need some diet help

[stevelknievel 51]

ok guy and gals i really need some advice. before i got the job im at now,i had been working out and was making ok progress losing weight. well long story short here i am now still at my job and not being able to play but a couple times a month (an ever changing work schedule and a slight avoidance of drop ins at my level isnt helping at all) and im fatter than ever lol. i wont lie my diet has always been crap food. im really pushing to get back into working out like i had been, and trying to will myself into drop ins but i know its useless unless i can correct my diet. all i do at work is sit in a cube and get bored which usually ends up munching on something, ive tried just keeping healthier stuff around me but somehow it keeps turning into junk food. does anyone have any advice on how to break that habit and really radically change my diet?

and if this thread sounds really stupid to you, it probably is but i cannot seem to break my horrible diet habits and really need some help lol

[fatwabbit 93]

This thread is not stupid, I believe that a lot of people can benefit from this (me included).

Not sure what the culture is where you work, but have you tried bringing food from home for lunch? Before I was posted to Australia, I ate outside food everyday... even though the food is cheap, its not prepared in a healthy way. After moving here to Perth, the office culture was to bring your own food in, or walk down the street to the deli. I started to bring more healthy things to work, and even had soups in hot thermos.

Also, cut down on the sugar intake. I totally cut out stuff like coke, gatorade etc last year, and only drink it very occasionally when there isnt anything else to drink. I dropped about 5kg in about 6 weeks just by doing that... no change to food or lifestyle, just less sugar. I even halved the sugar intake in my tea/coffee. Also, instead of bringing 4 slices of bread in to make 2 sandwiches, I brought in 3 slices but with the same amount of filling. You effectively cut your carb intake by 25%... dont cut the carbs out totally, as your body still them to function.

Try that for a start, and slowly start trying to eat healthier foods... Also, eat slowly, rather than woofing everything down quick.... and dont eat till you are full, but eat till you are no longer hungry.

Good luck... am sure you and I arent the only ones with weight targets to meet. I'm hoping to drop another 5kgs by the end of this year.

[Chadd 916]

Being unable to do much exercise over the last six months has killed me. I gained at least 20lbs just because I couldn't maintain my normal level of activity. My wife recently lost a lot of weight and I'm just following her plan. Smaller portions, only eating at meal times and cutting soda and other stuff to one or less per day on average. Combine that with increasing my activity level back to where it used to be (or more) and I'm hoping to have similar results.

[gxc999 7]

The solution is actually very simple: cut the crap out and replace it with more fresh fruits, vegetables and lean meats. The caveat is merely that it's easier said than done. Why don't people do it? Well, it's time consuming. You have to plan ahead, and can easily cost more than junk food. You've also gotta do more food prep, because healthy food is not something you can often microwave. For people who eat a 100% crap diet, cut down junk food bit by bit and substitute healthier choices one by one.

Bring your own lunches to work or school and bring healthy snacks. Your average person isn't willing to do this but eating healthy will leave you with more energy and muscle and less body fat. You'll also be sick less often.

[number21 3]

The solution is actually very simple: cut the crap out and replace it with more fresh fruits, vegetables and lean meats. The caveat is merely that it's easier said than done. Why don't people do it? Well, it's time consuming. You have to plan ahead, and can easily cost more than junk food. You've also gotta do more food prep, because healthy food is not something you can often microwave. For people who eat a 100% crap diet, cut down junk food bit by bit and substitute healthier choices one by one.

Bring your own lunches to work or school and bring healthy snacks. Your average person isn't willing to do this but eating healthy will leave you with more energy and muscle and less body fat. You'll also be sick less often.

This is a great post!

IMO the best way to do it is make changes in small steps.

First I cut out 95% of the high fructose corn syrup from my diet. Not to hard you just have to read ingredients labels and try new brands. Then cut 95% of anything Hydrogenated. Same thing label reading. Then work on portion control and slowing down while eating.

Don't fall for the "health food" or "diet food" trick. It's all marketing and it's all highly processed food! Try and eat more whole fruits veggies and whole grains. East less but higher quality meat. (Cheap meat is cheap for a reason!) We usually have meat once a week for dinner. I am working out alternatives for lunch. Cold cuts for sandwiches are so easy, but not very healthy.

Consider things like fast food once or twice a month splurges.

The less ingredients on a label the better. If you don't know what stuff is in your food, odds are you don't want it.

Cook your own stuff. It takes time and effort, but you can control what goes in and what doesn't. Plus cooking is a useful thing anyway.

Don't go nuts and don't "punish" yourself for having some junk every now and again. Moderation is key.

It's a process. I had a crap diet for a long time. I am getting better and have lost weight. I have a good 5-10lbs I'd like to loose. I just need to incorporate more exercise outsid e of hockey. Especially since I won't be playing much, if at all, this spring/summer.

[Bucky25 0]

I'm in this boat right now too. Diet sucked for at least a decade or more.

All of the above suggestions are great so I'm not going to add anything to that. One thing I'd suggest is log your food for a few days to see how many calories, fat grams, sugar, carbs, etc you are really consuming. It takes only a minute after each meal but it's really an eye opener.

I use My Fitness Pal...there is a data base with tens of thousands of foods/brands, if you can't find what you ate, enter a similar product or create the one you had. (free to use BTW).

As an example I am trying to go from 230 to 205 lbs. My suggested caloric intake is 2090 calories plus the number I estimate I've burned if I work out that day. Typically I'm eating between 2000-2200 calories per day and I'm down 7 lbs. so I'm happy. Work out at home 5 days per week and hockey one to two days.

Here is my suggested breakdown:

2,090 287 70 78 42

Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sugar

On a typical day I eat about 150-200 carbs and about 90g of protein. Sugar is by far the toughest one for me as I am a Mt. Dew lover and also love all forms of candy, sweets, cake, pie, etc.

I had to cut out soda and now enjoy only the occasional cookie or candy bar. Don't completely deprive yourself of these items or you'll just binge on them when the opportunity arrives. Also note that bananas and many other fruits have a lot of natural sugars and I don't worry about those items if I exceed the suggested sugar level. Watch the refined sugars.

I'm a desk jockey too so I'm in the same boat you are....get up and excercise at least 30-60 min a few times per week and watch what you eat. You'll do just fine.

[xrickyb86x 1]

I lost 20 lbs in a about 3 months just by not drinking beer, soda, or liquor. I also stopped eating past 8pm and ate three square meals a day while cutting down my red meat intake. This was with very little exercise in the process.

At first it's hard, you'll get cravings for steak and sodas and sweets. I don't know much about a human body's health from a scientific standpoint but it felt like after about 3 weeks my body had cleaned most of that junk out and I had more energy and zero cravings for junk food.

I added more hockey into my schedule (around 3 times a week roller/ice) and dropped another 10+ pounds. I went from 226 lbs in October to 185-190 today.

Hope this helps!

Oh, what also helped was taking a "before" pic that I would constantly look at and get motivated to lose weight. I also kept a "before" shirt (a shirt that didn't fit me because I was too fat) and made it a goal to fit into it. That shirt now fits me loose and my "after" pics are astonishing when compared to the "before" pic.

Sorry for all the edits... I also switched my snacking to baby carrots and cans of V8.

Other benefits to this... Ever since I was 16 I used to get sick once a year from around October - February. I have not even felt the slightest bit of a cold coming since I started this.

[coryroth24 15]

Move in with a vegetarian. My weight would fluctuate a lot (165-175lbs ish), but now I've been living with my girl for 6-months now and been eating more veggies and less meat. I've been steadily holding at 160lbs and lost about two inches off the waist line. And I gotta say, if you find the right veggie burger patties, they're actually pretty damn good...

[stevelknievel 51]

thanks guys! ill get to working on a plan. now i just need to nut up and hit some drop ins