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A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that my shorts seemed tighter than usual. And then a few days ago, the same thing happened with my jeans. I’m generally not a fan of the scale, but I weighed myself because there were so many questions running through my head. Had I gained weight? Why did my clothes not fit the way the used to? Did my clothes shrink in the dryer? It turns out that I did gain a few pounds. No big deal, but where the heck did those pounds come from?
At first, I thought the weight was due to marathon training, but when I started to think about my diet over the past few months, I noticed that my eating habits were a lot more “laid-back” on the weekends. During the week, my eating habits were pretty healthy. I ate lots of fresh produce, whole grains and low-fat protein, but I let loose on the weekends. All I could think about is the fancy multi-course meals, happy hours, barbecues, wedding celebrations … let’s just say, I had a really fun summer. I guess I embraced “eat, drink and be merry” to its fullest!
When I was losing weight, I noticed that the scale would plateau every few weeks. I wouldn’t lose any weight, and special events were likely to blame for those plateaus. Even when I was losing weight, I never deprived myself. I’d enjoy a beer at happy hour or a piece of cake at a wedding. Those splurges were worth it to me, so I just accepted that those special times would stall my weight loss a little bit, but I wouldn’t have done it any other way. Eventually, the weight came off -- and stayed off.
09:19 AM on 9/13/2011
A good preventive too. Being thin is not enough. How you are thin matters most.
07:26 PM on 9/10/2011
Excellent tips.
Cookbooks with recipes from the Mediterranean countries are a great help because they have many delicious ways of preparing all kinds of vegetables. Now that the tomatoes in the garden are ripening, it’s time for Tunisian grilled vegetable salad and Spanish cauliflower with tomatoes and ham.
06:32 PM on 9/10/2011
Check this out:
Top 10 Diet Mistakes...
http://www.angrytrainerfitness.com/2010/10/top-10-biggest-diet-mistakes/
07:30 PM on 9/10/2011
Thanks! A great complementary addition to this article.
21 hours ago (2:57 PM)
Once again, counting calories is bunk. I have lost an enormous amount of weight on a high fat, low carbohydrate diet. Meat, vegetables, eggs, fish, nuts, coconut oil (a true miracle food), our bodies evolved to process a hunter gatherer diet.
As long as you avoid starches and sugars, you don’t have to starve yourself. You will crave bread and sweets very badly in the beginning, but your body adapts and the cravings will die down. And avoid artificial sweeteners like aspartame and splenda, they are just as fattening and unhealthy as the real thing. If you’re really craving soda, look for a stevia-sweetened brand.
10:15 AM on 9/13/2011
Thanks MJ – love your tag line!
5 seconds ago (12:15 PM)
No, it’s the quality of what you eat, not the amount. If you are eating wholesome, grass-fed beef and vegetables, you can eat to the point of satiation so long as you avoid the white bread and the sugars. With this lifestyle, I’m never hungry, but I do have cravings for sweets and bread, and they get less and less frequent as time goes by.
Look up low-carb, ketosis diets.
29 minutes ago (11:45 AM)
How many calories are you consuming on the High fat, low carb diet? If you aren’t counting that doesn’t mean you aren’t eating less.
23 hours ago (1:32 PM)
Just because I’m 600 lbs and writing from a custom, double-wide, WalMart/America edition swiveling office chair DOES NOT MEAN I am not qualified to explain why you are wrong and I am right about weight loss.
One: If you want to lose weight, not eating breakfast is one of the first things a dietician will tell you to do.*
Two: MacDonaldz has a new heart healthy menu that provides delicious, nutritious, "beefy" nutrients directly injected into your bloodstream via power injected beef like foodstuffs delivered to your oral cavity at a high velocity. Eat MacDonaldz to lose weight. Eat MacDonaldz fast to strengthen your biceps, triceps, and forearms. Also your heart.
Three: Do not count calories and DO NOT READ LABELS! God no! As a general rule, it is safe to remove the last number from any given calorie count. Example: a DQP w/Cheeze and large Fry are not 1240 calories, they are 124, which means it is safe to eat MacDonaldz everyday for lunch and dinner.
Four: Eat MacDonaldz.
Five: Other countries aren’t as fat as us because they actually take more than 10 minutes to woof down more than half their recommended caloric intake, hand delivered to them in the side of their car in pretty little wrappers for bottom dollar. Think about that…
*I’m fairly confident this one is actually true.
23 hours ago (12:56 PM)
Wow. Eat healthy and exercise? Do people actually get paid to write these articles?
24 hours ago (12:28 PM)
-Learn to like dark chocolate.
-Eat plain, organic yogurt with a bit of jam for after-dinner dessert.
-Small-ish dinners (soups, salads, etc.)
-Yoga… even if just sun salutations!
24 hours ago (12:15 PM)
My wife and I are in our 50s and 60s, so not as active as once were. We used to have more or less common sense guidelines for eating:
- eat to reduce hunger
- eat low on the food chain, ethnic heritage
- avoid processed foods
- sugar is poison; alcohol isn’t worth it (anymore)
But a few days ago we found an Android app I’ll recommend, which is focusing us on calorie intake and exercise, by the numbers. It’s called "Lose it!". There is probably an ipod version also.
12:12 PM on 9/13/2011
Well, at least this article wasn’t full of "eat more broccoli ’cause it decreases cancer but wait, don’t because it increases cholesterol" type of tips. I hate those. I think we know vegetables are good and candy is bad by now.
Stupid, though. Really. Come up with a better article; this was fluff.
12:12 PM on 9/13/2011
Great tips. Another benefit of fixing your own meals and cutting out excess fat and sugar that is hidden in restaurant meals is that soon you’ll notice you don’t feel so great after you eat those heavy cream filled mashed potatoes at the restaurant. You’ll wind up eating less at the restaurant.
11:59 AM on 9/13/2011
Eat in moderation. Eat junk food rarely if at all. Get some walking done at least once a day. To and from the car doesn’t count.
09:50 AM on 9/13/2011
There’s only one way that actually works over the long-term: 1) Proper exercise.
10:14 AM on 9/13/2011
1. Have a complete doctor’s examination
2. Exercise
3. Eat properly
it’s not rocket science………..
23 hours ago (1:34 PM)
No, no, no. I disagree with you. The proper way to maintain a healthy weight is to eat nothing but fast food until you are so fat state insurance programs will pay to have your stomach stapled. Also you must drink a lot of Gatorade because it’s got electrolytes and it’s what athletes drink…and look at how healthy they are man!
23 hours ago (1:40 PM)
Then why do some health nuts eat 10,000 calories a day, exercise for 2 hours a day and look terrific? I’m just saying.
I agree with your first statement, but I think your last statement of no amount of exercise will fix it is wrong…if we’re just talking weight wise.
12:10 PM on 9/13/2011
no, diet plays a larger role in weight maintenance than exercise does. Both are important however.
23 hours ago (1:23 PM)
I agree and disagree. Yes because it’s true. But no because it’s not the whole truth for the long term. When I was younger, exercise was all I needed. I could eat anything I wanted. As I got older, a change in diet was the only way to keep fit. I also gave up on cardio (at least as a means of weight control) altogether, as it did very little. I do only weight training, mainly resistance, now and eat a high produce diet and I stay fit. So, long term, my advice to people is to read their body and not fall into a lull. You don’t have to say, "well I’m getting older, so I’ll get fatter". You just may need to adjust a regimen that might have worked at one time, but is no longer optimal.
Side note, at least in my case…muscle efficiency. I have more muscle mass now than in my twenties, but I’m barely as strong as I was. That took some getting used to. I had to bulk up just to maintain a level of fitness that I enjoyed for 20 years. Getting old is strange, even when you’re expecting it all to happen.
09:45 AM on 9/13/2011
I swore off eat in or take out restaurants foods (and saved a load of money).
I got rid of all the processed carbohydrates in the house. If it is in the house, it will call to me.
I eat basically the same thing and same amount every day so 1. dont need to work out carbs and calories and 2. it is boring so I dont overeat. I dont look for "new" foods that will thrill my palate. It is better to leave sleeping palates dormant.
Have somebody around that CAN eat the "rest". So if I crave a turtle sundae I have 2 small spoonfuls and DH eats the rest.
I started my new way of eating a year ago by putting all the foods on a plate that I thought I could eat and lose weight. Then as I didnt lose weight I took foods off that plate. I was amazed by how little I needed to eat and still lose weight. And after losing some weight, more things came off the plate.
I now eat veggies, berry fruits, meat and dairy in small quantities. And I dont crave the carbs either. I can pass the dessert section of stores and parties without feeling deprived.
09:43 AM on 9/13/2011
The place to find motivation to lose weight is http://reddit.com/r/loseit
Amazing what these people do.
09:28 AM on 9/13/2011
Drink plenty of water – body doesnt know if its thirsty or hungry
If water does it, ya werent hungry – and brain is always thirsty
Use a mirror – hit the gym – muscle weighs a lot more than fat
09:53 AM on 9/13/2011
It has also been scientifically proven that people who eat breakfast on a regular basis weigh more.
09:27 AM on 9/13/2011
The idea that your metabolism will slow down if you don’t eat every 3 hours is a myth. If that were really true, prehistoric man would never have survived.
10:10 AM on 9/13/2011
I would argue against this. Sure, you intake calories in the morning, but you also jump-start your metabolism. If you have energy to burn (healthy breakfast, like oatmeal and protein yogurt), your metabolism will work. However if you routinely skip breakfast, you are more-inclined to eat a larger lunch to make up for your caloric deficiencies. If you eat a healthy breakfast, it becomes easier mentally to eat a good lunch to keep up your daily progress. One good deed leads to another as far as eating is concerned.
11:33 AM on 9/13/2011
Link please? I googled "people who eat breakfast weigh more" and it looks like all the links are to pages about how breakfast helps lose weight.
Edit: found one that says "BIG breakfasts" may make you fat.. well no duh
11:46 AM on 9/13/2011
The words "scientifically proven" are meaningless. Science technically never proves anything, instead one says there is a preponderance of evidence to support the hypothesis.
The term "scientifically proven" is only used by people with no science backgrounds. Using science to back up points is good. Claiming it proved something is incorrect.
11:28 AM on 9/13/2011
It’s not that your system slows down after 3 hours, it’s that it doesn’t operate as efficiently as it could be. Say I ate 3 hours ago.. sure the food is not through and out yet, but my stomach is already empty and is ready to process new food.
It’s like a campfire.. you can start one huge one and have it burn through all your wood in an hour or two; or you could keep a moderate fire going all night long. The fire will produce the same amount of heat, except naturally the bigger fire produces this heat energy a lot quicker, while the small fire keeps you warm longer.
Now lets take the fire analogy back to food and eating. If you have, say, 500-calorie meals every few hours the "fire" in you keeps burning all day long. If you eat two or three big meals a day it becomes like the huge bonfire that burns loads you up with a lot of energy (heat/calories), your body is likely to store the extra energy as fat (since the energy doesn’t just escape from your body like heat does from a fire)..
Also smaller, well-balanced meals can help those who are concerned with their blood sugar spiking and dropping.