Wall-E Wednesdays (diet discussions)

[jesusdaughter155]

I'm pretty sure that Wall-E wasn't meant to be a documentary (I'm pretty sure Idiocracy wasn't either) but as anyone can see by looking around, we've got trouble.

As is always pointed out, weight loss is about diet, but diet and life when you aren't 20 is a little more difficult. Buy in from family, work, stress, what worked when you were 20 might not work now.

I've been reading Fat Loss Happens on a Monday (Josh Hillis and Dan John) and he makes a couple great points.

1. is the point of the title that fat loss is most important therefore you need to do it on Monday. Despite every monday being international bench day, the most important stuff should happen on MOnday.
2. Is the point that you have to make a food journal (whether notebook or electronic). Josh makes the point that all his clients who lose weight have a food journal. No matter what diet they pick.
3. Is the point that you have to have a plan for the week. breakfast this, lunch that, dinner this and make it in advance or have it available, because when you're tired and hungry and just want something, hey look it's already made.

So, this week, let's talk about food journals and food plans for the week.

 

[smileyjan]

@jesusdaughter155 I have not read Fat Loss Happen on Monday, but I do agree with these 3 points.

I definitely am in control of my diet during the week far more than I am on the weekend. Some family/social get-together happens on the weekend, and I'm always off track by the end of it. So, come Monday I need to get back at it. Also, being most important, I do my barbell squats on Monday, and bench on Tuesday

I first lost weight 5~6 years ago. After losing 50lb, I hung up my towel and stopped tracking. Within a year I was up by 25lb. So, I went back to tracking, and got down even more. Tracking is sometimes a pain in the ass, but I know it works. FWIW, I track using cronometer.

Planning my meals is very important to my success. I start my day with vegetables and eggs. This works very well for me and keeps me full for a long time. Also, I need to make sure that I don't make bad choices (too often). If I know that I have a sensible lunch options in the fridge, I'm not going to go out to grab something loaded with processed carbs and oils.

 

[adriana144]

@jesusdaughter155 I rely heavily on my tracking apps, first Fitday and now MFP. I lost 50 lbs using Fitday and have mostly maintained using MFP, along with a scale to keep me honest with my food entry.

As for meal planning, I mostly rely on routine, a set grocery list, and pre-logging it into MFP. Limiting the junk food that comes into the house helps...lead me not into temptation for I can find it myself!

I also have a hard time with random food choices on the weekends, and pre-logging is the obvious thing that I could do to avoid Monday morning regrets. So obvious that I haven't been doing it. Ahem.

 

[jesusdaughter155]

I've just started making a plan (after reading the book). usually I just know what i can eat (meats, cheese veggies) and go to the store. But I"ve been trying this and making a plan for the week. (i'm the cook in the family). At the very least it helps me doing the shopping, I don't end up buying too much or the wrong stuff.

I read somewhere that every family has 20 basic things/recipes that they eat and I think that rings true. So all you really have to do is change those 20 basic things and the rest should fall into place.

 

[tinilildiva]

@jesusdaughter155 I think the most important thing is compliance. Basically, whatever works for you is the best way to proceed. I know tracking, planning and maybe even prioritizing Monday work for many people, but these things are absolutely not necessary.

For me, I don't have the patience/feel like I would be wasting time if I tracked and planned food.

 

[beezyhonkelton]

@tinilildiva The more I track, the less I feel like I need to do it. However, it was absolutely necessary for me to get my eating habits where they were supposed to be, as well as understanding portion control.

Until I had started tracking, I had NO idea what I was actually putting in me, or what I should have been putting in.

But you're correct in that eventually, a person won't need it anymore.

 

[jesusdaughter155]

@beezyhonkelton Yep, me too. NOW I can give a pretty good guess of what I"m doing each day, but when I started, no idea and it was quite eye opening.

 

[stonepilot]

@jesusdaughter155 Pretty much eating (and boozing) at maintenance since cutting for the beach last month.

Being very regimented during the work week and on a schedule is what works for me. A protein bar for breakfast, on the days I eat breakfast, always around 500 calories for lunch, and then a sensible dinner. Booze on days I feel that I exercised enough.

 

[naturalisbest]

@jesusdaughter155 I just posted some results today on my blog, which is that my six-pack is looking good, in my opinion, at 45.

No food journal, no scale, no tracking, no planning.

Instead, I pack my kitchen with basically only fresh vegetables, fruit, and legumes. Nearly every meal is cooked from scratch. Almost no oil. After about some practice learning to use a pressure cooker and vitamixer, it's the most convenient, cheap, and delicious eating habits of my life.

Here's the link to pictures of a week's food, me, and my exercise equipment: http://joshuaspodek.com/45-6-pack.

My fitness goals have long been: minimal cost, minimal distraction, maximal effect, maximal enjoyment. Journals, tracking, weighing food, and such never fit.

 

[beezyhonkelton]

@jesusdaughter155 I use an app called PoundaWeek. It budgets my calories for the day and total week, and tracks the percentage of fats, carbs, and proteins that I eat. It makes a suggestion about how many calories and in what macro percentages you should eat to lose 1 lb per week, but you can change the amounts to anything you choose.

The app recommended I eat 2550 calories per day to lose 1lb per week. I determined that I wanted to eat at least 180g of protein (720 calories), and remain balanced with carbs and fats (180g of carbs, 80g of healthy fats), and gave a little leeway for additional sources of calories, and set my number at 2250.

I lost five pounds in a little over a week. I need to stress that a lot of what changed for me was type of food. Before fixing my diet with the journal, I ate nearly 60% carbs. I was only eating around half the protein I needed each day. I ate candy and dehydrated myself with caffeine all day long. Cake, dessert, junk food was my go-to, and I kept it all over the house. It was lazy food.

My new diet takes into account that I'm lazy, but it's all still food I enjoy. I drink a chocolate breakfast shake every morning that I make myself and clocks in at 650 calories of healthy goodness. I cook chicken breast in bulk and eat that for lunch and dinner, with fruits and vegetables.

The key to it being something I'd keep up was making it fast for me to get at. So I do all my prep every 3-4 days, and grab a salad with grilled chicken instead of a value menu item from a fast food chain. I have so much more energy, and just feel better! I knew going in that a diet was a temporary measure, and if I went too crazy I'd just fall back into habits. I'm making an effort to like the changes I make, so that I stick with it as a permanent lifestyle change.

 

[tinilildiva]

@beezyhonkelton Serious question, and not trying to be a wet blanket, but why did you need an app to tell you to switch from cake and junk food to chicken breast and veg and to trim a few hundred calories from your budget?

 

[beezyhonkelton]

@tinilildiva It just holds me accountable. For me, it's the difference between success and failure.

 

[jackwhite]

@jesusdaughter155 I've had LoseIt for seven years now, and since I'm a data and metrics nerd by trade I have no problem tracking my food. My stupid simple diet plan is 100g/carbs per day. The rest is high fat foods. I lift 4x per week so on those days I'm experimenting with 150g of carbs per day and my three off days lowering to 30, so my total for the week is still around 700g. I have a Weber kettle which was the best $150 investment I ever made, because all week I'm eating smoked chicken thighs and sausage!

My wife and I started the 100g/day last November and have made slow, steady weight loss since then. It's very easy to maintain this way of eating.

Reference: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/one-hundred-gram-carb-cure