TheCalvinator24 wrote:Bixby17 wrote:Interesting thread. Starts off one way, veers wildly some place else.
The good news is that just by looking at the picture, you have some measure of muscle, and that those muscles want to do stuff.
The bad news is that for those of us who are muscled up, to get rid of extra fluff, we have to be more aware of our dietary choices because just working on the muscle part will just put on bigger muscles along with the fluff.
Usually, for most everyone, increasing our exercise and taking out the five most nutritionally void/ungood things that we eat/drink the most can make a huge difference.
Do you think that's a fair summary?
I'm not sure what my five bad foods & drinks are. I'm not saying I don't have them. I'm just not sure what they would be.
I don't do much muscle-training because I am too cheap to pay for a gym membership, and I don't have any home equipment. I have gotten back on the Gazelle twice this week. Can't tonight because I gave blood today. Tomorrow night, I have a brush-up rehearsal, but I plan to exercise when I get home.
Okay, here is a list of things that are typical trouble areas for people. Do you have a sweet tooth or a salt tooth?
Liquids--Sometimes liquids are a problem because they add calories without making you feel full or encourage you to eat more:
Sugar sodas: Empty calories and some people believe that high fructose corn syrup does bad things to insulin levels.
Alcohol: Alcohol can be calorically dense and can cause you to store fat where you don't want to. It can also encourage you to eat more.
Other Ideas:
Fast Food -- Even nutritionists tend to under count the number of calories in fast food. Usually when you reach for fast food, you are really hungry and eat more.
Fried Food -- Calorically dense, not typically nutritionally good for you.
Restaurant Food Portions -- Portion sizes at most restaurants are too big. Especially with the amount of carbohydrates they give you. It is easy to eat way more than your calorie needs when you eat out.
Processed Carbohydrates -- Tend to be calorically dense and huge portion sizes. Can spike insulin levels. Often full of corn syrup.
Undereating Foods That Can Help-- Fiber filled, nutritionally dense foods. Lean proteins. Choosing healthy fats over unhealthy ones.
Eating when I am really thirsty--Under drinking water can make you eat when you are really thirsty instead.
For me, I have to be very careful with restaurant portions because I do my share of restaurant eating--bread baskets and chip baskets can cause me to overeat because you almost mentally think of those things as extras that don't count.
Other foods I need to be careful not to overeat are tortilla chips, tortillas, pasta, pizza, white rice. Very calorically dense.
In the past, reducing alcohol has helped. I think back of what I used to drink and it is stunning.
For a lot of people, cutting out sugar sodas and fried foods can make a huge difference.
Some people are more foodies than others, and for some people cutting out or reducing favorite foods and drinks like sodas is difficult. I have some friends of mine who have weight issues, and they don't overeat but their caloric intake from alcohol is difficult.
Also, just because you don't go to the gym, doesn't mean you can't do some basic weight training--just things like pushups or walking lunges and the like. You can make yourself really sore that way.
Ultimately, our society is set up in a way to make it easier to gain weight than to lose it. Most fast food is high calorie food and they don't make it easy to figure out. Most restaurant food is high calorie food and they don't make that easy to figure out. It's easy to consume tons of calories in a short time with things like Big Gulps. We don't generally go hunting for our food nor farm it, but so many of us have jobs where we don't move much.
For people who want a lifestyle of eating foods that give our bodies good fuel without adding weight, you have to make some intentional choices that way and give it some thought, because if you just eat and drink whatever looks good at the moment, it is easy to put on weight.
And I am not bringing this up just for you Cal, I think of it myself and for all of us.
A while back, I started really paying attention to nutritional information and it stunned me how many calories were in portion sizes. And it is absolutely eye opening. And part of the reason that restaurants don't want to tell you how many calories are in that Blooming Onion at Outback Steakhouse.* If they had to write on the menu, this pasta dish has 1300 calories, people wouldn't want to order it. They certainly wouldn't offer that information voluntarily, especially if their competitors didn't.
That's why if we care about our health, we have to educate ourselves what portions sizes are and the calories in same because it's more fun to remain in willful ignorance--until you have health consequences you don't like.
*2210 calories if you care.
http://www.thatsfit.com/2007/08/08/how- ... min-onion/
