I’m the same way. You know what’s fantastic for this? Every single day, throw a bit of food into the garbage. Could be a slightly bruised but still edible section of a tangerine. Could be an end-slice from a loaf of bread. Don’t matter–find something you COULD have eaten, and throw it out. On purpose. Just to prove who’s in charge, you or it.
Also, leave something deliberately on your plate. Might be a bit of onion. Might be a fatty piece of steak. Again, don’t matter. Make a point of being a member of the dirty-plate club.
**Johnny L.A. ** I do save leftovers and eat them later but then there are the leftovers that don’t really need to be saved. You know, that last slice of birthday cake or those two cookies from the batch your friend brought over.
That and when there’s those two bites left. Not enough to save to eat later so, what the heck, might as well eat them now.
pseudotriton ruber ruber That’s a good idea. Lately I’ve been not finishing everything that’s on my plate but I usually give it to my husband (and he doesn’t need the extra calories either). I’m going to redouble my efforts to leave a little something on the plate and then throw it right into the trash or garbage disposal.
anyrose yes, I’m fairly obsessive about my weight and I weigh myself every day (though never more than once a day) I threw away my scale last year and didn’t weigh myself for months. I think I gained about 10 lbs during that time. Clearly it helps keep me on track, I just need to not let it control my life.
If anyone needs, there’s a $10 off coupon for a Weight Watchers scale at Costco. Good until the 23, I believe. I can drop it in the mail today, if you like. Send me your address if you’d like it.
Wow, I guess this basically proves your point, but just thinking about doing such a thing practically gives me mental anguish. I guess it’s partly the OCD.
Pretty amazing, isn’t it? That bruised tangerine slice amounts to something like .000002 % of your annual income*, the money you earn walking from your desk to the elevator one time*, yet the desire to pitch it is somehow “wasteful.”
I’d rather eat a week-old bagel that’s hardened to the density of iron ore than throw it out, yet I’ll cheerfully spend 300* times the value of that bagel on a book about weight-loss that I’ll never read. The unread book isn’t wasteful, but the bagel in the garbage can is.
It’s some sort of sickness, for sure.
all numbers guaranteed pulled directly out of my ass
There are children starving in Ethiopia who would give anything they have for that slice of tangerine!
On a more serious note, I was at Lowe’s getting a new tub surround. Heavy box, about six feet square and jammed in with a bunch of other boxes. There was only one place to grip it. At the top corner. Well, I got it about two feet out when the corner tore. I fell backward, barely missing the glass tub doors supported in steel display frames. Landed on my back and wrist. The wrist is okay now, but my back muscles hurt. I’ll take some Motrin before bed and hope that it doesn’t mess up my exercises tomorrow.
Another day sweet-free! I was only going to post on Fridays or Saturdays, but I was jonesing *so *bad for candy today and I was *still *good that I had to come here and brag about it.
I know how you’re feeling, Khadaji! I’m not a ‘sweets person’ to begin with, but since I found out I can’t have them, I seem to crave them! I’ve been without ‘sweets’ for a few days now, and I’m feeling pretty good about it!
Having just tried on some slacks that had been pushed to the rear of my closet…I’m in. <sigh>
In the past I’ve done Atkins, with great success – over 80 pounds lost, and I kept it off (except for 5 pounds swings now and then) for almost four years. Logically I should go back on the BigA, but the fact is, I can’t face the idea.
I’m wondering if I should just do the basic ‘restrict your calories and exercise more’ routine – it clearly works for a lot of people – but I know nothing at all about calories. That is, I don’t have any feel for how many there are in what, and I don’t even know how many calories I should be eating.
Okay, I can buy a book with calorie counts. And an extra set of measuring cups and/or a scale to be sure I’m eating the right quantities.
Still – what do I aim for? Is there a formula for calculating the proper calorie intake? I’m 5’4", my normal/goal weight is 130 pounds. Activity level is pretty low: my job is a desk job, but I do housework and such. I’ll try to get back into walking more – I used to do a two mile walk every day, but I’ve let that slip because of time demands.
When I did HMR, they taught us a formula for figuring out how much you could expect to lose.
Your weight times 77 for women (84 for men) equals the number of weekly calories to maintain that weight.
Subtract from that (your daily intake times 7) (or your anticipate weekly intake)
the difference divided by 3500 is how much weight you should be able to lose that week
example
a 300 lb man, eating 1000 (of the right kind of) calories a day, should be able to lose 5.2 pounds that week. Now the difference between that and what was actually lost can be attributed to or blamed on water.
You other HMR people can back me up on this, yes?
First of all, congratulations on keeping it off! You’re wise in seeking a more balanced approach to further weight loss. This is exactly the structure and information that MyFoodDiary will non-intrusively provide for you, including a huge database of nutritional counts and the tools and motivation to track them as well as your exercise. If you’re interested, it’s at MyFoodDiary.
It seems the equation could be worked backwards, too. So if I weighed 150 ::winces:: then 150 X 77 = 11550, 11550 - 3500 (for a pound a week loss) = 8050 and 8050 divided by 7 = 1150 calories a day.
Which totally agrees with GingerOfTheNorth’s posted WW allotments, so good enough. I will aim for 1100 calories/day to start with, and adjust based on results.
BrightPenny, I will absolutely check out that site. I also have a co-worker doing the WW point thing, so I’ll ask her about that in detail. In the meantime, well, I’ll start with the obvious rules: smaller portions (no seconds!), more veggies less fat, no calorie laden beverages.
I’ve been musing on something for a couple of days now as I waiver between trying to choose a “diet plan” or just try to eat less.
In order to lose fat you must consume fewer calories than you burn. I don’t think anyone will argue with that. But are all calories created equal?
According to Gingerofthe North’s WW guidelines I’m allowed about 1200 calories a day. Suppose I choose to use my calorie allowance on junk food. For instance:
Breakfast is a Sausage Egg McMuffin at 450 Calories
Lunch is a Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken at 260 Calories
Plus 1 packet of Newman’s Own Ranch Dressing at 170 Calories
(the above taken from the McDonald’s web site)
Then for Dinner I squander my remaining calories on 320 Calories worth of Snickers bars.
That’s 1200 Calories of mostly junk food. I know it’s not healthy but the question is can I reasonably expect to keep losing fat if I fuel myself with high sugar, high fat items?
yeah - not the greatest choices. Fat and Salt contents being on the fairly high side.
you really want an egg sandwich? have it with ham on an english
GO for the California Cobb instead of the Bacon Ranch and skip the dressing. The chicken is moist enough as are the blue cheese crumbles (which are extremely mild as blue cheese goes)
Now you have enough calories for some grilled fish with rice and veggies for dinner at, say, Applebee’s
Along with WW’s recommendations of amount to eat, they throw in a few guidelines. Included in those calories, you should get in two servings of dairy and 4-5 servings of vegetables. Most vegetables, however, are so low-calorie that they count for zero. Nursing women eat an extra ~500 points and three servings of dairy a day.
IMO if you wanna eat your points full of junk, it’s up to you. I don’t know if you’ll lose or not, and I don’t know if that’d actually satisfy you. I’ll cop to having a couple of days where I used some of my points, activity points, and/or flex points on chocolate and junk foods.
Here’s a data point: I lost 125 pounds on Weight Watchers, and throughout the entire process I ate at least one meal at a fast food restaurant almost every day, plus I don’t think a day passed when I didn’t have a little chocolate. I also didn’t pay that much attention to the dairy and vegetable guidelines. This might not work for everybody, but it worked for me–I felt fine, was healthy, and lost weight at a nice steady pace throughout the process. The key for me was moderation–I just cut back on what I ordered to remain within my points. And this wasn’t ordering the salad or the yogurt at the FF restaurants, either: I ate burgers, fried chicken, pizza, burritos, and all sorts of junk food (pretty much had to give up fries, though–I love 'em, but they weren’t enough bang for the points, whereas I could get a small cheeseburger or a single piece of chicken and that would be fine for a meal).
Right now I’m in the process of trying to retrain/recalibrate after letting my vigilance slip and gaining back around 20 pounds, which is why I’m participating in this thread.
No jogging or walking yesterday, since the handyman and his daughter were working on the bathroom. No exercise today either. I do get a little sweaty after jogging and my walk, and the bathroom isn’t finished. The new tub surround goes on tomorrow. I don’t know how it’s attached. It may be glued to the drywall. So no exercising until at least tomorrow, or maybe Thursday. Bathing at the deep sink is okay for daily dirt; but if I work up a sweat I want a shower!
I love the WW Points system. I lost 30 lbs a few years ago with it. I can’t believe how much the price has gone up though. That’s why I’m trying it on my own this time.
I’m still putting 3 tsp. of sugar in my tea, but I’m only drinking 1 cup per day. Instead of soft drinks, I have unsweetened iced green tea flavored with spearmint, (my mouth is watering just from typing it, it’s so yummy and refreshing). I had to stop drinking diet sodas because I was eating something afterward to get the taste out of my mouth.
Good on you. I trust that was when we were still allowed to bank points? I found that I just don’t like fast food anymore.
Batsinma Belfry, I lost 70 before on WW, by myself - I started with meetings but quickly became frustrated with the other attendees (I sorta hate people who complain). I also got help here and there from a WW leader who’s on this board and my livejournal friends list, and a live journal community for dopers who do WW. You can do it without the meetings and the like, and I prefer it this way.
