<p>Cardinal Fang – I looked up people at my height/weight and I don’t think I look that slim. It is REALLY hard to get old impressions out of one’s head.</p>
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<p>Yes, ucb, a board full of women certainly knows that clothing label sizes aren’t uniform brand-to-brand. But nonetheless, the point is still there.</p>
<p>A very Happy Birthday to Mathmom this coming weekend. I was ACTUALLY born on Yom Kippur (This year on Saturday). My mom said she had a steady line to greet her at the hospital from people all dressed up coming in from services. ;)</p>
<p>Okay, so I “may be” convinced to try an on-line calorie counter. This thread has suggested:
- Lose it
- My fitness pal
- My plate by Livestrong
- weight watchers</p>
<p>Anyone care to tell me the differences of these? Where do I buy a fitbit?</p>
<p>It sounds like many others are in the same boat as me. That actually gives me comfort to know that many others are struggling too, not just me!</p>
<p>Will try low carb, high protein. First question: protein is generally not thought of as crunchy. What foods can I eat that are crunchy to snack on?</p>
<p>Several pasta types were mentioned: whole wheat pastas, low carb pastas (I think?), Brown rice pastas, quinoa pastas…fiber gourmet pasta off the internet Magnetron?? Where? I like regular quinoa…where to find it in a pasta form?</p>
<p>What about the person who mentioned under 100 calorie ice cream?</p>
<p>I must be the only one out there who doesn’t like greek yogurt! What regular ones do you recommend? I’ve been having Dannon light and fit? Forget the name…purple containers, very low in sugar. Anyone know of yogurt that is low in lactose or lactose-free?</p>
<p>I need to increase my water intake…does that show up on one of these on-line calorie counters?</p>
<p>Need to look for Fiber One bread and english muffins. I tried protein shakes before, Sabaray…which ones have you used?</p>
<p>7 day soup diet to get me started looks intriguing. The books “Switch” and “Diet Evolution” also look intriguing.</p>
<p>If you eat 7 french fries and are satisfied, wonder if it works for potato chips too? ;)</p>
<p>That’s about it for now! I will also buy better choices in fruit and stuff in general. Whew. This is exhausting and I haven’t even started yet!</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang’s link is really interesting. Looking at the photos it’s astonishing how much muscle tone makes a difference. The people who are muscular (or toned) look great even if they are heavier, while the thin people with no muscle mass look ill.</p>
<p>Try nuts as a crunchy snack, just try to limit the quantity so you’re not consuming too many calories. A handful should be OK.</p>
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<p>That is ridiculous. I’m sure there are plenty of women who are 5’8", 126 and don’t look like they just got out of a concentration camp, but some do. 126 pounds is on the very low end of perfectly normal healthy weight range. A woman at 5’8", 160 has a perfectly normal not overweight BMI. Telling a woman who is at a perfectly normal BMI to lose 35 pounds is a recipe for eating disorders.</p>
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<p>Nuts, but they are very calorie dense.</p>
<p>Well cooked bacon (where enough of the fat has dripped away so that it has a non-trivial percentage of calories from protein) can qualify, but bacon has various disadvantages like a very high salt content and being both red and processed meat (which is associated with higher risk of colon cancer and heart disease, probably for reasons that have nothing to do with macronutrient ratios).</p>
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<p>If you are trying to do low carb, pasta in general is fairly high carb (including regular whole grain ones). In theory, someone might offer one that has a lot of extra fiber to be low carb, but eating that much fiber might be a shock to your digestive system.</p>
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<p>In general, plain yogurt without added sweeteners or flavorings is the best. If you want fruit, add fresh or frozen fruit yourself. Greek-style yogurt has less sugars (lactose, which may be partially broken down into glucose and galactose) than other yogurt.</p>
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<p>Yet more proof that weight or BMI is not that good for individual assessment of obesity. Something that correlates better with body fat percentage in an individual context would be a better measure to use.</p>
<p>I personally like the accountability and tracking tools from Weight Watchers and think it’s worth the money. I think it’s real, based on real science, and with easy to use interfaces (I use my iPhone and it’s literally 1 - 2 clicks for every meal). But that’s me.</p>
<p>You can buy a Fitbit multiple places – any Target or similar store, any sporting goods store, any airport and of course online. I have the cheapest, which is the Fitbit Zip which tracks # of steps. It synchs to my computer and iPhone. For your purposes, I think a Fitbit Zip is sufficient. </p>
<p>Re crunchy snacks: Of course, apples and celery are good. Seriously, consider beef jerky if you like that texture.</p>
<p>Re pasta, honestly I think the best advice is just to “tone down” all pasta / bread for a while, or very small portions. </p>
<p>Re 100 calorie ice cream – I personally think it’s better to just eliminate it for a while, get yourself used to (say) strawberries or something for dessert, and then introduce it back in after you’ve had some success. Others may disagree.</p>
<p>Re water intake - on WW, you can choose to track it, but you don’t have to. I don’t. I’m not a huge water drinker, but I do try to drink a glass before meals and to try to see whether I’m thirsty before reaching for food. </p>
<p>I don’t personally like the idea of 7-day soup diets or cabbage diets or anything of the sort. I think it’s best to just go to fresh foods as much as possible, fruit, vegs, skim milk, lean protein (chicken breast), eggs, maybe oatmeal. I don’t think it sets you up for success to only eat soup for 7 days or whatever. This has to be a lifestyle change. </p>
<p>Good luck! If I can do it – anyone can!!</p>
<p>I like roasted sunflower seeds, too (in addition to nuts).</p>
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<p>Agree – while I have a “number on the scale” goal, as I get fitter, I’m reevaluating that number as potentially being unrealistic, and also working on reducing body fat as a goal. Better for me to gain muscle weight and thus have a higher BMR than to cardio-my-way down to needing to exist on relatively few calories a day. </p>
<p>I also suggest taking your measurements – I hadn’t, and wish I had, because I know I"ve lost inches that aren’t reflected in the scale as I’ve added muscle.</p>
<p>Sometimes I buy string beans or snow peas to rinse off and munch on raw, for the sake of consuming more greens. They would also have crunch factor.</p>
<p>Livestrong has a place for you to log your water drinking.</p>
<p>A crunchy snack high in protein. Cheese crisps. Bear with me…</p>
<p>Take a favorite sharp tasting cheese - Parmesan (fresh, not grated in the can, cheddar, asiago- whatever you like. Cut into small cubes - about the size of a 1/4 of a caramel square - maybe 1/2. Cover a microwaveable plate with parchment paper- WAXED WILL NOT WORK!! Space about6 cubes on the parchment evenly apart. Microwave on high about one minute- maybe slightly more until bubbly and sizzling. Let cool about 5 mins then peel off paper. They are crunchy like potato chips, have a strong cheese flavor and soft of thefat is left on the parchment. 6 will be very satisfying and you can eat them slow.</p>
<p>Another satisfying snack for me is edamame in the pod. The pod slows down the eating too.</p>
<p>I buy sugar snap peas as well as raw stringbeans and I do munch on unsalted roasted almonds. Not a bad snack are 100 calorie Skinny Cow bars.</p>
<p>MyFitnessPal also let’s you track water. Consolation did not like the number of carbs allowed, but I am hoping that it is okay if you are not diabetic. MyFitnessPal is free.</p>
<p>My Fitness Pal has water tracking. I am just on my third day and am amazed at all the data there.</p>
<p>Edit: I think MFP allows you to modify the goal numbers for carbs, etc. (I haven’t done it.)</p>
<p>I use MyPlate on the Livestrong site. I’m not the huge fan of it that I once was - probably because I’m eating a wider variety of foods and sometimes I find those items are difficult to locate in the database. It tracks water intake if you want. You can also purchase an app for your phone. I’ve somewhat moved away from it as I am focusing more on running now and track that activity on Runkeeper. Runkeeper will sync with My Fitness Pal, although I have not tried that. </p>
<p>Someone asked about protein shakes - I use Abbott Labs EAS Lean 15 Protein Powder in the chocolate fudge variety. 100 calories in two scoops of the product. Make sure you read the label carefully when purchasing any type of protein powder - some are intended to “bulk you up” which probably isn’t what you want to do. Using my blender, I take two scoops of the powder, 3/4 cup of water, almost a cup of ice cubes and 4 ounces of some type of berry (raspberry or blackberry) and whirl it up. I like it. </p>
<p>In high school, college, and post-pregnancy I really struggled with my weight to the point I made myself ill because I didn’t eat enough. My stomach was a mess. So while I’m heavier than I was in my youth, I feel that I’m eating healthier and am healthier. I want to avoid the Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease that runs in my family. </p>
<p>I don’t think it matters if you want to lose 10 pounds or 100. Over on the Health/Wellness thread we celebrate 5 pound parties. The folks who have celebrated the most are the ones who have an eating plan that acknowledges you can’t eat everything you want to in the quantities you did before AND make some type of exercise a part of their day. At first for me it was walking my dog - who then died. I gained weight because I was depressed, ate and didn’t want to walk alone because everyone asked me where my dog was and I cried. I got a new dog and got serious about training him. I was huffing and puffing running him through his paces. So in January of this year I decided - I wasn’t as fat as I was before, but I still didn’t feel good. And now it’s September and I weigh 58 pounds less than I did on January 17th. And Sabadog and I run a lot faster - together.</p>
<p>I lost nearly 80 lbs. by exercising everyday for over an hour, watching my calories and eating foods that digest easily.</p>
<p>On MyFitnessPal you can easily track water consumption. Also, be sure to customize all macros (protein, carbs, fiber, etc), as I have found the standard amounts not to be ideal. I have lowered the target carb numbers and increased fats with great success. Use the web site for easy entries, but also download the smartphone app for convenience. One nice feature on the phone app is a barcode reader that will automatically log most foods just based on a scan of the package barcode.</p>
<p>You can do the barcode scan on the iPad too.</p>