Dieting and Weight Loss

[Nik+Heather 121]

2 week challenge update: Did the gym again this morning.

I have to figure out how to trick my heart rate monitor, I think the calorie counter is really out of whack. For example, I did the stair climber for 10 minutes. The machine told me I did 151 calories. Meanwhile, the HR monitor said I did 300+. It's the same for the eliptical - the machine says ~300, the watch, ~500. It's disappointing, because I'd really like to be able to track how much work I'm doing while biking or walking with stuff which doesn't have a calculator attached. I think I will tell it (HRM) I weigh less and see if it gives me a more reasonable measure of calories burned.

So what do you guys like to bring in to work for lunch? I need something fast, because I'm just not a planner, I grab something on the way out the door, or slap a sandwich together.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

2 week challenge update: Did the gym again this morning.

I have to figure out how to trick my heart rate monitor, I think the calorie counter is really out of whack. For example, I did the stair climber for 10 minutes. The machine told me I did 151 calories. Meanwhile, the HR monitor said I did 300+. It's the same for the eliptical - the machine says ~300, the watch, ~500. It's disappointing, because I'd really like to be able to track how much work I'm doing while biking or walking with stuff which doesn't have a calculator attached. I think I will tell it (HRM) I weigh less and see if it gives me a more reasonable measure of calories burned.

So what do you guys like to bring in to work for lunch? I need something fast, because I'm just not a planner, I grab something on the way out the door, or slap a sandwich together.

How about a can of tuna? You can buy the ones that are a ready-to-eat kit.

[Captain Oates 910]

Thanks for the advice! I've used them before, but I usually do it once and forget about it. How often do you use them? Daily?

I worked out 25 minutes last night on the stationary bike and the recumbent(?) stationary bike. I'm going to try to increase my time more every few days until I get back to 60 minutes. After three days of working out I am already telling myself there is an improvement. Don't know if it's true, but it could be!!

Then my mom and son decided they wanted to go to the buffet. I did turn down SOME things, but kept up with my cake habit. The more I workout and see results the easier it is to turn down the food I love. Though, I find if I limit myself too much in regards to food I am starving and turn into a total b!tch.

I quit drinking soda (real Coke is my favorite!) a couple weeks ago, now I need to give the axe to beer. I like to have 1 drink every night. Maybe vodka and cranberry juice would be a healthier replacement for beer. Anyone else have the problem of getting too many calories from alcohol? I tell myself it's ok because Guinness only has 80 calories a bottle, but I know it makes a big difference in regards to tummy and love handles.

How is it going for people on the structured diets? I have never been able to follow them as I am allergic to or just can't bring myself to eat a lot of the food they list. Lots of respect to you if you are on them!

guiness is between 126 and 153 for a small one

http://www.shapefit.com/beer.html

[Jewel-8 21]

So what do you guys like to bring in to work for lunch? I need something fast, because I'm just not a planner, I grab something on the way out the door, or slap a sandwich together.

Sometimes I bring whatever leftovers I have in the fridge. Usually it's really bad food like pizza or chicken fajita stuff with cheese.

More often then not I go to Wendy's - Jr Hamburger with no onions(220 cal) and a Garden Side Salad (35 cal). I bring the salad back to the office and add wishbone italian dressing(150 cals?) and I love their croutons (100+ cal?). Wendy's is the only cheap option around, and the salad makes it easy to justify the Jr. Burger. If I'm feeling like I need to treat myself I'll have a value fry (210 cals, but tons of salt! Ick).

If I'm really not feeling picky I'll eat one of those banquet meals that are 88 cents. But those are so gross.. and they make me feel like such a freaking.... Accountant!!

I also like to bring in a case of water and store it in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. I'll drink it plain half the time and the other times I'll add lemonade or crystal light mix.

[Jewel-8 21]

guiness is between 126 and 153 for a small one

http://www.shapefit.com/beer.html

Ok, I might have been wrong. Either way, it's too easy to justify just *one* when I am craving it. You sending me a list of beers didn't help my craving.

Need to cut beer out for the next several days. The end of my 2 week challenge coincides with my birthday. I have 2 cases of Fat Tire saved for the BBQ we're having.

[Captain Oates 910]

Ok, I might have been wrong. Either way, it's too easy to justify just *one* when I am craving it. You sending me a list of beers didn't help my craving.

Need to cut beer out for the next several days. The end of my 2 week challenge coincides with my birthday. I have 2 cases of Fat Tire saved for the BBQ we're having.

Gin is best coz it knocks us out for 12 hours during which time we are not troughing..

really it is low cal -- 50 cals +1 for diet tonic

trouble with alkyhol is that it is insidious and 1 is rarely enough

If you were building a full scale model of the eiffel tower with match sticks - you would be so engrossed you would forget to eat

Those are the best diets... forget to eat diets

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Here's an interesting article from Scientific American on weight loss:

The Goldilocks Principle of Obesity

For healthy body weight, the brain's reward system may need to be 'just right'

By Luke Stoeckel

How pleasurable and desirable does this image of chocolate cake appear to you?

Research has shown that the more tempting this cake looks to you, the greater the chances you’ll take a bite of real cake, followed by another bite, and another. Before you know it, you may eventually find yourself like 34% of U.S. adults -- obese. But what if I told you that viewing this picture as not rewarding enough might also lead you down the path to obesity?

An exciting brain imaging and genetics study from the laboratory of Eric Stice at the Oregon Research Institute, recently published in the journal NeuroImage, has shown just that. Stice’s team had a group of adolescent girls imagine eating appetizing foods while viewing pictures of these foods. Over the following year, those whose brains showed less activation in areas known to respond to natural rewards like foods ended up gaining more weight -- though only if they had a particular genetic makeup.

Genetic factors may play a large role in obesity. Some have estimated that 60-70% of the variability in a person’s body mass index or BMI, which is a proxy measure for body fat based on weight and height, is attributable to genetic factors. However, there has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity over the past 50 years, which is far too little time for changes in the genome to have occurred. What appears to account for this rise in obesity is a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. We now find ourselves in what some term an ‘obesogenic’ environment filled with cheap, easily accessible high-calorie foods served in large portions. Genetic risk factors may make some individuals more susceptible to these changes in the environment, and thus more prone to obesity.

Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that is thought, in part, to mediate reward responses to foods, especially the drive to consume foods. When neuroscientists scanned the brains of obese individuals viewing images of desirable food, they found greater activity in brain regions rich in dopamine receptors. These are the same regions of the brain activated by addictive drugs and thought to lead to addiction. “Eureka!” said many brain scientists. “I bet people exhibiting greater activity in brain regions encoding food reward will be at increased risk for obesity!” The more rewarding the food, in other words, the more likely you are to eat too much of it and pack on the pounds.

But there was another camp of researchers who posited that there was decreased, not increased, reward activity in the brains of obese individuals. Following this hypothesis, overeating serves as a compensatory strategy to normalize this reward deficit. If you find food less rewarding, in other words, you eat too much in search of finding a ‘normal’ reward experience, and thus gain weight. This phenomenon is known as ‘reward deficiency syndrome’. Might there be radically different types of obesity? True, some obese people tend to show high reward activity when viewing food images. But some appear to have fewer dopamine D2 receptors in key reward regions of the brain than other people -- much like drug addicts. Fewer dopamine D2 receptors result in lower dopamine activity, which has been shown to lead to increased food consumption and weight gain. And our diet may be at least partly to blame: Gobbling down the delicious high-fat, high-sugar foods many of us enjoy appears to reduce the number of dopamine D2 receptors in the brain’s reward circuitry and leads to compulsive overeating.

So both increased and decreased reward sensitivity could lead to obesity? One lab reconciled these seemingly disparate ideas by focusing on sensitivity to reward, a psychobiological trait assumed to be rooted in the dopamine reward system. If you’re a healthy weight or somewhat overweight, the more sensitive you are to rewards, the heavier you tend to be. But if you’re obese, the less sensitive you are to rewards, the heavier you tend to be. This is especially true as obesity becomes more extreme. Thus, it is possible that the relationship between reward neurocircuitry and obesity follows the Goldilocks principle – too much or too little reward system activation may lead to weight gain. In order to maintain a healthy weight, reward system activation needs to be ‘just right.’

Might there be some tipping point, at which higher reward sensitivity gets eroded too far, into lower sensitivity? There could be a transition in obesity, as has been suggested for addiction, where overconsumption of appetizing foods is initially driven by reward, but then becomes less reward driven and more automatic and compulsive over time. This is a very interesting idea that warrants further investigation.

more...

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Gin is best coz it knocks us out for 12 hours during which time we are not troughing..

really it is low cal -- 50 cals +1 for diet tonic

trouble with alkyhol is that it is insidious and 1 is rarely enough

If you were building a full scale model of the eiffel tower with match sticks - you would be so engrossed you would forget to eat

Those are the best diets... forget to eat diets

Last year I was on the forget to eat diet when my husband blew my world apart. He begged me to eat something, so I managed one Lean Cuisine and a multi-vitamin a day. The rest of my calories were beer, usually finishing off a six-pack of Heineken Ultra Light (or whatever the 100 cal beer they make is called) every night as I watched movies on my iPhone. I was also exercising like a maniac. Without even trying, and in the midst of my insanity, I managed to shift twelve pounds, five of them in the first week. I do NOT recommend this diet.

[Captain Oates 910]

In other words-- 'habit '

I used to have an alky drink every night and the UK is an alcohol based society - a glance around any city center at 9pm on a weekend will confirm that. Now I don't drink every night though I would love to do a couple of G&T's as a nightcap

However, my wife is so bored here in the desert that she cooks a christmas dinner every night from habit and I eat it from habit - and then I have the left overs for lunch next day

I can quiet easily do without all that stuff. I guess she is a low level 'feeder' though she thinks she is just doing her hobby. Praps she is worried about her own weight and trying to plump me up so she looks lighter standing at the side of me..

Need to buy a labrador so I can slip it to him while she isn't looking

Yes habit is what drives a lot of it and boredom is much of the rest and dry mouth is the last bit.

I keep busy and do a mouthwash and that seems to help in not eating for recreation

[one...two...tree 2,762]

In other words-- 'habit '

I used to have an alky drink every night and the UK is an alcohol based society - a glance around any city center at 9pm on a weekend will confirm that. Now I don't drink every night though I would love to do a couple of G&T's as a nightcap

However, my wife is so bored here in the desert that she cooks a christmas dinner every night from habit and I eat it from habit - and then I have the left overs for lunch next day

I can quiet easily do without all that stuff. I guess she is a low level 'feeder' though she thinks she is just doing her hobby. Praps she is worried about her own weight and trying to plump me up so she looks lighter standing at the side of me..

Need to buy a labrador so I can slip it to him while she isn't looking

Yes habit is what drives a lot of it and boredom is much of the rest and dry mouth is the last bit.

I keep busy and do a mouthwash and that seems to help in not eating for recreation

You could go Hannibal...

[Krikit 1,163]

ah, sorry I missed the joke. But it is entirely normal to lose 7-10lbs in the first couple of days of low carbing.

Whoa. *rushes off to find the low carb diet plan*

How about a can of tuna? You can buy the ones that are a ready-to-eat kit.

Yes, tuna! I like it with rice crackers. I also like it with chick peas, chopped Italian parsley, and chopped red onion. Sometimes I add black beans. (rinse peas and beans first) I then add salt and pepper and squeeze fresh lemon over top, along with a bit of olive oil. I make a batch and divide it into containers to take to work. nom nom nom nom nom

You could go Hannibal...

[Captain Oates 910]

Last year I was on the forget to eat diet when my husband blew my world apart. He begged me to eat something, so I managed one Lean Cuisine and a multi-vitamin a day. The rest of my calories were beer, usually finishing off a six-pack of Heineken Ultra Light (or whatever the 100 cal beer they make is called) every night as I watched movies on my iPhone. I was also exercising like a maniac. Without even trying, and in the midst of my insanity, I managed to shift twelve pounds, five of them in the first week. I do NOT recommend this diet.

Shows it can be done though.

My son used to be an 'exotic dancer' (Chippendale type stuff) and was really ripped. The gay motel managers in Florida used to think we were a couple. Then he found beer and pizza and steak and and and and

and now he has changed his name to 'Egon Leggs' or 'who swallowed the beach ball' - he is enormous.

Every 3 week crash diet of boiled chicken and rice and crazy intense workouts drops him 10 pounds and then he goes 'hooray' and goes to the pub/restaurant to celebrate and puts 20 back on

I have been telling him what to do for 15 years but his mind is fixed on crash programs which will put weight ON in any 6 month time span.

All you folks on crash diets now will be much heavier by xmas - I guarantee it. Renounce your insanity and hear the word and turn towards the light and repent your unwise ways and cast that sweat band into the pit and lemme hear you say no more cream buns for supper !

Nice and steady does it - and do it gently and in a forever way.... softly softly catchee monkey

[Krikit 1,163]

nutter

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

After I had my massive food sensitivity reaction to tomatoes last month, I stripped a lot of stuff out of my diet and have been reaping the rewards. I had fallen into a lot of old bad habits, eating crisps again (naughty) and literally (and I mean literally) cramming white bread in my mouth when I was feeling particularly sad. Reduced wheat intake has helped enormously, as has an increase in veggies and fish. I still make the occasional casserole laden with cheese and bogged down in cream of chicken soup, but I balance it with healthier eating earlier in the day and making sure portions are appropriate. It is working.

nutter

But he's our nutter.

[Nina~ 431]

Shows it can be done though.

My son used to be an 'exotic dancer' (Chippendale type stuff) and was really ripped. The gay motel managers in Florida used to think we were a couple. Then he found beer and pizza and steak and and and and

and now he has changed his name to 'Egon Leggs' or 'who swallowed the beach ball' - he is enormous.

Every 3 week crash diet of boiled chicken and rice and crazy intense workouts drops him 10 pounds and then he goes 'hooray' and goes to the pub/restaurant to celebrate and puts 20 back on

I have been telling him what to do for 15 years but his mind is fixed on crash programs which will put weight ON in any 6 month time span.

All you folks on crash diets now will be much heavier by xmas - I guarantee it. Renounce your insanity and hear the word and turn towards the light and repent your unwise ways and cast that sweat band into the pit and lemme hear you say no more cream buns for supper!

Nice and steady does it - and do it gently and in a forever way.... softly softly catchee monkey

That sounds really dirty