Getting On With My First Diet... At 20

[hummerduude54]

I just started my diet in January and just started using the MyFitnessPal app about a week ago, my wife has been using it for about a month now and finally got me on board. I gave up drinking, dipping, and eating out.... been one heck of a ride so far, haha, giving up all my favorite things. Rewarded myself the other day with a new Walther P99c. Also having a cheat day once a week has helped.
I found out that after the month of not eating out at all or any cheat days I wasn't craving things as much, so now I am going to do a cheat day every week to keep myself motivated.
I have been a part of many diets that have failed and have tried everything, probably the best diet I ever took part of and the one that I am sticking with now is eating lots of little small snacks all throughout the day, drink TONS of water, and don't eat anything more than a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts less than 3 hours before sleeping.

I am down 17 pounds since the first of the year and looking to lose about 50 more pounds until I am satisfied.

I think you understand the most important thing, and that is realizing what all of the goodies available actual possess in the calorie range and using myfitnesspal helps you manage your cravings, and strive towards a daily goal.

Feel free to add me as a friend on there, my email to add me is my username on here @yahoo.com, I don't even know you but I will give you plenty of $h!t if I don't see the words "completed his food and exercise diary for xx/xx/2012 and was under his calorie goal" on your profile update every day and I expect you do the same for me, haha

 

[XD-9Guy]

I lost close to 20 pounds with myfitness pal and 2 or 3 days a week at the gym, it was pretty easy to find it all again though. Tomorrow is the first day back at the gym in over a month, maybe I'll start using the app again too. Congrats to all who are getting it done & keep it up. I hope I can strengthen my back & knee enough to play summer league softball again.

 

[Danny Tanner]

We've been using MyFitnessPal for at least a year. It's a great tool for anybody wanting to lose weight (like my wife), gain weight, or maintain weight (like me).

Eating healthy and dieting doesn't have to be boring carrots and water from here on out. If you're not already doing this, try smaller, yet more frequent portions throughout the day -- 5 meals a day vs 3. And remember, food isn't consumed to make and keep you stuffed, it's consumed to be used for fuel. Eat enough to fuel you through until your next meal.

Some things we've done to eat better:

Substitute ground beef with ground chicken breast.
Substitute pasta with stringed eggplant (sounds weird, I know, but the marinara flavor will dominate the dish)
Fresh spinach goes with and in everything. It serves as our base for salads, it goes great in homemade soups, and is an excellent foundation for green smoothies. Other things we put into smoothies: Spirulina powder, chia seeds, and vegetable/hemp protein powder, as well as most fruits and vegetables.
Fish is delicious! We do fish at least once a week.
Steel cut oatmeal > rolled oats, in every way possible -- flavor, health, and texture
No enriched/bleached flour anything in our house. Whole grain only.
No "ready-in-10 minutes" boxed meals, no frozen meals, no microwavable meals, etc. Basically, stay away from processed foods and cut out all the preservatives that you can.
We still buy, and use, sugar, but we've replaced a lot of it with locally produced honey and agave syrup. Also look into Stevia.
My wife doesn't care for red meat, never has, but I love it. I've replaced most of my beef with buffalo. It's leaner and tastes better.

We're trying to get to a point where most of the groceries we buy are whole ingredients, that way we can make/bake/store/can/freeze/etc all of the things we use for meals (sauces, breads, pastas, etc). Doing this, we control absolutely everything that goes into our bodies.

Check out http://www.oklahomafood.coop/ for local food supplies. I'm a huge fanboy of Wichita Buffalo Company.

Actually, I see you're in Arkansas. So maybe look for an Arkansas equivalent.

 

[ewheeley]

Danny Tanner, my girlfriend is getting into a cooking groove, so your idea will be music to her ears. We're both big fish eaters too. My big thing right now is getting more potassium to balance out all the sodium that I can't seem to avoid. She tells me to eat more bananas, but we're talking 1000 calories in bananas just to get my recommended potassium. Time for a supplement.

Also, she wants me to get in shape for our spring break trip to Hawaii, which I'm all for. But I also need to lose a few inches in order for my jeans to fit an IWB holster. Double incentive,

 

[Danny Tanner]

Danny Tanner, my girlfriend is getting into a cooking groove, so your idea will be music to her ears. We're both big fish eaters too. My big thing right now is getting more potassium to balance out all the sodium that I can't seem to avoid. She tells me to eat more bananas, but we're talking 1000 calories in bananas just to get my recommended potassium. Time for a supplement.

Also, she wants me to get in shape for our spring break trip to Hawaii, which I'm all for. But I also need to lose a few inches in order for my jeans to fit an IWB holster. Double incentive,

Spinach! Raw, it has more potassium per serving than an average banana and far less calories. Do you have a blender? Look into green smoothies. Potassium-rich veggies mixed with fruits of your choosing not only mask the flavor of veggies (if you don't like them), but also boost the nutritional value even higher.

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

You can do these with an off-the-shelf blender, but it may not have enough power to thoroughly blend everything and it might burn out quickly, but if you try these smoothies and like them, then look into higher quality blenders like Vitamix or Blendtec. We have a Blendtec that tears through anything we put in the carafe and I believe that MaddSkillz also has a Blendtec (he might have a Vitamix). You can't go wrong with either one, both are comparable in price, function, and quality.

www.VitaMix.com
www.Blendtec.com

 

[AKguy1985]

I dont have alot to say but good luck with your diet

 

[t1gershark]

Hey man, you're about my size, 6'2" and 240ish here. I haven't tried dieting but me and some
buddies got in the habit of going to the gym every night last year. I was down to 220 but have
since gotten lazy. I can attest that an hour on the exercise bike every night can definitely peel
the weight off. The hardest thing for me was just sticking to the routine but seeing this thread
makes me want to get back to the gym.

Keep it up!

 

[ewheeley]

Spinach! Raw, it has more potassium per serving than an average banana and far less calories. Do you have a blender? Look into green smoothies. Potassium-rich veggies mixed with fruits of your choosing not only mask the flavor of veggies (if you don't like them), but also boost the nutritional value even higher.

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

You can do these with an off-the-shelf blender, but it may not have enough power to thoroughly blend everything and it might burn out quickly, but if you try these smoothies and like them, then look into higher quality blenders like Vitamix or Blendtec. We have a Blendtec that tears through anything we put in the carafe and I believe that MaddSkillz also has a Blendtec (he might have a Vitamix). You can't go wrong with either one, both are comparable in price, function, and quality.

www.VitaMix.com
www.Blendtec.com

Talk about coincidence. Girlfriend got a Blendtec for her birthday YESTERDAY. It's fate.

 

[JB Books]

Lose it now and pick up life long healthy habits, if you don't, you'll definitely regret it. I was a solid 6'1 and varied between 250 and 275 depending on how much I was lifting. I started getting paunchy in law school. I'd put on 30, knock off 20. It began to creep up on me. Life just happened, a bad law partner, rebuilding my business, it growing huge. Then a few years ago, I blew out my back and ballooned up. I've lost about 90 lbs from my heaviest and have kept it off, but I still need to drop another 100lbs. Luckily, the doctor has taken me off one blood pressure med and cut my oral diabetes meds by 1/3rd.

Believe, bad s#@t happens when you are heavy....high blood pressure, diabetes, aching joints, insomnia....IT SUCKS!

Good luck to all of you! And please say a prayer for my fat butt that I can knock the rest of it off.

 

[Danny Tanner]

Talk about coincidence. Girlfriend got a Blendtec for her birthday YESTERDAY. It's fate.

There ya go!

Which model did you guys order? We pre-ordered the Designer Series last week, but it's on backorder without an idea of when it might be in stock and ship. We'll give the other one to one of our parents.