If we didn't eat.....

[ces]

I am a little curious. I have gained some weight recently - about 1/2 a stone, being probably 1/2 a stone heavier before that happened then what I would like to be.

The usual signs start to appear. Clothes were getting tight, feel heavier, tired, sluggish, lack of energy etc.

I buy the food in my house and so am 100% responsible for the state I am finding myself in. If I didn't buy the sweet stuff I wouldn't eat it and then wouldn't be putting on weight.

I also stopped going to the gym. I actually cancelled the membership this week. I went at least 3 times a week but found that although I was starting to tone up, couldn't shift any weight and actually didn't feel any healthier for it. I gave it probably 11 months, with attendance for probably about 7 months in total.

I have increased my water intake in recent weeks to try and stay hydrated as I was constantly getting headaches and feeling thristy. So that has improved.

I am wondering - if I didn't eat, how long could I continue for - doing my usual activities - would my body say "oh no food today - will start on some of the fat that's stored" or would it just stop and say "oh no food today - not going to do anything just not work".

I realise that this isn't a healthy way to loose weight and I'm not thinking of doing that. I am considering a diet (I hate that word) of a "meal in shake" type thing - specific amount of calories in a drink or controlled format. My thinking is that if I did the whole diet type thing - would that help me to break my unhealthy habbits? Or will it leave me piling the pounds back on straight after.

How do you change the habits of your adult life without seriously harming your body. I have used the diet before and managed to get the weight off but because I didn't change my relationship with food or understand what my body needs better i went straight back to doing what I did before.

Anyone?

[Silver]

Seven years before I got pregnant with my son, back in 1980, I discovered the diet shakes. I lost 70 pounds which I kept off those 7 yrs. before pregnancy. To do it, I was pretty faithful with hard boiled eggs, tuna and rabbit food during the diet and exercised like crazy which I enjoyed. It only took 3-4 months to lose it. Afterwards, I almost lived on steamed veggies mostly broccoli, cauliflower and carrots along with real butter, lemon pepper and a few crackers maybe, for dinner. I highly recommend among the exercises you do, walking and yoga and for me, dancing was very important to keep my spirits up. Also, knowing what I know now, I would have most definitely taken CoQ10 everyday to protect my heart and give energy. Just a few tips there from my personal experiences~* Best wishes.

I have to ask, how much is half a stone? LOL

first, when do you weight yourself? You should only weight yourself once a week, right after go to the bathroom int he morning for the most accurate weight, other wise water and food will make you seem heavier.

Second, not eating, will actualy make you gain weight. Your tricking your body into thinking that food is scarce, and that your body should hold onto every once of fat. Eatng one day, and not the next is not how to loose weight, its actualy how to gain it!!

Any diet asking you to remove any good foods ( grains, meat, milk, fruits or veggies), isnt a good diet. Yes, a reduction in certain foods is great, especialy red meat, grains and milk, but removing theses from our diet can be detrimental.

The biggest thing any of us can do, is not drink any pop ( soda) at all. The diet stuff is even worse.

Next is getting rid of all processed foods, and fried foods in vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is unhealthy in large quantities. This goes for canola as well. <ost preservatives are empty calories, while vegetable fats are harder to digest, and have a higher saturated fat content, and lower healthy fat content.

The real trick to loosing weight is portion control, in relation to activity. Why would you need 300% of the recommended daily inmtake of protien if you arent an athlete r body builder? Why would you eat 5000 calories a day if you arent going to burn it? The thing with 905 of all diets, is that they lower the calorie intake to almost below starvation. Thats why ouy loose weight, you starve yoruself. If you are averagely active, you dont need lots of food at all.

A good trick is HOW we eat, Most of our habits are, quick brakfast, bigger lunch, and a huge supper. Well, digestion take sa good 8 hours, so how can we digest that 12oz steak before sleeping? The proper way to eat is a huge breakfast a moderate lunch anda small supper, supplimented with snacks inbetween.

For me personaly, I have to eat all day, so i try to work around it. Why would i eat a massive supper, when I know no matter what ill eat an hour or 2 after? I eat a decent breakfast, and dont stop eating all day, but streatched out.

The biggest, and most improtiant thing about loosing weight is exsersise. Its too bad you quit the gym. You must not have been working out effectivly. We are all different, and we all buld muscle differntly, so what works for me, wont work for you. Some people dont build muscle at all, some build it fast, others painfuly slow. The main point is that your doing it to be healthy, not to look good.

[Silver]

The most important thing is to not listen so much without trying out and see what really WORKS for you, the individual. And listening to our instincts. It is important to get the junk food/processed foods out as completely as you can, to include sugar (most of it), any boxed stuff, sigh, I don't think I could 'survive' without Cheetos now and then, but just think about the people before cheetos came into existence. You didn't hear them saying such things. There are too many temptations in the modern diet. We have to learn to avoid them and psyche ourselves to not feel so 'needy' of them...once you get used to having them, and remember, it's been said there are additives in there that make you want more. So take the focus off of them, experiment with good foods, learn what you like, how you like them. Learn how to 'eat' when you go out to restaurants, too.

HEy id never say NOT to indulge once in a while, were only human... so its ok SG, grab that bag of cheetos, just be prepared for the hour walk afterwords!

[Adrienne]

Originally Posted by ces

I am wondering - if I didn't eat, how long could I continue for - doing my usual activities - would my body say "oh no food today - will start on some of the fat that's stored" or would it just stop and say "oh no food today - not going to do anything just not work".

hi Ces,

I wouldn't recommend the not eating idea, unfortunately the body doesn't just use the fat that is stored, it just sends out these " I am still hungry signals " which if not listened to can cause headaches, fatigue, and a sick to your stomach feeling. And if one doesn't eat, they are also losing out on certain vitamins that are needed.

Maybe keep track of what you are eating, get rid of the snacks and junk food and eat healthy in small portions ?

Dream Angel xx

[Silver]

I used to be so enamored of ice cream, now it doesn't hardly phase me, Idk how that happened but it's a good thing. But there's something about Cheetos. ~slaps self! Yeah, but you have to go with me on that walk!

[ces]

Originally Posted by Silvergirl

Seven years before I got pregnant with my son, back in 1980, I discovered the diet shakes. I lost 70 pounds which I kept off those 7 yrs. before pregnancy. To do it, I was pretty faithful with hard boiled eggs, tuna and rabbit food during the diet and exercised like crazy which I enjoyed. It only took 3-4 months to lose it. Afterwards, I almost lived on steamed veggies mostly broccoli, cauliflower and carrots along with real butter, lemon pepper and a few crackers maybe, for dinner. I highly recommend among the exercises you do, walking and yoga and for me, dancing was very important to keep my spirits up. Also, knowing what I know now, I would have most definitely taken CoQ10 everyday to protect my heart and give energy. Just a few tips there from my personal experiences~* Best wishes.

Sounds like it helped you Silvergirl. Has the weight crept back on or have you been able to maintain the new weight over the years. Has your food intake changed dramatically since then?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[ces]

Half a stone is what has crept on in the last couple of months. I was already half a stone (at least) over weight. I am only 4.9 tall, which is why I am starting to feel more concerned. I weight myself in the morning, as you say after bathroom, before breakfast and probably not as often as once a week.

Thank you for your words on not eating. As i said originally I'm not planning to not eat (I don't have the willpower) but was wondering what my body would do if it didn't get food on a daily basis.

I don't eat meat, (showing my ignorance here but am not sure what you mean by grains (rice, bread, pasta etc) (in which case I don't eat much of these foods). I probably get through about 3/4 of a small loaf of bread in a week - and that's with it going stale before I finish it. I rarely eat rice, although will have some pasta some times in a week (maybe once a week). I don't eat fried food, don't drink soda. I have no clue as to what canola is - will need to google it to find out.

I do already have a smaller plate. Its kinda the inbetween size of a side plate and dinner plate. So in theory my portions are smaller. I would say my issue is that I don't know what food is good for me, which will help me to be healthier and not gain weight. I have been shopping this week and have brought not sweet, chocolate, cake or treats of any kind. I have plenty of fruit in and no spare cash in my wallet which will encourage me to not stop at the shops when out during the day. I hate to break a note .

Quitting the gym. I use to go to a gym before I moved location. I would attend every weekday before work. When I moved I didn't find one initially as I wasn't sure where I was going to be living. Then 1 year ago I came across a gym for females. I say gym because it has gym in the description - but it was nothing like what I had been doing before. Resistance equipment which is used for short bursts and then onto a rest board for cardio before moving to the next bit of equipment. Initially great - but didn't feel like it was doing much. I have been to look at the local council gym this past week and am thinking about joining one of these as it is what I would call a traditional gym enviornment. Same cost, same flexibility in use and therefore a bit of a no-brainer for me in terms of ditching the previous place to replace with the new solution in about 4 weeks time. So exercise should improve and I hope will start to help.

My motivation is to be able to fit in the clothes I have - I refuse to buy a bigger size and to be able to walk up the stairs to the properties I visit without needing oxygen at the top. Being fitter and happier with my body is about me. My OH loves me just the way I am and is only concerned about my health and where my head is at.

Thanks Time for your comments - lots to think about.

Originally Posted by Time

I have to ask, how much is half a stone? LOL

first, when do you weight yourself? You should only weight yourself once a week, right after go to the bathroom int he morning for the most accurate weight, other wise water and food will make you seem heavier.

Second, not eating, will actualy make you gain weight. Your tricking your body into thinking that food is scarce, and that your body should hold onto every once of fat. Eatng one day, and not the next is not how to loose weight, its actualy how to gain it!!

Any diet asking you to remove any good foods ( grains, meat, milk, fruits or veggies), isnt a good diet. Yes, a reduction in certain foods is great, especialy red meat, grains and milk, but removing theses from our diet can be detrimental.

The biggest thing any of us can do, is not drink any pop ( soda) at all. The diet stuff is even worse.

Next is getting rid of all processed foods, and fried foods in vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is unhealthy in large quantities. This goes for canola as well. <ost preservatives are empty calories, while vegetable fats are harder to digest, and have a higher saturated fat content, and lower healthy fat content.

The real trick to loosing weight is portion control, in relation to activity. Why would you need 300% of the recommended daily inmtake of protien if you arent an athlete r body builder? Why would you eat 5000 calories a day if you arent going to burn it? The thing with 905 of all diets, is that they lower the calorie intake to almost below starvation. Thats why ouy loose weight, you starve yoruself. If you are averagely active, you dont need lots of food at all.

A good trick is HOW we eat, Most of our habits are, quick brakfast, bigger lunch, and a huge supper. Well, digestion take sa good 8 hours, so how can we digest that 12oz steak before sleeping? The proper way to eat is a huge breakfast a moderate lunch anda small supper, supplimented with snacks inbetween.

For me personaly, I have to eat all day, so i try to work around it. Why would i eat a massive supper, when I know no matter what ill eat an hour or 2 after? I eat a decent breakfast, and dont stop eating all day, but streatched out.

The biggest, and most improtiant thing about loosing weight is exsersise. Its too bad you quit the gym. You must not have been working out effectivly. We are all different, and we all buld muscle differntly, so what works for me, wont work for you. Some people dont build muscle at all, some build it fast, others painfuly slow. The main point is that your doing it to be healthy, not to look good.

[ces]

Originally Posted by Silvergirl

The most important thing is to not listen so much without trying out and see what really WORKS for you, the individual. And listening to our instincts. It is important to get the junk food/processed foods out as completely as you can, to include sugar (most of it), any boxed stuff, sigh, I don't think I could 'survive' without Cheetos now and then, but just think about the people before cheetos came into existence. You didn't hear them saying such things. There are too many temptations in the modern diet. We have to learn to avoid them and psyche ourselves to not feel so 'needy' of them...once you get used to having them, and remember, it's been said there are additives in there that make you want more. So take the focus off of them, experiment with good foods, learn what you like, how you like them. Learn how to 'eat' when you go out to restaurants, too.

Agree - different things work for different people. My head says break the habit of the sugar stuff. No chocolate, no snacking on cereal, no cake, no mini icecreams on a daily basis (an occassional gift to myself maybe but not in bulk). That's the think in a way - if i open a bar of chocolate I have to eat it all - can't have one peice and then leave the rest.

Its learning about the good foods, what they are and how to prepare them.

What do you mean Silvergirl about learning how to eat when at restuarants? Not that it happens very often but is another area where education is needed.