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Not quite sure where to post this. It's partly blog material or it could go in the health and fitness initiative thread. Decided on here though as this was one of the most useful resources when I started trying to lose some weight. I'm not a success story yet, but hopefully one day I'll post in that thread.
My very brief backstory is that I was raised on high fat food and ever since I can remember I've been overweight. Certainly around 8 or 9 it was going downhill and only got worse. I'm 6'2 so I should weigh in the region of 80kg. When I went to university I was 105kg, afterwards I was 115kg and then several years into a job and playing WoW I hit 140kg. That was my absolute worst. A few years back I got down to about 125kg but it was mostly on exercise not nutrition and it was incredibly hard work. I got ill a couple of times and that one ended. That brings us to now.
At the end of April this year I was at 135.3kg and I did plenty of research on TL, through some of the links here and combined this with all my previous knowledge. I am a well educated person with a strong desire to change my body shape and no financial problems. From previous attempts to lose weight I already own a professional rowing machine (Concept2) and a decent exercise bike. I've previously used iphone-type applications to track my calories but this time I made a tumblr account just to blog my weekly food and exercise and I made it my default website for when I load chrome so I'd always remember to fill it out. I also use this to track my weekly weight and plan meals.
I'm just starting on week 6 today and it's going incredibly well. After 5 weeks I was at 128.7kg and down 6.6kg in that time. In the first month I tried to exercise 3 times a week (nothing hardcore) and I started doing some light weights 2kg each to give me some upper body strength. I've now progressed to doing exercise 4 times a week and have been steadily increasing the weights up to 6.2kg each now.
Food has been the absolute key to all this. My bodyweight, combined with my sedate lifestyle as a gamer/programmer will burn around 2800 calories per day by most estimates. I've aimed to consume around 1800. Typically this would be scrambled eggs on seeded brown toast in the morning. Salmon on brown bread for lunch (no butter) with cucumber, loads of grapes, apple, orange and little tomatoes too with some low fat cheese spread on a couple of oat biscuits (these are mostly a treat but also aim to provide good fibre). Dinner would then alternate between things like chilli, curry, meat and vegetables etc. I don't avoid rice/pasta/potato with my dinner because I'm not sure I could go that far.. but I don't believe I have to. I also drink almost exclusively water.
Thanks to the above mix I now eat less and feel full for longer and I've been able to cut out all the extras like garlic bread, chocolate, crisps, coke etc without feeling like I'm missing anything because the food I eat is still so tasty. I have a long way to go on my progress but right now it feels easy and importantly, I don't wish to change the food I eat because I enjoy it. I don't really get cravings and I haven't put any hard conditions on myself like "no chocolate" or "no cheese" etc because I'm trying to do all this by incentives and not punishments or failure conditions.
Without this thread and others like it I would not have had my eyes opened to just how much of weight loss is down to nutrition and dietary choices rather than exercise. Even though I had tried before and done research before.. everything puts so much emphasis into getting into the gym and burning it off whereas TL threads made me realise that wasn't how to approach it.
So thanks TL nutrition and training threads for helping me make some really good progress and be feeling better than I have in years. Losing weight seems to be a combination of desire, effort and education. Now I feel like I have more of all three it doesn't even seem difficult anymore, it seems inevitable.
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On June 06 2012 00:54 TwistingFang wrote:
Not quite sure where to post this. It's partly blog material or it could go in the health and fitness initiative thread. Decided on here though as this was one of the most useful resources when I started trying to lose some weight. I'm not a success story yet, but hopefully one day I'll post in that thread.
My very brief backstory is that I was raised on high fat food and ever since I can remember I've been overweight. Certainly around 8 or 9 it was going downhill and only got worse. I'm 6'2 so I should weigh in the region of 80kg. When I went to university I was 105kg, afterwards I was 115kg and then several years into a job and playing WoW I hit 140kg. That was my absolute worst. A few years back I got down to about 125kg but it was mostly on exercise not nutrition and it was incredibly hard work. I got ill a couple of times and that one ended. That brings us to now.
At the end of April this year I was at 135.3kg and I did plenty of research on TL, through some of the links here and combined this with all my previous knowledge. I am a well educated person with a strong desire to change my body shape and no financial problems. From previous attempts to lose weight I already own a professional rowing machine (Concept2) and a decent exercise bike. I've previously used iphone-type applications to track my calories but this time I made a tumblr account just to blog my weekly food and exercise and I made it my default website for when I load chrome so I'd always remember to fill it out. I also use this to track my weekly weight and plan meals.
I'm just starting on week 6 today and it's going incredibly well. After 5 weeks I was at 128.7kg and down 6.6kg in that time. In the first month I tried to exercise 3 times a week (nothing hardcore) and I started doing some light weights 2kg each to give me some upper body strength. I've now progressed to doing exercise 4 times a week and have been steadily increasing the weights up to 6.2kg each now.
Food has been the absolute key to all this. My bodyweight, combined with my sedate lifestyle as a gamer/programmer will burn around 2800 calories per day by most estimates. I've aimed to consume around 1800. Typically this would be scrambled eggs on seeded brown toast in the morning. Salmon on brown bread for lunch (no butter) with cucumber, loads of grapes, apple, orange and little tomatoes too with some low fat cheese spread on a couple of oat biscuits (these are mostly a treat but also aim to provide good fibre). Dinner would then alternate between things like chilli, curry, meat and vegetables etc. I don't avoid rice/pasta/potato with my dinner because I'm not sure I could go that far.. but I don't believe I have to. I also drink almost exclusively water.
Thanks to the above mix I now eat less and feel full for longer and I've been able to cut out all the extras like garlic bread, chocolate, crisps, coke etc without feeling like I'm missing anything because the food I eat is still so tasty. I have a long way to go on my progress but right now it feels easy and importantly, I don't wish to change the food I eat because I enjoy it. I don't really get cravings and I haven't put any hard conditions on myself like "no chocolate" or "no cheese" etc because I'm trying to do all this by incentives and not punishments or failure conditions.
Without this thread and others like it I would not have had my eyes opened to just how much of weight loss is down to nutrition and dietary choices rather than exercise. Even though I had tried before and done research before.. everything puts so much emphasis into getting into the gym and burning it off whereas TL threads made me realise that wasn't how to approach it.
So thanks TL nutrition and training threads for helping me make some really good progress and be feeling better than I have in years. Losing weight seems to be a combination of desire, effort and education. Now I feel like I have more of all three it doesn't even seem difficult anymore, it seems inevitable.
Diets including counting calories and avoiding fat have a tendency to backfire soooner or later. Also, avoiding fat and simultaneously eating processed carbs (bread) is detrimental to your health in the long run.
The most important thing about diets are the health effects, not weight loss. Just keep that in mind.
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Fuck Crohn's. I know that nuts are chancy for me, but I can usually get away with eating just a few for fast, yummy protein. Yesterday, munched a couple almonds because they're just so fucking tasty, not even a quarter cup, and was up all night puking, in a fever delirium, and thrasing around so bad from intestinal cramps that my wife went and slept on the couch so I'd stop waking her up.
You'd be amazed how old it gets only eating fish, chicken, beef, pork, and eggs. I used to hate MREs, but damn, those had more variety in flavor than I get now.
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On June 11 2012 07:25 JingleHell wrote:
Fuck Crohn's. I know that nuts are chancy for me, but I can usually get away with eating just a few for fast, yummy protein. Yesterday, munched a couple almonds because they're just so fucking tasty, not even a quarter cup, and was up all night puking, in a fever delirium, and thrasing around so bad from intestinal cramps that my wife went and slept on the couch so I'd stop waking her up.
You'd be amazed how old it gets only eating fish, chicken, beef, pork, and eggs. I used to hate MREs, but damn, those had more variety in flavor than I get now.
I'm sorry, that sucks.
I'm just starting out the paleo autoimmune protocol to help heal my gut/eczema. Do you do something similar for crohns? I was looking into GAPS too.
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On June 11 2012 13:35 AoN.DimSum wrote:Show nested quote +On June 11 2012 07:25 JingleHell wrote:
Fuck Crohn's. I know that nuts are chancy for me, but I can usually get away with eating just a few for fast, yummy protein. Yesterday, munched a couple almonds because they're just so fucking tasty, not even a quarter cup, and was up all night puking, in a fever delirium, and thrasing around so bad from intestinal cramps that my wife went and slept on the couch so I'd stop waking her up.
You'd be amazed how old it gets only eating fish, chicken, beef, pork, and eggs. I used to hate MREs, but damn, those had more variety in flavor than I get now. I'm sorry, that sucks. I'm just starting out the paleo autoimmune protocol to help heal my gut/eczema. Do you do something similar for crohns? I was looking into GAPS too.
I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but if it works for eczema, there's a reasonable chance it would help on Crohn's, so I'd love information. I just hope the foods in it are things I can actually eat without pissing off my intestines. For me, remission is just asymptomatic, even when it's not bothering me, I've got one of the worst looking guts my docs have ever seen.
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The paleo autoimmune protocol is the paleo diet( no processed foods, dairy, soy, grains, legumes), but also takes out nuts, seeds, eggs, and nightshades(eggplant, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes). Also cut down almost all fruit and starches. After 30 days, you can add some of the foods back in but make sure just one at a time to see if you have any reaction.
(link:http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/meal-plans-shopping-guides/)
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On June 11 2012 23:09 AoN.DimSum wrote:
The paleo autoimmune protocol is the paleo diet( no processed foods, dairy, soy, grains, legumes), but also takes out nuts, seeds, eggs, and nightshades(eggplant, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes). Also cut down almost all fruit and starches. After 30 days, you can add some of the foods back in but make sure just one at a time to see if you have any reaction.
(link:http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/meal-plans-shopping-guides/)
Uhm, for the most part, that sounds almost exactly like what I'm doing anyways just because my guts bitch about everything that isn't meat. About 95% of my diet is meat and eggs. Those don't bother me much. Everything else does.
It doesn't seem to have much overall effect, aside from not pissing off my Crohn's. Unless I do something fucking retarded, like eating a pisston of hot wings, or munching down on a handful of almonds because they're SO DAMN GOOD.
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On June 11 2012 23:17 JingleHell wrote:Show nested quote +On June 11 2012 23:09 AoN.DimSum wrote:
The paleo autoimmune protocol is the paleo diet( no processed foods, dairy, soy, grains, legumes), but also takes out nuts, seeds, eggs, and nightshades(eggplant, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes). Also cut down almost all fruit and starches. After 30 days, you can add some of the foods back in but make sure just one at a time to see if you have any reaction.
(link:http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/meal-plans-shopping-guides/) Uhm, for the most part, that sounds almost exactly like what I'm doing anyways just because my guts bitch about everything that isn't meat. About 95% of my diet is meat and eggs. Those don't bother me much. Everything else does. It doesn't seem to have much overall effect, aside from not pissing off my Crohn's. Unless I do something fucking retarded, like eating a pisston of hot wings, or munching down on a handful of almonds because they're SO DAMN GOOD.
Here is a link for the GAPS diet. http://www.gapsdiet.com/
It seems to concentrate on a lot of bone broth and meats. Maybe something in this might be useful.
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On June 11 2012 23:26 AoN.DimSum wrote:Show nested quote +On June 11 2012 23:17 JingleHell wrote:On June 11 2012 23:09 AoN.DimSum wrote:
The paleo autoimmune protocol is the paleo diet( no processed foods, dairy, soy, grains, legumes), but also takes out nuts, seeds, eggs, and nightshades(eggplant, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes). Also cut down almost all fruit and starches. After 30 days, you can add some of the foods back in but make sure just one at a time to see if you have any reaction.
(link:http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/meal-plans-shopping-guides/) Uhm, for the most part, that sounds almost exactly like what I'm doing anyways just because my guts bitch about everything that isn't meat. About 95% of my diet is meat and eggs. Those don't bother me much. Everything else does. It doesn't seem to have much overall effect, aside from not pissing off my Crohn's. Unless I do something fucking retarded, like eating a pisston of hot wings, or munching down on a handful of almonds because they're SO DAMN GOOD. Here is a link for the GAPS diet. http://www.gapsdiet.com/It seems to concentrate on a lot of bone broth and meats. Maybe something in this might be useful.
Thanks, but I can't eat 98% of the suggested food list without risking a flare-up. I think I'll just stick to what's been working, and stop playing russian roulette with certain tasty foods like a dumbass.
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On June 11 2012 23:32 JingleHell wrote:Show nested quote +On June 11 2012 23:26 AoN.DimSum wrote:On June 11 2012 23:17 JingleHell wrote:On June 11 2012 23:09 AoN.DimSum wrote:
The paleo autoimmune protocol is the paleo diet( no processed foods, dairy, soy, grains, legumes), but also takes out nuts, seeds, eggs, and nightshades(eggplant, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes). Also cut down almost all fruit and starches. After 30 days, you can add some of the foods back in but make sure just one at a time to see if you have any reaction.
(link:http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/meal-plans-shopping-guides/) Uhm, for the most part, that sounds almost exactly like what I'm doing anyways just because my guts bitch about everything that isn't meat. About 95% of my diet is meat and eggs. Those don't bother me much. Everything else does. It doesn't seem to have much overall effect, aside from not pissing off my Crohn's. Unless I do something fucking retarded, like eating a pisston of hot wings, or munching down on a handful of almonds because they're SO DAMN GOOD. Here is a link for the GAPS diet. http://www.gapsdiet.com/It seems to concentrate on a lot of bone broth and meats. Maybe something in this might be useful. Thanks, but I can't eat 98% of the suggested food list without risking a flare-up. I think I'll just stick to what's been working, and stop playing russian roulette with certain tasty foods like a dumbass.
Yeah I know it sucks. I'm attempting to cut out all starches and sugar so it's gonna suck for me. 
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I'd like to start off with a big <3 for all the posters in this thread!
I am overweight for about 7/8 years now; 6' and +- 257.4 lbs (1.84 m and 117 kg), while I should be around 176 lbs (80 kg)
That's almost half of my desired body weight I'm carrying around.
'luckily' I got a fortunate bodyshape, big and bulky, so nobody really noticed me being that overweight, most estimating me around 198/ 209 lbs (90/ 100 kg), but that physique also enabled me to say 'meh, it's not too bad'.
I've tried exersing so often, always going steady for 3/4 times a week, but I always quit after 1 or 2 months, simply because I was barely losing any weight or getting in a better shape. I always presumed that I should be able to eat whatever I like as long as I keep working out.
However, thanks to this thread and especially a quote in one of the links (parafrasing; 'The basic rule is to make sure that more calories go out than they come in'), I began adjusting my eating patterns.
Where I first lived on 4/5 cans of energydrink, 1/2 packages of sigarettes and bread with minced meat hot dog (frikandel), I now started eating 2 eggs a day, half a tomato, a good portion of meat and vegetables every dinner. Thanks to this I already lost almost 22 lbs (10 kg) in a couple of weeks, without ever feeling really hungry!
But still I'm having some problems, mostly with scraping diary from my diet (eggs are so much better with cheese) and especially with variety in my meals (what do you guys eat for breakfast/ lunch instead of eggs?)
I've seen the paleo shopping lists, but I'm still not really sure how to inplement nuts (for the much needed fibers) in the meals, and how to reduce the amount of colhydrates (all of the vegetables seem to be stacked with them).
Again, a big <3 for all of you, only 13.2 lbs to go and I've hit my personal subgoal where I allowed myself to get a tattoo I wanted for about 3 years now!
Oh, and gl and much willpower to TF and the best whishes to the special diet posters above me, I can only imagine the hardships you have to go though
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I eat fish for lunch, personally. Bacon is also good for variety, although when you're counting calories, it might be a bit rough to get enough of.
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On June 14 2012 20:13 venomium wrote:I'd like to start off with a big <3 for all the posters in this thread! I am overweight for about 7/8 years now; 6' and +- 257.4 lbs (1.84 m and 117 kg), while I should be around 176 lbs (80 kg) That's almost half of my desired body weight I'm carrying around. 'luckily' I got a fortunate bodyshape, big and bulky, so nobody really noticed me being that overweight, most estimating me around 198/ 209 lbs (90/ 100 kg), but that physique also enabled me to say 'meh, it's not too bad'. I've tried exersing so often, always going steady for 3/4 times a week, but I always quit after 1 or 2 months, simply because I was barely losing any weight or getting in a better shape. I always presumed that I should be able to eat whatever I like as long as I keep working out. However, thanks to this thread and especially a quote in one of the links (parafrasing; 'The basic rule is to make sure that more calories go out than they come in'), I began adjusting my eating patterns. Where I first lived on 4/5 cans of energydrink, 1/2 packages of sigarettes and bread with minced meat hot dog (frikandel), I now started eating 2 eggs a day, half a tomato, a good portion of meat and vegetables every dinner. Thanks to this I already lost almost 22 lbs (10 kg) in a couple of weeks, without ever feeling really hungry! But still I'm having some problems, mostly with scraping diary from my diet (eggs are so much better with cheese) and especially with variety in my meals (what do you guys eat for breakfast/ lunch instead of eggs?) I've seen the paleo shopping lists, but I'm still not really sure how to inplement nuts (for the much needed fibers) in the meals, and how to reduce the amount of colhydrates (all of the vegetables seem to be stacked with them). Again, a big <3 for all of you, only 13.2 lbs to go and I've hit my personal subgoal where I allowed myself to get a tattoo I wanted for about 3 years now! Oh, and gl and much willpower to TF and the best whishes to the special diet posters above me, I can only imagine the hardships you have to go though
Cook enough dinner for breakfast is an option
Omlette is a decent option.
Bacon, eggs, fruit
Steak and veggies for breakfast is decent
Any type of meat, eggs, or fish with vegetables and fruits and/or some safe starch like sweet potatoes
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I recently ate sweet potatoes for the first time after seeing it mentioned so often, damn those things reaaally sweet. It was like eating solid syrup.
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Been on paleo for 6+ months but focusing heavily on strength training now so what should I change? It used to be low carb / high prot/fat diet for me but should I eat like a kilo of fruits every day now? I don't have anything against gaining ~10 kilos in summer but don't want it to be 100% fat.
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On June 15 2012 05:21 solidbebe wrote:
I recently ate sweet potatoes for the first time after seeing it mentioned so often, damn those things reaaally sweet. It was like eating solid syrup.
Throw in some cinnamon and/or butter... yummy
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On June 15 2012 05:35 Crawler wrote:
Been on paleo for 6+ months but focusing heavily on strength training now so what should I change? It used to be low carb / high prot/fat diet for me but should I eat like a kilo of fruits every day now? I don't have anything against gaining ~10 kilos in summer but don't want it to be 100% fat.
If you're trying to put on muscle or increase performance definitely throw in some safe carbs. Sweet potatoes are good.
White potatoes aren't strictly paleo but they're fine for the most part unless you're allergic. Same with white rice.
I would try to avoid bread and pasta skill especially if gluten is an issue for you.
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On June 14 2012 20:13 venomium wrote:
Oh, and gl and much willpower to TF..
Thanks a lot venomium!
Like someone else said, I find find that fish for lunch (specifically salmon for me) seems to work out really well. My mind just can't imagine life without bread and pasta so I'm not doing anything remotely hard-core.. but still similar principles. I've really been enjoying eating more fresh food. Last week I cut out some little oat biscuits and low-fat cheese from my diet and one day I decided I'd have a snack-size snickers as a treat and to stop a serious craving building up. I had it.. and it really didn't give me that much pleasure.. not as much as I remember thinking they did. So now I don't really have those cravings anymore.
Someone else reminded me to concentrate on the health aspects and not the weight loss but I have to say that's the hardest part. My size is just this overwhelmingly obvious thing to me and as much as I try and put that to the back of my mind.. it just doesn't stay there. Still, so far I'm having no trouble doing with this and my motivation is only increasing. I find that it's really just becoming normal life now and not something I feel I'm having to put a lot of effort into making myself do.
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On June 17 2012 01:24 TwistingFang wrote:Thanks a lot venomium! Like someone else said, I find find that fish for lunch (specifically salmon for me) seems to work out really well. My mind just can't imagine life without bread and pasta so I'm not doing anything remotely hard-core.. but still similar principles. I've really been enjoying eating more fresh food. Last week I cut out some little oat biscuits and low-fat cheese from my diet and one day I decided I'd have a snack-size snickers as a treat and to stop a serious craving building up. I had it.. and it really didn't give me that much pleasure.. not as much as I remember thinking they did. So now I don't really have those cravings anymore. Someone else reminded me to concentrate on the health aspects and not the weight loss but I have to say that's the hardest part. My size is just this overwhelmingly obvious thing to me and as much as I try and put that to the back of my mind.. it just doesn't stay there. Still, so far I'm having no trouble doing with this and my motivation is only increasing. I find that it's really just becoming normal life now and not something I feel I'm having to put a lot of effort into making myself do.
I experience that too, I used to love sweets and soft drinks. I completely stopped using them and now after a few years it's gotten to the point where eating it gives my displeasure.
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Lately I've noticed I get stomach aches ( and even diarrhea if I eat too much) when I eat crisps. Just regular salted, no flavor. I've been wondering what could cause it since I'm fine even potatoes, even fries. And I don't have any problem with eating a good amount of fat. Could it be the sunflower oil?
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EPT
