There is nothing stealth about this brag… except maybe my new stealthier body.
I was not one who would be described as fat, but I’ve been carrying around some extra pounds for years now. I had also become more and more sedentary. I finally decided I was tired of making my driver’s license lie about my weight so decided it was time to make some changes.
I know some will think this diet approach is crazy, but it worked for me. I’ve lost 17 pounds so far, which puts me a couple of pounds under what my license says. Anyway, the diet I used… Increase Exercise, and Count Calories. I know it sounds crazy but decrease input and increase output somehow leads to a net loss (go figure).
Oh yeah, I also got a “Miracle” device to help me on my quest. It is a Garmin Vivofit. It straps on my wrist and counts my steps taken and calories burned. It syncs with the myfitnesspal (free) app which lets me enter in everything I eat and drink and I end up with pretty good idea of where I stand calorie wise each day.
I started out struggling to get 5,000 steps in, and now I routinely do 16,000 in a day (about 8 miles). I feel better than I have in a long time, I’m getting more done, I’m eating healthier and drinking less (alcohol is very high calorie). I like that it has brought my attention to how much I was consuming by just grabbing a handful of trail mix whenever I passed by the bowl and such. I faithfully log everything because I would only be cheating myself.
I still eat pretty much whatever I want, just in smaller portions and watch other things I’ve had that day. Last night I had a filet. Only difference is I had a 6oz one, and asparagus instead of a loaded baked potato, and Raspberry Vinaigrette on my salad rather than Blu Cheese. I like the alternatives just as much as the others, and if I want Blu Cheese dressing sometime I’ll just cut back on my calories at lunch.
Anyway, if anyone else wants to try this “fad” diet let me know how it works for you.
I’ve lost 30# in about a year. It’s not a huge weight drop, but it’s slow and steady, which increases my odds of keeping it off.
My fad diet is called “Eat Less Crap and Get Some Exercise”.
Nothing is off-limits. Even dessert. But now my dessert of choice is frozen cherries with 1/4-1/2 cup frozen vanilla yogurt (depending on what else I ate that day). It’s freakin’ delicious.
Snacks during the day are fruit, yogurt, or carrot sticks.
Smaller portions all around.
Reduced carbs. So I might have a wrap for my sandwich instead of bread. If I have bread, it’s real whole-wheat and high fiber. I’ve been making my stir-fry with a mixture of Jasmine and brown rice - it’s pretty tasty. I still eat the occasional baked or mashed potato, no problem. No french fries, though. I’d rather have a couple of onion rings, if we’re having fried foods.
Exercise = walking, stationary bike, and weight machines. I really need to get over to the Y near me and see if the indoor pool is too heavily chlorinated for my asthma. I love swimming, and the warm water is great for anyone with arthritis.
You know you’ll just gain it all back right? Or die early because you have a perfect calorie count and good healthy exercise as opposed to wildly flailing back and forth between unhealthy amounts of carbs/protien or lack thereof.
I’ll stick with my eat kale for 3 meals a day except for tuedays where I eat all burgers without buns on top of steak fried baked chicken.
I’m pretty sure that is basically the same diet with a different name (all depends on who has the current best seller).
It has really made me more aware of what is higher cal and what isn’t. Yellow Mustard has zero calories so no need for a bland sandwich. Also, look at portion sizes… Snacks work especially well for this. I wanted some Twizzlers, so I found the Low Fat ones and the Calories per portion are 140. That is for four though, and two gives me the taste and satisfaction for only 70 calories. I found a good Sour Cream and Onion flavored cracker of some kind that was 130 per serving. A half serving is about 6-8 crackers for 65 which again gets the flavor to my mouth and is great to have as a quick snack while working. I got a food scale which is amazing for measuring out 100g of grapes (around 20, but no guesswork involved).
And I do splurge. I had a craving for a Big Mac. I ate very light that day and got a Big Mac and Small Fries for dinner. I only ate about half the fries and had unsweetened ice tea with it. That was the best tasting Big Mac I’ve ever had, and I still stayed under my daily allowance (I may have stepped up the walking a bit as well).
Congrats on your 30#. I’ll probably gradually drop another 10 over time and don’t thin I want to go any lower than that.
Only downside is my cloths are loose and all the women are all over me (ok, only one of these is true… I’ll let you decide which).
This is definitely the way to do it - finding an eating plan that is not a chore and you don’t feel deprived. I do a BeachBody meal replacement for breakfast and a shake I mix on my own (with spinach and stuff) for lunch, then a balanced dinner. I do it this way because it works for me. If I want a snack, I have a snack
I’ve cut down from three cans of coke a day to one. And no more french fries. So for lunch I might still go to Wendy’s, but instead of a double stack, fries and a coke, I have double stack (value menu burger), side salad and water. Or a Chik-Fil-A kid’s meal with fruit cup instead of waffle fries. That’s close to 300 calories right there.
Congratulations on the weight loss and yay for un-martyred diets! Deprivation rarely lasts but if you know you can have whatever goody you want (in a reasonable amount) you really don’t crave that much, that often. I found that if I was really staying hungry, increasing my protein a little helped me feel satisfied and headed a binge off at the pass.
Thought I’d give an update. It has been a little over 2 weeks since this post and I’ve since lost about 5 more pounds. So, I’m losing at about 2.5 lbs per week. I already hit my primary goal at -20, and now I’m -22. My stretch goal is -25 so it looks like if I can keep this up I’ll be there in a couple of weeks or less.
I’m feeling better, and I’m way more active than before with energy to spare. I’ve walked 10 miles per day for 11 days straight and hit 12.5 miles today. Bad thing is I have to go buy some skinny cloths.
Then I can try to keep it off until I totally blow it at Thanksgiving.
Congratulations on being a Real Person :). I’d like you to visit my office and stand around… also, I think you should consider modeling for some paintings on ancient Roman/Greek vases and maybe writing a book (tongue firmly in cheek). Whyowhy does it take me so bloody long to convince people this works? Oh yes, and please go on Dr Oz.
New clothes will show off the ten mile a day results
No, I’m sorry - I can’t get on board with this until I see statues of ancient people who may or may not have also followed such a diet and I can analyze their body type and compare it to my ideal body image. Do you have any such ancient statues?? I THOUGHT NOT!
Amazing: increase outgo and decrease intake. What a concept.
I lost 30 lbs. by starting to walk an hour a day, five days a week. I’ve kept it off 4 years, and would love to lose another 20, so am having to reduce intake. I also noticed as you did Spud that I’m much more aware of how many calories are in things. I still eat ice cream, just a small portion and only on weekends. I was eating a burger in a restaurant every so often and looked up the nutritionals on line to find out it has 1250 (1250!!!) calories. That’s a day’s worth in just the burger. Add in fries and a beer and I just ate two days’ food in half an hour. Needless to say I don’t eat that one any more. I knew it was high calorie but it never dawned on me it would be over a thousand!
Anyhow, I think we’re on to something here. So, why aren’t we getting rich?
I finally found my people on sdmb. It’s like we’re twins! I’ve been following this fad for about 40 years! Nice to finally find validation. I was very depressed about not being a warrior or renegade or caveman until I found this thread.
My new fad diet is called “Don’t eat anything I’m allergic to - not even a little bit.” I haven’t lost any weight but I feel better and my Benedryl intake has gone way down.
