Dieting - Is this normal?

[nevermind]

Originally Posted by dvd-4-life

I'm 5ft 11in and almost 220 and if I had about 2000 calories a day I would never lose weight. I lost 40 lbs(240 down to about 200) sticking to 1200 calories a day so it can be done.

So you went from 240 to 200 back to 220?

I am 6'2" and went from 215 to 173 eating 2000-2500 calories a day.

1200 and I'd have lost a shitload of muscle mass, given up due to being miserable, and gained it back.

Hell, my daily breakfast is 500-600 calories alone.

[nevermind]

Originally Posted by Ginwen

Not me. I consistently added weight when I was on it, and ended up aggravating a pre-existing hernia so I had to stop exercising completely until I had the surgery. May be good if you're already in shape, crap for me.

I was so far out of shape when I started the Abs Diet it wasn't funny. I credit that book for all of my success. It is the one that opened my eyes to how I ate and kept me focused.

I may not look ripped like the subjects in the book, but then I didn't follow it to a T. It was the best push I could have asked for, though. I have lent my copy to several people who wanted to know what I did.

[FantasticVSDoom]

Originally Posted by nevermind

So you went from 240 to 200 back to 220?

I am 6'2" and went from 215 to 173 eating 2000-2500 calories a day.

1200 and I'd have lost a shitload of muscle mass, given up due to being miserable, and gained it back.

Hell, my daily breakfast is 500-600 calories alone.

Exactly... I have to take in 3000-3500 calories to maintain and anything less and my strength drops quick. If I did anything less than 2500 I would be on a fast road to stabbing somebody on the subway. Calories in calories out works in theory, and for straight up weight loss it will work, but you also have to look at other factors.

The problem with the nyc calorie counts is they give you such a range that you truly don't know how much you are getting. Its better than nothing, but really not that effective in letting you know.

[nevermind]

I should add that the one plateau I hit (about a month with no weight loss) was broken through by upping my calorie intake by about 400-500 a day. I lost like 7 pounds the following month. I simply wasn't eating enough.

Everyone is different but 1200 calories for a male over 200 pounds just seems like failure waiting to happen. A few months of that and the majority of the time that man's metabolism will screech to a halt and start storing excess energy as fat. If all the energy is used up by daily functioning (which it will usually be, even with no exercise at all), then it'll just attack muscle - the biggest metabolism boosters in your body.

[Sdallnct]

Originally Posted by C-Mart

I thought it was law for restaurants to provide nutrition information for all menu items.

No it is not. Or else they are breaking the law. I have e-mailed at least 4-5 resturants and gotten back one reply and that was the sad "we can't because we make to order" blah, blah...

[Sdallnct]

Originally Posted by big whoppa

I think that would be difficult outside of fast food. Portions are not measured that strictly in real restaurants. How often have you gone to the same restaurant with the same chef and the meal tasted different? I find it true more often than not. Certainly true when my folks owned a restaurant.

BTW, just buy a darn scale. You'll be glad you did. Scales do not lie.

Blah...you can get close. The vast majority of restaurants do. Any reasonable restaurant does have to portion, measure, etc for cost and what to charge a customer. Also to keep their dishes consistent. If they can measure for that, then they can measure for nutritional values.

Sure your mom and pop Italian place might not provide the information. But then you can use some generic amount found on the net.

The point is, you have to be able to have some realistic (most people have no clue) idea of the calories you are intaking. And the calories you are burning. The other options are to eat off meal plans that have done this work for you, or stick to very bland, obvious and eventually boring food (turkey sandwich on wheat with no mayo).

There is a PF Changs near the hotel I'm staying at. Here is some "surprises":

Lunch Bowl - Almond and Cashew Chicken with brown rice = 909 calories
Sichuan Chicken Flatbread = 1160 calories
Double Pan Fried noodles with beef = 1186
Cantonese Chow Fun with beef = 1212

Or some better choices that are good

Sichuan Style asparagus small = 97 calories
Spinach Stir-fried with garlic small = 77 calories
Chicken lettuce wraps = 377 calories
Harvest spring rolls = 287
Seared Ahi Tuna = 210
Steam dumplings 265
Huge bowl of Wonton soup 354

Now most of the above is off the appetizer menu. So...do some combination like lettuce wraps and asparagus and that is plenty of yummy food.

[big whoppa]

PF Changs is notorious for high calorie food. Good though for chain Chinese.

Consumer Reports just did an article rating chain restaurnants on how healthy they are. Some scored well even McDonald's. Others would not provide any information on nutrition because of the reasons you mentioned and were given an F by CR.

[Sdallnct]

Originally Posted by big whoppa

PF Changs is notorious for high calorie food. Good though for chain Chinese.

Consumer Reports just did an article rating chain restaurnants on how healthy they are. Some scored well even McDonald's. Others would not provide any information on nutrition because of the reasons you mentioned and were given an F by CR.

Good for them. Men's Health does the same. One of the best restaurants? A fast food place. Chick Fil a. Not a single item on their main menu is above 500 calories. I'm sure their shakes are, not a surprise.

See that is what is important and why McDonalds scores high. It is about knowledge and choices. There is nothing wrong with getting those famous McDonalds fries once and a while. But if you eat there a lot, you want to be able to have a side salad, or fruit instead, most of the time. And you want to know how many calories are in those fries (even tho you already know they are bad for you) so that you know how often you can eat them, if you want to run them off later, etc.

That is what bothers me about restaurants that don't provide the nutritional value. I can't make a decision if I want to go ahead and have that "cheat" meal, that big of a a cheat meal or find a healthy alternative. It is getting harder and harder to find a healthy item on the menu by description alone. I was at a Mexican restaurant and ordered grilled chicken. LOL...it had a heavy cream sauce with cheese on it....I saw the cheese on the menu, but swear it didn't say anything about the heavy cream sauce.

Sure it is easy to go to Subway get a 6" turkey on wheat with no mayo and know that it is reasonably healthy. But you can't eat that for breakfast lunch and dinner. And I like know the nutritional value of even something like this. Why? That 6" turkey on wheat has less calories then that bag of chips you thought about getting for a snack. Or less calories that then a large Coke that you were going to get for a pick me up in the afternoon. Or about the same calories as a regular sized candy bar that will stay with you a lot longer.

[x-filesfan]

I am a 36 year old female. I made lifestyle changes years ago and went from 144 to 120. Then health issues meant new medicines... In about 4 years, I went from 120 to 177.5. I stopped all medicine in October and am now at 155.

Here's a great restaurant resource: http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html A word of advice, though. Ignorance can be bliss.

Good luck to those of you in your weight loss quest!

-- Jenny

[Sdallnct]

Originally Posted by x-filesfan

Here's a great restaurant resource: http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html A word of advice, though. Ignorance can be bliss.

Good luck to those of you in your weight loss quest!

-- Jenny

Hey that is a great guide. But I'll disagree with your statement that Ignorance is bless. I really like Men's Health idea of smart substitutions. And having information like in your link allows you to do that and still eat enough so that your not hungry but keeping calories down.

[drmoze]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

i've read somewhere that if you switch to sea salt or another unprocessed salt then it's a lot better for you

Not a lot, and it doesn't reduce the basic problems of excess salt ingestion. There may be some more beneficial trace minerals in sea salt, but it's basically the same sodium chloride and taking in too much causes the same problems.

[Artman]

I'm 29, 5' 10", currently at about 163, would like to cut 10 lbs and then start bulking up next month. I've eased into it, finishing off things in my kitchen, etc went to the gym 3 days last wk, hoping to do cardio 5 days this wk... and improve my diet. (limit alcohol to fri and saturdays)

[al_bundy]

beer is bad for your belly

best thing that ever helped me is doing a NutriSystem type diet. It's too expensive to buy the pre-made food so i just buy the base and make my own.

no white rice, pasta, bread or anything. i try to eat the healthy grains like quinoa, millet, the entire wheatberry, etc. Only buy brown long grain rice. I usually just look for the highest fiber content

[Artman]

One thing I'm kinda stuck on is ideas for lunches at work... I've just been making sandwiches...wheat bread, deli meat, some low fat mayo and pickles. (no cheese). If I make the bread my only carbs for the day that's pretty good right? I'll probably start having a late afternoon chicken breast as well (esp once I start bulking up).

[al_bundy]

yesterday i bought some Amy's Organic burritos and will probably buy some more tomorrow. $3 a piece.

not exactly good for you but i've found i don't need to diet 100% of the time. 50% to 80% is good enough. and i cheat without thinking or worrying about it. i'll probably go get thai for lunch. don't care if it's white rice or how many calories. i don't count calories and eat more than most people i know.

i'm 6' and around 170 or 175.

[x-filesfan]

Originally Posted by Sdallnct

Hey that is a great guide. But I'll disagree with your statement that Ignorance is bless. I really like Men's Health idea of smart substitutions. And having information like in your link allows you to do that and still eat enough so that your not hungry but keeping calories down.

For me, learning the calorie count of restaurant food is bitter-sweet. Knowledge is power, on one hand. On the other hand, once you take the red pill, there is no going back. There is no way to un-learn the numbers that go with your favorite tasty morsels. It is so sad to say goodbye...sigh.

[big whoppa]

Originally Posted by x-filesfan

For me, learning the calorie count of restaurant food is bitter-sweet. Knowledge is power, on one hand. On the other hand, once you take the red pill, there is no going back. There is no way to un-learn the numbers that go with your favorite tasty morsels. It is so sad to say goodbye...sigh.

You're always allowed a cheat day as long as you still exercise and eat right the rest of the time.

[Dr_Evil]

Originally Posted by Artman

One thing I'm kinda stuck on is ideas for lunches at work... I've just been making sandwiches...wheat bread, deli meat, some low fat mayo and pickles. (no cheese). If I make the bread my only carbs for the day that's pretty good right? I'll probably start having a late afternoon chicken breast as well (esp once I start bulking up).

I like to make a chicken wrap for lunch. These FlatOut light wraps, are good, with a grilled chicken breast, spinach, and a tiny bit of fat free ranch dressing.

http://www.flatoutbread.com/movie.html

90 calories, 9g protein, 16g carbs (9g fiber, 0g sugar) in the wrap

[D.Pham00]

^are those filling? i ate a turkey (or maybe chicken?) wrap from trader joes one day, it was something like 700 calories, and wasn't even filling.

[Green Smurf]

you can make pizza out of the wraps as well just put in the oven for 10 mins to crisp. add your toppings, and bake for 5 mins. Really filling and pretty low in calories if you do it right.

[Dr_Evil]

Originally Posted by D.Pham00

^are those filling? i ate a turkey (or maybe chicken?) wrap from trader joes one day, it was something like 700 calories, and wasn't even filling.

I eat that and an apple for lunch and that is enough for me. My eating schedule is breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner with 2-3 hours in between. I think the wrap helps to make it filling.

[Sdallnct]

Originally Posted by D.Pham00

^are those filling? i ate a turkey (or maybe chicken?) wrap from trader joes one day, it was something like 700 calories, and wasn't even filling.

Well I would guess to be that many calories it had mayo or some other dressing. Between that and the possible crappy bread was probably 70% of the calories.

A chargrilled chicken sandwich from Chick fil a is like 280 calories.

That is the key is seeing where the calories are.

[D.Pham00]

Originally Posted by Sdallnct

Well I would guess to be that many calories it had mayo or some other dressing. Between that and the possible crappy bread was probably 70% of the calories.

A chargrilled chicken sandwich from Chick fil a is like 280 calories.

That is the key is seeing where the calories are.

yeah, i'm sure it had mayo, and the dressing was damn good (which probably means a lot of calories as well).

[Sdallnct]

Originally Posted by D.Pham00

yeah, i'm sure it had mayo, and the dressing was damn good (which probably means a lot of calories as well).

I think that is a good example of why some people have problems. They eat a "normal" size sandwich but because it has two pieces of cheese, mayo, some additional sauce, and some crappy bread it is 600-800 calories. And people think "that didn't fill me up, no way I can eat only 2,000 calories in a day".

But what they don't realize is remove 1 piece of cheese and mayo/sauce and put is on wheat or half the bread and you likely just cut the calories in half. Meaning you could get double the meat and which would fill you up and you would be way ahead of the game calorie wise.

In my example before that a Chargrilled chick fil a sandwich has 280 calories. That means most men could eat 7 of them a day and still lose weight. Not that you would want to. But it would be filling no doubt and around 2,000 calories.

[MovieMaster11]

I heard in a different thread that the best way to start losing weight is for your "jerk" of a grandpa to call you a fatty and break your spirit. You will surely have a eating disorder by sun down