Diet Plan Recommendations

[Jonbo298]

Is there something any GT'ers have tried in terms of dieting that was a huge success? I know results vary and the whole "Eat a balanced meal and excercise" but I need more "oomph" in helping choose whats right/wrong, etc...Since I feel its time in the next month or less to start losing alot of the weight I gained in High School and whatnot.

So...basically, any recommendations I should look in to? I've looked around a little but confused by all the ones on whether some are shams or not :eyes: (and no, i'm not talking about the magical diet pill infomericials. Just legit diets seen on like AOL's Health area and whatnot). Oh, and I may have just said AOL but umm....I kinda have ot use it *shifty eyes* for "making paychecks" with but thats all I can say. Dont want to lose *shifty eyes*

[Stonecutter]

I feel its time in the next month or less

Dieting doesn't work like that, you can't just turn it on when you feel like it, you have to make a conscious effort and saying "I’m going to do it X" won't work. You can't take that attitude about it. Start today or you're probably never going to start.

Beginning of May I weighed 277 pounds. (I'm 6'2'')

I stopped drinking pop, stopped eating deep fried foods, threw in a little salad and started jogging.

As of yesterday morning I weigh 252 pounds.

I know it won't work for everybody, but the ONLY thing you need to lose weight is will power. Assuming you don't have any medical conditions, as long as you really want it and really work at it you WILL lose weight, if you don't, you won't.

Chances are you aren’t nearly the lard ass I was (or still kind of am, even) but just look at your lifestyle as far as eating and exercise goes and then make changes where you can.

[Jonbo298]

Right this minute, I cant "overhaul" my food selection. Granted, I may have the money to do so starting tomorrow but I just got groceries for the next few weeks and feel it would be odd ot just trash it all or whatever.

But I WANT to do it. I walk back/forth to work each day even if its only a block but I think its going to help. Plus, if I started more on the salad route and other healthy things, I need to plan it out just a smidge in the first place. But I think this will be the last time for a bit I buy the "throw in the microwave and eat it in under 15 minutes" route for when I do lunches for work (lunches are a half hour but always walk home for lunch).

[Dyne]

I used to weigh 255 and now I weigh an absolutely steady 190. I used to be formidably strong and I lost a lot of muscle but I also lost a lot of fat. It was over the course of about 4 months.

Anyways, my secret was diet and exercise. And the diet was mainly basic loose calorie counting. You lose 1 pound for every 3000 calories you burn / not eat. The average person needs only 2000, but when I was about 230, I calculated I needed about 2,100 for the extra weight.

My diet was pretty much a cup of non-sugary cereal in the morning with a bit of milk (200 calories-ish), a powerbar and lots of water for lunch (250 calories or so), and a hearty dinner, but only one helping of each (less than 1000 most always.) That was about 1450 calories for me. If you go to a buffet, that's fine; just don't take too much of anything - rather a little bit of everything.

Drink lots and lots of water. A faster metabolism means you'll lose weight faster.

Exercise. For god's sake exercise. You won't notice much difference at all if you don't. You'll never go out of a 20-pound range. And exercise isn't weight-lifting. It's more of a cardiovascular work-out that you need. I was 255 and I was doing stuff like that. You only start to burn fat after continuous but not exactly a rigorous 30 minutes of exercise, so keep that in mind. Exercise often. 3 times a week at least. I was doing it 5 times a week.

And finally, try to stay away from the scale. It won't tell you much other than your current weight with water-weight factored in. Check maybe every week or so, just to make sure you're on track. Other than that, just make sure you're going down. It's like the addage - it's impossible to watch water boil. Or at least it takes a really long time.

Find out your optimal weight on that height-to-weight scale and lose just enough weight to be, maybe, 5-10 pounds over. If you go right on or lower that fast, you will not get used to it. 90% of people gain more weight back. Get used to 10 pounds over, and then gradually fall down to it. It's a hell of a lot easier on your body.

Anyways, I hope this tips help. Good luck.

[Teuthida]

On average a pound burns 12 a day. So simply pick the weight you want to be, multiply that by 12, and try to take in no more than that many calories per day. You'll eventually reach that weight. That number of calories is what it takes your body to keep running. So if you exercise too you'll burn more and lose weight faster. And don't take in any calories from liquids. Oh, and green tea is magical. :D I accidently lost 10lbs one week when I started drinking it everyday. Besides helping in weight loss I noticed it cut my appetite.

This should help a lot:

http://home.howstuffworks.com/diet.htm

[Jonbo298]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Will surely keep em in mind

[Stonecutter]

There are a lot of foods that actually take more calories out than they put in. I know corn is one where, you might ingest 150 eating a cob but you'll lose like 175 digesting it. Might be something to look into.


*Those numbers are total bull****, but the concept isn’t.

[Jonbo298]

Intriguing

[Joeiss]

Jonbo, start hitting the gym, bud. I don't know how much muscle you have on you right now, but if you are overweight (or chubby or whatever, I don't know what you look like), and you start to loose a lot of weight, you'll want some muscle underneath there. Just do some basic workouts, I can make a plan for you if you want.

And what everybody else said seems good so far. Green tea does work wonders. Just concentrate on your eating, don't eat junk food or pop, don't eat fast food. And if you can, try to eat oatmeal and eggs every morning.

[Vampyr]

A few years ago I weighed 215 pounds. I came home from school one day, and just thought to myself "I don't want to be fat anymore". That VERY DAY I started running, and done it after school for the rest of the year, and through the summer. I stopped eating sweets and drinking pop. I lost 40 pounds, and I've kept it off.


And here's how to do it. I've done a lot of research on this over the course of the last two years, so I consider myself pretty knowledgable:


1. Stop drinking soda. Please. Just stop. It is a huge source of sugar, and it just isn't worth it. You get absolutely nothign out of it except a little water.

2. Caffeine. I love coffe, especially iced mocha's, but you need to watch caffeine. It can make other sugars hard to digest, and it's a diuretic, meaning you'll dehydrate yourself drinking it. However, a small amount a day can actually be helpful. So drink a diet coke or have a cold cup of frappacino before a workout if you need it to get started.

3. Excersize. You absolutely need to do this, especially cardio. However, I would also recommend lifting some weights as well. Why? Because when you ONLY diet, you burn mostly muscle instead of fat. And as soon as you stop dieting, you gain fat. You have just replaced muscles with fat. If you workout AND diet, then you'll build muscle and burn fat.

Keep in mind that running incinerates fat. Try this: Jog for about 30 seconds, then flat out run for 30 seconds. Repeat that for a while. As you get better at it, increase your run times to a minute, but remember to jog in between. This alternation between fast and slow does some major damage to the fat department, and you only need to do it for about 15 minutes. It's so much more effective than jogging a mile or two, and it takes less time. Just be warned: IT HURTS. I thought I was going to die the first time I did it.

Another reason I recommend lifting weights is because the bigger your muscles are, the more fat they burn. This means that you can be setting around watching TV and your large muscles will be burning fat for you.

4. STAY HYDRATED. I can't stress that enough. Most people walk around all day long, dehydrated, and they don't even know it. Drink lots and lots of water. Ever heard of creatine? That stuff that makes your muscles bigger? All it really does it cause them hold more water, and they will do that by themselves if you drink enough.

5. Eat something after you workout. This is important. After a workout, you're muslces are open and ready to recieve carbs. So eating a cup of lowfat yogurt or a bowel of grapenuts or something.

6. Eat healthy foods. Buy some unflavored unsweeted oatmeal. This stuff is insanely easy to make, makes you feel full, gives you a lot of energy, and is good for you. Other healthy foods include fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and nuts.

7. Get calcium in your diet. Calcium burns helps you lose weight. Milk and broccoli are good sources of calcium. I would recommend buying skim milk, 2% milk, or 1% chocolate milk.

8. Eat often. It sounds ridiculous, but it works. Instead of eating 3 meals a day, eat 6 smaller, healthier meals a day. This will keep your metabolism working. That's why starving yourself DOES NOT work. You're body gets used to not having food, and when you feed it it holds onto it for as long as possible. Eating more often keeps the motor revving.

9. Cheat once a week. Eat whatever you want for one meal a week: a burger, pizza, buffalo wings, you name it. Cheating once a week relieve stress, satisfies you, and keeps you from quitting your diet.

10. Get as much protein as you can. Eat an egg of a morning with your oatmeal, just remember to remove part of the yolk, because that's where all the fat is at. Next time you're at the grocery store, look for some whey powder. It's LOADED with protein, and you can add it to recipes or smoothies or whatever.

11. Speaking of smoothies...MAKE THEM! They are awesome to drink after a workout. Just throw together you favorite healthy foods. Add milk, some yogurt, fruits, peanut butter, whatever suits your fancy.

One of my favorites is:
Milk
0% fat vanilla yogurt
A table spoon of peanut butter
A couple squirts of chocolate syrup.
Whey powder if you can find it.




Also, check this website out:
http://www.menshealth.com

[Jonbo298]

Thanks for the new suggestions/replies. I'll also be evaluating them.

The only "issue" I have when dieting in terms of excersize is that I cant get too strenous since my back is still "healing" from the surgery a few years ago so I cant just to off and lift a good amount of weight yet :p and jogging is going to have to be mostly a fast walk for now.

My back seriously "moves" up/down or at least feels like it (might be from loose skin or whatever inside after they cut me open) and running/jogging might be too harsh for me to take until I can hopefully get used to the pain so it may for now just be some fast walking or whatnot.

[Vampyr]

Thanks for the new suggestions/replies. I'll also be evaluating them.

The only "issue" I have when dieting in terms of excersize is that I cant get too strenous since my back is still "healing" from the surgery a few years ago so I cant just to off and lift a good amount of weight yet :p and jogging is going to have to be mostly a fast walk for now.

My back seriously "moves" up/down or at least feels like it (might be from loose skin or whatever inside after they cut me open) and running/jogging might be too harsh for me to take until I can hopefully get used to the pain so it may for now just be some fast walking or whatnot.

Oh, I didn't know that. You might want to check with your doctor before doing anything though, just to make sure. It would suck if you messed yourself up or something.

[Jonbo298]

I dont have an actual "doctor" right now (insurance'less for now :( ) but I'm cautious about things so I will be taking it kinda slow for now. Walking is fine, fast walking is fine. Maybe some light jogging here and there and weight lifting should be fine as long as its not too heavy for now until I can get used to it

[Perfect Stu]

-stop drinking soda
-put on some muscle mass (the more muscle mass you have, the more carolies you burn)
-drink at least 2000mL of water every day (try to do 3000)
-move. get active. instead of walking up stairs, run. shoot some hoops. walk an extra mile ever day. skip. whatever it takes, just make sure you dont sit for extended periods of time.

When I feel like it, I can slim down fairly easily with some hard work and consistency. Key word? Consistency. One time I drank nothing but water for an entire week (it was TOUGH) but I felt like...twice as good at the end of the week than I did at the start. Make sure you've got some muscle on you...that helps big time.

[Bond]

I drink nearly a gallon of water a day. Yummy!


You need to change your lifestyle for long-term success. It's all about balanced diet and exercise. Notice that there is no "z" in exercise.

[DarrenMcLeod]

Dyne... a Powerbar and water for lunch? That doesn't sound like enough... a salad or a sandwich (whole wheat bread, not white) would probably be a good choice as well, wouldn't it?

Anyways, my dad bought the Body For Life book, and followed that program (www.bodyforlife.com i'm assuming). It's a 12 week program that teaches you how to adjust your lifestyle to a healthy one. If you have good willpower, it works extremely well, as it gives you one "free" day a week, without exercise and you can eat whatever you want. My dad lost 40 pounds in 12 weeks, which is awesome because he was 49 at the time, and quite overweight.

Really, it's just a matter of staying active, cutting on snack foods, and eating lighter. It's easier to say than do, but with good willpower, you can do it. "Dietting" isn't really the right term for it, since you should just plan on changing your lifestyle permanently rather than just for a few weeks time, otherwise you'll just go up and down in weight all the time.

[Jonbo298]

To Darren first: I dont plan to do this short term. I just called it diet'ing since its easier to get people to understand what I want to do ;) The source of alot of my 'problems' has been my self image so I dont to make this short term at all

-stop drinking soda
-put on some muscle mass (the more muscle mass you have, the more carolies you burn)
-drink at least 2000mL of water every day (try to do 3000)
-move. get active. instead of walking up stairs, run. shoot some hoops. walk an extra mile ever day. skip. whatever it takes, just make sure you dont sit for extended periods of time.

When I feel like it, I can slim down fairly easily with some hard work and consistency. Key word? Consistency. One time I drank nothing but water for an entire week (it was TOUGH) but I felt like...twice as good at the end of the week than I did at the start. Make sure you've got some muscle on you...that helps big time.

The soda I will be cutting back drastically. I've been taking a bottle of pop to work each day since when your doing inbound sales, you needs the liquids but when the bottle is empty I bring it home and fill it up with water and throw it in the fridge or something and on Lunch walk over to apt, eat a lunch and bring back a water but I think I'm gonna overhaul that and just bring 2 bottles of water to work (one partially frozen, other not or just 25% frozen). Then on lunch swap them for 2 more.

I plan to mainly lose the "belly fat" first of all since it stands out the most obviously :p but I dont want to just stop at that. My arms still have some muscle on them but its not a huge amount but its noticeable.

For me at work the way it is right now, I unfortunately have to sit quite alot. Heck, when they changed my schedule recently I have ALOT of days that are 10am-10:30pm. Granted, I may pace back and forth a little more often but not too much to make people look at me weird :p But on days off I may take a small walk or whatever to "get used" to what I will probably be doing for a long time hopefully.

*****

I think overall, I'm going to try to "get rid" of the foods in the house that are more fattening or calorie'ific or whatever. I have a few tv dinners and whatnot I just throw in the microwave on lunch but can just as easily make a sandwich and maybe drink a glass of milk or orange juice for lunch. But right now I dont want to just "trash" the food I just bought a few days ago before deciding to start doing what I should have a long time ago

[Joeiss]

Jonbo, some people have great success going cold turkey when it comes to their diet, others don't. Don't be afraid to slowly cut out the junk for your diet. You drink a bottle of pop a day? Well if you can't take having no pop at all, cut that to a bottle of pop every other day, then once every 3 days, then once a week, then none at all.

Like said before, its a lifestyle change, and lifestyle changes are hard when you change everything at once.

And buy boneless, skinless chicken breast. It is delicious. Eat complex carbs (oats, potatoes, brown rice) during the day, then stick to greens at night.

[Dyne]

Dyne... a Powerbar and water for lunch? That doesn't sound like enough... a salad or a sandwich (whole wheat bread, not white) would probably be a good choice as well, wouldn't it?

The results speak.

Of course, it was only during the week, and I was so busy with school that I didn't notice in the long term. Of course I ate normally on weekends but I also had more time to exercise.

Now that I've lost all that fat, I've gone back to eating whatever the hell I want. It works great. I stay 190 no matter what I eat. And it's been well over a year of this. I figure I only gained all that weight in the first place because of badly timed meals and my old karate training, which was pretty rigorous.

[Jonbo298]

I'm not gonna worry about killing out pop overnight basically. I can easily switch to all water in a heartbeat. The food stuff I have right now I'd rather get eaten so I dont waste the $50 I spent this check to get lunch type food and a few snack'y things

[Perfect Stu]

I can easily switch to all water in a heartbeat.



it is surprisingly hard to drink water 100% exclusively for an extended period of time. I did it more to test my will power than anything...drink water, but drink some juice and Gatorade (after you work up a sweat, Gatorade tastes like heaven). Just stay away from soda...cola in particular. That is pure sugar.

[Dyne]

Stay away from cola regardless. I started drinking it more than usual after I lost all my weight, and I got my first damn cavity.

It's all just bad karma.

[Joeiss]

Crystal light is good, and super low in cals.

[Jonbo298]

Well, let me clarify. What I meant by all water was at work. I forgot to add that tidbit. At home I'll probably drink some OJ or Milk, etc... here and there

[Perfect Stu]

let us know in a couple weeks how things are going...this summer i decided i wanted to lower my overall bulk...I dropped only 12 pounds but I lost 2 inches off my waist, didnt lose any strength, and got quite a bit quicker/faster

[Jonbo298]

I need to get a scale then so I can mark my "Current weight" and go from there if I can make it to the store in the morning :p If not I'll try for Tuesday morning and maybe get a few pictures of myself to see if there is a difference in a few weeks or not

[Stonecutter]

I drink nearly a gallon of water a day. Yummy!


You need to change your lifestyle for long-term success. It's all about balanced diet and exercise. Notice that there is no "z" in exercise.


Actually I'd say getting a proper number of Zs is very, very important to exercise. You're not going to want to do ANYTHING if you're tired all day. If anything starting a diet plan should be accompanied by adding MORE not less sleep to your day.

[Jonbo298]

I usually try to shoot for 6-8 hours of sleep depending on time spent on computer. I've started off the week by basically eliminating the "Take a bottle of pop and swap it for water later" when going home for Lunch to just all water. I may try to get in a walk tonight even though its not until like 10:30pm when I get off :eyes: But its at least a start until I can eventually get my overtime fleshed out more easily to get longer walks in.

Then probably come back home, rest up and watch a movie I rented and maybe eat something light. But food changes wont occur immediately because I already bought up a weeks worth or so of food and have to get rid of it first before buying more.

But thanks againe everyone for your suggestions so far. I've got at least a partial plan narrowed down until I can get a more permanent or semi-permanent one established

[Teuthida]

Do not drink orange juice.

(And with that comment I'm off for a week.)

[Jonbo298]

Anyone care to elaborate?

[Vampyr]

Do not drink orange juice.

(And with that comment I'm off for a week.)

Why? I guess it could give you heartburn...

And I wouldn't recommend eating a powerbar and a bottle of water for lunch either....You might lose weight, but it's not the good way to do it, and I can garuntee you'll lose more muscle than you should.

And Dyne, I'm the same weigh when it comes to staying at the same weight. After I lost those 40 pounds I hit 175, and I stayed there. No matter what I eat, it never changes.

However, I am afraid that after about 10 years my metabolism is going to stop being effective, so I'm working on being healthy right now, so that it becomes a lifestyle long before then. I do allow myself a little more leeway than I should, but I'm a teenager, I should live a little sometimes.

I have been excercising rigorously for about 5 months...I'm trying to get down to 10-12 percent body fat. Maybe another year. :D

[Dyne]

Anyone care to elaborate?

Orange juice is like pure sugar. Stay away from most if not all juice. Too many calories and not worth it.

Unless it's Aloe Vera juice. I find that stuff enjoyable.

Vampyr: It depends on the person. I sure benefitted from it. It's loaded with vitamins and it's satisfying enough to keep the metabolism going.

Actually, the real reason I only had powerbars and water for that period of time was because I didn't have a lunch. I went 7 periods straight. Previous semesters I would go home and have a corn dog or whatever, but I changed my ways.

[Jonbo298]

Ok, a question.

Considering I'm basing my water intake off bottles that used to be pop (the 24 oz bottles), how many roughly should I be drinking a day?

[Dyne]

Ok, a question.

Considering I'm basing my water intake off bottles that used to be pop (the 24 oz bottles), how many roughly should I be drinking a day?

Probably 4 bottles a day. You need 8 cups of water a day at least.

[Jonbo298]

hmm, thats not too bad. I can hadnle that

[Jonbo298]

An update. I've taken a more "official" initiative today with a new LiveJournal dedicated to tracking my hopeful weight loss over the next year or so. It can be viewed here http://www.livejournal.com/users/jonbo298_diet/ or will be in my sig for quite awhile