    
Cal/Fat Counter
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 30, 2002 - 02:45 pm: | 
|
Joanne,
The first thing you have to do is to come to the realization that this is something that you'll have to do for the rest of your life. You can't "diet", drop a ton of weight, and then go back to eating a "normal" again. Trust me, I've gone through that. I've been a size 9 in my life (which I will probably NEVER see again), and I've been a size 20 (the largest I got, just before I came to MY change of lifestyle realization)
Ok, having said that, you now have to figure out what is right for your body and your personality.
I hear that a low car/high protien diet works rather quickly. But, will this work for you? If you're someone that can deal with out eating breads and starches, and absolutely loves your meats and protiens, then give it a try.
You said that you tried Slim Fast, and couldn't deal with it, so obviously the liquid diets are out of the quiestion.
Like Rosie, I'm a calorie AND fat counter. I have found that this has worked for me. I've lost 65 pounds since Feb.2002. I went from 226 pounds down to 161 pounds (a size 20 to a size 12). I eat 1200 calories a day/ 12 grams of fat. The reason I count BOTH is because I've found that it's amaizing how much fat content you can still stuff into your mouth, if you only count calories. In otherwords, look at this: A table spoon of Peanut Butter has 150 calories and 17 grams of fat. That's more fat then my entire daily allowence. Add two slices of "regular" bread (160cal/2fat) and a TBLSP of jelly (50cal/0fat) you have a sandwich containing 360 calories, and 19grams of fat.
Now, you could eat a sandwich with two slices of fat free bread (80 cal/0fat), lettuce (virtually calorie free/0 fat), a slice of fat free cheese (30cal/0 fat), mustard (fat free/calorie free), and 3 slices of fat free ButterBall turky breast (60cal/0fat), all for 170 calories and 0 fat. Same quantity of food (if not even more!!!!), containing 2/3rds the same calories, but NONE of the fat.
The other tip is, keep a journal. I have a little pocket size notebook that I write down EVERYTHING I eat in a day. (I've actually used up 7 note books since I've started) I am anal about counting calories and fat grams, and keep a running tallie of each and every thing that goes in my mouth. Once I reach my calorie alotment for the day, I stop. The key is trying to pace myself throughout the day.
The reason this diet has worked for me is that, basically, you can eat what ever you want, as long as you keep track and don't go over your allowence. You will find REAL fast that it's FAR better to eat healthy (and be able to eat all day) then to give into temptation. In otherwords, would you like to eat just one Big Mac and fries, and that's it, for the whole day!! (because that sure would over top my allowence for the day), or would you rather be wise, watch yourself, and be able to have breakfast, lunch, supper, and a few snacks????
Check out the Health Food STores. The carry it all. The have mucho low fat/fat free - low calorie food substitutes. Lots of food's made from "veggies" (soy) that mimic tempting junk food, for a fraction of the calories and fat. Granted you'll pay more then a regular grocery store, but it's worth it. They have lots of fat free/low calorie snacks (chips,cookies, pastries). The key is, eat them in moderation. Read the package, MEASURE out the listed serving, only eat ONE serving, and make sure you add it in your journal.
The health food stores carry EVERYTHING for ALL the diet plans, too. They have ATKINS stuff, ZONE stuff, KASHIE stuff, as well as LUNA and all the other meal suppement things. That might be a good place for you to start. Open your Local Yellow Pages and find yourself a good Health food store (not a GNC or something like that, they just do supliments and herbals and stuff). You want a Health Food Grocery Store.
Take a walk through and read every label you can get your hands on. Most of the stores also carry books coordinating with each diet plan. Make it an afternoon that you can spend a couple of hours just reading everything. It will give you a good feel for what YOU might think you can do. Also, if you do go with counting fat and calories, take a trip to the book store and get a couple "pocket size" calorie/fat content books. These will give you info on the basics (chicken, pork, beef, fresh veggies & fruits, basic breads, nuts and grains, etc.) Some of them even list name brands of comercially made foods (soups, crackers, dressings, etc.) as well as Chain Restaurant foods. You can also find calorie and fat content of some restaurant foods on line, on their web sites.
You can also find WEIGHT WATCHERS on line (I think you can join on line too, instead of going to their local meetings). I believe ATKINS has a web site. GENNY CRAIG use to have a web site. Slim Fast is on line. You can search them all out.
And, if you try something and find it's not working for you, or you don't think you could stick with it, then by all means, move on and try something else.
Good luck, and what ever you try, don't expect miracles. A loss of one to two pounds a week is the healthist (no matter what plan you pick). If it comes off too quickly, it's likely not to stay off. Like someone else said (I think it was Rosie), it took a long time to put on, it will take a while to take off. The slow, even weight loss is more likely to stay off for life (if you continue your new found lifestyle for life).
Good luck, and keep in touch. Let us know how you're doing, and what's working for you. I like to hear how other people succeed. I just LOVE to try thier ideas, too.
~
Cal/Fat Counter |
Weight Loss Questions