Health eating vs Yummy food

[JDub81]

Originally Posted by Yanda

Genetics is just an excuse. I could have avoided putting on this weight if I took nutrition more seriously at a younger age. My brother was 6'4 150 Lbs a year ago and now he goes to the gym twice a week and is up to 170. I do 20 Mins cardio on the bike and then go for a 25 min walk around the pond which is probably good for ~450 calories daily. Im assuming if I keep this routine up for months with a more spreadout eatting schedule I can drop some weight. I would add more cardio but my foot aches from a previous foot injury so I need to stop inbetween.


How are the facilities at Cardel Place? Would anyone recommend?

Loved Cardel Place when I went there. It tends to get busy, but if you can go at off times, it's great.
Plus, you get to use the pool - which may be a great alternative for you with your foot injury.

[peter12]

I just went from 242 lbs to 198 in a year. Started eating healthier, cutting out beer and simple carbs/starches, and gradually moved on to intense exercise 3-4 times a week.

I used the YMCA downtown. Very good month-to-month membership, and the equipment is excellent.

DA, congratulations on your monumental achievement. This is something that will define you for the rest of your life. And, the best part about being skinny is the increase in dates, for sure.

[ma-skis.com]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

However, it's amazing how much I miss all of those rich foods. I have had french fries once since July 2010. I've not had ice cream. Chocolate bars are out. If a friend has ice cream cake at their birthday party, I'll decline. And if I break down and order pizza, I feel guilty about it for a week after and punish myself for it. So I have conditioned myself NOT to order pizza.

The big thing I find that helps with fries and pizza is to just make it at home once in a while, home made baked fries, thin crust pizzas with lots of veggies and lite cheese. Generally that will kill the cravings for a while. If I'm out with friends I dont' worry about it mostly since I don't see my friends that often. Hot sauce, pepper and salsa are also much healthier options as condiments verses mayo, ranch and salt. Another good substitue for salt is Lemon Juice. If you watch the guys at opa, it's jsut seasoning with lemon juice, just choose the greek seasoningm, generally it's herbs and spices with little salt.

Homemade alternatives have been a big key to curbing my cravigns for specific things anyways.

[SportsJunky]

Anyone ever tried a Starch Blocker? The supplement book I've been reading suggests it (with MD approval) in conjunction with cutting refined carbs/sugars.

[macker]

Both.....
Likely been mentioned but if you can go 6 days eating healthy take a 7th day and pig out on whatever you want.....keep track of foods you crave throughout the week and eat them on the 7th day. This way you are eating good over 85% of the time. If you can't handle 6 days then modify and go 5. This is actually good for your metabolism.

Excercise such as running, biking, swimming, skiing, hockey, lifting are all great ways to get your metabolism where it should be and will allow you to eat those yummy foods without packing on the pounds. If the furnace is hot enough anything will burn....

[username]

To the OP I have a question. So you say you miss all the greasy gross food you use to put in you body right? Well didn't you use to feel like garbage every day with that food in your system?

I know for me, if I ever break down and destroy a large bag of chips while watching a movie or something I feel like absolute garbage the next day. It's as if my body is shouting "what the heck were you thinking". To me, the good taste of a bag of chips or something isn't worth how I feel the next day. Is it to you DA?

Also DA, what kind of food do you cook? Do you know how to cook good healthy food? Ever since a buddy of mine basically taught me how to cook (he's basically a red seal chef) I have had no desire to eat food like pizza (unless I'm drunk at 3am), it just doesn't taste as good as the healthy food I cook.

[Devils'Advocate]

You must be a better cook than I. I think can put together what I think (and others have told me) a damn good veggie stir-fry, a decent chili, and even a good low-fat lasagna. Nothing that really screams "this is better than pizza and ice cream".

And, no, unfortunately, junk food doesn't make me feel sick. Many people say that after they had a binge eating session at McD's or KFC they feel bloated and sick and remorseful because how crappy they feel. I can pound down two medium pizzas followed by cheesecake and feel just fantabulous.

[Philly06Cup]

Just to contrast the OP's views:

I love food. All food. Delicious food. Junk food. I value eating and tasting food more than a healthy diet or a perfect body image.

[username]

Man DA, you must have an iron stomach.

Have you tried things like grilling red/orange/yellow peppers after using a little olive oil with garlic/salt/pepper? Maybe fying up some mushrooms with asparagus adding in a few spices with a small amt of olive oil. Stuffed tomatoes are excellent. Even just cutting up a Roma tomatoe then adding olive oil with some S&P is a great tomatoe salad.

I could go on forever but these are just some really quick ways to cook some decent side dishes.

[The Yen Man]

It really does suck that the best tasting foods are the worst for you health wise. IMO, you can try your hardest to jazz up healthy foods, it'll still never taste as good as unhealthy foods.

But I commend you for sticking to your guns and doing away with all the bad stuff. It's not an easy thing to do, that's for sure.

[TheSutterDynasty]

People need to understand that food is a biological need and good taste is simply an evolutionary need for high caloric density/simple sugars.

It's one thing to know what's bad for you. To know that you should get <10% of your calories from saturated fat, you should eat the appropriate amount of calories, <8% of your calories from sugar, etc etc is not enough. You need to know the mechanisms of diet and exercise, and cholesterol and physiology.

Rather than the mindset of "that food is delicious, god I wish I could eat it, but I know it's bad and I shouldn't...", I don't have to hold back my cravings or anything. I acknowledge that the food is delicious, assess the nutritional content, and make a logical decision based on my dietary needs or how bad it is, but also the amount of pleasure I'll get from eating it. There are no cravings because I understand that those 5 seconds of eating pleasure at such a high cost is just an old mechanism my body used for survival. Knowing exactly how food (and exercise) affects me allows me to do this.

[Redliner]

Some really great information on here. I'm 6'2" and was hovering around 225 lbs in February, but I was carrying some annoying belly fat than I want to get rid of. I haven't really made any dramatic changes to my diet, just tried eating less and getting more exercise. I did cut way back on fast food and soft drinks, even though I drink all diet pop anyway. In 6 weeks I've dropped down to 205, but I want to get down to 190 and I'm having a hell of a time losing those next 15 lbs. I've found that if I'm getting regular exercise I seem to be able to drop the pounds relatively easily, but I work shift work and it's tough to work it into the schedule sometimes.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by Sample00

you should be able to eat most anything but like previous posters have mentioned, its all in moderation.

I join a site called livestrong to track my calories and fitness but there's others out there.

my typical day looks something like this....

1/2 cup of oatmeal with berries for breakfast.

banana and yogurt at snack time, usually 10:30ish.

2 slices of whole grain bread with 1 tblsp peanut butter,

gala apple for snack at 2:30ish

and then a dinner of chicken/fish, vegetables and brown rice.

smart popcorn for evening snack, sometimes sherbet. also love baked lays.

oh and drink tons of water, I have trouble with it but I find the Our compliments (crystal light) works well to get the water in.

Weird, I do almost the identical thing daily. Have been for years.....all the way down to the Royal Gala apples!

For dinner try throwing in a turkey burger on a whole wheat kaiser. If I'm particularly hungry, I'll make it a double. Lots of veggies on it, and it fills you right up.

I also change out egg whites with oatmeal when I get bored, but that doesn't happen much. I really love apples and bananas. Oh, and I eat a low fat yogurt each morning, and sometimes have protein shakes (if I'm lifting or playing hockey).

That was a little off topic, but I found it strange that Sample had almost the exact same daily diet as me.

[burnin_vernon]

I'm having trouble figuring out how many calories I need. I'm a letter carrier and walk about 10KM per day with 30-50lbs on my shoulders. If I account for this into my diet, I have to eat TONS of food daily.

A co-worker's trainer told her to disregard the walking becuase our bodies are accustomed to it. (Why HIIT is recomended for fat loss, I think?) I feel little to zero cardiovascular impact on my routes and I don't want to eat much more.

I'm 5'8 190lbs, somewhat muscular. At my best shape I was about 170 so that is my target. I lift weights 3-6 days a week and do HIIT cardio for 20 min 4-5Xs/week. I eat 5 meals a day that are about 400 calories each.

I'm sorry that this isn't what the OP intended for the thread. There are so many fitness/health threads I just posted in this because it's active.

[14]

Back to the start of this thread. Great job changing your life.

I highly recommend reading and following the GI Diet. You can get it at any chapter's and sometimes Costco. It is a Canadian lifestyle change book that will educate you on food and how your body breaks it down. Some outstanding easy recipes also. No more need to count calories and be unhappy denying yourself things. Teaches you some small changes can go a long way.

[TheSutterDynasty]

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

I'm having trouble figuring out how many calories I need.

What you'd burn sitting down all day:

BMR calculation for men BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.76 x age in years )

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

I'm a letter carrier and walk about 10KM per day with 30-50lbs on my shoulders. If I account for this into my diet, I have to eat TONS of food daily.

A simple way to estimate calories for walking is a pedometer. You can get a decent one for ~$20. Of course, you burn more calories with the added weight so perhaps take the average weight you're carrying and enter it into the pedometer as your weight to account for it.

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

A co-worker's trainer told her to disregard the walking becuase our bodies are accustomed to it. (Why HIIT is recomended for fat loss, I think?) I feel little to zero cardiovascular impact on my routes and I don't want to eat much more.

Simply not true. Walking is a fantastic, low-impact, low-intensity exercise. He probably told your co-worker that because walking burns a lot less calories than jogging or other activities. Long, brisk walks are quite good for burning calories, however, especially for populations that can't handle jogging.

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

I'm 5'8 190lbs, somewhat muscular. At my best shape I was about 170 so that is my target. I lift weights 3-6 days a week and do HIIT cardio for 20 min 4-5Xs/week. I eat 5 meals a day that are about 400 calories each.

A pedometer wouldn't estimate the calories you burn from intervals well, but an accelerometer would. But it's very hard to estimate the calories you're burning from weight lifting as accelerometers don't do so well with it.

Unfortunately that means estimating what you're burning is tough unless you're in a chamber measuring your heat loss. If you're looking to lose weight perhaps you can add up your weekly caloric intake and then shave ~5% off of it monthly?

[Yasa]

Originally Posted by peter12

I just went from 242 lbs to 198 in a year. Started eating healthier, cutting out beer and simple carbs/starches, and gradually moved on to intense exercise 3-4 times a week.

I used the YMCA downtown. Very good month-to-month membership, and the equipment is excellent.

DA, congratulations on your monumental achievement. This is something that will define you for the rest of your life. And, the best part about being skinny is the increase in dates, for sure.

Don't forget wet-shaving!

[ma-skis.com]

Originally Posted by username

I know for me, if I ever break down and destroy a large bag of chips while watching a movie or something I feel like absolute garbage the next day. It's as if my body is shouting "what the heck were you thinking". To me, the good taste of a bag of chips or something isn't worth how I feel the next day. Is it to you DA?

haha, i have the same problem with chips, my wife's trick is to pour the chips into a bowl and put the bag back in the cupboard. That way when it's done it's done. If she's out and i'm there alone with the bag, i won't even realize the bag is done when it's done.

The worst part is looking at the calories and realizing how much running i have to do to offset what i just did. it's pretty much why i'm off donuts, they are not worth the 30 minutes of running for each one.