Cutting Calories won't always work for losing weight

Getting the Calorie Intake Right for Weight Loss - this article has a very interesting take on the way that most of us attempt to lose weight. She says cutting calories won't work because your body will eventually compensate and only burn the smaller amount of calories, effectively stopping any weight loss and limiting you to the new, lower calories if you don't want to gain more weight.

In school once, I watched a video called the Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei. These monks walked the mountains all day every day as a form of meditation and prayer. And yet, they only ate about 1400 calories a day. How's that? They looked normal - a bit slim, but not starving. The body adapts to what it gets, I guess.

The above article advocates eating a high-nutrient (think atkins type with veggies) diet at the caloric level of your normal body weight and let your weight normalize itself over time. So if you should eat about 2000 calories at your normal weight, try to stay around 2000 calories each day and your weight should stabilize over time.

High Praise for Zone Diet

Lose Weight, Gain Fat on Low-Fat Diets? this story says that the government recommended low fat, high carb diets don't work. I tend to believe it.

"What works in the long-run is a diet that is moderate in low glycemic-load carbohydrates (primarily fruits and non-starchy vegetables), moderate in protein, and moderate in fat. The only dietary program that meets those criteria is The Zone Diet."

Let me just add that healthy fats need to be a focus too. Think coconut oil and avocados. Throw out oreos and cookies and margarine.

Losing Weight when we're Busy

How to Exercise and Lose Weight on a Busy Schedule - this is a decent article advising to make workouts a priority, commit to a schedule, and use your weekends.

New Strategy

I'm reading this book Super Health and it states an eating goal of getting protein, healthy fats, fiber, and low glycemic carbs at every meal. This is an interesting goal to think about - and one that could really help weight loss efforts. This morning, for breakfast I had one egg (protein and fat), half of a sprouted-wheat bagel (carbs and fiber), and an orange (carbs and fiber). I ate around 8:30. I can really feel good about eating all that. It's now 11:46 and I am getting hungry again, so here I go to look for my protein, fat, fiber, and carbs.

I lost 6 pounds in 3 days

Remember that quitting sugar thing I did a few days ago? Man, have I seen some immediate results. I'm not real big on weighing myself, especially lately, mostly because my weight has been going up in the last few months. This morning, however, I looked in the mirror and noticed I looked thinner so I had to weigh myself. 6 pounds. Gone. wow. It could be mostly "water weight" - but if it is, it's water I don't need (I'm drinking plenty).

So, I'll keep it up and see what happens. Here's what I'm doing: No sugar, nothing refined with a lot of sugar in it. That's it. I'm eating everytime I get hungry (I'm eating a lot) - but no sugar really limits the kind of things I can eat, so in a sense limits the amount I eat.

Yesterday I ate: for breakfast -- beans, a powerbar, and a bowl of cereal. For a snack I had a spam musubi. For lunch, a subway grilled chicken sub. For an afternoon snack I had more beans with roast beef (snacked while I was fixing dinner) and for dinner, barbecue roast beef. I'm not consciously doing a high-protein diet, but I've found when I limit the refined stuff, there's not a lot left that I like to eat that isn't protein. I have to get out the vegetables soon.

The best part is, I have no cravings and I am not always hungry. I think that eating sugar promotes wanting to eat more sugar - kind of a viscious circle.

For today I have had beans and a bowl of cereal and half a powerbar for breakfast. I keep telling myself I'm hungry and should go eat, but I keep sitting here and working because it's not a "I have to eat right now!" hunger like it used to be. woohoo. I'm really excited.

I Quit Sugar

Yep, as of yesterday, I have quit sugar. I quit smoking when I found out I was pregnant with my son (easy then, hard to impossible the previous 6 or 7 times I had tried to quit) and now I am quitting sugar. I am obviously just not one of those people who can handle sugar in moderation. I have found my recent months full of nothing but compulsions for food, almost solely sugarry food, so I am quitting sugar and all refined foods with high amounts of sugar. I'm even quitting fruit for now, but I am hoping to add it back in soon, maybe when my addict cravings go away.

Yesterday was my first day and it wasn't bad. I am putting only milk in my tea (yes, I know milk has sugar, but I am not going that extreme). I had chicken for breakfast, (successfully and easily ignored the halloween candy put out at the chiropractors) cashews for a snack, subway for lunch (no soda), guacamole and chips for a snack, and barbecue chicken for dinner. After I went to bed, I couldn't sleep for hours so I got up and had a bowl of cereal and was finally able to sleep. That was weird. I wansn't hungry - I just couldn't sleep. I'm wondering if it was a side effect of stable blood sugar .. or if I had low blood sugar? Anyway, today is also going well. I need to work on some lowfat, low-sugar meal choices. I need options, especially take-along options.

Healthy Christmas Cookie Recipes Online

Cinnamon and Spice
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