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  • Showing only topics with the tag "calorie counting". Back to normal view
    1. On losing weight and keeping it off -- thoughts eight years in

      I've lost weight, and regained, and lost, and regained more. Every method, I tried it, succeeding for months until not succeeding anymore and quitting (and regaining). Finally, starting in 2014 at...

      I've lost weight, and regained, and lost, and regained more. Every method, I tried it, succeeding for months until not succeeding anymore and quitting (and regaining). Finally, starting in 2014 at the age of 51, I lost weight and I've kept it off.

      In total, I've lost 125 pounds since July 9th of 2014, down from 298 pounds (135 kg) pounds to 171 pounds (78 kg). I'm male, 5'11 (179cm). I had a semi-desk semi-field job during most of this time, working as a jack-of-all-trades "IT guy" for a hospitality company with spas and restaurants and hotels in my region.

      Today in The Daily Stoic book, I read from Epictetus, “In this way you must understand how laughable it is to say, ‘Tell me what to do!’ What advice could I possibly give? No, a far better request is, ‘Train my mind to adapt to any circumstance’….In this way, if circumstances take you off script…you won’t be desperate for a new prompting.”

      In weight loss, I think it's a given that the most important step is to start. But after that gets going, to stay started and to adapt as you learn more and figure things out. Don't quit, even after caving in to a big eating day or weekend. Shake off the mistake and keep going. Don't quit in a plateau. Don't quit thinking you don't need to diet anymore or that your diet is too weird or untenable or that your body just won't ever lose weight. Instead adapt and continue.

      Ultimately, Epictetus is right that this becomes not a diet with weird rules and tight restrictions, but a way to gain the training about how and how much to eat as ourselves. Not following a script but gaining the skills and second nature habits of living a healthy lifestyle. Ultimately, we have to keep off the weight we lose and still be eating the foods we grew up with, the foods our family and friends share, what was and will likely still be our long-term forever diet -- but tuned and tweaked so that we keep off the weight. If we start on keto or IF or cabbage soup, at some point transition to your regular and normal foods and figure those out. Those foods and food situations are in our future, so that's the puzzle we truly need to solve.

      Even if we calorie count (and I do), the calories are just our data -- they're helpful to see the way but calorie counting itself is not the way -- the things we do, perhaps measured by calories, is what causes weight loss/gain to happen. A focus must be on shaping the internal long-term habits -- Train my mind to adapt to any circumstance -- so that the natural thing to do when life gets rough and distracting is going to keep us from gaining weight. We don't just eat healthy and light out of intention but also out of thoughtless, automatic "in the zone" or "flow" habit.

      40 votes
    2. Looking for good vegan meal plans that are right around 2000 calories

      I am putting on a fair amount stomach fat. I am not really gaining weight, but my stomach is noticeably bigger and I am getting chubby. I am uncomfortable all the time at work sitting at my desk...

      I am putting on a fair amount stomach fat. I am not really gaining weight, but my stomach is noticeably bigger and I am getting chubby. I am uncomfortable all the time at work sitting at my desk because of it. I'll be 30 in December so I need to get ahead of this. My body is tight all over. When I walk I can feel how tight my hamstrings are.. My diet is garbage. I just want to start getting this under control and also working on developing routines.

      What are some good resources on meal plans and what foods / combinations of foods and hat quantity is however many calories?

      I am a very simple person. I look these up and it says stuff like

      Breakfast: 1 cup Oatmeal, 2 tablespoons Almond butter, mixed in, top with cinnamon, 1/2 cup Blueberries

      Lunch: Tomato hummus artichoke salad

      Dinner: Veggie Chili - 1/2 cup black bean, 3/4 cup canned tomatoes and liquid, 1/2 cup sliced zucchini.........

      I like basic things. I like plain oatmeal and a banana, salad that is basically lettuce carrots tomatoes and no dressing. Some times I just want a few boiled potatoes for dinner (usually about 2 -3 halved making 4 - 6 halves) with nothing on them or an apple and some few carrots for lunch.. That's what I like.

      I really don't like to eat a big lunch at work because I sit at a desk all day and I have no way to burn the calories I take in. So I tend to skip eating at lunch since I don't get very hungry anyway..

      I am not currently vegan. I want to transition and I just need simple meal plan ideas for about 2000 calories so I can start exercising again and be able to burn more than I take in. I'd like to develop a routine of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner and being conscious of what I am taking in. Even if lunch is an apple and some carrots.

      Thanks.

      8 votes