<p>Phew:). It’s also true that for many women, eating burgers for breakfast won’t help us stay at a good weight as we enter middle age, because we only weigh 125 pounds to begin with. So there’s not room to eat a lot of calories of any sort as the metabolism slows. Even those of us who haven’t had a Coke in 15 years tend to put on some pounds, what with menopause and all, so we need slightly modified strategies.</p>
<p>Kinder, gentler, etc.</p>
<p>How low carb, izzie? My head is so familiar with low fat that it is a difficult shift</p>
<p>While I AM a marathon-exerciser and have been for my entire adult life, I also managed to let my weight creep up in my 40s/50s. I lost over 25 pounds in 2008 and have kept it off, so I feel qualified to offer advice on what works and what doesn’t.</p>
<p>I hope people won’t be intimidated by what you may see as “marathon exercising”. iDad started from absolutely NO exercise and was very overweight. He did it all on his own. Many of his strategies are exactly what everyone needs- some are more suited to someone who really likes strength training. None of it is aimed at a professional athlete or compulsive endurance exerciser. </p>
<p>The fact is, if you aren’t willing to move significantly more and eat significantly less, you don’t lose weight and you don’t keep it off. IF you should be one of the minority who CAN lose weight by some sort of fad diet with no exercise, you still aren’t helping your overall health as much.</p>
<p>It is NOT easy and there is no magic formula except and I think there is a lot to be learned from everyone’s experience. Just as with Weight Watchers- not everyone is willing to track every bite of food. You can lose weight without doing so, but the fact is that the most successful WW people are those who track.</p>
<p>Again- no one is on here who believes losing weight and being fit is an easy process. It can be fun (well, some of it) and life-changing, but it is not going to be easy or no one would be fat in the first place!</p>
<p>
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<p>My experience over the past year makes me think that a burger (no bun) for breakfast is among the best things that middle-aged women could eat for breakfast. Probably 300 calories and 15 grams of protein. Much better than a 300-calorie bowl of corn flakes (or a bagel, my former favorite).</p>
<p>Amesie, I was just going to say the same thing! ^^^ Load the burger with some veggies toppings and stay away from the mayo, etc. and you will have a filling breakfast with little to no carbs and protein to give you energy!!!</p>
<p>I rarely have a bun - it doesn’t really add any flavor IMO - it’s only job is helping me to hold the burger. I just knife and fork it.</p>
<p>Another suggestion. Make any sandwich, a salad! (watch the dressing! have it, but watch it!)</p>
<p>Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Ham and Cheese Salad - greens, ham, cheese, diced carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, etc. and dressing</p>
<p>Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Grilled Chicken Salad - greens, grilled chicken, load up on veggies, add in some sliced almonds, dried cranberries and dressing.</p>
<p>Gyro - pita, meat and veggies and sauce
Gyro salad - greens, meat, veggies and sauce (have the sauce, but watch the sauce!)</p>
<p>You get the picture. Salads take longer to eat (well, they do for me) so you are eating longer and filling up with better nutrition. </p>
<p>And then you lose the whole “platter” routine - with the fries or chips.</p>
<p>I’d throw up if I tried to eat those things for breakfast, thus countervening any benefit:). So I have toast first thing, then, as I am semi-retired, a second breakfast with protein around 10:30am. Omelette, or yogurt and berries/nuts, or sometimes straight to tortilla, beans, cheese, salsa, lettuce, avocado.</p>
<p>Which reminds me. Just about time! Winnie the Pooh had a good idea with elevenses.</p>
<p>So we see how important it is for everyone to make the effort, but for everyone also to find their own rhythm, right?</p>
<p>jym, I keep my carbs right now between 40 and 60 grams per day. It is a bizarre experience to go from counting fats to counting carbs because you are eating things that you can’t believe you can eat. I use livestrong’s myplate to track carbs, which I don’t do daily any more because I’ve kind of got it down. I lost about 15 pounds three years ago (which I gained back) doing low calorie/low fat/lots of treadmill time and while I was successful losing it, I was starving all the time and spent my afternoons waiting for dinner time. The best thing about low carb is that the high fat keeps you full and you aren’t hungry all the time.</p>
<p>On the small bites, I also try to eat small things, for instance that mixture- Cowboy Caviar with beans & corn, spices & 1T olive oil in the whole thing. Complex carbs, intense taste, little tiny pieces you can eat slowly. Try to chew each bean, each kernel of corn, etc. Slowing down the eating experience by chewing each piece.</p>
<p>I don’t know how it works for you guys, but I am great with willpower, unless I have some of the item. A dozen donuts in the work room, no problem if I don’t taste one, the best cake ever, no problem if I don’t start. Once i begin, I want to eat it until it is all gone. I often have to choose to NOT start.</p>
<p>I agree that the charting of your food is revelatory, I feel good about all the fresh fruit I was eating, but saw at the end of the day that I was way high on sugars. Fruit is better than cookies, but not as much as I had thought it would be!</p>
<p>I totally agree on the not drinking empty calories (the occasional Margarita excepted), I gave up all caloried drinks except non-fat milk when I was a teenager working in a restaurant. I shudder to think how much more fat I would be fighting had I not done that.</p>
<p>I also think we have to respect that each of us is different and our bodies react differently, our cravings are different. It is great to hear what every one else is trying, some new ideas may work for me, some may not, but great to hear.</p>
<p>^^
I agree with Izzy
Started the controlled carb thing in April, down 11.5lbs in 8.5 weeks, with a blip for vacation mid-May.
I’m hardly hungry since I started nibbling on nuts (almond, walnuts, pecans) as mid-meal snacks.
I’m a former ice cream freak, my favorite new dessert is berries and home made whipped cream parfaits.
I also record food on MyPlate for the nutritional breakdown.
It helps me see what I can have: too high on carbs, I’ll snack on cheese or nuts; really low on carbs, I’ll grab a piece of fruit.</p>
<p>I don’t think of alcohol as empty calories. More like inexpensive anti-anxiety treatment.</p>
<p>:).</p>
<p>I do still feel full from our yummy high protein, relatively low carb late breakfast we had about 4 hrs ago, but - couldn’t eat that heavy a meal early in the morning. We just did a 3 mile bike ride, but here’s the thing. There are times I don’t like being pushed, and when I am on vacation is one of them. I push myself plenty, but don’t want to be pushed to do something that will leave me with a negative rather than positive feeing. So when my dh pushed me to go further, up and down more hills, knowing we had to come back on the same route, I went from enjoying myself to feeling nagged. And being hot, sweaty and a little light-headed and nauseous from the heavy food didn’t help. Whether its modifying my eating habits or my exercise habits, I believe in the "start low go slow model so it doesn’t feel punitive. Make sense?</p>
<p>I agree, jym, which I think distinguishes us here on the “lite” thread from the hard core folks on the other thread. I need to go slowly, mostly because my life is too complicated for me to focus on my health habits. A change or two each week is about all I can manage. </p>
<p>I’ve been eating an egg and two links of breakfast chicken sausage for the last few days. This morning, the sausages were all gone so I had the egg with a slice of banana bread - homemade, with whole-wheat flour, little sugar, eggs, buttermilk. But I know that it’s not low-carb, and the breakfast didn’t last that long. </p>
<p>For some reason, I am not very hungry at dinner time, and if there is a large salad available, I can eat that with a little cheese. But I tend to eat throughout the day, unless I have a really good breakfast.</p>
<p>I’m trying to figure out whether oatmeal makes sense any more. It was always my favorite healthy breakfast.</p>
<p>Do you ever think about how much of our weight problems are just from “bad habits”? Ok, well I guess they all are! But let me put together a little list and see of these items, which you indulge in frequently or daily.</p>
<p>Coffee at home w/add ins
Coffee shop coffee/drinks
Pop/Soda
Fries with that sandwich
Alcohol
Dessert after dinner
Late night snacking
Home-From-Work-Attack-The-Refrigerator-Contents
Snacking at your desk</p>
<p>I’m sure there are more. Again, if you can see your vices and try to indulge in 10-20% less (amount or frequency) , you will see some results over a period of time. That means you still can have it 80% of the time. Of course, if you can increase the % less, more benefits faster.</p>
<p>Cant recall if it was on this or the high intensity thread, but ID said something about trouble finding low fat and low carb, or low fat and high protein. I’ve found som very good lower ft cheeses (jarlsburg and edam) that are really very good. They arent no fat-- those aren’t so good, IMO, but they are lower fat. </p>
<p>We will be eating at a steak place tonight so will continue with lower carb, higher protein for today. I have had no fresh fruit today. I miss my fruit. Well, confession-- I am sitting here with a very yummy glass of Malbec. So I guess I am getting grapes :)</p>
<p>I lost weight by eliminating all of the “white stuff” several years ago. I ate small portions, not high fat, but small amounts of healthy fats- no meat. I was quite strict about it and it was very effective. However, I paid a price for giving up my morning oatmeal. Though eating largely low fat and vegetarian fare, my cholesterol went to highest point ever. Re-introduced the oatmeal and in a few months, no weight gain and the excellent cholesterol numbers. For me, it served a function. Don’t be afraid of all carbs. For some people, some times, they are important. </p>
<p>I have found that by eating small amounts of healthy fats and avoiding the “white” has allowed to maintain my weight- all those “bad” cravings disappeared. YMMV</p>
<p>Just to clear up a misconception: very few of us need to cut out fruit entirely to lose weight. Fruit is the last carb to worry about, because the carbs are consumed with a lot of fiber so the absorbtion is pretty slow.</p>
<p>The only time fruit becomes an issue is when it becomes a morning, noon, and night thing, eating tons and tons of fruit, for breakfast, in smoothies, for lunch, for snack, for dinner, and for desert. Then, you have be aware that the sugar and calories can add up. Otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about fruit at all until you after you’ve attacked the seriously empty calorie carbs. In other words, worry about the fruit after you’ve cut out the pastas, breads, and cereals.</p>
<p>travelnut, thanks for the story about oatmeal. I have had the sense that it has some very positive effects, other than just replacing white carbs. I will keep it in my eating plan.</p>
<p>Like everyone else, my metabolism has slowed down in middle age. So rather than get fat I’ve made changes. The approach that has worked best for me I call Calorie Shaving - that is no formal or elaborate diets. No fad diets - no matter how many weeks the book was atop the best-seller list. I don’t formally count calories. No severe restrictions on either carbs, fats, or proteins. I try to keep things in balance.</p>
<p>What Calorie Shaving consists of is reducing a lot of little things. There is no One Big Thing to eat or not eat and no secret elixer to buy and consume. It just requires getting used to some things tasting a little different, but I’ve found after a short while I don’t miss the old taste any more. There is no comprehensive list of Dos and Don’ts. As I said, it’s a general strategy and not a formal plan.</p>
<p>Here is a partial list of the changes I have made to my diet - examples to illustrate the theory:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I put no butter on anything at the table. Not on bread, not on potatoes, nothing. The only two dishes left that I put any butter on are French toast and corn on the cob. Both of which I rarely eat, and for both of those I use reduced fat/cal tub spreads.</p></li>
<li><p>No snacking after dinner. I eat nothing with any calories in it from the end of dinner until breakfast the next morning.</p></li>
<li><p>Very seldom drink fruit juice. OJ has more calories than the same volume of full-sugar soda. And smoothies and sugared soda are right out.</p></li>
<li><p>Drink non-fat milk only. No 1%, no 2%, and certainly no whole milk.</p></li>
<li><p>Pace myself. If I buy say a pack of cookies or some other high calorie treat. I make it last for many days. No binges! Spread damage over a long period of time can result in very little damage.</p></li>
<li><p>Read labels before you buy. And pay attention to how they define “serving sizes.” That’s how they often disguise high calorie foods - by dreaming up some bogus serving size, say 4 &1/2 potato chips or some such nonsense. After you read the label compare options and pick the lower cal one, even if it is only say 10% lower in calories. Over a lifetime of eating that adds up to a huge amount of weight you didn’t gain.</p></li>
<li><p>Allow yourself a RARE treat. Otherwise your life feels like constant dietary punishment. But choose the smaller option. If you say go get ice cream choose one scoop and not two like you used to do.</p></li>
<li><p>If for some reason you fall off the wagon and over-indulge get right back on. Don’t beat yourself up, despair, and give up. Just go right back to shaving calories the very next meal.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t eat or snack while reading or working on the computer, etc. If you do the two activities become associated in your mind and you will soon find you must eat every time you do that activity whether you are hungry or not.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t declare a lot of exceptions or special events. If you tell yourself you will shave calories except right now because you’re on vacation, or it’s someone’s birthday, or it’s 4th of July, or whatever, you will nearly always find an excuse for high calorie eating. </p></li>
<li><p>Seldom go back for seconds. Seldom eat desserts. You just don’t need it.</p></li>
<li><p>Buy reduced calorie/lite products wherever possible: reduced cal mayo, lite sour cream, and the like.</p></li>
<li><p>Come up with your own cuts. If you say you MUST have butter on your bread, and you just HAVE to have a big glass of OJ in the morning, and you just can’t get used to skim milk so you stick with 2%, okay then but be prepared to keep gaining weight. Either that or come up with some comparable calorie cuts of your own that you can live with. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you are currently gaining weight or not losing weight you’ve already gained, then you can’t keep eating the same things you are now and expect to make any progress. You can look in the mirror and see it hasn’t worked for you up to this point, so why should it be okay now? Calorie Shaving has worked for me. I’m pushing age 60 and still weigh only about 15 - 18 pounds more than I did in college. My pants waist size is still smaller than my inseam length, and not many guys my age can say that. So start shaving those calories.</p>
<p>Alumother - I’ll drink to that!</p>