Eating Healthy

[KJY]

So I don't get many steps in a day right now unless I go workout but sometimes with my busy schedule I don't have time to go to the gym and we don't have room at our house to workout. Personally I am not concerned to much about working out but more about eating healthy. Summer is approaching quickly and in August I have my wedding. I want to start eating healthy but I have two problems. The first is I don't want to cut myself off from everything becasue I don't want to be miserable. So what is the recommened amount of carbs, sugar, etc. that I should have daily? Second, what are some tips you have to sticking with eating clean? I have tried this before but I get sick of eating the same food over and over than I end up cheating and stop watching what I eat.

[stephm01220]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!  For me, I can't commit to clean eating.  I tried to live on salads, olive oil, lean proteins, fruits and veggies, BUT felt that I was depriving myself of living and enjoying life as it happens with a family, celebrations and events.  Back in January, I got serious with the New Year and committed to Weight Watchers.  The new Smart Points program is the best program ever, in my opinion.  It takes the sugar, carbs, protein, calories into account to calculate "smart points" and your FitBit will sync right to their app. Eating clean is important, and if you feed your body correctly, you won't have the awful cravings.  BUT, a diet telling me that I can't have that cookie or ice cream is only going to make me want it even more- and then when I eventually give in, it backfires on me!  Good Luck!  

[JohnRi · Accepted solution]

Check with your medical plan, most allow you see a nutrionist for free.  I started there. 

Here's the secret to weight loss...  There are no diets.  The only successful weight loss plan is to change your eating habits forever.  That doesn't mean you can't have ice cream for example.  But what it does mean is you can't have a whole pint, or a three scoop cone.  It means you have to control your portions. 

For example I love cheeseburgers.  I used to eat them 4-6 times a week, double, tripple, half pound burgers...  But now I eat a single, 1/4 or smaller burger, maybe once a week.  As a kid my mom fed me Kraft Macaroni and cheese, the whole box.  I still eat Mac and cheese, but now a box will last 2 or 3 meals. 

It's all about portion control.  You can eat just about anything, as long as you don't over eat. 

And even if you do over eat, you can't do it every day, every meal.  Once in a while is ok.

Here is how you start.  First log everything you eat.  Don't worry about the calories.  After you have a couple weeks of eating info, go back and look at the colories.  Start thinking about how you can cut back on those high calorie foods first.  If you drink sodas, cut back on those, and quit all together once you can. 

For me that meant double cheeseburgers became singles.  3/4, 1/2 pound burgers became a 1/4 pound.

When I ordered fries, I only ate half of them.  When I had a burger if the had apples, or a fruit cup, or a baked potato, I choose those options.

At Subway my 12" sub, became a six inch sub.  I choose meats that were leaner, and had less fat.  Chips became the apples.

Little changes at first.  I then started replacing burgers with chicken or pork. 

I added more and more vegetables to my meals.  Now my dinner is over 2/3's vegetables. 

Then start adding healthy snacks between meals.  Banana's, low calorie chips, nuts, berries, etc.  Snacking between meals helps keep you energy up, while helping prevent feeling hungry between meals.

Setup a weight loss goal, 1/2 a pound a week at start.  Log everything you eat, and try to stay under your goal.  Exercise if you can get it, walking, biking, etc.  Will make it easier to make your goal, but weight loss is 80-90% what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat it.

Don't go nuts and think I need to DIET, I'll eat nothing but salads every meal!  Or I'll drink nothing but fruit smoothies... 

Those DIETS fail because it's unrealistic, and any weight loss you might get, you will gain it back once you go back to your old eating habits.

The ony successful weight loss plan, change your diet forever, so that you will not gain it all back. 

Start with small changes, constantly improve your diet, log all your food, exercise when you can (Even 20 minute walks help), and most importantly, stick with it.  So may people try to lose weight, and when they lose a couple of lbs after 4 HARD WEEKS of work, they quit. 

It took you probably years to gain any extra weight you have now.  Guess what you are NOT going to lose the weight overnight.  Most people can only lose 1-2 lbs a week.  If you are like me, almost 100 lbs overweight at my worst, it WAS easy to lose 3 lbs a week.  Now after losing 46 lbs, the last 51 I have to lose are going to be harder. 

At lot of people do succeed at weight loss using weight watchers, and other diet plans.  The problem is, you either have to eat their food forever, or once you go back to your old habits..  guess what you happens?  Yep you gain it all back.  If you make the changes to your diet yourself, cook and prepare meals for yourself, you will learn how to eat properly.  And once you learn that, you won't gain the weight back.

Weight loss takes time, diet changes are permanent, start slow, always look for ways to improve your diet, log your food, exercise, and stick with it.  You do these things, you will lose weight.

[SebringDon]

@KJY

@JohnRi has given you some excellent advice. I'd like to add you should be sure to check out the What's Cooking board for great healthy recipes.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/What-s-Cooking/bd-p/cooking

[USAF-Larry]

Great advice, @JohnRi!  We must always remember that weight gain/loss is directly propotional to calories in versus calories out.  If we eat less calories than we burn, we lose weight. The FitBit is fantastic with helping us set up and track those numbers!

During the spring and fall seasons, we do a lot of travelling with our RV. In years past, we always kept bags of chips, crackers, etc., near the front seat for snacking while driving. The past few years, since recovering from the heart attack, we now keep fresh apples, bananas, and non-sulfered dried fruit for snacks. Not only did we reduce the fats and calories we were consuming, but we felt more satisfied after eating the snacks. We don't even buy chips and snack crackers any more.

[Dominique]

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@KJY wrote:

The first is I don't want to cut myself off from everything becasue I don't want to be miserable.

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This is a good point: a successful diet is one you can adhere to. Any diet that consists of a long list of forbidden items (especially ones you like eating) will most likely fail. You can include "unhealthy" food you enjoy eating, as long as it’s in moderate amounts and within your calorie allotment. Your diet may not be "perfect" because of that, but weight loss isn’t about perfection, it’s about consistency. As long as you can maintain a sustainable deficit, you will lose weight, even if all you eat isn’t "healthy".

[emili]

Some great advice here @KJY for you. The only thing I would add is weight loss is about math. Figuring out how many calories you should eat per day and not going over. The second thing is to figure out what those calories are going to look like. I would suggest reading up on macro breakdowns. It will show you how many grams of protein, fat, carb, etc you should have per day within your specified calorie count. This does not mean you can't have ice cream- you can as long as all your "good" food is eaten and you have calories left over. One other thing to remember- your body doesn't want the sugary, hard to digest stuff- it hates it because it has to work so much harder to digest it. Your brain wants it. It's up to you who you listen to. Congrats on your upcoming wedding! such an exciting time for you!

[Dominique]

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@KJY wrote:

what is the recommened amount of carbs, sugar, etc. that I should have daily? 

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OK, if you want to think in terms of macronutrients, here is what you could do: start with proteins, aiming at 0.8 to 1.2 grams per pound of body weight. This is generally considered as a good amount to maintain muscle mass, or add some more (of course, to build muscle, you’ll also have to do some resistance training). Protein not only contributes to maintaining/adding muscle mass, it’s also quite satiating, so you will be less likely to be hungry (important when in a deficit). Add a moderate amount of fats (preferably healthy ones, like avocado, nuts, olive oil etc.). Fat is important for hormonal balance, among other things. Don’t go overboard, however (1 gram of fat = 9 calories, whereas 1 gram of protein/carb = 4 calories). Fill in the rest with carbs (again, preferably "healthy" ones, ie. veggies, fruits etc., so you also get micronutrients, fiber etc.), within your total calorie allotment. Your total caloric intake should be less than your total expenditure if you want to lose weight (as @emili said, weight loss is a numbers game, calories in vs. calories out).

I personally only count protein, and I find that fats and carbs fall pretty well in line without counting them (I weigh myself daily, which is my way to make sure I don’t overeat): I find it’s hard for me to overeat fats and carbs when I have reached my protein allotment (because of the satiating effect). If I want to be in a deficit to lose fat, I favour lean protein (eg. chicken breast, whey protein powder). When I want to be in a surplus to gain muscle, I favour high-caloric protein (eg. full-fat cheese, peanut butter). So the same amount of protein (in my case, 120-140 grams) gives me more or less calories, as needed by my goals (I alternate periods when I’m in a deficit, at maintenance and in a surplus).

This is just one way to do it, which works for me.

[BohemianFit]

I do Paleo and many people who do it follow the 9/10 rule. For every 9 paleo meals you have, you can have 1 non-paleo - meaning it can include cheese, grains, or maybe some added sugar (or some vino if you're like me). 

I don't think this rule needs to apply to only paleo-eaters. Try allowing yourself a 'cheat' meal once out of every 9 or 10. I find that if I stick to a cheat meal (as opposed to a cheat day), I can manage my cravings and weight and it feels much more sustainable. I adjust this exception meal to fit my (also busy) schedule. For example, if my 10th meal falls on a Friday for breakfast but I know I want to go out to dinner with The Hubs, I'll eat paleo for meals 10 and 11 and make #12 non-paleo. Then, I usually just start over with 9/10. 

Knowing I will have the opportunity to eat more freely in a couple meals helps me not feel like I'm deprived or that I've fallen off the wagon because I have a drink.