Let's talk about diet, weight(loss?), and living healthier

[photon]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

If you really need it, get low sugar ketchup

When I tried this is when I found out I don't actually like the taste of ketchup, I like the taste of sugar lol. The sugar free stuff was NASTY.

Another alternative is salsa, the Pace stuff I like is relatively good, 10 calories for 2 tablespoons.

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Powdered peanut butter is very low fat and great for smoothees, cereal etc

Yeah peanut butter is so good but so calorie dense it's kind of crazy, the powdered stuff is great.

There's also some jams out there with either no sugar added, or I found this brand that is 5 calories per tbsp and it tastes pretty good IMO: https://goodgoodbrand.com/products/raspberry-jam-12-oz

They also have a hazelnut spread if you're a Nutella fan.. NOT zero calorie but better than the real stuff at least: https://goodgoodbrand.com/products/choco-hazel

Amazon or a few local Keto/Diabetic stores have them.

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Sunrype makes a 10 calorie/cup juice now. I mix it with water to have a light 5 cal juice type drink

Minute Maid also makes some now too, they have a fruit punch that's pretty tasty.

I also like the various drink flavour pods you can get where you squirt a bit into water.

Costco has Cove Soda which is zero calorie and has probiotics. The only zero calorie grape soda I've seen.

Diet Snapple is the best diet iced tea I've found, haven't found anywhere to purchase it locally so I order it from Amazon.

Costco also has Prime for a good price, but I find it way too sweet I have to dilute it to drink it. I generally stick with Gatorade Zero for electrolytes (which can be found cheap at the dollar store).

The Freestyle machines at some Circle K's have diet pops you can't usually find in Canada.. diet Barq's Root Beer or diet Orange Fanta.

Also saw bottles of diet A&W root beer in Circle K for the first time the other day, normally you can only get it in packs of cans.

I now realize I've spent an inordinate amount of time on zero calorie drinks in recent years.

[OutOfTheCube]

My workout recovery drink is the 100% organic coconut water individuals from Costco.

[MRCboicgy]

Skyr 0% MF yogurt has been my go-to, high protien add-in (smoothies, overnight oats, mid-day snack). I even got my mom hooked on the PC-brand ones this summer. As someone who is lactose intolerant, it doesn't bother me at all for some reason. Just make sure they aren't adding a lot of sugar into it to cover the nasty flavour of the plain stuff.
The 4% MF is soooooo good, but yeah will jack up your bad cholesterol.

[photon]

I hate yogurt but I find that silken tofu is a good substitute in a smoothie.. I find that it has zero taste so it just adds protein to whatever.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

A few food subs that have worked well for me:

-Use hot sauces or yellow mustard instead of mayo/butter/dressings/ketchup
-If you really need it, get low sugar ketchup
-use 0 calories cooking sprays. Cooking oils pack calories, even olive oil which has "good fats" is still calorie dense
-Powdered peanut butter is very low fat and great for smoothees, cereal etc
-Sunrype makes a 10 calorie/cup juice now. I mix it with water to have a light 5 cal juice type drink
-PC blue menu ice cream fudge bars (90 cal)
-Weight watchers breads are decent & 100 cal for 2 slices

Don't let perfect be the enemy of progress. Sure some of these things & diet pops etc aren't great in their own right; but finding substitutes to work into your tastes really helps. Especially if you're new to changing how you eat.

Great advice
We sub Greek yogurt for anything that have been mayo, or similar. Not sure if the brand Fage is in Canada? It's by far the best, imo.

[kipperiggy]

I am a salty snacker when I am bored and when I am stressed. It's not a good combo.

The most frustrating thing for me is I have been in the gym strength training 2-3x times a week since January 2023. If I would just cut out the snacking (and the beer...) the weight would start to come off. I know I am consuming too many calories and I know I'm not losing weight as a result. So why don't I do it? I don't get it, and I'm beyond frustrated, and have almost quit with my PT so many times.

I should lose 80 lbs, I would be happy with 60, but I would be ecstatic with any sustained loss at this point.

I have previously had success when I had about half as much weight to lose, but that was when I wasn't working full time and was in university. I also didn't know I have celiac, which can limit my lower calories options.

[photon]

For salty snacks I found these at Costco:



They satisfy my chips/crackers cravings while being not terrible for you, and I think they taste quite good.

[EldrickOnIce]

Fast food is always a problem too. Sometimes there isn't time for anything else. Fortunately some places have great options.
Popeyes (lots here)
5 piece blackened tenders meal. No sauce. Hold the biscuit. Mashed potato. Diet soda. Add additional 3 piece blackened tenders if really hungry.
If 8 pieces:
Total calories: 563
Total protein: 72g
Total carbs: 23g
Total fat: 9g
Cost: $18

[#-3]

I find Costco hard to shop at sometimes, because I actively try to avoid the butterfly logo were possible.

I think a lot of the political problems we see now are pretty deeply routed in things like the Non GMO movement. Basically telling people to their face that you are lying to them and charging them more for it, then having them thank you for it. It's the type of thinking that has led to where we are.

[photon]

I had no idea Popeyes had non-breaded chicken! I will definitely try that out.

I mean even a 6 piece McNuggets and small fries isn't THAT bad, but the Popeyes and mashed potato is way better, thanks!

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Azure

This is fantastic advice, and I remember reading some studies that talked about some pretty big benefits to doing this, especially when lots of people eat their biggest meal at the end of the day.

Thanks man, tbh I never really looked into it if it's even good. Just my own thoughts that for the purposes of losing weight, it didn't feel right having your largest meal 2-3 hours before crawling into bed and it just sitting in your gut all night. Shouldn't we be doing that midday and burning it off/energizing us for the rest of the day? Worked for me anyway!

[Jiggy_12]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Fast food is always a problem too. Sometimes there isn't time for anything else. Fortunately some places have great options.
Popeyes (lots here)
5 piece blackened tenders meal. No sauce. Hold the biscuit. Mashed potato. Diet soda. Add additional 3 piece blackened tenders if really hungry.
If 8 pieces:
Total calories: 563
Total protein: 72g
Total carbs: 23g
Total fat: 9g
Cost: $18

OH damn, thats a nice protein to calorie ration. thanks for this

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by photon

I had no idea Popeyes had non-breaded chicken! I will definitely try that out.

I mean even a 6 piece McNuggets and small fries isn't THAT bad, but the Popeyes and mashed potato is way better, thanks!

The blackened chicken tenders are delicious
And are made fresh. It's a 5 minute wait

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by photon

I find it much easier to stick with strength training since resting is built into the plan! It's probably bad that I don't have any specific cardio yet (just walk more than I used to) but being on the elliptical is just so mind numbing where X sets of X reps with rests in between just seems so much easier to convince myself to do.

Try interval training, it's what got me to enjoy cardio. For my workouts I warmup on the elliptical and the routine I do changes every 30 seconds. Target speed, resistance, forward or reverse, and crouching (those ones really burn). Really helps to keep me engaged, and you'll have low intensity intervals to catch your breath between the high intensity ones. After that I do strength training, then 30 minutes on the stair machine for my primary cardio. That has intervals in different speeds, taking 2 stairs at a time, crossing legs with each step, and 2-up-1-down. I couldn't go back to the treadmill though, you can only really change speeds for intervals on that and it's just too boring for me

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Fast food is always a problem too. Sometimes there isn't time for anything else. Fortunately some places have great options.
Popeyes (lots here)
5 piece blackened tenders meal. No sauce. Hold the biscuit. Mashed potato. Diet soda. Add additional 3 piece blackened tenders if really hungry.
If 8 pieces:
Total calories: 563
Total protein: 72g
Total carbs: 23g
Total fat: 9g
Cost: $18

Never had Popeyes but one is opening close to me; this is great!
Chipotle is another one which you can do well. Their website has a great macro calculator based on how you customize your bowl/burrito so just play around before ordering and it's great.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Never had Popeyes but one is opening close to me; this is great!
Chipotle is another one which you can do well. Their website has a great macro calculator based on how you customize your bowl/burrito so just play around before ordering and it's great.

Chipotle is great.
And we are trying to introduce more plant plant based protein into our diet, so it's a great choice

[getbak]

It looks like Popeyes Canada doesn't have the blackened chicken tenders, but they do have a blackened sandwich.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by getbak

It looks like Popeyes Canada doesn't have the blackened chicken tenders, but they do have a blackened sandwich.

Well ####. That's unfortunate.
That sandwich is a much better choice than the battered one, but still disappointing

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Nooooooo!.gif

[Winsor_Pilates]

3-2-1 Rule
Stop eating 3 hours prior to your bedtime
Stop drinking 2 hours prior
Stop screen time 1 hour prior

Saw this online recently and thought it's pretty good appropriateness.
I struggle with the screen one the most; especially reading CP after a battle of Alberta.