Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

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JSHAW
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by JSHAW »

I'm a fan of director moviemaker Kevin Smith, I follow him on facebook and twitter.

He's been losing weight, from what I've seen over 60 lbs. by walking, drinking more water and
he eliminated all sugar from his diet.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by geezer »

Everyone is giving really good suggestions. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but honestly the biggest issue seems to be that you don't really want to lose the weight, or at least you don't want to enough. You know you need to eat the right food, but you don't like it. You know you need to burn calories, but you hate resistance training. You're asking for help, and the answer is in proteins and vegetables, or in the weight room. But you don't want to do those things.

You're injured, and it sucks - I get that. But your only real choice is to decide what you hate more - being unhealthy and sedentary, or self-medicating with tasty but nutritionally poor food and a sedentary lifestyle. In short, do what you want to do, because you know how to do both lifestyles. If you want to be healthy, deal with the fact that it's not fun and prioritize being healthy.

Finally, if you just have an utter lack of motivation, maybe some self-examinatio is in order - it sounds like you were previously a dedicated athlete. Is it possible that your forced sedentary lifestyle has cause some sort of minor depression and created a nasty "negative feedback loop" where you just keep building on the lack of motivation?
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Smoove_B »

Geezer, I know this might not come as as surprise but sometimes when you're frustrated with your family/work/life schedule and you have an injury preventing you from doing something you used to enjoy depression sets in and takes what might be a minor setback to a whole new level. Depression then lingers and now you're spiraling deeper and deeper into the abyss.

It's not just a matter of "stop being lazy" or "get off the couch chubby." It's a matter of doing a life inventory and figuring out where you are and how you can get to where you want to be. Maybe that means going for a 15 minute walk on a lunch break or something similar. Yes, very close to your last sentence. Sometimes it's a matter of realizing that at one point in your life you were at level [A] but because of any number of things maybe the best you can hope for right now is [C+] from where you're currently sitting at [D-].

My buddy was upset he couldn't jog around anymore - apparently he had it in his head that age 42 he should be jogging like he was in his 20s. I explained that maybe some day he could but for right now just going for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood every day was better than trying to run a mile, getting frustrated and not doing anything. Baby steps.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

geezer wrote:Everyone is giving really good suggestions. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but honestly the biggest issue seems to be that you don't really want to lose the weight, or at least you don't want to enough. You know you need to eat the right food, but you don't like it. You know you need to burn calories, but you hate resistance training. You're asking for help, and the answer is in proteins and vegetables, or in the weight room. But you don't want to do those things.

You're injured, and it sucks - I get that. But your only real choice is to decide what you hate more - being unhealthy and sedentary, or self-medicating with tasty but nutritionally poor food and a sedentary lifestyle. In short, do what you want to do, because you know how to do both lifestyles. If you want to be healthy, deal with the fact that it's not fun and prioritize being healthy.

Finally, if you just have an utter lack of motivation, maybe some self-examinatio is in order - it sounds like you were previously a dedicated athlete. Is it possible that your forced sedentary lifestyle has cause some sort of minor depression and created a nasty "negative feedback loop" where you just keep building on the lack of motivation?
You aren't being a jerk, you are pretty much 100%. And I know this.

I think what I was looking for when I started this thread was different food ideas. I've mentioned all my reasons and excuses and that's where we are at.

I know I've got work to do and changes to make. But I also think it's too simplistic to just say, "start eating healthy or stop bitching". I know that wasn't your exact words, but that's what it means. And I get it, I really do.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

Smoove_B wrote:Geezer, I know this might not come as as surprise but sometimes when you're frustrated with your family/work/life schedule and you have an injury preventing you from doing something you used to enjoy depression sets in and takes what might be a minor setback to a whole new level. Depression then lingers and now you're spiraling deeper and deeper into the abyss.

It's not just a matter of "stop being lazy" or "get off the couch chubby." It's a matter of doing a life inventory and figuring out where you are and how you can get to where you want to be. Maybe that means going for a 15 minute walk on a lunch break or something similar. Yes, very close to your last sentence. Sometimes it's a matter of realizing that at one point in your life you were at level [A] but because of any number of things maybe the best you can hope for right now is [C+] from where you're currently sitting at [D-].

My buddy was upset he couldn't jog around anymore - apparently he had it in his head that age 42 he should be jogging like he was in his 20s. I explained that maybe some day he could but for right now just going for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood every day was better than trying to run a mile, getting frustrated and not doing anything. Baby steps.
I won't go as far as saying I'm clinically depressed, but there is some psychological components working too. Just 5 years ago I swam across San Francisco Bay and now today I'm a slug. Thinking that I'm at a point where I can just walk around the block seems ridiculous to me.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Isgrimnur wrote:
Xmann wrote:My son has football practice Monday-Thursday from 530-700.

We both love going to his practices and find it important we are both there. However, this is a major major time sink. We don't get home until 730 nightly. At this point we both are tired, hungry, and honestly don't feel like cooking. If we do cook, it's near 800pm before we eat... which is not good.

Once Friday rolls around, no practice and we just want to relax.
Perhaps you should trade off. One of you goes to practice, the other one has dinner ready when they get home. Switch out every day or two.
agree. i know both of you enjoy going to the practices... every day... together... but even implenting half of this advice would help with your issue.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Isgrimnur wrote:
Xmann wrote:My son has football practice Monday-Thursday from 530-700.

We both love going to his practices and find it important we are both there. However, this is a major major time sink. We don't get home until 730 nightly. At this point we both are tired, hungry, and honestly don't feel like cooking. If we do cook, it's near 800pm before we eat... which is not good.

Once Friday rolls around, no practice and we just want to relax.
Perhaps you should trade off. One of you goes to practice, the other one has dinner ready when they get home. Switch out every day or two.
Failing that, you can also prepare some great healthy meals with a simple slow-cooker/crock pot. Throw in the ingredients in the morning, and by the time your day is over, you have a great meal to look forward to.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by JSHAW »

You mention the hip injury.

Is this something that can be fixed, and when I say fixed I'm talking about hip replacement surgery.

I hear about people getting it done, and while I would never want to have it done, and mine is perfectly healthy, IF I had a constant pain and that would be the way to fix it you can be sure I'd choose to get it done.

Is the hip injury something that you've RECENTLY seen a doctor about, and are you on constant
medication for this injury?

Just trying to look for ways that you can get back into physical exercise, and with pain from your hip that's the one area holding you back physically, right?

You can walk, because you get in and out of your car and go to your son's football practice. So
using that logic I'm thinking one lap around a football field you "should" be able to do. Not fast walking, just walking at your own pace. Take an mp3 player or take your wife, bottle of water, talk along the way.

If you CAN do it, but you don't WANT to do it, then that's on you.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

JSHAW wrote:You mention the hip injury.

Is this something that can be fixed, and when I say fixed I'm talking about hip replacement surgery.

I hear about people getting it done, and while I would never want to have it done, and mine is perfectly healthy, IF I had a constant pain and that would be the way to fix it you can be sure I'd choose to get it done.

Is the hip injury something that you've RECENTLY seen a doctor about, and are you on constant
medication for this injury?

Just trying to look for ways that you can get back into physical exercise, and with pain from your hip that's the one area holding you back physically, right?

You can walk, because you get in and out of your car and go to your son's football practice. So
using that logic I'm thinking one lap around a football field you "should" be able to do. Not fast walking, just walking at your own pace. Take an mp3 player or take your wife, bottle of water, talk along the way.

If you CAN do it, but you don't WANT to do it, then that's on you.
I've seen 2 Orthopedics, Podiatrist, Physical Therapist, and arguably the best sports chiropractor in Denver. Everything I've done to this point has not worked. Cortisone injections, trigger point injections, etc. I'm also married to a physical therapist and I'm a RN. Between the medical professionals and myself, we've nearly covered everything you can possibly imagine.

To be exact, I have chronic gluteus tendonosis or chronic tendinopathy. I say hip because that is where I feel the pain. Most of the popular consensus is that I have so much scar tissue from years of running and pounding on my tendons and skeletal system that conservative therapy will never heal the injury. I can have surgery and probably will. But it's not a good time for me and my family for me to do so. 6 weeks on crutches to start and followed by physical therapy.

This injury in itself has been a major major setback in my life... physically and mentally. I really want this surgery, like tomorrow. It's just not the right time.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by JSHAW »

Xmann wrote:
JSHAW wrote:You mention the hip injury.

Is this something that can be fixed, and when I say fixed I'm talking about hip replacement surgery.

I hear about people getting it done, and while I would never want to have it done, and mine is perfectly healthy, IF I had a constant pain and that would be the way to fix it you can be sure I'd choose to get it done.

Is the hip injury something that you've RECENTLY seen a doctor about, and are you on constant
medication for this injury?

Just trying to look for ways that you can get back into physical exercise, and with pain from your hip that's the one area holding you back physically, right?

You can walk, because you get in and out of your car and go to your son's football practice. So
using that logic I'm thinking one lap around a football field you "should" be able to do. Not fast walking, just walking at your own pace. Take an mp3 player or take your wife, bottle of water, talk along the way.

If you CAN do it, but you don't WANT to do it, then that's on you.
I've seen 2 Orthopedics, Podiatrist, Physical Therapist, and arguably the best sports chiropractor in Denver. Everything I've done to this point has not worked. Cortisone injections, trigger point injections, etc. I'm also married to a physical therapist and I'm a RN. Between the medical professionals and myself, we've nearly covered everything you can possibly imagine.

To be exact, I have chronic gluteus tendonosis or chronic tendinopathy. I say hip because that is where I feel the pain. Most of the popular consensus is that I have so much scar tissue from years of running and pounding on my tendons and skeletal system that conservative therapy will never heal the injury. I can have surgery and probably will. But it's not a good time for me and my family for me to do so. 6 weeks on crutches to start and followed by physical therapy.

This injury in itself has been a major major setback in my life... physically and mentally. I really want this surgery, like tomorrow. It's just not the right time.
Is there EVER a good time for surgery? :mrgreen:

I understand. Can be very costly financially.

My daughter who's 7 had her adenoids (spelling?) removed over the summer. We scheduled it a month prior, and luckily we had cash reserves on hand to pay for our part of the cost.

Good luck on everything man. I'm pulling for you.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by mori »

I will be seen as bit of a radical with my thinking of the subject but this is my 2 cents.

You are injured so you have the perfect opportunity to lose weight. Losing weight and exercise are counter-productive IMO. The more you exercise the more you will crave carbohydrates. Restrict your diet to under 1500 calories a day and the pounds will disappear no matter what physical activity you do. Go vegetarian or if you feel especially motivated, vegan. No animal products, salt, or sugar, and you will be back to your preferred weight in a couple of months. No exercise needed. Of course no alcohol either :cry: . Boring as hell diet, but it is just for a short time until you can transition to a more robust diet.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

mori wrote:I will be seen as bit of a radical with my thinking of the subject but this is my 2 cents.

You are injured so you have the perfect opportunity to lose weight. Losing weight and exercise are counter-productive IMO. The more you exercise the more you will crave carbohydrates. Restrict your diet to under 1500 calories a day and the pounds will disappear no matter what physical activity you do. Go vegetarian or if you feel especially motivated, vegan. No animal products, salt, or sugar, and you will be back to your preferred weight in a couple of months. No exercise needed. Of course no alcohol either :cry: . Boring as hell diet, but it is just for a short time until you can transition to a more robust diet.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by mori »

Xmann wrote:
mori wrote:I will be seen as bit of a radical with my thinking of the subject but this is my 2 cents.

You are injured so you have the perfect opportunity to lose weight. Losing weight and exercise are counter-productive IMO. The more you exercise the more you will crave carbohydrates. Restrict your diet to under 1500 calories a day and the pounds will disappear no matter what physical activity you do. Go vegetarian or if you feel especially motivated, vegan. No animal products, salt, or sugar, and you will be back to your preferred weight in a couple of months. No exercise needed. Of course no alcohol either :cry: . Boring as hell diet, but it is just for a short time until you can transition to a more robust diet.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Kraken »

Jeff V wrote:Diets are pretty much doomed to failure. Exercise is what makes the most difference...as long as I do that, it doesn't matter that much what I eat.
Theoretically, not consuming calories is easier than burning them off. But I'm sympathetic to your point of view because my body expects to burn 400-600 calories a day walking. If I go more than a few days without doing that, beer gets the upper hand. I need to exercise just to stay even.

Low-cal meals are easy for me during garden season when I'm awash in "free" fresh produce. I can make several different vegetable-based meals that only require a little oil and/or pasta and/or fish and/or cheese. I always lose weight from late summer through fall. It's a lot harder during the other 8 months of the year.

Beans & brown rice is a good choice once or twice a week. I'm fond of grains like quinoa and farro now and then. Soups are great during colder weather. I snack on small portions of almonds -- nuts are high in calories but you don't need many to satisfy minor hunger pangs.

But you might want to ignore advice from someone who's not doing very good in the weight loss thread.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jeff V »

Back to counting calories, you also need to count what you expend. I found the Livestrong website to be pretty good for this; but my Samsung S5 phone has plenty of built-in features that can effectively track about anything except for swimming. You want your intake to be less than your expenditure if you're trying to lose weight. When I do it (and I should start again), it does work. For the most part, if I've been active that day and managed to bike or run, I don't worry too much about the food (I don't eat massive amounts though). If I'm close to break-even and I'm being diligent, I'll go for a walk or something in the evening after dinner. Since we have a dog now, walking her after dinner has added a little bit of evening exercise daily.

Now, it does take a lot more effort to burn calories weight lifting as opposed to just doing cardio. However, muscle mass burns more calories than fat, so you will naturally burn more calories if you add muscle. Perhaps you can get some free weights, a good mat, and maybe a pilates ball and burn off some calories while watching TV and get more ripped in the process.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

All calories are not the same. What you eat makes a huge difference in how you feel. It's not as simple as straight math. 1200 Big Mac calories aren't the same as 1200 kale and tofu salad calories.

Considering calories interchangeable inputs is really missing the point of losing weight in the first place, which is to improve health.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jeff V »

Calories are, in fact, all the same. It's a measure of energy. The question therefore is whether the calories are consumed with other matter with nutritional value. Focusing on calories alone is a start, particularly when talking weight loss. Once you are in the habit of managing the caloric intake, the next step is to tweak the composition of where those calories are coming from. If they are all coming from ice cream, then you're probably feeling shitty from anemia-related problems. The key is to work in the nutrition you need and find a way to also enjoy that ice cream (in moderation, of course).

Unless you are banning major food groups because of silly diet, restrictive palate, or legitimate health problems; getting proper nutrition from dietary sources is not that difficult. For most people, 1/3 protein, 1/3 fats, 1/3 carbs should be the three primary sources of calories as long as you're living an active lifestyle.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

Jeff V wrote:Calories are, in fact, all the same. It's a measure of energy. The question therefore is whether the calories are consumed with other matter with nutritional value. Focusing on calories alone is a start, particularly when talking weight loss. Once you are in the habit of managing the caloric intake, the next step is to tweak the composition of where those calories are coming from. If they are all coming from ice cream, then you're probably feeling shitty from anemia-related problems. The key is to work in the nutrition you need and find a way to also enjoy that ice cream (in moderation, of course).
That measure of energy is accompanied by any number of other substances. When we relegate food consumption to mere calorie counting we are ignoring nutrition completely. Making it all about calories may seem like an easy way to get started but it's really starting at a disadvantage.


Jeff V wrote:]Unless you are banning major food groups because of silly diet, restrictive palate, or legitimate health problems; getting proper nutrition from dietary sources is not that difficult. For most people, 1/3 protein, 1/3 fats, 1/3 carbs should be the three primary sources of calories as long as you're living an active lifestyle.
Difficult or no, it is important.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by ImLawBoy »

Xmann wrote:I think what I was looking for when I started this thread was different food ideas.
That's kind of hard to do without just listing recipes, and it's really not worth putting out a lot of recipes (or even links to them) without knowing your tastes. I know that when I get into a food rut, I start paying more attention to the weekly recipes in the newspaper (they still exist!), I look online for new ideas, or I just thumb through some of the bajillion cookbooks my wife and I have acquired. When looking online, I can tailor my searches to get something that's healthy and within my wife's dietary restrictions (vegetarian and gluten-free), but a lot of other recipes can be easily tailored to make them healthier (I think a lot of recipes out there include way more oil than necessary, for example) or to replace animal protein with tofu or another substitute. Just getting those new recipes and trying a few out might be what you need to regain your interest in cooking and eating (healthy or otherwise).

I can't help you too much on the timing part - my wife and I usually don't eat until 9:00 or later (don't start cooking until all the various and sundry kids are in bed). I do try to make things that have leftovers, though. That way I can just make up a quick veggie side (wife handles the salad duty), reheat the main, and we can eat a bit earlier.

I dropped about 25 pounds over the last few years, but it's really not my dinners or exercise that did it for me. I stopped drinking pop (or soda as wrong people call it) and really all caloried beverages that don't contain alcohol (still have milk in cereal). (I didn't switch to diet either - I've seen too many reports that claim diet pop is counterproductive to weight loss, so it never seemed worthwhile to try to develop a tolerance for artificial sweetener aftertaste.) I also switched from eating lunch out five days a week to bringing lunch to the office four out of five days. It's almost always the same thing - turkey with Swiss and yellow mustard on whole wheat, pretzels, 2 oatmeal raisin cookies (my reward for being a good boy!), and an apple. It's not exciting, but I don't have to think about it and it gets me through the rest of the day.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by gameoverman »

When I first realized I was too heavy and it was time to do something about it, what helped me was a twofold approach I adapted from dealing with substance abuse.

One, you will need to change your lifestyle a bit. This is why a lot of people fail, or eventually the weight comes back. Once you have adapted into your comfort zone it's natural that you will not want to change it. The thing to keep in mind is your current lifestyle has created the environment that allows weight gain and prevents weight loss. How much you will need to change depends on your specific circumstances, it could be a little, it could be a lot. Identify all the things you do that result in you eating too much or the wrong thing, then eliminate those things. If you are not willing to change then you will fail, it's that simple.

Example, if you regularly have dinner with some people where everyone is engaged in conversation, and oh by the way while doing this you are all pigging out on large portions of fattening food- that has to stop. You can not attend these dinners anymore. The reason is these dinners are an excuse to pig out, not to 'catch up' with your dinner companions. The proof is if you were to suggest to these people you all go to a coffee shop for the next gathering, they'd think you were insane. You can talk just as well at a coffee shop but the food is limited.

Second, start eating food YOU prepare. Cut out premade dinners, processed meats, and all that salty canned stuff. The rule is you can eat what you want as long as you start with fresh and/or uncooked ingredients and you have to make everything yourself. This includes juices and other drinks.

Notice I said nothing about exercise. That's because if you do those two things it's possible you'll see results without exercise. Not as good results, but hey you have to start somewhere. For one thing, if you have to prepare all your food yourself then you will tend to eat less due to laziness.

What you are also doing is creating a NEW comfort zone. By the time you hit your target weight all your old bad habits will be a distant memory. People are creatures of habit, once you break old ones and develop new ones this will all be easier for you to control.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Smoove_B »

Jeff V wrote:Calories are, in fact, all the same. It's a measure of energy. The question therefore is whether the calories are consumed with other matter with nutritional value.
Figured I'd drop this here:
A study published recently in the journal Obesity Research & Clinical Practice found that it’s harder for adults today to maintain the same weight as those 20 to 30 years ago did, even at the same levels of food intake and exercise.

...

They found a very surprising correlation: A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. In other words, people today are about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s, even if they follow the exact same diet and exercise plans.
Why?
However, it also indicates there may be other specific changes contributing to the rise in obesity beyond just diet and exercise.”

Just what those other changes might be, though, are still a matter of hypothesis. In an interview, Kuk proffered three different factors that might be making harder for adults today to stay thin.

First, people are exposed to more chemicals that might be weight-gain inducing. Pesticides, flame retardants, and the substances in food packaging might all be altering our hormonal processes and tweaking the way our bodies put on and maintain weight.

Second, the use of prescription drugs has risen dramatically since the ‘70s and ‘80s. Prozac, the first blockbuster SSRI, came out in 1988. Antidepressants are now one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S., and many of them have been linked to weight gain.

Finally, Kuk and the other study authors think that the microbiomes of Americans might have somehow changed between the 1980s and now.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jeff V »

It's not news that increased processed foods and other chemical additives are having a negative effect on metabolism and general health. Like the tobacco industry, the processed foods industry has a huge lobby spending $$$millions to protect their ability to kill their customers.

Still doesn't change the fact that a calorie is a fixed unit of measurement. :P
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

I'll jump in and offer my personal experience.

Cutting calories has not helped in assisting me with weight loss. I have my theories as well, much of which the above article discussed.

Since I started this thread, I've stuck to a pretty consistent 2000 day calorie diet. I log all my foods and track those daily. I do allow myself a cheat day where I have a few beers and eat whatever I like. What I have noticed is this....

Reduction in calories, for me personally, has little effect. I don't know what I was consuming before, calorie wise. However, I can take an educated guess it was in the 2500-3000 range, daily. Sometimes much more, maybe sometimes less. Since I've reduced, I have lost a total of 3.5 pounds. That in and of itself is nothing. Yes, I realize a weight loss of 2 pounds a week is what is healthy. However, as recent as 2-3 years ago, I could easily drop 5-10 pounds in a couple weeks. Increase my water intake, cut down on beer and salt and 5 pounds would be off in days.

Those days are gone. I even tested out this theory by pretty much starving myself for a couple days, with little result. I drank nothing but water and had protein drinks 3 or 4 times a day. I lost a total of 2 pounds over 2 days. A small sample I know, but it's telling to me. 2 years ago I would have lost 7-10 pounds doing this... and I did.

Exercise is the secret. I haven't started any type of program. I did try to start walking, but my hip was painful after the second day. Could I be doing strength training or some other type of exercise program? Absolutely. I'm not stupid or ignorant and I realize this is important. But if we are just referring to calorie in vs. calorie out and using that as weight control, it's not working for me.

Bottom line, for me, there are other components in play here. Personally, I think it's hormonal, quality of food, and to a lesser extent environmental factors. I did have a laboratory workup done early this year and nothing was necessarily wrong. I was thinking an antidepressant I had been on for two years was contributing to this as well. However, I've been off this for 3 months now and it hasn't made a difference. My testosterone level is low normal, but I don't think that is a reason either.

Am I blaming this for my unhealthy habits, lifestyle, and recent awful diet? Absolutely not. Could these be playing a factor in how I should be looking at changing my health? No doubt.

As a healthcare provider myself, I have my beliefs about what the quality of our food has/is doing to our health. I'm pretty much convinced it's the cause of the health crisis we have.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jeff V »

Your metabolism affects how efficiently you burn energy and process calories. It is a moving target...if you are consuming 2000 calories per day and your expenditure is in that ball park, you won't see much difference in your weight. Even cutting a quarter of that, your body will adjust so that it is getting by on 1500 calories per day. You might still be a little leaner if not lighter if fat is replaced by muscle. You can see some short term gains by switching things up so your metabolism doesn't have time to fully adapt, but by and large changing diet without exercise yields diminishing returns for non-obese people. I further don't like starvation or deprivation diets because it makes me constantly miserable as I pine for whatever I am denying myself. Exercise is favorable in comparison because I'm only miserable while doing the exercise; and can spend a larger part of the day in a general state of well-being as I can eat and drink as I wish.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

Jeff V wrote:Your metabolism affects how efficiently you burn energy and process calories. It is a moving target...if you are consuming 2000 calories per day and your expenditure is in that ball park, you won't see much difference in your weight. Even cutting a quarter of that, your body will adjust so that it is getting by on 1500 calories per day. You might still be a little leaner if not lighter if fat is replaced by muscle. You can see some short term gains by switching things up so your metabolism doesn't have time to fully adapt, but by and large changing diet without exercise yields diminishing returns for non-obese people. I further don't like starvation or deprivation diets because it makes me constantly miserable as I pine for whatever I am denying myself. Exercise is favorable in comparison because I'm only miserable while doing the exercise; and can spend a larger part of the day in a general state of well-being as I can eat and drink as I wish.
Pretty much agree here.

For me, things have changed so much in a relatively short time (2 years, give or take). Things that worked for me, no longer do. I just have to figure out what that is. Cutting calories is no longer an option for weight loss... much more to it than that.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Max Peck »

I tend to agree with Jeff V on this. Consuming fewer calories than I burn will cause fat to be burned. There's nothing magical about that, it's pretty much just math. Or physics, which is just applied math. Or chemistry, which is just applied physics. It doesn't necessarily mean I will lose weight -- I could be building muscle mass and actually gain weight while losing fat, for example.

If I want to lose fat, I need to know my basal metabolic rate, then adjust my food intake and/or activity level accordingly. In my case, my BMR is about 1700kcal/day. Over the last week, my average intake was about 2250kcal/day and my average output (BMR+logged activity) was about about 2750kcal/day. Over the course of that week, my weight went down by about 1.2 pounds (which is surprisingly close to the oft-deprecated guideline of 1 lb of fat per 3500kcal).
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

I really don't think it's that simple and basic math can't be applied.

There are other chemical reactions taking place that could cause a metabolic rate to fluctuate. Using a formula and plugging in numbers is a good start, but there are many other factors in play.

Did this work for me 5-10 years ago? Yes. As a matter of fact, I did use this and it worked like a charm. However, I have applied the same principles and attempt to duplicate the same variables, such as diet and lifestyle and have gotten drastic results.

There are different chemical changes that affect each and everyone different and to apply this method as a standard without compensating for chemistry does not work... at least for me.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by stessier »

Xmann wrote:There are other chemical reactions taking place that could cause a metabolic rate to fluctuate. Using a formula and plugging in numbers is a good start, but there are many other factors in play.
I think you're saying the same thing as he is. If you know your metabolic rate, the math is simple. Knowing your metabolic rate can be hard. That doesn't change the math - it just changes your ability to do the math.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

stessier wrote:
Xmann wrote:There are other chemical reactions taking place that could cause a metabolic rate to fluctuate. Using a formula and plugging in numbers is a good start, but there are many other factors in play.
I think you're saying the same thing as he is. If you know your metabolic rate, the math is simple. Knowing your metabolic rate can be hard. That doesn't change the math - it just changes your ability to do the math.
Sure. I guess finding your metabolic rate is the trick. I just don't think the standard formula for finding one's rate is as simple as plugging numbers into an equation.

Good starting point, yes.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by KKBlue »

Xmann wrote:As a healthcare provider myself, I have my beliefs about what the quality of our food has/is doing to our health. I'm pretty much convinced it's the cause of the health crisis we have.
I agree with this 100%

I know I have to move more. At 44, the body does not work like it did 25 years ago, period. I am adding more movement as I walk like flapping my arms up and down. While pumping gas today, I swung my legs (one at a time) out to the side while filling up. Climbing the stairs, sometimes I take 2 at a time.

With food, I'm not eating as much cheese as I normally do. Also the new thing is saying bye bye to chocolate. With the fat and sugar decrease, I sure hope to step on the scale sometime this month and be below 180lb. I don't eat to excess but still believe cutting here and there will make a slow difference because I'm 44 now. The extra movements and pushing myself to continue to do more metabolic stuff, the weight has to drop off! Dammit
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jaddison »

I have done a lot of reading and also participating in programs with some people who have dedicated their lives to fitness and wellness. Most notably Shawn Phillips of Strength for Life.

The central theme to almost all the programs and advice is this:

- calories control weight. Exercise burns off so few calories compared to food intake that you can't expect exercise to control weight. Steady state cardio especially is not going to help much with weight because your body adapts fairly rapidly to SS cardio

-quality of food controls fat percentage. Their are good fats and bad fats. Eliminating all fat is not good for you at all

- exercise controls how your body looks.

With a hurt hip you can still do a lot of different and effective resistance type exercises. You may not be able to work your leg or legs much but you can do effective interval training with weights.

It helps to think of food as fuel and not as a pleasure. Save food for pleasure for 1 day at most a week. To jump start weight loss I highly recommend something like Shawn Phillips 5 day reboot. This helps to get insulin sensitivity back. The reboot is not something that must be bought however it is in the book Strength for Life. There is nothing special about it, no special pills, detoxes etc. It is 5-7 days of eating lean and green and no sugar other than small amounts of fruit. It also requires at least 7 hours of sleep a day. Sleeping less than 7 hours can seriously impact any weight loss effort.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

Jaddison wrote:I have done a lot of reading and also participating in programs with some people who have dedicated their lives to fitness and wellness. Most notably Shawn Phillips of Strength for Life.

The central theme to almost all the programs and advice is this:

- calories control weight. Exercise burns off so few calories compared to food intake that you can't expect exercise to control weight. Steady state cardio especially is not going to help much with weight because your body adapts fairly rapidly to SS cardio

-quality of food controls fat percentage. Their are good fats and bad fats. Eliminating all fat is not good for you at all

- exercise controls how your body looks.

With a hurt hip you can still do a lot of different and effective resistance type exercises. You may not be able to work your leg or legs much but you can do effective interval training with weights.

It helps to think of food as fuel and not as a pleasure. Save food for pleasure for 1 day at most a week. To jump start weight loss I highly recommend something like Shawn Phillips 5 day reboot. This helps to get insulin sensitivity back. The reboot is not something that must be bought however it is in the book Strength for Life. There is nothing special about it, no special pills, detoxes etc. It is 5-7 days of eating lean and green and no sugar other than small amounts of fruit. It also requires at least 7 hours of sleep a day. Sleeping less than 7 hours can seriously impact any weight loss effort.
Agreed

My wife and I both have completed Bill Phillips Body for Life years ago. My wife actually had remarkable results a couple years back. So much so that she could have been in his literature.

I'm glad you mentioned this because honestly, at least with the BFL program, I've always felt this was arguably one of the better, if not best, healthy eating/lifestyle program.

I'll look at the Shawn Phillips program this weekend.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Kasey Chang »

Well, my one juice a day diet seem to be going... okay. My gout came back for a bit, but that may be due to my hectic "where's my water" schedule (I drink liquids by the liter and it ain't always available conveniently) My weightloss a week ago seem to be just I didn't drink enough water (thus, gout attack) but I think I felt a bit better over all by skipping a meal (replace with juice).

Time to go buy some fruits and whatnot for my next variation in juicing (pulp and all). :)
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Kraken »

Jaddison wrote: Exercise burns off so few calories compared to food intake that you can't expect exercise to control weight. Steady state cardio especially is not going to help much with weight because your body adapts fairly rapidly to SS cardio
I can attest to that much. When I went from sedentary to walking an hour a day 10 years ago I dropped 45 lbs in under a year. 10 years later I'm still walking most days, but now I have to do it to keep the weight off. There are other benefits to exercise, obviously, the most important being overall fitness. But now I have to really push myself beyond normal to see even minor weight loss from walking. If a bad stretch of weather keeps me housebound for a few weeks the pounds start creeping back on.

Fortunately (I guess), I've never been a big eater. My extra calories all come from being a beer enthusiast.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jaddison »

Bill is Shawns younger brother. Shawn also has a book called Eating for Life which is a way of transforming eating not for transitory dieting- he is not a big fan of that and neither I am. Strength for Life and BFL are pretty similar. Bill doesn't have a reboot or at least he didn't when I did BFL, Shawn calls this establishing a base camp. Shawn also is not completely sold on 6 small meals a day. There is a fair amount of solid research that says it doesn't matter when you consume your calories- a lot of the bullshit we are shoveled is marketing and cherry picking data. I can recommend both Supversity.com and the BrinkZone (Will brink) as great no bullshit sources of information that are always backed by real data, real studies.

Another thing to look at is Intermittent Fasting (IF). I have tried each of the 3 main ways to do IF and found each fairly easy to do and stick with once you get over the psychological part where you are sure you will be hungry. I have even done intense cardio during a fasting day and felt great.

The 3 main methods that I know of are:
- Eat 600 calories a day for 2 straight days then eat slightly elevated calories the rest of the week based on your BMR
- Eat 600 calories every other day
- Eat all your calories in an 8 hour period and do not eat for 16 hours every day.

The 8 hour eating was the hardest for me. There are peer reviewed studies that show fasting just one day a week has big health benefits.
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Kasey Chang »

I've always been overweight. My weight has crept up steadily from 220 in my 20's to current 280. I've been trying to take it down 20-40 pounds, but so far, have met with little success. I'm just not a very active guy to start with. Most sports I did was in middle school. :D Having a bit of pre-diabetes means I avoid starch as much as I could and I stick with strictly diet soda or water or diet drinks (NOT sports drinks).

I've recently started substituting my breakfast with a thick whole fruit (minutes the seeds) juice or carrot juice (with pulp) with some berries and ice tea (from mix) or banana (when I remember to buy them). I hope to take off a pound a week but it's not going that fast. :D

I don't believe in supplements. As a part of my anti-scam hobby I study a crapton of so-called supplements and it's full of woo. I stick with my meds, and a pain pill a day, just to keep my gout from coming back, and PLENTY of liquids.

Strangely, my brother is about the same size as me, even though we supposedly have different lifestyles. Must be genetics. :D
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Xmann »

Jaddison wrote:Bill is Shawns younger brother. Shawn also has a book called Eating for Life which is a way of transforming eating not for transitory dieting- he is not a big fan of that and neither I am. Strength for Life and BFL are pretty similar. Bill doesn't have a reboot or at least he didn't when I did BFL, Shawn calls this establishing a base camp. Shawn also is not completely sold on 6 small meals a day. There is a fair amount of solid research that says it doesn't matter when you consume your calories- a lot of the bullshit we are shoveled is marketing and cherry picking data. I can recommend both Supversity.com and the BrinkZone (Will brink) as great no bullshit sources of information that are always backed by real data, real studies.

Another thing to look at is Intermittent Fasting (IF). I have tried each of the 3 main ways to do IF and found each fairly easy to do and stick with once you get over the psychological part where you are sure you will be hungry. I have even done intense cardio during a fasting day and felt great.

The 3 main methods that I know of are:
- Eat 600 calories a day for 2 straight days then eat slightly elevated calories the rest of the week based on your BMR
- Eat 600 calories every other day
- Eat all your calories in an 8 hour period and do not eat for 16 hours every day.

The 8 hour eating was the hardest for me. There are peer reviewed studies that show fasting just one day a week has big health benefits.
I looked around the net this weekend and I'm concerned about Strength for Life.

My concern it seems to be out of print and the website is dated and not supported. I also see Shawn had some revolutionary protein drink that has fell off the face of the earth too. Why is this no longer available? Within 7 years and nothing?
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by em2nought »

Man I'm fat, but I've been seriously hungry for salad lately so maybe my body is telling me I'm fat. Apparently sweating like a pig hasn't been helping this last week while I moved out of my house. I need a house next to an Aldi if I want to lose weight. :mrgreen:
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jeff V »

em2nought wrote:Man I'm fat, but I've been seriously hungry for salad lately so maybe my body is telling me I'm fat. Apparently sweating like a pig hasn't been helping this last week while I moved out of my house. I need a house next to an Aldi if I want to lose weight. :mrgreen:
You'd lose weight faster if you had to walk 2 miles to get there.

Just sayin.' :P
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Re: Seriously, what is everyone eating to stay healthy?

Post by Jaddison »

About Shawn's shake. It was small batch and recently, several months ago now, launched an effort to get more financial backing. He says it will be available again in a few months. Believe me there are a lot of people that are grumbling about not having Full Strength available. In the interim I have been using BioTest Strawberry with some UX3 vanilla as my protein fix and using Fairlife 2% milk instead of water. Great milk with more protein and less sugar than regular milk- same with their chocolate milk for post run fuel.

amazon has Strength for Life book both hardcover and Kindle. He also has another pretty interesting book http://www.amazon.com/Owners-MANual-Liv ... bc?ie=UTF8, short but insightful.

I know Shawn is active because I am currently in a group he is coaching which includes 2 live phone calls/presentations a week.

Let me be clear though that I have no financial interest in Shawn's work or product. I have been in coaching groups run by Shawn in 2013, 2014 and now 2015. I used to weigh 248-250. I am now at 205 or so. I have had my peaks and valleys and am now in a push to go below 200 and hit 180.

One thing I like about Shawn over so many in the industry is that he is not constantly developing some new program to mass market. So much of the fitness marketing is just bullshit. I highly recommend Shawn and Will Brink. Will posts a lot more and is another no bullshit kind of guy. If you want some no excuses inspiration watch Eric Weida videos, funny dude and inspirational.

To those relating activity to weight loss realize that calories control weight not exercise. If you are not exercising much your Basal Metabolic Rate will slow which means your steady state caloric need would less but BMR is also driven by weight- the more you weigh the more steady state calories you need to consume to maintain that weight. Here is an example:

Based on the nutritional information from Calorie King, we’ll look at several foods and their calories. In addition, we are also assuming the workout times to burn off the food examples below is based on a female who is 5’7” and 145 lbs. and they are either walking at 3.0 mph or running at 6.0 mph to burn off those calories. If you weigh more, you burn more calories. If you weigh less, you burn less.
So here we go:


Big Mac Extra Value Meal (Big Mac, Medium Fries, Medium Soft Drink)
Total Calories: 550 (Big Mac)+380 (Medium Fries)+239 (Medium Soft Drink) = 1169 Total Calories
Running Time: 133 minutes
Walking Time: 324 minutes

•Sure fast food is convenient and fast, but is it worth it? In order for you to burn off that whole meal, you have to run a ½ marathon! That’s 13.1 miles!


Even this doesn't capture how hard it is to use exercise to lose weight because your body, especially with steady state cardio, adapts quickly and slows calorie burn. The best workout you could do do using cardio would be 20 minute HIIT workouts every other day. The great hing about HIIT is it is short and effort is a relative measure that changes as you get in better shape. You can do HIIT with body weight exercises or weights as well.
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