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Eating healthier
MNC Dover
Full-time Voice ActorKirkland, WARegistered User regular
Full-time Voice ActorKirkland, WARegistered User regular
Hey all!
Went to the doc recently and had all my tests and bloodwork done. Everything was great except my weight. I'm 5'11" and 220lbs. Sadly, I've been here before back in 2010 and was able to drop from 227 down to 180. That was over 5 years ago and, well long story short, life happened.
So now I'm in a much better place and want to get back on the health kick. I know that diet is way more important than exercise, so I'm looking for some advice/help in that department. Currently, this is my diet plan:
This was my old diet plan from back in 2010. The concept being that if you eat every 2 hours your body burns constantly and efficiently. I guess it worked back then.
My biggest problems with my current diet is the cheats and my sweet tooth. During the day at work, I'm constantly tempted by snack machines, candies, and so forth. I've been working around that by packing a few clementine oranges and snacking on those instead. After dinner though (say around 7pm), I start to get hungry again before dinner. As of now, all of the temptation foods are gone.
I'd love some advice on what I could swap in/out to help transition through the day better. Snacks that are low-calorie/healthy (that aren't too gross) would be ideal. As for exercise, I have an elliptical bike at home and am planning on getting back to it 45/day, 4-5/week. The wife and I just had a baby in November, so she's been taking up a lot of our free time. But I do want to be there for her, so I'm committed to getting back into a healthier place.
I should note that I'm not trying to get crazy buff or anything, just lose some weight and feel good in my body again. That can be anywhere between 180-200 lbs. Lower is fine, but not a priority. I also don't drink any alcohol, coffee, smoke, and consume water 95% of the time (I have a cup of hot chocolate in the morning...which I'd be sadly willing to part with).
Went to the doc recently and had all my tests and bloodwork done. Everything was great except my weight. I'm 5'11" and 220lbs. Sadly, I've been here before back in 2010 and was able to drop from 227 down to 180. That was over 5 years ago and, well long story short, life happened.
So now I'm in a much better place and want to get back on the health kick. I know that diet is way more important than exercise, so I'm looking for some advice/help in that department. Currently, this is my diet plan:
- Special K/Cheerios @8
- Apple @10
- Sandwich (Turkey/fat free cheese) + 1 serving chips @12
- Apple @2
- Yogurt/String cheese/banana @4
- Dinner (varies)
This was my old diet plan from back in 2010. The concept being that if you eat every 2 hours your body burns constantly and efficiently. I guess it worked back then.
My biggest problems with my current diet is the cheats and my sweet tooth. During the day at work, I'm constantly tempted by snack machines, candies, and so forth. I've been working around that by packing a few clementine oranges and snacking on those instead. After dinner though (say around 7pm), I start to get hungry again before dinner. As of now, all of the temptation foods are gone.
I'd love some advice on what I could swap in/out to help transition through the day better. Snacks that are low-calorie/healthy (that aren't too gross) would be ideal. As for exercise, I have an elliptical bike at home and am planning on getting back to it 45/day, 4-5/week. The wife and I just had a baby in November, so she's been taking up a lot of our free time. But I do want to be there for her, so I'm committed to getting back into a healthier place.
I should note that I'm not trying to get crazy buff or anything, just lose some weight and feel good in my body again. That can be anywhere between 180-200 lbs. Lower is fine, but not a priority. I also don't drink any alcohol, coffee, smoke, and consume water 95% of the time (I have a cup of hot chocolate in the morning...which I'd be sadly willing to part with).
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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Just eat real unprocessed foods and you can give up counting anything else after that.
Meat, fish/seafood, lots of vegetables, some fruits, seeds/nuts, sparing dairy. These ingredients can create just about endless delicious foods.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
When you add a ton of oil, butter, dressing, etc.
Use something, myfitnesspal.com is a good option, to count calories. Losing weight comes down to consuming less calories and the only way to consistently figure out how much you're eating is to track calories. It also provides a definite number that makes it harder to cheat. You can definitely eat better or worse, foods with fiber are generally more filling, which can make it easier, but it almost always comes down to how much you eat.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
How much do you exercise? What is your daily caloric intake? A better plan over time is to set a calorie limit on what you want to do and keep a food journal so you are actually thinking about what you want to eat each day ("cheats" included). It's ok to go to Steak n Shake and get a burger, fries and milk shake every so often if you are planning your calories around them. If you are running/working out 30 minutes every day that also helps anticipate those times when you want to have some good old fashion comfort foods.
Changing your diet to cut out "processed" foods isn't sustainable or (generally speaking) affordable in the US. That said, a great way to cut back on the calories AND save money is to never buy food that you don't prepare or package yourself. Steer away from gas stations, vending machines, and restaurants and stick with picking out the foods you want from your grocery store. Want a sweet snack? Pick something at the grocery that you can portion yourself in a ziplock or plastic tupperware and reuse. That way you are controlling how much and when you eat, and how many calories/fats/proteins/carbs you eat rather than ignoring it and going to the vending machines.
You'll also probably start saving 30-100 dollars a week if you consistently buy lunches and snacks.
Any food that isn't off a tree is "processed." That turkey you are eating? Chopped, probably injected with all sorts of sugars and salts, and then cured before being sliced. The bread you are using? Made from even more things that are crafted and refined into the tools to make it. Processed means literally nothing aside from being non-whole food (as in something you pull off a tree and do nothing to) and even that is questionable as most whole fruits have rinds polished and dyed (every orange and citrus) or specific forms of washing between farm and grocery. None of this is bad, it's how we make food better (or worse, in the case of things like Pop Tarts where all nutritional value has been leeched away). Ignore buzzwords and just plan out your food better.
Coffee is probably better for you than the hot chocolate. Caffeine in moderation is great for you.
For low-calorie, healthy snacks, my go-to is strawberries. Especially if you pack it yourself and control the amount. Some people swear by jerky or nuts, but I think those are a bit high in calories.
To Enc's point, preparing stuff yourself makes a huge difference. Especially the bit about vending machines and gas stations. Restaurants are still suboptimal but not nearly as bad imo.
I've been hearing a lot about being overweight and active recently, in the sense that even if exercise doesn't help you lose weight that much, you're be healthier and feel better, so even if only half your plan takes off you're doing pretty good.
Congrats on the baby!
It sounds very low in calories for a tall man. That's about what I eat and I'm a small woman. No wonder you are hungry!
"Dinner" sounds like it could be anything. Maybe that is where the problem lies. I find I'm happy with a small dinner if lunch was generous.
Try drinking tea with no sugar if you feel like snacking. (milk is OK)
Don't worry about processed food. watch your portion size, limit snacking, cut out soda, and get active.
if you have to snack, keep it small and stick to things that aren't caloriclly dense
What do you make your smoothies out of? I'd probably like orange, apple, or strawberry best. I'm assuming I'll need to purchase a blender, yes?
Usually I have 1 cheat day a week, typically Friday. Exercise used to be 5 times/week, but I haven't been on that since the baby a few months back. Now that she's a bit older, I'll try and start sneaking it back in, but I can't leave her alone quite yet (SIDS is so scary!). But yeah, 45 minutes on the elliptical bike, which I have at home so no gym/driving to contend with.
As for the foods, I'm eating wheat bread and prepacked sandwich meats (chicken or turkey). It seems almost impossible to steer around processed stuff these days.
I can easily swap out cereal for eggs during breakfast. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not 100% hardcore on my old diet. I never drink coffee (yuck!), but admit that hot chocolate is a sweet tooth/starter in the morning. Since it's mostly, if not all, sugar I'll phase it out too and sub in more water.
Seems like baggied fruits/veggies for snacks is a running theme here. I'll give that a shot. I know that blueberries are a "super food", but are their any other suggestions from everyone, based on personal opinions/taste? Ideally I'd stick with oranges, apples, strawberries, and bananas.
And thanks for the baby comment! She's such a cutie...when she's not screaming for her diet food of choice.
The diet is very boring I'll admit, but it worked back when. I certainly don't have any problems in changing things up. Dinner usually ends up being whatever the wife and I end up cooking. Chicken, pasta, rice, steak, etc. Definitely the worst part of the day calorie-wise, but the rest of the day is usually lighter to make up for it.
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Also a lunch suggestion -- I've been eating a can of soup for lunch every day. Working that in now and then might be nice -- I like it because there's plenty of flavor options and it's a discrete number of calories you're taking in (vs a sandwich which could be more/less any given day depending on how carefully you make it).
It goes to the point others have mentioned - you need to change your eating habits for the rest of your life.
Those of us who've managed this feat, over many years, we behave like we have food allergies, or religious restrictions. Our eating habits are so ingrained that our cheat meals happen like once a month or less.
Second, strength training is more important than cardio. Muscle burns more calories at rest, so if you don't have time for both, get your strength training in first.
Without a gym, pushups, pullups, squats, and curls are examples of strength training that can be done at home with minimal equipment, taking less space than a stationary bike.
if comparing metabolic activity, than endurance trained muscle is far far better at using stored fat/sugar and "using up" calories
Strength training is about making your muscles bigger, it does nothing for substrate usage.
Though honestly, any activity is good. worry about outpacing your calories in and then get towards training to be better at it.
Yep you'll need a blender. It doesn't take anything fancy though it just needs to be able to blend frozen fruit and/or ice.
I change up what I toss in there but my preferred is fresh pineapple and kiwi with frozen strawberries. I add some non fat yogurt and soy milk to get the consistency I want. All and all mine come out to ~400 calories for a couple eight ounce glasses I'll drink in the morning.
That said it's honestly pretty hard to screw up a smoothie. Even combinations I experimented with and didn't care for were perfectly drinkable.
They also won't be as sweet as some place like Jamba Juice which will often add frozen yogurt and/or fruit juice. That's why I try to throw in something fresh with a strong, tart flavor.
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More muscle mass = more maintenance calories for that mass.
Larger muscles burn more calories than smaller at rest. They have a higher BMR (basal metabolic rate) than smaller muscles. He's not comparing rest vs. activity with the same sized muscles. This is rest vs. rest with larger muscles.
This is also not a thread to get into cardio vs. strength. Both have benefits, and losing weight is about calorie deficit. Everyone can agree on that.
To the OP, I've done MyFitnessPal for some years, and it's definitely useful for finding out what you're taking in during the day, as well as training yourself to eyeball portions. I find calorie counting kind of tedious, but I've learned quite a bit since I've started using it, and lost about 15 lbs. Just taking things to the next step, because I've got the same goal as you (portion control, and avoiding high sugar/low nutritional value foods), ha ha.
Having said that, I think the diet you've written out is in a sweet spot of being both difficult to stick to and kind of ineffective. Everything on there except the fruit is something that I wouldn't recommend as a part of a diet. My personal, simple plan would be
1. Cut out sugar (fruit is ok, yoghurt and cereal not so much) as much as possible. Go for drinks first, that's the low hanging fruit)
2. Find a kind of exercise you enjoy doing and then do it with an eye towards progression. Strength training is great, it's what I do, but if it's not your cup of tea you won't stick with it, so what's the point? Exercise isn't a one size fits all category. Like running? Train to run faster. Like Zumba? Train to get better at Zumba. Whatever it is, the key is progression.
3. Eat three satisfying meals a day that contain a protein source, a bunch of vegetables and some light carbs. Cook it yourself and don't eat any packaged stuff. That's what is meant by the proscription on "processed foods" before it descends into pedantry. Chili is easy to make in batches and is a good candidate. Chicken, fish, all kinds of stuff is good. Use seasonings rather than sauces to add flavour.
4. If you're a real sugar bug, my personal preferred tactic is to cut it out entirely. Zero tolerance on snacks at work, for sure. Think of it this way: the longer you go without those foods the less you'll miss them. Eating them again resets that clock. It's tough at first! It's strict! It works super well at building a diet that isn't hard to stick to long term because you stop caring about donuts and chocolate or whatever. Your mileage may vary as to how achievable this is
simple, high nutrition meals... you can't go wrong. agree w/ prepare them yourself. the delta between a personally prepared meal and something you get in a plastic bag is quite large
steamed vegetables + a meat is a good place to start. something like a chicken breast is very easy to cook and make flavorful with no skill and no spice rack. most of the time you can go fridge to plate in under 10 minutes.
i would recommend beans as a good high fiber food, fiber helps to quell appetite
Frozen vegetables that you can steam/microwave up too.
As long as it's not doused in sauces or oils you're probably good, and it's better than downing a pizza or box of cheezits
Switching from soda to mineral water is a good idea. As long as it's carbonated, I found that it satisfied my soda cravings just as good.
Polar Seltzer is also awesome if you have it available.
For example, a 400 calorie shake is equivalent to an 2 egg, ham and cheese omelet, and the omelet will fill you up better, for longer. Likewise, it's more difficult to eat 400 calories in whole fruit in one sitting, compared to drinking it, as it takes a while to eat that much fruit, as that's about 4 whole apples, so you end up eating just 100-200 calories in whole fruit before feeling full.
Next, sauces like mayonnaise are almost 100 calories per tablespoon, and if you ate just 100 extra calories every day, that ends up being 10 lbs of weight gain over a year. Comparatively, ketchup, mustard, or even BBQ sauce are just 10-20 calories per tablespoon.
Dressing is similar, in that Italian dressing is about 45 calories per tablespoon, so if you aren't careful, if you don't try to toss your salad, you end up eating 3-4 tablespoons of dressing instead of just 1, for an extra 100-150 calories. Ranch dressing is worse at closer to 60 calories per tablespoon.
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Every one's metabolism is different, maybe give it a shot.
Note that when I saw "popcorn" I mean just popcorn with a little bit of oil and no butter and a dash of salt. It's pretty easy/cheap to buy it in bulk with some oil and pop it over the stove in a steel bowl or pan.
This is a very good way to track calories and it will even stop you from 'cheating' with a snack when you know you don't have much calorie overheard left for the day. I add this with my garmin fitness watch (tracks my runs and workouts) this automatically adds my calories burned to my daily total on the website.
Been super helpful in the last month. In the last six months I've put on 15 pounds, because of a new medication (I'm 6'2'') which isn't much for my height. For me thought it feels like a ton when I'm running. So I've got to be a lot more careful with the calories I ingest then I used to be.
Good luck to you and I know SIDS is scary, but you can definitely get some stationary bike time in when she is napping. If you are super worried about it you could always get this!
― John Quincy Adams
Great source of protein. There's still some sugar, but it's half of what you'd be eating with regular yogurt.
For snacking, what about subbing out those apples? I find baby carrots are the easiest for me, rather than something like raw brocolli.
Of course, I say this with a coke and jube jubes on my desk right now.
/potkettle
Baby carrots, huh? I guess. Healthy = bland or gross it seems.
I'm also eating clementines as snacks. Too high in sugar? How would fruit smoothies fit into a diet? Are they good/bad for you?
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When you keep your calorie counts, you can choose what you want to eat that day (including what choices are best for calories down to comparing two types of fruit or vegetable) to help you fill out how much you will eat that day. Knowing the caloric values of oranges or clementines or 8 oz of chocolate is how you make sure you are burning more than you eat.
Just saying: "Well everything but X, Y, and Z are bad so only eat those types of things" is generally neither possible in most places affordable with food availability nor generally sustainable unless you have specific health risks limiting your diet.
Apples are definitely GOOD, but the reason they taste good is because they are packed with natural sugars. Certainly, apples > sweet candies, but if you're dropping weight, sugar is still sugar. Fruit is good, but it's still packed with energy.
When I get snacky I eat a fruit and drink a bunch of water to fill my stomach and that works for me. A big thing was just realizing how much idle snacking I used to do - now I snack with purpose!
To me, this means that you can basically keep eating the same things you're already eating, just less of them. If you find yourself being hungry, replace unhealthy/small snack foods (chips, candy, chocolate) with healthy/big snack food (fruits).
Make meaningful changes, but changes you can stick to.
Maybe instead of a soda, have some water with lemon (or even diet soda).
Maybe instead of a bag of chips, you have an apple or string cheese.
Maybe instead of a slice of pizza you get some chicken and broccoli.
Maybe instead of clearing your plate and scooping the remnants into your mouth, you leave a little bit of food on the plate.
Make all your decisions meaningful, but meaningful to you. If you just cut out soda, well, that's still great man, good job, keep it up. Did you have a cheat day? I'm sorry bro, but you know what, we all have our faults, just try harder next time, you're still doing well if you cut it out for 6 out of the 7 days.
Small changes add up. Soda every day could be 20 lbs worth of weight over the course of a year.