Losing weight - Am I doing everything right? (1 Viewer)

[Edwin_C]

multivitamins are for the picky. people didn't need mvs until modern age. all the vitamins and minerals that mvs give you come from food. so whatever you can get from a pill, you can get from food. you may not like the taste of it though, which is why a lot of people opt to take mvs instead. lastly.. life expectancy back then was due to diseases, not lack of vitamins.

 

[Bill Catherall]

So the real problem here that is being danced around is: How many vitamins/minerals do we need? Is 500 mg of vitamin C enough or do we need 1000 mg? 2000 mg? What about all the other vitamins or minerals? What about phytonutrients?

Sure, I was able to live and grow for 29 years without a multi-vitamin. Yes, your body will get nutrients from the food it eats. Our food isn't completely deplete of nutritional value. However, studies today show that many degenerative diseases are caused by lack of proper nutrition and that the foods we eat don't offer enough of the nutrition that we need. Only "picky" people take a multi-vitamin? Fine. I'd rather be picky than sorry.

 

[Chris PC]

I agree. If a multi-vitamin prevents certain deseases, then that might be the way to go. I'm researching that myself. I do feel we SHOULD be able to get all of our nutrients from our food, as I said, but I guess until I'm certain I can, perhaps I'll look into multivitamins. Can't hurt. Vitamin C is handy. Any time I feel a cold coming on, I take 1 or 2 grams (thats 1000 or 2000 mg) of vitamin C. Only when I feel a cold or virus, and then of course if I'm sick. I truly believe it helps. Also, not that I condone drinking, but if you have had a few too many drinks, vitamin C is THE ONLY thing I've ever heard anywhere that actually has a positive affect both while you're drunk, and afterwards. That and of course, drinking plenty of water, or better yet, don't drink too much, as its not good for you

Calcium is really good to. Important for cardiovascular and bones. Did you know that if you ate 20 cherries (dried is easier), you obtain the equivalent affect of one aspirin?

Thats my post for the day.

 

[Edwin_C]

you guys are acting like mvs are miracle drugs, when they're not. it's just components from the foods that the fda recommends we eat. if you eat the amt of food and food groups the fda recommends, you'll get your daily allowance of all the necessary vitamins.

if you feel a cold coming along, it's just the same to drink orange juice. taking vitamin c supplements doesn't make you get better any quicker then oj would. in some cases, i use mvs.. but to use them as a reason to not eat healthy is just picky. however, if you do eat healthy and you take mvs.. know that there is a such thing as "taking too much." even with mvs.

%dv for vitamin c is 60 mg.

i've never heard of vitamin c having a positive effect on you while you're drunk... source?

 

[Cary_H]

$#@%^ I hate when I try post to a thread and when I submit it I find I've been logged out and the page my rant was on is expired!!

 

[Cary_H]

What the basic gist of my lost post was;

I have no time for the FDA and our CDN equivalent. These are the same clowns that came up with those ridiculous height/weight optimal numbers to determine the risk we are taking with our health.

The idea of taking MVs is to hedge against late-term health problems that might prove to stem from long-term vit/mc deficiencies that we're not yet aware of.

 

[Cary_H]

Without getting long winded here....I side pretty much with Josh here. I only have an issue with fats. You need fats to help digest protein. Get it from good sources and bump it up. And don't let carbs become the prime fuel source.

I also suggest staying away from carbs pre-workout. Dump them in immediately post-workout, and get in the big post- workout meal an hour or so after that.

Keep a journal of your diet if only for shock value.
It's tough to eat clean, on schedule, and in sufficient, consistant quantity, each and every day. It will reveal all.
You'll know when you're close to right when food shopping, cooking, and eating becomes a real pain in the ass.

 

[Jason_Els]

John-- I'm completely amazed at what you've accomplished. Simply

I really want to start a program but I'm constrained by time, particularly in the morning. I work 10 hour days so I'm away from home nearly all the day.

Are there ANY decent quick-grab breakfast bars or SOMETHING I could get that doesn't require cooking or standing around eating? I usually bring a bagel with cream cheese (I know, I know) to work. I also need something I can snack at my desk. A 6-oz can of tuna wouldn't be allowed but self-contained, non-smelly foods are. I like the idea of grazing through the day but whatever I get has to be available or brought in from home and kept in a cooler bag.

Finding and preparing healthy foods is an enormous problem for me because of my work schedule. My 10 hour days are book-ended by 1 hour commutes each way though I do get 3 days off in a row to compensate for it.

In short, are there decent healthy prepared foods? My office is close to a Subway, a McDonald's, a Burger King, a Denny's, and a few diners and delis. There is a Japanese place where I try to have sushi once a week but it's quite expensive and I can't afford to eat there every day. Most days I eat a bagel, a subway, and an ice cream cone. Yeah I'm fat but I have no idea how to accomodate something like John's diet into my work day.

Thanks for any ideas and THANK YOU John. I'm floored by how good you look in such a short time without starving yourself.

 

[JoshF]

Jason: Put the bagel down. Step away from the bagel, sir.

If anything, have a whole-wheat bagel if you can find it, but then you'll want to forego the cream cheese.

Oatmeal is a good breakfast alternative. So are some cereals and yogurts. Those take maybe 1 minute to prepare. Make the time. Don't eat the bagel, but don't skip breakfast.

For lunch, if you can't bring anything (a good whole-wheat sandwich, perhaps), then I'd say Subway might be your best bet if you order whole-wheat, avoid the cheese, avoid the mayonnaise, and use their fresher meats instead of the fatty cured meats.

There's surely a restaurant in the area that will make you grilled chicken breast and veggies. Just ask.

Get sashimi at the Japanese restaurant instead of sushi. That white rice with vinegar is a simple carb nightmare and it all turns into sugar in minutes.

For snacks, try cottage cheese, yogurt, low GI fruits (apples, cherries, NOT oranges).

Don't drink soda. Drink green tea. Green tea is not only a great drink, but it has massive amount of anti-oxidants, cachetins, and it improves your metabolism.

Most importantly, EAT EVERY THREE HOURS. That will kick your metabolism up, and you'll burn more calories. For example, if you order that 12" subway sandwich, eat 1/2 at noon, and the other half at 3. Be disciplined with smaller, more often meals.

And above all else, get to a gym.

 

[Bill Catherall]

On the FDA recommendations: Most health professionals advise taking in 3 times the amount of the RDA. If you aren't taking a MV are you ready to start eating 6000 calories/day?

Yes, there is such thing as eating too many vitamins. Some get stored in fat and can build to toxic levels. Others though, like vitamin C, are water soluble and aren't stored. But if you follow the recommended dosage given by the manufacturer of your MV then you should be fine. Don't double or triple their dosage and you don't risk any toxic levels of vitamins.

On oatmeal: Make sure it's the 100% natural whole oats. Don't buy those little flavored packets. If you don't like the taste of raw oatmeal then add a few pieces of fruit to your bowl. The next best alternative is All-Bran cereal.

 

[Jason_Els]

No cream cheese with the bagel? I thought that would be ok since it's not carbs. Whole wheat I could try. Do rye and pumpernickel count as good or bad?

low GI fruits

What does "GI" mean? Would bananas count?

I'm sooo clueless when it comes to this stuff. So many people say eat this, or no, don't eat that, eat something else. No fat, low fat, high fat, no carbs, all carbs, macrobiotic.....Ugh. My head spins!

 

[Bill Catherall]

Oof. Real oatmeal takes time to make. My breakfast is doomed. Heh.

2 minutes in the microwave is all it takes to cook mine. I use Quaker 100% whole oats. The stuff in the cylinder box.

"GI" means glycemic index. It's an indicator of the effect it has on your blood sugar level. High GI means it causes a spike in your blood sugar level and thus a spike in your insulin. In general, this is a bad thing since insulin is a storage hormone. It stimulates the storage of nutrients into both muscle and fat. This is good for the muscles, but bad for fat loss since it actually prevents you from burning fat. So depending on your needs at certain times of the day you may need to eat a high GI food. You just don't want to eat them at every meal. Bananas are considered high GI.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> 2 minutes in the microwave is all it takes to cook mine

A fun 2 minutes, because you have to watch to make sure your little volcano doesn't erupt all over the oven. I mix protein powder into mine- that takes care of flavoring.


I think some people are misusing the GI numbers. Don't assume a low-GI food like peanut M&Ms is better for you than a high-GI food like a baked potato. Also what counts as far as insulin is concerned is the overall GI of a meal, not the separate items in it, so if you want something with a high GI, combine it with a lower GI item.

 

[Cary_H]

When I'm with the program my breakfast is always a protein meal. 3 or four eggs, whites only, and a couple more with the yolks. A bit of shredded cheddar, some essential oils, chased by a serving of broccoli.
I microwave the broccoli and a bit of water in a ziploc sandwich bag left slightly open to vent steam. 40 sec. tops on High.
I scramble the eggs in a teflon pan. Takes me longer to eat than to make.

My carbs are almost exclusively from Red River Cereal. Microwave the cereal/water mix. I stir in a few raisins for taste and add a touch of non-sweetened cinnamon. I add more water later to arrive at the consistancy I prefer to eat it at. This is usually my second meal and can be taken to work ready to go.

Rye and Pumpernickel are OK as I understand it since they are pretty much devoid of estrogens. When I'm serious though, I eliminate breads completely.
If anything, I have a struggle staying under my carb limit each day. I work like hell to get in my proteins.

At Subway, go with a tuna salad, double meat, little or no cheese at all. The mayo they add beforehand isn't great but won't kill you. Have them squirt some vinegar on the salad, and eat the tuna first. Chase it with the greens, but go easy. Save the rest for a snack down the road.

 

[Brian W.]

John Stone, that is a really cool web site! Especially the animation. That's amazing.

I've been trying to lose weight myself lately. I was always skinny, up till I was about, oh, 25, when I started gaining about pound a year. Then I had some personal turmoil in my life a couple years ago, and I just ballooned up. At my fattest I was about 50 pounds overweight.

I've lost about 27 pounds now since the winter. I tried a few different things. The low-carb diet does NOT work for me. I know it works for a lot of people, but I've tried it three times and the exact same thing happened every time: I'd lose 4-5 pounds the first week and lose NOTHING the next two weeks.

I lost most of the 27 pounds (I've still got about 25 to go) the only way I've ever lost any significant amount of weight in the past: counting calories. 1600 calories a day. I am very impulsive, so I have NO JUDGEMENT REGARDING PORTION CONTROL. I will eat until the cows come home. Counting calories is the only thing that will "click" in my mind, that will keep me from overeating.

I'm single, so practically everything was frozen dinners anyway -- which makes the counting easy to do -- just glance at the calorie count on the box. I buy individual serving-size snacks, also, because I will eat way too much if there's any left in the bag.

Lately I have had to add exercise, because I plateaued really badly. That scale would not BUDGE. I'm finally stating to lose again.

I know not to go too low-cal, though. Certainly not under 1300 calories a day. I did that once many years ago, and people thought I was seriously ill, I lost so much muscle tone. My cheekbones were sticking out... but my stomach was still flabby!

 

[Matt_Marlow]

I know not to go too low-cal, though. Certainly not under 1300 calories a day. I did that once many years ago, and people thought I was seriously ill, I lost so much muscle tone. My cheekbones were sticking out... but my stomach was still flabby!

That's why I think cardiovascular exercise is essential when you're trying to lose fat (I think weight training is important too since it tells your body that it must hang on to muscle at all cost; so your body is more likely to burn fat rather than muscle as you shed pounds). There's some evidence that running in particular burns more abdominal fat than other exercises, and in particular more than dieting alone. I don't have a link to that information but I've read it in more than one place. My own experience backs up the fact that it's impossible for me to stay lean without doing some form of cardio on a regular basis--no matter what my diet and weight training look like. Anyway, I don't think you need to nitpick too awful much about what type of cardio training you do. Just get out and get your heart rate up at least 4 to 5 times per week if you're wanting to lose (at least 30 minutes each time). Another thing that always gets repeated on the internet is "high intensity interval training" or whatever where your CV workout only lasts "16 minutes" or so where you do a couple minutes at hight intensity, then low intensity and so on. Personally, I find that too complicated and I'm skeptical about whether it would work at all for me. I simply do 5-mile runs and go all out when I go up a hill (I much prefer running outside). I'm typically out there for 40 minutes so it's a decent pace. I just don't see how I could possibly get the same benefit from being on an exercise bike or treadmill for 16 minutes, haha. I know someone will have some "scientific" reason to back up its benefits, but these are usually the same people spouting off about all the miracle supplements and the content of food down to the cellular level or something.

 

[Brian W.]

That's why I think cardiovascular exercise is essential when you're trying to lose fat

Agreed. Lose weight any way you want, but you will never keep it off if you're sitting on your ass. The time I mentioned when I went too low-cal and looked emaciated, the second I stopped dieting I gained back SO FAST. Like five pounds in the first week, I swear to God. And of course most of the muscle I lost was replaced with fat.

 

[Chris PC]

One thing can help you lose weight, and/or gain muscle and stay fit for the rest of your life. Learn to love being active and exercising and do these things in place of sleeping/napping and other inactive things. If you're going to watch a movie that evening, do something active too, don't just watch TV. If you're tired and going to nap, don't sleep just cause you're bored or depressed. If you're depressed, always be active cause it makes you feel better. I examined my life behaviour and realized that I was becoming less active because I didn't plan to be active. Now I plan to be active and its because I enjoy it.

 

[Cary_H]

Brian;

You say a low-carb diet didn't work for you.....what was your daily caloric intake at the time?
What was/is your height and weight, and have you an idea of what proportion of your weight is lean mass? What is your body type?

 

[Brian W.]

Hi, Cary,

I don't know what my caloric intake was on the low-carb diet, since on Atkins you are specifically told you don't NEED to count calories. See, if I'm going to count calories, I might as well eat whatever I want, as long as it's within a set caloric range.

I don't know my proportion of fat to lean mass, either. I had a digital scale with one of those fat analyzers, where it sends a beam through your body, and I think it told me I was 19% fat when I was around my fattest. The scale broke -- started giving outrageous fluctuations in weight daily (I'd step off it and step back on and there'd be a 7 pound difference sometimes). Then it said, after my losing 20 pounds on a 1600-1700 calorie a day diet, that my body fat was now 25%! Obviously it's broken, so I can't use that anymore.

My body type... very thin, never had much muscle mass. I'm 5'7". All my weight is around my middle, and a little bit in my chin. No fat cells in my arms or legs at all.

I weighed between 112 and 118 until I was in my early twenties, and I ate like a pig all the time back then, so as you can tell I am naturally very lean indeed. I think I was only 108 when I graduated from high school. I'm just very small-boned.

I had never weighed more than 138 in my life, until I moved to California. I think working on night shift played a role -- most of my eating is done late at night, and even though I don't go to bed until like 6:00 in the morning, I think your metabolism may just be naturally slower at night, no matter what you do, due to circadian rhythms.

I'm certainly not aiming for 108 pounds now! When I was in a play about 7 years ago where I had to take my shirt off in the show, I got down to 117, and that was a bit too thin -- as I said in an earlier post, I lost it too quickly (I only was eating 800-1000 calories a day), so I lost a lot of muscle. But I think between 120-125 is about right for me.

Everybody tells me I'm crazy, that's not possible to weigh that little, but like I said, I weighed less than that well into my twenties, and I ate all I wanted back then.

I do have to say I did not give up coffee while on Atkins, so maybe that stalled me. But why would I lose intially then? Wouldn't the caffeine have prevented that, too?

I may give Atkins one more shot, only because I was looking at a nutritionist's web page and she suggested doing the induction on Atkins for just one week as a way to knock you off a pleateau.