Day One

[DailyDi]

Starting something diet-like today. Eating better, getting more excercise, but not going overboard with it. Goal is to be healthier and drop 1 shirt size to make sure I don't gain a size

[InD]

Very nice. I might have to do the same myself.

[BBB]

It is SO freaking tough!

Best of luck to ya buddy.

I'm trying to do the same thing.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

The best diet is to not "diet". The best diet is un poco de todo, That way you 're not eating too much of some things and too little of others. a "diet" is the total of what you eat and your eating hapbits "dieting" is trying to fit your food choices to someone else's dictates. Now unless you have a medical problem that doesn't work because 90% of "diets" are concocted by fools and crooks and rob you of something and give you too much of something else. Another fallacy of "dieting" is that it means you're obsessing over something (the diet). The third aspecit is the Yo-yo effect. After awhile you binge on the so-called "bad" food and do the blimp thing, that's human nature and is inescapable. I lost 19 lbs one summer just by replacing about 50% of the carbs with other things and didn't even realize it or miss them, but then I am known for eating just about anything that doesn' eat me first. The Oncologist got nervous and asked if that weight loss was intentional. Another thing is your weight varies with time of year In the winter your body does dieffernt things to conserve energy, you eat different foods and your excercize level drops as you are indooors more. This is natural and I would not fool with it as you could damage yourself. Also It has been shown that it is better to be "fat but fit" than "lean but not fit". Being a bit overweight, but not obese, is an advantage if you come down with something. I can stay on my feet for 3-3/4 hours straight (just did it the other day, including a 5 mile walk, which I enjoy doing; I like the feeling of my body doing things). Today I was complimented on how young I seem

This is how I go grocery shopping. Grab my large backpack, wald 2-1/2 miles to the supermarket, get the groceries, put them in my pack (which takes a half hour to an hour and a half, depending) and walk home the trip is 40-45 minutes each way. I will often stop at another stor or two on the way to the market. I can eaisly kill 3+ hours

[DailyDi]

Yeah, not on any kind of strict diet, as I can't hack those. Just smarter choices, limiting sweets and joined a club with an indoor track so I can walk everyday and burn some fat and lower my BP. Most importantly, I am doing this solo - in the past my mom has said "I'll diet too!" blown hers a day later and took me out with her... this time I firmly said "this is something I have to do for myself."

[Mama Melody]

Hooray! Good luck in reaching your goal!

[babykeiff]

As Christine Darlene has already stated, diet in the commercial sense of the word is a mistake - someone else has told you what you can eat, and unless you stick on it for life, you are doomed to gain the once lost weight.

A true diet is changing your eating habits for life, and not just for a period of time. Most of us eat too much for the amount of energy we burn = we gain weight as stored fat.

To set a diet for yourself, first list what you normally eat (don't forget anything), what you like in the list, and then mark what you think what is fattening/bad for you. Once you have done this, check on the net what is actually fattening / bad for you, and then slowly drop ONE item out of your diet per week.

You don't need to go on a crash - starve and whip yourself diet to loose weight - all you need to do is get to a level where you are using the same / slightly more energy than what you are consuming. Naturally, to get the extra energy that you need, your body will convert the stored fats back to energy = loosing weight.

Also, the starve / crash diets will let you loose fat, but because it is a vast change, you loose fat from the wrong areas, AND when you go back onto your regular food (after surviving with less energy) the body instantly converts what you eat to fat, which means you balloon out.

In simple terms, red meat is a long complex protein which takes time to convert to energy. Since we normally eat fast conversion foods,

the body converts these to energy rapidly and stores, for later, the unconverted red meat proteins AS FAT. The effect is cumulative.

Suggestions...

1/ Remove red meat from your diet, as well as the artificial sugars - including the white/brown stuff you have in tea/coffee etc and if possible, white flour. This speeds up the digestive cycle and accordingly increases your energy levels. This simple change ensures your sugars intake are from your foods rather than the artificial fast release foods. Also, your protein intake is from fish / chicken / eggs and vegetables.

2/ Set your meal times to be at specific times in the day. This means that you are not snacking in between meals.

3/ As correctly suggested by abvegas, change your meal portions to be the size of your CLOSED fist. The more a person sees in front of them, the more they wish to eat, and the faster they want to eat. This is a trait we have from being originally a pack animal, where the fastest eater survived.

4/ This is due to the psychological feeling of being hungry, chew your food well, and take time eating. The art of chewing releases an chemical that starts the digestive system working. The same chemical also, in large enough doses, tells you when you are full. Unfortunately, the release of this chemical is slow, and constant only while you are actually sitting down and eating. Therefore, if you rush a meal, the size of the meal doesn't matter, you will still feel hungry after it.

5/ As with any change in diet / lifestyle, do each one at a time and stick at it for a week or two until you are comfortable with this change. Therefore since every portion is a single step, you will not feel the whole effect as a shock to your system, and are more likely to continue the actions for more than a few days / weeks. Remember, you are making a life altering plan - you wish to loose weight, and keep the weight off. You don't want to, in a few weeks / months, be back to the same / larger weight due to one evening of weakness. Single steps means that one night of weakness will not eliminate weeks/months of work.

6/ Avoid trying to take up an exercise regime. Yes, we all wish to look like Arnie / Sam Fox etc, but none of us are willing to put in that type of work. Also, we may have good intentions to go walking every night / every second night etc, but as soon as it gets cold / weather changes, we decide - the weather is not good, we will miss it for a night etc. As I stated earlier - you are making a lifestyle change, so why not make a change that the weather / your mood will not cause you to abandon / postpone your plans.

Lastly, please check your health with a medical professional. They can tell you whether you are over-weight or underweight. Also, a good diet will make you feel better overall. We are human, and as such, are flawed. Don't expect to drop 2-3 sizes overnight - remember, it took you years to get to this size, it will take roughly half the time to get back to your desired size.

There is NO SUCH THING as a miracle diet - and if there was, it would be available free, cause everybody would be doing it.

[LILJIM]

this time I firmly said "this is something I have to do for myself."

That is the BIG "first step" making your mind up to help yourself.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Here is what I did: Make a list of what I like, under the following categories

Sweets (mono and disaccharides

Starches (polysaccharides)

Dairy (milk, cheese, ice cream/yogurt)

meats

green vegetables

Colored vegetables (carrots, wax beans, squashes, beets, turnip, onions, colored peppers)

fruits

Beans (baked, kidney or red, black, etc

The things most likely to add the pounds are the polysaccharides. Dairy can but not necessarily does contribute to arterial plaque

Now, when I have a meal it consists of a meat, polysaccaride (potato rice pasta) a green vegetable, a colored vegetable or mixed vegetables I do most of my sweets as snacks ditto fruits My favorite of those in order are peaches, plums, bananas and granny smith apples (when I want to eat something that bites back)

Now here is the trick, I like plenty of each (green beans, green peppers, broccoli, celery) Colored vet, can't think of anything I don't like, I love mushrooms, Beans (thank godess for Bean-O. Taste-wise yougurt has become indistinguishable from ice cream and sometimes better

Let's look at pizza: has polysaccharides, dairy, fruit (tomato), plus I get it with green peppers, onion and hot Italian or hot Portuguese sausage: Nothing wrong there

Grinder (Hero sandwich, hoagy sub) lettus, meat, peppers onion, cheese, polysaccharide (bread) olive oil and vinegar. Nothing wrong here

I use frozen vegetables

i cook without salt so I get my fill of it on the table

I fry with olive oil.

here is "the holy trinity" because it goes well with just about anything. Celery, green pepper and onion, fried in olikve oil. You can add garlic and/or musrhooms

I like most nuts except walnuts (sick of them) NOTE Peanuts and Cashews are not nuts but they're good anywhay

Now here is my dirty little secret. If I find I am eating too much of one thing I cut down on that and replace it with more of something else, usually polysaccharides wiht beans or vegetables.

That is how I keep my (slightly overweight but fit) girlish figure

A note on fitness. Fitness is relative. If you are not a football player, you do not need to be as "fit" as a football player. In fact, that is harmful. All you need to do is be able to "carry your weight" for a moderate period of time For me, that is 178 (fall)-185 (spring): Ideal weight is 172 lbs about 3 hours 3 times a week with a 10-20 lb pack for 40-50 minutes, since I cannot drive and am too frugal to take the bus unless I need to. I have high BP caused by chemotherapy for which I take Attenolol 50 twice daily, Gout caused by hydroclorothyazide for which I take Allopurinol and GERD for which I take Zantac 150 twice daily For my eyes I take Combigan tiwce and generic Xalatan for glaucoma and Prediforte for the corneal transplant I specifically avoid supplements of any kind as they tend to do more harm than good

I do not feel a bit deprived or like I am doing a "diet". I eat what I like when I like. but then there is very little that I do not like. I tolerate but am not too fond of fried or scrambled eggs and despise liver. I like turkey bacon, it tasts like a moderately high quality bacon and does not shrivel up. and I get my fill of hot dogs and hamburgers and like most salads, especially the McDonald's southwest. In fact, to make a point someone lived out of mickey-d's for a month and lost weight I get most of my milk in coffee (which is another health food). I drink my fill of soda and most cereals are one is as good as the other I am not a big breakfast eater, I will have coffee and an English muffin or bagel or Kix, Ric/Cocoa Krispies or Cheerios

[Diapered Jason]

I have noticed the difficulty associated with losing weight varies. For some it is as easy as just avoiding sweets, high fructose corn syrup crap, and fast food, then committing to at least a little bit of exercise. For others it is more difficult and requires portion size control where plate size is reduced and about half of the meal is non-starchy vegetables. I have even seen cases where thyroid gland problems have prevented any weight loss regardless of diet and exercise.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Just to show how little people know. in the 1970's fructose was recommended as a replacement for sucrose in soft drinks by the same kind of persons who are crybabying about it now. Most of this stuff is a religion anywah, with about the same resulst, in fact most of the "wellness" thing is a religion Consider from 1900 to 1968, according to Met Life we went from a life expectancy of 46 and change to 70.2 which is about 6-1/2 years for every 20, in the last 43 we have just got to 79 and change, which is about 4-1/3 years for 20 and look at the increase in medical and health related activitiy in the last 40 years, probably quadruple of what it was in 1968 (it started to accelerate sharply in the 1970's). A less than stellar performance but enough to bugger up Social Security and Medicare. especially when you see the amount of medical maintenance we do in terms of money

Example: Ever see how uptight persons get over measles like it is the dreaded Deadly Venusian Hype-Influenza. Up until a few years back it was a common childhood disease. If you did not get that and chicken pox, it was presumed that you spend your life in a wicker basket in a bubble on some exotic island Ask you parents or grand parents if they had measles Yet in all of those cases that I've met (about 90% of persons I have known) I saw only one case of measles retardation and no case of measles caused fatality

[Yvhuce]

Over the past 6 months, I've lost 13 lbs, simply by switching over to more "broke foods". Mostly because the warmer months are murder on my electric bill. No real change in anything else in my life, apart from getting a bit more walking done when I have to go the store... Now, I've only got about 50 more to lose... If the weather stays nice in the evenings and those people who where riding their horses up and down the road have stopped doing so, I may be able to do a bit more dog walking after work... My dogs really don't like those horses, though. And they're big enough that if they wanted to go after them, they'd just drag me along down the road until they caught them, removed my arm, or I let go of the leashes...

[AB_Adam]

Good Luck D!

Going on a diet of any kind and getting up to exercise is not an easy thing to do. Ive been working on losing weight since march when I went over 250lbs. It was a struggle and took awhile but once you find the best routine and keep to it for the first month then its just second nature to keep doing it. Im currently down 26lbs now and Im sure that you'll reach your goal in no time.

[rusty pins]

My doctor said to lose no more than 4 to 5 pounds a month or the weigh would come back. By the way, when you drop a shirt size or two, can I have your old onesies that won't fit anymore? That's one way to get a new wardrobe!

[Marcuss]

the best 2 things i can advise with out too much willpower is avoid anything fried and salt. Dont go too extreme but keeping it in mind when you choose what to eat can help quite a bit. Fried foods are bad and we all know that. Salt helps your body hold water. If you dont put salt on anything you will get more than you need as its in almost everything.

[Diapered Jason]

Just to show how little people know. in the 1970's fructose was recommended as a replacement for sucrose in soft drinks by the same kind of persons who are crybabying about it now. Most of this stuff is a religion anywah, with about the same resulst, in fact most of the "wellness" thing is a religion Consider from 1900 to 1968, according to Met Life we went from a life expectancy of 46 and change to 70.2 which is about 6-1/2 years for every 20, in the last 43 we have just got to 79 and change, which is about 4-1/3 years for 20 and look at the increase in medical and health related activitiy in the last 40 years, probably quadruple of what it was in 1968 (it started to accelerate sharply in the 1970's). A less than stellar performance but enough to bugger up Social Security and Medicare. especially when you see the amount of medical maintenance we do in terms of money

Omg, all that shit you brought up is meaningless, because you did not actually say why I was wrong in your barrage of assumptions after stating I was wrong. I know scientifically fructose when seen in such high concentrations cannot be metabolized by the body and is therefore stored as fat. See, sugar (sucrose) contains equal amounts of fructose and glucose, while high fructose corn syrup usually contains 55% fructose and 42% glucose. This imbalance between glucose and fructose does not bode well for your metabolism as you need a balance between the two for faster metabolism of fructose. Another difference is seen in the molecular structure where in sucrose, each fructose and glucose molecule are bonded to each other (disaccharides), requiring an extra metabolic step before your body can use it, while in high fructose corn syrup the glucose and fructose molecules are not bonded together (monosaccharides) allowing for immediate absorption. Don't argue Christine, you will lose.

[DailyDi]

Doing good so far. Switched from Snapple and Soda to Gatorade and Capri-sun which are lower sugar and calories per serving. Don't like artificial sweeteners and drinks are my one big weakness, so am making better choices instead of trying to deny myself a nice cold glass of something. Also adding more water in my diet, so I don't crave the sugar drinks as much.

[Diapered Jason]

Doing good so far. Switched from Snapple and Soda to Gatorade and Capri-sun which are lower sugar and calories per serving.

Um, there is not much of a difference between those drinks you listed. I realize soda and their counterparts such as gatorade can be difficult to remove from your diet. I would start by not drinking anything but water with your meals, then have the drinks you crave at another time. That would be a good first step in removing sugary drinks from your diet. You would be surprised how much money you save from not buying a drink with your meals, because water is free as long as you do not buy bottled water (more motivation). On a side note, I have found these drinks interfere greatly with my diet causing me to eat less than I normally would from a meal, which will make me feel like crap when it is time to workout.

[Marcuss]

Honey is a great sweetener. Granted not ideal for all uses but much better for the body than a lot of others.

Also it is the only food that NEVER goes bad. Even thousands of years in Egyptian pyramids and its still good. :0)

[Yvhuce]

Yeah... Water is the best thing that you can drink. And don't bother with bottled water, because that's just tap water in a bottle. If you've got nasty stuff in the tap water, you should invest in a filtration system.

[Honu]

Good for you! I hope you accomplish your goals and if you ever need someone to run with, I'm "there" for you Brahhda!

Aloha,

Honu

[Bettypooh]

At 53 I've seen and heard it all, as well as the effects. Lifestyle change is the thing, the rest is almost superfluous in comparison. The one diet which works is avoiding anything white. Think about what that covers and you'll see sugars and carbs galore. The bes and most lasting method is to be active and don't stop. Like Christine and her grocery shopping, beg8in with walking where you can. Stop sitting in front of the TV or PC and go to the mall, seeing every store and what's new before you leave. That has social benefits as well. If you like the outdoors take up hiking and camping from your pack instead of your car. Also bicycle whenever you can. The bottom line is that you have to burn off whatever you eat; and you were designed to be an active creature- vary from those and your health falls down.

I need to follow my own advice!

Bettypooh