Hey! I lost 12 pounds! Now comes the hard part...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

keeping it off. Which has always been the hardest part of any diet.

I have lost my 12 pounds (and kept it off for about 2 or more months, I know, not a long time) by the following techniques:

  1. Greatly reducing intake of rice and pasta.
  2. Greatly increasing intake of meat, cheese, and fats.
  3. Substituting meatless products for meat frequently, to try to keep my Net Meat Usage the same.
  4. Increasing my vegetable intake.
  5. Skipping meals frequently (not recommended, I know)
  6. Drinking more alcohol, which seems to greatly reduce my appetite. And by “more”, I mean to 1-2 servings a day, up from 1-2 a week. (don’t write me off as a drunk yet…)

My plan is to continue to avoid the carbs, continue the protein and vegetable intake, and work on reducing the actual serving sizes (which have always been a problem for me).

Another issue I have had is that I travel on biz a lot, and when travelling with an expense account, I tend to overeat. Instead, the last few months, I’ve tried to order more exotic items, that have much less calories, so I still can entertain the clients in style without being a pig. Such as ordering the Filet (only about 6 oz of meat) as opposed to the “Sasquatch Porterhouse” (about 16 oz of meat).

Anyways, this is truely mundane and pointless. I posted today because I just weighed myself after fearing the scale for more than 2 weeks, and found I was down another 4 pounds. If I lose just 16 more, I will be at my goal of 138. Then, time to shop for clothes! Whooohooo! :smiley:

2

Exercise. Whether that’s walking to the store or whatever . . .

standard disclaimer: Not eating as much food as you used to (unless you used to be a defensive lineman) is generally not a good thing and can cause damage to your body.

Anyway. Get some exercise. Eat food that isn’t refined. And good luck:)

3

Well, I don’t know why you’re avoiding the carbs and eating more meat…it’s a lot easier to gain weight that way. If you’re even minimally physically active, you’ll burn off more carbs than proteins and fats. I eat far more carbs than I do proteins and fats, and I’m 6’2" 175 lbs.

My advice is stay active, it burns off all the unwanted crap in your body and replaces it with lean tough muscle. It’s the best way to stay healthy and trim, no matter what your diet is. As you get more muscular and active, your metabolism increases, so it becomes easier to keep off the weight.

4

Are you sure about that? What I’m trying to work towards is an Atkins-like diet, which calls for greatly reduced carbs in place of lean meat, protein, cheese, etc. I won’t go into the details of the whole Atkins diet here.

Also, the high glycemic index of these carbs has been playing havoc with my insulin requirements. Especially white rice. For me, white rice == death. I need to take five timese the insulin to cover the same calories of white rice as I would have eaten in steak.

5

Well, having to take insulin is definitely a painin the ass. No matter what your diet preference is though, exercise. That’s my not so professional advice.

Note: I used to weigh 225 lbs before I started exercising and changed my diet…I now weigh 175, so I guess it worked for me.

6

Rock on, Anthracite. I’d find it pretty damned difficult to avoid ordering something named the “Sasquatch Porterhouse”. :slight_smile:

7

Anthracite,

Good for you! If low carb is working for you, ignore the nay-sayers - that’s what I do. I have lost 50 lbs since January of 99 following Atkins, and went from a size 18 or so to a size 8/10 depending on brand. I also feel much better eating this way. My cholesterol also went down (not that it was high before), and the HDL/LDL ratio got better than when I was eating low-fat.

I recently started lifting weights to increase my LBM (lean body mass). But I lost most of the weight without exercising.

BTW, I’d like to increase my personal meat usage as well, but I don’t mean the meat in my diet. :wink:

8

water, particularly before meals. Flushes system, fills belly. Try for 3L daily.

9

I won’t try the same method as you have, Anthracite, because I am vegetarian. But congratulations on your recent loss (sounds odd, doesn’t it?).

I was laid off in March after working almost 25 years at the same job. Since then I have put on about thirty pounds and would like to take at least some of it off before the Dope Fest in November. So maybe I’ll at least try the water suggestion from lurkernomore.

I didn’t realize you were diabetic. I guess carbs get converted into simple sugar so I can see where this sort of diet would work better for you. Anyway, congratulations!

-----:slight_smile:
—////\\

10

Monster104 said:

On the contrary my friend. Carbohydrates are a great source of energy but will turn into fat if not used. Fats and proteins are not stored. In addition carbs up your insulin levels which is the energy boing you feel after eating carbs but your energy level drops dramatically.

Complex carbs like whole grains, whole rice and beans are far better used than simple carbs like refined flours and rice.

It is also best to eat carbs during the morning hours and avoid them at night when you’re more likely to be relaxing.

After listening to talk shows (TV and radio), reading books and discussing this with many people (my brother included being an Olympic Trials swimmer) your best bet is to go with complex carbs, lean meats and cheese. In addition to that, not combining carbs with meats and fats also is better for your digestive system.

After following this plan of separating my foods for 1 1/2 months now, I have a level energy and feel much better after a meal. I did an experiment a couple of weeks ago and had a full blown hamburger with french fries. I felt like a bloated whale. Man did I regret that meal for hours.

Oh and Anth, order that filet instead. It’s a leaner meat, just ask them to throw in some extra veggies.

Other suggestions, one of those protein filled salads are good. Don’t use fat free dressings, too much sugar. If at a mexican restaurant, order the fajitas just eat the meat and veggies and forego the tortillas.

Obviously you need to avoid asian foods. I order a hamburger (except like I did above) and ask them to leave off the bun and subsitute veggies for the fries. Potatoes are a huge source of starch aka sugar.

Water is good, lots of it but some say to avoid drinking while eating. I can’t remember the exact reasoning but if I find the information I will post back on it.

In addition, proteins and fats help your body to produce good hormones. A diet with too many carbs too few proteins and fats deprives you of this and on many people they will age physically faster, more women have more PMS among other issues.

Anth, good luck on keeping the weight down. I am on that road too but will not get on a scale. I would love to loose the weight but will become obsessive with the scale if I use it. I feel better so even if the weight doesn’t drip off I am not worried, my body feels better.

11

Una,

I forgot, if you are interested in a similar plan that you are doing that also includes a lot of recipes check out Suzanne Somer’s books, Eat Great, Loose Weight and Get Skinny on Faboulous Food.

In Get Skinny…she and a doctor that does the forward explains a lot about diabetic and their foods and how this program has helped many with diabetes. I will be getting a copy for my father as well since he has diabetes.

Just a thought for you.

12

THANKS Liz! For both of your posts - you have some really great suggestions, and I’m glad that others have had a similar experience to my own!

Here was a little experiment I did recently. There is a wonderful Chinese buffet near me, and it’s a tradition for many in the office to eat there one day a week. After every meal, my blood sugar skyrockets, and I feel bloated and sick for hours. Good food, bad after effects.

So the last two times, I went and ONLY ate meat and vegetables, and hot and sour soup. NO rice and NO noodles or pasta and no heavy sauces. I ate until I was full.

Wow what a difference, both times! My insulin needs were very low - as low as when I eat a typical Budget Gourmet frozen dinner for lunch. I had no bloated feeling whatsoever, and just felt, well, good. So I no longer have Fear and Loathing of the Chinese Buffet Day. :slight_smile:

Lately too, I’ve been ordering Wendy’s hanburgers and throwing away the bun. Another HUGE difference in insulin requirements, and the way I feel. I don’t try to order sans bun, because that invaribly causes “issues” with the order takers.

I really, really hope I’m on a roll here Liz. Losing this weight will help me feel a bit better about myself.

Una

PS - I’ll be ordering that book from Amazon too! Thanks!

13

First, congratulations, Anthracite, and best of luck in keeping it off. Every pound lost is a triumph, as I have reason to know. Good for you! :slight_smile:

Hijacking:
No fair. I’ve also lost 50 pounds (no special plan, just forgetting about ever eating normally again), and that has translated to a drop of exactly one size, 18 to 16 :frowning: Of course, I’d imagine porcupine weighed somewhat less than I did in the first place, but still…(But congrats to you, too, porcupine! :slight_smile: )

14

Catrandom,

I think part of the reason I went down so many sizes is that I have more muscle mass than I used to (even before the weight lifting). Since muscle is more dense than fat, I went down more sizes than the weight would indicate. I was not eating enough protein before; now I am. I know for a fact that last time I was this size, I was probably 15 or twenty pounds lighter than I am now.

Congrats to you as well on your weight loss.

15

Yep, I recently lost 11 pounds but I can only fit into size 8 pants. The last time I weighed 119 I was working out with weights all the time and I was fitting into my size 5 pants. I am only 4 pounds away from my goal weight of 115 but I still need to step up my exercise if I want to fit into my smaller clothes.

I didn’t do anything special to lose the weight. I just started eating more sensibly (no junk/fast food), and started to exercise a little every other day. I eat from ALL the food groups and have no problems with feeling bloated or sluggish.

16

Congrats Ms. Coal Woman.

I’m one of those unfortunate souls who has the opposite problem. I can’t gain weight! :frowning: Trust me, for a skinny guy like myself, this is a problem.

The bizarre thing is that the rest of my family is overweight… then I realized that I never eat popcorn, potato chips, or anything that comes in individually wrapped plastic packages.

and I bike to work twice a week (about 30 minutes each way).

17

Good job! I’m jealous–I live in an efficiency with a closet-sized kitchen and a micro-fridge, making it damn near impossible to cook healthy meals. I can’t wait until I move–I’ll have a real kitchen! And since I love to cook, I should have no problem getting back into the routine of eating well.

Just one concern I have. The alcohol, while you’re certainly not an alkie, is depressing your body as certainly as it’s depressing your appetite. I’m not a doctor, but I’d imagine it might slow down your metabolism. If you want to kill the appetite (God knows I understand–I love the Sasquatch Porterhouse as well), maybe you should try coffee? I’m not sure if that would harm you in any way–you know what you can and cannot eat much better than I do, but the caffeine will kill your appetite AND speed up your metabolism. That’s why they used to use it in diet pills.

Other than that, you’re doing damn well. Keep us posted–you can be a role model for the rest of us.

On a total aside, I wonder if there’s a weight-loss meter, similar to Satan’s smoke meter? That would be neat.

18

One other thing about alcohol - IIRC, your body will burn alcohol for calories before it burns anything else. So if you’re in fat-burning mode (which you probably are if you’re not eating a lot of carbs), as soon as you have alcohol, your body will stop burning fat for fuel and start burning alcohol.

The other thing I’ve noticed Since I stopped eating a lot of carbs, alcohol hits me a lot faster and harder than it used to. I think this is because in the absense of carbs, your liver isn’t full of glycogen, so the alcohol gets into your blood stream a lot faster. So I am a victim of “Cheap Date Syndrome.” But that’s a good thing, right, cause I can get hammered a lot quicker. :wink:

19

Very good points! I’ve been limiting my intake to typically one glass of red wine or beer with a meal, and rarely (lately) having anything more. I do drink a bit of coffee, and used to be an 8-12 cup a day person (a 60-70 hour work week does that to you :slight_smile: ). However, with all the dental work I have been going through, I have reduced intake to try and lower staining. Still, your advice is very good, and maybe caffeine pills would help to counteract that.

That would be neat! I wonder if it could calculate “life saved” and all that. Thanks for the kind suggestions!

20

LOL! Good point - I wondered why one glass of wine was now making me very tipsy, where that did not happen before. I’m learning a lot from this thread.

On an aside - maybe another reason I have lost some weight is due to the massive dental work I have been going through over the last 3 months. In fact, this morning I just had what I hope are my last two root canals, and I’m in no mood to eat anything once again.

But tomorrow, I have to get the wisdom teeth out. Whooohooo! Fun, fun, silly-willy! Maybe that’ll be good for another 5 pounds. :smiley:

Wish me luck!