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gkr747
New Member
| Joined: | 9 May 2008 |
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| Posts: | 25 |
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Posted: 15 May 2008 05:09 pm |
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Hi All,
I am on a weightloss routine. I have reduced my calorie intake atleast by 500 from what is needed to maintain my current weight and additionally burning 500 cals through exercise/day.
My current calorie target is to be around ~2000/day. My question is does what I eat within that 2000 matter as long as I am creating a 1000 cal deficit /day??
The reason I am asking is because I have read many articles that point to eating healthy ( salads, fruits, vegetables) and avoid high fat foods ( soda, sweets, cakes, fastfood stuff, etc...). I am keeping out from eating any such stuff as much as possible and usually eating food cooked in my house. Problem is I don't like fruits, salads and many vegetables much which are low in calorie and high in filling but I am eating food containing white rice and other cooked items which are on higher side of cals. Since what I am eating is high on calories and contain some fat as well, I am consuming them in lesser quantity to achieve my target of 2000/day.
So at this point basically even though I am eating slightly higher calorie home cooked food, I am keeping overall calorie intake at my target level and creating a deficit...Is this still good enough for my weight loss??
Thank you
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CrimsonAnimus
Moderator
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Posted: 16 May 2008 07:13 am |
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A lot of this depends on how motivated you are. It's very unlikely that anyone can go for long periods of time and not eat some foods that they like. I sure as heck couldn't.
To answer your first question, yes, it matters what you eat. You could eat 400 dill pickle spears to reach your 2000 calories, but you would also have consumed 80,000 milligrams of sodium.
What a lot of people do is count how many grams of carbs, protein, and fat that they consume each day. Then, multiply the carbs by 4, the proteins by 4, and the fat by 9, since this is how many calories compose one gram of each. Then you can find the overall ratio of carb:protein:fat.
The American Heart Assocation says that the ratio belonging to fat should not be higher than 30%. For individuals trying to lose weight, they often lower this number, but a lot of it depends on what kind of fat you are consuming.
Healthy foods have a variety of beneficial effects for weight-loss. The good carbs are the complex ones, and your body takes longer digesting them, thereby burning more calories. The good fat often contains Omega-3, which has been shown to lower cholesterol as well as assist with weight loss.
It doesn't mean you still can't enjoy a simple carb from time to time, or something with a bit too much saturated fat. Foods like this should be eaten in moderation, to the extent that your willpower will allow.
Finally, I'd recommend you switch to brown rice, if you can handle the taste. Best of luck.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 16 May 2008 03:05 pm |
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(I largely agree with the above)
1) can you loose weight by simply reduce calories and still eat whatever you want? absolutely (see The Low Calorie Diet)
2) will it be easy to comply with a reduced-calorie diet? depending on what you chose to eat, you may find yourself hungry (see Why Healthy Food Makes You Slim)
3) if I eat a diet that keeps me slim, does it matter foods I eat? It does - it determines your health and life expectancy. It is all about micronutrients (fibre, vitamins, minerals, pythochemicals) as well as essential fatty acids and essential amino acids.
I recommend you read the tutorial. If you want to have a deeper uderstanding of food on your health, I would also recommend reading the book Eat To Live.
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CrimsonAnimus
Moderator
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Posted: 16 May 2008 11:09 pm |
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And on the note of simple carbs and too much saturated fat, I just ate a sizy piece of baked ziti, which had white pasta, beef, sauce, and cheese. It's an omen...AN OMEN!!!
Really, though, it is sometimes pretty hard to stay on this, when I buy healthy foods and my family buys and cooks thing like baked ziti, pot roast, ghoulash, etc. Ah well - it's a good way to learn more willpower. I'm surprised I've been able to stick to my diet as closely as I have.
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cportwine
Senior Member
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Posted: 14 July 2008 03:46 pm |
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That is just how I lost weight. But, then I had some major health issues. So, in the long run I ended up eatting all the healthy stuff anyway.
If I were you, I would try to find some healthy foods that you like and go from there.
Yes, you can lose weight that way, but will you have health issues later. Probably, at some point in your life. It's really is true "you are what you eat"
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cportwine
Senior Member
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Posted: 14 July 2008 03:51 pm |
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CrimsonAnimus wrote: And on the note of simple carbs and too much saturated fat, I just ate a sizy piece of baked ziti, which had white pasta, beef, sauce, and cheese. It's an omen...AN OMEN!!!
Really, though, it is sometimes pretty hard to stay on this, when I buy healthy foods and my family buys and cooks thing like baked ziti, pot roast, ghoulash, etc. Ah well - it's a good way to learn more willpower. I'm surprised I've been able to stick to my diet as closely as I have.
Congrats on sticking to the diet with others eatting not so healthy foods around you. I find that very difficult to do myself.
Just last night, my daughter made a pizza casadea and didn't eat it all. So, guess who finished it. Yep, that would be me.
So, hats off to you for hanging in there. I wish I was better about that kind of thing.
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CrimsonAnimus
Moderator
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Posted: 14 July 2008 09:07 pm |
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Hats off to you, too! Pizza is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very hard thing to resist. 
My sis bought Little Caesar's last week. One of the pieces was cut exceptionally small, so I took it (it's amazing the ways we try to compensate - sort of like going to Shoney's and getting hot fudge cake, followed by a coffee with sweet and low .)
Fortunately, it was disgusting, since they didn't appear to fully cook the crust, and I spit it out. After last week's pasta escapade, pasta doesn't sound so good, either.
Pretty soon, I might not be an Italian anymore. Maybe I'll turn into a Mexican so I can eat tacos. 
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