My favorite diet plan

I finally hit a loss of 45 pounds over this last year and owe it all to two great tools, my bike and DietPower. You can download this program and the price was quite reasonable (dietpower.com). I'm a chef so eating rabbit food, Weight Watchers, or any plan that you eat from a box was not going to work. The program is like a calorie checking account. It tells you how much to eat today in calories and the choice is yours. You earn more calories with exercise. If you get "overdrawn" you gain. Before I found this program I had been on every miserable diet out there and always gained all the weight back and then some. I also cheated a lot because the foods offered were (IMHO)not very interesting or tasty. Not this time. Then I found the leaner I got the healthier I wanted to eat anyway. The program even tracks all your nutrients.

I have given up nothing, not potatoes, or french bread, or Trader Joe's ginger sandwich cookies, or a thick rib-eye steak. And it certainly took the stress off to see that if I just spun around the block (for about 10 miles) I could actually enjoy a small piece of birthday cake without gaining or guilt. What I love about this plan is that it treats you like an adult. This is how many calories you get, use them wisely.

This may not work for everyone, but it certainly worked for me.

Beachdog,

How many are your base calories for the day?

Nanci

Is 1600 too much for a women ? Also I eliminated bread from my diet plan and I don't know what should I use to reach the same base calories. What product could substitute bread ?

Are you still using bread ?

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Originally Posted by Cristina

I think you should go with 1200 calories a day and follow the standard 1200 diet plan.

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1200 a day?! Please, didn't we go down this road a few months ago? I felt like I was on the eating disorders board.

Helen "I eliminated bread from my diet plan and I don't know what should I use to reach the same base calories. What product could substitute bread ?

Are you still using bread ?"

I dunno about you but I eat bread, I just avoid the processed stuff, whole grain, multi grain, complex carbs....if I would just stop slathering it with butter ;-)

I wouldn't have the energy to sit on my arse in front of the telly all day if I only took in 1200 calories.

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Originally Posted by Cristina

:) I am sure I would have known that but anyway ... what I am trying to say is that 1200 calories a day is a standard diet plan. I only pass on the information I read on the internet ... :p

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I'm afraid you are falling into the trap of picking up bad information. Just because it is on the Internet doesn't mean that it is valid. There are good nutrition web sites out there, and there (unfortunately) are bad one too.

You need to consume enough calories each day to support your body in all of your activities.

1200 a day is about right for a small, post-menopausal, sedentary woman (like my mom) who is trying to lose weight (she only burns 1800 a day if she's lucky). But as all of us here are active, 1800-2000 is a minimum. I'm with snapdragen, anything below that is eating disorder territory.

As long as you still ride your bike ... you cannot call yourself a sedentary person Cristina. Eat as much as your body needs ... and don't forget to take your vitamins :)

There is no set caloric intake for everyone, even if they are the same weight. Lifestyle plays a large role, age, and your own body.

One person maybe able to eat 1200 calories and not feel deprived and lose weight.

Another person that may not work for them.

I use a software called Diet & Exercise Assistant. It uses basic math, you make up how what percentage of carbs, proteins and fats you want to have each day, along with how much weight you want to lose and by when. It will do the math and also warn you when your goals are unrealistic (i.e. I want to lose 12lbs in 5 days).

I've found it to be very helpful, and it's up to the end user what they choose to eat or enter in.

Check out: http://www.ediets.com

I think it did all that.

i start my day with 1220 calories... however... i then get to add calories depending on my morningn workout and my bike ride! so generally i can get up to the 1600 to even 2000 range! (thank goodness cuz i LOVE food!) and for longer rides, of course, i can eat more calories... considering i can burn 3000-4000 calories.... i need to replenish!

as for what i eat... i try to eat "clean".... so that includes bread, if i want it, as long as it's whole wheat and not processed! brown rice, whole wheat pasta... a LOT of veggies, fruit lean meat, chicken... i even eat fish (which i always swore i hated! go figure!)

i allow myself "bad" treats... like when i do a long bike ride.. and we go out shopping after... i get to eat "bad" junk food or yummy "bad" sugary desserts!

i've found out if i'm too lenient on the "bad" foods... i gain weight.. and on someone my size... even 3 or 4 pounds makes a LOT of difference! :eek:

technically... i eat the "south beach" way.. cuz i've found it to be clean and healthy! i don't do low carb... ick! we NEED carbs.. but they need to be clean! low fat... protein! all good! i never bought into the no carbs lots of fat diet even before i took up cycling! :rolleyes: (i.e. atkins)

i take fish oil capsules too!

i'm still picky about my fish... here's a good talapia recipe

talapia is a mild tasting fish.. so maybe you'll like it too?

Diet Power is a decent software tool for tracking how much nutrition you get out of the calories you do take on board. I use it from time to time to make sure I'm getting all of the right amounts of micronutrients in my diet. I used it initially to get a sense of what I needed to eat to get the right balance of fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

I highly recommend a book called "Sports Nutrition" by Monique Ryan. She also writes a column for VeloNews. This woman knows nutrition and she also knows cycling. I've used a lot of her advice for fine tuning pre-ride and post-ride meals.

With respect to the 1200 calorie issue, it seems low to me. Even for a sedentary person. But my real concern is whether one can get decent nutrition in a 1200 calorie diet.

traveller

As SadieKate said, eDiets does just that, recipes, grocery list, even exercise with instructions.

For fish, there are lots of options. I personally really like Salmon. It is the filet mignon of the sea. So many ways to cook it. Here are just a few I like.

- Salmon in Parchment (bed of pasta (any kind), a little olive oil, all the veggies you'd like, place on a sheet of parchment paper, top with a piece of salmon about the size of a deck of cards, spread some dijon mustard on top, fold up into a pouch and bake)

- Salmon wrapped in aluminum foil, with lemon juice and capers on the grille

- Salmon in a steamer with brown rice and asparagus with a light version of hollandaise sauce

So many possibilities :) :)

yep... salmon is another fish i have discovered i like... it's good with just lemon pepper or lime pepper sprinkled on it... so i'm sure it would be good with some extra fancy stuff on it, too!

Salmon with a splash of teriyaki and good sprinkling of sesame seeds - ten minutes in the toaster oven and done. Yum!!!

An interesting aside -- I've been eating uber-clean for the past two weeks. I made two huge pots of soups - one for lunches, and one for dinners, loaded with tons and tons of veggies and beans for protein. Oatmeal for breakfast. Well, today, the chef at work (I KNOW! Torture!) made some of my favorites, so I did a cheat day. I could barely eat it. Turkey was too salty, spinach has some kind of sauce and was too rich, and the sweet potatoes had been oversweetened. I'm sure to the normal palate, it was fine, but after backing away from salt, fats and sugars (I have been eating lots of fruit though) this was all just too much. I can't wait for my soup for dinner!

I know what you mean. Since May I've been in a flat where we all do our own shopping and cooking, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to eat a little better. And I've been trying not to spend too much money. Lots of veg, less meat (can't get good stuff for a nice price here) and I never buy sodas and cookies (Argh - I'm talking American! :eek: ;)) and other junk at the supermarket. I find now that I have to really want that can of Coke or whatever to be able to finish it.

As for the salmon, you all forgot the best way there is! Throw her on the barbie, mate! :D

I didn't mind fish when I was a kid, loathed it with a passion as a teen and love it now. Go figure.

caligurl, in order to burn 3000 to 4000 calories, how far do you bike ride and on what kind of terrain? That's a huge amount to burn (in my opinion) and I am very interested in learning how far you ride. Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by tlkiwi

I didn't mind fish when I was a kid, loathed it with a passion as a teen and love it now. Go figure.

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How can you eat it when you know that fish did swim through all kinds of crappy things and ate a lot of other crappy things. :)
I really can't take that picture out of my mind .... although I tried the salmon and it tastes great.

Less crappy things in the water where I'm from! Well, I'm sure there's plenty of crap in the South Pacific, but I exercise a little denial about the whole matter.

Actually, I haven't been buying fish in this part of the world because it's kind of exspensive and I'm never sure how fresh it is.

Kiwi, I know what you mean... I grew up in the Bay of Islands, and the water was always crystal there... you could SEE the fish you were about to catch...

I'd be really unwilling to eat ocean fish in the northern hemisphere, with the sheer volume of sewerage and oil that gets dumped up there as compared to the Antipodes!

But even here, bought fish is quite expensive, and we're what... about 2-3 hours from the ocean no matter where you are in NZ?


And Helen, a well baked side of fresh salmon has got to be one of the most sensuous melt-in-the-mouth experiences on the planet... glad you have at least tried some...

The furthest place from the sea in NZ is right on the shore of lake Cromwell. :cool:

I worked on the coast one summer with a guy who enjoyed trout fishing. Now that's how you get fresh fish (if the sandflies don't drink you dry first - mind you, you can just jump in the river to numb the itching ;)). We could go down to the beach and collect mussels too. :D Yum. You do know you're living in the middle of nowhere though when you have to drive for two and a half hours just to get to Hokitka. :rolleyes:

I’m laughing at these posts because I certainly pay attention to how much “crap” is in the water BUT cattle, birds and all wild things poop in the stream. Water flows down hill to farmers’ fields. Crap is spread across his vegetable fields. Enjoy your salads. :rolleyes:

I was a dirt-eater as a child. There's not much crap out there my innards haven't seen before. ;)

LOL... the way this thread has run has made me think of a story... my sis in law #4 (I have 4) and I were sitting watching some of our children (2 of her toddlers and two of mine) playing on the shingle at the side of the grass (in a farm house yard - not by the road!).

Sister-in-law #1 had just had her first baby and was going on about keeping baby's things clean.
SisInLaw#4 said to me quietly some thing like... "you know, when you have your first baby you steralise everything, even their thumbs if you could... but you get to number 3 or 4 and you see them sitting on the driveway eating dog-s**t, and you think ... pah, thet'll be alright"

Of course, we didn't let the kids eat dog-do, but the sentiment was the same... maybe thats why our kids who ate heaps of dirt and grass and goodness knows what else, are very healthy and rarely get sick? Great immune systems been fostered there!

Kiwi... just thinking about your recent bout of illness that frustrated you so... maybe I need to box up some dirt for you to eat - maybe the British soil and air is lacking some inherant Kiwi goodness! :D

LOL. I can just picture shaking some dirt into a bowl at the weekend instead of cornflakes. MmmMmm. :D

Is the whole "BMI" thing really correct for everyone? I mean, bone size and muscle tone come into play too- is all that accounted for? My boyfriend is labled near "obese" on the BMI thing, but: 1) he's a guy (doesn't take that into account, at least not the chart we used), 2) He's really stocky w/ a lot of muscle & thick build. It really gets to him and he's NOT FAT at all! And I'm not just saying this b/c he's my love, he really isn't. I just seem to have a problem w/ things that only take numbers into consideration when telling you whether you need to lose weight or not b/c we are all VERY DIFFERENT. I have other friends that can be completely out of shape and unhealthy, but still factor in right at regular but when they are in good healthy shape & eating all day long w/ exercise they would weigh in as "under" but they are naturally very small petite girls. I don't know, maybe I'm just a skeptic.