[Amelia45]

Hey everyone let me start off by saying I have been trying to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis but I am having some trouble.I am not the best at staying away from temptations its all around me know what I mean?I have healthy snacks but at the end of a long day its so easy for me to grab the first thing that looks good.I dont do most of the cooking but I can and sometimes cook our help with the meals.I am just wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks that help you stay away from temptations.I love sweets and my all time biggest temptation is icecream yeah I know its alot of peoples biggest temptations...I was also wondering is dark chocolate really okay for you and is it an okay thing to eat reguarly?I know its alot of questions but I would really appreciate any help or advice that you can give..Thanks

 

[Kathleen M.]

Generally if you can't control the temptation making sure you don't have it in the house during your weak times (or out where you can see it at work) can help a lot.Out of sight, out of mind does really work for a lot of people. If all you have available at the end of the day is healthy snacks, you don't have a choice.Keeping healthy snacks around and planned out really does help, but doesn't do much good if you eat a couple of scoops of ice cream at bedtime.Writing down everything you eat is often a good technique. Also mindful eating. So when eating turn off the TV, the computer, etc and focus only on the eating. I use an online program rather than a notebook because it will calculate calories if I put in the amounts so that way I know if I am on track or not. The other thing with tracking with one of the programs online (there are a whole bunch of them, just google and then look for one that has an interface you like and that you will use) is they can help you see what calorie amount you really need to stick to in order to lose weight.But even without calorie counts knowing you will have to write down that you ate 10 cookies, or a whole pint of ice cream can be enough to help you limit the amount. Mindful eating will help you notice when you are full and the desire has passed.Also some people find drinking some water and then setting a timer for 20 minutes and then seeing if they still want something to eat can help let the craving pass without just taking the carton of ice cream to the TV and sitting there eating until it is empty.Speaking of eating out of the container. Don't ever eat from the container. You can eat way too much of healthy things and gain weight. Measure out what is the appropriate amount (or make up your dinner plate with the appropriate amount) and put the rest away. We eat in proportion to the amount of food we see. Also use smaller plates and bowls so a controlled portion looks like it fills the plate.Small amounts of dark chocolate can be part of a healthy diet. There are some good things in it. Most people will eat less really good dark chocolate than they will lower quality chocolate. However, you have to still find a way to control the portions.

 

[TanaG]

Ah LOL tell me about it!...I am trying to lose weight too but just about to give up. Desperate as I am, few weeks ago I tried that stupid Danish Diet if you ever heard of it. Man it made me SO sick I thought I was going to die. I have no idea how to avoid temptation especially when I cook for somebody who's not on any diet I've tried to just eat less of my usual meals...but to be honest, I am starting to think well...I am what I am...I am not obese but unfortunately I will never be a supermodel

)))Few years ago I managed to stay on a very strict low carb diet for about 2 years or so. I was so thin and I was enjoying it but I can tell you for sure you cannot go on eating like that for the rest of your life

 

[SunNsnow]

I've counseled thousands of people to assist themin losing weight or gaining muscle/losing fat orjust simply eating healthier (for those who havenormal body fat and normal weight.) Sadly, because food, especially unhealthy foods,are served everywhere (gas stations, coffee shops,school, socials, bars, friend bringing over food, grandmabrining over baked goods, fast food places every fewblocks, etc.) it is very difficult to lose weight. How much weight are you trying to lose? What is yourheight and weight? You have to look beyond and see down the road andsee the possibility of what being overweight can dverweight, especially obese, people face an increasedrisk of eleven types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes,stroke, gallstones, gout, sleep apnea, and dozens ofother diseases. Before I would give people tips and theseare good but then I and the medical community finallyrealized it's like climbing Mt. Everest. 95% of peoplewill regain the weight they lose. So I switched from individual counseling to population widepolicy work. But when people ask me how do lose weight,I'm very blunt and I ask them to imagine getting cancerand being fed by a tube and their loved ones coming tovisit them in a hospital setting. And in addition, take picturesof loved ones (grandkids or kids) and tape them to the insideof the refrigerator so everytime you open the door, you seetheir faces. Ultimately you have to decide, what is better. The doughnut orliving longer and living a better quality life.

 

[TanaG]

LOL...scarry image true!I will tell you what I eat and you tell me if it's too much: in the morning I normally eat eggs, fried, omelet or boiled with one slice of bread and mustard. Lunch is normally a steak with vegetables, or rise with meet, stuff like that. Then in the evening I eat a slice of bread with salami or ham. In total throughout the day I don't eat more than 3 slices of bread. I don't eat sweets. Occasionally, once a month, I eat some chocolate. I never eat at snack bars, burger kings or stuff like that. All the food I eat is cooked by myself. Sometimes is true, I cook spaghetti LOLI don't drink soda or juices of any kind, only plain water. I have hypothyroid and am under medication. Last tests showed my levels were back at normal, when under medication however I cannot eat normal food without gaining weight. I am not exactly fat but am not thin either so it can be frustrating to be honest to know that the only way to lose weight is too restrict myself to eating only a few types of food. If i eat bread or pasta or any carbs what so ever I get fat. That's just the way it is. If you imagine me staying with my head in the refrigerator all day long or stuffing myself with burgers you're damn wrong. I actually haven't had a burger in about 2 years now.I also honestly don't really like to talk about this because it is obviously very frustrating for me to explain why I am not thin if I don't really eat! I would try to survive only on salads but recently it turns out row vegetables give me diarrhea. Anyway...just wanted to say: not all of us who have weight problems eat 10 times more than the rest of the people each day. That's really prejudiced!

 

[Kathleen M.]

When the thyroid is off that means you can burn fewer calories when you just sit there than everyone else.You may need more activity than most people and to eat fewer calories especially if they don't get the thyroid meds up high enough.Steak is pretty high calorie, and do you eat like 3 ounces or 8-10 ounces That can be a big calorie difference. Can you eat something leaner like Skinless chicken breast.Salami is a pretty high fat meat as well. Ham usually is a lot leaner.You might enter amounts into the program I use (or find another one with google as there are a lot of them) http://www.fitday.com and see how many calories a day you are eating. You might be able to subsitute some lower fat/lower calorie foods and eat a lot more food for a lot less calories (eat this not that book series and the Volumetrics books both have a lot of info on that).If the low carb thing works for you check out South Beach Diet books as you might be able to get a bit more variety into the diet and that can make eating more enjoyable.

 

[SunNsnow]

Tana,IBS is the least of your worries. With the TYPE of food you are eating,you are at risk for heart disease and about twenty types of cancer.Eggs in the morning - steak for lunch - salami and ham for dinner?My goodness, this is pure saturated fat and cholesterol! My expertise is to assist individuals to reduced their risk for heart disease.Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the UK and the U.S.Many women think it is breast cancer but heart disease kills 10 times morewomen than breast cancer.Dietary cholesterol, lack of fiber, saturated fat, sodium, all increase one'srisk for a stroke or a heart attack. Your diet is horrendous! Kathleen is correct - switch that red meat to lean chicken (or fish/beans.)And I've worked with thousands of people and I can't tell you how manyof them told me they don't eat too much. And its not just how much youeat, it is the exercise as well. Vegetables give you diarrhea? How about fruit? Beans? Whole wheat bread?Nuts? Peas? Corn?

 

[TanaG]

I also eat chicken and fish, is not like I am eating the same kind of meat each day. Any meat I eat is grilled and not fried, sorry I should have mentioned that. Sometimes the fish I cook in the oven with lemons. My problem is that I am mostly forced to eat meat...things like beans, nuts and stuff make me put on A LOT of weight. Mostly anything that has carbs in it is a NO NO for me, it is like I do not burn carbs at all. I understand your point about so many proteins not being good for you but they not only keep in a quasi-decent shape but I can also digest them well. And no...fruits have been making me sick even before I had IBS. I get really really sick from the stomach if I eat fruits or sweets of any kind, especially if I hadn't eaten anything before. I eat a high fiber bread so it would help with my fiber intake. But beans and all that you mentioned...I can tell you from experience they all make me gain weight. I sometimes add green beans to the grilled meat but cannot do that every day either. Having a thyroid difficiency is pretty hard and probably just adds to the frustration. One of the problems with being a hypothyroid is that you cannot burn fats and carbs. I never had a high cholesterol in my blood test results though, I don't know why. I understand also that a lot of people told you they don't eat too much and they were probably eating a lot ... but after a life of trying and re-trying different diets and taking advice from everywhere, one might also get a bit pissed off at this world telling him that he's probably just being piggy all the time. I think that it doesn't only depend on your diet, it mostly depends on your genes! Some people just burn the same food much faster and much better while some are forced to a life of trials and frustrations just to get close to the shape the others have by doing nothing. I read a book once, a long time ago and cannot remember the author but I thought it was brilliantly written and I wish I could find it again. It's called Fat is not a four letter word. The guy makes a good case there about what we can and cannot expect from our bodies. I do know what to eat if I want to get really thin but problem is you cannot go like this forever. I've had a couple of years of eating only boiled and grilled chicken meat or beef, boiled eggs and salad, a lot of green salad. And yes it worked like a charm. And question is always: you look around you at your family and friends and they're eating exactly what you do...and add the sweets, more bread, soda's and stuff...and they're just fine while you're not so what exactly do you have to do to be like them? The frustration of everybody with weight problems (and I do not include in here those who spend their days with the head in the refrigerator) is exactly this question. Now...I bet that if you find an answer for this question you'll become the most famous nutritionist ever! P.S.: for example today I had grilled meat and potatoes with mushrooms and parsley. Also had friends over so I served them too. Now...this might sound like yummy food to anybody but for me is pure death by fat because of the potatoes that were in there. That is another pound going where it shouldn't go!

 

[SunNsnow]

Tana,The Japanese and Chinese have obesity rates of 1%and they eat huge amounts of carbs in the form of rice.White rice! The U.S. has 33% obesity rate.Dr. Atkins himself weighed 265 lbs when he died. If low carb diets worked so well, then why was ita fad? 40 million people tried it and it peaked in popularityin 2004 aND then died. Most of the low carb products inthe supermarket do not even exist anymore.You are telling me nuts, beans, etc make you gain weight?This makes no sense. If the salami, ham, egg diet worked,then why are you still struggling with your weight?Now, I will agree that potatoes are not good as they have ahigh glycemic index. I also agree that soda, cookies, cakes,candy, Wonder bread are not good either.But nuts? These are the healthiest food in the universe.Packed with protein and good fats! The low carb diet you are on, high in red meat and eggs andsaturated fat is so bad for your heart. I beg you to considermore health food and less red meat, dairy, and egg.

 

[TanaG]

I know it sounds weird, but it is true they make me gain weight. In fact I should probably not eat bread at all. I am just talking from experience, what I ate when I got fat and what when I got thin. I am not American nor English. I am Eastern European. I know there are problems with weight in the US but in Eastern Europe everybody is thin. LOL ...besides me that is!

) Seriously now, the percentage of eastern europeans with weight problems is very low. And just as you said chinese eat rice and they are thin...well Eastern Europeans eat the fattest foods made most of them all of meat, most of the meat being pork. I gained a lot of weight after going to school in England. I can tell you I didn't eat any different while there. So this is made me think that there is something wrong with the ingredients themselves. They did taste differently too. The tomatoes, one of my favorite vegetables, had no taste what so ever. It was like cardboard. I thought that once I get back in Eastern Europe I will lose the weight but this didn't happen. So I am now a person with weight problems in a place where almost nobody has weight problems. You can imagine how much support I get from family and friends when it comes to this!I don't know much about doctor Atkins, as I said, I just know from experience what I ate when I was thin and what I didn't. Could it be that some of us digest and burn certain things better and some not? Maybe it depends from person to person?

 

[Kathleen M.]

Having thyroid problems, even if mostly controlled by medication, can make weight-gain an issue. Your metabolism slows down.South beach diet (which is more balanced IMO than Atkins and focuses on healthier fats and carbs than some of the low carb diets) does have nuts, AND mentions it is easy to eat more than enough nuts to gain weight.Nuts are calorie dense and a lot of people don't stop at 6 almonds or 12 pistachios. The fats in them are healthy, and can be a good thing to add to the diet, but you have to really watch the portions on them. Even the healthiest food in the world can make you fat if you eat more calories than you burn. Remember even on medication a lot of people with Hypothyroidism don't burn calories at the same rate they used to. Even when the blood numbers are OK the medication may not be enough to get the metabolism revved back up to normal.Now when you do have a limited amount of calories I would go for the highest quality foods you can get the majority of the time. (best fats, high quality protein, as many veggies (may need more cooked than raw with IBS and may need to stick to low fructose ones) as you can eat, see if you can eat low fructose fruits like dried cranberries, although again you want to keep quantities small, dried foods are calorie dense). Some people do seem to do better both weight wise and IBS-wise if they cut out the starches but you can do that with good healthy foods.Some meats, even when you don't add fat when cooking are very high fat foods, especially some cuts of beef and anything like salami or sausage where they grind extra fat into the meat to make it tasty.Since fruit really bothers you, you might look at the reduced fructose diet. May add some fruits and veggies to what you are eating.http://john.toebes.com/diet.htmlAnd I do recommend doing a online diet tracker if you can. Sometimes if you find the calorie amount that lets you lose weight you can better figure out portion sizes. In the end calories in vs calories out determine weight loss rather than which kind of food you eat. Sometimes you can add carbs but that means other things have to be cut back to keep the calories in balance. I can find I can eat anything as long as I track the calories. Some things are just easier for me to eat too much of unless I really control portions and balance out eating some things by cutting back on other things.

 

[TanaG]

Thanks K!I noticed I am losing weight if I eat between 800 and 900 calories a day, which is not much ...most diets recommend around 1000 to 1200 and that doesn't do anything to me. Sometimes I feel I am getting fat only breathing

)You are right about the thyroid medication. It doesn't help you with losing weight. At least it didn't help me. The only good thing that happened is that I stopped suffocating. My thyroid is overgrown with almost 4-5 centimeters. That is a lot when it comes to somebody's throat. Right now they are keeping it under observation. Am happy they didn't decide it was better to take it out all together, then I would really have a problem with weight. A friend of mine has recently gone through surgery and all her thyroid was removed. Since then she's gone through hell trying not to get fat, she's visited several nutritionists and nothing really worked. One of them recommended her 3 crackers a day. LOL ...that's beyond crazy! I normally add vegetables to every meal but I know I should just stop eating the bread and pastas...if I only had the same time, patience and determination I used to have when I was young, things would be so easy I will look into that diet you recommended and see what it can do for me!

 

[josephajain]

I can understand the pressure of losing down the weight.It really requires good efforts to do this otherwise you might have to face a lot of problems.

 

[TanaG]

Well, 3 weeks ago I am my boyfriend started to eat salads, lots of vegetables, I even did some fruits, not that much bread...well...healthy all around diet. He lost quite some weight...I lost nada! HAHAHA ....it's truly funny to be honest. But the salads were good and I don't seem to have a problem anymore with green salad and alike which is good again as I really like it.

 

[Kathleen M.]

Are you eating the same amounts? Men generally need more calories than women so if you are eating the same portions he is, it may be low enough in calories for him to lose weight but high enough you maintain weight.Women may need to be in the 1200-1500 calorie range where guys tend to lose a weight at a pound or two a week in the 1500-1800 calorie range.A lot depends on dressings and what all you put on a salad. They find people at a salad bar often put more calories on a salad plate than is in a lot of the entrees.

 

[TanaG]

We use olive oil, vinegar and sometimes mustard for the dressing. No, I don't eat the same portion as he does...I cannot possibly push all that in. Plus, at least in the beginning, I was really scared of the 'side effects' such as D.I don't know what to do anymore. Now...you should understand I am not fat...but certainly not at my ideal weight. I look a bit chubby

... and I have my wedding in 2 months now. Maybe that's why I am so damn nervous really. Last fit in for the dress in 2 weeks

(

 

[Kathleen M.]

Well keep working on the diet and do some exercise to tone up what you got. Check out some foundation garments as well. A good pair of Spanx, or a corset etc can make big difference under the dress. I've been working on building up to 100 push ups and I'm impressed by how much better my arms look even at this weight.

 

[Thai]

sun,You say you have counseled many in weight loss?May I ask what if any credentials you have?I seems to be gaining about 5 lbs a year and not happy about it.Of course I am of the opinion that my diet is while not perfect, certainly not all that bad.But apparently I am doing something wrong...lol.ETA: Can't believe that I am doing this BUT 5 ft 6.5 in and 160 lbs

 

[noa1212]

Hey everyone let me start off by saying I have been trying to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis but I am having some trouble.I am not the best at staying away from temptations its all around me know what I mean?I have healthy snacks but at the end of a long day its so easy for me to grab the first thing that looks good.I dont do most of the cooking but I can and sometimes cook our help with the meals.I am just wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks that help you stay away from temptations.I love sweets and my all time biggest temptation is icecream yeah I know its alot of peoples biggest temptations...I was also wondering is dark chocolate really okay for you and is it an okay thing to eat reguarly?I know its alot of questions but I would really appreciate any help or advice that you can give..Thanks

maybe you can try that...what doctors are saying about aloe....You probably know aloe has been used for centuries to treat burns and scrapes. It's probably safe to say, you've even used it for at least one of those two (that includes sunburns!). Are you aware that aloe is referred to by many researchers as "Nature's Miracle" because of the dozens upon dozens of other ailments it can treat? Chances are you didn't.