need advice on loosing weight please

With the restriction of sugar and wheat, basically eating only real foods and little or no processed foods, any calorie restriction is happening naturally. Basically I'm not hungry, even feeling full, so I don't eat. With sugar and wheat in the diet I was often hungry as if my brain wasn't registering what I was eating. It took a lot to be really full but even then, when my body came down off the sugar high, I'd be hungry again. That just didn't work long term.

My current thought when I reach my goal is that I could have the occasional birthday cake or apple pie at Thanksgiving at the very least. It would be nice if I could eventually have a "treat day" once a week that would allow anything - pizza, ice cream, pancakes, etc. but it will be a matter of experimentation to see how frequently that could happen.

I don't consider this a fad diet in any way - in fact I think the real fad diet is the high carb, high sugar diet that's been pushed for the last 30-40 years and which has correlated with the obesity/diabetes/heart disease epidemic. It's the way our our parents and grandparents used to eat before sugar was added to everything and before wheat was modified to increase it's yield. Hec, I was looking for a can of peas and carrots the other day and they added sugar to that!

This is the way humans ate up until very recently, real food instead of sugar-ladened, processed grain foods.(which are processed by our bodies just like sugar or worse). We can't get away from all of it of course, but we can go back as much as is feasible.

Thanks for the encouragement. I just think it's important to note that one size does not fit all when it comes to getting healthier.

Except it"s not working because obesity is getting much worse, even becoming an epidemic. The U.S. isn't getting slimmer with the "calorie in, calorie out" message, it's getting fatter. Diabetes rates aren't coming down - they are going up.

People actually have to ACT on the message, not just hear it.

The research on sugar and grains and how they are processed differently, how they spike insulin levels, is out there if anyone is interested in learning more about it.

Yes, again I'd love a link to said scientifically peer-reviewed research



ETA: Since I see you posted on another thread - youtube videos =/= "the latest research"

For the record, I do not plan on ending the diet, nor would I consider an occasional treat an end to the diet. That is being far too restrictive to what "diet" means in my view. Neither sugar nor wheat will ever again be a significant portion of my diet. This is a change of lifestyle, no question about it and this isn't just for weight loss purposes, but also for a host of other health reasons as well.

If you wish to call how humans ate for tens of thousands of years, prior to how we've eaten for the last 30 years a "Fad" I can't stop you, but you saying it doesn't make it true and it would certainly change the entire meaning of the word if it was.

Go ahead and eat your sugar-free, wheat-free diet. I'll enjoy my dessert and still remain a healthy human being. I couldn't imagine cutting sugar/wheat for life. Good luck!

And you are free to spread that message, even if you haven't posted any research on it. I strictly monitored my diet and did P90X religiously for months and saw very little improvement. With cutting out sugar and wheat, I've seen more progress in 3 weeks than I did in 4 months on the other. If counting calories works for you - great. It didn't work for me and I was very meticulous with it, logging every little thing. I won't bash what works for you if you won't bash what is working for me. Sound good?

Sorry no deal. I'm going to retain my right to point out and call out BS info when I see it posted.

That being said I challenge you to point to anything I said where I doubted your method worked for you or for that matter that it wouldn't work for anyone. The only thing I've asked for all along was the research you claimed existed so I could read the info for myself instead of relying on anonymous Internet forum postings.

Could you post a link showing what part of my body calculates CICO and signals the difference to my fat cells for storage or release? How does that work exactly?

Sorry no deal. I'm going to retain my right to point out and call out BS info when I see it posted.

Well then I guess I will too - and a calorie is a calorie is BS. A spinach calorie, a steak calorie and a ice cream calorie are not processed or metabolized the same way by the body and the brain is not satiated the same way either. The challenge for you would be to provide research that they are and you haven't.

The latest research is showing that it's not a simple "calories in calories out" scheme. Sugar and refined grains are metabolized much differently and many people, if not most people, don't interact well to these foods. They leave the brain still thinking it's hungry for more which is very hard to resist over the long term.

For me sugar free, wheat free is working out great. This basically cuts out all processed foods. I don't feel hungry and the weight is coming off, even without killing myself on the treadmill - no calorie counting necessary.

What latest research would that be?

There have been some recent studies trying to rebunk what has worked for millions and millions of people. It basically puts a skew on things to apologize to all those people who just arent successful in losing weight. Do a search on it and it will bring up alot of info of which most of it, to me, is just apologetic and excuse ridden for those who cannot do it the traditional way.

The things I have read just muddy the water trying to say why it isnt that simple, but in reality for pretty much everyone it is.

Citation needed.

And you are free to spread that message, even if you haven't posted any research on it. I strictly monitored my diet and did P90X religiously for months and saw very little improvement. With cutting out sugar and wheat, I've seen more progress in 3 weeks than I did in 4 months on the other. If counting calories works for you - great. It didn't work for me and I was very meticulous with it, logging every little thing. I won't bash what works for you if you won't bash what is working for me. Sound good?

Sorry no deal. I'm going to retain my right to point out and call out BS info when I see it posted.

That being said I challenge you to point to anything I said where I doubted your method worked for you or for that matter that it wouldn't work for anyone. The only thing I've asked for all along was the research you claimed existed so I could read the info for myself instead of relying on anonymous Internet forum postings.

Could you post a link showing what part of my body calculates CICO and signals the difference to my fat cells for storage or release? How does that work exactly?

If I had made any claims regarding the existence and content of such information, I'd have been happy to do so.

As it is, I think you could find much of the understanding you're asking for by reading up on concepts such as the first law of thermodynamics and/or the concept of conservation of energy/mass

I've only asked for you to substantiate your own claims. I have made no claims whatsoever.

ETA: OK I did claim that 9 out of 10 people who refer to "the latest research" have never read it, but I did disclaim that was my own personal opinion.

Sorry no deal. I'm going to retain my right to point out and call out BS info when I see it posted.

Well then I guess I will too - and a calorie is a calorie is BS. A spinach calorie, a steak calorie and a ice cream calorie are not processed or metabolized the same way by the body and the brain is not satiated the same way either. The challenge for you would be to provide research that they are and you haven't.

If you are truly interested about the subject, rather than just nay-saying, all you would have to do is type "A calorie is not a calorie" into google and you will get a host of sites explaining why it isn't so, many of the articles written by professional doctors and nutritionists.

June 26, 2012 -- New research challenges the idea that a calorie is a calorie, suggesting that certain foods and diets may be better than others for burning calories and helping people maintain weight loss.

The study appears this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Study participants who had lost weight agreed to follow low-fat, very-low-carb, and low-glycemic-index diets for a month each.

Even though they ate the same number of calories on each of the three plans, the study participants burned about 300 calories a day less on the low-fat eating plan than they did on the very-low-carbohydrate one, which was modeled after the Atkins diet.


Calories Not Equal, Researcher Says

The very-low-carb plan and the low-glycemic-index plan -- which stresses a variety of high fiber and minimally processed foods -- also resulted in better insulin sensitivity (necessary to process blood sugar effectively) and cholesterol levels.

This suggests that very-low-fat diets may actually slow a person's metabolism down to a level where it is not burning calories as effectively as it could, says researcher David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, who directs the Optimal Weight for Life program at the Harvard-affiliated Children's Hospital in Boston.

Ludwig has long studied the low-glycemic-index diet and is one of the diet's main proponents.

He says while people often lose weight on very-low-fat and very-low-carbohydrate diets, the vast majority end up gaining the weight back very quickly.

"From a metabolic perspective our study suggests that all calories are not alike," Ludwig tells WebMD. "The quality of the calories going in is going to affect the number of calories going out."

Exercise for your mind and spirit. Eat better for your health. Eat less for weight loss. Take it in day-to-day increments while always recognizing the "immediate rewards" of dieting. You are rewarded EVERY day that you take steps to care for your body. Make sure you recognize that intrinsic happiness and your diet will not seem like a sacrifice but rather a logical way to live life because you feel so good about yourself.

Good luck and Keep the faith!

Now, you can say that fat is metabolized differently than carbohydrates, and you would be correct.

But Calories are Calories. Heat is heat.