I was planning on writing on something else, but then the message I received for my previous post got me thinking about a very serious problem.
You might have read (or not) some of the previous posts on what NOT to do to lose weight. I am underlining it each time because from there to becoming an anorectic or a bulimic is not a long way.
I have seen plenty of cases, especially in my teens. I had a classmate whose best friend was naturally skinny. The pressure was too much for her, it seems, and from 115-120 pounds she got to 95-100. The thing is that she didn't get there by being on a proper and healthy diet, but she got there by eating normally and then putting two fingers into her throat and emptying her stomach.
A friend I had was not fat, but she was a bit more roundish, because that's how mother nature made her forms look. At home she was overeating lots of times as well. And then she was following a very struct diet and losing in between 10-15 pounds in two-three weeks. Then, in no time, she was putting everything back on. Her mind was so screwed after a holiday we had that when she came home she couldn't stop herself eating anything and everything. Would you eat fish with chocolate? She was. And many other weird things. She craved food so badly, she couldn't stop herself. And do you know what that was? The lack of food she put herself through. The lack of vitamins and minerals.
This is not a joke. This happens. It mostly happens with insecure people, or with teenagers. When you are 14-20, you can control your appetite better. So well you control it, that you get yourself in trouble.
Bulimia
According to theFreeDictionary, bulimia is "an eating disorder, common especially among young women of normal or nearly normal weight, that is characterized by episodic binge eating and followed by feelings of guilt, depression, and self-condemnation. It is often associated with measures taken to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, the use of laxatives, dieting, or fasting".
I recognize half of the issues (the first part) because I could eat forever before my period. I do control myself however, or I prepare myself for this occasion by buying lots of fruits and vegetables and cereals or diet cereal bars. Even so I feel guilty eating. But I try to exercise and drink penty of tea and I also know that these cravings will be over the moment my period comes. I also know that these pounds will also come off then.
Anorexia
According to Wikipedia, anorexia is "an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Individuals with anorexia often control body weight by voluntary starvation, purging, vomiting, excessive exercise, or other weight control measures, such as diet pills or diuretic drugs".
I do have an obsessive fear of gaining weight but I am happy with that. If you lose the fear, you are in trouble. Especially when you have a tendency to put on weight. I don't think that the fear of putting on weight is something negative, as long as you know how to deal with it. Excessive exercise - well, you have to tell me what excessive means. Because I don't think that exercising for 1 hour a day or two is excessive. Unless you exhaust yourself each time. The others are a problem though. Puking, starvation, purging, laxatives - they are the sure way to putting on weight later on.
When you think about doing any of the above in order to lose weight, think of this: you will get better or you will die. It's very easy. And you will get better either by yourself, and you will end up destroying your metabolism, or someone else will take action and put you into a hospital, and then you will get well again. Which still means that you have ruined your metabolism.
So, look at it the way you want, but if you are taking this way or you find yourself on it, stop before it gets to late. This will NOT get you slimmer, but sick and in trouble with fighting off pounds for the rest of your life.
Yuppers... I've seen two friends that I haven't seen in a while and individually they've told me that I had lost weight.
Obviously, that makes me feel good. Because You cannot always tell, you know? So when people tell you that you feel better. :)
I've started jogging (like stepping in a way) in the house for about 20-30 mins. It makes you lose that extra water. Then I usually have 2 cups of hot tea - usually one cup of green tea and then one of Earl Grey (both without sugar because I never have my tea or coffee with any kind of sugar - in my view, sugar ruins the taste of tea and coffee). The next morning the scale went down one pound, even though I am right before my period and I retain water like crazy, and even though I ate.
Oh, unfortunately I couldn't follow very strictly my diet, but I have used some elements of it now and then. So even though I haven't lost as much as I wanted - since I did not follow the guidelines - I have lost about 2-3 pounds again. Maybe more, but since like I have said I am before my period, I cannot tell. At the moment I am a bit swollen and I will be even more. But I will get to see what really happened after my period is over.
I talked about this before, but now let's go more deeply into it.
Those who have been on this diet claim that they had lost about 8 pounds in one week. Lucky are those who love cabbage soup. I am not one of them.
Honesyly, the only cabbage I like is the pickled one. And that one only made the Romanian way.
Anyway, if you choose cabbage - and you should - then you ought to be in mind that the best cabbage (like the Chinese one) is when it is cooked only for 5-10 minutes, so it remains crisp. If you have realized, all Chinese dishes use crisp vegetables, unlike most European or American recipes.
Cabbage Soup Recipe
2 onions, chopped 3 tomatoes, chopped (you can add tomato juice as well, but not ONLY tomato joice) 1 small head cabbage, shredded 2-3 carrots, cut into cubes or shredded 2 green bellpeppers, thinly sliced 1-2 cubes of bouillon or beefstock (your choice)
1 stalk celery, slices
optional: hot pepper, sliced salt - make sure the cubes weren't ALSO salty pepper
Optional spices : they make the difference between fad food and fab food - parsley, garlic, basil, paprika, and thyme.
You are supposed to eat this day in and day out and nothing else. No sugar, no alcohol, no bread. Just cabbage soup, unsweetened tea, and black coffee.
I am going to write about this because many people asked about the grapefruit diet.
Remember what I have been telling you about the insulin levels in your blood? That if they are not kept under control you cannot lose weight, or you lose weight much harder. Well, according to Dr. Ken Fujioka at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic, grapefruit regulates the blood in your sugar.
Anyway, what you should do if you don't want to go on a strict diet, is try to take out sugar and alcohol and reduce bread and oil intake, don't over-eat and have half a grapefruit after every meal.
I mean if you eat healthy and you add the grapefruit, that should do the trick: you should start losing pounds in 3-4 days.
The diet however focuses on lots of proteins from boiled eggs, chicken, and beef and asks you to eat grapefruit after your meals.
If you want to know what I have to say: I doubt this is healthy. I honestly believe you will feel tired and bad and that your metabolism will slow down and that the moment you will stop dieting you will be putting on double weight.
But hey, if you want to try it at your own risk... it guarantees 19-20 pounds in two weeks. To me it is worse than starvation. And those 20 pounds probably would only come off really fat people, who would have a horrible time following this diet anyway...
What's worse? You cannot substitute any food. And you certainly cannot have any kind of alcohol or sweets. In other words, you eat only what is on the list and nothing more and you drink 2 liters of water every day.
Day 1 Breakfast: as much black coffee as you want Lunch: 2 hard boiled eggs and boiled spinach with little salt (you can have as much spinach as you want) Dinner: 1 large grilled steak (beef) with lettuce and celery (as much lettuce and salary as you want)
Day 2 B: as much black coffee as you want L: 1 large grilled steak (beef),lettuce, and fruits (as much lettuce and fruits as you want) D: cooked ham, as much as you want
Day 3 B: as much black coffee as you want, one small roll of black bread or rye bread L: 2 hard boiled eggs, lettuce, tomatoes (lettuce and tomatoes, as much as you want) D: cooked ham and lettuce (as much lettuce as you want)
Day 4 B: as much black coffee as you want, one small roll of black bread or rye bread L: 1 hard boiled egg, carrots of any kind, and Swiss cheese D: plain low fat yogurt and fruits
Day 5 B: as much black coffee as you want, raw carrots with lemon L: boiled white fish (or steamed), and as many tomatoes as you want D: 1 large grilled steak (beef) with lettuce (as much lettuce as you want)
Day 6 B: as much black coffee as you want, one small roll of black bread or rye bread L: grilled chicken, as much as you want D: 2 hard boiled eggs and as many carrots as you want
Day 7 B: Tea with lemon L: 1 grilled beef steak and any quantity of one kind of fruit D: anything as much as you want
When the seven days are over, you start over again.
Yes, I have to do it. No more slow dieting. This has already helped me lose 5 pounds lately, but now it's time to attack seriously.
On the 20th of July I will be going to the seaside and I cannot go with my 127 pounds. I am disgusted by myself. I felt bad even when I was 110 pounds so now I feel awful.
Basically I will try to be realistic. I will not be able to reach 110 pounds in less than two weeks. But I might be able to reach 114 pounds. So how will I manage to lose almost 15 pounds in such a short period without going crazy?
Obviously, I need a plan.
First, I visited this page to convert calories into pounds. I hope it is accurate.
After the conversion I found out that for 114 pounds the normal intake of food is 1300 calories. No matter what, I cannot eat more than this. Actually, I will be more dramatic and drop this 1300 calories to 1200 per day.
What I need to eat every day:
one onion
one or two lemons
plenty of yogurt with 2-3% fat (if you like the one with 1% fat or fat free, be my guest)
one-two tablets antioxidants
go on with drinking 2-3 liters of water
Lemons and onions because they contain a lot of iodine and that increases the chance of weight loss. Yogurt contains Calcium - which does the same. Plus it gives you energy, protects your stomach from hunger and fills you up. Yes to antioxidants for energy and because they contain certain substances that can stimulate the growth hormone, essential in losing weight as an adult.
What goes out of my diet:
sugar of any kind (brown sugar, fructose, honey, etc.)
reduce fruits and completely eliminate bananas and any fruits with high fructose
wheat of any sort (but I will keep in the starches in a small amount - rice and potatoes)
beans and peas
pops or natural juices of any sort because they contain conservants
caffeine (because it stimulates appetite and has a negative impact on your hunger and the level of sugar in your blood)
reduce oils to minimum
meat and chicken (which I am not eating anyway): replace with white fish
no alcohol, for it slows down metabolism
What I need to do to lose 15 pounds in two weeks:
Winsor pilates for the lower body (15 mins every evening before bed, to stimulate the hormones);
go to bed at 11pm latest (because this is the hour when the hormones are at work) and sleep at least 8 hours per night;
use the Cellulite Serum from The Body Shop every day twice (morning and evening);
massage legs for 10 minutes;
10 minutes extra exercise for upper body and abs;
continue walking to subway every day (twice, 30-40 minutes in total);
if watching TV, do stepping;
Scottish showers for 5-10 minutes;
use the stairs, not the elevator at work.
If I follow the lines above and I eat no more than 1200-1300 calories a day then I should be losing fast.
Why am I not lucky? Because my timing is wrong: my period is to come during this time and my appetite is growing. So is my frustration. So keeping it under control will be a lot harder than the diet. Plus, losing weight might not be very visible since before and during period women tend to retain a lot of water.
Yeah, I'm on the roll, baby... By the end of the next week I have to lose another two or three. It takes longer at the beginning - about 2-3 days - until your body starts losing weight. No matter what diet you are on, it always happens like this.
What did I do to lose weight? Very little exercise (one hour daily walk though) but I gave up meat and chicken. I have started this about two weeks ago. I am not starving myself in any way. I am having enough food and I am still drinking plenty of water.
I never eat white bread - once a month maybe, when I cannot find rye bread in a place and I need bread, that is the only moment when I have white bread. I haven't had chocolate really, but I did have lots of cereal bars with chocolate from Nestle Fitness. One bar has about 95 calories and it's delicious.
I had lots of fruits - cherries and mango and apples. I have not calculated calories. I ate at 9pm but nothing heavy. I even had one hot chocolate a day.
But not eating meat or chicken helped my digestion.
Nestle has this very active campaign - exercise and replace two of your meals with Nestle Fitness cereals and you will lose weight fast.
Well, I think it makes sense. Honestly, if you have one 'portion' (as portion is defined by Nestle) for one meal and then don't abuse your last meal, you should lose weight for a very solid reason: low calorie intake.
From the good point of view - cereals are very good for losing weight if you can eat as much as they suggest you should. Nothing more. They are high in fiber, high in B's; so yes, losing weight makes sense. If you have them with milk or yogurt - again, Calcium, which also helps lose weight.
So if you haven't considered this diet yet, you should. ;)
I wish I had lost more, honestly. The things is that I want to lose faster since summer is here and I want to go to the seaside. On the other hand, I dislike any kind of diets. I like losing weight in my own way.
So I lost around three pounds, maybe a bit more, but also helped by my period that came and passed. First level in losing weight is losing weight from the tummy, a bit from the whole body and from the breasts, and the least from the legs and butt. Which sux... But, given that I work in front of a computer all day long at work, I am not suprised.
Anyway, I've changed my diet completely since last week - I gave up meat and chicken entirely. I do have fish now and then though, for the proteins. So if at work I had previously ordered mashed potatoes with salad and some chicken, I did not touch the chicken. I had though every day a small glass of milk with chocolate, because my energy was low, but the entire day the number of calories was low enough to cause me to lose weight.
My biggest problem with diets was (and is) vegetables and fruits.
Normally, if you experience stomach aches or you feel bloated or your burp after veggies or fruits, you will have a problem with most of the healthy diets.
I, personally, cannot have a salad without having stomach aches, unless I have something next to the salad.
The best thing to do - boil the veggies. You don't like them boiled? Bake them - they will taste even better.
When you have a salad - for vitamins, if not for other reasons - do not mix too many veggies together. Keep it simple, and use herbs for flavor. For example, I love tomato salads with white cheese and oregano, olive oil, and black olives. I like simple lettuce salads next to my dish, only with lime or lemon juice and olive oil. I like cucumber salads on their own. But be careful - problems can come not only from stomach but also from your gall bladder.
Some veggies with problems for gall bladder are:
cucumbers
green or red pepper
cabbage (cooked or raw)
Yes, there are others too, but these are the ones can cause me trouble.
I was a lacto-vegetarian before, and not for reasons that I don't like meat or I want to lose weight. I didn't become a vegetarian because I had embraced yoga or something. I was a vegetarian because I loved animals.
However, some time during my vegetarian days, I started having strong muscular cramps. I didn't see the connection back then; later on I found out that in order to build muscle (and keep your muscles working properly), you need proteins.
The richest sourse of proteins is meat. Eggs, cheese, milk are also rich animal sources for proteins and I was having a lot of all of them. However, I still had pains.
Now I have decided to eliminate any meat and chicken from my diet, but keep the seafood and the fish for obvious reasons. Will I be able to last? I don't know. The idea is not to think about favorite dishes when you try to do this. I am not thinking about Chinese food or about spaghetti and meatballs or about ham or spiced dried salami. Of course, there is always tofu and soya 'meat'... Not the same, but it's good that we have them.
My biggest concern is keeping a high protein intake. So, we can find proteins in:
eggs;
milk;
soya milk;
tofu;
yogurt;
cheese;
fish.
Basically, anything that comes from an animal conteins proteins.
The richest natural sources of proteins are:
dried beans;
lentils;
peas;
nuts of any kind.
The problem with nuts is that they are also very high in fat, so I would be careful if I were you. They are healthy in small quantities and can help you lose weight, but lose the balance and you will put on pounds like crazy. Been there, done that.
Never start a diet one week before your period. The hormonal imbalances will drive you nuts, will make you frustrated, and the water retained in your body will make appear as if you haven't shed a pound. Actually, you will look as if you took pounds. So spare yourself!
The best moment to start a diet is two days after your period has started, when your cravings subdue and your body starts eliminating the retained water.
It's better not only from a psychological point of view, but also from a physiological one.
Yes! Finally! My attempts so far have been ruined by Dr Pepper. It's frustrating to eat less, take pills, and put on weight. Or maybe it was just the water that started being retained before my period.
So, girls, did you know that the body retains up to 1 liter of water before and during your period? Keep that in mind next time you are complaining that you cannot lose weight. Personally, I retain even more sometimes.
Anyway, I started this new way of eating. My friend lost 20 pounds almost following it in the US, and if she could do it there, I can do it here!
The basic principles are the ones I have mentioned already. 5-6 meals a day and two or three more substantial. Never eat until you are full, just until you are not hungry anymore. Take out sugar so your insulin is not high and stopping you from losing weight. My daily intake varies from 1,200 calories to 1,500 calories. I don't think that going under this is helpful or healthy.
In the morning I'm having a Diet Cereal Bar and half a glass of yogurt. Two-three hours later I have lunch (for example today I had three small pieces of chicken nuggets and 3 large spoons of eggplants and yogurt salad). Then I had one Diet (with fructose instead of sugar) fruit cheesy yogurt. Then I had dinner - other 3 pieces of nuggets, one egg, and lots of lettuce - and then one more fruity cheesy yogurt. I could have added more, but I feel ok. I am not hungry. I could use some fruits though.
Yesterday I had about 150 grams of chicken (4.5 oz.), 2 spoons Chinese vegetable mix, 3 diet fruit yogurts (300 calories in total), one cereal bar (90 calories), half of glass of yogurt, 2 spoons of eggplant and yogurt salad, and some diet shrimp stuff (90 calories).
Basically, the yogurt will help you lose weight faster because of the linoleic acid and the calcium - go back and read my previous post on the subject. The cereals are healthy, high in fiber, and carbs. And I had my proteins also, plus some vegetables and fruits.
When I reach 55 kilos, I have a feeling I will get stuck, so then I will start exercising. I won't exercise too much now - except for walking - because I want to keep an Ace up my sleeve for the bad days to follow.
Anyway, in two days I lost 400 grams or 1 pound. I think it's going good.
I'm also using the anti-cellulite cream and taking Scottish showers at least every two days.
So you had too much food to eat yesterday and you feel guilty. You had a party and you couldn't stop eating those cakes and puddings and steaks.
Don't worry, there is a solution!
As you know, the food you eat doesn't transform into fat on the spot but it takes time. The same it happens when you go on a diet and you don't lose any weight for a few days and then you start losing fast all of a sudden.
The truth is, it takes a while for the body to process what you ate and therefore the results of your little 'food adventure' show up only the next day.
So, today is a new day and you have a chance to stop the food from transforming into fat.
First thing on your list today: no sugar. Absolutely no sugar. Take out bread and anything that could increase the level of sugar in your blood. See my previous post on Foods that Increase Appetite. And have at least 8 glasses of water or tea (without sugar). Take out fruits as well. Reduce the number of calories and try to have some vegetables (lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, avocado, green beans, etc) and proteins (yogurts, cheese, meat, chicken, fish, etc.).
You do this, you wash away the food from yesterday, you decrease the sugar in your blood, and you don't put on weight.
But do yourself a favor and don't exagerate with this 'solution'. If you do this three times a week it will not work.
I know it works, no matter what some say. I know it works because I tried it and it was the only thing that didn't make me hungry. I know people who lost a great deal because they separated food.
The idea beyond this diet is that certain combinations, like carbohydrates and proteins create, in the end, body fat. If you eat food from the same 'group', you will not put on weight. And even if this food is in the same categorie, do not combine more than three of them together once.
If you want to change the group you have to wait a certain amount of time for the food to leave your stomach or to move to another level. Meat usually takes at least 4 hours to digest, so don't have meat and then, right away, an apple. The apple would wait in your stomach 4 hours for its turn, would ferment and, after a long and nice process, it would produce fat.
Everything can be divided as follows:
non-starchy and green veggies (celery, cucumber, lettuce, eggplant, turnip, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.)
non-starchy or green veggies only with protein or with starch;
nuts with citrus;
lettuce and salary with fruit;
avocados with salad;
sub-acid fruits with one of the other two fruit categories;
tomatoes - with green and non-starchy and with protein;
melons - always alone;
meat with green vegetable;
sweet fruit with sour milk;
eggs with green veggies;
cheese with green veggies;
milk alone;
grains with green veggies;
legumes, beans, and peas with green veggies.
Never have proteins with starches, acid fruits with sweet fruits, no fruits (except forthe ones approved before) with proteins, starches, or vegetables.
Wait at least four hours in between meals. Do not use more than three things in a combination and do not have more than one concentrated protein or starch at a meal.
Actually, if you look closer, you will see that the ideas above can be found in the low carb diets or in the Atkins diet, or in many other diets that group food.
I will write later on about this diet. I remember Demis Roussos lost weight with it.
It might not be as famous as Atkins diet, but it is popular.
The diet promotes the idea that certain food will burn more calories than others, bringing you to a 'minus', thus causing your to lose weight. All in all it's pretty and it sounds promising. On the down side, like in all diets, you have to eat certain food only.
These guys are also the ones that came up with the Cabbage Soup recipe. If you are the unhappy owner of a few extra pounds and you want to lose a lot, then you have to start by eating cabbage soup every day. I think I tried it once, when I was much younger, and I hated it. Some people do love cabbage soup, however. Good for them! And most probably you can improve the taste with condiments. But still, having mostly cabbage soup ruins an appetite.
I do like the way 'negative calorie' sounds. And maybe you can try adding some of these special 'ingredients' to your everyday menu, at least for fun.
Some key food found (that should not be cooked) found on their list:
Asparagus
Papaya
Watermelon
Pineapple
Grape Fruit
Apples
Onions
Garlic
Lettuce
Lemons
Pears
Oranges
Of course, there are more, but I can't list them all.
The pros of the diet are that it speeds up your metabolism and that it promotes food reach in vitamins and minerals. Nothing bad can come out of it.
The bad thing would be that it is more theoretical than practical, that you can get sick of cabbage soup quite fast, and that, if you have a little problem with your stomach or cholecyst, you might not tolerate easily large quantities of fruits and of veggies that are not cooked.
It's up to you to try it.
Personally, I am not found of any diet. I am using my own methods and each time I am serious about them, they work.
Losing weight and staying healthy is easy, when you care. Forget famishing yourself: there are other ways.
Since I was 15 I've been obsessed with healthy diets, losing weight, sports, and everything included. I read books after books and I collected articles on staying fit and healthy. Even now, 12 years later, I am still reading everything I find on the subject.
I will share with you, step by step, everything I know. Free advice.
About Me
Name: Andreea Home: Bucharest, Romania About Me: Post graduate student, happily married, who has found the perfect job in a perfect company. :) See my complete profile
