I’m a “big guy” and am looking to lose weight sensibly over a long period. This is not a fad or a quick-fix. Here’s what I’ve been doing for about six weeks with good results:
Breakfast (7am):
Multi-vitamin
1/2 c. Cheerios w/rice milk (alternative: Wheat Chex)
6 oz. juice (100% juice)
Lunch (11am):
1 c. white rice
1/2 c. black or pinto beans
Tabasco
1 whole pickle
tea w/lemon
Snack (1pm):
1 piece fruit
1 hard boiled egg
Cocktail hr (5pm):
Vodka martini or glass of wine
8-10 raw almonds
Dinner (6pm):
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, seasoned, baked
1 c. steamed vegetables
(friday night we go out & I cheat)
Exercise: 2 miles walking/day
I’m eager to hear if anyone sees a problem or has any recommended refinements. Specifically, any nutritional deficiencies that would be problematic? Also, what is the conventional wisdom on rice milk vs. soy milk vs. skim milk?
Please don’t chime in with “you’ll never be able to keep it up” and such. Thanks.
First of all, it does look like a small amount of food for a big guy. If you are comfortable with it, though, then go you.
You can and should supplement your meals with a lot of vegetables–if you don’t sauce or butter them, then they have very few calories and can provide a lot of filling fiber. As it is, you’re pretty light on both fruit and vegetables.
Something I noticed when I was trying to stick to a diet is that people trying to lose weight often don’t eat enough. (I still think people lose weight on that first week of South Beach because they lose the will to live and therefore eat.) They say a healthy diet includes 5 to 9 servings of vegetables a day. A serving is, what, a cup? Five to nine cups of veggies is a lot of food. More than you think.
I wouldn’t suggest a sudden, dramatic lifestyle change. I think a lot of people fail at dieting because they demanded too much of themselves at once.
Start simply. Eliminate fatty snacks and try to make more sensible choices for dinner. Begin a mild exercise program like short walks or doing some stretches while watching TV. Once you’re used to these changes, you can add a little more, making the exercises more vigorous or cutting even more fats from your daily diet.
Secondly, don’t totally deny yourself. If you’re craving a piece of chocolate cake, go ahead and have it, but wait until after you’ve eaten a nutritious dinner. (If you’re feeling full in healthy stuff, chances are you won’t eat very much of the cake.) If you want to have pizza on Friday night, go ahead and order it, but eat a serving of vegetables first.
Go to Weight Watchers. Seriously. It works, it’s safe, it’s not faddish. My niece went from a size 22 to a size 6. Took her a few years to do it. My sister has likewise lost a lot of weight and kept it off.
If you’ve been able to stick with this for 6 weeks, then rock on. I bet your Friday night “cheat” is actually doing you a lot of good, by making you feel like you’re not depriving yourself.
How is it working for you? (other than ‘good results’)
I’ve found with dieting that whatever works and whatever you can stick with is the best thing. Personally, eating like that would make me very unhappy - I can’t stick with it. Doesn’t mean you can’t!
Check out http://www.fitday.com Get a free account and track your food just to get a good idea of your fat/protien/carbs ratio. You can also see what vitamins you might be deficient in (what I do is enter my multivitamin as a food, entering all of the RDA % of all the vitamins in it). FitDay might be helpful in the long run as you see what amount of calories and fat/protein/carbs ratio works for you and you want to switch some foods out for variation.