Some diet sites talk about how to make dinner for fewer than 500 calories . . . here we are talking about how to make alcoholic beverages for fewer calories. I think I like this site better. :)>-
I posted about this on the Exercise/Wellness forum, but figured I’d mention it here too. I took DH and DD2 to see “That Sugar Film” this weekend - it shows what happens to one man when he goes from a virtually sugar-free diet to one with the average Western sugar intake of about 40 tsp per day. He only eats supposedly “healthy” foods like granola bars, yogurt, Jamba juice, etc. In 60 days on this diet, he gains 19 pounds & has the beginnings of fatty liver disease. It was really fascinating. DH, whose eating habits are poor, was inspired & spent yesterday researching & putting together a low-sugar diet for himself. DD2 was stunned & is now refusing to eat ice cream or cookies. We’re all going to pretty much give up our breakfast cereals. I thought taking them to the film would inspire some discussion, but never expected this response from them!
Interesting. I need to lower my carbs, but I can’t calorie count. doesn’t work for me to focus on food too much! Okay, now I am inspired to lower my sugar intake…
The amount of added sugar in “healthy” foods can be very eye opening. I’ve been working with a nutrition/running coach who had me focus on a ten day sugar detox - that even involved eliminating minor amount of honey from my Greek yogurt. Natural sugar (such as from fruit, beans, grains etc.) was fine - but anything else was verboten. I really think sugar and all the variations of sugar are the biggest culprit behind weight gain and metabolic syndrome.
Other films I’ve enjoyed on our diet have included “Super Size Me” and “Fed Up” - D enjoyed “Sick Fat and Nearly Dead” but the idea of juicing really goes against what I think of as healthy now. I love juice - but too much sugar!
I’ve pretty much cut sugar out of my diet and it’s done wonders for both weight loss and how I feel. It was never something I really craved so it wasn’t too hard. What I did miss going lower carb is potatoes & bread, but can do wonders with cauliflower (faux mashed potatoes; cauliflower breadsticks, pizza crust & quiche crust; etc.)
In the film, he talked a lot about mental effects & energy surges & crashes, in addition to the medical effects. There was an interesting sidebar where he visited Kentucky where some of the people have serious Mountain Dew addictions & it’s not uncommon to see toddlers drinking it out of baby bottles. Yikes!!
Very interested in the cauliflower ideas - I will read up on that!
Cauliflower quiche crust? That sounds wonderful.
Just be careful about totally making a former beloved treat off limits. It’s that all-or-nothing mindset that can lead to failure (that’s why VLCD–very low calorie diets) – and other restrictive diets, fail. If you think one ice cream treat is a failure you might just give up and binge, then throw everything away. I prefer the lifestyle change where I eat what I want as long as it fits into my calorie deficit plan. A little ice cream or cookies is a great treat and better for me that deprivation. For me, the empty calories I don’t miss is alcohol. A beer every couple of weeks is enough for me.
Agreed @jaylynn. But it’s good to look at those things as just that - a treat - and not as part of a daily diet.
I’ve been trying to eat “clean” during the week, knowing we tend to eat out a lot on the weekends. So far, so good. I even had ice cream cones both days this weekend and still lost a few ounces! For me it’s like interval training…go hard on the food tracking during the week and ease back to a walk on the weekends. I know that if I continue to deprive myself of the foods I really like, I will just give up altogether. Given things that have happened to or around me over the last few years, I decided that I would put in the work to become healthier, but I was not going to feel deprived. So far, so good.
For me, there are some foods that are just absolute no-nos. If I have them, I crave them, and it’s really hard to burn that flavor out of my brain. They trigger addictive behaviors in me, so I just can’t go there. YMMV. There are things that I will eat as a treat, but after all my efforts, I know where I can’t go. Sigh.
Re all food within 8 hours: I lost 15 lbs. with all food within 12 hours. I’ve thought about reining it in to 10 hours but not sure it would work for me. What’s good about it for me is that there’s absolutely no snack before bed–I just tell myself that the kitchen is closed, and that’s that.
I just posted to my local parenting email list in search of a personal trainer. I started walking a lot in June but it’s just too hot here to continue and will likely be so for another month, and then it will be too cold a few months after that. And of course the first 25 lbs. are the easiest! No harm done looking for assistance, right?
I am actually looking forward to my daughter’s return to college next week so I have complete control of what food I bring into the house and how and when I eat it. That’s how I got started last August and it’s been great!
@emeraldkitty I am with you. I’ve long been achy but last week went into a huge flare up of spinal arthritic pain. Nothing like X-rays and starting physical therapy to make me aware of how out of shape I am. Working on leg and back muscles and waiting to hear what type of exercise I am allowed.
Reading about all these runners is putting me into a pity party. Starting from the bottom here!
Stay in shape people! Don’t get like me.
And that’s okay. You will be constantly improving and experiencing a lot of “personal bests” since you are just starting out!!! Nowhere to go but up can actually be very fun. 
This is close to the cauliflower crust I make for quiche:
http://ofthehearth.com/cauliflower-crust-for-quiche/
I’m too lazy to pull out the food processor, so I just cut it in to small florets and steam (I use fresh, not frozen), drain then squeeze out the water with a cheesecloth, smash it up a bit with a stick blender and add in the other ingredients. I also add about a quarter cup of almond flour to make it more crusty.
I’ve found healthy/healthier alternatives for all my cravings except mayonnaise, so I just go with less but use the real thing. And I try to keep it as a treat.
I would think that it matters which 8 hours… maybe 7 am - 3 pm would be ideal. How about noon-8 pm? I pretty much do that.
I don’t think it matters which hours. I came upon the 12-hour idea in a little piece in the NY Times wellness blog. Setting a limit of any kind seemed like a good idea, although the blog piece wasn’t definitive (it only referenced animal studies).
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/a-12-hour-window-for-a-healthy-weight/
It helped me a lot.
Since then, I read somewhere else that some study somewhere showed that breakfast wasn’t necessarily such an important meal for everyone. So I stick to my banana and peanut butter breakfast. Sometimes I have it later in the morning if I know it will be inconvenient to eat supper within 12 hours of normal breakfast time.
I have a friend who lost a lot of weight on this plan (referenced earlier in this thread I think): You can eat normally on five days out of the week, but on two nonconsecutive days (you pick them) you are limited to two small meals totaling just 500 calories (600 for men).
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/diet-fitness/advice/a966/how-to-lose-weight-fast-0513/
Sounds too unnatural for me.
I found myself rethinking how, when and what I eat when my daughter left for college last August. It took me a while to figure out how to shop and eat but it was a revelation how much less I consumed when it was just for me all the time. Without even thinking about it, I lost 10 pounds the first six months (only discovered when I went for my write-the-prescriptions annual physical. That was a really good way to start.
If I’m doing the 8 hour thing, 11am to 7pm works for me during the week. That way I can have dinner with whatever family members happen to be around. I drink a lot of water all day and do have a cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes I’m a little hungry when I go to bed, but never when I wake up in the morning. Weekends are harder, so I don’t worry about keeping it to 8 hours, just try to not go hog-wild or eat close to bedtime (which tends to be later on the weekends anyway).
This talks about the different types of intermittent fasting.
http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting
I’m with you @oldmom4896 the on-days/off-days plans seem unnatural and difficult to stick to long term.
As discussed in the exercise thread, 600 calories is 4 cups of 2% milk fat Fage Greek yogurt or 7 large eggs. Make it 3 cups and have a glass of wine with some low-carb veggie for dinner. It is doable, but will get old quickly. 
I do not believe in any plans or diets that are foreign to my own habits, The only thing that I believe could be sustainable on a long run is to eat less of YOUR OWN FOOD, the food that you have been eating, your own preferences and/or exercise more. it is pretty darn simple, there is energy that you consume and there is energy that you use. The balance between these 2 determines if you maintain, loose or gain weight. if you eat less and/or exercise more and if the balance puts you at energy deficit, you will loose. There is no way one can sustain some diet for a long time if it puts this person completely out of his own ways that are developed thru several decades. Every diet is yoyo diet in my books. Middle age weight gain - what is meant here by middle age, late 60s, late 70s? I can see that some people can gain weight in late 60s/late 70s due to inactivity caused by some chronic diseases. If one is not bed bound, why gain weight? Age has nothing to do with it, just look at how much you consume vs how much you use, looking at age is not going to solve this problem.