Wanted: Fat Sailors

[BlueSeas]

Hi Kate,

Been a couple of days since I have been able to visit the thread. Looks like you got some tough love from some, good advice, and a little bit of judgment (or maybe misunderstanding).

I have battled my weight within about a 30 pound range for my whole adult life...at least 30's on. Here are some observations.

Weighing too often can be discouraging because as mentioned before muscle weighs more than fat and can skew the reading if you increased your exercise. A better monitor for me has always been how my clothes are fitting. Muscle goes to the right place, fat makes them tight.

The eating small meals often has solid scientific support. Insulin starts spiking after a couple of hours and causes you to store fat making it harder to loses the weight.

Along that same line, as mentioned by others, too little food too far between causes the body to go into starvation mode and store fat and burn protein aka muscle tissue. Your plan of a gradual weight loss over a long period is a good one. Best advice here is to not set a goal for the bottom weight, but make a plan to stay with the new eating habits to maintain the weight loss. You will plateau at a healthy weight and stay there.

Finally, you might want to find a substitute reward for the carmel popcorn as it sounds like it sets your plan back a couple of days for every 2 weeks you work hard. Maybe a new diamond ring instead (oops sorry Kumar)

That said, let me say thank you, because my weight has been a problem for too many months and you got me thinking about the little snacks and crap fast food lunches I have been eating because I perceive that I don't have enough time in my day. Had sushi today instead!

Now I will join you on this quest and follow my own excellent advice!

Dennis

[sv-Mystique]

It's really quite easy -

Fresh vegetables
Fresh fish, chicken, pork, bison
No sugar - period
No white food
No processed food
No fast food
Supplements
60 minutes of hard exercise everyday
No cheating no rewards
You too will lose 90 pounds in 9 months!

[BlueSeas]

Originally Posted by sv-Mystique

It's really quite easy -

Fresh vegetables
Fresh fish, chicken, pork, bison
No sugar - period
No white food
No processed food
No fast food
Supplements
60 minutes of hard exercise everyday
No cheating no rewards
You too will lose 90 pounds in 9 months!

Correction...
The metabolic science behind it is quite easy.

The reality of changing decade or even lifetime old habits and thinking is much more difficult. It is not understanding the things to do it that is tough, but changing daily habits and getting out of comfort zones is tough. Same reason many of you are cruising and many more of us are talking about cruising...someday.

[SaucySailoress]

Oh wow, I can't believe how much great advice I'm getting here - you folks are way better than the Fat Ladies forums!!!

Originally Posted by Gator81

Aaza,
I set a goal to get down to 180 pounds, and set simple rules for myself which I refused to violate. I would allow myself just one meal per day, and a light one at that, whatever my family was having for dinner, until I got down to that 180 pound goal. No snacks, no alcohol (I love beer!), no exceptions. More exercise helps get there faster.

The number is 180. Under is OK, over is not, and I refuse to let myself off the hook.

Good luck with your efforts. It will be worth it in the end!

This is a brilliant idea, and I love it! My number is 65, and I'm gonna keep going until I get there!

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

4. My beginning weight is 217. See my avatar?- that is motivation for me.

Now I will join you on this quest and follow my own excellent advice!

Dennis

Newt and Dennis - are you going to 'fess up your target numbers, and post your weights as well?? Not everyone's cup of tea, but I find it helps me make crucial choices (such as whether to eat cheese and Peanut Butter on toast, or have a banana), knowing that if I don't lose the weight I have to 'fess up in public!!!

I came up with two great weight loss strategies last night:

1 - Try eating something dodgy. After 6 trips to the loo last night, I am down to 82kg now. Success. Of sorts!!!!!

2 - I'm gonna go and buy 18kg of butter (actually, 17kg now), if I can afford it. Apparently butter is a similar mass to our body fat, and I suspect that seeing 18kg of fat whenever I open the fridge (if it fits in there) will kinda help me make the right choice!

Anyway, WindGuru says 17knots (local site says gusting 25kn, woohoo!!!!) this afternoon, so I'm off cat sailing later. Maybe that'll burn a few calories too!

[osirissail]

"The eating small meals often has solid scientific support. Insulin starts spiking after a couple of hours and causes you to store fat making it harder to loses the weight."

That is called the "famine syndrome" and is prevalent in people of ethnic backgrounds from Tropical and Equatorial regions of the world. If you ancestors going way back were from these regions they developed a defense mechanism due to the very seasonal rain patterns that controlled the food supply. When these people experienced the beginnings of a food shortage, their bodies started storing away calories as fat to help get them through the famine period before new food sources could be found.
- - Still the really best way to lose weight is to go cruising with at least a 3 or more day open water passage. That is usually good for up to 10Kg of weight loss. Primarily this happens because the urge to eat disappears for the first couple of days and maybe even into the 3rd day before you really need to eat. Thereafter for the duration of the passage it is just too much trouble to really make more food than is essential. So forget scales and posted on the refrigerator diets - just go cruising with some good open water passages.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by sv-Mystique

It's really quite easy -
Fresh vegetables
Fresh fish, chicken, pork, bison
No sugar - period
No white food

If you live in North America - unfortunately the above listed items if purchased from the super/mega/market stores are all processed with maximum amounts of chemicals, hormones and generically engineered this and that. You can view the way the food industry is doing this by getting a copy of the educational video called "Food, Inc."
- - If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where there are small farms and garden farms, you can access real non-augmented veggies, and range chicken and other animals. But be careful of buying what is labeled "organic" as the mega-food corporations are aware that the label "organic" is a growing market with the potential for lucrative profits. They managed to get the government definition of "organic" broadened to encompass much of their manufactured foods. So shop carefully and intelligently and use local farmers/gardeners for your sources as much as is possible.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- - Still the really best way to lose weight is to go cruising with at least a 3 or more day open water passage.

Possibly also that you have left behind all your habits / eating patterns (and maybe a few triggers?) - and have yet to replace them.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by osirissail

... But be careful of buying what is labeled "organic" as the mega-food corporations are aware that the label "organic" is a growing market with the potential for lucrative profits. They managed to get the government definition of "organic" broadened to encompass much of their manufactured foods...

A Few “Organic” Standards:

Australia:
➥ Australian Organic Standard, Industry Resources, Biological Farmers Association
➥ NASAA - Steps to Certification - Within Australia

Canada:
➥ Canada Gazette

United States:
➥ http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop
➥ Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:

[osirissail]

The food industry in North America is just too large to be "policed" so from the links graciously provided by GordMay you will find:
Overview
AMS’ quality grade standards, grading, certification, auditing, inspection, and laboratory analysis are voluntary tools that industry can use to help promote and communicate quality and wholesomeness to consumers. Industry pays for these services and since they are voluntary, their widespread use by industry indicates they are valuable tools in helping market their products.
- - Just like the individual tax system and a lot of other regulatory systems - the shear size is beyond government to effective enforce other than occasional "spot checks" and investigations whenever a major news scandal is exposed.
- - That leaves it up to the individual to be savvy and use their intelligence and healthy skepticism to separate "real organic" from "sort of organic." After all, it is your health and your body and what you want to do with it or to it is really your business.
- - The latest popularly quoted "studies" have the North Americans eating foods containing 80% fat and sugars. Making a concerted effort to avoid these foods or replace them with "historically grown" foods will most likely result in a major reduction in weight without significantly reducing the "volume" of food consumed.
- - Cruising, sort of, forces you to eat healthy as the food grown in the little 3rd world island countries does not contain major amounts - if any - of pesticides, hormones, or genetically engineered this or that. The reason, they cannot afford all that stuff, so the chickens roam free pecking and scratching, the cattle wander over the grass fields, and the same with the goats and sheep. You really do have to watch where you walk.

[mintyspilot]

Originally Posted by Aaza Dana

I already have the 19 bags in my treat cupboard!!

Get rid of them. If you don't have them you cannot be tempted to eat them. Let me tell you a little story. I used to work in an office with 52 women. I was the only man (I was on a temp. contract). Every one of them was on a diet, if she was not pregnant, and every one of them spent all day looking at a box of "reward chocolates" that was on the filing cabinet behind my desk. They tortured themselves and when I suggested getting rid of the box they nearly lynched me because somebody was always sneaking a choccie out of the box.

Remove the temptation. Don't have it within reach, then you cannot fail.

Update: For information, I have just weighed myself in my birthday suit and I am 92kg = 202lbs and 5'8" in height. First time I've weighed myself this year.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by mintyspilot

Remove the temptation [19 bags of popcorn]. Don't have it within reach, then you cannot fail.
.

What a blasphemous suggestion, punishable by execution I believe. I don't know whether to hang you or simply burn you at the stake. Maybe I should stone you to death? Any preferences? We clearly need to make it clear to you that such suggestions are not to be tolerated, since you didn't learn from the first instance:

Originally Posted by mintyspilot

. I used to work in an office with 52 women. I was the only man (I was on a temp. contract). Every one of them was on a diet, if she was not pregnant, and every one of them spent all day looking at a box of "reward chocolates" that was on the filing cabinet behind my desk. They tortured themselves and when I suggested getting rid of the box they nearly lynched me because somebody was always sneaking a choccie out of the box.....

PS - I only have 0.1kg to go till I get my first bag of toffee coated popcorn - I can't wait!!! Mmmmm. It is going to be so worth it. All this talk of popcorn on this thread has really upped my anticipation levels!

[s/v Beth]

AD- yes I am going to do the real thing here. I hope it helps. Last night my appetite won, and I weighed 218 this am. But I am back. A light breakfast of yogurt and strawberries and 20 oz of water. I get stressed at working all night, and then I eat. But no excuses.
My goal? 180,

[SaucySailoress]

Oooh, I'm so excited, now I've started thinking about it!! Maybe I'll starve myself tonight so it happens tomorrow....

But no, I promised myself it would only happen on official weigh-in day (which is a Friday...) so I wouldn't indulge in silly behaviours such as short-term starvation....

Aaaah. I so want that bag of toffee popcorn now. I can taste the tanginess of the toffee in my mouth as I softly caress it with my wet tongue, and feel it dissolving as the popcorn melts away into a gooo.... ooooh, bliss....

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

I weighed 218 this am.
My goal? 180,

Excellent - good luck. What is your first goal, and what special treat do you have lined up to celebrate (I advise you not to chose special food - apparently that's not a wise decision)???

I hear massages are good... In fact I think I'll make that my 5kg goal

Let us know when you have shifted that first kilo. I think the smaller the goal, the more achievable it is....

[mintyspilot]

Originally Posted by Aaza Dana

What a blasphemous suggestion, punishable by execution I believe. I don't know whether to hang you or simply burn you at the stake. Maybe I should stone you to death? Any preferences?

Don't worry, I will be perfectly safe. You see, you will never be able to catch me with all the excess weight caused by quietly, surreptitiously nibbling your way through all that popcorn.

If I kept 19 bars of chocolate in the house I would be 30lbs heavier. That is why I do not ever buy chocolate.