Dieting tips???

05D

Hi all.

Hope you can help me here!

I'm off on holidays in 4 weeks and I'm trying to get my "Bikini Bod"
I love my grub so I was just wondering if anyone has any recipe ideas for low fat dinners, sick of salad!!

I am not overweight or anything just want to tone up. I have made a start by giving up bread.

Cheers!!

EileenG

There are no quick fixes, but you can look a lot better in four weeks.

First, pay attention to the quality of your food. Eat the best you can afford, definitely fresh and either organic or locally grown. Eat whole food, stuff with one ingredient only. Cut out all the stuff you need a science degree to know what's in it, as well as anything deep-fried or that has sugar as one of the first five ingredients (actually, don't eat anything with that many ingredients).

Aim to eat small frequent meals, each with a quality protein, a healthy fat and a green vegetable. Drink lots of water. Green or black tea is good, coffee at breakfast or before workouts is good too.

Watch your portion size. Most people totally over-estimate the amount of rice/pasta/potato they should be eating, and under-estimate the amount of leafy vegetables. Good move with the bread, a lot of people find that cutting out wheat makes a big difference. If nothing else, bread and pasta etc tend to be heavy on the calories. Replace with piles of spinach or broccoli for an extra benefit.

Don't be afraid of foods which are not low fat. A lot of people tend to avoid eggs and steak and oily fish because of this, but you do need fat in your diet to be healthy and to lose weight. Lack of EFAs will slow fat loss. One of the great advantages of eggs on a diet is that they come already portion controlled.

Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep sends insulin levels soaring and increases night time nibbling. Turn off the television. There's a very direct correlation between hours spent watching tv and obesity. If there's something you really love watching, tape it. That way you can fast-forward past all the ads for pizza and chocolate.

Make sure you are getting enough vitamin C. Low levels of Vit C tend to inhibit fat burning during exercise.

El_Dangeroso

Couldn't agree more about giving up the wheat.. even if you don't lose a pound, your tummy will look much flatter. But be careful, wheat is in everything from sausages to gravy, you have to become a bit of a label detective to avoid it.

Transform

People who are in great shape ALSO love their food they have just learned ways to make it more interesting and they train most days of the week.

In the whole scheme of things bread is just one 'tip' but regular exercise and a low GI food intake with plenty of good protein and fats will be the total package