[Montignac] ngr

[daneo52]

would anyone mind explaining the eating plan from this book? my husband says he would like to join me with eating healthier, but i honestly dont think he cares to learn any combination rules. is this diet simpler?

[Spang]

much simpler

[Spang]

I'm sorry, my last reponse wasn't very helpful! I was a busy little bee at work when I wrote my 1st reply.

I find ngr a lot simplier to understand than Montignac. There seem to be less contradictions, and it is a bit more up to date.

There's no counting of anything, no kind of "eat this with this, but not with that" just a lot of good advice and common sense.

It is not necessarily a diet book in the sense that it doesn't concentrate only on "what to eat to loose weight", but more about what a balance diet is, using the GI and GL principles as a guide.

Don't get me wrong, there is a section devoted to how to modify the plan for weight loss, but there are also sections for feeding children using GI, GI for peak performance athletes, using GI for diabetes control etc etc.

I thoroughly recommend it as supplementary to the Montignac Method.

Spang

[daneo52]

i will look order it today. sounds great. if you have time, what are the tips in the losing weight section? i am not losing weight, but have stayed true to montignac. so i am starting to keep track of calories, and am going to try to cut back on dairy. i am so glad that my husband and i are going to do this together, sometimes it is hard to watch him eat potatoes and cake right in front of me.

[fuzzy]

I prefer NGR to Montignac/Zone because you don't have to worry about eating this with that or exact measuring. Like Spang said it is quite common sense - for weight loss go easy on the fat, do not go NO FAT, but ease off. Eat a lot of vegetables, eat a lot of pulses, eat low GI fruit. Eat food that will fill you up. There seems to be no push towards fake substitute products at all, basically don't let yourself go hungry and eat a lot of natural unrefined products.

For weight loss the lower the GI the better, but they do not suggest you eat only salad or green veg and tons of meat, but that if you want something high GI, like potatoes, that you only have a small amount and balance this by having a good portion of low GI with it...or better yet, instead of potatoes have something similar, like sweet potatoes, that has a lower GI.

The biggest bonus is pasta. Wholewheat pasta comes in with a GI of approximately 50 and is acceptable. I don't have it that often but when I do I love it and I don't feel deprived at all because nothing is totally off limits.

Except beer, I miss beer.

[KoKo]

Hi Daneo,

I picked up another book and it simplifies things even further. Its called The Glycemic Index Diet - by Rick Gallop. It breaks the foods down to red yellow or green,then you make your meals by picking from the green and sometimes the yellow foods. It has some recipes included in the book. The NGR has a much better glucose index - but if simplicity is what your hubby wants, maybe this book would be helpful. :)

[daneo52]

thanks! i have ordered the book, will take about 2-3 weeks to get to me. it sounds like it is lowfat, still calorie controlled. i read the summary on amazon. it sounds pretty doable, but the calories seemed low to me. i have been keeping my calories under 1800 lately and have finally lost a pound.
i am still upset that i ever started cheating and eating junk. when i first started montignac, i ate tons of cheese and whole fat yogurts, huge portions, and even nuts sometimes. the weight just fell off, and i am sure i was eating well over 2000 cal a day and not exercising. i think my body was in shock and very happy to be off sugar and bad carbs. this time around it is really a test of patience and hard work.

[Spang]

Hey Daneo - you sound the same as me, regarding how you originally tackled Montiganc

I've stopped eating whole fat products, apart from occassional cheese, as I feel that reduced fat cheese normally equals reduced flavor cheese.

I've limited my nuts (which is my snack throughout the day food) to ones that are lower in saturated fats too.

I find I'm eating more veggies and less saturated fat as a whole, and I seem to be maintaining fine. Although saying that - I still can't shift the last 5 lbs!

lol

Spang

[KoKo]

Those last five pounds are the worst aren't they Spang ;) Better than the last 20 though look at it that way :daze:

[Spang]

that's certainly true

i've had these "last 5 lbs" for about 6 months or so now...

its probably my body telling me that i don't need to loose those last 5 lbs!

but it is my goal, and puts me comfortably in the middle of my healthy BMI range.

[fuzzy]

How tall are you Spang? Maybe you are at your ideal weight already? As much as I don't want to, I believe the body has its own set point. I have probably gained and lost 100 pounds in the last decade, going anywhere from 115 to 145 pounds and yoyo-ing up and down between these two, but my body always seems to settle at 125/126 pounds. I'm 5'4 and where I would love to weigh 115 - 120 it just seems like too much of a struggle and my body rebels!

[Spang]

Hey Fuzzy - I'm 5'4" too

Ideally I'd like to get to 120 lbs, but I'm at 125 right now and have been for a while. I have a pretty small frame, so I don't think it is too unrealistic, but maybe it is. I've gone from a US dress size of about 13 or 11, down to a size 9 - 7 (depending on which clothes manuafacturer!)

Anyone have any thoughts? Should I be happy with where I am now and just continue on maintaining?

I was thinking about keeping my diet the way it has been over the last 5 / 6 months (i.e. phase 2 montignac) and upping my exercise. I currently do at least once a week and normally twice a strenous cardio type of yoga. My work has just moved so that I get at least a 30 min walk each day too - hopefully that will turn some belly jelly into sculpted abs of steel :D

Spang

[daneo52]

i too am 5-4. my whole life i was effortlessly under 120. havent been 120 since my wedding. my highest is about 145. i look so bloated and funny at that weight, i think, i have very fine features. my first try on montignac i got to 123 really quickly. then have slowly yoyod my way back to 145. i have now lost yet another pound this week with my calorie controlled take on the diet, and think i have found the key for me. i just have to cut back on the high calorie foods-no more huge cheese plates. and realistically, 1800 calories is pretty much for me, i guess, very reasonable. i am not going back for seconds, but also i have never been hungry either since i started paying attention. when i first did montignac, i ate so much, thinking as long as it is properly combined, it will magically not cause weight gain. that is ridiculous and now i am relearning portion sizes. and my stomach feels better as well. who knew? all i needed to really do was use some common sense?
it is a real treat to not have to cook 2 dinners lately, now that my husband and i can eat the same foods.

[KoKo]

Hey all you lucky duckies 5'4 that would be a DREAM for me!!! I'm 5'2.5.

I have to say that my weight has varied I used to never be happy unless I was at about 100 lbs but over the years as I exercised more and developed a lot of muscle I found that I could look good at around 118 I wore a smaller size at 118 than I had at 100 believe it or not, now if I weigh between 120-123 I could still wear the same size -except for the top. At those weights I am a size 5 (American size) I have a bigger top than a 5 and that size is variable depending on the item. Obviously I wear a lot of seperates :D

So my take on this is that an awful lot depends on how much muscle mass a person has and the age factor comes into it, we just seem to be made to weigh a little more as we age. This is not something that's making me happy that's for sure but I am starting to think I must accept it and that I might not reach my goal weight. I'm not losing at all right now, but have lots of factors going against me - age I am 48, climate - apparantley some of us hang on to weight in the winter and I live in an area with extremely harsh winters - just managing to get out for a walk last couple of days - and I have recently quit smoking - making for a 10% drop in metabolism (this is the main reason for my weight gain).

For me right now I would be thrilled to be 5'4 and 125 lbs, but you all might be younger than I am so it is perfectly understandable that you would want to go lower. Do you feel toned or flabby? I guess that would be what to look at to help reach your decision on this - remember that fat takes up about twice as much space as muscle .

But even knowing all this I STILL WANNA BE SKINNY AGAIN ;)

[fuzzy]

It's funny, I've often said I'm not the wrong weight I'm just the wrong height - if I was 5'7 I would be just right!

Spang - I would keep doing what you're doing, maybe work on strength exercises and build muscle mass which won't make a difference on the scale but your clothes will fit better. I imagine you look great though and maybe this is a good weight for you and you don't need to fight it? I mean do you really want to cut back more and constantly worry about it?

I still struggle with the scales myself, nothing is more frightening than going over the 130 mark. That's when I start to look porky. So I know what you mean Daneo, the weight doesn't sit well on me either and it's very noticeable in how my clothes fit, or rather, how they don't fit. I think this is a problem with being short, any extra weight is really obvious on me.

Koko - I'm 34 and I want to be skinny too! I still can't get used to how much more difficult it is to lose weight in my 30's.

[KoKo]

Fuzzy

With all my heart I say lose what you want to lose now and keep excersizing. When I was 45 I was going to the gym and in really good shape, then an injury stopped me going for a while and gradually my fitness level decreased. At 45 I saw how many women in their 40's would begin to take on a sort of shapeless appearance and I thought (I was soooooo wrong) that they had just not taken enough care and if they would have watched what they ate and exercised a little they would still be in shape. I am finding out how untrue that is, nature really goes against staying trim as you age, it's definitely not impossible but it's hard work!!!

I know even at 34 it's not easy - but believe me it'll be harder at 44. I heard on the news last night that metabolism slows 3% with each decade of age. Women of course have a hormonal disadvantage that seems to double once the 40's are reached :mad: .

Sorry this sounds so discouraging, but I really wish I had been more aware of this before I quit smoking on top of it all. (Not that I really regret quitting, just the weight gain)

Anyway girl you got some years left before the BIG slowdown happens, so cheer up.

[Spang]

I'm 29. I was consistantly at most 110lbs until I hit about 24, when I quit ballet dancing (not professional! but very serious amateur) - moved from the UK to the US, and fell in love with what seemed to me to be HUGE portions of food! It was a bit of a slap in the face when the pounds started to pile on.

I hate going to the gym - bores the hell out of me so I don't do it. I find with yoga, you are using your body weight to do a lot of the resistance type stuff, so it has helped trim me down a lot. I tend to do hatha flow or ashtanga types, which are all about rapid transitions from position to position, which gets the old heart going.

At 5'4" when I hit my heaviest at about 155lbs - I suddenly realized that the huge portions had to stop, and I had to start on a healthy plan that I could maintain for the rest of my life. Break those bad habits as soon as I could.

So that is where I am now. I'm finding the walking, and running up and down stairs, is giving a bit of a kick start to the butt remodelling ;)

[fuzzy]

I hear ya Spang - I recently quit the gym, which is an odd move considering I'm trying to lose weight. I just found that I was getting into a 'forcing myself to go and then wallowing in guilt if I didn't' kind of cycle.

After struggling a lot for the past year and trying numerous low carb plans and going up and down and up and down in weight and feeling deprived and miserable I had this kind of epiphany that I would not play this game with myself anymore. It was funny, I had a big family event at Christmas I swore to myself I was going to weigh 120, so the preceding months were like torture trying to reach that number. I made it to 123 and thought I looked awful, and then spent the next 2 months eating and drinking everything in sight and went up to 140. A week ago I received some pictures from Christmas and my first thought was, oh my god, I actually wasn't fat. I looked good.

So now I'm eating foods from all the food groups, I'm enjoying my meals, I walk 1 - 2 hours a day and do ashtanga yoga 3x a week. I'm enjoying hikes on the weekends and cycling with my boyfriend. I'm trying to eat healthy and think healthy, if you know what I mean.

Even though as Koko says our metabolisms work against us as we age, and I certainly don't want to be shapeless at 40, I want to learn to love my body the way it is when it's at a good weight instead of struggling to be something I'm not.