zero-diet
I do not want to think of my food as a bunch of chemicals. It's horrible, IMHO! Also I kinda have issues with most of the healthy food. The taste is disgusting, or it makes my face itch or both!
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Please please stop this, your not in control if your hurting your body to chase a media image like "being thin". I work at a troubled youth camp and have seen people with eating disorders, and I don't want anyone feeling the need to hurt themselves to fit in.
But food IS chemicals. Do you want to get a handle on this or don't you? Screw the media! I haven't watched TV in months. The primary consideration is not image, but avoiding diabetes and remaining mobile. Listen to your doctor, not TV. I know a guy who is obese, who says that he doesn't listen to other people's expectations. He had spinal fusion surgery a few years ago and now he's a bit crippled. You shouldn't let the media's "ideal" image upset you, but that doesn't mean you have free license to get as fat as your appetite will allow. By the way how are you doing? Have you stopped the nonsense?
Its a difficult thing. Once you have that extra weight on you start to wonder if you still look good to other people anymore and the media seems to not say so. Even if it is just 5 kilos.
Most damaging is the modelling industry. The other day I saw an ad on TV for a shop selling plus size clothes and the women on the ad modelling the clothes were the same size as the average woman, they didnt even really look overweight. I dont understand why they can't actually just get some proper plus-size women to model the clothes.
I think it is an issue that if you acquired the weight to be kind to yourself and not obsessively weigh yourself and dream of the day you will be that goal weight and imagine all will be ok then- I think that before you can deal it all you have to be grounded in how you are currently.
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"Caravan is the name of my history, and my life an extraordinary adventure."
~ Amin Maalouf
Taking a break.
You need to stop this now.
By not eating, you force your body into a 'famine' metabolism. Sure, you'll lose weight - some of it will be fat, some of it will be muscle.
After you start eating again, it takes your metabolism a while to reset; this means that your body will still be burning as few calories as it did while you were starving yourself, but more will be coming in; in addition, the loss of muscle (which uses a lot of energy) means that your metabolism will be slower even after it resets to having more food available. This sort of diet inevitably leads you to weigh more in a month or two than you did at the outset.
The best way to lose fat is to exercise, with attention on muscle-mass gain. If you have the will power to starve yourself for a week, you have the willpower to work out in a gym every day. You might not lose weight this way, but you will lose fat; you will look and feel better.
LostInEmulation, if you dig fasting you may consider Ori Hofmekler's "The Warrior Diet". It cycles between fasting on water and vegetables during the day, and eating one large meal of whole foods at night. Many of my training "colleagues" swear by it. No matter what diet you go on, whole foods are the key. I will spare you talk of macro and micronutrients, since you have said you don't want to have to think about that.
Dan John, a National Masters Champion in Discus, came up with what he calls the "Meat, Leaves, and Berries" diet. The name sums it up perfectly. Meat is simple: beef, poultry, even eggs. Beef is important if you are training for strength or muscle, which you don't seem to be. Poultry and eggs are great for slimming down. Leaves can be any green vegetable. I love spinach and broccoli, so I eat a lot of those. The "Leaves" part of the diet is the one you eat the most of. For berries, you can also add in apricots and peaches. I eat a lot of blueberries and strawberries, and, when I can afford them, blackberries. I am not going to say don't eat other fruits at all, but those listed above tend to be better for weight loss than others, like apples and bananas. Add them as you like. It is important not to overeat on fruit - if you must overeat, try to overeat on the leaves. If you are eating poultry, I find it good to add in some mixed raw nuts - almonds, walnuts, and pecans are good choices.
I eat Meat, Leaves, and Berries style for lunch and dinner, and make a yogurt mix for breakfast, which includes oats (only time I eat grains), mixed nuts, flax meal, cinnamon, and berries.
One thing I do is I hide the 'good stuff' that I only eat on Sundays. In the back of the fridge, on a shelf above my eye level, etc. Put your choice of leaves somewhere that you will see them, and munch on them. Limit your nut intake, and NO SALAD DRESSING. Extra virgin olive oil is all you need, but be sure to measure it so you don't overindulge in that.
Exercise is the other half of the equation. Here's my tip: do something, every day. Intensity (difficulty) of exercise has negligible impact on total Energy Expenditure for the day. Just by exercising lightly everyday, you keep yourself burning ~40% more energy than you would if you were just sedentary all day (according to one university study I recently read).
This isn't really a 'diet', per se. It is more of a lifestyle change. I've been on it for about a month, and I've lost about 10lbs. Not very impressive when you hear about the people who lose 20, or 30lbs in half that time. That's fine, I have not been very strict with my exercise, and I even made Sunday a 'cheat' day for the diet. The important thing is it works for me in the long term, and that's eventually what you're going to have to find on your own. Maybe the MLBerries diet isn't for you, that's fine. Maybe it is, but not exactly what Dan John's version is, or what my version is either.
JMO,
RJ
Dan John, a National Masters Champion in Discus, came up with what he calls the "Meat, Leaves, and Berries" diet. The name sums it up perfectly. Meat is simple: beef, poultry, even eggs. Beef is important if you are training for strength or muscle, which you don't seem to be. Poultry and eggs are great for slimming down. Leaves can be any green vegetable. I love spinach and broccoli, so I eat a lot of those. The "Leaves" part of the diet is the one you eat the most of. For berries, you can also add in apricots and peaches. I eat a lot of blueberries and strawberries, and, when I can afford them, blackberries. I am not going to say don't eat other fruits at all, but those listed above tend to be better for weight loss than others, like apples and bananas. Add them as you like. It is important not to overeat on fruit - if you must overeat, try to overeat on the leaves. If you are eating poultry, I find it good to add in some mixed raw nuts - almonds, walnuts, and pecans are good choices.
I eat Meat, Leaves, and Berries style for lunch and dinner, and make a yogurt mix for breakfast, which includes oats (only time I eat grains), mixed nuts, flax meal, cinnamon, and berries.
One thing I do is I hide the 'good stuff' that I only eat on Sundays. In the back of the fridge, on a shelf above my eye level, etc. Put your choice of leaves somewhere that you will see them, and munch on them. Limit your nut intake, and NO SALAD DRESSING. Extra virgin olive oil is all you need, but be sure to measure it so you don't overindulge in that.
Exercise is the other half of the equation. Here's my tip: do something, every day. Intensity (difficulty) of exercise has negligible impact on total Energy Expenditure for the day. Just by exercising lightly everyday, you keep yourself burning ~40% more energy than you would if you were just sedentary all day (according to one university study I recently read).
This isn't really a 'diet', per se. It is more of a lifestyle change. I've been on it for about a month, and I've lost about 10lbs. Not very impressive when you hear about the people who lose 20, or 30lbs in half that time. That's fine, I have not been very strict with my exercise, and I even made Sunday a 'cheat' day for the diet. The important thing is it works for me in the long term, and that's eventually what you're going to have to find on your own. Maybe the MLBerries diet isn't for you, that's fine. Maybe it is, but not exactly what Dan John's version is, or what my version is either.
JMO,
RJ
Sounds like a very interesting detox diet. I would just like to add that if you have hypoglycaemia, diabetes or any blood sugar imbalances, any fasting is not a good thing. If you have blood sugar problems it is better to seek out a specific diet that helps balance blood sugars as well as cut the calories.
_________________
"Caravan is the name of my history, and my life an extraordinary adventure."
~ Amin Maalouf
Taking a break.