I thought I would mention the humorous side effect of my weight loss. I went to the pool with Fi yesterday and there was some little kid of about 11 who started throwing these sinking torpedoes at us in the deep end (12 feet) and asking us to go get them. Fiona likes to dive, so we did that for a while. Then I went down and stood on the bottom, waiting for more to arrive. After I caught both of them, I came up and handed them to the kid who was standing there slack-jawed. He said "How do you do that?" Yes, my friends, my ability to sink has returned! I have finally gotten rid of enough fat that I am only about neutrally buoyant with mostly-full lungs.
As most of you know, I used to be able to sink like a rock, and swim around underwater while wearing a lifejacket, so I am looking forward to getting back into that kind of shape.
I met a guy tonight in one of my classes who lost 90 pounds in the last year, so I will be talking to him about that next week. See if I can get any helpful hints. Obviously it is the same as ever. Eat less, burn more. I am mostly interested in the psychology of the "eating less" part. Burning more is fairly straightforward. Burn baby burn.
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If this was a Rocky Movie you would only be at the first stage of the training. Your completed training would be when it takes two life jackets for you not to sink twelve feet jumping off the top of a house boat or that rock across the lake from Dew Drop bay.
Ah, ... the good old days.
Keep us posted on your friend's psychological tips for eating less. That's where I'm having the most trouble. I switched from bread that was 120 calories / slice to 70 calories / slice which shaves a cool 100 calories off a sandwich. But I still long for meals composed entirely of carbs ... Lots and lots of carbs. I'm just working on trying to figure out how to get my mind off of eating. I'm sure there are no quick answers aside from "suck it up" and get some will power.
My wife has cut wheat out of her diet, not for weight purposes, for allergy purposes, which means I have cut some out. She has found some interesting substitutes for things like bread. We get a srouted grain bread, and rice flour bread/Pasta. The stuff seems to be heartier (not sure if that is a word). Which means I only need to eat one sandwhich instead of two. Which is helping me on the weight end (not adding back any), it appears to help her on the psycological end. I don't have the psycological because I still literally eat anything we have in the house (except Pork, it doesn't agree with me. I sound old don't I).
Of course in talking with Matt & Shawn (Shawn might have a little more to go), that we have reached points where the weight does not drop. I lost like 10-15 lbs starting to exercise. Then I was stable for 5 months. Recently I took a consistent 3 lbs more off. My run workouts started going longer than an hour. Also, I hope the Heart Rate zone stuff is making a difference, just real slow. I know my diet would net me some more if I worked on it. Ice-Cream is tough to give up when the kids are chanting for it.
Here are 2 things which might help.
1) Don't drink cold beverages with a meal. As it numbs the stomach's ability to tell the brain it is satisfied. (I'm sure this could be disputed)
2) Don't drink Sodas. From what I understand it helps break down the food. Whereas if you drink water it takes the stomach longer to break it down.
The more complex the food is to breakdown. (Fiber for example). Your stomach should feel full.
I've read that dairy is helpful to many people for keeping hunger pangs away because it's difficult to break down as well.
Of course there is a difference between feeling hungry and calorie deficient. These things help with the hungry feeling.
Easy trick to eat less at a meal. Drink a bunch of water 15 minutes before your meal.
It's funny that you should mention about the wheat thing Craig. My labmate recently found out that she has celiac disease (an allergy to the gluten found in wheat and tons of other products as a thickening agent) and has had to change over to rice based products. Now she didn't need to loose any weight to start with, but now she's eating lots of cheese etc, just to keep the weight she has.
Hopefully my change to whole wheat bread will help as well since it has more fiber and complex carbs. I have to agree with you that this heartier bread makes you feel full faster. Even though the slices of bread, and hence the sandwiches, are smaller, I feel fuller after eating them. I'll have to try Matt's idea of drinking a bunch before a meal too. I've already cut out the soda for the most part and that helps a lot.
One of the best sets of studies and down to earth informational books on psychological eating patterns is from a guy at Cornell,... Brian Wansick. Met him last fall, great information. Check out his website, some free items plus he is pitching a book, http://www.mindlesseating.org
Some examples of things he has found in his studies are : people eat more M&M's when they are offered multiple colors instead of one color. Use a bigger plate, eat like 20% more. Very interesting.
Good idea with the M&M's. After eating all the colors but the reds. I really find I don't want to eat as many reds. :-)
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