Read this again.
You’re only doing half the job of losing weight by changing your diet. So t will take you at least twice as long to reach your target weight 9if you ever do – most dieters never do it).
Weight is as simple as input (diet) vs. output (exercise). Start working on that 2nd piece also.
Twice as long, really? It’s much easier to cut out calories than it is to burn them – if you’re currently eating 3500 kcal a day, you could probably cut out down to 2500 just by watching what you eat and making a few better choices. Burning that much, say, jogging would take you a couple hours a day at the pace an out-of-shape person could reasonably put forward.
Exercise may be important for health, but I suspect the benefits are overstated for weight loss. There are a lot of reasonably thin out-of-shape people.
Another approach is to go whole grain. Not pretend 12 grain bread. But something like 100% rye pumpernickel. It’s dense, it fills you up, the glycemic numbers are pretty good, it toasts, and it’s real bread (or crackers).
I love 100% dense rye bread. This is an AWESOME whole rye at home recipe. And really, it’s the baking technique in a water bath that is most important. http://www.shipton-mill.com/baking/recipes/dan-s-pumpernickle-bread.htm?print=true
FWIW, My wife was on the wrong side of borderline diabetic, and switched from white rice (she’s chinese) to brown rice and really cut down on sugar, and she’s been in the high end of the normal range for 2 years now.
The real benefit of exercise in terms of weight loss is it’s synergistic effect along with dietary modifications that keep a person feeling motivated to stick with those eating changes. If either one-diet or exercise-gets pulled from the equation, the equilibrium is broken.
Also remember what the prize our op has his eye on is … his motivation is that his “blood sugar, already borderline previously, is now higher than ever.”
Exercise (preferably a program that includes both aerobic exercise and resistance training) on its own is at least as important as any weight loss in addressing that (less visceral fat in particular, more lean body mass with higher insulin sensitivity, so on). Its extra calories out and its physical effects in the brain and psychologically while real and important are relatively just bonus points in this context.
But yes it probably would help him with his cravings and mood.
I’m never in favor of trying to eliminate something you love. It just makes it more likely that the diet will fail.
I went from a A1C of 12.8 to under 7 simply by eliminating sugared soda, most candy and being careful about some of the foods I ate. I tested my blood sugar like a maniac for the first two months to determine how individual foods affected me. I eat somewhat less (but not ‘none’) of the stuff that nukes my blood sugar. I still have candy occasionally, but I now consume mass quantities of dark chocolate, which doesn’t affect me much and has the added benefit that my cholesterol is lower than ever (and well under any guidelines).
Now, three years later, I’m not on any kind of diet. It has all become habit, and while I have the occasional day when the blood sugar get spiked, it’s all good as long as it isn’t every day.
And for the record, my A1C tested in July at 5.8.
So have your bread, just learn your limits. Two slices for a sandwich, none for the rest of the day. No bread for lunch because you’re having pasta for dinner, etc.
And really, watch the damned white rice. That’s worse than anything. I limit that to about once (maybe twice) a week.
Oh, I don’t doubt that exercise provides many health benefits and that it would be very helpful in alleviating the OP’s conundrums. I was responding to the claim that exercise would cut time to a dieter’s target weight by more than half compared to dietary changes alone, which I suspect is not true.
Well, that’s how you beat alcoholism. It sounded silly to me at first, too, but then I thought about how much I love sandwiches and pizza.
I’ve been trying the no-wheat thing for the past week or so and caught myself today fondling the goods in the bread aisle :dubious:. I love bread and just about everything about it but cutting it from my diet has had a marked effect on my ahem stool quality. I know, purely anecdotal, but like most fads there’s a grain of plausibility:
Gluten is pretty much the lowest ‘quality’ and least digestible protein we regularly consume. This is readily apparent to anyone who’s ever washed up after making bread; gluten is *tough *to clean up, esp if you make the mistake of using hot water and really denature the protein strands. The stuff sticks to everything. Which gets one to thinking: Gluten is bound to get past the small intestine. And the remainder just isn’t going to be handled well “downstream”, so to speak.
Update: after a week of sheer misery I partially threw in the towel. Not all wheat is created equal- there are differences in how tempting some products are to me to gorge on. Fresh bread and pizza top the list so I’m still avoiding those but I’ve unbent enough to eat crackers (which I never bother with when I’m on bread) and shredded wheat cereal (ditto). Now I’ve gone from wondering what the point of my living is to something I’d describe as “not miserable”. So maybe I just have to take baby steps until I adjust.
Try eating a balanced diet. Instead of eating a lot of one type of food, balance it with other foods. Don’t just eat meat and bread. Balance it out with fruits and vegetables. You can still eat a sizeable meal, but you’ll reduce the amount of bad foods you eat and feel full. Eliminate potatoes. They’re high in both carbs and calories. Try limiting your bread to two slices a day, and if you want something sweet, replace your bread allotment with dessert.
I’ve been doing this ever since diagnosed with Type II Diabetes a few years ago. I’ve steadily lost a pound or two every three months doing this. This is the lightest I’ve weighed since high school. My blood sugar is still at the upper limit, but I’m not in constant misery any more.
Well, that’s good to hear.
On another note, every time I read this thread title, I get Journey’s Lovin’, Touchin’ Squeezin’ stuck in my head. Just me?
Gluten is Latin for “Delicious.” No need to look that up, fukkin oath gospel truth, trust me.
I can’t say anything about the ‘science’ of today’s wheat being meaningfully different than wheat from back in the day, but it sure makes a noticeable difference when you eliminate it from your diet. You feel horrible for a week or two, then you feel better and your weight either stabilizes or starts dropping.
And the long days of tasty but unsatisfying grub get the better of you until you break down and have a cookie. Just one cookie. Or maybe a cracker. Next thing you know you’re waking up with an empty bread loaf in one hand and half a jar of peanut butter in the other. And you hate you for the betrayal, and promise to get back on the wagon…but since you’ve already sinned, what’s the harm in a pizza? Well, you won’t let yourself eat a whole pizza, so half of it is waiting for you in the fridge tomorrow morning, and it’s evil to waste food, so ok, you’ll eat the pizza until it’s gone and then back on the wagon. Then the bathroom scales gives you the news two days later and you despair. You’re straight to the deli crying through bites of a delicious sourdough on black rye, washing it down with a craft beer.
We’ve all been there, Lumpy. Roll (heh) with it, and just get used to saying “Dye-a-beetus” like an old-timer.
Ya got two folks with Type II giving you this same advice.
Moderation works a helluva lot better than forced abstinence.
Make that three.
Another thing to do is get out your measuring cups, spoons and kitchen scale. Follow the portion sizes given for most things (raw veggies are pretty much an AYCE thing at my house). Get real familiar with standard (not restaurant) sized portions.
There are some things that I just don’t keep in the house, but will eat on occasion when I’m out because if said item (ice cream, I’m looking at you) is there, I don’t have sense enough to stop until it’s all gone. A small vanilla dish at Sonic or one scoop at B&R once or twice a month seems to satisfy the craving without being overdone.
missred (A1C last month: 6.1)
I fully support trying different methods and figuring out what works, but I also wanted to say that I get what you’re going through and why you’d think of trying abstinence, Lumpy. The withdrawal isn’t something I’ve experienced, but I completely understand the addiction part of it: I’ve never really understood why people have leftover pizza after a random Friday night. I mean, after a party where you ordered half a dozen pizzas, sure, but one or two pizzas for the family? If it’s good pizza (common sayings notwithstanding), I’m eating all of it. My wife can eat two or three pieces and doesn’t understand this at all, but at least she’s come to believe me, because she’s seen it for a decade now. Some things (including, ironically, alcohol) I can do in moderation and scale up or down as desired, but if it’s pizza or pasta or a really good loaf of cinnamon bread, it’s going to be a two thousand calorie meal if it’s a single bite. Which then makes me sad, because I’m a religious calorie counter and those are really big numbers, which starts the vicious cycle.
My only constructive suggestion would be that it’s a lot easier for me to ignore pasta, my most insidious demon, when I’m on a regular exercise schedule. Even if I’m working out five or six days a week, I have to be extra careful on rest days. It definitely helps, though.
Can’t you just eat wheat-bread and wheat-pasta, but eat less of it per day?
Or is that like counseling a raging alkie to drink in moderation?
Per my endocrinologist, no wheat, no potatoes, no rice, no corn period. Not eating glutin is differnt than not eating any starch. imagine going to eat with friends, no pizza, no sandwichs, no chips, no fries, no cake, pie, or cookies. No pasta, no tortillas no noodles. pretty much every cuisine has wheat potato, rice or corn as a base. It is a struggle.
I’ve probably seen half a dozen best-selling books on this specific topic. I’ve tried it, actually giving up all grains and starches, and for me it was the easiest and most effective thing I’ve tried. Of course, the person who talked me into going along on the ride was not able to handle it.
People are different. I’ve never been a bread person. I never ate cereal as a kid (rarely as a snack without milk). I’ve never been much for cake or pastries. I’ll always take eggs and bacon over a donut or eat more meat instead of having dessert. Never liked sugary drinks. So any kind of low-sugar, low carb deal is easy for me. Pass the butter and bacon.
As far as meals out go- steaks, chicken and veggies, fish and veggies, burger places do bowls and lettuce wraps. Not an “out” food but I finally found a delicious pizza with a cheese-based crust (I don’t do the “no dairy” thing, I do the full-fat dairy thing). I don’t like cauliflower crusts (typical “grain free” substitution), but cauliflower mashed “potatoes” are good.
I used to hang around 195 lbs for over 45 years but now I’m usually 165 and have been for several years. We don’t have wheat or potatoes or rice or sugar in the house except on occasions. No milk but I do have ice cream now and then . I snack in the evenings with spooned natural peanut butter or Greek yogurt.
I do eat out several times a month including pizza and that is where I do fall back on “anything goes”.
However I weigh myself every evening on a digital scale and when the number climbs above 165 I scale back till I’m down to the low 160s which takes a couple of days.
I’m comfortable, feel in control of my life, feel good and look good at 65 years of age.
We are all different, but if you can learn something from me I would be quite pleased