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Old 06-17-2008, 09:22 AM   #41
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Your stomach will get used to a plan if you stick with it... well, at least the pangs will be less intense. I strongly recommend popping about 5 raw almonds if you get the pangs really bad. It helps for me!
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Old 06-17-2008, 10:24 AM   #42
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I'm in "yellow alert" status due to a very slow upward creep in weight over the last few years.

I was 5'8 135 lbs from 20 years old until about 36 years old. Now I'm 40 and about 145 lbs and although I still look pretty lean I can definitely tell the difference with a slight spare tire beginning to form. I also no longer have the boxers build of roped on muscle it looks more like dead weight now. Ugh.

It's a big deal for me because my entire life I've been the guy who could eat whatever he wants but stay the same weight and run 5 miles on a whim. I'm definitely going to have to take corrective action on this trend since if it's a linear increase I project 5/lbs per two years = 195 lbs at age 60. I'm not sure if that's how it works or not.

Ok now that I'm done hijacking off topic (I was really just explaining my new found interest in calories and stuff) I'd also go with the boiled egg suggestions. Under 100 calories and that's a lot of bang for the buck, I've found if I throw down a couple of those with some fruit in the morning I'm good to go.
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Old 06-17-2008, 11:28 AM   #43
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fiber not only cuts bathroom time but it also cuts cravings by slowing digestion. try psyllium whole husks blended into a protein shake.

fiber: the leading cause of illiteracy in america.
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Old 06-17-2008, 12:01 PM   #44
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Here are some of the changes I plan to make as a result of this thread:

Gosh darn Arnold breads. You think you're getting reasonably good bread... Top 3 ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, High Fructose Corn Syrup. I'll try to find some sprouted breads.

I'm thinking about trying a number of brown rice and chicken meals, probably things that I can just throw in a slow cooker.

I'll give almonds a try as a snack. I'll probably bring in some baby carrots to work as well.

Grilled chicken breast sandwiches sound good.

May or may not give natural peanut butter a try -- it is more the partially hydrogenated oils in the processed peanut butter that is bad for health.
--------------------------------

Regarding my personal health/weight situation: I'm 34, 6'0" and was 193 this morning. In the Weds weigh-in threads I've got my weekly weight listed, which is normally 190-194 with a couple outlyers on either side. I wear 33" khakis and jeans and I'll get around to measuring my waist/hips ratio one of these days. I maxxed out at 260 in 2001, lost the weight after my father died while riding his bicycle the day before his 59th b-day. So I've been very aware of weight and calories over the last seven years.

I exercise daily (or nearly so) doing three martial arts and tennis thrown in the mix, normally over 10 hours of working out per week. Pretty aerobically fit. The rest of my lifestyle is pretty sedentary -- when I'm not working out, I'm not doing much.

According to that BMR calculator (which is kind of cheesy, had to enter 5' 12" since 6'0" wasn't allowed), I'm around 1950 there. For my level of activity, 3000 calories is actually on the lower side of normal (MyPyramid.gov - United States Department of Agriculture - Home gives me 3200 calories to maintain the weight). I've got lots of diabetes in my family (uncle & 2 cousins with Type 1, mom with Type 2), but I've had blood work done fairly recently and changes to diet/activity have been pretty minimal.

Anyhow, if I had this thread to do over again, I'd probably emphasize that my weight is at an equilibrium point. 1800 calories by the time I finish lunch isn't necessarily the problem. The problem is that I'm still hungry all day long, some of which is, admittedly, boredom hunger. Still feels like hunger. The point of mentioning the magnitude of calories that I eat is more to emphasize that I need filling things that are fairly cheap in the quantities I am eating, otherwise my food costs will go through the roof. And did I emphasize enough how lazy I am? ;-)

Can never have too many ideas...
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Old 06-17-2008, 12:39 PM   #45
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Originally Posted by Kronk View Post
Anyhow, if I had this thread to do over again, I'd probably emphasize that my weight is at an equilibrium point. 1800 calories by the time I finish lunch isn't necessarily the problem. The problem is that I'm still hungry all day long, some of which is, admittedly, boredom hunger.
Ah I see. I misunderstood. Ok so it sounds to me like you're in good shape and expending a lot of energy with martial arts and tennis. As a result you're hungry.

Any idea what your bodyfat is? Anyway.. if it's a matter of getting in a good amount of calories to feel satiated, give smoothies a try. 1% milk, whey protein, a banana, some oatmeal for consistency, natural peanut butter, berries, plain non-fat yogurt ... whatever you like. Endless combinations, easy, quick and you'll feel full. In my experience anyway.
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Old 06-17-2008, 12:41 PM   #46
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Kronk,

A couple of ideas I didn't see in the thread yet:

Try to figure out why you're eating and if it is anything other than true hunger, try to retrain yourself to do something else instead -- drink a glass of water, read a book, take a walk, call a friend, post here, whatever. Hopefully eventually you will establish new thought patterns and habits. Note that another bad reason for eating is stress.

Weight lifting. If you can increase your muscle mass, you'll burn more calories and be able to eat more. About two years ago I got into the groove of going to the gym and was able to eat what I wanted within reason and not get hungry because the extra muscle mass was always burning calories. I think I remember sleeping better and clothes fitting better as well. Note that you'll obviously develop some muscle mass from the martial arts and tennis, but not as much as you would with some weight lifting.

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Old 06-17-2008, 12:51 PM   #47
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Kronk, I thought about something... I know you work out a lot and I know you watch your weight. Have you spent some money to get an aerobic profile? It's cheap to do yourself but more accurate if you get hooked up to a machine where they measure your oxygen expenditure. I think you could use that and your resting metabolic rate to get a rather precise sense of how many calories you're burning a day. It could very well be that you just need to modify the calorie source but not the amount (might even need to up the amount).

I think everyone deals with metabolizing stuff differently, but I know high fructose corn syrup is a huge problem for me. I feel hungry, weak, and shaky after having too much of it. So, when I'm not lazy, I police the labels. For sandwiches, I like sprouted grain wraps the best... and I use natural PB because, even though it's only saving a bit in calories, I do better with avoiding any processed sugar. A food journal is a cheap investment that'll only take a bit of time. Even with healthy foods like fruit, you might find that you process sugar from, say, pink lady apples faster than a granny smith apple or even a banana.

Personally, I feel best when I favor protein in the morning over carbs. When I do eat carbs, I feel better if I stick with whole grains and weightier stuff. I'm not great about sticking to it, but I know what works for me.
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Old 06-17-2008, 01:44 PM   #48
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on the natural peanut butter, try lots of different brands, they vary quite a bit on the taste meter - so don't give up if you don't like the first one. we use the trader joe's organic valencia nut (creamy) one and my daughters love it...

good luck to you! and sounds like you are doing well with the weight maintenence area...congrats! not sure if this thread is helping you not think about hunger though..hehe
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Old 06-17-2008, 01:44 PM   #49
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May or may not give natural peanut butter a try -- it is more the partially hydrogenated oils in the processed peanut butter that is bad for health.
--------------------------------
I do eat a 'natural' PB, because I happen to like the taste (TraderJoe's brand). But the trans fat thing is blown way out of proportion.

This was a ref from wiki on Peanut Butter:

Peanut butter is trans fat free
Quote:
Recurring rumours that commercial peanut butters contain trans fats are not founded.

The rumours first started because small amounts (1-2 per cent of total weight) of hydrogenated vegetable oils are added to commercial peanut butters to prevent the peanut oil from separating out. According to M. Sanders, lead researcher at the ARS's Market Quality and Handling Research Unit, the hydrogenation process can generate the formation of trans fatty acids in oils.

For the study, Sanders prepared 11 brands of peanut butter, including major store brands and "natural" brands, for analysis by a commercial laboratory. He also sent paste freshly prepared from roasted peanuts for comparison. The laboratory found no detectable trans fats in any of the samples, with a detection limit of 0.01 per cent of the sample weight.
IOW, there are more important things to worry about. But I would really limit the PB - that is pretty calorie dense. Do you actually measure it? A 'serving size' is pretty small. Better to have stuff with more bulk in it than that.


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Old 06-17-2008, 01:49 PM   #50
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Next PB link was interesting too.

THE PEANUT FILES - "THE PEANUT BUTTER DIET"
Quote:
In fact, research conducted over the past few years suggests that going back to peanut butter may actually take off unwanted pounds more easily than following a standard low-fat eating plan. In one revealing experiment, almost three times as many peanut butter dieters as low-fat dieters managed to maintain their weight loss over an 18-month period.


But here's the hitch: Unless you're experienced in nutrition, designing an eating plan that packs in peanut butter plus all the nutrients you need without going overboard on calories can be extremely tricky. If you don't watch your calories, you will gain weight. A calorie is still a calorie. Eat more than you burn up, and watch that scale climb--fast.
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Old 06-17-2008, 02:00 PM   #51
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I've lost 25 lbs. since March and this is my typical breakfast :

2 slices whole wheat toast w/ 3 tbsp. of egg whites
1 c. skim milk

I usually get a coffee at work with skim milk and that's it. I'm good until lunchtime with just that. If I'm feeling like I can't make it until lunchtime, I'll munch on a bag of baby carrots or have a small granola bar (70 calories).

Not saying this amount of food will work for you, but it does for me.
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Old 06-18-2008, 05:22 PM   #52
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Originally Posted by Kronk View Post
Anyhow, if I had this thread to do over again, I'd probably emphasize that my weight is at an equilibrium point. 1800 calories by the time I finish lunch isn't necessarily the problem. The problem is that I'm still hungry all day long, some of which is, admittedly, boredom hunger. Still feels like hunger. The point of mentioning the magnitude of calories that I eat is more to emphasize that I need filling things that are fairly cheap in the quantities I am eating, otherwise my food costs will go through the roof. And did I emphasize enough how lazy I am? ;-)

Can never have too many ideas...
Healthy, cheap, really filling, but takes some time to cut up veggies (can do ahead of time and have enough for a few days made up):

beans (black, pinto, or chickpeas, etc.)
veggies (whatever you like - carrots, celery, green/red pepper, cucumber, tomato, etc.)

mix the above together with your favorite lo-cal dressing. Stuff a whole wheat pita with them.

Or, mix them with lo-cal dressing and brown rice - eat as is.

If you want a little extra fat and flavor - add some black olives. Yum.

Warning - be careful of increasing your dietary fiber too quickly! LOL

If you like chili, let me know. I have a vegetarian chili that is healthy, easy to whip up, and freezable.
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Old 06-18-2008, 06:25 PM   #53
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So, here's what I've eaten so far today:

1 cup oatmeal with a dollop of peanut butter: 400 calories
Half a peanut butter sandwich: 250 calories
1 Nature Valley peanut butter granola bar: 180 calories
1 apple: 80 calories
3 pretzel rods: 120 calories
2 ham/swiss/lettuce/mustard sandwiches: 750 calories (5 oz ham, 2 oz cheese)

So I'm up to 1780 calories for the day, just after lunch. And I am hungry enough to be distracted (not that I need help in being distracted). Today is not unusual; this is pretty consistent. Though my hunger level definitely
Anyhow, does anyone have ideas on things to bring into work (lunch and/or snacks) that might help me out here.
Ok, I'll pretend to be a nutritionist. I've actually read a lot about nutrition even I haven't been able to use much of it to my advantage in losing weight.
Others have suggested more protein. I'll second that. You're eating too many simple carbs. That's why you're hungry.
Add some sliced turkey on your sandwiches rather than peanut butter. Ham and cheese have a lot of fat, which is good for fufilling the appetite but not so good heart wise. Focus on lean protein.
Have a protein shake with your oatmeal.
Lose the granola bar, instead add a handful of raw almonds to your apple snack.

Good luck! And congrats on losing 70 lbs. Wow!
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Old 06-19-2008, 12:28 PM   #54
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I've been reading a lot about protein. It seems to be pretty controversial. The normal recommendation is 0.37 g per pound of body weight. In my case, that's about 71 g of protein, which seems like hardly any. More active people can deal with more. But the heavy protein-loading diets seem like a bad idea. Again, this is from Googling "how much protein" or "too much protein" or things like that. Anyhow, I'm not sure I'll be going with protein shakes or anything designed to boost protein intake.

I'm thinking I'll go on the high side of protein, at around 120g. I'm currently trying to figure out what combination of foods would give me around 2600 calories, 120g protein (18.5%), 1470 (good) carbs (56.5%), and 72g (decent) fats (25%). Kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. We'll see how my body reacts to changing up my diet, and whether I get any sort of weight gain/loss or muscle gain/loss.

In the meantime, I've replaced the granola bars and pretzel rods (which were pretty much eaten because of boredom and the fact that they were free at work) with baby carrots. I've yet to go to the grocery store (there's laziness again) to stock up on healthier alternatives for some of my other foods.

Oh, and regarding weight lifting, I probably should add that. Still, between martial arts classes, tennis, driving back and forth, and showering afterwards, this week I think I'm spending around 19 hours doing this sort of thing. Makes the motivation tough to add any more. I'm also still recovering from a nerve injury last year that resulted in a "winged scapula" and has made any sort of upper body lifting problematic. I thought I read somewhere that the common "35 calories burned per pound of muscle" was highly overstated, but now I can't find those articles.
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Old 06-19-2008, 02:47 PM   #55
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Hey, Kronk. I think that protein figure you mentioned is for your BMR, not for trying to improve at your martial arts or doing lifting. Our trainer told us to shoot for .8g-1g times your muscle mass. (she has a scale that tells you how much this is) For me that is 91 lbs of muscle so I am shooting for about 75g-80g protein each day.

If you only eat enough protein for your BMR, then your workouts will not be building as much improvement in strength or endurance or whatever you are going for.

So, yeah, I would say your idea for 120g is a pretty good area for you.
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