So, I have successfully given up fried food and Pop. I have been clean for roughtly 6 months. I haven’t changed my excersizing habits (play hockey about 3 days a week), and I haven’t lost any weight. What’s up with that? It’s not like I don’t have weight to lose. I’m 210 and 6’1, and I think I could stand to lose 20 pounds, if not more. Anyway, is there anything else I can do without drasticly changing my lifestyle (I don’t want to have to run for an hour every day). Thanks.
Well, since the first of the year I’m down about 45 pounds. I was at 280 and now I’m down to 235.
I really didn’t change my exercise habits much. I go up the stairs at work instead of taking the elevator, that’s pretty much it.
What I have focused on is monitoring how much I eat. It really doesn’t take all that much to stop the clamoring of a hungry stomach (or to keep you going, in truth). Watch the mass of what you each and eat a bit healthier.
I did cut out all the soda and chips and that sort of thing. I dropped (I guess) all that stuff I called ‘programming food’ in college from my eating habits.
It’s worked for me and it’s not all that complicated.
Well, fried food and pop aren’t the only things with calories. Unless you have been consciously trying to lower your overall intake, you’re probably just making up for the calories in other ways.
Ok… so, what other foods are there that I should try to avoid because they are exceptionally bad for me?
Other things with lots of fat and sugar, of course. I think the best general advice is that the bulk of your diet should be vegetables, fruits, whole grain stuff and small amounts of lean meat or fish. Now for a lot of Americans, this does mean drastically changing your lifestyle, but there really isn’t any way around it.
The low-carb people should be popping in any minute now to promote better living through cheese, but keep in mind, it’s still all about the calories.
I found it useful to go to the library and check out a book listing the calories in different foods; NOT one of those weird diet books, a calorie book. An hour or so of looking up your favorite foods, and a few weeks looking up the strange stuff can give you a much better handle on where your calories are coming from.
Without a doubt, Dolly Madison Fruit Pies. They have like 550 Calories each, and taste like crap anyway.
Think Food Pyramid, and try to avoid the advice of fat people and raving lunatics. Any diet that has smiling thin people saying things like “I have a new reason to live!” Is nothing but a evil cult. <Adopting a shrill John Cleese voice>Normal people don’t go around trying to convert others to their diet!
Losing body fat is easy to do if you follow simple guidelines
Eliminate or cut down on alcohol consumption. Nothing but empty calories
Eliminate processed snacks. This includes so-called “lite” products. A label may say “fat-free” or “cholesterol-free” but sill contain tons of sugar and other bad stuff.
Cut down on, but don’t eliminate fats. You need some fat in your diet, somewhere around 10% is best. Stick with monounsaturated oils like olive oil or canola oil. Use only oils that are liquid at room temperature. Use butter, cheese, and sour cream in tiny amounts, and throw the Crisco and margarine into the garbage can.
Get some lean protein in your system. Authorities differ on how much you need, but around 30 percent of your diet is a good rule. A meat serving should be no bigger than a deck of cards.
Eat 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day. This will kepp your metabolic furnace burning all day.
Sip water throughout the day. It keeps your body hydrated and helps your body burn calories more efficiently.
Don’t listen to fad diet proponents. The Atkins diet, the Zone, no-dairy diets, and so forth are not based on reliable research. (I don’t care if Atkins is a doctor, show me the lab work)
Finally, you do need to get exercise. Skinny and flabby is just as unhealthy as being fat and flabby. You can get a good aerobic workout in just 30 minutes 3 times a week, nd you can get a light, full-body weight routine done in 40 minutes a session three times a week. It’s especially important for older people to work out to prevent muscle and bone loss, but anyone of any age will benefit.
So, I am going away to college in about two weeks… I won’t really be able to prepare my own meals. Am I screwed, or what can I do about that?
I’ve lost 40+ lbs this year. I’ve learned to do a few things that have helped me.
First, if you’re living in a dorm room, get a dorm-sized fridge and keep it stocked with veggies (supermarkets sell pre-cut veggies now, as well as different veggie mixes that are quite tasty) and water. If the freezer compartment has a door, keep a bag of chocolate miniatures in there. There is a logic here. If I’m craving something sweet, I eat a few SMALL pieces of chocolate (the Halloween sizes work well) and the craving goes away. I also use artificial sweeteners in my hot beverages and sugar-free sodas.
At work, there is a deli that serves good vegetarian fare. I often make a lunch out of one of their outstanding veggie sammiches and a cup of fruit salad. Many institutions are becoming more nutrition-conscious and offer healthier selections. Also, before you go, pay the money and see a dietitian. They can help you put together a good meal plan you can stick with. They also have been trained in institutional cooking, and so know what you’re up against.
Finally, ditch the car and invest in a good bicycle or walk. In my neighborhood (similar to a college campus), it’s much easier to walk than it is to ride in a car or take a bus. So, I’m getting some exercise, even if it’s just walking for a few blocks.
Robin
I am currently on a diet on which I have lost 10 pounds and am heading from 200 to 165. I agree with everything Gobear said.
I would add that to start your diet going you should calculate your base metabolic rate. This is the amount of calories you need to consume each day to exactly maintain your weight. If you have less calories than this, you will lose weight. Exercise allows you to lose more weight, or eat more without going over your daily total. You can calculate the calories burned per hour of your favorite sport. There are many internet sites that will calculate your BMR for you. It is probably in the range of 2,400 calories per day. You have to accumulate a deficit of about 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat.
You could write down everything you eat in a day and calculate the calories at Calorie King. This is a great site that lists both generic and commercial food like McDonalds. I am constantly suprised how high some foods are in calories that I thought would have been lower.
Why do you want to lose weight? To be healthier? If the answer is Yes, you should also exercise. Losing weight does not contribute to your cardiovascular fitness. It will help prevent some diseases and disorders, such as diabetes and osteoarthritis, but you won’t get more fit, and not being fit is a sort of disease too, as it will shorten your life.
In addition, if you diet and don’t exercise, you will lose muscle along with fat. Gobear gave some good advice.
After never being heavy my whole life and working out a lot I found myself at 37 to be a little bit more than I liked. I was 6’ 230# 48C 36W. So I wasn’t bad but not good either.
I tried some diets and Atkins was the only one that worked at all. I lost 5 pounds. Not great for 5 months on it.
Then some poster here on the board wrote if you were REALLY eating 1200 calories a day you’d lose weight.
So I tried it. I only bought food that was measured by calories (no this banana looks like it is 100 calories.) And for the first week I ate 1200 calories a day, the second week 1300 a day, the third week 1400 a day so on till I got up to 2000 calories a day.
I was running but increased this to 1 hour a day after I noticed in Men’s fitness it says you should run (or use treadmill or stair climber etc) MINIMUM 1 hour a day 5 days a week.
Long of the short. I LOST. I am now really well buildt. I weigh 183 pounds have a 46C and a 32w and a four pack. I am working on that 6 pack but cause my stomach stores fat in order to start to lose I need to run 2 hours a day. And I don’t have that much time.
I also realized not everyone is the same. If I stick to 1600 calories a day I stay my weigh. (If I run or not it doesn’t effect it). If I go down to 1500 I will begin to lose, go up to 1700 calories a day I gain.
One thing I have learned is when you get older your metabolism slows down and you simply don’t need as much food as you did.
And a calorie is a calorie. The only thing is if you are only eating 1600 hundred a day you got to be careful to make sure you eat your protien first as you want to have enuff room for that. 5 Snickers will get you there but you have WASTED your calories.
Well, I’m sorry to say it, but the bad news is that if you want to lose significant amounts and keep it off, you’re going to have to exercise.
The good news is, as you get healthier, the exercise starts to feel good. No, really. It does. I was overweight and hated exercise, once, and now I’m not and I don’t.
But if you hate to run, you shouldn’t run. I hate to run, too. I never run.
Experiment. Try different things. Ask other people what they like to do. Make a goal you can deal with- like spending 20 minutes every day moving, even if it’s just a walk around your neighborhood or vigorous cleaning. I finally found that the stuff I really liked were martial arts, yoga, and weight-lifting. Kinds of exercise they never told me about in gym class. You’ll probably find things you like, too.
I am not tryiong to find an easy way out without excersize. I do play hockey. Rollerhockey in the Summer. Ice Hockey in the winter. Anyway, my next question is, what sorta excersizes can I do that aren’t running, but have a similar effect of weight loss and cardiovascular building?
As much as the title fails to thrill me, ** Nutrition For Dummies** is well put together and goes over all the technical stuff regarding calories, how much of what, when, etc.
Meg
Extreme situations require extreme measures. The healthy and rational diet programme never worked for me. Something called Nutrafibre (alternatively Fast Burner or, in the USA possibly Slimfast) has. Mix three tablespoons up with 175ml of water in a Cuisinart for a full five minutes. You’ll get something that is a cross between whipped cream, meringue and a thick, sweet mousse. The more you whip it the more the volume increases. Eat one huge bowl of this for lunch and you will not feel hungry for the rest of the day. It has a major appetite suppressant effect. It is supposed to have 200 calories. Eat a small dinner and one snack a day. Drink as much coffee or tea as you want. Exercise for 5 hours a week preferably while watching videos.
I think I have discovered a terrible scientific secret: human beings can exist on very, very little food. Weight loss is a long, hard road and requires near starvation. On this diet, however, starvation is very pleasant. When I mix up my Nutrafibre people who are not on diets hover around begging to lick the bowl. This stuff is a party in a can. If you follow my directions you will be successful. The only thing to realise: the word diet should never, ever appear in the same sentence with easy or quick. And this diet will never cure you of a craving for sweet food. In my opinion that’s just plain unrealistic anyway.
Note well: That’s very small dinner and very small snack.
I’m surprised no one else has really touched on this.
Weight loss is one measure of health. It is not the only one, and probably not the most important. You say you haven’t lost weight. I belive you. But have you replaced any fat tissues with muscle tissues? You could do that and stay the same weight, and this is common if you improve your diet and exercise. I haven’t lost a pound after doing the same kind of stuff as you for 1-2 months. But I am much more fit, and have more muscle.
So I guess I’m saying you might be overly focussing on the holy weightloss number, when that’s not really such a great indicator of overall health.
Well, I may have goten stronger, but I still have A-cup titties. I want those to be gone.