No Sugar New Year Challenge (Page 27)

Great idea!!!  Must try it!!

Does sound good..I have all the ingredients too. When bananas get ripe and we have lots I peel them and freeze them.

I'm a bit frustrated. After losing a bunch of weight first 10 days I'm not moving at all. I'm doing a lot of training, eating well but weight hasn't budged really since 1st of the year.

I've started using CalorieKing again to track calories. If I work out 2-3 hours a day and eat well I should lose weight...it is quite annoying.

Last year when I went to triathlon nutritionist with 10 hours of excercise a week, I'm supposed to eat about 1750 calories a day for a 500 calorie a day defecit. 

I knew when we started this challenge I had to go at it in stages. So first get off diet soda and splenda and eat well. Now after 3+ weeks I think I can work on calorie counting as the food choices is now easier.

You'll understand so thanks for letting me vent. 

Kathy, I understand your fustration! 

My weight has been stuck for 9 months @ 180lbs after loosing 12 lbs over 6 months(Oct '07 - May '08).  The last two months I have been religously recording everything I eat during the week, as it is more on a schedule/plan.  Weekend tend to be a bit more adhoc, but I watch what I'm consuming. I'm trying to keep my calorie intake under 1500 calories per day.  My exercise burns about 400-700 calories per day.  You would think the weight would just pour off me.  NOT!  Maybe it is my Fat/Carb/Protein ratios that are screwing me up.  I'm trying to increase my protein and decrease my carb intake.  It is not easy to do for me.  Even though I plan the menu for the family meals and food shopping, its still hard to get the protein intake up.  Yes, I'm trying to get the family to eat better too.

Does anyone know if this is true or urban legend.  You should consume about 10 calories for the weight you want to be at.  So, if I want to weight in at 150 lbs, I would consume 1500 calories.

Orange juice has really been my sweet treat.  When we had it in the house, I would have a cup and it helped with the sweet cravings.  Need to get some more of that so I don't go for soda.

I was wondering the same thing when I read your post that you only eat 1500 calories a day. Could it be you are eating to little? I have had folks say that to me as well.

Makes me think of the Biggest Loser. The women eat 1200 calories and men 1600-1800 calories a day and workout 5-6 hours a day. How can they do that without bonking? You need some carbs in your blood to burn fat. They do lose a lot of weight quickly. So is it a myth that we can under eat and make it so our bodies go into starvation mode and not lose weight or is it a real issue?  How can it work for them and not for us?

I do think eating to few calories for to long screws up your metabolism and makes you survive on less calories.

I do think folks have different metabolisms and calories in/out plays into part of the equation but so does what those calories are made out of but not fully. Clearly eating 1500 calories of peanut M & Ms is different than eating a balanced diet of 1500 calories. 1500 calories a day and working out weighing 180 and not losing weight doesn't make sense to me. The

This is one of the confusing aspects of weight loss that I would love to get a clear answer and figure it out so it could work for me. I've worked at losing weight since '03 and have done well but last couple years I'm lucky to lose 5-10 pounds even with Ironman training. That is why gaining so much post IM freaked me out some as it was sure easy to gain but not so easy to take off.

I'm guessing for me it was to many calories of good food issue. 

I was having that problem when I first started training and was trying to lose weight.  I was only eating about 1500 calories and couldn't figure it out.  I bumped it up to 1800 - 2000 per day and increased the amount of protein I was eating and then I started to lose weight.

As far as the other things Kathy brings up, I'm going to think about it.  I'm sure there are some biochemical things going on.  I'll have to check some of the research papers in my stack that I haven't gotten to yet. 

I saw a RD last year to work on reducing my body fat. It was a great process and I learned a lot. For weight loss and change in body composition I was instructed to eat 2000 calories a day and subtract 500 calories from my recovery nutrition.

Example: 2 hour ride burned 1200 calories. Eat 700 recovery + 2000 base calories for the day.

On day off from training eat base 2000 calories.

I dropped quite a bit of body fat but not a lot of weight on this plan. 

I tried messing around with my eating and dropping down to 1400 or 1500 calories a day but was exhausted during my workouts and my speed and performance was hurt. It's a really tough to train hard on little fuel. I don't know how the biggest loser folks do it.  

With all this weight loss talk, I had some info that I wanted to pass along and hear some opinions on...I will warn you that it's way different than most of what you read. This comes from the book "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon:

"Phase Two [of their "Quick and Easy Weight Loss"] features what we consider the optimal macronutrient ratio for efficient but healthy long-term weight loss: about 10 percent protein, 60 percent fat, and 30 percent carbohydrate. About half the fat calories [on their plan] are provided by medium-chain triglycerides, mainly from coconut oil, since studies indicate that this is the ideal ratio for weight loss."

Now, I haven't tried this and am not necessarily endorsing it; I just thought I'd see if any of you had heard or tried it. It does make me curious because it is so opposed to mainstream thinking...And the book does cite statistics and studies and doesn't seem "faddish" to me!

What do you think?

When I was actively losing, I was eating a base of 2000 calories and adding estimated calorie burn for workouts on top of that.  If I tried to go any lower (even just to 1800), I didn't lose.

I saw a RD yesterday (Wed).  The appointment was mostly talking about my weight history and current food intake.  Next Wed, we are going to use a fancy computer program that uses my exercise routine and weight and spits out a breakdown of carb/protein/fat and determining when in the day to eat what.

Hey  guys, just checking in...it's hard to keep up with all of your postings, so much information!!

Abbie - love this idea for stain remover....I am always finding set in grease stains on my kids clothes after they have already gone thru the dryer!  I can't figure out where all the grease is coming from!  It's not like they are eating chicken nuggets every night!!

I am down a total of 4.2...slower than I hoped, but I'm trying to hang in there. 

Someone suggested the Beck  diet book and I ordered it - really like some of the ideas...especially the "Response Cards"

Have a good night all!

Congratulations!!  I'd take it either way. 

Me too...but I do get your thought process Abbie

Good, can you explain it to me?  

Thanks for your support guys!  We have had peanut M&Ms in the office kitchen all week, without this challenge I would have had a few handfuls, just for the heck of it.  But now I think "if i eat just 1 M&M I'll have to log it!"  The fear of logging sugar is my scarlet letter!

Awesome job Abbie!! I'm with you.

Before the challenge I would have greabbed any sweet treat offered up in the office. This week a patient brought in a huge basket of chocolate goodies, truffles, carmel filled delights. For the first time ever I walked past without taking a second glance. A coworker offered me more chocolate later that day and all I had to say was "no thank you". Wow that was pretty easy ... I needed to learn those three words a long time ago.

I had a long hungry spell today as well from about 10am until I ate lunch. It was strange as I ate my normal mostly protein breakfast. I find it interesting how hunger can come and go and sometimes doesn't make sense. I'm trying to learn & practice even if I' feel hungry I don't need to eat. Trying to figure out is it hunger or craving.