The Biggest LOOSER -- running weight loss thread

[YankeeFan]

I can't give you much advice, but I will tell you this: You'll find it pretty much impossible to add any muscle if you don't start eating about 500-1,000 (probably toward the higher end there) more calories per day. Proteins and good fats.

I've read other studies that say that's a myth - at least the degree to which protein is pushed. That if you eat too much, no matter what the nutrients are, you may gain fat.

But I definitely plan to work on nutrition after the New Year.

It's all trial-and-error, you know? Hopefully I hit upon the right formula eventually.

Nutrition shouldn't be anything anyone has to work on. For millions of years humans have been eating. And diverse cultures have accumulated a lot of inadvertant practices based on the foods available and never had the obesity problems we have today. Google Michael Polan or buy one of his books -- perhaps, "In Defense of Food." He argues that "nutritional science" and bureaucratic government guidelines crafted in ways to not offend the food marketing industry have screwed up our supermarket shelves and influenced how we eat. We eat a lot of editable substances, but we don't really eat food anymore.

Some basic rules anyone can follow that come from him (this is off the top of my head, so I may miss some things):

1) Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. (in my case, all plant-based, but I won't preach about why).
2) Some interesting rules of thumb about how to do it he throws out there:
a) shop around the perimeters of the supermarket. That is where the real food is. The produce, fruits, veggies, dairy, eggs, etc. In fact, real food is perishable, and much of what the food industry has done is taken out nutrients from food to make it have a longer shelf life (without the nutrients, it doesn't spoil). You get lots of calories, but no nutrients. They also have designed a lot of their faux foods to be glucose delivery systems. To get you to crave the stuff. And buy more. They actually get you addicted and you eat too much.
b) Don't buy anything that your great grandmother wouldn't have recognized as food. This can be tricky. Your great grandmother might look at the bread aisle, and think it is bread, but when you look at the ingredients, many would make her head spin (bread, flour, water, yeast, salt is what she would have known).
c) If you can't pronounce an ingredient on the label, or have no clue what an ingredient is, don't buy it. Secondly, don't buy anything with more than 5 ingredients (a rule I bend, if I know that they are all food ingredients I recognize).
d) Don't listen to the nutritional "scientists" talking about wonder nutrients or vitamins or specific things you need to eat to be healthy. There are no salves. Just get a lot of variety. And eat REAL food.

If you basically follow guidelines like that, and don't fall into the trap of cheating, nutrition is really simple. You can eat lots of different foods, get to cook great meals (we cook most of our meals ourselves -- I carry my lunch to work every day. I make 5 days worth on Sunday night), and when we go out, it is restaurants that might guidelines in terms of how they prepare the food. This is how they ate just two or three generations ago. They didn't have any choice. And he argues it's those "choices" that have screwed us up. There are a host of reasons I won't get into. One thing is for sure. They didn't have the obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. problems we have brought upon ourselves today. Just because medical science has made up for it for our generation doesn't mean that is a way to go through life -- obese, diabetic and a host of other medical problems, but kept alive by pills and doctors. It's also costly and a big part of why health care inflation has outpaced our ability to pay for more universal coverage.

I'd really recommend reading some Pollan. And Marion Nestle. What they have to say just makes sense from a common-sense perspective.

Newbie to this thread. I got up over 180 lbs and want to get back under 170.

Have already gotten back under 180.

But your post echoed an article/interview that was on the Times site this morning:

Six years ago a small Texas publisher released an obscure book written by a father-son research team. The work, based on a series of studies conducted in rural China and Taiwan, challenged the conventional wisdom about health and nutrition by espousing the benefits of a plant-based diet.

To everyone's surprise, the book, called "The China Study," has since sold 500,000 copies, making it one of the country's best-selling nutrition titles. The book focuses on the knowledge gained from the China Study, a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine that showed high consumption of animal-based foods is associated with more chronic disease, while those who ate primarily a plant-based diet were the healthiest.

Last fall, former President Bill Clinton even cited the book in explaining how he lost 24 pounds by converting to a plant-based diet in hopes of improving his heart health. The president gave up dairy, switching to almond milk, and says he lives primarily on beans and other legumes, vegetables and fruit, although he will, on rare occasions, eat fish.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/nutrition-advice-from-the-china-study/?partner=rss&emc=rss

 

[JakeandElwood]

What the fork is almond milk?

 

[Dick Whitman]

What the fork is almond milk?

I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I always see it in the same case as the organic milk at the grocery store. And I by no means shop at a hoity-toity grocery store.

Everyone able to blast away their holiday weight bump?

 

[Matt1735]

Actually went down two pounds over the holidays, but haven't been able to keep it going since... Still even from Jan. 3 to today. Got to get it restarted!

 

[HC]

Didn't gain much over Christmas but that little bump has been smoother over.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Well, karma's a bench, I guess, for the guy who was chiding everyone else for not working hard enough.

Last night I got violently ill - vomiting, stomach cramps, diarreah all night (sorry, not trying to gross anyone out). Second time it's happened the last few months.

I had noticed one morning that my resting pulse rate seemed particularly high.

All classic symptoms of overtraining.

I think I'm going to ease up on the interval training. That needs to probably be a special, once-a-week kick in the pants, not a nearly every day occurrence.

Most importantly, I need to eat better. This is huge. I don't think Hostess Mini-Muffins for breakfast and Hot Pockets or a small frozen pizza for lunch - a typical day of nutrition for me - is the right kind of fuel to support an active lifestyle without it catching up to you eventually, as it did last night. My wife is under orders from me to force me to eat a salad and take a multivitamin every dinner.

 

[The Big Ragu]

No offense, but that isn't a diet. It's a bunch of processed items that are edible-like substances, with serious nutritional deficiencies; not food or a diet consisting of actual food.

Why bother exercising, if you are going to feed yourself that way?

Why not forget the obsession with ounces of weight shaved off and concentrate on a health life style? The fitness will come if you do that.

 

[Dick Whitman]

No offense, but that isn't a diet. It's a bunch of processed items that are edible-like substances, with serious nutritional deficiencies; not food or a diet consisting of actual food.

Why bother exercising, if you are going to feed yourself that way?

Why not forget the obsession with ounces of weight shaved off and concentrate on a health life style? The fitness will come if you do that.

Dude, none taken.

I have known for a while that I need to seriously correct my eating habits. But last night was a shot across the bow from my body that I better stop thinking about it and talking about it and get to it.

 

[YankeeFan]

Monday morning, January 3rd: 183.5

This morning, January 24th: 173.5

Very pleased with myself.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Monday morning, January 3rd: 183.5

This morning, January 24th: 173.5

Very pleased with myself.

Wow. That's pretty drastic. Nice work. How did you do it?

I stepped on the scale for kicks this morning and was 150. It's awesome. I don't have to hide a belly any more when getting dressed or buying clothes. I put one of my old XL sweatshirts on the other day and couldn't believe I used to fit into it.

 

[YankeeFan]

Monday morning, January 3rd: 183.5

This morning, January 24th: 173.5

Very pleased with myself.

Wow. That's pretty drastic. Nice work. How did you do it?

I stepped on the scale for kicks this morning and was 150. It's awesome. I don't have to hide a belly any more when getting dressed or buying clothes. I put one of my old XL sweatshirts on the other day and couldn't believe I used to fit into it.

Portion control and no crap. Plus some exercise -- mostly pushups and calisthenics. But I've bought new sneakers & plan on getting back to the gym.

I usually eat candy bars, chocolate chip cookies, etc. I eliminated all of that.

I've only drank water, hot tea, a few very small cappuccinos with no sugar & skim milk. I've had one beer and two small cocktails.

About ten years ago, I got down to 157 or so. Three summers ago I was probably around 165. I'd like to get down to around 160 so that I can settle in and stay around 165.

I like to do it fast because the progress encourages me. I don't mind skipping a cupcake if I know it's worth it.

I was 172 this morning which is a new low. Clothes are fitting better.

I can kind of tell that I've lost weight when I look in the mirror. My girlfriend says she really notices it.

 

[JackReacher]

Down 10 lbs. since Jan. 3. Drinking nothing but water. Getting on the treadmill 3-4 times a week. Didn't change *what* I eat as much as *how much* and *when* I eat. Made a world of difference.

Going to try the free cardio class at LA Boxing this weekend. I'm going to die. It's been fun, SJ. Take care.....