Food Addiction? I think so..

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

A more accurate way might be to track what you eat on a few normal days without thinking about it, subtract 300 calories from that and make that your new goal.

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

I guess the main thing that concerns me is the calories seem high for you, that's also what you're saying. I'd shoot for 2200-2400 calories. You're heavier than me but not that much heavier (double the calories of what i'm eating - you are not double my weight).

Also, calories is one thing, where they come from is another.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

I'm much heavier than you, though. I played around with the numbers and your age and weight matter a lot. as to what calorie goal they give you..

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Pete - check out www.sparkpeople.com and see what it says. Remember I said my doctor told me 1500-1700 calories? Sparkpeople said 2100 so it was slightly higher. Maybe you could use sparkpeople as a baseline and go from there.

[CreatineKasey]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Same here. Having played in sports from football, powerlifting, track and in college cheerleading, strength training has always been important. I was proud as hell to squat 600+ in high school for powerlifting and won a meet as a freshman in my weight class; no way would I want to train like that again, though. And to this day it makes me proud to know that I can still leg press more than anyone in my local gym or that I completely out-work & destroy other people on leg-day. Oddly enough, I am most happy that I am still super flexible for being a big guy because stretching is something most people don't even care to do. It's not about taking pride in showing up other people but more so having pride in knowing the long journey it took me to get there and to see the benefits of it now or knowing that I did this on my own: no drugs, no cheating, nothing but hard work, blood, sweat and tears.


This is one thing I learned recently on my "diet" which is size comparisons of food per calories. Take my homemade burger vs McD's example; you can get twice as much food for the same amount of calories. These are things people will have to learn when making that lifestyle change. The rule here is to try to trick your stomach with your eyes. Your gut can't see what you're eating, it just knows the amount your putting in so might as well shove the stuff that's more plentiful in there.

Fruits, berries and other foods with high fiber also really help with making a person feel full; not only that, they really help you go regularly which also helps with weight loss.


Or eating bigger meals right after the gym. That's the best time to 'cheat' IMO because your body is already digesting. By cheating I mean consuming more food but not necessarily bad food. Also, I make a point to not eat late at night when my body is in rest mode as well as not over-eating on the weekends when I'm not exercising.


Yes, case in point: me & my brothers. All of us are built differently yet have the same genes. My older brother (33) is 5'7" and overweight but that's mainly due to his lifestyle (drinking socially, eating fast food, etc) but when he was in his 20's he was fit and thin because he took care of himself. My younger brother (22) is 5'8" and roughly 180 but the kid is ripped due to working out & eating right. Myself, I'm 6', 240 and I basically have a LB/FB's build: mass. To this day I'm still not sure whether I would have rather sacrificed the couple inches in height for a faster metabolism.

Greazy I bet we're pretty similar dude. I was always a big squatter (never did more than 415 real weight, had bigger 5 rep adjusted maxes... but I count the real weight). You probably have the same bottom-heavy build I do. My upper body isn't small by any means but it's nothing compared to my big legs. Fortunately, guys like us need a lot more calories because those big legs chew them up.

You are exactly right about the "cheat" meal after working out. That's when your insulin is extra sensitive and your body is ready to accept energy and readily metabolize it.

I've actually done a pretty strict cutting period in the past and it was truly miserable. I don't know how you guys can function at less than 2000 calories. I bet you guys are almost ketogenic (state where your body is making carbohydrates out of protein because there's so little available... usually associated with starving people).

I remember calculating my suggested calorie intake and it was around 3500 when maintaining and around 3000-3200 to LOSE weight. 1700 just sounds painful to me. From what I've read, it's better to eat reasonably and exercise more than to eat less and not exercise.

Maybe start to review your training regimen and find out if it's truly effective. Doing exercises that use a lot of your body (squats, push ups, pull ups) are the ones that will spike your metabolism and burn the most calories over time. Usually moderate intensity cardio only gets you so far. It only burns the calories during exercise.

Weight lifting and more intense exercise creates what's called an "oxygen deficit" and burns calories for up to 48 hours after your workout. That's where the key is IMO. It spikes your metabolism for a long time.

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Yeah, I lost most of my weight before simply doing squats at Gold's Gym (per their recommendation).

As for the 1700 calories...it sucks but i've been doing it so long I know it's what I need to do. Even despite exercising if I go much above 2,000 calories I start packing on pounds like a bear ready for winter.

I do a cheat meal right now, but usually on the weekend. Maybe I should start doing my cheat meal on Fridays after I work out instead like you guys say. I usually get pizza or wings for my cheat meal.

[Jonesy]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Just had to say this is a great thread with lots of well thought out posts.

I can totally agree with the binge eating, yo-yo weight issues you guys are talking about. I'm slowly improving over time but it will always be a constant battle.

I watched an interesting documentary (can't for the life of me remember the title) the other night which basically broke down why fat people are fat and why skinny people can eat what they want and still stay slim. the documentary took a bunch of naturally skinny people and made them all eat a heap of cals for a few months and measured the effects on fat gain etc. Despite the fact that all of the former skinny people put on weight during the study they had all virtually returned to their normal weight a few months later without any of them dieting.

A few key points in the show:
* Basically the skinny people don't have the same phychological attachment to food that fat people do.
* Skinny people just eat untill they are full and stop, fat people keep eating to finish the meal even if they don't really want/need it.
* Skinny people start burning more calories without even noticing by fidgeting more etc whitout even realising it.
* we all have a genetic "most comfortable" weight that our body will try to gravitate back to. Ie if your body wants to be 220lbs when you lose weight weight your body will try to make you hold onto weight and if you are over that your body will try to make you lose.

One interesting thing it said in the documentary is that we all have a certain number of fat cells. If we ingest a surplus of calories for an extended period the fat cells increase in size (ie we put on weight). Once the cells have reached their maximum size they multiply into more fat cells. The thing that sucks is that you can't actually ever lose those new fat cells. You can reduce the size of them but you will always have more fat cells and therefor be more prone to putting on weight. They said that even if you only even had one "fat" period in your life even as child you would be more prone to being fat later in life because you have more fat cells.

Kinda depressing really but that shouldn't stop us from all trying to live as healthily as possible.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

ODogg, I will check their recommendation out tomorrow. Today I hit 2,500 due to thinking McDonald's grilled chicken snack wraps were better than they are for you and being in a pinch since I went from work to paint @ the MIL's..

Jonesy, I hope that isn't true, my "fat" period started at age 5..lol

[UNC_Pete]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

ODogg, sparkpeople set my baseline from 2,560-2,910. Kind of strange to me that they'd give me that kind of range..

[CreatineKasey]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

2500 calories isn't as much as you're maybe thinking. When I committed to a cutting program, I ate 3200-3500 calories per day. That was to LOSE weight. It depends what you eat and of course if you are active too.

Anything under 2000 seems detrimental to your metabolism and energy levels in my opinion. 2500-3000 is a lot more reasonable. I've read that it's much more beneficial to eat reasonable and exercise than try to simply eat less. Eating less without exercise to lose weight is far more painful than eating reasonable and working hard through exercise to spike metabolism.

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

UNC_Pete, cool, then I'd go with about 2,300-2,400 calories a day if I were you. If you eat calorie dense (healthier) foods as snacks it should not be an issue where you are hungry all the time so your body shouldn't go into starvatation mode.

As for all of you who say eating less is not a good thing, I know where you are coming from but eating less if you are overeating is a good thing. I think the issue is no one should starve themselves to lose weight, no one is advocating that. But I have talked extensively with two doctors (my doctor in VA and my doctor here in OH) and they both tell me that less calories is required for losing weight unless you are willing to spend hours in a gym, which most no one is willing or able to do that.

For instance, I was told that for me being 6 foot 270-300 pounds I would normally eat 2,400-2,500 calories per day to maintain my weight. But to lose weight I should be in the 1,500-1,700 calorie range. According to both of my doctors being in that range is not detrimental or "starving" myself in any way. It simply creates a slight calorie deficit that, combined with exercise, will cause weight loss.

I just want to be clear here, I understand what everyone is saying, that you don't want to try to eat so little that you're always hungry. What I am saying though is that it's doctor recommended to eat less calories and exercise more to lose weight.

I feel that it's important to stress this as I want UNC_Pete and others to be clear that it's not going to hurt him, or his efforts, to lessen calorie count. From reading this thread it seems almost as if most folks are giving an excuse to eat more calories than is needed. I know that may not be the intent but at the same time let's not give anyone here an excuse to eat more than they should be, no matter if it's healthy food or junk food. Because as my doctor said, even if you eat the healthiest diet in the world, if you're eating too many calories you will not only NOT lose weight but you also may gain weight.

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

We had pizza and salad today here at work and I am both unhappy but proud of myself. Unhappy beacuse I did break down and eat some free pizza & salad but proud because I just ate one small cheese piece and one normal sized supreme pizza and a medium salad with light italian. I'm also happy to report I feel pretty full now too. So it's what I'm trying to work toward, not cutting out completely junk food like pizza but trying to exert control over what I eat and not abuse this type of food.

On a related note I know what you guys mean about fruit filling you up so much due to the fiber. I ate a papaya and a banana last night and I was stuffed for several hours over a seemingly small amount of food. I'm going to need a lot more papayas for next week

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

oh and lol, that should have read "one normal sized supreme piece" not "pizza". I wouldn't be too proud if i ate one small piece of cheese pizza and then a whole supreme pizza, LMAO!!

[mgoblue]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

oh and lol, that should have read "one normal sized supreme piece" not "pizza". I wouldn't be too proud if i ate one small piece of cheese pizza and then a whole supreme pizza, LMAO!!

LOL i read that and thought "Damn bro! A piece of cheese, a whole supreme pizza, AND a salad? That's hardcore"

1500-1600 calories a day is fine for people...that's what is usually recommended when you're trying to lose weight. That's enough to be healthy on, but still allow you to burn through the fat and whatnot.

[ODogg]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Yeah, even at my piggish best i wasn't that bad, although probably would do 3/4 of a supreme pizza in those days!!

I figure i'm probably in about 600 calories for that pizza/salad. Combined with my 300 calorie breakfast i'm still ok for today. I have a couple of pieces of fish I will eat before leaving work (I always eat before I leave work so I won't be tempted at ALL to stop at fast food places as I pass about 30 on the way home)...then about a 400 calorie dinner.

I still have to go to the gym today. I'm going to do 6 miles on the bike. I'll probably go here about 2:00 or so.