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What kinds of healthy foods do you eat? Plus Laminar's Whole30 Blog (Page 3)
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subego
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Jan 29, 2019, 02:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
Is it straight chocolate bars only? Or does it extend to candy bars?
Most chocolate.

Ironically, I think the best chocolate I’ve had in ages was in an edible. I wanted some Mary Jane free, just so I can eat a brick of it.

There’s a nearby French bakery who does a chocolate mousse cake I’ll electively eat a whole slice of. Odd, since I don’t like cake either, unless it’s not-cake cake, like ice cream cake, or coffee cake.
     
andi*pandi
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Jan 29, 2019, 02:56 PM
 
coffee cake is just cake with an overabundance of glaze and brown sugar.

your point on ice cream cake is valid.
     
Laminar
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Jan 29, 2019, 03:33 PM
 
I'll take apple crisp minus the apples, please.
     
andi*pandi
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Jan 29, 2019, 04:10 PM
 
<hands laminar instant oatmeal with brown sugar>
     
Laminar
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Jan 30, 2019, 07:24 PM
 
Today's adventure: Avocado deviled eggs:

     
subego
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Jan 30, 2019, 08:04 PM
 
Avocados are one of those things I think I like, but find off putting anyway.

FWIW, there’s a local radio guy who swears by adding some Lawry’s Seasoned Salt to avocados, if that’s on the diet. He’s of the size where one can figure he knows his way around tasty food.
     
mindwaves  (op)
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Jan 30, 2019, 08:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
Today's adventure: Avocado deviled eggs:

You sure do eat a lot of avocados on this Whole30 diet.
     
Laminar
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Jan 31, 2019, 10:42 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Avocados are one of those things I think I like, but find off putting anyway.

FWIW, there’s a local radio guy who swears by adding some Lawry’s Seasoned Salt to avocados, if that’s on the diet. He’s of the size where one can figure he knows his way around tasty food.
It's not , #2 ingredient is sugar. Otherwise Lawry's goes on just about everything I make - meat, potatoes, veggies, stir fry, etc. Now I sprinkle avocado with some sea salt and it's tasty.

Originally Posted by mindwaves View Post
You sure do eat a lot of avocados on this Whole30 diet.
It's got a flavor that pairs well with savory foods - it's buttery, creamy, nutty. They're high in Omega3 fatty acids and antioxidants and good fats and blah blah blah.

They're a good delivery system for salt.

Last night was meatloaf and potatotes.

     
andi*pandi
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Jan 31, 2019, 12:12 PM
 
those deviled eggs look good. Is that paprika? That's a big part of lowry's I think.
     
Laminar
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Jan 31, 2019, 12:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
those deviled eggs look good. Is that paprika? That's a big part of lowry's I think.
Yeah, paprika is ingredient #3 in Lawry's after salt and sugar.

I originally intended to make my own mayo again and do legit deviled eggs. I used up all of my avocado oil making the last batch but just picked up a jug of EVOO so I figured I'd find a recipe that used that for mayo. Well it turns out you can't use Extra Virgin for mayo, it will separate and turn out rancid. You have to use regular or light olive oil, which I didn't have. And I wasn't about the leave the house yesterday so I found a recipe that used the avocados, along with lime juice, and salt. It's basically guac-filled eggs.
     
Laminar
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Feb 1, 2019, 10:26 AM
 


Pork chops and avocado which you've seen before and are sick of, but with a new addition - cauliflower gnocchi from Trader Joe's. Ignore the instructions on the bag, they're terrible. Put a little butter in a skillet and cook it up until it starts to brown. Sprinkle with salt and a little garlic powder and it's AWESOME. A little crispy, chewy, really nice texture. My wife took one bite and said, "We didn't buy enough."
( Last edited by Laminar; Feb 1, 2019 at 10:51 AM. )
     
Laminar
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Feb 4, 2019, 11:04 AM
 
Spaghetti, but with zoodles. I dug into mine before I remembered to take a pic so here's the kiddo's.



Didn't have a meal planned for this night, so I whipped up some chicken, potatoes, avo, and pickles.



Lunch yesterday was chicken curry meatballs, very tasty, forgot to take a pic. Down 15lbs so far and I've had to move a notch tighter on my belts.
     
subego
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Feb 4, 2019, 11:23 AM
 
Is that a plastic lid?
     
andi*pandi
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Feb 4, 2019, 11:43 AM
 
it is a plastic plate which when inevitably dropped by a kid, does not break.

it could also be a frisbee. some restaurants actually serve the kids meals on frisbees!
     
subego
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Feb 4, 2019, 11:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
it could also be a frisbee. some restaurants actually serve the kids meals on frisbees!
My restaurant eliminates the middle man by giving the kid a frisbee and then just throwing the food on the floor.
     
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Feb 4, 2019, 12:09 PM
 
efficient!
     
mindwaves  (op)
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Feb 6, 2019, 12:22 AM
 
You lose and gain weight like it's nothing. 15 lbs so far is amazingly fast. Do you couple it with any exercise?
     
Laminar
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Feb 6, 2019, 10:41 AM
 
No exercise. My wife is down 10ish pounds, she works out a few times a week. I think it speaks to the effects of the food industry pumping anything and everything full of sugar and sweeteners, and how it's both addictive and hard to avoid.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...t-blame-at-fat

The food pyramid that a lot of us were taught growing up is a joke:

https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/defa...GPPamphlet.pdf

Isn't 6 to 11 servings of breads and cereals a lot? It may sound like a lot, but it's really not. For example, a slice of bread is one serving, so a sandwich for lunch would equal two servings. A small bowl of cereal and one slice of toast for breakfast are two more servings. And, if you have a cup of rice or pasta at dinner, that's two more servings. A snack of 3 or 4 small plain crackers adds yet another serving. So now you've had 7 servings. It adds up quicker than you think!
Okay, you've carbo-loaded at every meal plus a snack and you're still only at 7 servings - you need 11 (eleven!) servings of grains in a day. Gotta be healthy - load that plate up with another round of pasta. And sauce of course, and that sauce is packed full of added high fructose corn syrup to make it palatable and addictive, plus soybean oil because why not. And that sandwich you had for lunch - you bought the good Sara Lee bread, complete with high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, and who could forget the delectable flavors of "wheat gluten, calcium propionate (preservative), monoglycerides, datem, calcium sulfate, soy lecithin, citric acid, potassium iodate, monocalcium phosphate, cornstarch, calcium phosphate."

And what's on that sandwich? PB&J? So peanuts with soybean oil and sugar. Your jelly is a tiny amount of fruit that's been pumped to the gills with high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup. Oh, you're finally going to get some protein in your diet with a nice turkey bacon sandwich? That lunchmeat has...you guessed it...sugar. And the bacon - well anything less than $10/pound is probably cured with nitrites (a group 2A carcinogen) and...wait for it....wait for it...waaaaaait......SUGAR.

But at least your breakfast was healthy - you picked a very boring, bland bowl of corn flakes. But wait...what's this? The #2 ingredient in corn flakes is.......SUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR.

It's no wonder we're in an obesity epidemic - there's sugar in everything, and when there's not sugar, there's HFCS or dextrose or sucrose or Splenda or aspartame SOMETHING to make sure our brains stay addicted to sweet foods. Eat fresh meats, good protein, fruits, and veggies, and you're giving your body what it actually needs to survive. Simple enough in theory but it's very tough if you're not cooking for yourself at every meal, and even then you have to be picky about ingredients because 90% of the grocery store shelves are inundated with sugar, sweeteners, and HFCS ("rocket fuel for weight gain").

No picture from last night, imagine chicken drumsticks.
     
andi*pandi
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Feb 6, 2019, 11:46 AM
 
A++ rant would read again
also add the lie that fake sweeteners tell your body vis a vis being satisfied.
     
subego
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Feb 6, 2019, 05:18 PM
 
My current weight loss method is to pop a crown, and then not really eat for the 7 days it took me to get an appointment.
     
mindwaves  (op)
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Feb 7, 2019, 09:37 AM
 
I eat out a lot more than what I would like to admit and when I do, I try to reduce sugar intake, if possible. I do so by mainly limiting my drinks to no sugar varieties. Food-wise, I try to reduce my salt intake and fried food intake.

Recently been drinking some Quaker Oats soybean (or nuts) milk drink. It varies between 7- 17 grams of sugar per serving depending on the kind. High sugar (17gram one), but I use it as a meal replacement so maybe OK?
     
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Feb 7, 2019, 09:56 AM
 
I did a search of the two replacements for the traditional food pyramid and they vary quite a bit:

USDA MyPlate


EU's


They vary a lot in the amount of milk/calcium needed. And the EU version switches the amount of vegetables and carbs needed with the traditional USDA food pyramid.

I have to say that my diet looks like none of them. It is probably 30% carbs (rice or noodles) and 30-40% meat and 30-40% vegetables (I eat essentially zero fruit*) with no source of dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), excluding fats and oils, of course.

*I occasionally gorge on a melon and eat some grapes and oranges, but it is rare (few times a year). Trying to increase this amount.
( Last edited by mindwaves; Feb 7, 2019 at 10:26 AM. )
     
Laminar
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Feb 7, 2019, 10:27 AM
 
Is it weird that the separate out vegetables and salad? Like...doesn't one consist of the other? And if it doesn't consist of the other, then it doesn't belong in that category, right? "I made a meat and butter salad, so it goes in the bottom category."

Last night was a modified caprese avocado chicken salad recipe we make sometimes, but without the cheese. And I did the balsamic reduction without sweetener like sugar, honey, or maple syrup. So not really caprese salad, but chicken, avocado, tomato, and basil tossed with romaine and coated in a balsamic reduction. Tastes better than it looks.

     
subego
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Feb 7, 2019, 01:44 PM
 
I really feel nutrition guidelines can be very simple.

1) Carbs are sugar

2) Sugar is bad for you

3) Don’t eat things which are bad for you

4) If you have to eat things which are bad for you, eat fruit
     
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Feb 8, 2019, 01:06 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I really feel nutrition guidelines can be very simple. [...]
This is not simple, it's an oversimplification of nutrition that is quite incorrect. Sugar is not bad. What is bad is that most people eat too much sugar, which is bad for you. First of all, there is a whole range of healthy diets. That just comes from the adaptability of humans to their surroundings. Some peoples have a very fatty, protein-centric diet, others a carb-centric diet. Okinawans, which get very old compared to the world-wide average, don’t stick to a vegan diet by any means and eat lots of carbs, yet they seem to be very healthy.

Within 12-15 months I lost about 13 kg during my wife's pregnancy with our daughter. I weigh 74.5 kg now and weighed 72.5 when I was in top form. To do that I also looked into nutrition. I think nutrition is not scientifically well-understood. Rigorous studies are hard and almost all of them can only catch correlations rather than causations. When I first looked into the subject, I got a lot of evangelism for certain diets (from carby vegan to keto), and while they would often cite studies in their talks and books, I immediately got that they were doing so very selectively and in an unscientific manner. But simplistic, unbalanced diets are usually bad.

Even the things we do understand to some degree paint a very complicated picture. So for example, if you run on a calorie deficit, your base metabolic rate decreases, and it will stay lower after you have lost significant weight. That is one of the origins of the yoyo effect: after the diet, people start eating the way they did before, not taking the lower metabolic rate into account.

Also, let me add that a good diet depends very much on your lifestyle: I do about 7-10 hours of sports per week, mostly cycling. But now we are in the off season and I spend more time in the gym. Endurance athletes need more carbs to perform well (unless you are an ultradistance endurance athlete where you train to get more of your energy from fat). My diet would be bad for an average person, but if I don't fuel my workouts, my workouts will suck and I will benefit less from them. In the worst case, I will train the wrong adaptations (e. g. to rely more on fat, which gives me a lower power output).

Here are a few simple principles that I found helpful:

(1) Try to eat food that has been prepared from “first principles”, i. e. from unprocessed ingredients. For example, instead of pre-marinated meat, buy raw meat.

(2) Have a diverse diet. I sometimes have “keto days” where I forgo most carbs (e. g. a salad with a protein). (But of course, I don’t do that before my long rides.) Sometimes I eat ice cream, because I work close to the best ice cream shop in town (it is hand made, and the owner makes excellent Italian-style coffee).

(3) Eat in moderation, often and at appropriate times. I don’t eat after 21:30, for example.

(4) Fuel your activities (e. g. sports) appropriately.

(5) Drink enough. We should all probably drink more than we do now.

One thing to stay away from are processed foods: many preservatives increase the risk of cancer and there are usually all sorts of additives (e. g. sugar and salt) that make everything less healthy. While not strictly part of nutrition, I would also advocate some modicum of physical activity. My cravings are very different on- and off-season: if I do less sports, I crave more unhealthy foods, for example.
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subego
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Feb 8, 2019, 03:19 PM
 
It could have used some refinement. Vegetables are of course good.

No singular diet is going to work for everyone, but this diet is going be better than the other examples which intend to work for everyone. My diet should be judged against the alternatives it was posted in response to. Apples to apples.


I appreciate the idea that what makes something bad is dosage, but binary labels still have their uses. Someone who smokes 2 cigarettes a week is likely getting more benefit than harm, but smoking is still (rightly) considered bad for you.
     
Demonhood
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Feb 8, 2019, 04:29 PM
 
It's great to see less of the bad/good reductivism when it comes to diet.
In general, if your body feels good after eating it, it provides enough material to power your workouts, and you have a healthy balance of macronutrients, stick with it.

If you want to get geeky (I've been recording everything I've eaten/drank in the past 1.5 years, so I'm already there), get a blood panel done before you change things. Plus your blood pressure, weight and body fat percentage.
Embark on whatever exciting diet you want.
Get those same stats taken a month or two later. It's true what they say: you can't fix what you can't measure.

I'm currently eating a crazy minimalist diet (due to digestive issues), and I've lost quite a bit of body fat. Not through lack of calories, but through how I get those cals. Anyway....
     
andi*pandi
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Feb 8, 2019, 05:32 PM
 
lemme guess: one simple trick?

or fodmap?

fodmap was like prison.
     
Demonhood
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Feb 8, 2019, 07:06 PM
 
Hadn't heard of that one. It sounds terrible.
Mine is a hodgepodge. Low acid, nothing spicy (this includes things like garlic), low fat, no chocolate, and on and on.
The one time I bend the rules is around playing hockey. I need calories to sustain me (I typically burn 600-1000 a game) and protein for recovery. So my delicious chocolate protein powder is back in play.
( Last edited by Demonhood; Feb 10, 2019 at 05:53 PM. )
     
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Feb 9, 2019, 12:47 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
It could have used some refinement. Vegetables are of course good. [...] I appreciate the idea that what makes something bad is dosage, but binary labels still have their uses. Someone who smokes 2 cigarettes a week is likely getting more benefit than harm, but smoking is still (rightly) considered bad for you.
Except that this analogy doesn‘t work for sugar/carbs, carbs are not bad for you like smoking is. When it comes to macronutrients, one of the latest meta study states that neither a ketogenic (in the study: < 30 % carbs) nor a carb-heavy diet (> 70 % carbs) have the best health outcomes, rather the optimum is somewhere in the middle. Put another way, an extreme diet is, statistically speaking, worse for you. Of course, if you have particular dietary needs that are a statistical outlier compared to the bulk of the population, e. g. endurance athletes, then this may justify changing the balance of macronutrients accordingly.

Of course, nutrition is a difficult subject and macronutrient composition only scratches the surface. You wrote earlier sugar = carbs, and carbs are bad for you. That‘s not correct, just like there are different types of fat, there are different types of carbs. It makes a huge difference whether you eat 100 g worth of fructose in the form of sugar or 100 g worth or carbs in the form of sweet potato (which is quite starchy). And it does not capture that it is ok if individual meals do not adhere to the macronutrient split either. For example, pre-workout nutrition for endurance athletes is mostly carbs (but a balance between quickly available sugars like fructose and starches), post-workout nutrition strikes a balance between carbs (to replenish your glycogen storage) and protein (to help repair your muscle tissue). The same holds true for the general population: you need variety in your diet, ideally adapted to your needs. But usually our bodies are quite good at telling us what we need.

One of the big causes of obesity are processed foods: manufacturers add too much sugar and salt, because they tend to increase food cravings. Things like store-bought salad and pasta sauces contain surprising amount of simple sugars (in the US often in the form of corn syrup), so preparing those yourself usually results in healthier meals. The same goes for portion size. But that is why sugar has been identified as something bad, whereas what is bad are eating habits and the fact that we tend to eat too much sugar.
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Feb 9, 2019, 12:52 AM
 
Originally Posted by Demonhood View Post
It's great to see less of the bad/good reductivism when it comes to diet.
Yes! In most circumstances, the more extreme the diet, the worse it is for you in the long run.

And I would add that we should restore the original meaning of the word diet: it is not a temporary alteration of our eating patterns, it is how we eat, period. I think it is alright to e. g. adapt what you eat to the season (that‘s especially true when you do sports), and allow for natural variations of weight (I gained 2 kg in the winter, big whoop, I will lose that easily when I spend more time on the bike.
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subego
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Feb 9, 2019, 12:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Except that this analogy doesn‘t work for sugar/carbs, carbs are not bad for you like smoking is. When it comes to macronutrients, one of the latest meta study states that neither a ketogenic (in the study: < 30 % carbs) nor a carb-heavy diet (> 70 % carbs) have the best health outcomes, rather the optimum is somewhere in the middle. Put another way, an extreme diet is, statistically speaking, worse for you. Of course, if you have particular dietary needs that are a statistical outlier compared to the bulk of the population, e. g. endurance athletes, then this may justify changing the balance of macronutrients accordingly.

Of course, nutrition is a difficult subject and macronutrient composition only scratches the surface. You wrote earlier sugar = carbs, and carbs are bad for you. That‘s not correct, just like there are different types of fat, there are different types of carbs. It makes a huge difference whether you eat 100 g worth of fructose in the form of sugar or 100 g worth or carbs in the form of sweet potato (which is quite starchy). And it does not capture that it is ok if individual meals do not adhere to the macronutrient split either. For example, pre-workout nutrition for endurance athletes is mostly carbs (but a balance between quickly available sugars like fructose and starches), post-workout nutrition strikes a balance between carbs (to replenish your glycogen storage) and protein (to help repair your muscle tissue). The same holds true for the general population: you need variety in your diet, ideally adapted to your needs. But usually our bodies are quite good at telling us what we need.

One of the big causes of obesity are processed foods: manufacturers add too much sugar and salt, because they tend to increase food cravings. Things like store-bought salad and pasta sauces contain surprising amount of simple sugars (in the US often in the form of corn syrup), so preparing those yourself usually results in healthier meals. The same goes for portion size. But that is why sugar has been identified as something bad, whereas what is bad are eating habits and the fact that we tend to eat too much sugar.
I agree processed foods are the issue. Neither fruit or vegetables, which I said are okay, are processed.

In a 2,000 calorie diet, 40% carbs is 800 calories. For most Americans, this is very low carb. I’ve got a bag of 4 dinner rolls right here that’s half that.
     
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Feb 9, 2019, 11:00 PM
 
Yes, and at the end a calorie surplus is really the culrprit. The macronutrient composition has a major role to play, but ultimately if you want to lose weight you have to have a calorie deficit. Nutrient composition does not matter here — although it will play a role when it comes to living healthily. So you could overeat with a healthier mix of nutrients, but at the end of the day, you’d still gain weight — that’s just conservation of energy. There are of course risks that come with eating too many carbs (unless they are offset by specific physical activity), especially simple carbs (the usual, diabetis, etc.). I. e. it will make a difference whether you eat sugar pops or oatmeal. But I think focusing on “carbs” is too simplistic if the problem is that you are not eating healthily and too much. And cutting carbs does not equal to eating more healthily.
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mindwaves  (op)
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Feb 10, 2019, 10:40 PM
 
Part of the issue is sugar within the carbs themselves, not carbs themselves (well, for most cases at least). Each a slice of bread -- any brand pretty much -- and eat a ton of sugar, it doesn't matter whether it is white bread or whole wheat.

Also, if you want to eat starchy foods such as rice, aim for longer grain varieties such as basmati or jasmine rice (stuff served in Indian/Thai/Vietnamese, Southern Chinese restaurants) as opposed to short grain varieties (Japanese, Korean, etc), as it is lower in the glycemic index scale. Also, eat the rice in combination with lots of veggies as mixing them lowers the overall glycemic index to low levels.
( Last edited by mindwaves; Feb 11, 2019 at 08:25 AM. )
     
Laminar
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Feb 12, 2019, 12:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by Demonhood View Post
Get those same stats taken a month or two later. It's true what they say: you can't fix what you can't measure.
I really wanted to do this - I had a blood panel taken last year at my physical and my cholesterol was high (genetic) and my weight was up. I wanted to schedule another physical right at the tail end of my 30 days, but with all of the kids' appointments and school weather closings, I didn't feel right taking more time off of work.

Some samplings over the last week:

Tuna cakes again:


Pork chop, fried egg, and potatoes:


Pulled pork:


Yesterday was day 30. This last week I kind of plateaued at 202lbs, but I really wanted to drop below 200. I made the mistake of making pulled pork on Sunday, but I reigned in my consumption. I also visited my parents and had no baked goodies or soda, just sips of water. I weighed myself yesterday morning, and I was still at 202. Last night we went to a basketball game and I had...sips of water. Wife decided her 30 days was up last night and she had popcorn and a beer. Kid had Sour Patch Kids and I could smell them from 6 feet away, but I resisted.

I woke up this morning and weighed myself - 200.8. COME ON. So I bundled up and went out and snowblowed (snowblew?) my driveway, the neighbor's driveway, and the sidewalk for half our block. I came back in - 200.2, but I was holding my phone. So then I cut my hair, showered, and put down the phone - 199.8. I'LL TAKE IT.

Total weight loss over 30 days - 18.8lbs.

Last time I dove straight back into cookies and mac and cheese and everything naughty as soon as my time was up. This time I'll probably go easier, though I will steal some chocolate from my coworker that keeps it in stock.
     
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Feb 12, 2019, 12:21 PM
 
20 lbs in 30 days is pretty good! kudos on willpower.
     
mindwaves  (op)
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Feb 12, 2019, 10:37 PM
 
Isn't that basically starving yourself? Do you go to bed hungry every day? Losing more than half of pound of fat (about 1800 calories) is a lot. Average female needs about 2000 calories.

Also, how many meals do you eat a day?
     
OreoCookie
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Feb 13, 2019, 04:00 AM
 
@mindwaves
Yes, when you run on a calorie deficit, you are starving yourself. Of course, not out of bounds and almost all of us have plenty of fat reserves to pull that off. And yes, that typically leaves you hungry. One mind hack is to eat breakfast and lunch normally and eat less for dinner so that you are hungry while you are sleeping (which is more bearable).

However, ordinarily I think it is better to be lose less than 10 kg in a month. (In my case it was 1-2 kg per month in the beginning.) Because if you do something too drastic, your body reduces your basic metabolic rate, so on the one hand your net calorie deficit is smaller now and on the other hand you may feel sleepy or weak during the day.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
Laminar
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Feb 13, 2019, 05:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by mindwaves View Post
Isn't that basically starving yourself? Do you go to bed hungry every day? Losing more than half of pound of fat (about 1800 calories) is a lot. Average female needs about 2000 calories.

Also, how many meals do you eat a day?
I'll have an apple or banana in the morning with my espresso. Leftovers for lunch. Dinner, several servings until I feel ashamed for having eaten so much. Seriously - no portion control, and not trying to limit the quantity of food eaten. But not letting me eat cookies, office party cake, goodies, pizza, candy, chocolate chips straight from the bag - that's where my extra calories are coming from.
     
mindwaves  (op)
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Feb 17, 2019, 07:30 AM
 
Thanks, I'm going to try to have a starch free breakfast diet (no bread, rice, noodles) starting tomorrow. Maybe just have two hard boiled eggs with a banana/half apple and some tea.
     
mindwaves  (op)
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Mar 5, 2019, 09:46 PM
 
It's been a couple of weeks for me eating 4-5 days a week a starch free breakfast, with 1-2 tea eggs, small banana, and soybean milk. The other 2-3 days try to keep it at a minimum, and I have to say no difference in my waist line (according to my pants), but I have no scale to weigh myself, so can't be sure.

I'm definitely not fat, but losing 10 pounds would be good for me. Will continue this diet.
     
OreoCookie
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Mar 5, 2019, 10:02 PM
 
Progress ain't that quick. But first things first: you have to get a scale — you can only improve on metrics that you actually can and do measure. Scales are not expensive, we paid about $25 for ours. Even cheap scales will measure weight very accurately. Body fat, not so much. If you want to keep track of your body fat, you should pay $60+ for e. g. a scale from Tanita (this model is often recommended amongst the amateur athletes).
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
andi*pandi
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Mar 5, 2019, 10:29 PM
 
I've been sick for a week and am feeding this cold all the starches, fruits, and spicy food I can handle. It won't go away. Oddly while sick with the cold my stomach is better than usual with bread. Bagels taste twice as good for not having had them for months.
     
subego
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Mar 6, 2019, 12:32 PM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Progress ain't that quick. But first things first: you have to get a scale — you can only improve on metrics that you actually can and do measure. Scales are not expensive, we paid about $25 for ours. Even cheap scales will measure weight very accurately. Body fat, not so much. If you want to keep track of your body fat, you should pay $60+ for e. g. a scale from Tanita (this model is often recommended amongst the amateur athletes).
I think in general a scale is a good idea for weight loss. Even with no other plan, weighing yourself each day has an unconscious effect on behavior.

That said, I never phrase it as a demand, because some people just hate the goddamn things, and the prospective horror of weighing themselves makes them miserable.
     
OreoCookie
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Mar 6, 2019, 09:06 PM
 
I weigh myself every day in the morning after taking a pee. Once that becomes a habit, the horror subsides. Also, because you know that certain weight fluctuations are normal depending on what you have eaten (because the stomach content can vary from empty to average to full). E. g. after eating soups and such, I am typically lighter, if I eat ramen or so, I am heavier.

These fluctuations average out and I recommend you look at weight averages rather than your daily weight. In any case if your goal is weight loss, you should weigh yourself.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
subego
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Mar 6, 2019, 09:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Once that becomes a habit, the horror subsides.
Ehh... maybe. If it was that simple to get over, the people it bothers would just get over it, and in my experience they don’t.

Aren’t you already a beanpole anyways?
     
OreoCookie
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Mar 6, 2019, 10:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Ehh... maybe. If it was that simple to get over, the people it bothers would just get over it, and in my experience they don’t.
I get it, but if you set yourself the goal of losing weight without knowing what your weight is, it is pretty pointless. Feeling light or heavy doesn't mean anything.
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Aren’t you already a beanpole anyways?
My body weight factors into how and what I eat. (I come across as a compulsive, I am really not when it comes to weight.) My low was 72.5 kg, and due to a combination of Christmas, a family trip to Europe to see friends and family and about a month's worth of illness (and consequently being unable to do sports), my weight went back up to 76 kg. I'm back to 75-75.5 kg after a week. Ideally, I would like to stay within 72-74 kg. Also, if you do sports, the more important metric is body fat %age.
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subego
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Mar 6, 2019, 10:42 PM
 
This is where the beanpole question comes in... how familiar are you with having an enormous amount of weight to lose?

If someone needs to drop 30 or 40 kg, that number on the scale is much more horrifying than for someone who needs to lose 2 kg. Likewise, when a person has dropped 10 kg they don’t need a scale to tell them, and the lack of scale doesn’t defeat the loss.
     
OreoCookie
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Mar 6, 2019, 10:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
This is where the beanpole question comes in... how familiar are you with having an enormous amount of weight to lose?
I went from 87 kg to 73ish kg within about a year-and-a-half, so I have lost 14 kg. For me that was a big amount, but of course, that is different from having to lose 30-40 kg. But I am in regular touch with people who either picked up cycling or increased the amount they ride in order to lose weight (which wasn't the case for me) — they apply the same principles just over a much longer period of time. Even when you don't want to lose weight, learning about how to make your diet more healthy is a net plus, a skill we should all teach our children by example. I wasn't good at it.
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subego
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Mar 7, 2019, 02:38 PM
 
That is a good amount of weight. Kudos.

What I’m getting at is people who have to lose large amounts of weight are in enough of a a “target rich environment” they have other metrics available to them to track their progress, like noticing their pants won’t stay on.

There’s a not insignificant overlap between this group and the group who can’t stand scales.

People who fit this profile maybe shouldn’t get a scale.
     
 
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