rankinsect Member

I don't usually close the drapes in the kitchen or dining room and for the sake of my neighbors (and myself, as I have no interest in being arrested as a sex offender) I wear clothes in those rooms.

I think the big difference between obesity and drinking alcohol is that in modern society, obesity is deeply tied into ones self-image, and you often can't make any progress on fighting the obesity problem until you first work on the self-image problem. As someone who was obese starting around age 9 or 10, none of those…

I usually get a hike in each weekend, typically somewhere in the bluffs around the Baraboo, WI area. I like some of the less-traveled bits of the Ice Age trail, where I only encounter a few, if any, people. Did Kilimanjaro in February, which was amazing, although I didn't really like the training for it - I got too caught…

I did a really good "fancy" hamburger today, trying some ideas I'd had for a while. For the patty itself, I mixed beef, sauteed mushrooms, soy sauce, and an egg. I was kind of worried because it was super slimy and gross before it went on the grill, but it tasted great when it was cooked. Topped it with a roasted roma…

Well, it depends on what you mean by cravings. Particularly during the first week or so in a deficit, you'll be very hungry. That will go down a lot later on - the first week is the hardest week by far. Your body takes a little time to ramp up fat burning to make up for the calorie deficit, and in the meanwhile you'll have…

I typically plan my meals the day before and pre-log my food. I do weight it, but I weight it so that I measure out the amount I already decided on, and I don't bother fixing it to be exact unless I'm way off when I actually prep the meal. The nice thing about pre-logging is that you can tweak all the variables in advance,…

If you don't eat, drink, or excrete anything, and you have a pretty precise scale, you can weigh yourself before and after the workout. The weight loss is due to sweat - and a pound of sweat contains about 500 mg sodium. If you do eat or drink anything, you'll need to account for that (e.g. if you have a sports drink,…

Yeah, it's also a serious concern for athletes, because you can sweat out a huge amount of sodium. That is particularly dangerous if you're just drinking plain water and not consuming any source of sodium.

About 17 or 18, hiking with about 20lb daypack. Hardest day was 10 miles but reached an altitude of 19,000 ft / 5900 m above sea level. Every mile feels like at least three with the lack of oxygen.

Mine already does. They offer up to $500 per year (as a gift card - I did Amazon) by earning points through various things, like using their app or having a yearly physical. I always aim for my $500 :)

Agreed - particularly if you exercise heavily. You can lose anywhere from 300 to 6000 mg of sodium per hour during exercise, depending on the heat, your body weight, and the intensity of the exercise. One study found certain football players losing a staggering 30,000 mg over a 4.5 hour training session. That's more than…

Pasta is very easy to do, as of course are things like sandwiches and wraps. I'll often buy some deli meats and cheeses, some veggies, and some tortillas for wraps. Assembly time is pretty quick. Another idea is to do a food that you can prepare ahead of time (e.g. on the weekend) and then actually finish cooking during…

Salty meats and yogurt. I'll dip bologna, summer sausage, etc into yogurt & eat as a snack.

If you cook a lot of similar meals, measure the first three times, take an average, and log that for all future times. It doesn't need absolute precision, it needs to be good enough. If you do a lot of very different meals, just weigh the high calorie stuff and estimate the rest. For example, a bell pepper has about 20…

Not at all - in fact I think it can enhance the enjoyment of food. Nutritional information is just the "cost" of a meal. A high cost doesn't mean I won't "pay", but it means I will demand more value - I won't waste the calories on something that isn't very good.

I would ask a doctor to check your sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium levels. It's possible it's just dehydration, but if it's persistent, it could be a worse electrolyte imbalance. Also, if you sweat that much, are you replenishing the electrolytes (particularly sodium) you lose?

There's nothing inherently unhealthy about water retention - your body does it for very necessary reasons to properly maintain the concentration of bodily fluids. As to losing it, I just let my kidneys do their thing - the body is excellent at water balance, so just keep drinking water like normal and let time do its thing.

Well, unless people really overdo it, salt shouldn't make food taste salty. At low levels it enhances the flavor of other food. You do bring up a great point - everyone needs sodium to live. So I'd say to use some salt, just control how much. And, make sure you don't go low sodium for no reason. If your blood pressure is…

It's true that certain foods lose nutritional value when cooked (and others gain nutritional value) but the microwave is typically not worse - and often better - than other cooking methods. Whether you like the flavor and texture of microwaved food is another issue entirely of course.

I usually eat at Subway on Tuesdays because I work late and just want something quick. Other than that, try making your own versions of fast food - once you see how much better you can do, the appeal dies down. When you compare a home-grilled beef-and-mushroom burger with roasted tomato and caramelized onion served on a…

If it's a true allergy (one obvious indication would be if antihistamines help) then you can also cross off any of the small molecules, since small chemicals are effectively invisible to IgE, which is the class of antibody that causes allergies. Agree the natural flavoring is your probable culprit - it would have lots of…

Well, it started with a deliberate upping of my calories in order to train harder for one of my fitness goals (which I did in February - I climbed Kilimanjaro on my sabbatical). I knew I'd put on a handful of pounds then, but intended to get back into things in March. Well, March ended up becoming late July, in part due to…

I'm actually not a major fan of "working out" - I keep structured exercise time to about three one-hour sessions per week, which I tolerate and helps me reach my fitness goals. On the other hand, I love various kinds of physical activity, particularly hiking, so I'll opt for 8 hours on the trail over 8 minutes on a…

Sandwiches, pasta, or leftovers make up most weeknight meals. Maybe grill a burger or something.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/30522/unbelievable-chicken/ is a favorite of mine.

I won't speak for the OP, but when I was dealing with my own food aversions, tomato sauce was "OK" and a slice of tomato was "not OK" and nauseating. Fundamentally, a phobia is an irrational fear; it often follows its own rules but those rules need not make sense.

I actually used to be just like this too, up until maybe 6 months ago. I think the part that resonated most with me is when you mentioned the very thought of foods being nauseating. For me, at least, this was really more of a food phobia than a food preference - many of the foods that I avoided were ones I'd never eaten…

Big fan of Sabbath, Dio, Judas Priest (the Rob Halford years), Blind Guardian, Nightwish, Epica, etc. Mostly into power metal or symphonic metal over thrash metal, but I've rocked to them all.

Not necessary, but if you like them, they are a good way to meet protein goals, and they can feel almost like a snack (I make mine with crushed ice and milk and it comes out tasting like a pretty good milkshake). And protein tends to be more filling per calorie than either fat or carbohydrate.

Not necessarily any lower calorie than a comparable sandwich, but I love to make spicy italian wraps with some italian deli meats (salami, pepperoni, ham, etc.), romaine lettuce, jalapeno peppers (because I love them on almost anything), onions (likewise because I love them on everything), and a bit of italian dressing or…