The Diet Thread

Doing fine. I hit a new low this morning; with any luck I'll finally get under 230 tomorrow. Things have slowed, but it's still dropping. There'll be as long as 5-6 days (even without cheating) where I'll be flat or even tick up slightly, but if I stick with it it always goes down again eventually. I'm gonna be working particularly hard to crack 20 lbs. lost by next Saturday, which is the first softball practice.

As for motivation, one thing that might help is to realize that you'll probably see good results quickly. That's the nice thing about all this: if you can get things started, you often get positive feedback right away.

At this point I'm almost addicted to the feeling of satisfaction I get when I step on the scale and it hits a new low. Whenever it stays flat or ticks up I think about it throughout the day and usually work even harder to eat better that day so it won't happen again.

Wanted to add that the best advice I ever heard about how to stop doing anything addictive or harmful is really just as simple as deciding to. There won't be a perfect moment. At a certain point you just decide to be one kind of person rather than another.

What kind of diet have you been trying to go on, by the way? And what ends up derailing it most of the time, specifically? It probably helps to talk out exactly what's stopping it from happening.

I watch my calorie intake and cut out sugar which of course includes my biggest weakness soda. I have a couple of stumbling blocks. First is work. I don't mind healthy choice meals but it is easy to skip and get fast food when there are people who order out daily. Our boss is also pretty cool about feeding us and it is usually hard to resist. Dinner is also a huge obstacle for me since being single again. I hate to cook and eating out is not my friend. All these things come down to self discipline I know. Makes me feel like a punk when I am putting them down but there they are.

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Letterboxd

When I am trying to lose I try to keep my calorie intake at 1200-1300. With that and exercise I can lose pretty quickly. I maintain well at 1800-2000.

Yeah, if you have to exhibit will power in not eating what you want and do extra work to cook, that's a really tough combo to overcome. I'd probably be struggling way more if my wife weren't such a good and willing cook.

I guess in your case that means you would probably have to identify several meals (and lots of mid-day snack alternatives) that you can eat as-is or else prepare easily. Or prepare in bulk, IE: make something five times, eat once, save the other four. You probably only need a few different meals and snacks to get through the first week, and hopefully by then you'll have a little momentum.

Also don't know if it's for everyone, but I really like the low-carb option (as opposed to limiting calories), because I don't have to be hungry. I guess that varies, though. For some people being hungry is preferable to having to forego certain foods altogether. It really does work great, though.

Yeah, my problem is definitely motivation. Yet I feel like I just had my own 'epihany' this morning, and even did a bit of exercise. I'm hoping to keep this going and be very mindfull of what I eat.

Here's hoping! There are definitely moments like that, where you just think "there's literally nothing stopping me from doing this right now." After my first week all I could think was "why didn't I do this forever ago?" Of course, the first week saw the most weight come off, too, but still.

One more thing about low-carb, high-protein diets: not only are you not hungry (which I think is probably a bigger deal than not getting to eat certain foods you love), but you don't have to eat as often. And if you're having trouble finding the time or effort to make things, that's a big deal. I literally eat one "real" meal per day. I have some Atkins bar as a late breakfast, some fruit and cheese and/or beef jerky around lunch, and then a big serving of chicken or steak (with some vegetables, fairly often) in the evening.

It's kind of amazing how little you need to eat when you're pretty much just eating protein. I think the fact that it's spread out in sub-meal sizes throughout the first half of the day probably helps a lot. They say that kind of grazing off and on is supposed to be best, anyway.

Not much to report. Been flat for days; literally the exact same weight the last two mornings, in fact. Not too worried, the last couple times this happened I broke through and lost a pound or more shortly after. Still, it'll make it tough for me to hit an even 20 lbs lost by Saturday's softball practice, which had been a goal.

Slightly concerned that the rate might have slowed so that it takes me another solid month to lose the last 8 lbs to hit my initial goal, but we'll see.

Well, I admit, for the first time since I started I'm a bit frustrated. I've basically been flat (even ticking up very slightly) for an entire week now.

I don't want to overstate anything, because I'm still down about 17 lbs, I feel a lot better/more energetic, and most of all I'm really pleased with how relatively easy it's been (IE: I haven't been fighting back temptation the whole time). I think the rapid success has spoiled me a little, since a week isn't all that long. Anyway, hopefully it's just another little plateau. So close to 20, and the first big goal isn't far behind.

I've lost almost 2 stone since I stopped drinking and started pumping iron. I can bench 110kg now.

Stick with it Yoda your doing great. Softball may help you get another little boost to go with your eating. I know how those plateaus feel. They have been the driving force behind many a back slide for me over the past 10 years. If you have the will power to give yourself one cheat day that could help as well. When your losing weight you body goes into defense mode and wants to keep what its got. At least that is what I have been told. It seems to hold true though. Cheat days have helped me get another jump start in the past.

Look at that. I asked for people to join me almost a year ago, but nooooooo. I was abandoned. To tell you the truth, this is why I left the board for so long. I was very deeply hurt.

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Well, my whining worked. I ate a little less the last two nights and dropped 2.2 pounds combined. Down 19 overall--not quite the 20 I'd hoped to hit by today's softball practice, but close enough.

I'm going off of small sample sizes, but it seems like I can easily maintain my weight and still drop slowly if I stay on my diet and eat late at night/a lot. But if I stay on the diet and leave myself a little hungry after dinner the weight seems to come off a lot faster.

I'm on the high protein/fat, low carb bandwagon too. I don't do it to lose weight though (I'd like to gain some muscle mass if anything), but to promote high testosterone and general health.

Carbs are controversial for me since people aren't biologically adapted to eating them in as huge doses as the typical Western eater does. I'm not on that 'paleo fad' but my typical diet is similar to that, except I'm not against dairy, legumes, or occasional potatoes. Lately though I'll have pasta (usually with some fish or sardines) as my main meal several days a week, since eating steak or shrimp every day is pricey compared to pasta, which is dirt cheap.

One thing about eating only "1 major meal" per day though - I do this myself sometimes but I've heard this isn't the best idea, because the body doesn't absorb as many of the nutrients when it takes too much food in at once (moest likely it's not able to digest a lot of food as thoroughly as smaller meals).

Actually the best way to stop is to start doing something else instead that's not harmful. The reason people become strongly addicted to things is generally more due to a lack of "anything else enjoyable to do" than it is the drug or activity itself.

The basic 'pleasure chemicals' that drugs or addictive behaviors provide are the same as non-addictive activities.

Main reason I think people struggle with addictions is because they focus on "just quitting" - instead of focusing on what they should be doing instead.

Not to be offensive - but you posted your weight as 241 earlier. How can you maintain 241 Lbs on just 1800 calories a day? I'd be 120-140 lbs on that intake, even with no exercise.

I get that fat tissue maintains on lower calories than muscle, but that still sounds extreme to me.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

If I was trying to maintain at 241 you would be correct. The two times I have lost more than 25 pounds I have leveled off at 195-200. If I was off by 100-150 calories I wouldn't be shocked, but extreme no.

Thanks, I just find it interesting to hear from other sides of the story. Because I was always under the impression that obesity was the result of eating huge amounts of junk food (ex. 3000 calories or more) every day.

Interesting to learn how the body works.

I've heard that as well. But in my case I'm actually snacking throughout the day (which I've heard is ideal) leading up to it, rather than just doubling the size of a normal meal and waiting awhile to eat, which is what I used to do.

It's really amazing how little food the body needs when you a) parcel it out continuously and b) focus mainly on protein.

This is true, though not mutually exclusive with what I was suggesting, which was more about waiting forever for specific triggers or ideal circumstances rather than simply making up your mind to do it, regardless of the specific motivation you attach. But that specific motivation definitely matters, to be sure, and it should definitely be positive.

As is often the case, 12-step programs provide plenty of insight here. They do something similar to what you're saying, where they're encouraged not to stop their addiction because they hate it, but to find something it's mutually exclusive with that they love more. Usually this is something like friends or family, who they'll alienate if they don't stop.

In my case, that something is softball. I like it because there's no way to wriggle out of the consequences. If you do it for vague reasons like "be healthier" or "look better," you don't get a lot of hard feedback on either front. You don't always look much better (and if you're married, your spouse can still love you either way), and the health benefits are usually far off and disconnected from the day to day activities. But if I weigh more when I'm running the bases or standing out in the field, I'm gonna feel that the next day. No hiding from the results, whatever they are, and the benefits are obvious.

That said: new low this morning. I'm still juuuuuust shy of 20 lbs. lost (I've gotten to 19 and over a couple of times now). The pattern seems to be that I hit some new low, tick up a little and/or stay flat for a few days, and then eventually break through. But there's always a 3-pound fluctuation area, so that I can actually look to be going backwards for awhile when I'm at the high end of it. But the "center" of that area keeps moving steadily downwards.

^ wow that's great congrats

I started going to the gym again yay happy me... I went to a cycling class that was supposed to be fairly easy/low intensity, which made me realize how out of shape I am haha... that's what I get for being lazy... 6 months with almost no exercise.
I want to lose about 10lbs to get to 120 by summer and get toned again.