Here's the deal:

• I upped my cardio (1 - 1.5 hours of power walking) to 5-6 times a week & light strength training about 3 times a week.
  
  
• I know when you're putting out a lot of energy you need to fuel your body to be able to handle it - but sometimes I feel like I don't eat enough. I get slightly light headed, I'm fucking famished by the time I get home after work (which is late night for most people, so I always feel bad about eating). Yet I have pretty frequent slip-ups in the sweets department STILL...
  
  
• I can't bring myself to count calories I guess it's the only way but who the fuck has time for that??

Today I didn't even work out but I felt strange all day (maybe b/c I had a huge coffee after several days without) & I can't tell if I ate too much, too little or just enough

Here's what I had today:

Breakfast:

• 1 lowfat yogurt w/ blueberries
  
  Snack:
  
• about 10 soy chips
  
• water
  
• 1.5 chocolate chip cookies
  
  Lunch:
  
• 1 lean cuisine meal
  
• about 12 ounces of cranberry juice
  
• venti frappucino (I know they're fucking terrible - I asked for light but I know those bitches gave me regular but I was tired, I needed it
  
  Dinner:
  
• green curry salmon with brown rice (the curry has 1/2 fat coconut milk)
  
• about 7 ounces of cranberry juice
  
• a 2" x 2" brownie (full fat w/ cream cheese frosting!!) w/ nonfat frozen yogurt & lowfat whipped cream

I know the brownie, the cookie & the frap were all fuck ups - sweets are my downfall

I dunno, I guess I really could count calories if I care so much I'm probably taking in more than I should w/ the sweets & I just don't wanna face it I also don't want to overcompensate on days when I'm good & deprive myself too much b/c doesn't your body hold onto whatever fat you've got if you don't take in enough? Mind you, I've only got about 5-7 lbs to lose. I've lost a little but for the most part this shit ain't movin'

I'm @ a loss... maybe today was weird b/c of lack of sleep & the huge coffee, not a lack of food (despite feeling STARVED when I got home tonight)... Does anyone have an easy equation for knowing your daily caloric intake??





:::we really do need a health & fitness forum:::

There is a simple way to lose weight and you don't have to count shit. Just cut obvious fat from diet completely and do exercise.

Drink black coffee, espressos and the like if you need the caffeine with sugar even it's no problem.

Half fat milk is still fattening, ditch it! Get calcium from OJ or full skimmed milk.

Your Curry would have been just as good without any coconut milk, use low fat yogurt instead.

NO SNACKS stick to three squares a day, drink a litre of water instead (that will fill you up!)

The problem is that your little lapses for sweets completely undo any effort with the other food, your lean cuisine meal might as well go in the bin for a fraction of your frapachino. You are putting yourself through hell for nothing.

Treat yourself with lovely food instead, steam chicken, fish, with fresh green veggies asparagus, mange tout and BIG salads with vinaigrette/lemon dressings. Eat as much of that green shit as you can take, it's mostly water with vitamins and mineral!

Deserts are tricky but can you make crepes? flour, eggs, water, fill em with fresh fruit - now that’s a desert! Where is the fat? (with the exception of a tiny drop of oil in the pan). Fresh strawberries with lemon juice?

And sugar isn't bad, you will need the quick buzz of energy if you are working out, the secret is to use up the sugar with exercise before it gets converted to fat. Burning fat is difficult, so let you body work on burning the fat you have not the fat that you eat!

Light headed at workout is because you don’t have sufficient hydration and minerals, loads of fruit and veg, some sugar/carbs and plenty of water will sort that out.

Good luck!

PREDOMINANT said:

Normally I have a nonfat latte but I still have the sugar (organic raw, but still sugar)...




I use fat free milk - I had to have the frap today but I have them rarely, I know they're FULL of fat...




But I love coconut milk I thought I was doing kinda good w/ the 1/2 fat version











DAMN... okay, first of all THANK YOU for all this but here's the thing - do I just have to do that to LOSE the few pounds or do I need to keep that shit up to MAINTAIN it?? I can't feel like I'm deprived ALL the time, I'll go nuts

But I guess if I manage to lose what I want to lose, I can go back to a more normal way of eating (basically what I did today minus the frap & ONE of the sweets) to maintain... right?

The things I do regularly that I'll never give up (& should help me):

nonfat milk
egg whites (no regular eggs EVER)
veggie this, veggie that (few meats, & very very rarely any red meat)
fish/seafood (not fried EVER)
brown rice
nonfat frozen yogurt
lowfat yogurt (can't do nonfat, it's too nasty)
light soy milk (if any)
fat free cheese (or soy cheese, which is lower in fat than regular)
whole grain/wheat breads only (not a lot of bread)
fat free mayo
light butter



You're right though, I need more straight up veggies


I knew I shouldn't have had that damm frappucino today

The cookie either

Or the brownie






.
[Edited 7/14/06 2:20am]

Well... I've been doing alright since I started my whole thing in about mid-january. And I had to count calories at the beginning as it's the only way to know exactly what I'm taking in, I don't anymore, but that's cause after 7 months, I've got a good idea about everything I eat. Though, once in a while I go back to having a stricter week or two and count everything again, to sort of check in with myself.
You're right, cut out the cookies, the frapp and the brownie and that woulda been a great day. How 'bout just one of the 3 instead? I'm not as strict with myself as I was when I started this whole thing, (and I'm not losing as fast as I was then) but I'm more down to the 'every choice counts' philosophy and it's still working.
Also - no need to cut out snacks if they're healthy. Eat as many raw veggies as you like. Carrots are of course easiest but get creative. Sugar snap peas, radishes, cut up red pepper strips and bring them w/you to work. Eat fruit 3 times a day. I often have fruit for dessert and I splurge on special stuff, not just a banana or apple. (That and it seems everything's in season now, so it's sooooo good.)

As for the eating enough, make sure to have a snack about 30 minutes before working out. I have to or I have a real problem. Once I got uber dizzy and tried to drive home. Bad idea. I ended up pulling the car over to throw up on my way home. That's an extreme example, but it happened (not quite that bad) a few times before I got my calorie intake down.

ANd the weight training is gonna burn WAY more fat than the cardio. The cardio's good for your heart and lungs and such, but it's the weight training that really burns the fat.


Hope any of this helps. lol.

CalhounSq said:

So much of dieting is psychological, you sound like you are torturing yourself! If I ate chocolate cookies every day I would be sick of em inside a week. Try to think of your new food as exciting food, yea sure we all like those comfort meals, and of course you can have them once in while but a good balanced diet will make you feel great, then the sneaky frap or snack cookie wont seem like a evil, guilty treat, it will just be a cookie.

Carrie is right too, I said no snacks but munching on a carrot will do you no harm at all.

What I was trying to get at was try to give a structure to your eating, this will cut out the desire to snack and be tempted by the "treats" but pack your bag with veggies (sugar snap peas raw nice one Carrie ) and sit outside starbucks eating them!! Fuck starbucks and be proud of yourself for doing something nice, healthy and good.

With a fridge stocked full of low fat this and diet that, it brings you down and you reach for the cookie.

Remember a "Diet" is just what you eat, the word itself just defines foods you eat. Everyone is "on a diet" some are just healthier than others.

I guess what I am saying is don't try to think of it as dieting and exercising, but eating new an interesting foods and socialising. Be excited by it, not depressed by it it sounds like you are doing really well already!!

Lots of sensible things being said here.

I personally think that it's as important to cut out refined sugar (fruit is okay though, and all complex carbs are fine, of course) as it is to cut out fat, if you're actually trying to lose weight.

If it was me, looking at what you've listed there, I would suggest this:

Breakfast - okay, but check the low fat yoghurt doesn't have a high sugar content (they often do). Fruit or a slice of wholmeal toast would be better.

Snacks - just forget them, if you can. Eat more at other meals if necessary. But they are not a great habit to have. You may eat healthy snacks now while you're trying to lose weight, and then revert to less healthy ones later. In an ideal world, snacks would be excluded. But that's easier said than done.

Water - drink loads throughout the day. Predominant is right. It will fill you up.

Lean Cuisine meals / Weight Watchers meals. This is harsh, but I think these are a big rip-off and are too focused on calorie content. Ideally, I would drop these totally and just have a tuna / chicken salad or something for lunch.

Coconut milk is a total no-no, half-fat or not. You may as well be pouring single cream into your curry.

Try and do without puddings if you can help it. That brownie as a pudding is wrong not just because of its high calorie and sugar content, but also because all of that sugar is coming at the end of the day. You won't burn it off, and it will turn to fat. Simple as that.

Also, be a little wary of all of these 'low fat' products. Many of them have high sugar contents to compensate, and the sugar will (unless burnt off) convert to fat anyway.

Wow. Re-reading all of that, it sounds harsh. Sorry!
[Edited 7/14/06 3:48am]

Wow! That all sounds like a lot of effort.

I'm sure you look fabulous!!

PREDOMINANT said:

I can't stress this part enough. When I first started this, it WAS quite exciting. And I would take pleasure in planning new meals and snacks and whatnot.
And sure, it still gets hard (really hard) sometimes, particularly when so many social events revolve around eating (and I'm a social gal!). But the longer I go, the more it's just habit now.

CarrieMpls said:

It does I'm weird about fruit, it grosses me out easily But I used to try to eat at least one pear a day b/c the blueberries aren't enough

And I can usually do one bad sweet a day & be fine, today I really botched it though

PREDOMINANT said:

Thank you

Y'all need to hit the speed.

Stinky said:

No, not at all It's true, I fall for the low fat thing all the time & I try to remember to look @ the sugar/carb content b/c I know that's where they hide it but sometimes I STILL fall for it

Lean Cuisine is so friggin EASY, that's the lure of those. But I should simply start cooking more & take a healthy lunch to work w/ me...

And the coconut milk I just have to limit how often I make the green curry salmon, it's so fucking good though But I won't have it again for a few months

luv4all7 said:

God willing, just a few more pounds to go I'm really just trying to tighten up but I pretty much sabotage myself in some way every day. Today was a BIG sabotage day

CalhounSq said:

Don't be hard on yourself! You'll do better tomorrow. God bless ya on tryin' to tighten up. If I wasn't lazy I'd follow your lead!

Cloudbuster said:

CarrieMpls said:

That helps, too.

Juice has a lot of sugar calories....maybe you could mix it with club soda or something to get the benefits of the cranberry juice but not the calories.
12 oz, of juice is a lot. Unless you're drinking the lo-cal stuff which is bad because the artificial sweeteners mess around with your insulin levels and make you hungry.

There's 212 calories in 12 oz of regular cranberry juice,46 in a cup of cranberries. Not that you'd eat a cup of cranberries.

This is a great thread

But could someone just give me a breakdown on a typical daily diet menu? I don't work well with someone just telling me to cut back on fat foods, or foods with too much sodium...i have to have someone to actually list the choice of foods that I could eat for breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, & dinner plus a healthy dessert (which someone said earlier that fruit is great dessert)

i have to have snacks too, or else i'll over eat during one or two of three meals to satisfy those hunger pains in my stomach.

Sometimes I try to do that cardiac diet thing, sometimes called the "Alabama" diet....well one time i was so hungry by the time i got home from work that I was shaking all over the place, i couldn't even hold a pen straight...it was sort of scary, its like an intense nervous feeling...like a panic attack without the difficult breathing...i think i was lacking something...but anyway since i was so hungry i ate the first thing i could get my hands on (or the first thing that my hands was able to grip) and over ate once again. This is why i need snacks, i find that when i eat some carrots, or some slices of cheese, that this doesn't happen to me at the end of the day.

A good tip is if something is said to be low fat, half fat, reduced fat, even no fat – it will generally be no good for losing weight. Just go for products that never saw fat ever in there fresh produce little lives. Buy products that if you asked them what fat was they would give you a puzzled little look and shake their green bits at you.

missfee said:

Thats a lot of work right there! As an example off the top of my head

Breakfast - fruit (any) wholeweat toast
Lunch - salads with some grilled chicken, salmon, tuna,
Dinner - pasta with tomato or veggie sauces
Supper - Chamomile tea and a carrot!

It's just a lot easier to say don't eat fat and sugar

What did I eat today so far

Coffee, pear

Coffee

Coffee

ham salad sandwich, bottle of water

And that is not bad, I am not on a "diet" that is just my diet, I ain't fat and never have been. I am not really bothered about chocolate and stuff though, beer is my vice.

to beer if you want to loose weight

missfee said:

alright, this is a typical day's food for me.

Breakfast: Protein bar (no more than 200 calories) and tea w/non-fat milk and sugar.
The protein bar probably isn't the best breakfast, but it's quick and easy to eat at work. And I love my morning tea w/milk and sugar.

mid-morning snack: non-fat yogurt w/fruit (60 calories)

lunch: sandwich of whole grain bread, faux meat deli slices (cause I'm mostly veggie these days), onions, greens (or lettuce, but I like the greens for more vitamins) and mustard and a bag of carrot sticks

afternoon snack: peach

dinner: lemongrass & chili noodles w/tofu and veggies

evening snack/dessert: a small bowl of cherries

breakfast and lunch rarely vary but dinner is usually around 500 calories and can be just about anything. I try to keep raw veggies with me at all times so anytime I get hungry I naw on those. And a few times a week I allow myself to splurge, whether it be ice cream or pizza or some ungodly fried food I'm craving or what have you.

I've been eating this way for 7 months (in addition to working out) and I've lost 33 pounds so far. That's just under 5 pounds a month, which isn't the fastest, but it's working.

PREDOMINANT said:

The least caloric of all alcoholic beverages is wine. If I want to indulge, I have a glass of wine or vodka w/plain soda and a lime.
Yes, I even count my calories when drinking. lol.

I don't believe in drinking my calories....what a waste! Juice packs extra calories on just like soda does. I'll get that fruit from eating fruit. Just can't bring it to myself to drink calories.

I've actually picked up the Dr Ian Fat Smash book. I've never consumed so many fruits and vegetables in my life!

PREDOMINANT said:[quote]
NO SNACKS stick to three squares a day, drink a litre of water instead (that will fill you up!)



quote]
It's actually reccomended by most nutritionists and doctors that you should consume 4 to 5 times a day. If you nibble all day it actually works better

KatSkrizzle said:[quote]

PREDOMINANT said:

speeds up the metabolism.

so Calhoun,since you're counting calories,I guess that means no more Haagen Daz Bananas Fosters ice cream??

PREDOMINANT said:

thanks for the tips!!!

CarrieMpls said:

thanks Carrie for the tips also!!!

CarrieMpls said:

I have finally lost 14 LBS that I had put on..... I follow much the same workout schedule as above and I consume 1500 calories a day in any category I desire...although like Carrie said, I don't really have to count all the time because I have it for the most part configured now.
My thoughts are that only having 5-7 to drop and with strength training involved.... perhaps you just need to give it a few more weeks as muscle which is great for burning in the long run might be preventing the scale from moving for a short period of time.
I agree with the eating 5 times a day in smaller amounts as it tells the body you are not trying to starve it and you want to keep the metabolism rolling along. Its also better to eat in a way that is consistent with a life long change. Something to restrictive sets up for binging etc....
That said, I had to give up alcohol... No matter which use choose its an easy 500 calories at the end of a night and I tend to munch while drinking too!

I was getting mentle over the scale not moving but kept on with the pattern and all of a sudden it is dropping nicely! Whew!