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[Webdude]

My wife and I decided to (finally) go on a diet together. It was always just me. I wont tell you what I told her that made her want to start this diet

Anyway, some of the methods she has come up with are interesting. For example, I like the Kool-Aid type drinks, but they always have so much sugar and calories. However, she found the crystal-lite stuff that you put in a bottle of water. But she got the Great Value (Walmart brand) instead because they had NO calories or anything else. Ok, Crystal lite has only 5, but when counting calories, turns out 5 adds up..lol. Each packet makes 16oz worth. Amazing, this stuff tastes as good as any other fruit.punch drink I have had, but no calories. Ok, so I do away with cokes. I was drinking diet coke for a bit (ugh), but we knew even diet soda makes you hold water. Now I'm pissing so many times a day since no so soda anymore.

Then I have to eat 3 meals and two snacks a day. Breakfast is like two eggs, sometimes 3 bacon strips also. Then a snack mid-morning of a small apple. Then lunch of something like plain tuna sandwich with no mayo in it. I can eat a burger occassionally with no cheese or mayo. That takes some getting used to.

So now that I'm looking at calories, I wonder how the F I'm supposed to survive. Everything has sooooo many calories in it. Now I find I can only eat certain fish. Well damn, I always thought ALL fish was healthy. I can have lobster, but not many crabs. I can eat certain amounts of low fat steak.

Ok, well at first I was like hungry ALL the time, but I think my stomach is shrinking. I had two boiled eggs for breakfast, and at snack time I have to force down the apple. My wife is also making lots of use of http://www.chowbaby.com/fastfood/fas..._nutrition.asp that tells you how many calories the most popular fast foods have in it.

So I just want to know how other people are doing their diets. What guidelines are you using, etc, etc? For example, right now she has me on a 1800/day calorie diet, and once I get used to that, I think it's getting dropped more. How many calories a day is actually a good decent amount?

At first weigh about a week ago when diet started, I was at 230 , waaaaay too much for 5'8..LOL, should be about 185

[Aussie Bob]

Originally Posted by Webdude

. . . I wont tell you what I told her that made her want to start this diet

You're lucky you're still alive.

Good luck with your lifestyle change.

[Frosty]

I would simply eat healthy... waste of time nit picking every little calorie. If people would just eat healthy instead of eating all sorts of garbage and fattening foods they wouldn't have a problem.

All these weird diets seem so silly to me.

But then again I'm one of those people who can eat all sorts of garbage and not gain weight. Heh

[dkitchen]

There are two crucial things to learn about dieting for the vast majority of people, some people are lucky and this is an exception for them...

-Eating less won't work on its own
-Excercise won't work on its own

You need a combination of the two, when you start to eat less your metabolism slows down more, which effectively means your body just puts up with the lower amount of energy it is receiving, you become more tired, and don't lose any weight. You need to excercise too in order to keep your metabolism as fast as it was before you started the diet, this way you will actually lose weight.

Excercise on its own just builds up muscle and doesn't deal with the problem either, you need a good combination. If you get it right you'll find it actually works very fast ...

Dan

[Webdude]

Originally Posted by Frosty

I would simply eat healthy... waste of time nit picking every little calorie. If people would just eat healthy instead of eating all sorts of garbage and fattening foods they wouldn't have a problem.

Yeah see, thats the problem. I'm so used to eating unhealthy that my body craves it, and I dont know what's healthy. So I have to learn what's healthy, and train my body to crave that instead.

And these salads with diet zesty italian dressing just dont cut it. I think once I learn what I absolutely CANT eat, I'll be fine. It sucks that is turning out to be just about everything I like. I mean sheesh, peanut butter is 200 calories per "teaspoon"! Ouch... No more 10 teaspoon peanut butter sandwiches for me...LOL

[Kase]

I'm 5'11" and my doctor said I should be around 175 lol.

[2Grumpy]

One secret is fill up on fresh veggies.

Here's a couple of my recipes that yield HUGE filling dinners yet not many calories:

I make a salisbury steak out of boca burgers (100 calories each when you buy the big ones from Sams) and brown gravy powder (a BIG jug of it is like $4 at sams and will make gallons of gravy).

For 2 people - 3 burgers - 5 tablespoons powder - about 1.5 cups water, throw that in a skillet or pot, and cook it till it's nice and thick and the burgers done.

Get a couple heads of cauliflower and broccoli and chop them down into the florets (I HATE STALKS) and throw them in a pot of water and boil the everloving crap outta it, till they're soft. Season to taste, I use lemon pepper or chili powder, or whatever.

Dish out roughly a cup and a half to 2 cups of broccoli and or cauliflower onto a plate, 1 and a half of the burgers and about half the gravy, this is a LOT of food, LOT LOT LOT of food. And roughly 250 calories. Bocas are 150 calories (1.5x100) and the gravy is 25 calories per tablespoon (2.5x25 = call it 63) the broccoli and cauliflower is like not much really, 2 cups of it (drained) is like 40 calories.

This is a big filling and "sticks with you" meal that tastes pretty damn good too.

Another of my favorites is taco salad, get a bunch of lettuce (I like the "italian mix" bags at the store) get some LEAN ground beef (93% at least, 95% if you can find it). brown it with taco seasoning, shoot for about 10-12 ounces of meat so you each get about 5 maybe 6 ounces of beef. Put about 2 cups of the lettuce into a big bowl, I like to cut it down real small with my scissors, about half the beef, a "pinch" of cheese maybe an ounce of it at most, it'll add calories fast, (kraft shredded sharp cheddar 2% milk cheese is my favorite), about a quarter cup of good salsa (I like Pace HOT salsa) and then the topper, Waldens Farms fat free, calorie free, sugar free, Ranch Dressing - as much as you feel like you want (maybe 3 or 4 table spoons). Mix that up and chow down.

This is something in the neighborhood of 300-350 calories and a LARGE meal that oughta fill you right up.

[FluffyTigger]

Go on a vacation to a place that you can't eat the food. Maybe some place like Thailand (unless you like spicy food). Your stomach will shrink if you control your eating habit. I found that out after 2 vacations. In both times I lost like 1lbs a day and was able to keep it off, that's how I went from 210 to 175.

The problem I had before was I had a large stomach and just couldn't stop myself from overeating, which the large stomach accomodated just fine. After the shrinkage, I got completely full faster.

Also, drink lots of water while you're eating and don't eat everything all in one sitting. I usually eat half the meal, and goes off and check mail or watch tv or do something else. The time let your stomach process what you've just eaten and give you better control of when to stop.

[Webdude]

@ Dixiesys
Copied it so I can make it, thx

@ Fluffytigger
I like habeneros on my burgers. Whats that tell ya?
However, I am now able to drink my tap water since I put two filters on the house. I am drinking a lot of that 0 calorie stuff, and then a lot of water by itself.

Bad thing is, I hold water, so I think maybe I need to cut down on it. Another problem is the only time I get real excersize is on weekends doing work around house. (ie: mowing, trimming bushes, painting, etc)

[FluffyTigger]

I haven't exercise in 7+ years. I've been able to keep my weight down, but I don't have muscles, so even at 175 and 5'10" I still look overweight.

Well, maybe an African safari for you then. You just need to go somewhere where you can't eat for like 2 weeks. Drink a lot of waters. Shrinking your stomach naturually is the best way to control your weight.

[2Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Webdude

Yeah see, thats the problem. I'm so used to eating unhealthy that my body craves it, and I dont know what's healthy. So I have to learn what's healthy, and train my body to crave that instead.

And these salads with diet zesty italian dressing just dont cut it. I think once I learn what I absolutely CANT eat, I'll be fine. It sucks that is turning out to be just about everything I like. I mean sheesh, peanut butter is 200 calories per "teaspoon"! Ouch... No more 10 teaspoon peanut butter sandwiches for me...LOL

Run away from most any bread, pasta, pork, or fatty beef, add to that potatoes, starchy stuff (like rice), and chips.

Run towards any green veggie, whole grains, fish (seafood), skinless chicken and turkey, buffalo meat (if you can find it) and lean beef.

Take hamburger meat for instance, "normal" hamburger meat has roughly twice the calories of 95% lean ground beef. So you can eat twice as much of the lean and get the same calories!

Eat slow, drink some water between bites drag it out, you'll be surprised how you'll be full before you think you "oughta" be by turning a 5 minute wolfing down food session into a 30 minute dinner.

Eat often, on my diet I eat 6 times a day, sometimes 7 or 8 with snacks (soy crisps, 70 calories for a bag). But that's 6 SMALL meals (soups, meal replacement "shakes", hot cocoa mixed with 24 ounces of brewed coffee for that morning pick me up, pudding, etc).

My stomach is definitely shrinking and I even went to eat at a mexican restaurant with my family and managed not to gorge, my wife and I split a single fajita, no rice, extra beans, no tortillas and man I was full afterwards without just totally scarfing down a ton of calories.

Research your food, you can often find lower fat lower carb lower calorie versions of things you like if you look around a little bit.

Bratwursts for example, I love 'em with a big heaping mound of pan browned sauerkraut (drain the kraut, throw it in a skillet and kinda sear it a bit to make it less "sauer"). Well normal brats are like 330-370 calories each! Found some "chicken and spinach and asiago cheese" brats at Sams, they're REALLY good, and 110 calories each! so 2 of those and a pack (the small pack) of boar's head kraut and some spicy mustard and I'm looking at a 260 calorie dinner that's a filling meal that I look forward to. It's what I had for dinner tonight actually, over 3 hours ago, I'm still full from it and not hungry yet.

[XLR8]

I'm getting hungry.

Seriously though... I would try eating more smaller meals throughout the day. I've heard that this helps increase your metabolism rate. I would also try a drink called "AMPED". This stuff is amazing. It's gives you so much energy and it filled with so much good stuff for your body. But please read the label as it says something about not taking it long term. They almost talk like it's a medicine but you can buy it at any Gold's gym for the $3/bottle. (if anybody can tell me wtf is in this stuff I'd like to know)

true story: me an my wife were trying it for the first time. We had so much energy that day we mowed the yards, cleaned the entire house, and washed the cars. At the end of the day while watching "The Perfect Storm" at 3am in the morning... my wife leans over and says "Hey, you feel like taking a jog around the block?" On any other day I'd be like "Why did you wake me up?!". But this night was different. I have never ever had so much friggin' energy in my life! And yeah... we got up and jogged around the block, came back still had a craving for peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.

[hekwu]

I would suggest you walk together. My mom and aunt started this years ago and man I can honestly tell you it works. It was amazing. It really sounds simple, but walking at a normal pace for 40 minutes a day does wonders.

My friend and his wife also do this... they started after he hurt his knee playing basketball... they still walk and maintain a healthy relationship as well.

Mainly though, I would say research. Look at your family and see what they have done... look at some books... know your body type. Don't starve yourself... spoil yourself every now and again....

Good luck....

[ittybittyhost]

I'm on a diet to lose about 15lbs. I've been drinking nothing but water for about 10 months now and I've gotten some very pleasing results. I'm trying to stay away from the fast foods (it's hard and tempting sometimes) - Also, I've been eating high protein meals (fish, protein), so I can bulk up in the process - Annnnnd lastly, cardio.. lots of it.. it's really the only successful way to lose weight.. you gotta do the cardio.. I do about 45 mins 4 days per week... Good luck!

[RajanUrs]

Eat vegetables, fruits, olive oil and tree nuts.

Olive oil and tree nuts like walnuts, cashew nuts, almonds, pistas, macademia etc increases High density lipoprotiens [HDL]. This HDL helps to recover cholesterol and transport it to the liver and remove from the body.