Don't think you can loose weight?

Sabastian

Regular
About a month ago I decided that I would start a diet too loose weight.(something I've never really done before.) The results have been fantastic. I lost 25 pounds without doing extra physical activity. I feel better, look better and plan on staying slim. It will however require a permanent change in my diet. Basically I believe the single largest contributor to my weight loss was the fact that I haven't eaten any bread. Along with a number of other changes like having a large serving of seasoned vegetables at lunch with nothing else. Generally eating less all around as well. Here are some things you can do to loose weight and stay healthy.

-Stop eating any bread including whole wheat bread. Bread is just plain fattening.

-Increase your fiber intake substantially beans, vegetables etc..

-Don't eat for something to do. Potato chips are the main culprit here but pop is packed full of sugar and if the sugar is not burned off then it turns into fat. So forget about chips and pop.

-I still eat meat. Something I never realized until I had gone a few days without eating any meat was how much energy it gives you. Chicken is fine try to avoid the skin. If you do eat red meat it is best that you eat it by itself with nothing else. The absolute worst combo is meat + potatoes.(my fav.)

Just eat less. I've seen a number of studies (one with mice.) where monkeys were split into two groups. One group had a rich diet and eat food whenever they wanted. The other group was supplied a bare minimum nearly always hungry but feed well enough to live. The first group suffered from sickness, obesity and died much more readily then the second group. But not only that the second group was incredibly more healthy even having more shiny fur.. they looked better. I have concluded that the single largest reason that society seems to be becoming more and more obese is because we don't eat enough fiber and eating is becoming something to do to pass the time or while we watch TV etc..

This isn't too say I've stopped eating everything only made a conscious effort to not eat bread and cut back on eating in general while increasing my fiber intake massively. Even though I've been swilling beers back for that last couple of weeks I'm still loosing weight and not really starving at all. In fact I haven't felt this good in years. I'm toning up great all over. Something I did notice was that when I lost weight it seemed to go in spurts. Also when I was burning fat for energy I didn't feel that great at work. (cooking requires a degree of labor.) Over all these years I've never really been sedentary but never lost any weight. Now suddenly it seems all I have to do is change what I eat and continue doing what I've been doing for years. I've not had to exert myself one bit more then I already regularly do. << that's the surprise.

Anyhow if you've tried to loose weight before and failed give the above a shot and see how it works for you. I'd be quite surprised if the pounds didn't just start to fall off. You have to be very patient and adhere to the plan though. After you start to loose the weight you'll soon see that it was worth it and not only that it becomes easier to stick too. Further you don't have to stop eating all the things you like all together.
 
Actually, diet is a harsh word, heheh, changing your food intake is a friendlier version.

You have to know your metabolic type/rate, whether you're body is complimentry to carbs or proteins, though you may be of a mixed breed :mrgreen: and enjoy, ingest and digest the nutrients that are happy in your body.

I've got MS, and I'll tell you changing my food habits have done wonders for me, including the ability to walk further, concentrate better and to think/act more positively! (accept at rage3d :devilish:)

The food change that I introduced was a result of the MS and searching for wholistic medicines, which are contrary to popular belief of the term "alternative" has done a complete turnaround in my physical ability. The medical practice to me is simply corrupt and the simple influence is monetary, by which the government, pharms and doctors make a killing on. Speaking of the word killing, doctors are more responsible for this than many diseases.

I digress now as there is too much to type in.. Go to DrMercola.com and peruze through his site..
 
FRISKY!!!!!! :D

grouphug.gif
BIG HUG!!!!!!
grouphug.gif
 
I wouldn't mind gaining some weight. Don't know what I'm at right now, but I tend to hover around 62-64kg and I just totally ignore everything about sane diet. I actually went up to about 70kg once after I decided to use a hamburger diet for a while :p, but after going back to normal eating habits I got back to 65kg in a couple of weeks.
 
Whats MS and wholistic medicines?

Being overweight might have tasted good, but you miss out on a lot of things you never thought about.

I was on vacation a few weeks ago. Five buddies and me. 2 obese (1 very obese imo) and 4 pretty slim guys (I'm not that slim but I fit within the bmi index :)).
Now the thing I learned from that trip was the big difference in mental energy there was between the four of us and those 2 guys.

The four slim guys would go to the beach every day, play beach volley, swim around looking at ladies and go out every night. The 2 obese dudes spent much more time at home in the apartment talking, reading, eating, sleeping. The very obese guy only went with us to the beach and nightlife 2-3 days out of 7.

I couldn't help but notice this - I found it quite sad that these 2 buddies of mine missed out on so much.

Food tastes good, but life tastes even better!
 
Humus said:
I wouldn't mind gaining some weight. Don't know what I'm at right now, but I tend to hover around 62-64kg and I just totally ignore everything about sane diet. I actually went up to about 70kg once after I decided to use a hamburger diet for a while :p, but after going back to normal eating habits I got back to 65kg in a couple of weeks.

You should try a combination of workout, alcohol, junkfood and a sit-still job with a nice catina. Did it for me! I was 70-72 kg in high school and now 2 years after I'm 88 kg. Bit too much for my liking so I hope going back to studying and maybe even less drinking will help and nomore steady income should decrease my use of junkfood.
 
friskyolive said:
Actually, diet is a harsh word, heheh, changing your food intake is a friendlier version.

You have to know your metabolic type/rate, whether you're body is complimentry to carbs or proteins, though you may be of a mixed breed :mrgreen: and enjoy, ingest and digest the nutrients that are happy in your body.

I've got MS, and I'll tell you changing my food habits have done wonders for me, including the ability to walk further, concentrate better and to think/act more positively! (accept at rage3d :devilish:)

The food change that I introduced was a result of the MS and searching for wholistic medicines, which are contrary to popular belief of the term "alternative" has done a complete turnaround in my physical ability. The medical practice to me is simply corrupt and the simple influence is monetary, by which the government, pharms and doctors make a killing on. Speaking of the word killing, doctors are more responsible for this than many diseases.

I digress now as there is too much to type in.. Go to DrMercola.com and peruze through his site..

Heh, I don't even feel that diet is the right word and even said that to myself before.

On my mothers side I have an uncle whom has MS though he has effected his life for the better by careful manipulation of his diet. An aunt of mine whom is a nurse suffered from breast cancer and had a mastectomy. She also took a holistic approach and is healthy and active as ever. Which is sort of ironic her being a nurse and all.

Personally in terms of my metabolism I always thought that I had a slow metabolism but I am discovering that it isn't at all. Something triggers my body to store fat that does not mean that I necessarily have a slow metabolism, it means that my body is triggered somehow. I think that we ought to be looking at the whole matter differently as well as fat being an organ. It was more a matter of looking at what was the primary diet and objectively determining what was the problem. You can increase your metabolism simply by eating a lot of small meals throughout the day. You can really burn fat by simply eating shit loads of low fat high fiber foods that have little in the way of stored energy their "fillers" so to speak. On that note if there are people out there that actually think that meat is absolutely irreplaceable in a meal should have had my vegetarian chilli tonight.(I out did myself on that. Some friends wanted to buy it FFS. :oops: ) I've not raised my heart rate anymore then I would have in the past and am loosing weight effortlessly hand over fist.

I didn't explain this earlier but part of the reason that I started this was related to a discussion I had with my family physician regarding diabetes which is prevalent on both sides of my family. She explained to me that I by the time I was 40 + would be diabetic and overweight. Apparently that has to do with the demographic. I decided I didn't want to fit into that group.....
 
I'm 6'2" and ~85kg (13.3 st)

Im steadily building muscle til i hit ~14st but at 20 years old I've reached that point where men gain a little weight. I don't drink any alchol thorugh the week, have cereal for breakfast, either fruit or a fibre/nut bar at ~9:30, for lunch something like a tuna sandwhich or salad, a large salad involving perhaps chicken for dinner. I go to the gym 3 times a week on average, 20 mins cardio 40 mins strength.

Long way to go but I'm getting there.

I was a fat kid, but then at 14 it just fell off as i grew tall, and from then on I knew I could never let myself get like that again. I fluctuate by 5 or 6 lbs over a month, but its all good :)

My ethos is simple, if you know you shouldn't be eating something don't eat it. I always figured not doing something was far easier than doing it. That said I do allow myself choc bars every now and then, but only ~3 hours before the gym. Never eat crisps ever (patatoe chips), or peanuts...

When you get to the gym, be prepared to work, and work HARD. If you're not feeling it by the end of a gym session you have wasted money.
 
Changing your eating habits is a great way to lose weight. Congratulations on your success! Seems like your body was shocked and you started to lose all that fat. If you see that you aren't losing the weight any more or starting to gain it back try something a little different to jumpstart your metabolism again. The body will quickly adapt to a certain routine and diet so mixing things up is a good idea after a few months or so.

I do believe exercise is an important part of the being healthy. It does differ from person to person but I do enjoy a nice walk every few days to activate my metabolism at a faster rate. Running or bike riding are also good cardio exercises that can help the weight come off relatively fast.

I think the problem most people have with dieting is that they expect to see results overnight. They'll stick to a specfici "diet" for a week or two and see great results but then it is like they hit a brick wall. It must have something to do with people's consistency in their diets and bad habits that they find hard to break.
 
Good job, Sabastian. I can only second, that losing unnecessary weight, eating healthy and conscious, doing some exercise ... must not be a pain in the ass. I can only encourage anyone to try it. Just see it as a long term project. Don't lose weight too fast, nobody gets obese overnight, don't expect to get slim overnight too. Exercise, have fun, make it a habit. Eat healthy stuff, have fun, make it a habit. The "doing it" and the results are so rewarding :D
 
Sabastian said:
-Stop eating any bread including whole wheat bread. Bread is just plain fattening.

Sorry, but that's a completely misleading statement. Foods aren't "fattening", calories are. If you eat more calories than you expend in energy you will put on weight, regardless of what you eat. The average active male needs around 2,500 calories per day (or 2,000 if you sit in front of your computer all evening!). You can eat nothing but bread and not put on weight so long as you don't consume more calories than you need. If you consume less calories than you need then you'll start to loose weight because you start burning off excess body fat.

Now, it's true bread has a high glycemic index (causes a rapid increase in blood sugar levels). This can be a bad thing if you eat too much of it. However, this is true of all highly processed carbohydrates, which is why you should try and avoid eating highly processed foods (white bread, cakes, white rice, white pasta) which have little nutrient value. However, there's nothing wrong at all with eating carbs that have nutrient value and fibre, such as wholemeal bread, brown rice, brown pasta, pulses etc. These are all good sources of all-round nutrition and shouldn't be avoided. Cutting out whole food groups from your diet is bad, as it generally leads to a defiiciency in certain nutrients. To quote from a dietitian:

Some "diet" plans are built around the principle that carbohydrates with a high glycemic index should be avoided. While this may make sense for uncontrolled or insulin dependent diabetics, it doesn't make sense for the person with adequate insulin who just wants to lose weight. Avoidance of foods with a high glycemic index not only cuts out foods with valuable vitamins and minerals, it does not increase weight loss.
- http://www.dietitian.com/carbos.html
-Increase your fiber intake substantially beans, vegetables etc..
This is good advice, though not just for fibre. Beans and pulses are great sources of protein and vegetables are the best natural sources for vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. Check out Worlds Most Health Foods
-Don't eat for something to do. Potato chips are the main culprit here but pop is packed full of sugar and if the sugar is not burned off then it turns into fat. So forget about chips and pop.
This advice is generally good but is based around slightly faulty logic. Fizzy pop is bad because it's empty calories (sugar) and contains zero nutrition (as well as rotting your teeth). However, all cars turn to sugar in your body, it's how you metabolise food. This can potentially turn to fat if the energy is not burnt off - however, if you don't over-eat then this won't be a problem. The worst part about chips is that they are high in saturated fat. Fat doesn't need to be turned to sugar to be stored as fat - it already is. Avoiding saturated fats is the most important thing to remember when trying to loose weight.
-I still eat meat. Something I never realized until I had gone a few days without eating any meat was how much energy it gives you.

Meat doesn't give you energy, this is simply untrue. Carbohydrates are what give you energy which is why athletes, especially endurance ones, stack up on carbs and drink energy-drinks high in glucose etc. Meat, however, is a good source of protein. However, protein by itself doesn't give you energy, it simply assists in the repair and building of muscle mass. However, there are plenty of other sources of protein than meat - in fact, many of these are (pound for pound) much better and are generally far lower in fat and higher in fibre (red meat, in particular, is very high in 'bad' saturated fat). For instance, body builders often use whey powder to supplement their protein intake. Also, remember you don't need too much protein.

Just eat less.
That is the key. The formula is quite simple - if X is calorie intake and Y is calories needed then so long as X < Y you will loose weight.

Over all these years I've never really been sedentary but never lost any weight. Now suddenly it seems all I have to do is change what I eat and continue doing what I've been doing for years. I've not had to exert myself one bit more then I already regularly do. << that's the surprise.
Loosing weight can be important to health, but remember that their are benefits in proper exercise too. Being healthy doesn't necessarily just mean not being fat - you need to get the right balance of nutrition and you also need to get sufficient aerobic exercise to keep your heart strong. Eat smart and excercise smart and you can make a huge difference. The good part is that exercise helps to increase your metabolic rate, so you burn off food faster.

Anyway, good luck! :)
 
Another thing that many people don't realise is that most mass produced bread is packed with emulsified fat which lengthens shelf life and is also very cheap. In fact the amount of fat used in foods in which you wouldn't normally expect to contain hardly any is quite disturbing.

Apparently, just 3 slices of some ready-sliced white bread here in the UK contains as much fat as a Mars bar! Shocking.

If you think about it logically, it should be the easiest thing in the world to lose weight. All you need to do is eat less calories than you use - as simple as that.

Willpower, however is a problem. 8)
 
Diplo, I disagree on the bread thing. For years my diet consisted of sandwiches/toast on a regular basis. Sandwiches with mayo, butter and all sorts of fattening condiments. Once you stop eating bread it becomes less interesting to have these as well. Ergo you stop eating bread you'll stop eating a pile of other problem foods. There is nothing in bread thats all that important that cannot be picked up from eating a high fiber diet IMO. Besides you can still eat a little bread if you like. I pretty much eat anything I want, just less of it. The only thing that I've completely not bothered with though is bread and if you think about it that covers a wide range of fattening foods like pizza for instance. If you want to loose weight I recommend not having any bread at all for an extended time period. (I've also reduced my cheese intake too near zero now that I think about it but cheese goes in sandwiches lots.) If you stop eating bread suddenly you have to become a little more creative in your meals.

I can't back up my argument with any technical evidence regarding the meat issue. All I know is that after an extended period of beans and veg I had less energy. Then after having a steaks I found the next day at work more tolerable meaning I was better able to handle the work phyically. Also meat has a high fat content and this is a stored energy that can be metabolized easier if meat is eaten by itself I believe, so your assertion that there is no energy source in meat is incorrect IMO. Fat = energy. There might be something to the idea that proteins in meat are important when changing your intake like I have. It is dangerous IMO to cut out meat entirely because once you start too loose weight quickly your body will use muscle for energy as well and this is not desirable. You don't want that at all. The proteins in meat may help protect your muscles from being cannibalized. In fact I am toning up very well, people are asking me "are you working out". Really though it is just that I am losing a layer of fat all over.

Something I found or rather others pointed out too me. Twice in one day I had comments from two different people about there being a bump on my head. The first time I simply rubbed my hand on my forehead and dismissed it. The second time about 5 hours later by someone entirely different. I then realized that they could see something that used to be obscured by a thin layer of fat, my skull. Needless to say I got a laugh out of it, the bump on my head was my head. My forehead protrudes slightly on both sides like very dull horns if you like. In the right light depending on how I am standing ether side might appear to be a bump particularly if you weren't used to seeing my forehead minus the fat. BTW before you think I'm some rack of bones or something my current weight is 160 that is down from 185 and my height is 5'10. I still got a large hand full of fat I can grab onto around my lower belly I’d like to reduce yet. I don't know if I can though I've never been "skinny" per say but no one thought that I was "fat" ether even when I weighed 185.

I want too add here I have not counted calories one bit. I think counting calories is unnecessary. Just use your common sense and know that you are eating less of the wrong things and more of the right things .. so too speak. Also I can't say that physical activity is not important only that I've managed to lose weight doing nothing different. My work is fairly physically demanding at times.. I don't sit at work, heh, I'd like too but that wouldn't go over all that well. :D
 
Sabastian said:
My work is fairly physically demanding at times.. I don't sit at work, heh, I'd like too but that wouldn't go over all that well. :D

That's probably helping you more than you realize. As a sys admin I sit on my butt the entire day, so I have to exercise on a regular basis or my entire day would be sedentary (unless getting chased by a 13-month-old crawling endless laps around the coffee table counts).
 
John Reynolds said:
Sabastian said:
My work is fairly physically demanding at times.. I don't sit at work, heh, I'd like too but that wouldn't go over all that well. :D

That's probably helping you more than you realize. As a sys admin I sit on my butt the entire day, so I have to exercise on a regular basis or my entire day would be sedentary (unless getting chased by a 13-month-old crawling endless laps around the coffee table counts).

No I don't fool myself there. It's just that I wasn't loosing any weight until I changed my diet in fact doing the same work I was slowly gaining weight.
 
Sabastian,

At 5'10 185/160, you sound like a mesomorph, meaning that (generally speaking), you can pack on and take off weight fairly easily.

As an ectomorph at 6'4 185, I am having one bitch of a time putting weight on! In addition to weight training 4x a week, my daily routine includes:

- a breakfast bar in the morning, an 'energy bar' at 10:30am or sp
- a turkey sandwhich on brown, carb reduced, bread for lunch with a pop
- if I'm going to the gym, I have a power bar half an hour before hand
- post-gym, I have a Soy-protein milk shake and a chicken/veggie stirfry over brown rice.

This is a drastic change from a couple of months ago where I would only have a PJ sandwhich for lunch and instant noodles for dinner with no exercise :p

As for results so far? Besides from costing me a fortune, I can't say that anything has really changed, however it's nice to 'feel' like I'm doing something right!
 
zurich said:
Sabastian,

At 5'10 185/160, you sound like a mesomorph, meaning that (generally speaking), you can pack on and take off weight fairly easily.

Hrm, is a mesomorph an actual label? I've never heard that before but whatever the case if the shoe fits wear it. Yeah I can gain weight easy enough. Never actually lost 25 pounds of weight before though so it is quite a change really. There were times in the past where in the course of a week I had lost 10 pounds but that was a result of severe stress that caused me to have a lesser appetite sometimes forgetting to eat even until late in the day. This time around the loss of weight is intentional though.
 
Back
Top