Why am I so hungry and eat so much.

[Sandy]

I want to lose weight. I really do- for health purposes and to improve my cycling. I weigh about 225 and could get to 185. Much lower and I would really look thin. I would probably look very trim at 190 or so.

So I go to a store and buy a little over a pound of tuna fish salad, and a 18 ounce loaf of multi-grain bread. I go home and go downstairs and start to watch some NCAA basketball. I start eating some tuna fish with some bread. The bread and tuna are both delicious. I keep telling myself that I should not eat too much. In a short time, the whole loaf of bread is gone, as is about 1 pound of tuna. I go upstairs a short while later. I stop in the kitchen and I wind up eating a bowl of no fat cottage cheese, no fat sour cream and a sliced banana. Then I go upstairs and I am famished. It is if I didn't eat anything. How could that be? I need help since I really want to lose weight and improve my cycling, but the more I eat the hungrier I get and the more I want to eat. It's frustrating and very discouraging.

Still,

Fatso Sandy

[Kevin]

Take a picture of yourself naked and place it on the fridge. You will stop eating in no time.

Kevin

[vaxn8r]

Sandy, is that true? It really is hard to fathom.

I don't know what to tell you bud, that you haven't heard before. Maybe since you can't seem to control the appetite you'll have to get busier. Since you already ride a ton...you're going to have to go on a screen diet. No more sitting, no more NCAA basketball. No TV, no Serotta forum! Here's another thought. Don't be alone. It seems people eat like that only if there aren't others around. Don't be home alone.

I like what someone else said too. Don't fast. Don't skip meals. Seems to only make it worse.

Good luck buddy.

[jerk]

sandy-
read the jerk's previous post. you need more newspaper.
jerk

[Kevan]

Sandy,

Finally, we can agree on something. This winter has been tough on me too. My intentions were good to keep my mouth shut, but there's just something about the winter months that seems to make keeping slim so difficult. Certainly starting off the colder months when the level of exercise slips off and the holidays stuff us up, doesn't help. At this point, I'm just waiting for the warmth and sunlight to reappear so I can begin my commutes to the office.

We make excuses for ourselves, we rationalize the exercise that we do, regardless of level, will permit us to eat the stuff we want. The truth is... it doesn't and we can't or shouldn't.

The other truth is, you can't deprive yourself either, but you have to think smart and use moderation and control. The tuna would have been better had you done your own dressing with a low-fat mayo, or other, and 1/4-1/2 lb purchase would have kept you on your chain. Course, I say this with a half-eaten ice cream cake still tucked away in the freezer, when my wife rightly suggested we toss the thing.

It's those damn cookies, cakes and candy that are my real downfall.

[Kevan]

no taking any naked pictures.

[spiderman]

i wonder
if part of the problem is that your body
requires a certain amount of fat
to quiet the 'satiety center' in the brain...
...all that low fat food
requires large volumes to reach the critical threshold.
also don't watch the iowa teams
unless you're willing to 'stress eat'...
i have found that i'll eat an entire bag of chips
and a supersized salsa
if i'm watching a hawks/illini
or a cyclone/jayhawk thriller...
...i ride the rollers instead...
...i rode 40 miles between the two games...
and came up out of the saddle for the first time...
...albeit :hello: somewhat unexpectedly...
at a couple of startling calls...
with that many roller miles under my belt
...now i can eat as much creme brulee as i want...

[Climb01742]

sandy,

for you, what's the best advice and support we can give you? warm support or some *ss-kicking tough love?

i don't know. you have the strength and willpower to ride alot. but your tuna and bread and basketball extravaganza shows -- sorry, dude, but it's true -- not a lot of willpower.

is it possible that you tell yourself you want to lose weight, but that somewhere, somehow, you really don't want to do what it takes? i don't know. i'm just asking. your actions and your intentions are not matching up.

one thing to try: don't buy a pound of tuna fish. don't have a loaf of bread with you as you watch TV. don't have lots of no-fat "fake" food around the house. just have loads of veggies, fruit, rice crackers, yogurt..."real" healthy food, not fake manufactured "healthy" food. no fat sour cream should not even be in your house.

is there an emotional component to your eating? are you feeding something other than hunger?

sandy, pal, i'm at a loss. i want to help you, support you. i just don't know which road to take. pat you on the back or kick your butt. from us, what do you think is gonna help you? i'll help, sandy...i just don't want my "help" to actually hurt, if you know what i mean.

take care, climb.

[Michael Katz]

Sandy - I empathise with your dilemna. I've been there. Here are my thoughts. In the absence of a medical condition or a shortage of particular nutrients, your feelings of hunger after you have eaten are probably due to your mind interpreting stress stimuli as hunger. The stress can either be mental, psychological or emotional stress from day to day life events or even physical stress from stomach signals that it is "empty" because you haven't consumed the volume of food that your stomach is accustomed to. Even though you've eaten enough to provide proper nutrition, mental stress can be interpreted as hunger and a stomach that has become accustomed to a large volume of food at each meal will signal that it is "empty" which then gets interpreted as hunger even though you have eaten.

The trick is to short circuit your mind's interpretation of these signals so that you don't act on them. You need to give yourself an objective way to make a conscious decission to ignore these signals. I have over the years found for me 2 ways to do this. One way is to control calorie density and portions. Eat well balanced nutricious meals but avoid foods that have disproportionately high fat content. Do not fill your plate and never go back for seconds! There are plates made with serving size dividers built in which can help in controlling portions. Salad with no fat dressing can help take up volume and fresh fruit and veggies are good fillers. When you have eaten your portions, you are done, period. The other approach is to have your basal resting metabolism measured, figure in normal daily activities and calculate how many calories you need a day to support your desired weight. Then count the calories of everything you put in your mouth and write it down. Either way gives you an objective measure by which to say "I'm done eating" regardless of how you "feel". It's not easy but the more you stick to a game plan the easier it becomes. Your stomach will become accustomed to less food and your mind will no longer influence your perception of whether you have eaten enough. Keep up your excersize and you should knock the pounds off.

You may want to look at a software package called Fit Day which calculates caloric needs to achieve a desired weight on an individualized basis and provides food charts as well as the ability to customize food and activity data bases. I found it to be remarkably "on the money" compared to the results I got from fancy metabolic testing - only an 80 calorie a day varience between the 2 to hit my desired weight of 170. Good Luck!

[Too Tall]

Resolve to love yourself and be available and healthy so your family will enjoy a long and wonderful life with you.

[92degrees]

Sandy, been there, done that. Check out South Beach. Don't pay attention to what the media says -- they oversimplify. Get the book and read it. It won't take an hour to get the basics. Beyond the first two weeks there is a healthy focus on whole grains, good fats, etc. I lost 60lbs last year and cut my cholesterol in half. Once you get the basics and become accustomed to the way of eating it becomes second nature. My wife and I have had similar results and the weight has stayed off without any problem. I hesitate to talk diets with people, but it really made a big difference for me. PM me if you have questions.

[slowgoing]

Get a trainer or spinning machine, put it in front of the TV, and don't let yourself watch TV unless you're on it using it.

[mad_mark]

Get a trainer or spinning machine, put it in front of the TV, and don't let yourself watch TV unless you're on it using it.

I tried that. It stopped me watching TV.

Mark.

[Larry]

Np depressive disorder........ I trust. Eating is a byproduct of depressive behavior.

Be tough on yourself. Limit your portions.

[M_A_Martin]

Sandy,
I have a theory which seems to work for me...it goes like this:
You want to loose weight, so you say you'll eat healthy.
But you aren't loosing weight, and that creme brulee looked awfully good.
So you eat it.
So you worry about it
So you eat more
So you kick yourself for not having any will power
so you eat more
and become unhappy
and eat more
and your body is stressed because you're unhappy
so it tells you to eat more
by feeling hungry
because that's the only thing your body can think of to do for you
so you eat more because you think your body is hungry because it needs more food.

One thing you have to become accustomed to, is feeling a little bit hungry. You have to eat a balanced diet with enough nutrients to support basal metabolism. Don't go below those calories because when you do start eating again, your body will grab any extra and store it. So don't eat so little as you feel weak, but if you feel hungry after you've eaten? Drink a glass of water and eat a green salad (a little oil and vinegar, no no fat stuff...)

Here's what helps me: www.fitday.com
Go there, start a free account and log everything you eat every day. Don't start off trying to "diet" and "be good" so that the numbers will look right. Just go in and log that 1lb of tuna fish salad and loaf of bread. Look at the numbers for your nutrients and see what you're eating. After a week of logging everything? Start looking at what you were eating and see if you can make healthier choices. After a while you'll really become accustomed to looking at food and realizing what it's going to do to all your happy little charts...and there's nothing like a visual aid like that to get you on track.

Last summer at the TdFL I was about 170. I'm down to just below 150 (and I've been sitting around for a month now since knee surgery...ulf), and I'll be down to below 130 by June. That's the goal. But you know what? If I don't make it that's ok. If I'm not happy with myself, no amount of calorie counting is going to help me make it to my goal.

Good luck my friend!

Ginger

[weisan]

There are actually two parts to your question, Sandy-pal. Let's look at them each separately.

Why am I so hungry....?
A few possibilities:

Because I couldn't keep my food down
Because Kevan bully me into giving up my lunchbox at school today
Because I had too much food lying around in the house that carries empty calories.


Now, moving on to the next part of your question...
"Why do I eat so much?"
Again, let's look at a couple of possibilities:

Because I couldn't resist. I try but I just can't.
Because I don't want to leave even the crumbs behind for Kevan
Because my wife is such a wonderful cook and her mumbo-jumbo shrimp is irresistible, not to mention her homemade cookies.

I would encourage you to review each of these questions carefully as the answer might lie somewhere within. Be honest with yourself.

If you answer both (A): Sorry pal, you've got a serious food disorder situation here, go see a doc immediately
If you answer both (B): Bribe Uncle Bob to make sure Kevan had such a good time in LA that he never leave
If you answer both (C): STOP WHINING! and start counting your blessings.

Hope this helps, your most trustworthy pal
weisan

[Len J]

as to how to help you. Climb said it much better than I could.

A few thoughts come to mind:

1.) When I find that I've slipped into doing things I don't want to do (Or not doing things I want to do) the first (and sometimes hardest) thing to do is to remind myself that I'm human....and sometimes I make mistakes. I have a habit of beating myself up if I am not careful (I'm ttougher on myself than anyone. So first thing I'd suggest is take a deep breath and give yourself a little break. You and I are alot alike in that we are very hard on ourselves. Be gentle friend.....you deserve gentleness.

2.) In thinking about my life and watching my kids, sometimes I think that the fear of success is almost as strong as the fear of failure. Both can keep us from doing what we need to do to be happy. Spend some time thinking about which one or both get in the way of you dieting.

3.) watching my wife, who is the most disclipined person I know about nutrition and her weight, struggle over the years to manage her weight, I've learned that the most important thing she does to control her weight is to manage portion sizes. She has gotten very good at understanding What portion sizes translate into what colories and how many calories she can have based on her exercise regime. She eats everything I do, she just eats less of it.

4.) Changing behaviors is hard work. Most behaviors are unconscious. In order to change one you have to go through 4 staages:
-Unconscious old behavior
-conscious old behavior (You have to realize you are doing it....as you pay attention, your realization of the old behavior gets closer and closer to the time it happens until you realize it when you are doing it and then before you do it)
-Conscious new behavior. (once you realize the old behavior, you have a chance of substituting new behaviors)
-Un conscious new behavior (Do the new behavior unough and it becomes unconscious)
It sounds like some of your eating is unconscious, a habit you have had for a long time........It's tken you a long time to ingrain these habits, don't expect to change them quickly.

Good luck buddy.

Len


4.)

[93legendti]

I want to lose weight. I really do- for health purposes and to improve my cycling. I weigh about 225 and could get to 185. Much lower and I would really look thin. I would probably look very trim at 190 or so.

So I go to a store and buy a little over a pound of tuna fish salad, and a 18 ounce loaf of multi-grain bread. I go home and go downstairs and start to watch some NCAA basketball. I start eating some tuna fish with some bread. The bread and tuna are both delicious. I keep telling myself that I should not eat too much. In a short time, the whole loaf of bread is gone, as is about 1 pound of tuna. I go upstairs a short while later. I stop in the kitchen and I wind up eating a bowl of no fat cottage cheese, no fat sour cream and a sliced banana. Then I go upstairs and I am famished. It is if I didn't eat anything. How could that be? I need help since I really want to lose weight and improve my cycling, but the more I eat the hungrier I get and the more I want to eat. It's frustrating and very discouraging.

Still,

Fatso Sandy

You need to eat foods that fill you and keep you satisfied--as well as add dietary fat. ( You didn't say how fast you ate. Sometimes merely slowing down your eating will fill you on less food.) Rather than bread with the tuna fish, eat it with a tomato, celery and cucumbers, like they serve tuna at a deli. I add olive oil, turmeric, cumin, paprika and garlic salt to my tuna fish. I also eat with peppers, tomatos or fruit. 1 can of tuna (if garnished properly) will satisfy my lunch/dinner needs. Try drinking more water which will fill you up. I never eat bread. Unless you are a pro or blessed with skinny genes, bread seems to be a way to ruin a diet. Good luck!

[Sandy]

I genuinely appreciate all the extremely well thought out and insightful answers. There is a great deal that I can take from them. I am just one single forum member, one single cyclist, and one single individual with a "problem", and an insignificant one, compared to problems that so many problems that people have, yet I get this remarkably caring and helpful advice.

I have decided to do the following, based upon the advice given-

1. I will eat 3 meals a day. I had been eating 2 meals up until several months ago.

2. I will try to chose healthy and nutritious foods. I will cut down on carbohydrates.

3. Most importantly, I will have the totality of food in front of me that I am going to eat during a given meal and will put it on one plate, and will not go back for seconds. I think that approach will save me from eating so much. It could make a remarkable difference in caloric intake.

4. Once a meal is done, I will not eat until the next meal, unless I am doing a large amount of exercise and feel I need some extra carbohydrates during the activity (cycling) but I will monitor how much I eat even then.

4. I will start drinking a reasonable amount of water during the day.

5. I will realize how fortunate I am to get such wonderful advice from caring forum members.

Thanks and I will let you know how I am doing in a few months.

Sometime Slim Sandy?????

[M_A_Martin]

Sandy,
One thing you need a plan for: What you plan to do if you do get extremely hungry between meals.

It sounds silly, but if I don't plan (and have available) what I'm going to eat if I get hungry and must have SOMETHING, I wind up eating some stuff I think I shouldn't.

My emergency food is an apple and 1/4c of plain, low fat yogurt. Not the sugary tasting yogurt, just plain low fat yogurt or a glass of low fat milk. My theory is, if my body gets hungry and I feed it something sweet, it's like a reward for it. So I just eat the apple and the little bit of yogurt or milk, that gives it some fiber, good carbs, protein, and fat to work on. If I just eat the apple, my body thinks it still needs something. The protein and fat in the dairy product makes it think that it has gotten more. I don't eat any of the fat free stuff. Your body needs a little bit of fat to make it think it's happy for some reason. The plus side of not eating the sweet tasting stuff, is that sooner or later, if you adjust the amount of sweet tasting foods you eat, you won't crave them so much.

Good Luck Sandy!

[92degrees]

Sandy, three meals a day is very important. Additionally, you don't want your blood sugar to drop between meals. You should try to have two snacks -- mid-morning and mid-afternoon. "Snack" being a cheese-stick, or a handfull of almonds, or a granny-smith apple. A little peanut butter (good fat) with the apple will make the apple digest slower and give you less of a sugar bump. Don't underestimate the effectiveness of water, either. Drink like a fish. :)

[Climb01742]

another good snack is put a little peanut butter -- not jif or skippy, but an all natural one -- on a banana. banana + peanut butter = aaaaaaah!

sandy, your plan sounds good. as ginger said, accept that you will, at times, feel hungry. that's just part of the deal. stock your kitchen with only, or close to only, good healthy stuff, so if you "cheat", you can only cheat so far.

it's gonna be slow and its gonna be tough, but it is really really possible. maybe read the south beach diet book. its not so much a "diet" book as an education in how to eat better for the rest of your life.

good luck!

[93legendti]

Sandy, three meals a day is very important. Additionally, you don't want your blood sugar to drop between meals. You should try to have two snacks -- mid-morning and mid-afternoon. "Snack" being a cheese-stick, or a handfull of almonds, or a granny-smith apple. A little peanut butter (good fat) with the apple will make the apple digest slower and give you less of a sugar bump. Don't underestimate the effectiveness of water, either. Drink like a fish. :)

good advice.

[Larry]

Sandy,

The beauty of it all is that you are striving to improve, and have sought out practical advice from very insightful folks.

On a daily basis, it amazes me how many people (at least here in Dallas)
are grossly overweight. The doctors must be bombarded with overweight people and their health problems. I must believe that most people simply give up and give in to obesity, and suffer the consequences.

My cardiologist, who rides a Legend and is super thin, has made it clear that I need to drop weight now. In my mind he has laid down the law, and I needed to hear this. Funny thing......my regular doctor has never been concerned with 30 pounds over weight.

You have all of our support and encouragement in your endeavor.
Happy cycling this spring!

Larry

[Michael Katz]

I love peanut butter. I admit it; I'm a peanut butter junkie. Nothing more satiating than sticking a spoon into a jar of natural peanut butter! But beware, peanut butter is high density calories. Don't lose sight of portion control! All the good advise you've been given still boils down to taking in less calories than you burn off. The bottom line is that it doesn't matter if it is "good calories" or "bad calories", if you take in more than you burn, you won't lose weight, you gain. Peanut butter and nuts in general are deceptive. What may appear to be a reasonable portion size can be very calorie dense. Take a banana and peanut butter. Medium size banana = 100 calories. What appears to be a reasonable amount of peanut butter to spread on the banana could end up being 4 tablespoons which= 380 calories. Scooping a hand full of nuts - same thing - what's a handful? Now your "between meal snack" is 480 calories. Do that a couple of times a day and suddenly you're scratching your head wondering why your weight loss plan isn't working even though you are only eating healthy foods.

[92degrees]

Yep, what Michael said. A "handful" of almonds should be 15 almonds. I don't know who has hands that small, but that's the guideline. Peanut butter is 2T/day. As Climb01742 said -- South Beach is interesting because it's not written as a diet but rather a "way of eating." It's long term, but you adapt very quickly to healthier eating and suddenly it becomes your natural behavior. Aside from eating healthier, it's nice that most people see a quick drop in the first couple of weeks (especially if you've been eating a lot of carbs/white flour/sugar) and then the weight loss slows to a healthy 1-2lbs/week for most folks.

[Sandy]

I hope that I didn't make a mistake. I decided to eat only one plateful of food per meal. The four foot diameter ceramic plate that Shino made for me is really heavy. Maybe I'll go back to a regular plate, pull off the roof of my house, and simply pile up my plate to the clouds. I might even meet Jack from the beanstalk story. :) :)

Starved Sandy

Meal one- Hard boiled egg, 2 ounces of tuna salad, and 2 oranges. Boy am I starved.


THANKS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

[92degrees]

Meal one- Hard boiled egg, 2 ounces of tuna salad, and 2 oranges. Boy am I starved. THANKS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!


Sandy, 2C of vegetables with every meal if possible. That was a lot of protein and the oranges are going to make your blood sugar spike -- which makes you hungry quickly. If that was breakfast, then a nice omlette with veggies and lowfat cheese, a V8, and maybe a little Canadian bacon would be a good start.

[Kevan]

"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."
Adelle Davis (1904-1974)

[jerk]

now this is really awful and the jerk shouldn't admit it and would strongly recommend that no one ever attempt this but here goes....when the jerk was racing he would train himself at a certain weight (say 170lbs), he would have very little fat alot of muscle and a great aerobic condition....then the important races would come and the jerk and his pals who were also in this same shape would go on their "diet" the idea was to to lose 10%-15% of one's body weight while maintaining the cardio-vascular system of the older larger rider.....so yeah, wattage would go down but speed and climbing ability and stamina would go up....a bit of explosiveness might be lost but it didn't matter....basically one would start to lose muscle (there really wasn't any fat left to lose), become really prone to sickness and chills but that was no matter. no to the important lesson? what do you eat when you are trying to force your body to digest itself? lots and lots of lettuce. with an oil/vinegar based dressing.....weird gross salads were to take the place of the carbs in the diet.....anyway.
jerk

[Rich_W]

Not that I've read this thread in its entirety... but after seeing some 20/20 newsprogram the other night... they mentioned a correlation between sleep and caloric intake.

Meaning folks that are surviving on less sleep are craving more calories. Folks that sleep more require less caloric intake. So they are saying part of losing weight is getting more sleep... with that, you'll have less cravings to eat more.

Does this make any sense?

[Skrawny]

I concur with everything said here (except maybe the newspaper thing -sorry Mr J.). The largest danger is pure carbs after a big cardiovascular workout. I have always been lucky with my weight (Ref: my screen name), but running or cycling both make one carbo-crave like a madman and pure carbs do not do much for satiety.

The Chris Carmichael Training system states that after a workout you have 1 hr to put the calories most efficiently back into the muscles -true, but most tend to overshoot the caloric requirements...
-s

PS-there have been studies that show people who are sleep deprived or stressed gain weight, but I haven't read them, don't know where they are, and don't know any more than that.

[PanTerra]

Don't buy food that comes in a box. Don't eat out where a lot of fat people eat.

[Larry]

Hey there Panterra!

Is there a place in Dallas where fat people do not eat ???

Obesity is rampant !!

Larry

[PanTerra]

Hey there Panterra!

Is there a place in Dallas where fat people do not eat ???

Obesity is rampant !!

Larry

I know, it is terrible. But think about what restaurants are frequented by obese people. Places with lots of the wrong kind of foods. As I posted before, I will not go to places where "a lot" of obese people eat. once when I was at Cici's I looked around at the patrons, and there were A LOT! Not just a few, and of all ages too. The kids were looking like their parents. I was seeing a pattern of seeing them at place like that, or Pancho's, or Golden Corral. These places have zero portion control. That is what I was talking about. That is when I decided that I don't need to eat at places like that. Their main staple pretty much "all you can eat" of the worst kind of food, and is only reinforcing them. I have never seen any obese people in the Noodle Bar, close to RMB. Great viet namese food.

[Larry]

Hey There Panterra,
1:40 a.m.

I will try the Noodle Bar. What is the best bet??

You are exactly right and quite insightful.

Ci Ci's, Golden Coralle .........etc.,...............no portion control and eating habits out of control. Why not eat more?! Surely it must be better!!
Just add up the calories of two or three big plates. Plus, the quality is not the best either. Lots of empty trans fat.

[jeffg]

and by that I mean eating several small courses. Always try to have ...

1. Soup or small first course

2. main course

3. salad course (can be vegetables as well, of course)

4. Fruit/desert

I find if you have one thing that you like, then portion control is difficult. If you plate up several things one after the other, then I tend to eat a more balanced diet and eat less overall.

Also, if you are riding alot some fat, protein, and CHO is key. Once you ramp up the intensity, it is very difficult to eat "diet-sized" portions.

Italians, eat pasta, but the generally don't eat a pound of it.

When you go out, try a place that focuses on quality and get a set menu. That way you get some variety and generally enforced portion control. I think you will tend to be much more satiated and you are forced to take a break between courses so you can't eat nonstop. Good luck Sandy, I am trying to slim down as well, so I'll be thinking of you.

[Climb01742]

losing weight does seem to break down into two parts:

knowing what and how to eat in a healthy way. and having the willpower to do it. the more i read about how food reacts in our bodies, i think many well-intentioned and motivated athletes have the willpower, but as they try to eat healthfully, they unknowingly eat the wrong things, don't see progress, then get discouraged.

sandy, i think you may, to some degree, fall into this category. i would suggest learning as much as you can about what eating well really means -- again, i think the south beach book and chris carmichaels' book aren't bad places to start -- and then use your cyclist's willpower. that may be the ticket.

as an example, my s.o. was juicing her own fruit and veggie juices in the morning trying to have as healthy a breakfast as possible, but then she learned in the south beach book that carrot juice -- one of her favs -- was like the worst juice -- super high is sugar i guess -- that she could have. who knew? so she had the willpower, but not the knowledge.

[M_A_Martin]

Carrot Juice bad, Carrots good.

Carrots have issue with their glycemic index. They're sugary, so a juiced carrot is mostly sugar, but they have so much fiber in them that as a whole, steamed vegetable, they outweigh their sugar.

Juice, on the whole, is just a sugar drink. Eating the fruits and veggies whole is much much better for you.

I toe the line, I make a morning smoothie of 2% milk, a banana, and some strawberries. (and my vitamins) Fiber, carbs, fat, protien. It's all in there...

Learning what foods are made up of is one of the cool thing about fitday.com You ad the foods you eat and you can immediatly see how many calories you've consumed and what they were compromised of. Fat, protien, carbs, and it also has reports on your vitamin and mineral intake as well. It's a good learning tool, and a good tool to use in conjunction with any diet book as it lets you see if you're actually following the perscribed intake correctly.

[spincycle]

Sandy,

I am a relatively new member of the forum and can appreciate your struggle with weight loss. It isn't easy. Based on my own experience you might consider weight watchers. I'm doing the program right now and absent a personal trainer, it's the only program I have found that allows you to adjust your caloric intake based on your level of activity. I seem to remember Spectrum Bob used weight watchers to lose a significant amount of weight.

I'm in week 7 of the program and I've averaged about 2 lbs a week loss since I've started. The first week was really tough, I stuck to the amount of food that I was alloted and tried to ride my weekly 90-100 miles. Couldn't do it, I bonked. When I told my facilitator what I was doing she gave me the calculator to add calories (points for weight watchers) based on physical activity a week or so early. It made a huge difference. I was able to ride comfortably and still lose weight.

The program is good in my opinion because you have accountability to some one else at your weekly weigh in meetings. It's a balanced diet that emphasizes healthy choices. They also encourage eating frequently, I eat five times a day. That way your metabolism stays fired up and you are less likely to over eat.

Sandy, you already have accomplished one of the keys to weight loss, routine exercise. The hardest thing most of the folks in my meeting group mention is the difficulty in doing any exercise. If you have any questions about the program PM me and I'd be happy to answer them. Good luck.

Frank

[zap]

I toe the line, I make a morning smoothie of 2% milk, a banana, and some strawberries. (and my vitamins) Fiber, carbs, fat, protien. It's all in there...

What, no raw eggs :rolleyes:

Could be a good way to lose weight. :D

A bit of topic, but weren't tape worms a popular method of weight control among the ladies in the '20's.

Sandy. Get out and ride. Get out and ride. Get out and ride. Get out and ride. Get out and ride fast. Get out and ride faster. Get out and ride faster still.

[Climb01742]

sandy, i'm shooting for a 500 calorie a day deficit. last week, i lost my one pound. but saturday and sunday my willpower wavered. gained back the pound it took me a week to lose. you aren't alone. willpower is a b*tch. don't beat yourself up. we're all human. it takes time. hang in, dude.

[Serotta PETE]

Sandy,,,come down and get some early season miles with me......I only have wine in house and you do not drink - - --so we will just ride ride ride....


PETE

[Sandy]

Thanks so much for all your truly wonderful ideas. I started my diet yesterday , based on the Serotta Forum input. I don't plan on failing this time. I will keep you wonderful folk posted. :) :)

Pete- I must do that and soon.

Sandy

[Satellite]

Sandy,

Buy another Serotta then you can't afford to eat. Just when you get the bank account back to eating status buy another Serotta. You will be thinned out in no-time.

I didn't read all the post so if this has been suggested before sorry.

Best Regards your porky (at 210lbs) friend,

Satellite

[vaxn8r]

Juice, on the whole, is just a sugar drink. Eating the fruits and veggies whole is much much better for you.
Exactly. Fruit juice is all the sugar and none of the filling fiber. Ever wonder why when you juice your own, it takes 3 oranges to get a glass of juice? Or 2-3 grapefruits? Who would eat 3 oranges at one sitting? Or 3 apples? You wouldn't. But we think nothing of drinking 8-12-16oz glasses of juice. That is a ton of sugar with no fiber.

Eat your fruits and veggies. Drink water.

[Skrawny]

In the first half of last century there were a bunch of diet pills sold which actually included tape worm eggs. It worked! People lost weight and they could eat anything they want... they also got vitamin deficiency, anemia, diarrhea and worms in their poo...

Also, at a restaurant in the past there where a bunch of people eating the hamburgers and loosing weight. The beef was from a butcher who was using the muscles in the neck area of the cow and including pieces of the thyroid gland. Imagine eating all the hamburgers you want and still loosing weight! Of course these people also had heat intolerance, tachycardia, muscle weakness, headaches, poor sleep, atrial fibrulation and buggy eyes. Occasionally people are caught abusing thyroid hormone to loose weight (mostly healthcare workers).

Diet pills of today usually contain caffeine and/or some other stimulant. These are great appetite suppressants and increase metabolism. Why else can some people wake up after 6-8 hrs of sleep, have coffee without much breakfast and head off to work? Of course, when the caffeine fades at about 10am they end up famished and eating whatever is nearby (mmmmmm, donuts). Other diet pills of the recent past have worse effects. Fe-Phen caused heart problems, Metabolife caused heart arrhythmias.

Moral: no easy pill (unless you don't mind heart problems, worms in your poo, or bug eyes)
-s

[Roy E. Munson]

Sandy - maybe you're smoking too much weed and the munchies are killing you. :D

[Sandy]

I must be eating too much weed. I seem to be eating most everything that I see. :butt: :butt:

Sandy

[mad_mark]

After the great advice I got (which helped provoke a lot of thought as well about the subject combined with some further research) when basically asking the same question, I've found a weekly ideal for me that I'm trying. Time will tell if it'll help, but I can't see it hurting.

Breakfast
Granola (limit to 1 cup - I was eating 3!) and a banana.
Coffee.

Snack
Fruit.

Lunch
Main meal, protein and carbs, some veggies.

Snack
Bowl of soup.

Dinner
Salad 4x a week - vary them as to content.
Sushi or something of that ilk 3x a week on harder training days. Low on quantity, high on quality with long chew time and a saited feeling on small amounts.
Fruit.

By eating the main meal at lunch, I have less time to eat it and will hence eat less. Plus it has longer to digest before I go to bed, and if I ride in the morning, helps to replenish. The soup is for extra fluids (I'm bad at drinking lots of water) and minerals (see Hainult and Genzling, that really pushed soup which is a good idea with the cold that can tend to make you want to eat more, you'll be full and warm so won't need to eat solid food). Plus it helps refill me so dinner isn't wanted to be as big of a meal, but I can't see any harm in chowing on extra lettuce if I feel really hungry in the evening.

I'll see how I do with it anyways. :banana:

Mark.

[jel]

Hi Sandy,

I cast my vote for Weight Watchers too. Not only can you adjust your food intake to match your exercise, but it helps teach you good nutrition habits. I've been on it 3 weeks - 5 pounds so far.

[hooverone]

What works well is before you have your dinner and or lunch have 2 glasses of water before eating, say 40 ounces, the water will help you feel fuller and it will help you from eating more than you want.

I have tried this and it works well.

Also when you are hungry have fruit or almonds do not have heavy carbs or sugary stuff, also from everything I have try to avoid liquid calories like soda and juice, a book that I found very informative is called the abs diet.

http://www.menshealth.com/absdiet/index2.html

Also to determine how much water to drink divide your weight in half and that is how many ounces of water you should drink so if someone weighed 200 pounds that would mean you should drink 100 ounces of water and of course if you do some cycling and drink say 60 ounces of water during that you should drink 100 ounces of water in addition to what you drink when you exercise.

Of course liquid calories like sports drinks while you are exercising or recoving are fine and good for you.

This is only from my experience hope it helps.




Jim