Thread: BBC weight loss program

BBC - BBC One Programmes - 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight

If you didnt see this program last week, I really urge you to watch it now. There are just 5 days as of today (Sat 8th Jan) to watch this before it expires on iplayer.

The program is 1 hour long and will probably be the most important hour of your dieting life.

There were some really big surprises in it, but the 3 biggest things we as dieters have to understand is how protein, calcium and soup (yep, soup) can really make a huge difference to succesfully losing weight.

SammyE originally posted this link on another thread, so thanks to her for it. Its a program I really wanted to watch.

I watched it last night and found it fascinating, particularly the three areas you mentioned - the soup, dairy calcium and protein.

I'm going to really try to have more protein at breakfast rather than my usual porridge. I'm also interested in finding out more about the effect of dairy calcium on fat absorbtion - the effect they demonstrated (with platefulls of lard!) seemed incredible!

I watched it too. I'm guessing the porridge acts a bit like the soup and wouldn't drain easily, depending on what consistency you had it. You could always have a handful of nuts in the morning for protein too, not sure what else is a protein rich morning type food

Great idea Dreamer - I'll try that out.

As I'm not really a morning person and generally have a bit of a rush to get out of the house, the idea of cooking eggs etc doesn't really appeal. Some nuts with either porridge or fruit salad may be easier.

My 2 favourite breakfasts are either 2 scrambled eggs with a slice of ham, or if im pushed for time an Exante meal replacement shake.

These 2 things have been real life savers for me over the past few months, and the program really demonstrates why both work very well for me. The eggs and ham due to the protein and the shake due to the high protein and the soup consistency. Breakfast is such an important step to losing weight, I used to be a non breakfast eating person as I was never hungry in the morning, and still dont get hungry in the morning. I just dont fancy food first thing and it seemed like a waste of caloris having it, so its a struggle sometimes to get it down me, and this is where the meal replacement shakes come into their own, they are quick to make and easy to get down.

I would never ever miss breakfast now, even if i dont feel like it. It is such a key thing to losing weight.

can anyone make a quick a quick sumarry of all 10 points, i cant watch all the program, dont have enough time...

Thanks Lynn - I love scrambled eggs (possibly my favourite food ever!) and the added ham sounds good too. Being used to a carb high breakfast (usually porridge or toast) it'll be interesting to see how it works and how full I feel.

May have to leave the washing up until the evening though...

I didn't see the beginning of the programme so can't tell you all 10, but if I have a chance tomorrow will try to look them all up - got to go and make soup now!!!

These are the 10 points discussed in the program. The presenter was a doctor and only wanted to cover things that can be scientifially proved, so there is sound scientific basis for all the points noted.

1. Dont skip meals
This I think is crucial to succesfully losing weight, particularly when it comes to breakfast. Ive held the belief over the past 6 months that a protein rich breakfast is key to dealing with cravings during the day, and this was proved by point 5.
In this experiment the presenter had a brain scan on 2 days, the first day he had eaten breakfast, the second day he hadnt. The results from the brain scan were quite remarkeable and showed how our unconcious responses to food work when we dont eat regularly.
2. Use smaller plates
Yep, this is a good tip and has stood me in good stead.
3. Count calories
I discovered early on that carbs where the downfall, but not to the extent of ignoring calories consumed (as in Atkins for instance). This is why i have a distrust of the WW diet. I just dont believe that fruit and veg, while it is undoubtably good for you, should not be counted in your days food totals. The class leader encouraged us all to keep a bowl of fruit in the kitchen or on your desk at work to pick at during the day. I just dont buy into this train of thought, and I have to believe in something to give it my all.
4. Dont blame your metabolism.
The real message in this was that we eat more than we think we do, even if you record everything you eat. The lady who took part in this part of the program believed she was eating less than 1500 cals a day but was in fact eating 3000 cals a day.
5. Protein staves off hunger
Absolutely and without doubt this and point 8 for calcium were best parts of the program, (apart from the excercise bit which my brain is busily trying to forget). The trick they missed with this part is showing how carbs have the opposite effect and actually set up cravings. From what ive learned over the past year is that a breakfast of refined sweetened cereal and white bread toast is possibly the worst thing you could start your day with, especially if you also have juice with it, or jam on your toast, or both. If anything is going to get the hunger pangs and cravings going before lunch this will.
6. Soup keeps you fuller for longer
Ive heard this before, and I am a fan of soup anyway, and come to that Exante, which is a kind of soup mix. But this was still really surprising. A group of soldiers are given exactly the same food, one part of the group has the food as a cooked meal (chicken breast veg and rice) and a glass of water. The other part of the group have exactly the same, but this time the food is blended with the glass of water to make a thick soup. Over the next 4 hours, their stomachs are analysed with ultrasound and the ones that had soup, had much fuller stomachs for much longer. Amazing.
7. The wider the choice the more you eat.
This actually made me feel quite happy as I have a great tendency to eat the same things day in day out, which goes against belief that variety is key. Ive always been happy whilst losing weight to eat the same things. I do eventually get sick of things, so i just move onto something else that I eat over and over. At the moment my favourite thing is Jamie Olivers Chorizo and chickpea soup ( scores well for this program as its high in protein, soup, and I know the calories for it).
8. Low fat dairy helps you lose more fat
Actually this was the biggest surprise for me, although I do take issue with 'low fat dairy' The program did not actually specify low fat dairy in the experiment itself. The point they are making though is that calcium from dairy combines with fat which makes a soapy substance that passes through the gut and does not get absorbed. A kind of 'do it yourself' Xenical. Which I guess is why Atkins dieters can stuff themselves with cheese and lose weight. I think what the program was saying is that if you include a low fat calcium rich dairy food with your food, the fat in the rest of the food combines with the calcium from teh dairy food. But I still take issue with the fact that the actual experiment did not specify low fat dairy, and the guy seemed to be eating full fat dairy from his own farm. Maybe i need to watch this section again.
I am however going to start incorporating low fat dairy into my food now though, ill add low fat yoghurt, skimmed milk or low fat cheese to the food I cook. The extra calcium and protein will be good for me too.
9. Excercise goes on burning fat for 22 hours.
In this experiment, the presenter did 90 minutes on a treadmill at 4mph on an incline of 5%. During that 90 minutes he burned 19g of fat, and he wasnt too impressed. But the surprise was the next day when he laid on a bed doing nothing for 90 minutes and burned 49g fat. This is because the 90 minutes of walking used up his carbohydrate store, the afterburn effect of the excercise carries on for another 20 odd hours and the body then starts to burn fat as the carb store has gone. Interesting, and its enough to make me really consider taking up regular excercise.
10 Keep moving and lose more weight
In this part a DJ was monitored for a day, she was pretty much sedentary with a lot of sitting down (sounds a lot like me). Then the next day she was to do the same routine but this time move herself more, and she burned over 200 extra calories doing it.

I would really be interested in anyone elses take on this program. I found it very thought provoking and will definately make some changes to my diet and lifestyle after watching it.

great post thanks...

Thankyou Lynne, this was really helpful to me and I wouldn't have seen it without your recommendation, it's much appreciated.

I saw this programme when it was on and agree, very thought provoking. Lynn did a great job of summarising it too! In fact I'm going to come back to this post again just to read Lynn's comments when I start thinking about eating food again!
Paula x

Oh Lynn, you're so nice for taking the time to make a summary of the all 10 things they spoke about.
I don't relate with the all 10, but most of them really make sense to me.
If I find the time, I'll see it

xx

Great post, really usefull.

thanks for the info - tho i missed watching it on iplayer it can be seeon in 5 parts on youtube

Thank for summary lynn_ very interesting reading.