(01-15-2016 10:11 AM)MplsBison Wrote: Just want to throw in $0.01 of advice to those who will participate:
regardless which diet or nutrition plan you use and regardless what exercise plan you employ, if you're allowing yourself to consumer sugar on a regular basis -- then you're not serious about losing weight.
Sugar is poison. Sugar is cigarettes. Same thing. The next generation will look at us and say "how could you guys consume sugar so freely like that?!?", in the same way that no one now can understand how smoking was so prevalent in daily life.
Think of it like that.
Guaranteed: force yourself to stop consuming sugar, and you will see changes in a month. It will be very difficult, though. Like trying to quit smoking. You'll have intense cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
If nothing else, force yourself to stop consuming beverages with sugar. Liquid sugar is the worst.
WARNING: please don't consume "diet" products that have artificial sweeteners, and think that's a reasonable way to cut sugar out of your diet. Those chemicals are worse than sugar. I'd rather have you consuming sugar than those.
Good luck to all!!!!
I agree 100% with this post. I recently hurt my foot and could not exercise for about a month and a half. I used that time to go on a friend's no-sugar diet (limited to less than 50 grams of naturally occurring sugars (in fruits and veggis--only about two small handfuls of raisins worth per
day total for example.) I also eliminated,
and I do mean eliminated, all bread and baked goods (crackers/cookies/chips) as well as sauces and condiments like ketchup, salad dressings, steak sauce, etc...
It was very, very, very hard, especially the first two weeks. I was going crazy with sugar and carb withdrawal. Due to the severe foot injury, I could not drive or walk, only hop around a bit. So, in order not to cheat, I had my friend at the start help take all the sugar, bread, crackers and carbs and all sauces and condiments out of my house, and get me his recommended diet of meat (mostly chicken and fish), veggies (lots of salad) and fruits and especially nuts and seeds.
LEARN TO COOK AGAIN (or for the first time. Hint: Microwaving is not cooking, sorry.) I cooked exclusively using a three-level food steamer. and a stovetop, mostly to heat water. No microwaving allowed (I do not even own one anymore, and that really helps keep weight under control. You have to think about how you're going to cook/heat up stuff in thee toaster oven, grill or on the stovetop.) Mostly, I found using the food steamer was the most efficient and least hassle and clean-up way of cooking. My friend cooks 2 out of every 3 meals each day in his steamer--including eggs and meat (there is a basket for liquidy foods you use inside).
My friend has MS and is on a special diet. He is in relatively good health other than his MS flares up once in a while. He is skinny not because of the MS (I have several overweight friends with MS who stay obese because of their poor diet, despite the MS.) He eats a TON of food, but is skinny as a rail. I have always known that if I really wanted to lose weight, especially the belly fat, just do what he does and it should work. I figured I'd take the opportunity to try changing my lifestyle of eating habits, not just losing weight to put it back on like usual.
Drink lots of water with lemon squeezed in and any kind of tea(s) you want--but
no sugar or artificial sweeteners added. Zero soda. I drank unsweetened Almond Milk also. Usually with Oatmeal or Buckwheat heated on stove in morning with just a few raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger added for flavoring. Salt is your friend if you do this, so you can and should use salt, pepper and spices as your main condiments as you will have eliminated almost all added sodium from processed foods.
One thing that was hard was no salad dressings. Look at the labels of your dressings and sauces. Every single one has multiple forms of unnecessary added sugars: sugar, High-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, dextrose, etc... These do add up every day. Buy plain spaghetti sauce in a can with nothing added and add some parsley, garlic, oregeno and basil yourself. Fresh basil leaves are great to munch on. So are frozen peas and snap peas for crunch. Limit your pasta to once per week only. You can add a little Olive oil for flavor. Also, in salads: here's a great dressing substitute: Get a fresh
avocado (learn how to pick them and when to eat them--it takes practice to get in the ripeness zone, be patient with it, you will figure it out if you keep trying.) Cut in half and scoop out green part (throw pit and skin away and do not eat any browned parts) add a little olive oil and spices you like (salt, paprika, garlic, pepper, basil, oregeno, parley, red pepper, etc...) Mix it together. The avocado will give you the fat/salad dressing fix you crave. Plus avocados are excellent for you. Use fresh--don't use and prepared or processed foods/sauces. Make this dressing yourself, don't be lazy trying to buy something prepared--they always add stuff.
Garlic is your friend. Chop it up and add it to many of the veggies you are steaming in the steamer. The steamer helps you eliminate adding sauces and oils. Chicken and meat and veggies that are steamed cost less and taste so much better than microwave anyway.
The food steamer is the key to good diet! But only if you use it every day.
Munch on Nuts (raw are best- no added sugars or salts) Trader Joe's is usually cheapest for nuts. Cashews are expensive, as are macadamias and pistachios. Buy walnuts, peanuts, brazil nuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds and raw sunflower seeds. Raw, raw, raw is best. Rotate your nuts and seeds--don't just get hooked on one. Do the celery/carrot thing (carrots have sugar, remember) and limit potatoes, but go for variety there. In fact, variety is the key to not getting bored. Educate yourself constantly. There's literally tons of veggies and fruits you've never tried/heard of. Dragonfruit? Many kinds of chard, Starfruit, etc...Find a local fresh farmer's market (I stay away from Whole Foods because it's so overpriced--I find the more dumpy framer's markets in ethnic areas have a higher turnover of produce anyway--so they are not sparkling, who needs to pay for that?)
I was shocked when my body metabolism recognized the diet change in week 3--weight had gone up and plateaued before dropping like a rock. The last few weeks I lost 15 of the 20 lbs I had been seeking. I could have lost more, but 20 was my goal.
And.... this was with absolutely NO EXERCISE (my severely hurt foot prevented it). If you can only choose one thing to do: diet or exercise, then
Diet Wins By A Landslide. You see obese people exercising like crazy and not really dropping their size. It's the Diet, stupid!
Post here, regularly about your progress. PM people, get an in-town buddy to do this with you and hold each other accountable. Don't cheat, but if you do, be honest. Learning from and talking about mistakes is key. Also, read every diet/nutrition article you run across. You can learn something from most, but it will reinforce your mindset. Also, look for when some of the articles you read are wrong. (Food companies love to promote and green light their not so healthy products a lot with press.) It is tough, but you CAN do this! Be patient and don;t beat yourself up about it. Your goal is to change your attitude and knowledge about how you eat. Change the lifestyle of food, and the weight will not only come off, it will stay off. Go back to what you were doing, and you'll put it all back on.
Also, and sorry to say it, but beer and alcohol are just added sugar and carbs and wasted calories. They defeat the purpose of what you are doing. To be most effective, just don't drink. It will save you money and you'll feel better. A club soda and lime is just as refreshing after a while. If you find that to be a problem, then check out a 12-step program in your area and find out why. Google AA. No shame, our society has a piss-poor attitude to alcohol. get educated, get healthy, feel better, spend less, increase you libido and sleep better at night!
I'll be watching the thread to see how ya'll are doing, and encouraging your successes. Good luck!
