mike_ny Member

Weighing yourself several times throughout the day is a valuable exercise to show how much weight readings can fluctuate quite a bit due to several factors such as hydration, mechanical errors, etc... Even daily weighing is only reliable for trending. The only truly valid measurements are enough of them done over a longer…

There are nutritional variations in different varieties of the same food and the conditions it's grown in. They may not be extreme, but don't kid yourself in believing different varieties or origins of any given food are exactly the same regardless. It isn't that GMO practices can't produce higher nutritional foods. They…

It totally depends on your self motivation and determination. Working out at home can save the commuting time plus you can workout in several small spurts as in 10-15 minutes at a time throughout the day which wouldn't be something you'd go to the gym for. You are limited to workouts where you don't need a spotter unless…

There may be some truth to that if you crave something like bananas for potassium or nuts for zinc, etc..., but certainly not cravings for sweets or junk food that don't contain much nutritionally. Craving magnesium or calcium is a legitimate craving, but craving sugar or desserts or anything deep fried or crispy is just a…

What you eat is as important as how much you eat. Eat less calories and you'll lose weight, but eat healthier food too and you'll feel better and have more energy. Including the kids helping in the meal preparation is a clever way to trick them into healthier eating. Tearing up lettuce for salads and mixing things can…

You have to remember that most people who lose a fair amount of weight or who work out just generally feel better, have more energy, and have greater self esteem. Your changed attitudes about yourself may have as much or more to do with how you're being treated now as the body change itself.

It's a holiday. Spending time with family is a huge stressor for most people. Forget your normal diet today and there's no way you can get any estimates that are reliable. So, just put yourself down as eating 3000 calories or so for the main meal plus alcohol. It's only one day, so enjoy and it's back to your normal…

I know it's really hard, but cutting out alcohol makes the task of getting all your nutrients and staying within your calorie target so much easier. Once you blow a few hundred calories on alcohol, it has to come out of your food calories and that's enough to leave you feeling really hungry at the end of a day. Think of…

Donate whatever is in good condition and can be resold. Don't just throw it all in a bag like most people do. The charities spend a lot of time sorting and throwing out donations that are not good enough to sell. It isn't the same as the tangible tax deduction, but pre-sorting for them is time you're donating so they don't…

It's interesting you brought this up, because there are many additives that don't exist in nature (or at least not in large numbers) and the body doesn't know how to handle them. Trans-fats are a good example. So are the left handed fats like Olestra, and we all know how well that worked out. Most additives are not foods.…

I think I just notice my remaining fat more that I've slimmed down. Before I was big all over and pretty well distributed. Now I have a few annoying stomach areas that are taking their time coming off while most other areas look fine.Since I'm focused on specific areas like that, I definitely notice them more. Because of…

No, but it matters what I eat. If all you're after is weight loss, then calorie restriction by any means will get you there. You may lose more muscle mass as part of that weight by eating mostly low nutrition junk, but it's all the same to the scale. If you're concerned with your long term health and lifespan, then getting…

It depends. With standard sandwich bread it's usually two slices, but with round boule type loaves a center slice is large enough to cut in half to make a standard sized sandwich. And, open face sandwiches are still sandwiches. Since most people log their food based on the actual ingredients and not a fiinal construction…

Quick oats are just rolled thinner so they cook faster, but they lack the texture of regular rolled oats. As a result, quick oats tend to be more mushy. Regular rolled oats cook up in about 5 minutes versus 1 or so minutes for quick oats. What's a few minutes when the real thing tastes better? I usually undercook my…

Sweet Potatoes are one of the healthiest foods you can eat, often included in the list of super foods. Sometimes things we learned along the way about nutrition don't quite fit the facts.

Most foods are over what the label says in weight or volume. Exact weights would just cost too much to measure and verify. It's cheaper to just insure that most aren't underweight, while not going over too much which cuts into profits. Underweighing consistently can get a company in trouble for "truth in advertising" all…

Try to stand instead of sitting whenever you can. I'm a big fan of stand up desks. Standing most of the day always have me more energy than sitting all day did. Standing burns calories as you use micro muscle adjustments to stay balanced. Take the stairs at work not just for arriving and leaving, but also for breaks. Going…

Water, and by extension that includes coffee & tea. Anything else that calls itself zero calories isn't fit to put in your body as far as I'm concerned. Eat real food. Just eat less of it and stay active.

Sour beer is the big thing now. Microbreweries leave a vat open to purposely get contaminated with wild yeast or whatever or add some already soured beer to a batch. The properties of fermentation don't let anything dangerous in, and the idea is that it's somewhat unpredictable and there can be some really funky overtones…

With clothes, it's more about inches lost than weight. When you drop a few inches on your waist, you need new pants. When the shoulders get too big, you need new shirts. For some people that may be 10-15 pounds and for others it may be 30 or more. It also depends on whether your current clothes are too tight or a loose…

Yes, you are the only one. Is that what you wanted to hear?

You should reply "...since you brought it up, you're definitely too fat for your height and you really don't look that healthy. Maybe you should lay off the donuts and move your fat *kitten* once in a while and you could lose a few pounds too." Yeah, I know you wouldn't actually say that out loud, but it's probably what…

The only thing I would classify as bad food is trans-fat (partially hydrogenated oils) so avoid them, but everything else is fair game.

Medium Chain Tryglycerides (MCTs) are burned quickly similar to carbs and are one of the few fats that can cross the blood brain barrier so they provide energy to the brain like glucose and ketones do, so they themselves don't usually hang around long enough to get stored as fat, but if you are consuming excess calories,…

This animation has been around for quite a while. Most people only see one direction at first and some people only see one direction regardless. It actually depends on your left brain/right brain dominance. Some people have somewhat equal dominance, but most definitely lean one way or the other. You can change the…

In the short term, the calorie burn is minimal. You may even find that you retain quite a bit of water after hard workouts to repair and rebuild muscles, so you may even gain a pound or do, but it's just water and it'll come off in a day or so. In this longer term, as you build muscle, you'll burn more calories even while…

Dietary cholesterol has little if any effect on blood levels. Your liver will make as much cholesterol as your body thinks it needs. The problem is usually that your body is out of balance do to other things in your diet and being overweight and out of shape also play a big role in cholesterol levels. When I increased my…

They use scales that are rated for commercial usage and besides being more accurate, they also get calibrated on a regular basis, so yes the doctors scales win. My doctor weighs me with clothes, though, so that adds a few pounds depending on what I'm wearing and what's in my pockets. The important thing isn't the accuracy,…

Some people are sensitive to sodium (we're talking sodium chloride as in table salt), but for most people the only issues are water retention and making sure you balance it out with potassium to maintain your electrolyte levels.

Doing anything and eating at a calorie deficit will cause you to lose weight. We all use that expression, but we really don't mean losing weight as much as losing fat and toning up. You'll still lose lean tissue too, since you don't need as much with a leaner frame, but muscle and bone mass are what you want to try and…