutritionist that can help develop something that incorporates foods you love while identifying some of the foods that individually, for both you and your wife, that your bodies may not like. It’s expensive but might help both with diet and accountability.

    Personally, I do think calories in-calories out works, but not all calories are created equal. Through my current journey I have found a number of foods that are “healthy” but my body doesn’t particularly like and were hindering my potential— for example, cheese. It was like a food group of its own, but I’ve learned that my body doesn’t process some well, while others are okay. It came down to learning how they are made and processed. Artificial sweeteners was another. Although not healthy, more than likely, it was a way to cut calories. I dropped them and moved to honey and molasses. I saw the drop on the scale.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    If you were entertaining the idea of a program and willing to spend the money, it might be worthwhile to consult a nutritionist that can help develop something that incorporates foods you love while identifying some of the foods that individually, for both you and your wife, that your bodies may not like. It’s expensive but might help both with diet and accountability.

    Personally, I do think calories in-calories out works, but not all calories are created equal. Through my current journey I have found a number of foods that are “healthy” but my body doesn’t particularly like and were hindering my potential— for example, cheese. It was like a food group of its own, but I’ve learned that my body doesn’t process some well, while others are okay. It came down to learning how they are made and processed. Artificial sweeteners was another. Although not healthy, more than likely, it was a way to cut calories. I dropped them and moved to honey and molasses. I saw the drop on the scale.

    Just to expand/clarify: In parts of the US (and maybe some other places) anyone can call themselves "a nutritionist" with no training at all, or do so with only limited education/certification. "Registered dietitian" is the term for degreed professionals here, and finding someone with sound credentials is a good plan. "Nutritionist" has that same meaning, of a degreed professional, in some other places, I gather. Caveat emptor, always. 😉
  • NerdyScienceGrl
    NerdyScienceGrl Posts: 669 Member
    Good clarification and very true!