I know there are a lot of fad diets and then there is calorie counting as a more science based approach. I myself do calorie counting and follow a strict diet in order to avoid overeating. How do you eat all day, you follow a system?
I don’t follow any sort of strict system or monitoring. I just try to have vitamins, fats, fiber, and protein in every meal I can. Mostly I work hard to get enough calories in. I lead an active life, often walking to and from my relatively active job. I have a fast metabolism, but my Welbutrin slows down food processing in my body. I’m a perfect storm of calorie deficiency. I can basically guarantee that I’m going to burn more calories than I take in any day that I work. I usually stock up on relatively healthy snacks and give in to the munchies when I’m off work. I’ll have a whole second small meal of yogurt and cereal with peanut butter as dessert after dinner. And then I’ll spend the next day out walking half the damn day because of my wonderful walkable neighborhood x_x
There is a very real chance that mine is the only one in the city. It’s right in the middle of the city by the bigger college. North side might have a few walkable areas in theory, but it also has dangerous areas you wouldnt always want to walk through. South side is strung out retail and commercial spaces, several minutes drive to anything, poor pedestrian infrastructure. I’m in a sweet spot.
One of the things I’ve personally struggled with is how much these conversations and resources are focused on how to lose weight or not gain weight. But there are some of us who have various disabilities and conditions that make getting up to a healthy weight incredibly difficult. Right now I’m trying to figure out how to increase my calorie intake without resorting to simple sugars and carbs as my job has gotten somewhat out of hand. I may go to 4 meals a day? I kind of hate eating so it probably won’t work.
I have MCAS and wasn’t diagnosed until my mid thirties. Lowest I weighed myself at was 138lbs at 6’4” tall. You could see when I needed to pee I was so skinny. Mosquitoes stopped biting me. I hit 170lbs at 12 years old, got sick and then hit it again at 32. I weighed myself at 213 last week so I’m officially more than half again what I used to weigh. I look and feel so much better it’s kind of crazy.
I’d be happy to answer any questions people in similar situations may have. I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve tried ask people about this topic and have been simply laughed at. Or put down by comments belittling it as a problem and expressing jealousy. That said, my advice may not be useful to a plurality of people.
Learn about food on a biochemical level to some degree. Find out what makes a complete protein. Figure out your circadian rhythm and good times of day for you to eat. Pay attention to the amounts of what you’re putting in your body and adjust accordingly.
Pay attention to your cravings. If you’re craving potato chips try to think about what it is in them that you are actually looking for(salt) and address that specific craving with a healthier option if required. It takes some trial and error but one can train themselves to crave components over foods. Do you want cake or do you want that mouthfeel? Or the fat? Or the sweetness?(a big revelation for me is that I rarely crave sugar, I actually want the comfort food aspect of sweetness which is much easier to address is a healthy way) Also learn when to ignore your body and when it is lying to you. A good place to start on this front is that you are thirsty for water(specifically water) right now. There’s a sort of evolutionary drive to restrict our water intake to the bare minimum because clean water is expensive typically and prepared beverages were often safer. Where one has potable water flowing from taps this efficiency bias becomes a lie and you should really just drink more water.
Cook from scratch if you have the space. It’s a lot to learn and I was very lucky to grow up in a household that provided this focus. Don’t learn to cook unhealthy things. It’s much easier to not buy a deep frier and never learn to deep fry foods than it is to avoid the temptation of delicious fried goods every day. The crucible for me on this is that I’m terrible at making eggs but amazing at pancakes and I found a lesson in my breakfast. If you learn to make tea biscuits or scones vs cookies then you’ve limited what level of trash you can feed yourself.
If you can’t cook at home or don’t have the time find good restaurants or how to shop differently. Pad Thai from a takeaway is just as fast and cheap but can be significantly better than a Big Mac or pizza. Bag of greens or head of lettuce, Fresh bread, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheese and a rotisserie chicken or chunk of salami(pate or Creton is great too) makes a delicious meal that will keep for a day or two without refrigeration and is reasonably healthy. Makes a 5$/meal if you’re careful with the meat and cheese. This is one of my preferred road trip foods because you get to try different bakeries and cheeses and meats along your route.
People talk a lot of about rice and beans being a healthy cheap staple and I always like to point out peanut butter and jam sandwich’s fall into a similar category. It makes a complete protein, if you’re able to add cows milk it’s a good boost of vitamin d, complex and simple sugars in the jam satisfy cravings and give longer term energy, fat in the peanut oil, etc etc. It’s also very cheap and low entry investment. Under 10$ for starting with big jars of peanut butter and a loaf of bread that gives you 2-3 days of food and another 2$ or so every 2-3 days until the jam runs out. No learning or equipment required. Houseless friendly. Wide cultural acceptance. Good for hanger.
Eat a variety of foods and eat what makes your body feel good. Eat an amount that maintains your healthy weight. But the most important part is finding the motivation to control your intake.
Also meditate to cultivate awareness of how your body feels. Especially if you’re a man because culturally (and possibly biologically) men tend to be cut off from their feelings.
💯 I’m closing in on 40m and I’d be in a world of pain if I hadn’t started listening to my body. I had a “bad back” and got sucked into going to a chiropractor for years. One day I realized they weren’t going to fix anything and it was up to me to figure out why I hurt and make it better. I’m largely pain free now, because I started taking the time to listen instead of “just power through it”.
I also lost 70lbs and have maintained a healthy weight for a decade without a “diet”, aside from what I said in my original post. Shit food made me feel like shit, but I didn’t want to listen…
I just cut my intake in half at lunch and dinner. I find my body needs a decent breakfast with protein. Lunch can be whatever just cut in half and dinner needs to be a decent balance of protein, carbs/starch, and veggie. Oh and lots of water. I cut out the sugary drinks, took a month to wean me off but now I prefer no or low sugar drinks and feel a lot better.
I found out what generally makes me feel good day to day, then I decided to pretty much eat those same foods everyday. Downside is that it’s probably not as varied as the ideal diet, upside is that it’s standardized which makes planning what you’re going to eat easy. I’ve also found that I’m able to make more progress in the gym from a standardized diet.
I try to eat a lot of vegtables and some fruit because I like those, and a minimum of meat, dairy etc. Basically only eat meat when someone else cooks it for me. Dont like anything really sweet or really salty, and dont eat stuff like bacon, salami, ham etc because I dont like it anyway. Eat quite a lot of wholegrain bread because I like it
Mostly just eat what I like in moderation it just so happens I dislike a lot of unhealthy stuff (except biscuits/ cookies) and like a lot of healthy stuff, so I dont really have a “system” as such, just preferences. Also dont drink alcohol
How do you deal this your love for cookies? I imagine cookies is probably one of the most dangerous weaknesses to have. Especially chocolate cookies with chocolate chips I would find difficult to pass on and probably would go through an entire display if enough milk was available. 😈
I stop at 2-3. Also I’m not that keen on chocolate unless its very dark chocolate, I like chocolate that is about the same colour as bitumen. I prefer biscuits with fruit/ nuts. I also have with strong, black unsweetened tea
Moderation in all things. I eat healthy but not all the damn time. I eat donuts and drink Cokes but not every damn day. It’s not good to take something as vital to the human experience as food to extremes the way most people do.
Listen to your body. Period. If you’re craving something, there’s a reason for it. I don’t mean “eat what you want” or “I need a bucket of chocolate ice cream right now”, do it with a little sense, please. No time to explain further, I’m craving beets like a mofo right now, gotta run.
Trusting your body is not good for long term health. You seem to understand this because you say that chocolate ice cream is bad. But if we have a system for overriding bad instincts like in the ice cream example, then why would we trust those instincts in the first place?
I’m not saying your cravings can’t be onto something ever. Your brain can probably make the connection between some nutrients and some foods, but even in those cases this instinctual part of your brain does not know the most efficient and healthful way to replenish those nutrients. Like hypothetically if donut sprinkles contained iodine and someone craved a donut because they were deficient in iodine it would not suddenly be good to start eating donuts, and their brain might have not even made the sprinkle connection but just a more general donut connection.
On and off for the last five years. When I stick with it, I weigh less, have more energy, and things hurt a lot less. I also have a shit ton more free time each week.
Eh I had one for years then just took a pill and got rid of it. Hell, people intentionally infect themselves with tapeworms all the time as a way to lose weight.
Well, in terms of weight control I gamed the system by staying underweight when young (often very unhealthily and anxiously so) so that middle age weight gain got me to a healthy weight.
I can’t diet because of the early eating disorder, and can’t quite get to intuitive eating either. So as someone else mentioned, I do limit the hours I eat not what or how much.
Lots of beans and rice. Love cheese too. Meat & fruit every week but not every day. Grow some vegetables every season but not enough to rely on; but in fall & spring have fresh greens from the yard, and whatever else I can manage. Make sourdough bread each week. Junk food of choice is chips (both crisps and fries).
Would say a typical day is coffee around 10, a lunch of sandwich or leftovers around noon, a coffee at 1600, a supper around 20:00 because I cook after work and it’s hard to have it earlier. Supper of beans and rice and greens, or meat and rice and greens, or pasta or stir fry, but something creative at least a couple times a week (tonight was poblanos stuffed with black beans, greens, and cheese on a tomato/chipotle sauce). Supper the main meal, not my ideal but most important meal with family. On weekends a late brunch or lunch and meal at teatime only.
If I could have only one sort of meal forever? Beans, rice, and greens.
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