Diet discussion thread

[Lizard Queen]

Wondering if anyone wants to discuss diet options without judgement of personal choices? People here have recently mentioned various options, and it got me to thinking about one I saw on PBS years ago. GBOMBS/ superfoods. My first reaction was, yeah, I really should try to eat more of those. The first G is for greens. I've always thought that was about the healthiest thing to eat, but my RN friend thinks they contribute to blood clotting. My reactiive feeling to that is skepticism. Like, maybe in really limited circumstances. I don't know. Has anyone else heard of this? I'm just curious at what point do greens go from healthy to not for a person?

Or feel free to discuss other diets, if you wish.

[Deleted]

I know that many dark leafy greens are high in Vitamin K which apparently works against common anti-clotting drugs such as warfarin, Plavic, etc.  But I think you need to eat a LOT of Vitamin K containing greens to have a problem-1/2 cup of spinach is probably not an issue for the most folks.

I'm really an "all things in moderation" gal which is why I like WW for a healthy eating plan for weight loss and weight maintenance. 

The GBomb plan might work well except for those who, like me, react negatively to a lot of fiber.  I've tried approaches embracing vast amounts of fiber and, trust me, that led to social distancing long before Covid-19.  I had steel cut oats and fruit for breakfast and by 2 p.m. was socially undesirable.  

[weltschmerz]

www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/supplement-guide-vitamin-k#1

Low levels of Vit K can lead to uncontrolled bleeding. Sometimes,you want clotting. That being said, I don't think leafy greens will contribute either way...it's not enough to make that big of a difference. What should be avoided is Vit K supplements. A, E, D and K are fat soluble, so they accumulate in your system.

[Tiny]

Well,  A quick google offered some info on vitamin K (which is in leafy greens)  and blood thinners and that the two might not go to together so well.     Which I found kind of weird - cause I suspect a daily Multi Vitamin has more vitamin K than a person can eat in one day .... so why wouldn't don't eat "greens" and don't take a multi vitamin with K in it be part of the warning?     How much "greens" per day do you need to eat for it to be a problem (if you are NOT taking a multi vitamin with K AND not eating a breakfast cereal fortified with vitamin K)?   Is an Apple, some asperagus with your salmon at lunch and the a romaine salad with chicken and eggs  putting you in danger of over doing it?   And what are the serving sizes you should be eating?   

I think it also matter how you go about "eating more of X" - I have a compulsive friend who - if the latest fad is to "eat more blueberries - they are good for you" she will eat a pint or more of them per day.  If something is good for you - that's the ONLY thing you should eat.        I would think a typical 1/2 cup or 1 cup serving of "greens" while it probably wouldn't look like much on your plate once it's cooked  wouldn't make much of a difference.  Of course if you are my compulsive friend and eating the whole 18 ounce bag of spinach as a "serving" everyday as part of lunch --- your mileage might vary.   

I do strongly believe that if you are taking medications that you should pay attention to the foods/situations the drugs react to.  (a friend takes something that makes her get sunburned more easily.. so she's looking for shade and slathering on sun screen when regular people are like - "really, it's overcast today... are you crazy??" )  
 

[Lizard Queen]

Well, this diet does call for a lot of greens, but I think my friend avoids all "dark, leafy greens". She's not the healthiest person, but tries I guess. It just seems like this is a misconception on her part. Maybe some patients of hers were supposed to avoid it, so she generalized to everyone? I don't know.

[Tiny]

My experience with Weight Watchers over the years... is that maintaining one's weight (and losing weight) is all about portion sizes - and then finding foods (in a portion size) that make you feel full long enough to get you to your next meal (without feeling like you should chew on your desk or eat your own hand. )       

When I first started the program and started looking a "portions" I was appalled at how "small" portions of actual food that would make up an actual meal were for a person of an appropriate weight should be eating.    

It's not eating as much "healthy for you food as want to eat" ... cause you won't loose weight or "feel better"  - it's eating the appropriate amount of the healthy for you foods that make you loose/maintain weight and feel better.      

I solved many of my "OMG!  it's so little! response" by buying and using smaller dinner plates, cereal bowls, drinking glasses, etc...  I also use a food scale and measuring cups.   If/When I stick to the program - I loose weight/maintain it.  When I don't - even though I'm still eating the same foods - I gain the weight back.    It's really all about portions and eating "healthy" foods the majority of the time.  

[Lizard Queen]

Aug 3, 2020 20:06:59 GMT -5 @donethat said:

I know that many dark leafy greens are high in Vitamin K which apparently works against common anti-clotting drugs such as warfarin, Plavic, etc.  But I think you need to eat a LOT of Vitamin K containing greens to have a problem-1/2 cup of spinach is probably not an issue for the most folks.

I'm really an "all things in moderation" gal which is why I like WW for a healthy eating plan for weight loss and weight maintenance. 

The GBomb plan might work well except for those who, like me, react negatively to a lot of fiber.  I've tried approaches embracing vast amounts of fiber and, trust me, that led to social distancing long before Covid-19.  I had steel cut oats and fruit for breakfast and by 2 p.m. was socially undesirable.  

Lol. I know what you mean. I do think you have to build your tolerance for fiber gradually.
I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal. I like it, but it seems too carby for me, even the steel cut variety.

[Tiny]

Aug 3, 2020 20:47:38 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Well, this diet does call for a lot of greens, but I think my friend avoids all "dark, leafy greens". She's not the healthiest person, but tries I guess. It just seems like this is a misconception on her part. Maybe some patients of hers were supposed to avoid it, so she generalized to everyone? I don't know.

LOL! That's not too hard to do... I managed to avoid spinach, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts and chard for the first forty years of my life. I also managed to avoid drinking plain water for decades without dehydrating (you know that old saw about drinking 8 glasses of water per day to be healthy??  I like my water flavored with coffee, tea, dt coke, and gin sometimes vodka).

[Lizard Queen]

Aug 3, 2020 20:48:21 GMT -5 Tiny said:

My experience with Weight Watchers over the years... is that maintaining one's weight (and losing weight) is all about portion sizes - and then finding foods (in a portion size) that make you feel full long enough to get you to your next meal (without feeling like you should chew on your desk or eat your own hand. )       

When I first started the program and started looking a "portions" I was appalled at how "small" portions of actual food that would make up an actual meal were for a person of an appropriate weight should be eating.    

It's not eating as much "healthy for you food as want to eat" ... cause you won't loose weight or "feel better"  - it's eating the appropriate amount of the healthy for you foods that make you loose/maintain weight and feel better.      

I solved many of my "OMG!  it's so little! response" by buying and using smaller dinner plates, cereal bowls, drinking glasses, etc...  I also use a food scale and measuring cups.   If/When I stick to the program - I loose weight/maintain it.  When I don't - even though I'm still eating the same foods - I gain the weight back.    It's really all about portions and eating "healthy" foods the majority of the time.  

I think you're exactly right. Though a few foods will make you feel full way before you can blow up your diet (such as dark, leafy greens).

[Lizard Queen]

Aug 3, 2020 20:52:33 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Aug 3, 2020 20:47:38 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Well, this diet does call for a lot of greens, but I think my friend avoids all "dark, leafy greens". She's not the healthiest person, but tries I guess. It just seems like this is a misconception on her part. Maybe some patients of hers were supposed to avoid it, so she generalized to everyone? I don't know.

LOL! That's not too hard to do... I managed to avoid spinach, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts and chard for the first forty years of my life. I also managed to avoid drinking plain water for decades without dehydrating.

Haha-- me too!

[Tiny]

Aug 3, 2020 20:54:11 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Aug 3, 2020 20:52:33 GMT -5 Tiny said:

LOL! That's not too hard to do... I managed to avoid spinach, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts and chard for the first forty years of my life. I also managed to avoid drinking plain water for decades without dehydrating.

Haha-- me too!

I started eating spinach, kale, chard (and I will ONLY eat locally grown brussel sprouts - like from a CSA farm) in the last 15 years of so...  I like spinach and kale and chard.    I don't eat them year round - they are more of a fall, winter, early spring part of my "recipe/meal plan rotation".    I don't eat them daily - but might have 2 or 3 servings per week when they are in 'season' and then 2 or 3 servings per month when I'm using up the "frozen" servings once the 'season' is done.  

[haapai]

I think that if you are going to add massive amounts of greens to your diet, you should be prepared for what I will euphemistically refer to as "debilitating events that do not contribute to better nutrition" and be prepared to modify your approach to avoid eating too many greens, or too many greens right off the bat, or too many greens cooked with onions or pork that do not agree with you. 

Persons who live alone and/or prepare meals only for themselves are probably particularly vulnerable to giving themselves a bad case of the trots by suddenly adopting a green-heavy, fiber-heavy, or irritant-heavy diet.  There's a lot of temptation to cook or prepare greens in eight-portion quantities and once they are prepared, eat right through them with the exclusions of anything else before they go bad. 

The results are debilitating and socially awkward and more likely to strip your body of nutrition and water-soluble nutrients than to improve your nutrient and vitamin uptake until you learn some damn moderation. 

[Tiny]

Aug 3, 2020 20:06:59 GMT -5 @donethat said:

I know that many dark leafy greens are high in Vitamin K which apparently works against common anti-clotting drugs such as warfarin, Plavic, etc.  But I think you need to eat a LOT of Vitamin K containing greens to have a problem-1/2 cup of spinach is probably not an issue for the most folks.

I'm really an "all things in moderation" gal which is why I like WW for a healthy eating plan for weight loss and weight maintenance. 

The GBomb plan might work well except for those who, like me, react negatively to a lot of fiber.  I've tried approaches embracing vast amounts of fiber and, trust me, that led to social distancing long before Covid-19.  I had steel cut oats and fruit for breakfast and by 2 p.m. was socially undesirable.  

I'm the opposite... I need to eat foods with fiber or I'll just keep eating all day long.  It's like without enough fiber - my gut never sends the "Hey! we just ate! we're good. Don't send down any more food." message to my brain.  Instead it keeps sending 'we need more food!  Send more! We're gonna STARVE!!" endlessly during the day no matter how much or what I eat (or drink).     Eating the minimum or more of the amount of fiber you are suppose to get - doesn't cause me any upset.  And it stops the "I should eat something... I should eat something... I should eat something..." in my head to stop.  I might be part goat.  

[Deleted]

Aug 3, 2020 20:48:21 GMT -5 Tiny said:

My experience with Weight Watchers over the years... is that maintaining one's weight (and losing weight) is all about portion sizes - and then finding foods (in a portion size) that make you feel full long enough to get you to your next meal (without feeling like you should chew on your desk or eat your own hand. )       

When I first started the program and started looking a "portions" I was appalled at how "small" portions of actual food that would make up an actual meal were for a person of an appropriate weight should be eating.    

It's not eating as much "healthy for you food as want to eat" ... cause you won't loose weight or "feel better"  - it's eating the appropriate amount of the healthy for you foods that make you loose/maintain weight and feel better.      

I solved many of my "OMG!  it's so little! response" by buying and using smaller dinner plates, cereal bowls, drinking glasses, etc...  I also use a food scale and measuring cups.   If/When I stick to the program - I loose weight/maintain it.  When I don't - even though I'm still eating the same foods - I gain the weight back.    It's really all about portions and eating "healthy" foods the majority of the time.  

We love antique shows and stores and one of our take-aways is that antique dishes are sooooo much smaller than what we use now.  The "juice glasses" of yore were only a couple of ounces for the morning OJ, not 8-10 ounces like now.  And plates, even dinner plates, weren't the size we find today in most dishware sets.  Studies have shown that we react to bigger dishes with bigger portions.  

Like you, we have an awesome scale to weigh portions.  I've gotten back in the habit of writing the weight on a package when I put it in the freezer.  And we measure stuff like tonight's wonderful baked beans were 1/2 cup which was plenty for the flavor and texture we love.  

[Deleted]

Aug 3, 2020 20:52:33 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Aug 3, 2020 20:47:38 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Well, this diet does call for a lot of greens, but I think my friend avoids all "dark, leafy greens". She's not the healthiest person, but tries I guess. It just seems like this is a misconception on her part. Maybe some patients of hers were supposed to avoid it, so she generalized to everyone? I don't know.

LOL! That's not too hard to do... I managed to avoid spinach, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts and chard for the first forty years of my life. I also managed to avoid drinking plain water for decades without dehydrating (you know that old saw about drinking 8 glasses of water per day to be healthy??  I like my water flavored with coffee, tea, dt coke, and gin sometimes vodka).

DH and I actually love greens, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and chard and did long before they were deemed "healthy".  I grew up with greens (turnip, collard, mustard) and love them now, especially pressure cooked with smoked turkey wings.  Cabbage is so amazing whether stuffed, stewed, cole slaw, etc.  Brussels sprouts are one of our very favorite things even in the summer when they make a great slaw.  A close friend grows rainbow chard in her front yard and asks everyone to come harvest which we do so we can wilt it down with garlic and onions.  And then there are the choy's - bok choy, pak choi and many more in our Asian market.  

I do actually prefer my water intake to come through the production and fermentation of grapes - aka wine 

[andi9899]

I like raw cabbage. Cooked cabbage is vile. I can't eat warm lettuce/cabbage. It's just not right.

[Lizard Queen]

All this talk of different greens makes me think I should expand my repertoire. It also reminds me of a cousins DW post tonight. She had purple beans from her garden that turned green when you cook them. So, does that count as greens or purples?


Hey, that also reminds me of another diet scheme: eat rainbow colors. Anyone try that? Anyone try blue potatoes?

I'd better quit for the night. Pink's not the only one who's been drinking. 😉

[raeoflyte]

We do the rainbow thing with the kids. How many colors did you eat today? We've never found the funny colored variety stuff appealing, but it's still a good way to get them focused on fruits and veggies.

[countrygirl2]

I will read along.

We eat a lot of green beans, romaine lettuce, celery, cabbage, about it on greens. Sometimes spinach but not often, no reason. Then tomatoes, onions, garlic, various spices, potatoes, baked and fried, sometimes eggplant. Cucumbers, I like beets, no one else here does. Also corn, baked beans, cauliflower, carrots. I like turnips raw at times too and sweet potatoes, no one else will eat them. Broccoli, DD likes broccoli, hubs likes cauliflower. Squash or zucchini at times. In summer peaches and apples for pies.

[CCL]

I've been trying some of the recipes on this site. I think the lady promotes a "healthy" eating plan, but I've never even looked at it. I just like trying new recipes. She uses lots of veggies and fruits, which I like. Except for avocado, yuck, lol. I leave those out or substitute something else.

cleanfoodcrush.com/category/recipes/

[tractor]

I eat green m&m’s so at least there’s some color in my diet.

[dippyegg]

  The only time I really truly dieted was a period of time when I decided to count calories.   Actually that was very helpful and makes you realize how calorie laden some things are and what a reasonable portion size should be.

Mostly, I have never followed any kind of diet.  What I do is if I notice I am gaining weight or have been eating poorly, I just try to shift and eat in a more reasonable way and cut back on carbs, snacks, and other things that I don't really need to eat. 

[chiver78]

Aug 3, 2020 21:19:46 GMT -5 @donethat said:

Aug 3, 2020 20:52:33 GMT -5 Tiny said:

LOL! That's not too hard to do... I managed to avoid spinach, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts and chard for the first forty years of my life. I also managed to avoid drinking plain water for decades without dehydrating (you know that old saw about drinking 8 glasses of water per day to be healthy??  I like my water flavored with coffee, tea, dt coke, and gin sometimes vodka).

DH and I actually love greens, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and chard and did long before they were deemed "healthy".  I grew up with greens (turnip, collard, mustard) and love them now, especially pressure cooked with smoked turkey wings.  Cabbage is so amazing whether stuffed, stewed, cole slaw, etc.  Brussels sprouts are one of our very favorite things even in the summer when they make a great slaw.  A close friend grows rainbow chard in her front yard and asks everyone to come harvest which we do so we can wilt it down with garlic and onions.  And then there are the choy's - bok choy, pak choi and many more in our Asian market.  

I do actually prefer my water intake to come through the production and fermentation of grapes - aka wine 

I'm with you on everything except the mustard greens. I can't stomach any form of mustard.     but give me a huge pot of stewed collards or some crispy Brussels, any day of the week! 

[andi9899]

Aug 3, 2020 21:49:21 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

All this talk of different greens makes me think I should expand my repertoire. It also reminds me of a cousins DW post tonight. She had purple means from her garden that turned green when you cook them. So, does that count as greens or purples?


Hey, that also reminds me of another diet scheme: eat rainbow colors. Anyone try that? Anyone try blue potatoes?

I'd better quit for the night. Pink's not the only one who's been drinking. 😉

I'm a firm believer that your food should be many different colors. Most of the time when it's not, you'll find the food your eating is crap.

No colors really in a McDonald's value meal. Lots of colors in a salad.

[Deleted]

I lost 150 pounds.

I did it very simply and I believe in a healthy way without any fad diets, WW, etc... It took me about 2 years.

It's been a few years now and I managed to slowly put back on 60. Well, 45 until the last month... oops...

I realized that it required X calories to keep me weighing 400 pounds. So, I started watching what I ate and ensured I ate at least 500 calories less than I had been each day. I also stopped drinking soda that had sugar in it. I would drink some juice from time to time, but always less than a cup.

Around the time I started, someone here snarkily made a comment that you can't get fat if all you eat is carrots. I took that sentiment to heart and changed much of my snacks to vegetables. However, I did still eat whatever I wanted, but made sure I ate less than necessary to maintain my current weight.

I also would give myself a choice and was dedicated to choosing the "better" option. For example, I could have fruit or a bagel for breakfast, so I would choose fruit. I did that for every meal and tried to choose the better option more than not. 

I also thought about the fact that when I graduated from HS I weighed 230. What was I doing/eating at 400 pounds that was different? Once I figured that out, I modified my diet to eating more of the foods I ate in HS and less of what had been added since.

I started exercising at 400 pounds by working in my yard. I could barely walk to the end of my driveway...

Once I could work in the yard for hours and didn't feel like I was getting enough exercise or building muscle, I started hiking with my dogs. Bent over and found some cool rocks along that first hike - and my hobby was born.

When I was down 150 pounds I was hiking and carrying back to the car 50-80 pounds of rocks 2-4 times each week. It was great for core strength and stomach/leg muscles because when one rockhounds one bends over about 1000 times each hike. Carrying around heavy rocks is also great exercise.

I decided I would lose weight in 10# increments. I would hike extra and eat really clean until I dropped 10 pounds. Then, as a reward I would buy a box of donuts from the store as my reward.    That always made the kids laugh. Honestly it never really seemed to make the scale move.

I would maintain the lower weight for a couple of weeks, then start losing again. I still think this is one of the things that has allowed me to keep much of the weight off. I think your body needs time to readjust.

After getting weighed the other day and seeing a number above 300 again, I am starting to get back into exercising more and eating better/less. Today I am hitting the landfill then going for a hike with my dog.

[Tiny]

Aug 3, 2020 20:59:00 GMT -5 haapai said:

 Persons who live alone and/or prepare meals only for themselves are probably particularly vulnerable to giving themselves a bad case of the trots by suddenly adopting a green-heavy, fiber-heavy, or irritant-heavy diet.  There's a lot of temptation to cook or prepare greens in eight-portion quantities and once they are prepared, eat right through them with the exclusions of anything else before they go bad.  

   

Yes!  I have a large collection of 1 cup freezer containers - to cope with any recipe that makes more than 4 servings of something.   I can usually menu plan for 7 days - so 4 servings will get used up in those 7 days...  any extra servings get "portioned" and frozen.   

Being willing to menu plan (have a collection of recipes and a meal plan that uses them) helps tremendously.   Years ago I was getting a CSA box of veggies every week.... and that basically forced me to eat 'seasonally' and to come up with ways/recipes/freezing for late to use the stuff in the box.   

Boy, was I clueless about "food" back then...  I no longer do a farm box - but I have retained my "4 season" rotation of recipes/meal plans.    So while I might eat the same thing for dinner 4 nights a week - I might not have that "dinner" again for 6 or 8 weeks (or sometimes until the next time the current season rolls around     

I need to seriously get back on a "menu plan" that balances out the high calorie days/meals with some lower calorie days/meals.    

[Tiny]

Aug 3, 2020 21:19:46 GMT -5 @donethat said:

Aug 3, 2020 20:52:33 GMT -5 Tiny said:

LOL! That's not too hard to do... I managed to avoid spinach, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts and chard for the first forty years of my life. I also managed to avoid drinking plain water for decades without dehydrating (you know that old saw about drinking 8 glasses of water per day to be healthy??  I like my water flavored with coffee, tea, dt coke, and gin sometimes vodka).

DH and I actually love greens, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and chard and did long before they were deemed "healthy".  I grew up with greens (turnip, collard, mustard) and love them now, especially pressure cooked with smoked turkey wings.  Cabbage is so amazing whether stuffed, stewed, cole slaw, etc.  Brussels sprouts are one of our very favorite things even in the summer when they make a great slaw.  A close friend grows rainbow chard in her front yard and asks everyone to come harvest which we do so we can wilt it down with garlic and onions.  And then there are the choy's - bok choy, pak choi and many more in our Asian market.  

I do actually prefer my water intake to come through the production and fermentation of grapes - aka wine 

LOL!   I eat all those "greens" now... In the distant past I had a Farm Box and resolved to figure out how to cook/use all the things in it.   It was a long and sometimes disasterous (a recipe that was icky)  but overall I enjoyed the challenge and have all sorts of yummy to me recipes/meals that can be built around a "green". 

 I'm a 'flexitarian' - which means I eat vegetarian the majority of the time.   And I did enjoy the changing of the seasons and the changing of the "food on my plate".    

All this remembering is helping me.... I've been in a food rut since leaving the office in March and it hasn't been a "good rut" it's a I gained 20 pounds rut and I didn't really "enjoy" all the stuff I've eaten since March.   Time to get back to enjoying the "planning, the cooking, the eating, the I feel good about me" aspect of "food". 

[Tiny]

Aug 3, 2020 21:49:21 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Hey, that also reminds me of another diet scheme: eat rainbow colors. Anyone try that? Anyone try blue potatoes?  

Yes!   I try not to eat "beige" meals - or just reserve "beige" for dining out - cause fast food and restaurant meals are typically all 'beige'.    

I've had blue potatoes - back in the distant past (CSA farm box).   I didn't notice any taste/texture difference - and they did make fun "purple-ish" mashed potatoes.   One Christmas I had Pink Potatoes from the farm box - and made pink mashed potatoes for the holiday dinner   The kids thought it was fun. Tasted ok, too. 

I don't necessarily try to eat something of each color every day (or every meal) but I would do my best to have atleast 3 colors on my plate at each meal - so a 'beige' and 2 other colors.    

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2020 9:56:45 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

I lost 150 pounds.

I did it very simply and I believe in a healthy way without any fad diets, WW, etc... It took me about 2 years.

It's been a few years now and I managed to slowly put back on 60. Well, 45 until the last month... oops...

I realized that it required X calories to keep me weighing 400 pounds. So, I started watching what I ate and ensured I ate at least 500 calories less than I had been each day. I also stopped drinking soda that had sugar in it. I would drink some juice from time to time, but always less than a cup.

Around the time I started, someone here snarkily made a comment that you can't get fat if all you eat is carrots. I took that sentiment to heart and changed much of my snacks to vegetables. However, I did still eat whatever I wanted, but made sure I ate less than necessary to maintain my current weight.

I also would give myself a choice and was dedicated to choosing the "better" option. For example, I could have fruit or a bagel for breakfast, so I would choose fruit. I did that for every meal and tried to choose the better option more than not. 

I also thought about the fact that when I graduated from HS I weighed 230. What was I doing/eating at 400 pounds that was different? Once I figured that out, I modified my diet to eating more of the foods I ate in HS and less of what had been added since.

I started exercising at 400 pounds by working in my yard. I could barely walk to the end of my driveway...

Once I could work in the yard for hours and didn't feel like I was getting enough exercise or building muscle, I started hiking with my dogs. Bent over and found some cool rocks along that first hike - and my hobby was born.

When I was down 150 pounds I was hiking and carrying back to the car 50-80 pounds of rocks 2-4 times each week. It was great for core strength and stomach/leg muscles because when one rockhounds one bends over about 1000 times each hike. Carrying around heavy rocks is also great exercise.

I decided I would lose weight in 10# increments. I would hike extra and eat really clean until I dropped 10 pounds. Then, as a reward I would buy a box of donuts from the store as my reward.    That always made the kids laugh. Honestly it never really seemed to make the scale move.

I would maintain the lower weight for a couple of weeks, then start losing again. I still think this is one of the things that has allowed me to keep much of the weight off. I think your body needs time to readjust.

After getting weighed the other day and seeing a number above 300 again, I am starting to get back into exercising more and eating better/less. Today I am hitting the landfill then going for a hike with my dog.

That's a very impressive story of your journey and powerful testimony to a plan balancing nutrition and exercise.  

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2020 9:58:51 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Aug 3, 2020 20:59:00 GMT -5 haapai said:

 Persons who live alone and/or prepare meals only for themselves are probably particularly vulnerable to giving themselves a bad case of the trots by suddenly adopting a green-heavy, fiber-heavy, or irritant-heavy diet.  There's a lot of temptation to cook or prepare greens in eight-portion quantities and once they are prepared, eat right through them with the exclusions of anything else before they go bad.  

   

Yes!  I have a large collection of 1 cup freezer containers - to cope with any recipe that makes more than 4 servings of something.   I can usually menu plan for 7 days - so 4 servings will get used up in those 7 days...  any extra servings get "portioned" and frozen.   

Being willing to menu plan (have a collection of recipes and a meal plan that uses them) helps tremendously.   Years ago I was getting a CSA box of veggies every week.... and that basically forced me to eat 'seasonally' and to come up with ways/recipes/freezing for late to use the stuff in the box.   

Boy, was I clueless about "food" back then...  I no longer do a farm box - but I have retained my "4 season" rotation of recipes/meal plans.    So while I might eat the same thing for dinner 4 nights a week - I might not have that "dinner" again for 6 or 8 weeks (or sometimes until the next time the current season rolls around     

I need to seriously get back on a "menu plan" that balances out the high calorie days/meals with some lower calorie days/meals.    

We did a farm share thing for several years and I learned that my rut only included a tiny portion of the vegetables out there.  Fortunately they also provided wonderful recipes because I often had no clue what I was getting or what to do with it.  One of our favorite things was Malabar spinach, a great hot weather spinach that can be grown here in the summer.   All the farmers were immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean so it was a wonderful way to taste the world.  Sometimes we would get these incredible purple long beans that were super tasty and fun.  That's also where we learned that beet greens are awesome and that carrot tops make a fabulous pesto.