BIG FAT PEOPLE!

[No game 14,437]

We went on a very long and hard hike today and mid way through I ate part of a sandwich.. And felt extreme guilt doing it... I don't know about this all or nothing attitude I don't know after all these months where my diet philosophy lies yet.

Low carb,moderation, what??

[amytug 996]

We went on a very long and hard hike today and mid way through I ate part of a sandwich.. And felt extreme guilt doing it... I don't know about this all or nothing attitude I don't know after all these months where my diet philosophy lies yet.

Low carb' date='moderation, what??

[/quote']

That's how I was w diets. I do low carb and then decide that wasn't for me or it wasn't the "correct way of eating. " so on and so forth with every other diet under the sun. Wash, rinse, repeat.

[No game 14,437]

It's still confusing to me now! I mean you really get so many different ideas here about what is "the right way to do it"

And I have yet to find my own path.

[leeann71 539]

The only concept I can come up with is Portion Control. I will not be a slave to the diet world anymore. After I finally lose all my weight I will eat what I like as long as it is portion controled. I have always been around thin healthy people in my family and everyone of the have always told me, eat what I want just not so much. I also see how thin people eat and the majority only eat small quantities, but it is what ever the y want. But until I do reach my goal I will continue to be on a diet.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

We went on a very long and hard hike today and mid way through I ate part of a sandwich.. And felt extreme guilt doing it... I don't know about this all or nothing attitude I don't know after all these months where my diet philosophy lies yet.

Low carb' date='moderation, what??

[/quote']

Hey Laura - You are fine. My philosophy is that if you are busting your butt on a hike then eat fuel that gets you up the mountain ( or along the beach) . I have been known to eat a couple Protein Bars, including a cliff bar when hauling up a mountain. Your body needs the carbs to sustain the effort. Do not feel bad about it at all. Now if you make it a habit while you are watching the bachelor to eat a sandwich, then you definitely need 1000 wet noodle lashings. do try and low carb it while you are in weight loss, but eventually you will need to work back up to normal healthy FDA pyramid food chart status. And no more self imposed guilt trips OK? Life is too short to be stressed about food.

[MrsG 329]

Hey Laura - You are fine. My philosophy is that if you are busting your butt on a hike then eat fuel that gets you up the mountain ( or along the beach) . I have been known to eat a couple Protein bars' date=' including a cliff bar when hauling up a mountain. Your body needs the carbs to sustain the effort. Do not feel bad about it at all. Now if you make it a habit while you are watching the bachelor to eat a sandwich, then you definitely need 1000 wet noodle lashings. do try and low carb it while you are in weight loss, but eventually you will need to work back up to normal healthy FDA pyramid food chart status. And no more self imposed guilt trips OK? Life is too short to be stressed about food.[/quote']

AMEN!!!

[SpaceDust 585]

Here's the thing. I am not a fan of low-carb as a long term lifestyle. It's great for kick-starting weight loss, so I'm all in for the first part of the game. Eventually, though, I'm moving to a more normal diet, with a balance of Proteins, carbs and fats that make sense. I think I'll be able to manage that, because I don't have any real trigger foods. I really enjoy rich foods, but I'm not a binge eater, just a too-damn-many-calories eater at my normal meals. By the time I'm ready to shift back to the balanced diet, I will hopefully be accustomed to appropriate Portion Control and I'll know what sorts of things I need to eat to stay both satisfied and also appropriately and nutritiously fed with our mini-stomachs.

By that point, I won't be considering it a diet anymore. That won't absolve me of being mindful of what I'm eating, and if I start to see the scale slip upward, you can bet I'll be doing an analysis of what I've been eating, where and why, what my activity level has been, and decide if I just need to back off a little bit or put myself on a week of Protein Shakes for Breakfast and lunch, or get to the gym more.

Oh, and I can't wait to get myself into decent enough shape to really hike again. I live in the edge of the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, darn it, and there are some awesome hikes to be had around here! There's a fairly easy hike up to some great cascades very near where I live. The trail is part of Wallace Falls State Park. I do fine to the Lower Falls viewpoint, and I've been up to Middle Falls (the most spectacular ones, honestly!) once, but I've not made it up to Upper Falls. I *want* to get to Upper Falls next year.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Here's the thing. I am not a fan of low-carb as a long term lifestyle. It's great for kick-starting weight loss' date=' so I'm all in for the first part of the game. Eventually, though, I'm moving to a more normal diet, with a balance of Proteins, carbs and fats that make sense. I think I'll be able to manage that, because I don't have any real trigger foods. I really enjoy rich foods, but I'm not a binge eater, just a too-damn-many-calories eater at my normal meals. By the time I'm ready to shift back to the balanced diet, I will hopefully be accustomed to appropriate Portion Control and I'll know what sorts of things I need to eat to stay both satisfied and also appropriately and nutritiously fed with our mini-stomachs.

By that point, I won't be considering it a diet anymore. That won't absolve me of being mindful of what I'm eating, and if I start to see the scale slip upward, you can bet I'll be doing an analysis of what I've been eating, where and why, what my activity level has been, and decide if I just need to back off a little bit or put myself on a week of Protein Shakes for breakfast and lunch, or get to the gym more.

Oh, and I can't wait to get myself into decent enough shape to really hike again. I live in the edge of the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, darn it, and there are some awesome hikes to be had around here! There's a fairly easy hike up to some great cascades very near where I live. The trail is part of Wallace Falls State Park. I do fine to the Lower Falls viewpoint, and I've been up to Middle Falls (the most spectacular ones, honestly!) once, but I've not made it up to Upper Falls. I *want* to get to Upper Falls next year.[/quote']

That is very cool. If you ever want a hiking partner up Wallace Falls, I would love to tag along. You might also be interested in joining me up Mt Index to Lake Serene when you are ready. This is only a little bit up I2 from Wallace Falls.

[Nicolanz 1,484]

Y'all are so lucky to live somewhere cool! I'm in Houston with flat land covered in buildings! Haha.

I wonder if anyone has gotten to goal eating no bread, rice, or Pasta, then added them back in during maintenance. Did they keep the weight off? I've done no carb diets several times and as soon as I ate them again, I gained weight. For me, I know I can't live the rest of my life without those foods, so I never gave them up after surgery. I eat sandwiches, wraps, and grains. Try to stay away from white carbs but still have them every now and then. I agree with a previous poster, it's all about Portion Control and maintaining a way of eating forever.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Y'all are so lucky to live somewhere cool! I'm in Houston with flat land covered in buildings! Haha.

I wonder if anyone has gotten to goal eating no bread' date=' rice, or Pasta, then added them back in during maintenance. Did they keep the weight off? I've done no carb diets several times and as soon as I ate them again, I gained weight. For me, I know I can't live the rest of my life without those foods, so I never gave them up after surgery. I eat sandwiches, wraps, and grains. Try to stay away from white carbs but still have them every now and then. I agree with a previous poster, it's all about Portion Control and maintaining a way of eating forever.[/quote']

It is a really interesting question and I am far from experienced enough to give a good answer. However, in the last month or so, I have been adding back in omega-3 wheat wraps and my weight has not gained. By adding in, i have eaten about 3 total but each time no weight gain. I do not eat any other grains yet like Fiber Cereal or wheat bread, but may consider in the future. The difference now after completing low carb driven weight loss is that I am not going to tip the scale the other way, figuratively speaking, like I have done in the past. I will not start eating high glycemic or non nutritional foods like sweets, chips, etc ( aka "junk food"). I am not sure yet how much wheat will be added back in the diet because of the connection between wheat and body ability to effectively process it without storing it around the belly. Still researching it. I know there are a few good books out there that discuss eliminating wheat from diet. By design, we have removed whet from out diet during weight loss because the stomach could not manage it. The question is whether to add it back in or not.

[Nicolanz 1,484]

Fiddleman, I believe you will be a weight loss/maintenance fanatic for life! I don't think I will be. So I'm trying to find something that I can maintain, ya know? I know I can't live without bread or rice haha.

[johnlatte 1,232]

I never was a big Pasta or rice eater, so those have been relatively easy. I eat whole grain wraps on occasion or wheat bread, but have managed to avoid white breads altogether. I think that it is something that if you did introduce it back into your diet it could easily be a trigger food. Processed carbs do initiate hunger and the want for more carbs so I could see that causing some problems for us. IF I ever get to maintenance, I don't think that I would ever bring those foods back.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Fiddleman' date=' I believe you will be a weight loss/maintenance fanatic for life! I don't think I will be. So I'm trying to find something that I can maintain, ya know? I know I can't live without bread or rice haha.[/quote']

You are right, people have different life styles, tastes and goals. I never have really liked rice except for fried rice. However, my wife loves rice with everything, especially Indian and Chinese dishes. I have always been a KISS person in that I will just do what works effectively and is simple. I am not a foodie in the sense am unable to give up food if it helps me achieve certain goals. However, I still like dishes that are full of taste if they are available at meal time. For example, chicken marsala, chicken tikka, swimming rama, etc. This is different from my behavior pre op because then I would eat even if I did not like how it tasted (eg stress eating). Hope my rambling makes sense.

[AmandaRaeLeo 2,146]

I never was a big Pasta or rice eater' date=' so those have been relatively easy. I eat whole grain wraps on occasion or wheat bread, but have managed to avoid white breads altogether. I think that it is something that if you did introduce it back into your diet it could easily be a trigger food. Processed carbs do initiate hunger and the want for more carbs so I could see that causing some problems for us. IF I ever get to maintenance, I don't think that I would ever bring those foods back.[/quote']

To me, whole grain bread, wraps, and pasta just taste better.

When I did Weight Watchers I switched to whole grains and it stuck. Even eating all the other crap I was eating post WW I stuck with whole grains.

[Butterthebean 8,146]

. do try and low carb it while you are in weight loss' date=' but eventually you will need to work back up to normal healthy FDA pyramid food chart status. And no more self imposed guilt trips OK? Life is too short to be stressed about food.[/quote']

There is such a thing as a healthy diet, but the FDA food pyramid is not it.

I will say for me and me alone...I don't want to be stressed about food either, and I'm not. I've settled into a nice healthy eating groove that I can maintain. I do have urges every now and then, but the less I succumb to them, the better I feel and the weaker those cravings are. For me it's like driving down the highway....you have to keep your foot on the accelerator just a little bit, otherwise you come to a stop and get run over. It may take a little effort, but it was a far greater effort living as an obese person. This is much easier and I'm way happier.

Some people may aspire to reach a natural state of homeostasis where they never have to think about food and still maintain their health and weight. I wish y'all luck with that. I don't think it's in me to ever do that. And looking around on the street, I don't think it's in half the population. As I get older, I see many of my naturally skinny friends becoming less skinny every year. Very few stay that way without ever working on it.