First diet ever (43 year old male)

BZAH10

kmarnes wrote: »

Talking to a coworker, and he told me about this: https://www.drfuhrman.com/library/andi-food-scores.aspx

Interesting perspective, kind of sounds like a vegan advocate, but there are some very high scoring things on the chart that I like, such as swiss chard (die kale!), but I would never give up meat/cheese, etc.

Eating lunch now, and I rarely eat salad, I had salad last night for dinner and a big salad for lunch. Being hungry makes me willing and eager to eat the tasteless salad, relatively speaking. Interesting how the mind works

I also just told my wife. It's not going to be possible to hide the diet from her for more than a day or two. She's very excited.

Probably a good idea you told your wife but be careful about all the unsolicited advice you get from others once they know you've started a new eating plan. Perfect example is the conversation you mentioned with your co-worker. Don't over complicate things. Keep it simple. I don't think I'd pay much attention to that list specifically. Accurately weighing, measuring and logging your food here is really all you need to do.

kmarnes

Yeah I agree, but at the same time, it seems like a good idea to focus on some of the highly rated foods on that list that I like. For me, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Arugula, Romaine, Strawberries, Peppers, Tomatos, Onions are ranked fairly well for the ones that I like a lot, and there are plenty others on that list I would happily eat. I will count my calories, but try to fit more of those into it. But I love my meats, cheeses, and breads too much to give those up. I just have to portion control those, and eat a lot more veggies, which has always lacked in my diet.

lgrix

Just curious, why not let your wife know what you are trying to do, especially since she is in to fitness? Seems like it would be helpful to your success if you got your wife involved, just saying...

kmarnes

It may have gotten lost earlier in the thread, but I have told her now, and we just came back shopping for healthy goodies. I probably have the best wife possible for this, I didn't even know she was on this specific site I considered not telling her briefly, thinking she might notice me losing weight... but she'd more likely see me fumbling with measuring portions instead. In fact, yesterday when I started this thing right before lunch, I had no plans to start the diet until I talked to my co-worker that dramatically went from 250 to 160 in six months without exercise, just calorie deficit! I just want to go from 210 to 175! I'll probably be significantly happy once I get below 200.

chelseacc

I'm so proud of you! And the chard was awesome tonight. You shall be rewarded!

kmarnes

Yesterday I unintentionally was way under on carbs, eating only half my allotted carbs for the day and definitely felt it this morning, even though I was way over on protein and right on the money on calories.

I felt it this morning, feeling grumpy and hungry, but I've weighed myself 2 mornings in a row and have lost 1.4 pounds since yesterday morning. I was surprised but apparently when you start to diet, you drop a bunch of water weight before things balance out.

So getting back with some more carbs.. had whole grain toast with peanut butter, and tuna melts for lunch. Though I'm spacing them out to see how that goes. 1670 calories a day is a bit low, but I'm coping so far. My wife is on 1800 calories a day but she works out like a fiend.

I don't like the blander taste of the healthier food I'm eating, but because I'm hungry, I'm okay with it. But I've invented a very low calorie good tasting salad dressing that is miracle whip light mixed with equal parts mustard with some bonus lemon juice and some spices. Is only 25 calories per 2 tablespoons which is enough for a 1 pound salad.

Anyone got some low cal tasty dressing recipes?