Diet Advice

[Cochise22]

So I started on a diet yesterday, and I was curious if anybody here had any advice on what I can do help make me successful. I would really like to lose at least 25 pounds by December. Any more than that would just be icing on top of the cake.

I'm a fairly active individual so I'm afraid that if I switch to just a salad and fruit diet that I'm going to pass out and die due to lack of food.

Also, I intend to run every other night so any advice on what to do to be able to extend how long I run or how effective my running is would be great.


Thanks for any and all help!

[pacino]

Milk helps your muscles recover.

[AlexdeLarge]

Originally Posted by pacino

Milk helps your muscles recover.

yo kid, where've you been? I thought you died

[jtur88]

These things always worked for me:

1. Zero snacks. For main meal of the day, have whatever you want, and don't deny yourself. For lunch or supper, somethng light, like soup, salad. sandwich. or some leftovers. For breakfast, just enough to get you going, like cereal. At all other times, absolutely zero snacks. Learn to like water.

2. Hide your big dinner plates and bowls, and serve your meals on smaller dishes.

3. Don't eat out. Eat at home, or brown-bag it. If you have to eat out, order from the 99-cent menu.

You did not indicate whether you have to eat what other family members prepare, or if you have to prepare meals for them. It's a lot easier if you're on your own.

[Nighthawk]

Gimmicks will not work. Only a committed lifestyle change will allow you to succeed. Ignore the fad diets. Exercise regularly - if possible an hour three times a week.

Some of jtur's advice is commendable, as well - prepare your own food (it's easy, fast, and you know what's in everything), use smaller plates, don't eat out, drink lots of water. Some of it is not - more, smaller meals and healthy snacks (i.e. 5-7 eatings a day) is better for you than a couple of much larger meals.

An excellent idea, although hokey, if you are having trouble targeting where you need to improve your diet is for a couple of weeks keep a food diary. Everything that goes into your mouth, from a T-bone to a Tic-Tac, should be recorded. Don't look back at pages until the end of the time period. Then, get a nutrition calculator and add up how much you're eating. If you're the average American, you're gulping down probably something like 30% more calories than you should be, and it will astound you at exactly how much you eat. Keeping a good food diary is also a first step to instilling food discipline, which is a key to the lifestyle change.

[frenchman]

Stay away from refined foods...sugar, flour, rice,chips,etc.

Do not starve yourself...eat smarter and more healthy. Forgo the simple carbs of bread and starches for more vegetables and smaller protein servings.

You can eat well, and stay full and lose weight. Pick smart snacks...unsalted almonds, carrots.

Eat a solid breakfast, a healthy lunch, and cut down on dinner portions.

Stay away from sugar....other than fruit.

You will not sustain your weight loss if you embark on a radical diet, so avoid the temptation to starve or follow jturs advice of being hungry all the time.

[jtur88]

What do you consider to be "exercise"?

The only exercise I get is walking about two miles a day, carrying groceries or library books. It seems to be enough.

After about 6 months of the small-plate diet, I found that I had no desire to eat any more than the quantity I have become accustomed to. So, for dinner, the "anything I want" is still a very small portion, but no ingredient resriction. I now maintain effortlessly a weight that is 20 pounds below what it was two years ago. And I do snack---a cookie a day, sips of juice, and prime-time nibbling of chips and a beer.

[SugarBaby]

What Frenchy said...low carbs, more protein, veggies, and fruit. Juices are very high in calories so eating an orange is better than drinking eight ounces of juice. Refined sugar and white flour...no, no's. I do admit that since becoming a diabetic the hardest thing for me to give up is sweetened tea. I don't like the after taste of Splenda or equal. I found a Splenda/Sugar blend that doesn't make my sugar go up and I like it, so I'm using that. Also you must cut out any and all sodas with sugar in them. My sugar is now under control and I am off all medications, and all in less than 3 months.

[SugarBaby]

Originally Posted by jtur88

What do you consider to be "exercise"?

The only exercise I get is walking about two miles a day, carrying groceries or library books. It seems to be enough.

After about 6 months of the small-plate diet, I found that I had no desire to eat any more than the quantity I have become accustomed to. So, for dinner, the "anything I want" is still a very small portion, but no ingredient resriction. I now maintain effortlessly a weight that is 20 pounds below what it was two years ago. And I do snack---a cookie a day, sips of juice, and prime-time nibbling of chips and a beer.

I can't do that. If there are Oreos in the house the milk is going to disappear and the Oreos with it. Same with chips and juice. I just don't buy them, then I'm not tempted. You must have lots of willpower Jturr. I agree with the smaller portions theory, you do get used to it and then want way less.

[ctjayfan]

"Gimmicks will not work."

We know...just look in the Prayer thread.

[Grandstander]

Eat like a bird and crap like an elephant and you will lose weight.

I'd say ignore all diets, diet books etc, those serve only to fatten the wallets of others. There is an incredibly simple, easy to comprehend dynamic at work here...burn up more calories than you are taking in and you lose weight. Take in more calories than you are burning up and you will gain weight.

What else do you need to know?

[AlexdeLarge]

if it taste good spit it out

[ctjayfan]

Originally Posted by AlexdeLarge

if it taste good spit it out

[KiNgJoSiAh7]

I've lost a substantial amount of weight (such a ridiculous amount I'm too embarrassed to state) so here's some free experienced advice.

Dependant on your height, try to consume 1500-2000 calories a day, primarily composed of high protein meals; my personal favorite is chicken breast. You can create various meals with chicken breast, seasonings and vegetables. I'm quite content with eating predominantly the same crap everyday, such as chicken and veggies, or a chicken sandwich. What can I say I prefer simplicity over creativity.

Lift weights four times a week, but only twice a week for a particular area (e.g., Mon & Thurs chest and arms, Tues & Fri legs and abdomen). Try to burn a minimum of six-hundred calories a day, five to six days a week from cardio exercise.

That’s pretty much it, keep a daily count of calories, stay consistent, know there will be a period of trial and error prior to you discovering your bearable calorie consumption to attain weight-loss, and find a reasonable and comfortable zone between time to achieve your goals and lifestyle changes. When you actually get down to it, it is basic math, 3600 calories is one pound.

Motivation may be a problem if you're married. I lost my weight over a period of three years. Although one of my initial objectives for weight-loss was to join the military, my lasting goal was and still is for attracting the opposite sex.

[645]

The key is to eat but eat less and eat better. Just listen to your Body. Eat when you feel hungry and don't eat when you don't and only eat as much as you need to eat to not feel hungry even if it is more then need to lose weight.

if you are eating 3,500 to 4,500 calories a day or maybe more and if you deside to drop it to 1500 to 2000 calories a day that is a major Drop in food you are eating and the body get notice that and it will let you know by craving more food.

The key is to back off what you eat slowly enough for the body not to notice. So take away or add something one at a time.

But the first thing you have to start with is to drink Water and nothing else. It is easy to draft soda almost everyone does it. But a 12oz can of soda has 200 to 300 calories and if you are drink 6, 7, 8 Cans a day how can you lose weight if you are drinking your daily calories without eating at all.