I don’t have recipes to share but am offering my unsolicited 2¢ on boredom eating and grazing. It has been a huge stumbling block for me. SOmething that helped me was keeping strict track of EVERYTHING I ate. I started with a fancy subscription website (myfooddiary.com) which I enjoyed, but while I found value in it, didn’t have the $. I switched to dailyplate.com which is free, and has ads but offers very similar benefits.
I’ve been “off the wagon” for a while but during the 3 months that I recorded every single thing I ate or drank I lost about 25 lbs. Pror to that I didn’t think anything of grabbing a cookie or two on my way through the kitchen, 2 or 3 times in an evening. Figuring 50 calories a cookie that’s 200-300 utterly nonessential calories nightly.
By recording them I found myself hesitating before eating anything mindlessly (like the half a waffle with syrup my son had left on his plate) because I’d pause and think “this’ll be a pain to enter”
the advantage for me of these sites over just recording calories in a notebookis the ability to easily watch fiber and sodium and other nutrients.
I’ll offer something on the boredom eating front. For a while I took to reminding myself “the *only *problem I will solve with food is hunger.” This is good from a dietary and budgetary standpoint.
I’m not sure the science backs *Chefguy *up on the need to exercise to lose weight. Yes, exercise is good in it’s own right and may be required for good health, but consuming fewer calories seems to be how most people lose the most weight. If you only have enough willpower to tackle eating or exercise, my vote goes to diet. Especially for your husband, if walks tie into his panic attacks, he is going to have plenty of resistance to that and probably be tempted to reward or comfort himself with food.
The online programs where you enter everything you eat are very valuable. I liked Fitday, but I’m sure lots of them accomplish the same thing. It would do the calculation based on my current weight to figure out how many calories to maintain and how many calories to lose weight.
I also agree with those recommending beans. Cook in slow cooker, optionally with lean ground meat, tomatoes, onions, peppers. Serve over brown rice.
Also, do you have a food scale? This is helpful to keep it real regarding serving sizes. Two ounces of pasta is always way less than you think it is, and that is a serving.
I don’t think I actually said that (perhaps unintentionally with the way it was worded). Exercise is for good joint, muscle and respiratory/circulatory health. A direct benefit of vigorous exercise is increased energy and probably more awareness of what goes into your mouth. Weight loss can be a by-product of exercise, but unless portion control is adhered to, it’s not a given result. I would place exercise first, food control second. Losing weight without having healthy systems is of limited benefit.
At the end of the day, it’s mostly a math equation, so a combination of fewer calories and more exercise is better than either one alone. And you don’t even need that much exercise. I would say 30-45 minutes of a well-designed strength training regimen three times a week would do a lot to shave that fat off. Building muscle means increasing metabolism. And, besides, do you really want to lose weight without building some shape underneath it? I definitely found that with my body, a little bit of strength training worked wonders, something I never found to work as well as with aerobics. (Not that I’m knocking aerobic exercise–before I injured my foot a month and a half ago, I would enjoy a four to seven mile run three times a week. However, if fat burning is your goal, the science seems to indicate that strength training is better for this goal.)
Aerobic exercises won’t help much with weight loss, but they can really make you feel better by increasing lung capacity, etc. It’s no fun to get winded climbing the stairs, or being unable to tie your shoes without sitting down (because you can’t bend or can’t crouch).
Exercise can really help disrupt certain bored eating habits, too–like riding a stationary bike while watching TV instead of snacking.
There’s two ways to lose weight. Either eat less, or be more active to burn calories. If your budget requires you to eat certain foods, exercise is what you’ve got left.
I’m convinced that between the two weight loss options, exercise is the more important anyway. If you’re overweight, but your cardiovascular system is healthy, it’s better than if you’re skinny and weak. So get outside! Make it a point not to do recreational things inside, like TV or board games or movie theaters. Spend 50 bucks on a remote controlled helicopter, or buy a couple of kites, or find a state park you can hike in. Once you’re in good enough shape to jog half a mile, the rest is a cakewalk.
Adding another 2 cents for those recommending vigorous exercise. Yes, it’s an excellent thing to do. However, this guy is morbidly obese and will probably have a very difficult time starting off with 45 minutes of vigorous exercise 6 days a week. IMHO that’s a setup for failure. I got very seriously out of shape and overweight following injury. It took me a long, long time to get to the point where I could do 20 minutes of exercise at a time. Too much too soon can lead to injury as well.
Plus he should definitely check with his doctor before starting a vigorous exercise routine. A good personal trainer (and not all of them are good) can help.
No, no, no. Please re-read what I wrote. The goal is 45 minutes a day, six days a week, unless he’s looking for a heart attack. It can take a year or more to reach that level, depending on health and age, and maybe not at all for some people. That 45 minutes needs to eventually be accompanied by strength training twice a week, as well. I’ve been working out for about three months now and still only hit 30 minutes on the treadmill plus another 20-30 on weights, three days a week. My plantar fasciitis limits how much I can do at this point, and I need to take off some more weight to get full benefit.
An excellent book on all this that explains the science and methodology is Younger Next Year, which is available on Amazon.
I wantec to recomend two websites
Hillbilly housewife: don’t get put off by the name, It is a frugal recipe site, one page is on feeding a family of 4 to 6 people on $45.00 a week. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index.htm
It also has recipes for using the food from Angelfood Ministeries,
Angel food ministries is the other site, this is not charity, it is a food servive that is open anyone who wants to participate that uses quantity buying power to offer good food at a good price. http://www.angelfoodministries.com/
I think Angelfood is awesome
As far as what to have around the house to help your husband? lots of fresh vegetables and water. If you have anything with calories he is going to eat that until it is gone (I am the same way). So the only way is to have fresh vegatables ready to eat with maybe some dipping sauce and lots of cold water. Soft drinks even diet drinks will defeat an eating regime quickly.
Dipping sauces I like are homemade salsa, black-eyed pea hummas and yogurt cheese with Mrs. Dash seasoning mixed in. Of course I only get the veggies I like (no celery!)
/Oh and one last thing, you can’t control what your husband eats you can only control what you give him.
I agree portion control is key. Did you know one serving of meat is three ounces? I defy you to find a restaurant that will serve a steak that small, much less the sides loaded on the plate.
SparkPeople.com is a free website for health and fitness. You need to get the word “diet” out of your head. This is a lifestyle change, and you may have to take baby steps to get there. I fully credit this website with my weight loss, and a lot of Dopers are members over there.
Try vegetables oven-roasted or get a grill pan and ‘grill’ them on your stove. Olive oil spray to keep them from sticking. Try simple flavors like a little lemon juice and light amounts of olive oil, rosemary and olive oil on oven-roasted sweet potato chunks, etc.
I just made pan-‘roasted’ brussels sprouts. Try a half-pound to a pound each of thick carrot slices and halved brussels sprouts, cooked in a saute pan over medium heat with a little olive oil spray, salt, and pepper, maybe 3-4 min until starting to brown, then add 1/3 cup water, cover the pan, cook 5 minutes and check to see if they’re crisp-tender enough for your taste. Cook a few minutes more if not. Drizzle on a bit of olive oil (maybe a half-tablespoon or so), a touch more salt or pepper if you like, and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. The cider vinegar and pepper give it a nice zing, and the pan roasting gives nice browned bits and caramelization to the veggies. Don’t overcook them and they’ll still have good texture and appeal.
Lemon juice is nice for green veggies like green beans and broccoli, not only for flavor; it helps perk up the green-ness if they’ve started to fade a little in color.
An easy way to cut calories is replace junk food/snacks with things like oranges,plums, apples, peaches, bannanas, and other fruits. They are also much better for you.
These are are some great suggestions. I can’t wait to try those soups; I don’t have a stick blender but I have a conventional one. And I bet they’d be good with whole grain focaccia or crackers, yes? I’ll have to look for recipes.
At this point our goal is to replace our crap diet with a healthy diet and start getting some exercise; we figure if we do that weight loss will be an inevitable side-effect. Portion control is definitely going to be a problem; hubby still eats like he’s in the Marines and he’s got 10 minutes for chow before starting a 20 mile road march. I’m not much better, if I like something I’ll eat it 'til I’m stuffed; I can polish off an entire Red Baron 4-cheese pizza by myself.
I think my main problem with vegetables is an attitude of suspicion. My mother boiled every vegetable she ever met into submission (I’m pretty sure, for example, that cauliflower isn’t supposed to behave like a non-Newtonian fluid on your plate). But now that I think about it I’m pretty fond of the vegetables in a stir-fry, and I tried steamed asparagus for the first time the other day and was pleasantly surprised at how palatable it was. Still, given a choice between a slice of cheese pizza and a plate full of vegetables, I can’t imagine why anyone in their right mind would choose the vegetables; and that’s one of the things I’m trying to change.
I’m okay with lentils, but beans - I’ve tried and tried to cook with them, red beans, black beans, pinto beans, chickpeas - they all taste like bland mushy yechh. I made bean soup one night last week, with onions and carrots and smoked sausage and chicken broth; we all unenthusiastically ate a bowl apiece and the leftovers are still in the fridge, indicating that no one liked it very much.
We don’t figure it’s going to be easy but nothing in our lives ever is and if we get more energy out of the deal it’ll be worth it. Mini-Marli will probably object the most. She’s inherited my picky eater-ness, but as I’ve been telling her since she grew old enough to safely handle a butter knife, I’m not a short-order cook; she’ll either eat what I fix or make herself something else, which is another reason to have the fridge and pantry stocked with not-crap.
I have a question about olive oil; do some people process it differently? I ask because a few years ago I got on a kick of using a lot of olive oil, and my husband began to stink. You know how an alcoholic will always reek of booze, even when they’ve just had a shower and put on clean clothes? It was like that - foulness reeked from his pores. It went away when I stopped using olive oil. Anyone else experienced this?
My tastebuds demand that beans have a ton of salt on them. Salt is amazing in its ability to enhance flavors, but it’s also easy to use so much that everyone starts swelling up like human beach balls.
As part of your new eating regime, drink lots of fluids. Water is always best, but as long as you can find something with no or minimal calories it’s more important just to drink rather than to fuss over exactly what it is. Once you start drinking more, you’ll probably each find you lose some weight just from that. Your kidneys want the concentration of salt in your blood to be at a certain level, so when you dilute that, you’ll start shedding water. Don’t get excited, since this is pretty much illusory weight loss.
Probably the easiest way to start eating beans for American palates is chili. The strong flavors mean that it doesn’t feel like “all bean, all the time.”
Of course, there are as many chili recipes as there are people, so finding one you like can be tricky.
If your family likes salsa, here’s a really easy “chili-like” recipe:
1 jar great northern beans
1 jar salsa (your choice)
cooked chicken (optional)
sour cream (optional, you can use the lowfat or nonfat kinds if you like those. Or yogurt if you like yogurt)
Just throw the beans, salsa, and chicken in a pot. Let it get hot. Put into bowls and put a dollop of sour cream on the top. Sprinkle with a bit of hot sauce if you like that.
Is that the sort of thing you could see your family eating?
If beans are striking you as mushy and wrong, put everything into a blender to get a puree. Beans will make a very smooth puree. The above recipe can be pureed and will end up a pink color.
Another great thing about chili is you can hide things like carrots in it. One trick is to cook and puree a vegetable, then add it to the chili.
Me too. Unfortunately it’s hard to get nice ones in restaurants around here; ethnic places are good for getting veggies (Chinese, Thai, Indian), but those are all at least 40 miles away. So usually I gotta make 'em myself.
Ditto good salads; I love a nice spring mix with craisins, a little feta, and some balsamic vinaigrette, but around here it’s the bitter center of a head of tasteless iceberg, with a dollop of ranch or French dressing. Yuck. You can’t even get decent spring mix at the grocery store. So I chop up a head of green leaf lettuce now and then.
Definitely experiment with lighter cooking methods. I hate to malign your sweet old mother, but she was doing it WRONG.
Bags of spring greens are boring on their own. I suggest adding a tin of chunk light or chunk white tuna, crumbled Roquefort or blue cheese, diced tomatoes, and sunflower seeds. Dress with a good-quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (I’m not one who often goes for oil and vinegar dressing, but this is good.)
I’m sorry, but as laudable eating better quality food and “getting some exercise” are, weight loss is not an inevitable side effect unless you take care of the “eat 'til I’m stuffed” and “eat when I’m bored” behaviors.
For starters, if you can’t imagine choosing veggies over pizza but force yourself to do so, I will give you 6-8 weeks tops before you forget all about eating more veggies. That is not a slam on your will power, it is a simple fact of human nature. Eating what you hate, and not eating what you like, without finding some way of changing what you hate or like, is a recipe for long-term failure.
Much better would be to continue to eat pizza, but to learn to eat ONE SLICE and STOP. Just… Stop. Do something else that absorbs you. You will find that after 15 minutes or so your body “catches up” and you will not be hungry. If you are doing something engaging enough you will forget about eating. After maybe 2 or 3 hours you’ll be hungry again. Go on, eat another slice if you want to. But before you can learn to “eat better quality” you need to re-learn, or perhaps even learn for the first time, what hunger actually feels like, versus “wanting to eat” – and conversely, what “eating until you’re not hungry” feels like, versus “eating until you’re stuffed”.
Veggies: Try blanching and stir-frying them, with some slivers of lean meat if you feel like it. Some people moan about blanching leaching away nutrients but I figure the amount you lose is probably minuscule compared to what you’d miss out on by not eating them because they turned to mush while you were cooking.
