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I'm trying my absolute hardest to not be one of those weight-gain-paranoid teenage girls, but the fact is that I've gained some where between 30-35 lbs since I graduated high school in June 2004. That can't be healthy, even if I was rather thin then. That's no longer the case.
I know freshmen in college are supposed to gain the freshman fifteen, and everything, and since I've been a freshman twice (technically), I guess I took that to extremes.
It just annoys me that I can't keep a handle on this. I feel like I'm eating fairly healthily... at least as healthily as I did before. Why on earth am I gaining weight at such an obscene speed?
Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, what works for you? I want to lose some weight, but it's not even that, so much as I want to find a way to eat healthily, because at the rate I'm going, there's no way this can be healthy. I heard "South Beach Diet" is supposed to be pretty good, but I know absolutely nothing about dieting, and could really use some help.
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Are you looking at this from the output (exercise) end of things too at all, or just the input?
Posts: 650 | Registered: Mar 2005
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How much are you expecting to lose? Last year (my first year of college), I lost about 15 pounds just by watching what I eat. I tried to make my meals during the week be fairly healthy (low calorie and low fat), and then I'd splurge a little on the weekend (fast food and what not). It seems to be a pretty effective diet, since I lost that weight with little exercise. Just think if I threw some exercise in there as well.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Mainly input. I do some exercising, definitely more than I've ever done before... but I think it's more a concern of what's going into my body, than how I burn it up later.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I would suggest *not* a diet - I've tried a few and you always get tired of it, and "cheat" a little and then it's all over (at least for me).
Tony and I at the moment are trying a new higher-protein, low-fat eating plan. It's not strictly regulated, and there are no banned foods. But it has made me more conscious of what I'm eating. On it, I'm eating a lot more vegies, a *heap* less fat, more protein and probably a little less carbohydrates than normal - and I'm feeling great for it.
Not sure if I've lost any weight yet (bloated this week... *grumble* time of the month *grumble*) but I feel better.
In terms of what I'm eating:
Breakfast: Hi fibre cereal (3/4 cup) + low fat milk, a piece of fruit.
Snack (if I feel like it): Fruit or a low fat yoghurt
Lunch: Wholemeal roll (or ryvita or small amount of pasta or 1 baked potato) with 100g protein plus vegies - for lunch today is a roll with turkey, cranberry sauce, baby carrots and baby spinach. I can also have 250 ml of a low-fat (homemade ) soup if I want - today it's butternut pumpkin & coriander.
Dinner: 200g protein & veggies. Last night was skinless chicken thighs marinated in soy, ginger, garlic and lemongrass then baked and served with blanched sugar snap peas, asparagus, brocolinni & braised shitake mushrooms.
What I've found amazing is how much oil and fat I *don't* need in my cooking - last night's meal had no added oil or fat. Other meals average about 1 tsp per dinner - and before I was cooking with a *heap* more.
And, I'm trying to walk more. Got up at 6:15 this morning to walk the dog before walk. Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I'd think what I said would be healthily. I mean if you keep doing a decent amount of exercise and then you cut back to mostly low calorie/low fat foods during the week, you should be able to lose 15 pounds or so in a semester.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Really, portion control and reducing fat in the diet are the two most important things in any successful diet. You can do this with the Weight Watchers "points" method, or by measuring your food, or any other way you like, but the goal should be the same-- to reduce your fat intake and definitely the size of portions you eat, and try to have a healthy, balanced diet.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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And, if I slip (hello bratwurst and smoked pork chops on Sunday!) I don't feel like I've cheated or anything - I just make sure I have lots of veggies the next day and maybe take the dog for an extra walk.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Yeah, don't call it a diet. If you want to lose some of your excess baggage, it takes a lifestyle change. What I mean is, you have to be a lot more conscious of what you put into your body, and in what quantity. Portion control, reducing liquid sugars (soft drinks), and cutting out unhealthy snacking are the keys.
You're exercising, so that makes it much easier. What I do is eat a healthy breakfast and lunch, then a little bigger dinner. That way I keep my calorie intake (relatively) low, but I don't have to totally cut out the fatty foods that I love.
Now don't go crazy though. Moderation really is the key. I still eat ice cream, cookies, pizza, doughnuts, and virtually anything else I have the impulse to put in my body. The key is I minimize the amount I eat. So I eat real ice cream, but instead of a huge cereal bowl full, one serving is about 6-8 spoonfuls. I still get the satisfaction of eating it, but it's about a 300 calorie snack, which isn't a dealbreaker. Thousand calorie late night binges are what kill you.
If anything I'm saying makes any sense, feel free to email me. I'm overflowing with advice in this area (and it's firsthand knowledge - I lost 40 pounds 3 years ago).
EDIT: And to lose weight healthily, you shouldn't expect to lose more than 1-2 pounds per week (in a program that combines nutrition and fitness). Any faster than that and you're in real danger of gaining it right back.
EDIT part 2: A lot of people gave similar advice, and I didn't mean to regurgitate it, but I didn't read the thread before posting. Everyone here is pretty right on about it.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Off-topic but speaking of ice cream servings, my local Ben & Jerry's now only offers Regular and Large (no small or kid's) sized servings. Is this a chain-wide change, or do I just need to look a little further afield to get my berry sorbet fix?
Posts: 650 | Registered: Mar 2005
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You can also make this easier by buying the really good stuff.
I'd much prefer to eat a square or two of good, 75% cocoa chocolate (almonds optional ), or a completely decadent truffle than a heap of the cheap milk stuff. And because it's so rich, you tend to feel more satisfied with a little bit.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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See, the thing is... I don't even like sweets that much. I don't like ice cream, I'm not that crazy about chocolate (only sometimes)... I hardly snack between meals, and if I do, it's usually a pear or some dry granola or something... so I really don't understand it.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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What are your meals like, Raia? I mean if your meals are already healthy and you're still not losing weight (or are gaining weight), maybe it has something to do with your metabolism.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Are you less active than you were at high school?
Even just less walking between classes? (For me, this changed a lot from high school - college. I went from doing a lot of incidental walking to doing a lot of studying (and so sitting) and not so much incidental movement).
No sweets - and healthy snacks. How about your main meals? If you're eating a reasonable portion and it's not fatty stuff then I agree - go see a doctor.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote: Why on earth am I gaining weight at such an obscene speed?
Also - sometimes your body just changes. I was really skinny in high school, without trying. I ate what I wanted and didn't do any intentional exercise.
Then I turned 18 and put on 10 pounds - without changing *anything*. It was just my body changing. (Then I put on another 30, but that *was* eating. And beer. I blame beer. )
Mind you, 30-35 does sound extreme for that kind of change.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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That's a guess, I haven't weighed myself since I came to DePauw... but I did weigh myself over the summer, in between being in Israel and coming here... and it was at 25 lbs that I gained last year. And I've expanded a great deal, again, since coming here.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Go to a doctor. 'Cos if it is biochemical, better you know sooner rather than later and get it fixed.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I went vegan and started jogging an hour a day. I worked on my schoolwork while jogging (just think things out) and vegan food is surprisingly good. Yes, a few things like soy milk are more expensive, but meat typically costs a lot.
And hey, I've gained weight but I've slimmed down--it's all going to muscle mass.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Since I know very intimately what you have available for meals, and I had the same problem last year when I was on the meal plan, maybe I ought to offer my two cents…
Eating on the meal plan can be very frustrating, because there aren’t a lot of options. It's much easier to eat the unhealthy stuff. But with a bit of effort you can get a very healthy diet from the meal plan food, and a decent amount of variety. A nice thing about eating at the Hub – you can literally find ALL of the nutritional data on all of your food if you look around or ask someone. And the portions are fixed. So you can know exactly what you’re eating, and figure out what you need to change. I’d suggest you keep a food journal for a few days, then, when you have some free time, either go to the Hub and write down and add up all of the important numbers for what you’ve eaten (total calories, total fat, carbs, protein, sugars maybe…), or I can show you this nifty program available in biology department that will do it for you (as well as show how many calories you burn while exercising & in daily life).
Here was my basic diet last semester, all available from the Hub:
Breakfast: Oatmeal (one packet of the brown sugar, and one of the regular) Cold cereal (the ones with complex carbs, like Wheaties) & skim milk Odawalla juice (if I wasn’t very hungry) Whole-wheat bagel / toast & low-fat cream cheese / peanut butter Applesauce or whole fruits (there are some good fruit salads) Cottage cheese & either peaches or pears and black coffee, nectar of the gods, of course
Lunch / Dinner Salads (very often) Wraps / rice bowls from the Food Lab Soup (if they weren’t cream-based) Wraps / sandwiches from the Substantials section Meat / Vegis from the Charleston Market section (if it was healthy) Popcorn Chicken (not healthy, but yummy, so I didn’t eat it regularly) Something from the breakfast section – I like breakfast a lot
I’ll elaborate a bit more on the different menu items.
Salads: they’re your friend. The salad bar has a lot of different vegis – I was pleasantly surprised when I came to DePauw. The main thing with salads is to just skip the few fattening things in the bar, and go for the healthy (and yummy!) options. Get the darker greens, broccoli, water chestnuts, carrot, baby corn, tomato, etc. DON’T get the cheese, bacon bits, or full-fat salad dressings (or anything mayo-based). I really enjoyed having salads with vinegar and a bit of oil when I ate at the Hub, but you can also get the fat-free ranch or whatever dressing – just use it sparingly. For protein, you can either use the chickpeas and other beans they have at the bar, or get the grilled chicken from Blackstock Grill.
Wraps / Sandwiches / Rice bowls: at all of these places they’ll let you bring vegis from the salad bar to add to your meal. So you can substitute dark greens or spinach for the iceberg lettuce, for instance, or add more vegis to your stir-fry. You can also ask for less oil to be used in the stir-fry, and for more of the sauce. Last semester the cook used to pull out a bottle of very hot Korean sauce for me every time, which added a lot of flavor to the meal. Don’t feel that you need to eat all of the wrap or all of the rice bowl – they’re a LOT of food for us girls, unless you’re really hungry. Don’t get the oil or the cheese on your sandwich/wrap unless you really love the flavor it adds.
Charleston Market has some really good meat and vegis, but only sometimes. You have to be selective – if it looks oily, it almost certainly has tons of fat in it. Even if it doesn’t, it very likely has more calories than you would think – but they’ll give you the nutritional data if you ask for it. Avoid the Pizza Hut area and the pasta bar at all costs (or just, you know, don’t go there regularly). Some of the Blackstock Grill food is ok – check the nutritional data they have posted there.
Most of the whole fruits aren’t ripe when they put them out – buy some, and let them ripen in your room. If you feel like fruit juice, get the Odawalla juices, as they have almost 100% fruit juice. But they do have a fair amount of calories, so watch out. If you don’t feel like paying the ridiculous price they charge per fruit, then consider going to Kroger’s – they have a much better produce section than Walmart does.
There was a nutritionist who was on campus every week or so that students could visit last semester – I’m not sure if they’re still doing that, but it might be worth the inquiry. Check at the Women’s Center.
If you get sick of the Hub options, you’re always welcome to come over and cook something at my place – I like to eat healthy, although Abhi & Thalith couldn’t care less. Next time I cook, you’re welcome to come over.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Not quite. It's a top secret song by which vegans recognize each other. It's usually followed by the secret vegan handshake, and then the drinking of soy vodka.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Slowly I am trying to limit my intact of certain foods. Didn't stop me from having milkshake last night and japanese snacks today, but I have been eating miso soup, salmon, more vegetables, no soda, not too many cookies with transfat, no chips, 2% milk.. ect... It's a bit difficult. Eating healthy is expensive. I have started to eat more fresh fruit and a lot of Stoneyfield yogurt smoothies, but I do need to get more excercise.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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None of this sounds like your problem. But I'll say it anyway since it's worked for me (I've lost at least 50 pounds over the last few years).
When I finish my plate and I want more, I sit for a second and wonder if I'm trying to fill an emotional hunger or a body hunger. It is almost always an emotional hunger.
So, if you are going to stop feeding your emotional hunger with food (which it doesn't sound like you do anyway...), you are going to have to feed it some other way. If you don't, your needs will find a way of getting fed on their own. So it is best you be in charge of how your needs get met. It all balances out. I view this emotional hunger as energy. The more energy I have, the more hard things I'm capable of doing. Eating healthy and exercising takes energy.
For example, for me, unless I'm listening to CD's, music is always work, even going to concerts, even though I enjoy them. They do meet a need, but it is still an energy drain. So in my mental balance of my energy, when I go to a concert I chalk it up on the debit side, not the credit side.
If I play with my "toys" to just play, I chalk it up on the credit side. Video games would fit this category. But video games are like junk food, they can be bad for you in other ways...
However, if I play with my toys not as play but work, I chalk it up as a debit. I still play with Legos (I'm 31). But what is funny is that I'm very ambitious about it, trying to build difficult models and making 3d animations. I count these as debits as it is quite a bit of hard work actually. Sometimes I would rather clean a room (because it is less of a debit).
Rollerblading for me is mostly a credit because I always go with friends and it is still new to me and very fun.
TV is a credit, but I try to only watch the best shows (IMO) as mediocre shows can be a lot like soda... a credit, but a high price to pay for it.
It helps a lot to have someone else eating the same way as you. That is a major credit.
Taking easier classes or a lighter load would be credits. If you like your parents, calling home would be a credit. This forum, for me, is a credit.
Church is... mostly a debit. But it meets other needs so it is worth it to me. I suppose there are multiple levels of energy we need to function and a debit from one account keeps another account in the black...
If your life is such that you can't meet your needs any other way, then go ahead and eat. Better to gain weight in my opinion than the unknown.
Wow, that was more than I wanted to write. On that. I guess I'll save my actual food advice for later.
Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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It's important to eat a balanced diet. By that, I mean that not even fat should be eliminated from your diet. Some fat is necessary in order for your body to work properly - just make sure you take in healthy fats as opposed to unhealthy fats. I went low-fat (irritable gall-bladder, just didn't know it at the time) and had some pretty major problems result from that, including skin peeling off, hair falling out, and possibly some metabolic changes, too.
Fat-free dairy products enriched with vitamins A & D are useless - A & D are fat soluble vitamins, and if there's no fat, there's no way for the vitamins to get digested and assimilated into your body. Opt for 1% instead.
Skipping meals is no way to lose weight. I've read that people who skip breakfast on average gain 10 pounds a year. Better to eat smaller meals more frequently, or even three smaller meals and two or three decent healthy snacks. Eating can actually stimulate the metabolism, whereas skipping fools the body into going into starvation mode - lowered metabolism. Bad, very very bad.
Go for nutritionally dense most of the time (whole wheat rather than white, or brown rice instead of white, dark green leafy vegetables rather than that awful pale green iceberg lettuce that has no redeeming qualities whatsoever - that sort of thing), but still, for psychological purposes, give yourself one day off a week where you can eat anything. With that one day off a week, you'll feel so lousy with all that junk clogging your system (assuming you eat a lot of junk on that day off) that it's a pretty effective way to train your body to love the healthy stuff.
Like others have said, get yourself checked out by a doctor. If the weight gain is unexpected and unexplained, it could be a health problem that needs attention. Yes, thyroid is one of the more obvious things to look at, but realistically, there are a whole host of health problems that can affect weight & metabolism. Sleep deprivation is another.
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Shani, different diets work for different people, of course, and even for the same person at different ages. In general it gets harder the older you get. What you're probably experiencing is the change in your metabolism that happens at the end of your teen years. Also being in charge of your own meals for the first time when you go off to college can be another reason to gain weight. It's easy to let the fat, carbs and total calories in your diet creep up without realizing, because you are eating quicker foods like fast food, pizza, microwaveable stuff, etc.
AIM me and we can talk about this. I've found that I can only keep weight off by staying on a very strict diet always. Most people don't have to do that, but I do and I've accepted it. So this is something I think about daily. Here's what I do. I keep total calories below 1000 a day, with 800-900 being my goal. Most people can eat more than that but I can't. I keep total protein above 45g a day, and total carbs below 120g a day. If my blood sugar starts going up, I decrease the carbs by 10g a day until my fasting blood sugar in the morning is 120 or below.
Changes in your diet are easy to make if you keep a good daily record, are disciplined about it, and only change by about 10% a day. If you try to change too fast, you get a rebound effect. I believe that's how people end up with eating disorders. The control system can be sent into wild oscillation by trying to change too fast. The key is to change slowly, and keep a daily record, and then you can accomplish absolutely anything.
So here's my typical daily diet right now.
code:
Description Qty kcal carb g fat g prot g Low carb milk 4 360 20 20 32 Rice 1/2 c dry 1 300 70 0 6 (makes 1.5 c) Egg, ex. lg. 1 80 1 5 7 Curry, Japanese 1 165 12 10 2 style blocks onion free food water chestnuts free food carrots free food zuchinni free food squash free food celery free food other non-starchy free food veggies olive oil, tsp 1 40 0 4 0
TOTAL: 945 103 39 47
I also take a multivitamin every day and vitamin C. Really it's just like a budget. Everyone should sit down and figure this up to be sure they are getting essential nutrients. Particularly all mothers must do this for their children.
Looking at this it seems too high in fat to me. I can eliminate 20g daily by getting the skim milk low carb milk. The curry is a luxury, so I probably should eat that less often or try to cut the quantity in half. I could easily cut another 100 kcal daily out of this.
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A big key is eating lots and lots of non starchy vegetables. You can have as many of these as you want. They count as free foods, because they're so nutritionally dense and calorically low that you can't get too many. Eat 2 cups per meal if you like, but a minimum of 1.5 cups per day. Nonstarchy veggies (NSVs) include:
Carrots, celery, onion, tomato, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, spinach, water chestnuts (great substitute for potatoes in many recipes), green beans, beets, bell pepper, summer squash, zucchini, snow pea pods, bamboo shoots, lettuce, pickles, cucumber, those tiny corn cobs that come in chinese food, and other stuff I can't remember since I don't eat it.
Vegetables that are higher in carbs that must be counted as carbs are green peas, english peas, lima beans, black eyed peas, chick peas, corn, potatoes, rice, pinto beans, certain types of squash like butternut squash and spaghetti squash, pumpkin, black beans, lentils, and so on. Of course pasta, bread, crackers, and stuff like that also counts as carbs, along with all fruits like apples, bananas, pears, apricots, peaches, mangos, grapes, etc. Fruits are good for you but they still count as carbs.
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I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet. Did you start taking any drugs in college that have a side effect of weight gain? For example, hormonal birth control can have that effect on many women. In my own experience, I had to stop taking the pill in order to lose any of the weight I had gained while on it.
You don't have to answer here, medication being personal and all, but just take a look at any drugs you might be taking and see if they have weight gain side effects. If any do, you'll probably find it significantly more difficult to lose the weight than if it was just a result of overeating.
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human 2.0, your post was wonderful. That's a great way of organizing things, and I've done a little bit of that without putting it into those terms. Thank you. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Some of the diets I've used that have worked for me in the past are the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, the Zone Diet, Protein Sparing Fast (which is like Atkins but with strictly controlled amount of meat and very low in fat), Meat and NSVs Diet (which also is low fat and has strictly controlled meat), Carnation Instant Breakfast Fast, and a diet similar to the Weight Watchers diet using exchanges, (a very good plan for regular people without special health related dietary needs).
The diet I try to stick to now is sort of a combination of what worked from all of these in the past. I try to eat almost all my carbs in a single meal once a day, a trick I got from the Carbo Addict's diet. I drink only diet sodas, and stick to 2% or skim milk. Each thing like this that you change permanently about the way you eat will help.
Also realize that hunger and nutritional needs are not very strongly correlated. Be careful to more than meet your nutritional needs, then when you feel hungry, just drink a lot of water, read a good book, or do something to take your mind off it. Stay away from food smells or the sight of people eating food. Realize that being hungry is not a good or sufficient reason for eating. Just uncouple those two things in your mind.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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My first instinct was also that you should see a doctor--just to be sure. If your eating and excercise habits haven't changed, you're still young and you've unexplainably gained weight, there may be a medical problem of some sort. Make sure your thyroid is healthy! Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Also, theCrowsWife, I haven't had any changes in medication... or rather, I haven't started taking anything, so I guess that isn't a factor either. And the only change I've had in physical activity is that I've actually been doing more than I normally do. I'm not sure I'd say that I exercise regularly (yet, anyway... I'm trying to get to that point), but I definitely exercise more than I ever did before.
And I don't drink beer, haha.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Fat-free dairy products enriched with vitamins A & D are useless - A & D are fat soluble vitamins, and if there's no fat, there's no way for the vitamins to get digested and assimilated into your body. Opt for 1% instead.
Most people who eat any quantity of meat get more than enough vitamin D. And it's one that you can actually make yourself; the average fairly fair-skinned person makes enough in 15 minutes a day of light sun exposure with nothing exposed except his forearms. And vitamin A is one of those you actually don't want to get too much of, and if you're taking a multivitamin or even eating any kind of orange and yellow veggies or fruits or juice, you're getting enough vitamin A. Not to mention all the things they're both supplemented in besides dairy products.
This is all, of course, leading up to my justification for skim milk. Which is, A) you get more protein and calcium per ounce and, B) anything else tastes like oil poured into my milk to me. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Raia, WeightWatchers has always worked for me-when i actually follow it. As Ketchupqueesn mentioned, it is really about portion control. WW helps with that. If you ever want to email me what you ate for one whole day, I can "point it out" for you, to see if there are hidden things that are adding up. For example, a woman at Curves said she could not understand why she was still gaining weight. She came to Curves so she could burn off her ice cream. A Curves workout is, at most, 3 points. A bowl of ice cream can be ten or more. So she wasn't burning up as much as she thought. edob63@yahoo.com
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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1) Keep a food diary. Write down everything that goes in, and when. Don't worry so much about changing what you're eating as keeping track of what's going on.
2) After about a week, look at your food diary. Are you drinking soft drinks with lunch and dinner? Do you always have dessert? If you get hungry in the middle of the afternoon, what's your snack? Cut out the unecessary stuff. This isn't about no chocolate ever, it's about not eating ice cream an hour before you go to bed and cutting out calories in your drinks (read the back of that Coke can, and you will no longer want Coke so very much), etc.
3) Drink more water. This will help your body process food. We also tend to misinterpret thirst as hunger, so we eat when we should be drinking water. And if you have a solid glass of water before every meal and when you first get hunger pains, you will be amazed at how most of the time you're just not that hungry after all.
4) Switch to lower-fat or non-fat versions of everything. It will take your taste buds time to adjust (about a week). Then really fatty stuff will start to taste nasty.
5) Take the stairs, not the elevator. Park in the back of the parking lot. Walk a little faster than normal. Find ways to get mini-workouts.
6) Fill up on apples and bananas and yummy salad that isn't iceberg, and avocados (good fat!) and watermelon and carrots and cucumbers and aspargus, etc. And whole grains. You will have no room for dessert. And the pounds will wander away . . .
7) Figure out what your calorie intake should be and then start reading packaging. And get scared. Processed food is mind-boggling bad for you most of the time.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2005
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"Switch to lower-fat or non-fat versions of everything. It will take your taste buds time to adjust (about a week). Then really fatty stuff will start to taste nasty."
Sugar is nonfat, and is used in many fat free products. Sugar is fat free, but can add high amounts of calories, so be careful. I prefer to eat less of full fat stuff. I would rather have less butter than fake butter any day.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Sugar is the enemy of weight loss, because it's off the charts on the caloric index (how much nutrition you get per calorie, denser foods have high calorie/low nutrition and lighter foods have low calorie/high nutrition. Think fritos for the former and carrots for the latter.) and your body doesn't break it down into anything useful.
Especially refined sugars (white bread, soft drinks, cookies, etc.), which should be minimized if you're trying to lose weight.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Here's how I lost weight while I was in college:
1. I cut out the fast food and red meats for the most part. I let myself have red meat only twice a week. I wasn't going to blow one of my two shots at it for a McDonald's hamburger or a food court hotdog, when I could wait and get a steak on the meal plan at the nice dining room.
2. Eat breakfast and eat it at breakfast time. Make it your biggest meal of the day on weekdays and go for the cereal/oatmeal, juice, eggs thing. You'll fuel up for the day and burn a lot of it off as you walk from class to class.
3. Eat something for lunch and have dinner before 7pm. Choose the chicken dishes and lots of vegetables. Get a salad with each dinner. Your meal plan can take it.
4. No late night Taco Bell runs or pizza delivery. No doughnuts either. (Your weight will be better and your pocketbook, too.)
5. Macaroni and cheese is not your friend.
6. Ramen noodles aren't either.
7. Lay off the beer.
8. Get some sleep at a regular time. When we wear ourselves down by staying up to late studying or partying and still try to meet our daytime schedule, we often look to food for an energy boost when we really just need sleep.
9. Soft drinks (sodas, cool aid, sweet tea and coffee) should be treated a lot like red meat. Try to limit it to two times a week. Milk, on the other hand, is mighty good for you and studies are showing that the calcium is important for healthy weight loss.
10. Find something fun to do with friends that requires a bit of physical activity. Dances, hikes, basketball, fencing, whatever. It's good exercise and it's hard to do those things and eat at the same time.
That's what worked for me back then. I think I need to go back to doing it again...
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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So, Sopwith, what I hear you saying is that, when I was in college, my friend and I should not have had our Thursday ritual of sharing a large pizza, washed down by a six-pack of Bud Light, accompanied by potato chips, and followed closely by a pint each of Ben and Jerry's?
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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) soup if I want - today it's butternut pumpkin & coriander.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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I'm not sure I'd say that I exercise regularly (yet, anyway... I'm trying to get to that point), but I definitely exercise more than I ever did before.
