<p>About the muffin vs 1/2 fiber one muffin; is the big difference in the fiber or the calories? I have little if any desire for carbs or fiber and would be happier with just a slice of bacon; 42 cal. </p>
<p>Those of you going low-fat might want to read the “latest” research … really just what folks knew a long, long time ago. You need fat. fat helps you feel fuller and reduces hunger. Nuts, full-fat dairy etc are good for you, and will help you lose weight, whereas low fat diets make you feel hungrier, consume more calories, and lead to weight gain. I feel better when I eat less sweets and more real food; full fat yogurt, meat, veggies, etc. </p>
<p>“I have largely cut out alcohol because of the calorie issues – it’s just that I decided long ago that I could have X calories as a “treat”, and that treat could either be dessert or wine, but not both… and chocolate won out over burgundy.”</p>
<p>No kidding! 
In my case, the bowl of peanuts won. I do not count every calorie, but I’m pretty good with guesstimating the number of calories I eat.</p>
<p>When I am eating properly, I will follow a ‘diet’ close to the one @1moremom described: lots of greens with full-fat homemade dressing, topped with a decent serving of protein. No nuts or craisins in salads as those are densely caloric. Keeping a bowl of peeled hardboiled eggs in the fridge is helpful. I find that I crave protein when I am eating well, and protein is high in fat and calories, since I am not going to eat tofu. But, I am a terrible late night snacker. We all know what it takes to lose the weight but don’t all have the will power!</p>
<p>I think motion is key, however you can find it. Have you considered purchasing a Fit Bit? I am overly fond of mine, and have found that it inspires me to take the stairs instead of the elevator, or walk around when on a phone call. </p>
<p>As to sizes, I would say that an eight from thirty years ago is quite close to a two today. However, garments were cut more loosely 30 years ago and the Spandex is not forgiving.</p>
<p>“About the muffin vs 1/2 fiber one muffin; is the big difference in the fiber or the calories?”</p>
<p>I like the taste of FibeOne muffins. I like bacon, too. If I have it, I simply eat it in addition to my regular breakfast stuff! But muffin is important - to hold a melted piece of cheese. </p>
<p>"…an eight from thirty years ago is quite close to a two today" - I think this is correct. I bought a vintage pattern on Amazon, and one of the reviewers was really mad that the sizing was way off (duh, you bought a VINTAGE pattern form the sixties).</p>
<p>@ msndis-
That weight loss class sounds like it is based on ‘tried and true’ stuff that has been proven to be less than optimal. First of all, the whole ‘low fat’ craze that the idiot doctors still push (not a big surprise, doctors and nutrition information are some of the worse sources in my experience, they generally are 30 years out of date at least)…among other things, the whole mania about saturated fat and heart disease has almost been entirely blown out of the water. Things like "low fat’ products often are loaded with salt and sugar to make up for the fat, or others have all kinds of chemical crap in them. More importantly, the low fat craze denied using healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil (I loved having my cardiologist, whom I get checkups with, telling me coconut oil would clog my arteries…decent guy, but oye, misinformed isn’t even the word), or nuts, and it also demonized eating high protein sources because they had fat or cholesterol, neither of which is directly tied to heart disease, despite the myth doctors have been operating on. </p>
<p>I also don’t like diets as a term, the way to do this I have found is to make lifestyle changes. In the same vein, I am not happy with weighing oneself, BMI tables and the like, because in many ways, they represent a vision of health that isn’t true. I find it a lot more helpful to look at body measurements, including body fat and muscle, because scales don’t tell the whole picture. Someone who does strength training and eats a protein based diet is going to weigh more then someone who does all the aerobics and such to lose weight, but the person doing the strength training is often going to be in better shape. </p>
<p>One of the other things I have found is that counting calories in the long run doesn’t work, that it is in eating proportionally that makes a bigger difference. The fitness website I gained a lot from stresses that it is in ratios, that vegetables represent the largest portion, several fistfuls, lean protein a palmful to two palmfuls, grains less, and for nuts and healthy oils, a thumbful. However, they also tell you not to go hungry, that eating is important. Fruit is important, but while it has fiber, so eating too much of that out of balance is going to cause you to have problems, just too much sugar and carbs. Does this work? Yeah, and ironically, calories play into this, if a lot of your diet comes from vegetables, they have relatively few calories, so it will naturally bring you down. Lean protein also is not loaded with calories per se, so that helps,and cutting out sugars is a big one. One of the most important things is to limit processed foods, they are a disaster, they are loaded with sugars and chemicals and such you don’t even realize, you can’t assume even those weight watchers or lean cuisine dinners are good for you, a lot of them aren’t. </p>
<p>I also would be very, very careful with the FDA plate, that is more about politics then healthy eating, not a big surprise. Grains, even whole grains, as the major part of a diet might please agribusinesses and the farm lobby and farm state congressmen, but it has drawbacks, big ones, and it can work against healthy eating. I am not saying eat low carb (I don’t buy that either), I am saying that vegetables should be the base, and whole grains if you eat them should be somewhere below lean protein. </p>
<p>What does this boil down to? </p>
<p>-Eliminate added sugars or sweeteners, the artificial sweeteners are a disaster area for the most part, either outright or make you eat more. Stevia is okay, but I would argue to limit that, too.</p>
<p>-Reduce grains as much as possible to keep it in balance. One of the biggest problems out there IMO is that corn through things like HFC and cattle feed has caused disruptions in our diet (just my opinion), a lot of which is the government favoring less healthy eating for political reasons. </p>
<p>-Starchy foods like potatoes are okay, if in proportion and used sparingly.</p>
<p>-Meat is not the enemy, but the commercially processed stuff, grain fed and so forth, is not great. If you can, try to get grass fed beef and free range poultry, and with fish, don’t eat farm raised (shellfish farm raised is okay, because that is done differently). I know it is expensive, fortunately it is becoming more common, my local supermarket has grass fed beef steaks and ground beef, which is relatively lean and also is loaded with omega 3’s and other healthy things. </p>
<p>-Vegetables should be the biggie in the diet.</p>
<p>-There is nothing wrong with cheese and dairy (we love goats milk cheeses), again in moderation.</p>
<p>-If you are trying to shed body fat, focus on strength training rather than aerobics. Doctors still talk about the hour of aerobics, but that has problems, any trainer will tell you that aerobics alone breaks down not just fat but muscle, and also is less efficient at burning fat (when you build lean muscle mass, it in turn burns more fat).</p>
<p>-Throw the scale out the window, and if the doctor starts chirping about BMI, tell him/her to stick it in the same drawer with the low fat diets and using margerine to replace butter and potasium chloride to replace salt…rather, look at your body measurements, things like waist size, butt size and so forth, learn how to measure body fat (the measurment is not particularly accurate, but it can show you when you build lean muscle mass). Again, most trainers and fitness experts hate the scale, among other things, it also swings all over the place, I have had 5 pound swings from day to day…and if you must use it, do it once a week or once a month. </p>
<p>The other thing is to find what works for you, any kind of eating and fitness plan depends on you, too. It is modifying it to fit yourself, what I eat is sort of like a so called paleo diet, but I don’t follow that rigidly, I eat dairy, I eat olives (which sorry, paleolithic man didn’t eat, guarantee that) and I do eat some grains, just not a lot. Some people do better with low carb, some people with high carb eating styles, the key is what works for you. Simply limiting calories won’t work long term, as no diet generally does, and likewise, you can be a workout king, but 80% of fitness is in what you eat, so two hours at the gym doesn’t make up for eating at Mickey D’s all the time…</p>
<p>Last September I told “MyFitnessPal” I wanted to lose 10 pounds in 2-3 months). I’m 5’4". I weighed 133 that day and it told me I could have 1200 calories per day. That is NOT much at all - the first day I realized this was going to be a LOT of work. I walked/jogged 2 miles almost every day which gaves me approx 175 calories ‘extra’. I found that if I had to eat something between meals it could only be popcorn or carrots.</p>
<p>I lost 10 pounds by Christmas and quit religiously tracking my calories (it’s kind of a pain to track/estimate everything), but I kept up enough of it to lose another 8 pounds! I’m at 114 and holding now. Yesterday, I bought some size 2 pants (which I really enjoyed)!</p>
<p>My 2 favorite quotes:
- Don’t reward yourself with food you’re not a dog!
- Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.</p>
<p>I didn’t have the monthly birthday cake until February, but now I have a small piece. And I always have the free kolache’s on Friday - I just have a salad for lunch those days :-).</p>
<p>You can do it if you want to! It’s really just MATH! Calories in - Calories burned. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>I get impatient when people give advice about weight loss, but then admit they aren’t interested in food. Yeah, well, that’s kind of like giving advice on avoiding pregnancy when you’re not interested in sex. Sure, if you don’t like sex, then you’re going to have an easy time avoiding it, and if you don’t like food, you’re going to have an easy time avoiding it, but your advice is of limited utility to the rest of us. </p>
<p>Stradmom: Well, then. . .what? </p>
<p>Are you volunteering for that experiment?
I’m not telling anyone that they OUGHT to do this, or that it WOULD work. I’m just wondering IF it would. . . </p>
<p>I would argue that a scale and daily weigh ins are valuable tools for anyone who is trying to lose weight. The problem is that most people use the scale incorrectly!
Here is how to use the scale correctly (idad would second this):
- Weigh yourself once a day - in the morning, before breakfast. Do not make any conclusions from any given data point!
- Plug the number into Excel. Do not make any conclusions from any given data point!
- From the point of when you have 7 data points (a week), calculate weekly moving average of your weight; here is how it can be done <a href=“http://www.ehow.com/how_5068425_calculate-moving-average-excel.html”>http://www.ehow.com/how_5068425_calculate-moving-average-excel.html</a> </p>
<p>The moving average will tell you in which direction your weight is headed.</p>
<p>I almost fit your description. I weigh 123ish and wear a size 6 (or 4 or 8 depending on the clothing brand). I was 30 pounds heavier in high school, lost weight in college and eventually stabilized. I gained about 5 pounds a few years ago, started reading the Exercise/Diet thread, started keeping track of all my food intake using an iPhone app, and got back to under 125. </p>
<p>Here’s my typical day. A few things to note: I have osteoporosis, so I need to eat a lot of calcium. So there is a lot of dairy. I do a lot of cardio – at least an hour a day. So my calorie intake is usually above 1500/day. And I have a wicked sweet tooth – sugar is my vice. </p>
<p>Breakfast: banana, oatmeal (Trader Joes with calcium) or omelette (with 2 eggs, onions, mushrooms and cheese)</p>
<p>Lunch: turkey or tuna fish or hummus (no bread, sometimes with crackers or Matzoh, sometimes on a salad.) I usually eat a 1/4 pound of turkey for lunch – but no bread.
A lot of fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, apple)</p>
<p>Snacks: Things like rice cakes, granola bars, almonds, raisins, jello, string cheese, popcorn</p>
<p>Late afternoon snack: Luna bar (it’s like a candy bar but has lots of calcium)</p>
<p>Dinner: Protein (usually grilled fish or chicken), a huge portion of vegetable (fills half the plate), either sautéed in olive oil or roasted</p>
<p>Evening snack: yogurt, some dark chocolate</p>
<p>I drink water – no alcohol, no sodas. I rarely serve a starch at dinner. I try to avoid bread and desserts when eating dinner out. But if I’m at a party or special celebration, I will eat dessert, or grab hand fills of pretzels or M&Ms. Last night I had more tiramisu than I should have. I don’t feel like I deprive myself, but I watch what I eat and exercise a lot, mainly so I can indulge in that dark chocolate.</p>
<p>If I need to be careful (which I might this week after all that tiramisu), I’ll reduce the afternoon snacking. </p>
<p>I have zero portion control. That’s why I have to stick to healthy food, because the only portion sizes I know are humongous.</p>
<p>Here’s today. I’ve weighed everything while food tracking so this is pretty accurate. It’s a fairly typical day, except that I usually don’t have this much sugar (in the BBQ sauce and slaw). That’s the only added sugar I’ll have this week. The croutons in my salad were the only grains. That’s pretty typical. I never eat bread. Never eat cereal. Never eat potatoes. The only pasta I eat is what is in a can of Progresso Soup for lunch once or twice a week. I do get a lot of carbs (about 20% of my daily calories) from massive amounts of fresh veggies and a little fresh fruit.</p>
<p>Lunch:</p>
<p>Monster salad
12 ounces of romaine & spring mix.
Quarter of a large vidalia onion.
1/3 of a red bell pepper
Two stalks celery.
One large carrot.
Six florets raw broccoli.
1 ounce Butter and Garlic croutons
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
4 TBS balasamic vinegar
1/2 TSP garlic
1/2 TSP dijon mustard
1 ounce blue cheese</p>
<p>Dinner</p>
<p>BBQ Combo platter:
4 baby back ribs
6 ounces (cooked weight) bbq pork shoulder</p>
<p>*Homemade S. Carolina style BBQ sauce: *
Yellow Mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, pepper, etc.</p>
<p>Cat Cora’s Spicy Brocolli slaw:
Half bag (6 ounces) brocolli slaw mix
Half cup brocolli florets
1/2 TBS mayo
1/2 TBS dijon mustard
1 TBS white balsamic vinegar
1/2 TBS Franks Red Hot Sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp celery seed</p>
<p>Misc and snacks</p>
<p>4 Fish oil capsules
2 heaping tsp (about 15 g total) psyllium husk fiber power
3 12 oz coffees
5 oz half n’ half (in the coffee)
1.33 ounces extra extra sharp cheddar cheese</p>
<p>I would normally have an apple for late night snack, but I had so much sugar with dinner, I’ll skip it tonight.</p>
<p>atomon, I am like you. I snack all day and eat a proper dinner, meat, veg and a carbohydrate. However, I’ve only developed this eating habit since my children left home for college because they required breakfast, lunch and dinner.
My H only eats dinner at home so I do much less cooking now. I am 5’2" and under 100 lbs. Have been like this all my life except for pregnancies and I believe I weight the same as I was in high school.</p>
<p>Since you have 8 children, do you cook proper meals for them and do you eat with them?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My advice - very petite, teeny tiny shouldn’t be your goal. Rethink what you consider attractive. People come in all shapes and sizes, so first accept and embrace your body type whatever that is. Then eat healthily and exercise to get your body in the best possible shape. I’m 5’7" 130 pounds and I have a great body for my age…and I’m hardly a “tiny little woman,” nor do I wish to be one. </p>
<p>I lost about ten pounds when I upped protein and decreased carbs. I love salty snacks so I substituted high quality olives for the crackers I used to mindlessly eat. In the mid afternoon when my stomach is growling or I have a craving for something sweet, I eat a spoonful of peanut butter and the craving usually goes away.</p>
<p>I still have an occasional vodka tonic or a dessert. When I have a bad few days, I cut out carbs completely for a day or two.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom, I like how you think. I am not a tiny woman either. I am build more like Xena Warrior Princess than Twiggy. Random men stop me and compliment me on my calves because they want to be like me. Accepting that and being as fit as I can be works better for me than rigidly counting calories and trying to be be small. </p>
<p>Which is not to say that I don’t have a cookie problem. </p>
<p>I am a real couch potato. The only exercise I do is walk to work or walking around the city on weekends. I am a foodie, meaning I love good tasting food, but I won’t eat just for the sake of eating. I rarely eat between meals, but I eat whatever I want at meal time. I am still a size 4, but my weight is distributed a bit differently now. :(</p>
<p>I have found that when I am sticking to a healthy diet I eat lots if summer fruits, salads, and low fat items. Apologies for sounding negative but I can’t stand yogurt or granola bars, and don’t see the point of eating things I don’t enjoy much, like hummus. I will eat cottage cheese with fruit, on occasion. I can skip pasta but love good bread. So I try to watch quantity. But I do snack more than I should. I have 10 lbs I want to lose so will get back into watching calories. Would like to hear more about weight watchers good and bad calories. </p>
<p>I find the more I tell myself I can’t have something the more I want it. For me, it is just better to have a small portion rather than cutting something out completely.</p>
<p>I absolutely love to eat and would do so all day. My BMI is 24.5. I have weighed myself every day, when possible, since age 15. The only days I didn’t weigh in were the days I lacked access to a scale.</p>
<p>Since we lose muscle as we age, and thus our metabolism decreases, I have been aware since my teens that I would have to commit to lifelong resistance training. In addition, I would have to lose weight from my BMI of 25 to maintain my high school body fat percentage. </p>
<p>Breakfast: high protein, low calorie shake (30g protein 160 calories) and 3 servings of fiber (usually metamucil), 1 large egg white.</p>
<p>Snack: 2 - 4 crackers (less than 100 calories)</p>
<p>Lunch: some form of unhealthy cafeteria food no more than 10 bites</p>
<p>Snack: low fat vegetable soup or 2-4 crackers</p>
<p>Snack: fresh fruit</p>
<p>Dinner: something fancy but no more than 10 bites. I have pizza once every 2 weeks, but no more than one slice (600-800 calories).</p>
<p>Snack: salad or fruits</p>
<p>I would love to work out 6 days per week but typically do not work out my call nights. I’ve done P90X for years but now do P90X3.</p>
<p>House Rules: Get rid of the 7 Cs (Colas, Cookies, Chips, Candies, Cheeses, Creams, and Chocolates, Crackers). Ok, I know that’s 8 because diet colas are ok. The hospital has crackers that I snack on but I can’t eat them at home.</p>
<p>The house rules definitely go for the kids. I maintain very little food in the house other than plenty of fruits. Absolutely no juice. All the kids have BMI of 17-20. One of my kids is genetically programmed to rarely eat and we have to constantly remind her to eat. Her BMI was 14, when she was an infant, before we got on top of her to eat.</p>