Who's Trying to Lose Weight?

[simonbaker]

Record to date I'm up 8 pounds from a year ago. I am continuing to swim 3 times a week & usually twice a week in the gym. I feel great but should be eating better. This is such a supportive thread on DC. I am trying to get back on track, cut the carbs & work hard on eating more protein, which continues to be a challenge for me. I would again welcome the feedback & positive advice so many of you have given me in the past! : )

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Several of us have been changing to a Ketogenic Diet/Lifestyle and are having good luck with that. But, we are still ready to support you in your quest.

 

[Dawgluver]

Hang in there, SB! We're all here for you!

 

[Addie]

I knew you were in trouble when I saw you were not posting anymore. But I wanted you to see for yourself. If I were to say anything about the possibility of weight gain, it would most likely come across as nagging. You were on a diet vacation. We all take one of them every so often. So don't beat yourself up over this.

Simon I am on the other train. At one time in my life at 4'7" I was 180 pounds. I didn't walk, I rolled through life. Little by little over the years I worked on my weight without telling anyone. The people I know hate those who can accomplish what they can't. So anytime I was offered a food that I knew was not for me, I would tell them I was highly allergic to it. The last thing they wanted to see was someone get sick right in front of them. It took me a long time to get where I am today. Through the pregnancy and birth of my fifth child, I am now down to the weight where I was in the seventh grade. It has been a 40+ year battle. Up and down. Up and down. I am now down to stay. And I have a reminder of my battle. A layer of extra skin I no longer need. But I can live with that. From what I understand, it will tighten up and lessen as time go by.

Hang in there. I know you can do it. You have done it so far. Just concentrate on losing four of the surplus pounds. Once you get started the rest will fall off. And remember, we are here for you. Keep us up to date and we will always be here for you. That angel is for you.

 

[Addie]

PF, I have a question for you.

If a person ingests food that their system cannot process, like raw roughage, lettuce, corn, etc., and the food exits in the same manner as it was swallowed, just a slightly different color; does the body extracts the nutrients?

Last night after having a tummy ache all day, I decided to have a small bowl of lettuce with dressing. I let it sit long enough for the lettuce to get soggy. Less that 30 minutes later it was leaving my body along with my tummy ache. Did I get any nutrition from eating the lettuce?


PS: I really tried to ask this as delicately as I could. I know there are folks here who also have the same problem. I hope I didn't offend anyone with my query. If I did, please accept my apologies.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

PF, I have a question for you.

If a person ingests food that their system cannot process, like raw roughage, lettuce, corn, etc., and the food exits in the same manner as it was swallowed, just a slightly different color; does the body extracts the nutrients?

Last night after having a tummy ache all day, I decided to have a small bowl of lettuce with dressing. I let it sit long enough for the lettuce to get soggy. Less that 30 minutes later it was leaving my body along with my tummy ache. Did I get any nutrition from eating the lettuce?


PS: I really tried to ask this as delicately as I could. I know there are folks here who also have the same problem. I hope I didn't offend anyone with my query. If I did, please accept my apologies.

No, You used more calories eating it than you gained.

 

[simonbaker]

Several of us have been changing to a Ketogenic Diet/Lifestyle and are having good luck with that. But, we are still ready to support you in your quest.

I would love to hear more about this Ketogenic lifestyle!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Here are the threads we have been sharing on. Any of us can help you out with references and resources.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f162/ketogenic-diet-for-controlling-diabetes-91541.html

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f12/low-carbing-with-the-keto-team-92360.html

 

[Zereh]

I would love to hear more about this Ketogenic lifestyle!

I'm not scientist, nor do I pretend to be, but in a nutshell you limit the number of carbs that you eat so that your body learns to burn fat for energy instead carbs.

Keto (Low Carb, High Fat) more or less boils down to eating 20 net carbs in a day. Some people eat more, some less; but 20 seems to be the number that most everyone shoots for. Joseph Arcita's A Guide to Ketosis is fantastic site that explains how it works. And why.

I really can't say enough good things about the Reddit keto group. If you click on the link, you'll see a ton of info bookmarked on the right side of the page. That's the best place to start. =)

If you fill out the info on this Keto Calculator, it will help you figure out what your daily macros should be. The macros are the number of grams each of carbs, protein and fat you should consume based off of your current weight, age, body fat percentage, height, lean body mass and activity level. It boils down to always striving for 20g or less of net carbs, hitting your protein mark and using fats to round out the rest of your caloric intake for the day.

Check out Reddit's Keto Science for tons of scientific and medical information and studies. It's not an accident that it works as well as it does.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Great description, Zereh!

The only thing I can add is that, by reducing carbs, you reduce blood glucose, which in turn suppresses your insulin response. Insulin is the hormone that causes your body to store excess glucose as fat. By suppressing it, you encourage the burning of body fat as fuel.

 

[CWS4322]

Great description, Zereh!

The only thing I can add is that, by reducing carbs, you reduce blood glucose, which in turn suppresses your insulin response. Insulin is the hormone that causes your body to store excess glucose as fat. By suppressing it, you encourage the burning of body fat as fuel.

Not only has it been shown to help monitor diabetes, it has been shown to be effective for reducing high cholesterol levels as well. Long Term Effects of Ketogenic Diet in Obese Subjects with High Cholesterol Level - Springer

 

[simonbaker]

The only thing I'm concerned about with this diet is how it will effect the 1 kidney I have left. A year ago they found a large mass next to my kidney & were unsure of what it was. The mass was the size of a softball, Doc's thought it was cancer. Thankfully, it was not. When taking it out they had to remove my left kidney.
Also, not sure I could force myself to eat so much meat, I do not digest it well & it gived me a lot of stomach issues.

 

[Addie]

The only thing I'm concerned about with this diet is how it will effect the 1 kidney I have left. A year ago they found a large mass next to my kidney & were unsure of what it was. The mass was the size of a softball, Doc's thought it was cancer. Thankfully, it was not. When taking it out they had to remove my left kidney.
Also, not sure I could force myself to eat so much meat, I do not digest it well & it gived me a lot of stomach issues.

SB, do you think you should be under a doctor's care if you are going to go back on your diet?

 

[simonbaker]

I was recently at the doc for my annual last week. All was well. He said he saw no limitations, just to keep exercising & I need to work on dropping my cholesterol, & weight. He wasn't overly concerned about the 8 pounds i gained this year, he said just to be conscience of it more.
I know that I need to cut out carb's more.
I started pilatees 3 weeks ago, pretty painful at first. Makes a person fully understand those "core muscles". I also got my time down to 45 minutes for a mile in the pool (36 laps) Last Saturday I did 2 miles. I feel great about swimming. I just need a kick in the head about eating better.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

This is a support thread and I stand fully behind you with any decision you make on how you want to handle your weight loss. Do what is right for you!

 

[Kitchen Chatters]

Congrats on making the commitment to eat healthier.

I woukd suggest gou rather swap ojt the stevia for brown sugar. Artificial sweeteners is horrible for you and should be avoided at all cost.

Another simple thing to is to swap out white for brown on everything such as sugar and bread.

White is more processed and lots of junk that makes one fat is added to it.

Good luck.

 

[taxlady]

Welcome to Discuss Cooking Kitchen Chatters.

While I agree that brown bread or rice are healthier, I have disagree about the brown sugar. White sugar is 99.9% sucrose. Brown sugar is about 96% sucrose. It's not going to make much, if any, difference health-wise which one is used. Over consumption of either one is not healthy.

 

[creative]

Welcome to Discuss Cooking Kitchen Chatters.

While I agree that brown bread or rice are healthier, I have disagree about the brown sugar. White sugar is 99.9% sucrose. Brown sugar is about 96% sucrose. It's not going to make much, if any, difference health-wise which one is used. Over consumption of either one is not healthy.

Well it's not just about sucrose. Brown sugar has more of the molasses. (Molasses has minerals like iron). I use molasses sugar i.e. in coffee and brown sugar (instead of white) in baking. Where colour may be an issue, I tend to use set honey in baking (reducing the quantity by a quarter - some info I recall reading).

 

[taxlady]

Well it's not just about sucrose. Brown sugar has more of the molasses. (Molasses has minerals like iron). I use molasses sugar i.e. in coffee and brown sugar (instead of white) in baking. Where colour may be an issue, I tend to use set honey in baking (reducing the quantity by a quarter - some info I recall reading).

How much iron do you suppose you get in brown sugar? I looked it up. 1 tsp (~3 grams) gives you 0.02 mg of iron. In 100 grams of brown sugar, you get 0.71 mg.

Sure, you can get more than a day's worth of iron (8 mg/day for adult males and women over 51, 18 mg/day for women 18-50) from a cup of molasses (15.91 mg of iron), but that's a whole cup.

Show Nutrients List

 

[GotGarlic]

Well it's not just about sucrose. Brown sugar has more of the molasses. (Molasses has minerals like iron). I use molasses sugar i.e. in coffee and brown sugar (instead of white) in baking. Where colour may be an issue, I tend to use set honey in baking (reducing the quantity by a quarter - some info I recall reading).

There isn't enough molasses in brown sugar to make a difference nutritionally.

Because of its molasses content, brown sugar does contain certain minerals, most notably calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium (white sugar contains none of these). But since these minerals are present in only minuscule amounts, there is no real health benefit to using brown sugar.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/health/nutrition/12real.html