The Diet Thread

T_O_Bull said:
Six years ago I topped the scale at 350 lbs. I'm now at 202 and owe my success to an author and lecturer Covert Bailey. His book and video series is called 'Fit or Fat.' Eat right exercise at least 3 times a week. Measure your percent of body fat, this is a very important number. You want to be at 12 to13 %. Don't rely on the simple insurance company manner of telling you how much you should weigh, i.e. if you are 5' 10" you should weigh 185. That's crap. If you are 6' 3" and you have 35 lbs of body fat and you are at 13% then you can weigh as much as 269. If you are at 200 and are at 13% then you would have 26 lbs. of body fat and 174 lbs. of lean body mass. Give Covert a chance his formula is fairly simple, sane and healthy. You will lose 2 to 3 lbs a week and you will feel great. Don't skip meals when you do that your body thinks its starving and will store fat as a source of fuel for your inner engine.

Good luck.

T_O_B
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T_O_Bull said:
Six years ago I topped the scale at 350 lbs. I'm now at 202 and owe my success to an author and lecturer Covert Bailey. His book and video series is called 'Fit or Fat.' Eat right exercise at least 3 times a week. Measure your percent of body fat, this is a very important number. You want to be at 12 to13 %. Don't rely on the simple insurance company manner of telling you how much you should weigh, i.e. if you are 5' 10" you should weigh 185. That's crap. If you are 6' 3" and you have 35 lbs of body fat and you are at 13% then you can weigh as much as 269. If you are at 200 and are at 13% then you would have 26 lbs. of body fat and 174 lbs. of lean body mass. Give Covert a chance his formula is fairly simple, sane and healthy. You will lose 2 to 3 lbs a week and you will feel great. Don't skip meals when you do that your body thinks its starving and will store fat as a source of fuel for your inner engine.

Good luck.

T_O_B
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I had always heard that.. but recently I read on Yahoo! that you would need to miss quite a few meals for your body to start storing fat.. it would take like 2-3 weeks of doing that to cause the storage mode.... Mainly it is a good idea to get on a good eating habit because your body will burn more calories and have higher metabolism that way.. or so I have heard.

 
Minnesota_husker said:
Lyons in the Sea of Red. said:
I dont even watch my calorie intake too much. The first thing I look at on nutrition facts is sugar.
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How many grams of sugar do you shoot for?
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Just depends on how active I am going to be really, it varies. I am not too strict on it, but I try to get at least one 500+ calorie burner workout of some kind in each day. Too me, that is sufficient enough to provide some leeway in my calorie intake, although I do try to stay aware of what I am intaking.

Sugar is how I decide alot of my food choices. If you think that something seems like a pretty high amount of sugar per serving, it probably is. I cut out almost all liquids that have sugar in them. Occasionally I will have a coffee drink that is pretty sugary, otherwise, I dont drink pop, gatorade, etc. As far as a daily limit I shoot for, I cant give you a real solid answer. I just try to limit the amount that i intake. Today for example, I ve had breakfast, lunch, and two snacks, and have probably had about 25-30g of sugar. Which is low for most people eating that amount of food, especially if it is processed food.. Try eating fruit as an alternative to something you might consume as a more sugary snack. Fruits have a decent amount of natural sugar in them, and I would much rather consume sugar from them than sugar added snacks.

 
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Minnesota_husker said:
Chaddyboxer said:
I cut out refined sugars, flour and most dairy products except for grass fed butter. I eat 2 good size meals a day because I eat when I am hungry. In addition, I typically have 1 cheat meal or at times, cheat day once a week. I am dropping about 2lbs per week, exactly the rate I want to drop at and I am looking leaner in the mirror. I pretty much follow a Paleo type diet and it has worked very well for me and others.
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Sounds like you have self control.... Not sure I have that much self control.

I just watch the calorie intake.. I am down to 233 and probably the lowest I have been in like 7 years... I still have a keg for a belly, but it is going down.

My biggest problem is getting in a groove.. Once i do that, it is not hard to keep eating healthy because I am in a good schedule.

I will fall off and eat crappy here and there.. but my plan is get down to about 200-215 and then start lifting and toning... trying to go from fat to skinny to fit to toned to ripped...

Actually.. probably just be fit.
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There's always more than one way to approach eating habits and various methods will work, more so than others. Nice work!

Also, I don't count calories as well....and my diet keeps me full throughout the day. On occasions, I will get hungry at night, so I'll down a few almonds or some sort of nut before I hit the sack.

 
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Im not going to give you diet advice because im not on a diet. I went on a lifestyle change and as corny and californian as that sounds thats kind of how you need to look at it. Im not doing this for a little while im doing it for the rest of my life. I recently went on a vegan diet and honest to god i thought why am i doing this. But in 1 month i lost 10lbs but beyond that i felt amazing. I had way more energy then i have ever had in my life. By day 30 my body was clean and feeling great. I cut out all pop and that was hard and still is hard. I read somewhere where someone started to put it like this to themselves. Instead of saying I want it but I cant have it, say to yourself I can have it but i dont want it. It sounds kooky but give it a try. After my diet i went back to eating meat and other bad things and oh sweet jesus i hate it. I feel like garbage again and i dont like it. Im not saying being a vegitarian or a fruitatarian, or a vegan is the answer. But my little experiement opened up my eyes on what my body can feel like if its working like it should. It may not be the answer for you but it was for me, and thats the hard thing about diets or lifestyle changes there is no one answer. The best advice i can give is the simplest. Eat more fresh fruits and veggies, exercise, get good sleep, lots of water, get outside and enjoy the sunshine. That worked for me. F*** man im 230lbs and i went jogging, every fat jiggly part of me was moving but it was amazing because i hate hot weather and here my fat harry a** is outside jogging. Its been 100+ degrees around here latelly and ive been riding my bike and going to work with no AC on. Its the weirdest thing. Keep it up, these things arent easy to break. Pop has me hooked bad but its been 2 months and i have had no pop. I have had a couple of countrytime lemonades but im not addicted to that. Trust me, im a cola freak. Just thinking about it makes me want to go raid my wifes stash. I need to get back on it because i hate feeling like this, i really do. The old saying goes, one day you will get sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. Look to others for inspiration and help push you along. Get some good music to listen to while you excersise. Try to relax because that is important also. Good luck, its a hard road but one that can be conqured.

 
+1 to that, that's awesome. yeah I think you do have to look at it as a mentality. That was a long paragraph but it was worth reading.

 
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My biggest changes came right after i realized - if you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. Everyone knows that, but not too many actually live by it. It's kind of like Bo says - its a process. And you have to believe in it. But if you do, it will work.

Livestrong.com's Myplate has a great online calorie tracker. Just type the first few letters of the food you're eating and it tracks calories, fats, carbs, and protein. All food consumed is tracked by day and meal time. It will actually tell you exactly how many calories you have remaining for the day. Then you can play around/delete various meal combinations to see what you can get away with eating. You can also look back at previous days, months, etc. There is also a weight tracker and lots of great graphs, including for calories, protein/carb/fat ratios, and weight loss. It's free too.

The best part of this system for me is that it allows me to continue to get my beer/wine/whiskey in and still maintain the lifestyle to lose weight. I'll actually find myself planning ahead my workouts and meals if I know I am drinking that day. Just making sure I know how much (and of what) I am going to drink, and make sure my food intake does not go over my caloric needs. And plan ahead.

Also, another great food to try - spaghetti squash. Cut it in half and steam it in a colander over a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Scoop out the seeds, and then shred the inside with a fork. One whole squash is something like 175 calories, and provides ALOT of food. Mix it with some diced chicken breast and broccoli and you have a heckuva meal.

 
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NUance said:
T_O_Bull said:
Six years ago I topped the scale at 350 lbs. I'm now at 202 and owe my success to an author and lecturer Covert Bailey. His book and video series is called 'Fit or Fat.' Eat right exercise at least 3 times a week. Measure your percent of body fat, this is a very important number. You want to be at 12 to13 %. Don't rely on the simple insurance company manner of telling you how much you should weigh, i.e. if you are 5' 10" you should weigh 185. That's crap. If you are 6' 3" and you have 35 lbs of body fat and you are at 13% then you can weigh as much as 269. If you are at 200 and are at 13% then you would have 26 lbs. of body fat and 174 lbs. of lean body mass. Give Covert a chance his formula is fairly simple, sane and healthy. You will lose 2 to 3 lbs a week and you will feel great. Don't skip meals when you do that your body thinks its starving and will store fat as a source of fuel for your inner engine.

Good luck.

T_O_B
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Dang, TOB! That is truly impressive! A testament to your will power. I'm 6'3" and hovering at 200lbs right now. I could stand to shed a few more lbs, to around 190 or so. And maybe put on a little bit of muscle. Just firm up a bit, I don't aspire to put on muscle mass. Svelte and fit is what I'm shooting for.

How do you measure body fat? Is there a way to do it at home, or do you need special equipment?
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All you need is a tape measure there are several sites that will give you the formula. Actually I'll look it up and get right back to you.

T_O_B

 
Here it is:

Men's Formula

The measurements needed to compute body fat percentage using the Covert Bailey Method for a male are: A) Hips, B) Waist, C) Forearm Circumference, and D)Wrist. All measurements should be taken at their widest points and should be recorded in inches.

Fat% = B + 0.5A - 3C - D (for Men 30 years old or younger)

Fat% = B + 0.5A - 2.7C - D (for Men over age 30)

For more information about this method, please refer to Covert Bailey's 1999 book called "The Ultimate Fit or Fat."

T_O_B

 
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