As you are teachers, I'd like to ask some questions to you:
Do you witness overweight kids being bullied? Is that an issue at your schools where you teach? How do you react? Are there any lessons at your school on how you treat other people with respect in general or specifically in regard to weight?
I really doubt that you would do the same thing my teachers did and just advise the victim to ignore the harassment. But I would like to know how you handle things instead.
As an American high school student I've never seen any legitimate bullying around weight in a way that would hurt anyone. The one kid i saw get made fun of for thier weight was playing along with his friends and it was clearly not a bullying situation.
As you are teachers, I'd like to ask some questions to you:
Do you witness overweight kids being bullied? Is that an issue at your schools where you teach? How do you react? Are there any lessons at your school on how you treat other people with respect in general or specifically in regard to weight?
I really doubt that you would do the same thing my teachers did and just advise the victim to ignore the harassment. But I would like to know how you handle things instead.
As an American high school student I've never seen any legitimate bullying around weight in a way that would hurt anyone. The one kid i saw get made fun of for thier weight was playing along with his friends and it was clearly not a bullying situation.
Most bullying / singular unsociable behaviour at school around weight issues are not between kids, but around calling each others Moms fat...
Why? I have no idea. As again the kids are wildly inaccurate in most cases but then again they really do it for the instant mental hurt.
As you are teachers, I'd like to ask some questions to you:
Do you witness overweight kids being bullied? Is that an issue at your schools where you teach? How do you react? Are there any lessons at your school on how you treat other people with respect in general or specifically in regard to weight?
I really doubt that you would do the same thing my teachers did and just advise the victim to ignore the harassment. But I would like to know how you handle things instead.
As an American high school student I've never seen any legitimate bullying around weight in a way that would hurt anyone. The one kid i saw get made fun of for thier weight was playing along with his friends and it was clearly not a bullying situation.
Most bullying / singular unsociable behaviour at school around weight issues are not between kids, but around calling each others Moms fat...
Why? I have no idea. As again the kids are wildly inaccurate in most cases but then again they really do it for the instant mental hurt.
I can confirm that this is something that happened when I was in school, the traditional response was to insult their mother in return. Or to say that your mum is dead and watch them crap their pants.
1st step: From now on I will no longer drink the oranges. Instead I will eat them.
2nd step: Make Mache salad. Do you guys know that? I love it and should've thought of it sooner!
Looks great. Here's your reward for completing the first quest: another exercise that doesn't involve gyms. While making your food make your spine straight as a board, aim the top of your head towards the ceiling. Slowly, raise your heels and put your weight on the balls and toes -- feel the stretch in your calves. Slowly lower. Repeat as often as you like.
Try this -- one good sized cauliflower cut into florets - 1 inch grated ginger Slightly less than 1 tbls tumeric 1/2 tbls cumin 1/2 tbls coriander 1 tbls mustard seeds cayenne to taste (I use slightly less than 3/4 tbsl of hot cayenne which most people think way too much) Canola oil or other high temp oil (not olive or soy) Half yellow or white onion minced
Heat oil, add mustard seeds. When the seeds start to pop ginger, mix until it take on gold cast, add cumin and coriander mix until they release the fragrance. Mix in tumeric. Add onion. Cook mixture until onion is translucent, slow add cayenne while stirring. Make sure not to get fumes in your eyes. Blend mixture in blender with 1/2 cup water -- puree and then return to pot. Add califlower mix until it reaches desired firmness. Florets should look bright yellow. I add another cup of water to make the cauliflower tender but most humans prefer crisp cauliflower.
Cauliflower keeps you full and might have some health benefits-- research the other ingredients; tumeric has some interesting properties. As you develop your diet your want to move towards mindful eating -- eating slowly, giving your stomatch time to feel full before you add more and away from counting numbers of nuts and so on. Counting food can be dangerous if you start to obsess while mindful eating is just plain awesome.
So has anyone experiences with avocados? Do you like them? How do you eat them?
My mom likes to chop them up and put them in salads. You can also cut them in slices and put them in salads sandwiches. (My god did I really just use salads twice?) For Thanksgiving at my boyfriend's mother's house, we made deviled eggs that had avocado in the filling, and those were really good.
They're a smooth, soft kinda fruit. They brown easily after being cut through, so you wanna eat them quick.
Ultimately I found in my experience if you can master calories out > calories in you will lose weight. Without exercise you will lose muscle mass as well as fat. Exercising would prompt your body to use the calories in to build/repair the muscles you have exercised and you would instead burn more fat as a result.
Pro tip. Take monthly photos but don't actually analyse them. Give it 6+ months and then take a look, if you've been disciplined you'll be amazed at the difference and where are actually started from.
Weight loss is a long journey - take your time, do it right and it will form healthy lasting life long habits.
Also try to get a feel for what you are actually eating in terms of fats, proteins and carbs. You should be eating a balanced amount, straying too heavily to one or the other is not useful to you.
Also learn what is actually in food too. Avocados are a good example. You are being told they are a healthy food and in some respects that is true. However eat too many of them each day and you'll start to add weight as they are calorie dense. A single avocado will have around 20g of fat in which equates to 180 calories alone - plus the carb and protein content. Add those in and you are around the 250 calories mark.
A basic understanding of macros is always useful when educating yourself.
Carbs - 4 calories per gram Protein - 4 calories per gram Fat - 9 calories per gram
All fat, good or bad has the same calorie count. Protein is a bit harder to digest so helps with satiety. You should aim for a minimum amount of protein and fat a day and then top up with carbs.
I'm still not sure why you don't want to exercise at all. Is there some deeper issue here rather than simply not wanting to? Even some very small private exercise will help with weight loss.
I see you are drinking juice from organic oranges. Essentially this is pure sugar (fructose) with none of the healthy bits in (fibre). Despite what media has told you fruit juices derived in this way are not particularly good for you - any nutritional benefit could easily be replicated by a multi-vitamin minus all that sugar/empty calories. Add in the fact you are likely juicing several oranges which if you were eating the whole thing you would be unlikely to consume.
Also in it's simplest form all carbs metabolise in sugar regardless of source. However this isn't cause to be concerned, it's more a warning not to demonise sugar as a whole.
Again, apologies for the info dump. I've just gone through the same process so am keen to share what I have learned. Happy to post a progress pic to show what a simple diet change and exercise can do in less than a year if you want.
@shandyr: Read your first posts and the first page or replies but CBA to read the rest, so sorry if I reply to things that has already been answered and/or discarded.
The first thing that popped up in my mind when I saw your diet was "He should add avocados", but when scrolling down this page I saw you just did it. Avocados are great in many ways and can be added to a plethora of different meals.
I'm no expert of diets but I've read some books just because I am curious and want to explore my options some more. I've come to the conclusion that the fat hysteria is bogus and that fat is not dangerous. Rather, it's carbs one should try to reduce (but depending on your level of activity, "reduce" does not equal "remove". I don't favour LCHF, rather Paleo though I'm not following any pure diet myself).
Sallads can be varied in absurdum, only your mind is the limit. Half of the year I eat mostly sallads (the warm half of the year). Main ingredients are usually avocados, feta cheese or similar, olives, ruccola or maché sallads, spinach (sp?), red onions (for flavour mostly), tomatoes, melons, nuts/seeds etc. So not entirely true to, but quite inspired by, mediterranian style meals. The more I work out/exercise, the more protein and carbs I need so I add some red meat (but no more than ~twice a week), salmon or other fish, halloumi, tofu (don't eat too much soya based products, it reduces your ability to process minerals like kalcium etc). I also add bulgur, quinoa and other similar products that easily replaces pasta or similar wheat based products to the sallad. I complement with alot of beans and lentils, which I think is good in both sallads and stews and AFAIK are quite healthy (though some diets frown upon "legume" (googled it, not sure the translation is correct).
It's actually quite easy to eat healthy, just avoid the crap that we've been fed all our lives like sugar and starch based products made of refined white flour and eat alot of veggies. You like potatoes? Replace with sweet potatoes. You like pasta? Replace with bean based pasta, shred zuccini "pasta" or finely cut white cabbage etc..
I think your diet sounds decent enough, but variety is key. I think variety is needed whatever your diet is so that you don't eat the exact 10 products every time. So try to mix it up in between so you don't get fed up and lose interrest.
This post is not well-structured and mostly random rambling, but I hope you get the idea. And btw, as a final remark, weight is very personal of course but 92 kilos doesn't sound that much to me.
I see you are drinking juice from organic oranges. Essentially this is pure sugar (fructose) with none of the healthy bits in (fibre). Despite what media has told you fruit juices derived in this way are not particularly good for you - any nutritional benefit could easily be replicated by a multi-vitamin minus all that sugar/empty calories. Add in the fact you are likely juicing several oranges which if you were eating the whole thing you would be unlikely to consume.
This is true, but it's hard to find a multivitamin without a suger replacer in it. Noone knows the effect these fake products have on the body in the long run. Maybe no ill effect at all, but at least with "real" fructose, the effects are documented. I'd vote for proper sugar over aspartam or sukralos any day of the week. As long as you avoid refined white sugar, that is. IMHO you should only use these kind of producs (protein powder, vitamin pills etc) as complementary to your overall diet when you need a boost, not as a replacer for proper food and natural products.
It's hard to grow fat eating fruit! It's if you combine a high fruit intake with other crap or junk food your in trouble. Same with stuff like potatoes, if you eat good, solid food at a very reasonable amount for your activity level, potatoes in itself won't make you fat, but if you combine it with ~14 hours a day of sitting still, drinking beer, eating chips etc, then it will add on to that of course.
Aspartame is extremely well documented, probably one of the most documented alternatives to sugar in the world and the conclusion is that it is perfectly fine. The levels you would need to consume it to cause any kind of toxic effect would result in you drowning in soda first. Unless of course you inject it directly into your brain but I don't think that will happen
Refined sugar is fine - in moderation. Just be aware that it is essentially empty calories. Drinking real fructose is essentially the same as eating the equivalent amount of refined sugar. Your body really doesn't care where it comes from, it all gets broken down into glucose and processed the same.
The biggest danger with a change of diet is all the preconceptions, urban myths and presumptions that people have. Try to find actual scientific studies (not off of some blog site either). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed is a good starting point.
1st step: From now on I will no longer drink the oranges. Instead I will eat them.
See?
And btw, they taste amazing! I thought that eating them wouldn't taste as good as drinking fresh orange juice but boy was I wrong!
Have you never eaten an orange before?
Also avocados have the highest fat content of any fruit. There's currently a health fad around them but I'm not sure they really do anything good, and they're definetly not a lean at all.
@meagloth: The consensus is actually that fat isn't really all that bad for you. Protein and fat apparently are less likely to make people gain weight than carbs and sugars, and the fat helps you feel more full. A lot of fatty foods are bad for you, but that's stuff like snack foods and fast food... which are known to be addictive, and designed not to make people feel full. An avocado should be fine.
In the most simplest form excess calories make you fat. If calories in are consistently greater than calories out and you are not exercising then the excess energy will get stored as fat.
Anyone who says that they are consistently eating low calories yet putting on fat is somehow managing to circumvent the laws of thermodynamics by creating extra energy from a lower amount. Something the scientists building fission reactors would be very interested in.
Note, thyroid conditions and certain medicines may cause weight gain regardless of diet.
@decado@FinneousPJ: Not all bodies on not all diets absorb all the energy that is eaten, and not all bodies on not all diets expend the same amount of energy at the same rate. Metabolism rates vary, and the content and timing of one's diet can influence that, and metabolism can make people spend more or less energy, whether during exercise or at rest. Also, certain foods are more or less filling, and therefore some will increase snacking, and so not all will be measured correctly.
It is true that weight equals the calories you eat minus the calories you burn. But that's not an equation we have reliable numbers for, and it doesn't tell you how much of that weight is fat. Fat is only one of three energy sources, the other being proteins (despite yielding little energy when expended) and glycogen. Calories taken in and calories burned are not always spread the same way between those energy sources. For one thing, your body prefers to use glycogen as its primary energy source to burn, and if that is low, it burns proteins before it resorts to burning fat.
Also, hormones influence your eating patterns. Not everybody has the same appetite, or gets full after the same amount or type of food. So for the purposes of weight gain or loss, there's a lot more to the story than the number of calories you read on the label.
And medications also influence eating patterns, @FinneousPJ. @decado is right about that.
@semiticgod Okay, I'm not sure what your point is. You cannot put on weight without eating too much. What is too much obviously varies. Do you disagree?
@FinneousPJ: The equation is correct. My point is that we don't necessarily have accurate numbers for it... or that sometimes we forget one of them.
Take the example @decado used. Someone says they're eating less but gaining weight. That doesn't violate conservation of mass; it's entirely possible. How?
When you eat less, your body tends to react by slowing down your metabolism. It does this because your body needs fat as an energy storage in case it has to weather a period of starvation, and evolution developed this mechanism before food was so widely available. This means that person who is eating less is also spending less time moving around, and less time on the can. This means more weight in the body. Think of it like a slow drip over a stopped up sink. Less is going in, but it can't drain away, and therefore builds up.
The equation is right, but @decado assumed that the amount of calories burned stayed the same for that person, and it probably did not.
Comments
Why? I have no idea. As again the kids are wildly inaccurate in most cases but then again they really do it for the instant mental hurt.
Try this -- one good sized cauliflower cut into florets
- 1 inch grated ginger
Slightly less than 1 tbls tumeric
1/2 tbls cumin
1/2 tbls coriander
1 tbls mustard seeds
cayenne to taste (I use slightly less than 3/4 tbsl of hot cayenne which most people think way too much)
Canola oil or other high temp oil (not olive or soy)
Half yellow or white onion minced
Heat oil, add mustard seeds. When the seeds start to pop ginger, mix until it take on gold cast, add cumin and coriander mix until they release the fragrance. Mix in tumeric. Add onion. Cook mixture until onion is translucent, slow add cayenne while stirring. Make sure not to get fumes in your eyes. Blend mixture in blender with 1/2 cup water -- puree and then return to pot. Add califlower mix until it reaches desired firmness. Florets should look bright yellow. I add another cup of water to make the cauliflower tender but most humans prefer crisp cauliflower.
Cauliflower keeps you full and might have some health benefits-- research the other ingredients; tumeric has some interesting properties. As you develop your diet your want to move towards mindful eating -- eating slowly, giving your stomatch time to feel full before you add more and away from counting numbers of nuts and so on. Counting food can be dangerous if you start to obsess while mindful eating is just plain awesome.
They're a smooth, soft kinda fruit. They brown easily after being cut through, so you wanna eat them quick.
Pro tip. Take monthly photos but don't actually analyse them. Give it 6+ months and then take a look, if you've been disciplined you'll be amazed at the difference and where are actually started from.
Weight loss is a long journey - take your time, do it right and it will form healthy lasting life long habits.
Here, do this for 7min a day, additional to your diet.
http://i.imgur.com/qaBLnIr.gif
Also learn what is actually in food too. Avocados are a good example. You are being told they are a healthy food and in some respects that is true. However eat too many of them each day and you'll start to add weight as they are calorie dense. A single avocado will have around 20g of fat in which equates to 180 calories alone - plus the carb and protein content. Add those in and you are around the 250 calories mark.
A basic understanding of macros is always useful when educating yourself.
Carbs - 4 calories per gram
Protein - 4 calories per gram
Fat - 9 calories per gram
All fat, good or bad has the same calorie count. Protein is a bit harder to digest so helps with satiety. You should aim for a minimum amount of protein and fat a day and then top up with carbs.
I'm still not sure why you don't want to exercise at all. Is there some deeper issue here rather than simply not wanting to? Even some very small private exercise will help with weight loss.
I see you are drinking juice from organic oranges. Essentially this is pure sugar (fructose) with none of the healthy bits in (fibre). Despite what media has told you fruit juices derived in this way are not particularly good for you - any nutritional benefit could easily be replicated by a multi-vitamin minus all that sugar/empty calories. Add in the fact you are likely juicing several oranges which if you were eating the whole thing you would be unlikely to consume.
Also in it's simplest form all carbs metabolise in sugar regardless of source. However this isn't cause to be concerned, it's more a warning not to demonise sugar as a whole.
Again, apologies for the info dump. I've just gone through the same process so am keen to share what I have learned. Happy to post a progress pic to show what a simple diet change and exercise can do in less than a year if you want.
The first thing that popped up in my mind when I saw your diet was "He should add avocados", but when scrolling down this page I saw you just did it. Avocados are great in many ways and can be added to a plethora of different meals.
I'm no expert of diets but I've read some books just because I am curious and want to explore my options some more. I've come to the conclusion that the fat hysteria is bogus and that fat is not dangerous. Rather, it's carbs one should try to reduce (but depending on your level of activity, "reduce" does not equal "remove". I don't favour LCHF, rather Paleo though I'm not following any pure diet myself).
Sallads can be varied in absurdum, only your mind is the limit. Half of the year I eat mostly sallads (the warm half of the year). Main ingredients are usually avocados, feta cheese or similar, olives, ruccola or maché sallads, spinach (sp?), red onions (for flavour mostly), tomatoes, melons, nuts/seeds etc. So not entirely true to, but quite inspired by, mediterranian style meals.
The more I work out/exercise, the more protein and carbs I need so I add some red meat (but no more than ~twice a week), salmon or other fish, halloumi, tofu (don't eat too much soya based products, it reduces your ability to process minerals like kalcium etc). I also add bulgur, quinoa and other similar products that easily replaces pasta or similar wheat based products to the sallad. I complement with alot of beans and lentils, which I think is good in both sallads and stews and AFAIK are quite healthy (though some diets frown upon "legume" (googled it, not sure the translation is correct).
It's actually quite easy to eat healthy, just avoid the crap that we've been fed all our lives like sugar and starch based products made of refined white flour and eat alot of veggies. You like potatoes? Replace with sweet potatoes. You like pasta? Replace with bean based pasta, shred zuccini "pasta" or finely cut white cabbage etc..
I think your diet sounds decent enough, but variety is key. I think variety is needed whatever your diet is so that you don't eat the exact 10 products every time. So try to mix it up in between so you don't get fed up and lose interrest.
This post is not well-structured and mostly random rambling, but I hope you get the idea. And btw, as a final remark, weight is very personal of course but 92 kilos doesn't sound that much to me.
Stay strong, stay true and good luck Shandyr!
It's hard to grow fat eating fruit! It's if you combine a high fruit intake with other crap or junk food your in trouble. Same with stuff like potatoes, if you eat good, solid food at a very reasonable amount for your activity level, potatoes in itself won't make you fat, but if you combine it with ~14 hours a day of sitting still, drinking beer, eating chips etc, then it will add on to that of course.
Refined sugar is fine - in moderation. Just be aware that it is essentially empty calories. Drinking real fructose is essentially the same as eating the equivalent amount of refined sugar. Your body really doesn't care where it comes from, it all gets broken down into glucose and processed the same.
The biggest danger with a change of diet is all the preconceptions, urban myths and presumptions that people have. Try to find actual scientific studies (not off of some blog site either). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed is a good starting point.
Also avocados have the highest fat content of any fruit. There's currently a health fad around them but I'm not sure they really do anything good, and they're definetly not a lean at all.
Anyone who says that they are consistently eating low calories yet putting on fat is somehow managing to circumvent the laws of thermodynamics by creating extra energy from a lower amount. Something the scientists building fission reactors would be very interested in.
Note, thyroid conditions and certain medicines may cause weight gain regardless of diet.
Congrats on the looser trousers!
It is true that weight equals the calories you eat minus the calories you burn. But that's not an equation we have reliable numbers for, and it doesn't tell you how much of that weight is fat. Fat is only one of three energy sources, the other being proteins (despite yielding little energy when expended) and glycogen. Calories taken in and calories burned are not always spread the same way between those energy sources. For one thing, your body prefers to use glycogen as its primary energy source to burn, and if that is low, it burns proteins before it resorts to burning fat.
Also, hormones influence your eating patterns. Not everybody has the same appetite, or gets full after the same amount or type of food. So for the purposes of weight gain or loss, there's a lot more to the story than the number of calories you read on the label.
And medications also influence eating patterns, @FinneousPJ. @decado is right about that.
Take the example @decado used. Someone says they're eating less but gaining weight. That doesn't violate conservation of mass; it's entirely possible. How?
When you eat less, your body tends to react by slowing down your metabolism. It does this because your body needs fat as an energy storage in case it has to weather a period of starvation, and evolution developed this mechanism before food was so widely available. This means that person who is eating less is also spending less time moving around, and less time on the can. This means more weight in the body. Think of it like a slow drip over a stopped up sink. Less is going in, but it can't drain away, and therefore builds up.
The equation is right, but @decado assumed that the amount of calories burned stayed the same for that person, and it probably did not.