OT: New Year Weight Loss Program

[Jeff B.]

I am having trouble with the link above, my be my work network, not sure.  But I will be on there as jbouchard78.

here is my quick and dirty rules to get the ball rolling.

1) eat lots of veggies (one of the best things I did this year was buy into a farm share over the summer.  We got 10 lbs of produce from a local farm every week for 20 weeks.  It sounds like a lot but its not.  And we ate so good and healthy all summer, it forced us to cook each night, incorporate veggies and try new things.  It was something I highly suggest others try if you have the opportunity.  Aside from the health benefits you help a local farm as well.)
2) eat several smaller meals about 2-3 hours apart
3) lots of chicken and fish
4) absolutely no soda, lots of water
5) snacks comprised of nuts, granola bars, oatmeal, fruit

good luck everyone

[Spooky]

I'm packing a half of a tuna sammich (on home-baked wheat bread  ) with an apple and a side salad for lunch. No frozen, processed crap.

I want to make love to the future, skinny and no-more-crappy-food Matt right now. I'll gladly wait. 
(I'm kidding, I won't appear in your bedroom when you reached your goal. I might look into it though...)

By the way, this thread is pure awesomeness.

[Matt H.O.W.L.]

I'm matthow.

[David]

Since I found the iPhone app a few weeks ago, I've been a member of MyFitnessPal.  But haven't really done anything with it.  I just started messing with the food diary.

My username is davidaprice.

I'll modify the weight tonight when I'm done on the Wii Fit.

[New Mutant]

Ah!  I know!  To PathMark for the fresh fruits!  Pineapple is the sweetest fruit I know!  But it makes water so bitter... hmmm.  Maybe melon.  Watermelon!   Grapes!  Yes, I know they are high in sugar but I. NEED. SUGAR. so better them than Blow Pops...! (And yes I mean plural)

[Wood]

Ah!  I know!  To PathMark for the fresh fruits!  Pineapple is the sweetest fruit I know!  But it makes water so bitter... hmmm.  Maybe melon.  Watermelon!   Grapes!  Yes, I know they are high in sugar but I. NEED. SUGAR. so better them than Blow Pops...! (And yes I mean plural)

Having some sugar is perfectly fine, but keep in mind that a lot of things have a lot of sugar. For example, my partner came in with homemade caramels from a friend. One cube of caramel has 9 grams of sugar, almost 25% of my recommended daily intake. If you load up on sugars, it's nearly impossible for your body to lose weight rapidly.

Simple sugars are much better, but portion control is a must.

[Spooky]

Ah!  I know!  To PathMark for the fresh fruits!  Pineapple is the sweetest fruit I know!  But it makes water so bitter... hmmm.  Maybe melon.  Watermelon!   Grapes!  Yes, I know they are high in sugar but I. NEED. SUGAR. so better them than Blow Pops...! (And yes I mean plural)

Here a quick and easy recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 Banana
- 2 Apples (Use the green ones, because they are sour and firm!)
- 1 Lemon (Burrrrr!)
- 1 Orange
- 1 teaspoon of honey (Make yourself happy and buy the an expensive one. You'll taste the difference.)

1. Get a bowl and start cutting the apples, the banana and the Orange in little pieces
2. Put them in the bowl, toss 'em, and squirt a little Lemon on them to stop the oxidation
3. Now, the best and sweetest part! A teaspoon of honey, and only one teaspoon! You don't want your salat to become too sticky.
4. Put it in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes and enjoy!

[ryan]

And I? I am NewMutant.   

name:  airzooka

[Mike Smith]

Not a good day for me to get serious.  I only have junk in my house.  I need to go to the grocery.   I ended up eating 1 oz of chips with 1 tsp of dip and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I'm still hungry but will make it to dinner.  I'll have to eat an apple to get me to dinner I think.

[Wood]

A few things of note (again, what works for me may well be totally unacceptable to you) that have really helped me:

ZonePerfect meal bars -- There are a shit-ton of meal replacement bars out there. While many work fine, I've found after trying most that usually they either:

A) Taste damn good but are really candy bars in disguise, with tons of sugars
B) Have a great nutritional profile (high protein, low sugar) but taste like chalk and dust

Zone Perfect bars taste like candy but have a really balanced nutritional profile. If you use a discount club, you can get these on the cheap. I buy cases of them and eat one almost every day for breakfast, and many days for lunch at the office.

Hummus -- I crave salty snacks. My wife introduced me to hummus and now quite often I will have a snack or side dish consisting of hummus and some kind of multi-grain chip; ideally a flaxseed multi-grain chip from the organic foods section.

[New Mutant]

Not a good day for me to get serious.  I only have junk in my house.  I need to go to the grocery.   I ended up eating 1 oz of chips with 1 tsp of dip and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I'm still hungry but will make it to dinner.  I'll have to eat an apple to get me to dinner I think.

I bet FitnessPal will still leave you some room for more food before the day is out.  Input those bad boys and lets see what's rilly good!

So I got too-big bowl of green/red seedless grapes.  I haven't even a single one yet.  I wanted to post first. 

But guess what else I FINALLY found in the store?!

diet Snapple drink mixes.  Now--it just sounds like poison.  It may very well be.  But this isht is GOOOOOOD!  I stumbled over them in the summer at a Walgreens for a dolla a box. I was like SHWINGGG!!  Now they are 3.00 a box.  WTF?!?  I guess they were in promotions and when they saw how fast just me alone snatched them sh!ts off the shelf, they got their price point.  Well EFF them.  I'm still buying them.  8 in a box is still less than a Diet Snapple Tea.

Best thing is, I need it for waterage.  Now, I still don't know if drinking water with this stuff in it will be the same as drinking just water, but my tastebuds will be a whole lot happier.  Am I the worst dieter ever?  Baby steps.  Baby steps.

[Wood]

I bet FitnessPal will still leave you some room for more food before the day is out.  Input those bad boys and lets see what's rilly good!

So I got too-big bowl of green/red seedless grapes.  I haven't even a single one yet.  I wanted to post first. 

But guess what else I FINALLY found in the store?!

diet Snapple drink mixes.  Now--it just sounds like poison.  It may very well be.  But this isht is GOOOOOOD!  I stumbled over them in the summer at a Walgreens for a dolla a box. I was like SHWINGGG!!  Now they are 3.00 a box.  WTF?!?  I guess they were in promotions and when they saw how fast just me alone snatched them sh!ts off the shelf, they got their price point.  Well EFF them.  I'm still buying them.  8 in a box is still less than a Diet Snapple Tea.

Best thing is, I need it for waterage.  Now, I still don't know if drinking water with this stuff in it will be the same as drinking just water, but my tastebuds will be a whole lot happier.  Am I the worst dieter ever?  Baby steps.  Baby steps.

I commit two no-nos...

I still don't watch my sodium intake, I eat the hell out of some salt. Now I've historically had low blood pressure, even at my heaviest, which is why I figured salt intake was OK to cheat on so long as I was still getting results. If the docs tell me the BP is getting a bit high, I'll tighten up my sodium intake, too.

I rarely drink water. I drink assloads of Diet Dr. Pepper; much to my wife's chagrin. I do try to pound 10+ ounces of agua in the morning and before bed, but the rest of the day it's primarily Diet Doc P.

[Spooky]

Get into tea. You can sweeten it up and it will taste great, plus it is healthy and keeps you awake. It's like Coke without that horrible sugar in it! Tea is Coke in a bag! Tea is Coke!

Waaaaaiiiiiit.

[El Dave]

Hi, I'm El Dave. I'm here for the official weigh-in?
Currently 245 lbs. Was doing really well losing weight last year, but the new job (hello, I'd like to introduce you to my two friends, Messrs Sitting and Snacking) and a whole heap'a stress at the end of the year have helped to bring my spare tire back.

Walking every day, keep drinking tea, and eating consciously instead of just grabbing whatever is closest and shoving it into my mouth. I'm going to lose 20 pounds and stay there for the year.

[ryan]

I rarely drink water. I drink assloads of Diet Dr. Pepper; much to my wife's chagrin. I do try to pound 10+ ounces of agua in the morning and before bed, but the rest of the day it's primarily Diet Doc P.

i drink the hell out of some water, bc its free moslty, but i may have to check out the Diet Dr and Vince's Pepi Mac bc without a little caffeine each day i get debilitating migraines

[Spooky]

i drink the hell out of some water, bc its free moslty, but i may have to check out the Diet Dr and Vince's Pepi Mac bc without a little caffeine each day i get debilitating migraines

Hmm, you might want to take in more vitamins. Migraine, I think, and don't take my word for it, sometimes is caused by too little vitamins. Eat an apple or so, and see if it gets any better.

[New Mutant]

Drinking water just for the sake of drinking it is like standing still and forcing myself to inhale/exhale deeply for fifteen minutes.  There are times when it's a sweet experience, but other times when it's so extremely meh it's ridiculous.

But I'ma do this!  I just ate my 20 grapes and FitnessBuddy sez they were 64 cals w/ 19 carbs.  (0 protein, lol!)

And GLOOP went 1PT, 0.9FL OZ of flavored water.  Just that quick.  About 8x it takes to do water water.

Spooky!  You KNOW isht, innit?!  I bet you are one buff-lookin, blue speedo of reason wearing, fitness lil em'effer!  Thanks for slumming with us tubbies.  I'm going to make that fruit salad of yours, for real.

But tonight I think I'm going to have to do Wood's ZoneCentral meal replacement bar for dinner because when I leave here in an hour, it'll be all hustle hustle to the night job then sit on my can until ~9:00.

[David]

Did a short walk on campus to the Classroom Building and back (and just like whenever I'm not hauling equipment, I took the stairs) and felt like snacking on some baby carrots.

Not sure what I'm doing for dinner tonight...

[Spooky]

Did you just meh'd water, Mutant-san? Really? 

That is so manly, it's not even funny. I'm shedding a tear right now, as pictured above, cause of this manly awesomeness.

Spooky!  You KNOW isht, innit?!  I bet you are one buff-lookin, blue speedo of reason wearing, fitness lil em'effer!  Thanks for slumming with us tubbies.  I'm going to make that fruit salad of yours, for real.

Ah, don't say that! Self-deprecation is not on your list anymore, sir, talk yourself up. This is not a Ghettoboyz song, even though the midget in the corner is intriguing, it's not. No one is playing tricks on ya! Just pull through and you're going to look more DAPper (Coincidence?  ) than ever!

[New Mutant]

Not sure what I'm doing for dinner tonight...

See! Self control in one area can lead to self control in others!!  Yay me!!