No, I’m afraid not. And I must say that bringing that issue into this discussion is the absolute epitome of bad taste and poor judgment.
Liberal I’m very happy you’re new lifestyle is helping you toward your fat loss goals but given your sample day’s intake I fear for your health in general. Your diet seems low on vegetables and fruit and high on processed foods and refined sugar. The entire day you mention only a peach and a salad though I’m guessing that the Stouffer’s dinner may have some veggies.
I understand what you’re getting at and I agree wholeheartedly that eating a variety of foods and not depriving yourself will make your journey more successful and easier. I just think you need to eat your vegetables. (there now, don’t I just sound like dear old mom 
)
I wrote the list kind of hurriedly, off the top of my head. But I do eat vegetables every day, especially carots, tomatoes, and squash. (Yeah, a couple of fruits. I know. :)) The main reason I’m doing this is just to feel better, and eating what I like is a part of feeling better. It’s just that when I eat too much of it, I feel worse. 
Bad taste, no doubt. Poor judgment, think about it. Over 280, you know that’s way too big for you. To die from this condition is possible and way stupid, which you ain’t.
You are SO on the right track! Way to go. I did pretty much the same thing and lost 100 pounds to date.
Just gotta stick with it, it can happen for you. I promise.
Wow, a hundred pounds! How long did it take you?
(So far, no trouble sticking to this one at all. I’m eating what I like.)
First of all, I’m really, really, really happy for you, Lib. I’m glad that you’ve found a way to lose weight.
But second… you get to eat 2500 calories a day and lose weight! You get three 840 calorie sections in your day… if I wanted to lose weight, I’d get to have two of those 840 calorie sections, and would definitely have to exercise if I wanted to lose and not just maintain. And on 1700 calories plus exercise (first Einstein who points out the math in this post gets slapped upside the head–it’s rhetoric, get used to it), I am STARVING all the time. I hate it.
Count yourself lucky.
Well, I have dropped it back to 2109 based on the site Astro gave. So now it’s 703 per third. But like I said, I really hadn’t gone much above 1600-1800 anyway. Your 566 is still pretty good. The only difference between us is less than a Pepsi.
You really shouldn’t be starving all the time. Are you eating your favorite food all day long? I don’t mean every minute of the day, but at least once every couple of hours?
Where water is concerned, keeping you full isn’t the big issue. For one thing, dehydration pains can feel like hunger pangs. I’ve had both. I’ve learned to tell the difference. Water is so vital to the proper functioning of your body. Soda, coffee, even fruit juice - none of these are quite the same as water. They have caffiene and sugar, preservatives - all kinds of nasty stuff.
It is true that you drink water and you pee it out so what’s the point. The point is that water actually serves a function as it’s passing through your body.
This site has some information. Yes, I know it’s a site for water purification products. That doesn’t mean they’re biased. Search any health magazine or diet plan and they’ll all say the same stuff.
Anyway, off my soapbox. For my own story.
I weight 200 lbs. I’m only 5’2". I should weigh between 125 and 135 lbs. In the last year, I’ve had back surgery, and have been diagnosed with psudotumor cerebri. The psudotumor is either caused by the fact that I’m a fatass or because I had cortisone shots in my back. In either case, losing weight could help to prevent damage to my eyes.
I hate diets because I don’t like to eat to begin with. It’s a pain in the butt. I’m much too lazy to actually prepare healthy food.
My deal-breaker food is cereal. Well, I’m a carb addict but I’m pretty sure I can cut down my bread and pasta intake. Cereal loss could be the death of me. On the plus side, I don’t eat sugary cereal. I’m addicted to Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Cheerios, Special K, etc. The more bland the cereal is, the better. The problem is that I can’t stop eating it. If I have one bowl for breakfast, I always end up having another - or the rest of the box.
In my case, I think I actually need to cut out my deal-breaker and find a subsitute. I’m thinking that I might need to actually eat eggs. If I have an omelet for breakfast, I can guarantee I wont go back for seconds. But, how to cook them? I have no clue what to do with eggs other than hard boiling or scrambling (ick). So, any suggestions for how to consume chicken ovulations?
Do you eat other stuff with your cereal? I know that a bowl of cereal alone would leave me feeling very empty. Why not have your bowl of cereal and balance it out with some protein and fruit (whole fruit, not juice)? Maybe some yogurt or an egg.
If you really love cereal, you should eat it. The whole mentality of, “I can’t eat this because I know I’ll ‘break down’ and eat a lot of it” causes us to view that yummy thing as a forbidden food. And for Og’s sake, non-sugary cereal is good for you!
I think what Liberal is talking about here is moderation in all things, which is so obvious, no one’s thought to write a book about it. Just kidding…there probably is a book about it. But you know what I’m saying.
Sorry, I forgot suggestions on the egg. Fried egg (spray, not soaked in butter or oil and in a nonstick pan) sunny side up (don’t flip it, but enough so it’s sorta cooked on top). The yolk is still runny (I’m sure some folks will gag), and you can dip some whole wheat toast in it!
But still, add a fruit and some fat-free yogurt for a “complete breakfast”.
I’ve come to learn that some people have no self control where drugs and alcohol are concerned. I have no self control where cereal is concerned. I don’t eat anything else with it. I have been known to eat nothing but cereal for a month at a time. I frequently eat a large size box in 2 meals. Not only am I not getting a balanced diet, I’m also lactose intolerant. That much cereal requires a very large amount of milk. I quit smoking easier than I can make myself stop at one bowl.
If I don’t have it in the house I’m fine. So, if I don’t buy it, I should be fine.
Oh, and I LOVE runny eggs.
LIberal has a good plan. My only problem with it is the deal breaker because the deal breaker for me is such a major problem. There’s enough other stuff that I like, such as fruit and hummus, anything loaded with garlic, and teas. I can find something else to replace cereal. Actually, for the amount of money I spend on one box of cereal, I could buy a box of high quality tea.
I too have joined the “it’s the calories, stupid” diet. Through portion control and calorie monitoring I have lost 30 lbs in just over 3 months. I have to say that the reason this works for me is because I write down what I eat and how many calories are in it. Otherwise I would never be able to accurately determine how much I am eating. As far as omlets go, I think that there is nothing better than an egg white omlet…a little cheese and a little spinach and you have a delicious, (fairly) low calorie breakfast!
I aim for 1700 calories a day, too, and I’m not starving all the time. I’ll admit, I do feel like I’m starving sometimes, but usually when I’ve made bad choices. (My version of “It’s the calories, stupid” is “Stop eating crap that’s bad for you.”)
What works for me is to focus on foods that have low calorie density. These are foods that have a lot of water, or (even better) water and fiber. They are marveous for snacking, because you spend more time consuming them and they take up more room in your stomach, so you have a more satisfying snack.
Raw vegetables make excellent snacks. Don’t go sabotaging them with salad dressing or dip, though. What I find is if I don’t feel like plain raw vegetables, if I don’t want them without ranch dressing–or crackers or M&Ms–then guess what: I’m not actually hungry. If I’m hungry and I need a snack, then a healthy snack will be appealing. If not, I have a glass of water and wait a half an hour, and see if I’m actually hungry then. (In theory. In practice, sometimes I eat the M&Ms, and pay for it later, when a light dinner brings me up to a total of 1800 calories, and I get to sit around all night gulping down water and herbal tea and badly, badly wanting a snack.)
Fresh fruit is a also good snack, but fruits have more sugar and calories than vegetables, so you can’t just eat them with wild abandon. With broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, celery, radishes, green pepper etc. you can eat until you are absolutely stuffed for around 50 calories.
If you’re short on calories, try to get your food in low-calorie-density form: a raw salad instead of cooked vegetables, fresh fruit instead of canned or dried, soup instead of a sandwich, lowfat milk or yogurt instead of cheese. (If you’re keeping track of your nutrients, you’ll see that low-calorie-density foods often have a greater variety of nutrients and a higher ratio of nutrients to calories, too.)
Major point: When you’ve lost somewhere around 10% of your body weight, weight loss will begin to slow and your body will begin trying to encourage you to eat. There are a number of physiological mechanisms controlling food intake that apparently are triggered by weight loss, but the upshot is you will begin to crave food. Most people stop their diets at about that point and then begin to overeat and regain. A lot of people overshoot in the regaining phase and end up heavier than before. This is why you need to think ahead and brace yourself for the 10% (or thereabouts) mark. The current NIH recommendations are therefore to set a goal for 10% weight loss and then try to maintain it for a period of time before trying to lose more.
Minor point: The ideal weight maintenance calorie requirement equations are theoretically interesting, but it’s not like you can use them to set up a meal plan that will keep you thin for the rest of your life. They can be off by 10, 25 or even 50%, but to maintain a weight within 10 lbs over just a year you have to do *a lot * better - be accurate within less than 5%. And your requirements will change day to day and over the years. If you have a weight problem, you really have to resign yourself to the fact that you’ll be chained to your bathroom scale for the rest of your life because it’s the best, most reliable arbiter of how much you should be eating.
Have the cerial eaters tried adding a fresh banana sliced to each bowl. Also what about hot oatmeal cerial, if that hits the spot for you, then makeing it with water instead of milk would be well worth a try.
Lib are there any high fiber breads you like? They tend to be filling for longer (as the fiber expands in your stomach) and the extra fiber is usually good for your digestive system. I find a pumpernickle bagel with a little low fat cream cheese will fill me as much as a full meal on days when I decide to cut callories.
I do indeed like high fiber and whole grain breads. Not to eat exclusively, but in a sensible rotation with Merita white and wheat. Now that I know to look for carraway seeds (thanks to Left Hand of Dorkness), it won’t be such a crap shoot finding a good loaf.
:: Moderator growls under his breath:::
OK, so it’s gone on for two days and I didn’t see it. Cafe Society is about food/cooking that’s part of art/entertainment/leisure. Diets ain’t leisure, diets and their effectiveness is elsewhere and elsewhere it goes.
Watch out for the “fat free” yogurts that have a bunch of extra stuff added. I prefer Nancy’s yogurt, which has nothing added (not even sugar). Some blackberry or strawberry jam and granola gives me the cereal feel with more filling power.
Funnily enough, I started to open the thread here, but I feared that it might get moved to your place. Whatever. (If this caused you to growl, you have some serious issues with negative energy. ;))