Got some nooby questions

Donni888

I quit smoking almost 3 months ago and I got very lucky and only gained 5 lbs but I still weigh too much. my goal is to lose 30 lbs. I have been doing the My Fitness Pal for 2 weeks now and this is a bit harder than I expected so I have a couple of questions, laugh at will please

I am already out of my house for about 11 hours a day so finding time to get exercise in is challenging. I was wondering what you are doing to find the time to do everything you need to do in a measly 24 hours.

I have been doing some reading through your posts and noticed a few people mention their, um, soft bowels? (Is that the right way to put that??) Anyway, my question is, how long does the GAS take to go away? I mean, I work in an office with other people, you know?

I never thought I ate bad. I mostly cook from scratch, I rarely eat junk food or fast food. I drink water and iced tea, some juices, very rarely soda. My favorite snack is unsalted nuts (any kind but pecans are my favorite and right now I have a home mix of pecans, pistachios, and sugar free Craisons. This is a normal snack for me). The hardest thing right now is the balance of calories and feeling like I've actually eaten a whole meal. I am trying to eat less carbs but I really do like rice. Brown rice and wild rice, whole wheat bread, these I'm used to eating but now not so much and I am feeling it. I eat and I feel like I didn't eat enough. What did you do about this? Did you get used to this sensation?

I will no doubt have more questions in the future, but I think these will be good for now, lol. And thank you for any support

goal06082021

First: Congratulations on quitting smoking, you're doing great!

Regarding exercise: I don't know if this is feasible for you, but since you also have an office job, would you have time to work out in the mornings if you ate breakfast at work? I'm able to do this with my job, and it frees up about 35 minutes in the mornings, plenty of time for me to do a quick workout video and take a shower. I have a Planet Fitness membership, but I'm not keen on going back to the gym in-person for a while yet, so I've been using the workout videos in the PF app.

Regarding...uh, bowel opportunities*: If you're changing up the kinds of foods you're eating, your gut is going to take some time to adjust. How much time is so hyper-individualized - your gut microbiome is unique to you, and we as a species know precious little about how all that works in general. But, beans and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, all them good good greens) are REALLY good at making people gassy, and are also REALLY popular among people trying to "eat healthy." If you're accurately logging what you're eating, you can use the Notes box in the diary to keep track of your GI symptoms, as it were, and you should be able to suss out some correlations between how you feel and what you eat and adjust accordingly. There's no food you HAVE to eat/avoid to achieve your goals; if there's something you're eating that's not agreeing with you, you can almost assuredly get that nutrition another way.

Regarding satiety: This is also something that's going to vary at an individual level. If you need to eat a large amount of food to feel like you've eaten a meal, pack your plate with vegetables and eat those first - you can eat an astonishing amount of most vegetables for relatively few calories (depending on how they're prepared, of course - you can eat three cups of raw/steamed broccoli and not break a hundred calories, but if you dip all of those florets in ranch dressing, not so much). There is also an adjustment period, yes.

(* i had an old boss who, after being coached to frame "problems" as "opportunities," started doing so in all contexts. so one morning she called to let me know she'd be late to work due to some "stomach opportunities.")

huango

Just my inputs here:

1. While working out is very important, if it came down to time dedicated to working out vs time to prep/create balanced meals that fit into your calories, skip the working out (for now).
I have 16# to lose and for me, right now, it's requiring a lot of focus and concentration to have the proper food ready/available so I can stay within my calories and macros.
I do go for a few walks if I can fit them in, but they're more for my mental state of mind than to really burn any calories.

2. I'm Chinese so I know about the love for rice.
It's not the same but I've been adding shirataki rice into my chicken "rice" soup.
My program does not include a lot of grains/rice/starches, so I try not to eat them. Instead I fill up on veggies, beans, hummus, etc.

3. While nuts are good, they are just too calorie-dense. A huge bowl of salad with grilled chicken can be less calories than 1/4cup of nuts. So I've actually put together a huge salad that I have to chew for a long time to distract me from wanting nuts or some other snacks.

4. I think cooked veggies results in less gas than raw veggies.

Good luck,
Amanda

AnnPT77

It isn't essential to exercise in order to lose weight (but it's excellent for health, and does give you a bigger calorie allowance while still losing at the same sensible rate).

It isn't necessary to eat any particular "diet foods" or avoid any particular "bad foods" or "bad nutrients" such as carbs. (WTFlippieDip, to the whole concept of *bad nutrients*!). In particular rice and bread have nutrients: You can eat them.

Now, clearly, good overall nutrition is best for good health, but you can combine various different foods to get there. It makes a lot of sense to start with foods that you enjoy eating, and that your body tolerates well, and gradually make adjustments, if you think some aspects could be improved.

You burn calories via daily life (job, chores, etc.), exercise or frankly just by being alive breathing/digesting/etc. If you eat fewer calories than you burn in total, you will lose fat. You're likely to find some foods more filling than others, and it's certainly true that some are more nutrient-dense than others, but there really are no "superfoods" you must eat, or specific foods you should never eat or they'll torpedo your weight loss. (Some foods may be so calorie-dense or nutrient-poor that it would be good to eat them less often, or in smaller portions, of course.)

If you log your food, and review your food log, you'll soon spot food choices that "cost" too many calories for the nutrition, enjoyment, or other benefits they bring you. Eat fewer of those, more of something else you enjoy, and gradually work your way to an eating style that is calorie-appropriate, overall nutritious, and that suits you as an individual (tasty, filling, practical, that sort of thing).

As far as "softness", I suspect you greatly increased fiber all at once. It's true that your body will probably adapt within a short number of weeks, but another option is to go back to some of your "old reliable" foods that are lower in fiber, but similar in calories, like white rice or white bread. (If you compare the nutrition between white and brown rice, the differences are pretty minor. How different white or whole-grain bread are, separate from the fiber question, is going to depend on the specific brand/type you choose, but I'd bet the differences aren't that massive, either.)

To some extent, a digestive product like "Beano" may help you in the short term with gassiness (helps with digesting certain kinds of fiber), as may other digestive enzymes, or over-the-counter anti-gas medications.

I didn't dramatically change my eating to lose weight, so I didn't have any dramatic digestive symptoms. I just cut down my calories, rearranged the portion size and frequency of foods, experimented and adjusted to find a mix of foods and timing of meals & snacks that kept me full, energetic, well-nourished and enjoying my eating. By doing that, I lost 50+ pounds in a bit less than a year, obese to healthy weight, and have stayed at a healthy weight for 5+ years since (after 3 decades or more of obesity, before the loss, BTW). This doesn't have to be a painful process, IMO.

If you'd like to know more about this "gradually remodel your eating" way of approaching weight loss and nutrition, there's a more detailed description here:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

Personally, I also didn't add any major new exercise . . . but I was already pretty active, even while staying obese. If someone is inactive, adding exercise is a good, health-promoting goal. It doesn't need to be added at one and the same moment as changing eating habits, though, unless you prefer to do it that way.

Sometimes, it's easier to make lifestyle changes gradually; sometime people prefer big, revolutionary change all at once. It's useful to think about your own preferences, strengths and limitations, and work with those to find an approach that suits you.

Best wishes!

Donni888

Thanks guys!

x_stephisaur_x

Welcome Donni

The struggle is real when it comes to fitting exercise in! I usually do it in one of 2 ways. I either get up an hour earlier and go for a half hour run, before showering and heading off to work, or I do the considerably more grim run before work & get changed in the toilets. I can eat breakfast at my desk, as long as it's cold, so I pre prepare a banana wrap to enjoy post run.

The second way is potentially stinkier, but as long as you sneak hygiene supplies into work, it's not too bad. Coronavirus has made this option better, because people should be 2m away from any smell coming off you anyway

With regards to diet, watch your portion sizes. Nuts & dried fruit are good for you, but VERY calorie dense. You can consume a lot of calories while only eating a very small portion. Make sure you're weighing and logging all your snacks, and consider whether a different snack would be more satisfying for similar calories.

I am a self confessed carb addict, and I have found that eating recommended portion sizes has helped me the most. It takes some getting used to when you see a comparatively small amount on your plate to what you are used to, but you do get used to it quite quickly. I make sure to really pad my meals out with vegetables to make up for the rice/pasta shortage, either by adding more to the meal in general or adding a microwave bag of pre prepared veg on the side.

Hope this helps, good luck on your journey

rosebarnalice

Exercise: for me, when I'm at my busiest is when I need to schedule exercise time and stick to it THE MOST for both my mental and physical health. But you don't need to set aside 4 hours a week to go do some complicated workout. I drink enough water at work that I have to get up and pee about every 90 minutes-- and then take the long rout ento the restroom on a different floor. Over the course of an 8 hours workday, I accumulate almost 3000 a day steps that way. Then a nice walk around the neighborhood or local park on the weekend, and I've done the equivalent of about 2 hours at they gym :-)

Bulk and gas: my diet now is very high in cruciferous veggies and legumes- with napa cabbage, bok choy and/or cauliflower or broccoli almost every day. It took my guts about 2 months to adjust. I found cooking veggies a bit longer than I personally like helped, and I also upper my intake of cabbage-based fermented foods high in probiotics--specifically organic (non-pasteurized) kimchi and saur kraut. I now make my own of both :-)