Tips for transitioning off a diet

[Meat]

I've cut out sodas completely. So going from drinking a bottle of mountain dew or more a day to none has helped rocket my weight loss. I put on 50 or so pounds during college and have only lost about 15 of it so far. I've been trying hard to drink my eight glasses of water a day but it's hard to fit them into my day and usually end up with 4-5 glasses a day. Calories aren't really as big of an offender for me as sodium is. I like a lot of salt heavy foods like frozen chicken products which are easy for me to cook or extra salad dressing with my salad. I refuse to pay for a gym membership because I love on a good 100+ miles of hillside trails that do perfectly fine... when they're not covered in snow, ice, and mud. Carbs is another thing I was looking at. I'm eating between 150 and 250g of carbs a day, and there is no way I could get down to ~25 for a "low carb diet". I won't not drink milk, or eat bread and dairy products. That's NOT happening. I've been trying to substitute things where I can, and I am losing weight, though at this point in time I assume it's mostly water weight and not so much the body fat. People have said they've noticed I look thinner so who knows. As for my body type, I'm about 5'11" and currently weigh around 211 pounds (back down to where I was before my new years drinking spree). My BMI is 29.43. Ideally I want to be around 170 or 175 so I have some work to do.

sodium doesn't make you fat, extra calories does. and unless you're trying to build muscle stop trying to micro manage your calories, burn more than you take in and you'll be fine

[Woozie]

Maybe he's cutting down on sodium for health reasons?

[Eanae]

Was cutting down for less water retention, and health reasons as well. I used to eat ALOT of high sodium food and it probably wasn't uncommon for me to break 5-6000g of sodium a day before I changed my eating habits. That's down to between 2-3000 now which is much better than before.

[quannum]

eight glasses of water a day

In general, to remain healthy we need to take in enough water to replace the amount we lose daily through excretion, perspiration, and other bodily functions, but that amount can vary widely from person to person, based upon a variety of factors such as age, physical condition, activity level, and climate. The "8-10 glasses of water per day" is a rule of thumb, not an absolute minimum, and not of all of our water intake need come in the form of drinking water.


The origins of the 8-10 glasses per day figure remain elusive.



matches up with my above post ... $water_consumed vs $water_spent

[quannum]

about carbs, google up the difference between good (whole grain) n bad (white flour) carbs and completely cut the bad carbs out. a "low carb" diet should be taken to mean "low bad carb" diet. whole wheat bread and natural sugars found in fruits n veg are good for you.

[Syntex]

It is possible to limit your carbs to under 50 a day. When I did atkins I did it in the extreme way by only eating under 10g a day for a few months and thats not healthy for anyone.

Like a few examples would be this, you go out to dinner and you have a choice of sides, get vegetables not the potato or the fries. I never get fries when I'm out. Another one is fruit if your craving something sweet, a banana or a few dates do way more then a bowl of ice cream.

Keep in mind your trying to slim down and less carbs in while staying active forces the body to burn the stored energy, aka FAT. If you want to enjoy your stuff and maintain a weight do it after you lost it. Thats the biggest problem for anyone who does atkins is they don't know how to eat normally again after losing the weight and gain it back.

[Heavencloud]

Was cutting down for less water retention, and health reasons as well. I used to eat ALOT of high sodium food and it probably wasn't uncommon for me to break 5-6000g of sodium a day before I changed my eating habits. That's down to between 2-3000 now which is much better than before.

That's a shit load of sodium, good god, do you eat it with a spoon?

[Meat]

about carbs, google up the difference between good (whole grain) n bad (white flour) carbs and completely cut the bad carbs out. a "low carb" diet should be taken to mean "low bad carb" diet. whole wheat bread and natural sugars found in fruits n veg are good for you.

wrong, a carb is a carb no matter the source. The only real difference between brown and white carbs are the absorption time, again it's entirely moot the only real factor in weight loss is calories burned v calories consumed. burn more than u consume and you'll be fine.
you only need to worry about micronutrition if u have muscle mass to retain.

[Meat]

It is possible to limit your carbs to under 50 a day. When I did atkins I did it in the extreme way by only eating under 10g a day for a few months and thats not healthy for anyone.

Like a few examples would be this, you go out to dinner and you have a choice of sides, get vegetables not the potato or the fries. I never get fries when I'm out. Another one is fruit if your craving something sweet, a banana or a few dates do way more then a bowl of ice cream.

Keep in mind your trying to slim down and less carbs in while staying active forces the body to burn the stored energy, aka FAT. If you want to enjoy your stuff and maintain a weight do it after you lost it. Thats the biggest problem for anyone who does atkins is they don't know how to eat normally again after losing the weight and gain it back.

you're not on atkins if you're eating bananas. that's a good 30grams of carbs.

[Eanae]

I'm not into any crackpot or fad diets I'm doing my own thing. What makes it slower is all the alcohol I consume. Also the sodium was in chips, fried foods, and sodium. I'm doing much better with my choices now.

[Belkin]

wrong, a carb is a carb no matter the source. The only real difference between brown and white carbs are the absorption time, again it's entirely moot the only real factor in weight loss is calories burned v calories consumed. burn more than u consume and you'll be fine.
you only need to worry about micronutrition if u have muscle mass to retain.

Not sure about this...Anything produced with refined white flour is going to be digested painfully slow and end up becoming straight up body fat. You were right about the absorption times being vastly different but it is not a matter that is as simple as of Carbs ingested vs Carbs burned. Slowing down Metabolism because the person is eating white flour products will cause them to have a hard time losing body fat.

In short: No, don't eat crappy carbs if you are trying to lose weight, especially if you aren't exercising on a regular basis (which it sounds like you are not doing at the moment).

[shaddix]

Just eat more meat and you'll consume fewer calories as a side-effect. I was eating 1300cal/day on my last diet and I never felt hungry because it was 90% protein.

Also, as long as you don't eat any food with your alcohol, you won't gain any weight. That excludes beer of course, beer would be counted as food.


edit:

Not sure about this...Anything produced with refined white flour is going to be digested painfully slow and end up becoming straight up body fat. You were right about the absorption times being vastly different but it is not a matter that is as simple as of Carbs ingested vs Carbs burned. Slowing down Metabolism because the person is eating white flour products will cause them to have a hard time losing body fat.

What do you mean white flour is digested painfully slow, I am pretty sure it is the opposite? And even if it does immediately go to fat(which it won't since Eanae is exercising regularly, it will go to glycogen), that doesn't mean you will get fat. You only gain fat when you are ingesting more calories than you are burning, don't forget about the 4-5 hours until the next meal, that energy has to come from somewhere(fat).


Also OP: Wtf at no dairy? Greek yogurt is the Jesus.

[Drex]

carbs are just energy sources. they aren't bad for you! they have the same calorie-density as proteins, and i don't see people bitching about those.

eanae - get a calorie counting log like livestrong's myplate. the biggest (and, over-simplifying, only) step to losing weight is calorie counting. if you aren't doing it, you aren't losing weight as fast as you could. put in some info about yourself. ALWAYS choose the laziest lifestyle option, even if you run for an hour a day or something. then, remember the shit you eat and put it in the site. it will tell you how much you can eat a day, and keep track of how much you've eaten in a lot of different categories like calories, fat, sugars, proteins, sodium, etc. so you can track all that shit more easily.

diet >>>>> exercise for weight loss. both help, but diet is waayyy more important. you don't have to give up milk, dairy products, carbs, or whatever. dieting isn't about cutting things out completely...well except soda i guess lol. it's about everything in moderation. i'm on a diet. no one believes me because of the shit i order when i go to a restaurant, but i turn that into 3 meals by not stuffing my face with the whole plate of the food when i go, so it's not so bad. you don't have to drastically alter your eating habits. just eat less of what you eat now, and add veggies to fill your stomach without adding to your calories. when in doubt, eat more fiber and drink more water. they are both calorie-free and make you feel full for a while so you don't eat other crap.

i wouldn't worry about whether the weight you're losing is fat or water weight. you cut your sodium, so even if it's water weight, most of it won't come back unless you go nuts on sodium again. 2000-3000 sounds perfect to me. remember that sodium is important to your body, so going below 2000mg or so can be more harmful than not.

[shaddix]

I do wonder why if protein and carbohydrate both have the same amount of calorie why does protein satiate hunger so much better?

[Drex]

I do wonder why if protein and carbohydrate both have the same amount of calorie why does protein satiate hunger so much better?

i filed that under "the body works in mysterious ways" a long time ago. it's true, but no one seems to know why. if i were trying to lose weight again, i'd abuse the fuck out of it though. proteins really are pretty much the perfect food. they're low in calories, fill you for a long time, and help your body in a ton of different ways. i have heard that high-protein, low carb diets get dangerous if you do it over a long time, but i haven't tried one so i wouldn't know. i love my carbs

[Woozie]

I do wonder why if protein and carbohydrate both have the same amount of calorie why does protein satiate hunger so much better?

As far as I know, it's because protein takes longer to digest. Also, certain carbs (I think it's the fast-digesting carbs) can mess with your insulin/blood sugar/or something levels in such a way as to make you feel hungry again sooner.

I could be wrong though. This is just something I vaguely remember reading somewhere at some point in time. You should probably look it up somewhere and see if it's true.

Edit: A few google searches would seem to verify what I said but none of these websites are citing any sources.

[Meat]

As far as I know, it's because protein takes longer to digest. Also, certain carbs (I think it's the fast-digesting carbs) can mess with your insulin/blood sugar/or something levels in such a way as to make you feel hungry again sooner.

I could be wrong though. This is just something I vaguely remember reading somewhere at some point in time. You should probably look it up somewhere and see if it's true.

Edit: A few google searches would seem to verify what I said but none of these websites are citing any sources.

spot on, carbs(even clean ones) spike your insulin and give u quick rush of energy that burns off quickly. fats on the other hand are dense and slow burning leave you feeling full for longer.

[Azull]

It is possible to limit your carbs to under 50 a day. When I did atkins I did it in the extreme way by only eating under 10g a day for a few months and thats not healthy for anyone.

Like a few examples would be this, you go out to dinner and you have a choice of sides, get vegetables not the potato or the fries. I never get fries when I'm out. Another one is fruit if your craving something sweet, a banana or a few dates do way more then a bowl of ice cream.

Keep in mind your trying to slim down and less carbs in while staying active forces the body to burn the stored energy, aka FAT. If you want to enjoy your stuff and maintain a weight do it after you lost it. Thats the biggest problem for anyone who does atkins is they don't know how to eat normally again after losing the weight and gain it back.

I tried the Atkins thing years ago. I got to a point where my brain just decided to go into moron mode. It worked for me to lose the weight (which has sadly been gained back and then some) but not for being a fuctioning member of society.

I am starting back up again soon on eating better/being more active. Step one will be the giving up soda for about the 17th time. Its not fun but must be done.

[quannum]

wrong, a carb is a carb no matter the source.

nah, do some research.

The only real difference between brown and white carbs are the absorption time,

so there's a difference. /sigh

again it's entirely moot

then don't attempt to nitpick my posts ....

the only real factor in weight loss is calories burned v calories consumed. burn more than u consume and you'll be fine.

just to end up agreeing with what i already said.

[shaddix]

I think the rub is that the notion of "bad carbs" means nothing when it comes to losing weight, most people that will make a distinction between bad and good carbs seem to believe that refined wheat is somehow magically more calorie-dense. Or that it is more difficult to burn. You don't appear to be in that category.

Not to mention "bad carbs" aren't always bad. Spiking your blood sugar(and thus insulin) is sometimes beneficial.

Of course if you're on the cusp of diabetes type II you would want to avoid "bad carbs". Or I guess any carbs actually.

Wheat overall is just a shitty food.