mike_ny Member

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…

BMI is a good starting point. Then you should use skinfold calipers and looking in the mirror to determine how accurate it is for you. I would assume that most people would still see themselves as leaner than their BMI, though, regardless of the facts. Most people will (due to the law of averages) fall pretty close to…

Look up schmaltz in the food database. That's rendered chicken fat. The drippings will also have some water in them both from the bird and whatever you may have added to the pan while cooking, so figure about 50% to 75% of that depending on how much water your drippings have. The water content will also have quite a bit of…

Two of us spend an average of $300-400 a month and we eat really well and healthy. I mostly cook from scratch using what's in season or on sale and also cook large batches we reheat and eat all week. This time of year I make a lot of soups. Soups are great because you use most of the vegetables and animal bones and…

I also mix them together. I use the unflavored isolate, so,mixing that in with plain yogurt, a little maple syrup and a couple TBSP of sliced almonds works great for me. It's not a smoothie, though. My homemade full,fat Greek Yogurt is as thick as sour cream. It's mostly protein and enough fat to balance out the carbs from…

Absolutely. The best time for me to eat carbs is before bedtime or if I wake up and can't get back to sleep. Toast or bread with lots of honey puts me right to sleep. Pretty much anything high in sugars or simple starches makes me feel groggy and a high carb lunch leaves me totally useless for the rest of the day.…

Just use paper towels instead of sponges and towels. That should quickly solve any concerns about germs, contamination, or even irrational beliefs. I use sponges and towels for typical cleaning up, but whenever it involves raw meat, especially poultry, I stick to paper towels for cleanup to avoid cross contamination to…

Pointing out their lack of willpower by your actions can often make other people defensive, even if you never intended it to be so. When I'm around other people, I wait until a discreet time to log meals and exercise. I'll also just say I'm not that hungry instead of that I'm close to my daily calorie limit. The same goes…

It's normal. You'll get used to it and adjust. Stay more active and your body will warm you up. You'll also start noticing how very obese people turn the air conditioning as cold as they can because they're feeling hot all the time.

If you get lean enough (lower level of BMI) and you lift weights, it will start to pull in quite a bit. It takes a while, but until your body is convinced that it doesn't need that excess skin anymore for resuming fat storage it won't go away on its own. The problem most people have is that although they lose a lot of…

I did. I just couldn't get enough protein for my needs. I was eating eggs, cheese, and yogurt, and far too many soy products. I was working out, but just not getting the results I wanted. I was also eating way too many carbs and beans and always felt bloated and drained of energy. I added free range chicken and some…

I attribute a lot of my weight loss results over the last year or so from eating more fat in my diet, and not less. Cut the carbs and increase the fat while also getting enough protein. It really works wonders. I guess I should try to find a local egg white omelet person close by who uses free range eggs and collect their…

You really did great only gaining 10 pounds in two months of vacationing like that. I've gained around five pounds on similar but much shorter 7-10 day vacations traveling overseas. It's definitely worth it sampling foods, street fare, and beverages that you may never get a chance to try again, but when you get home it's…

You only mention carbs, fiber, and protein. Are you getting enough fat in your diet? Water alone isn't going to move that much fiber through your body. It can actually do the opposite and cause bloating. Plus, if you're coming up short on fats, then you're also not getting the fat soluble vitamins you need.

I did for the first few weeks to find out what portions sizes should be. Then for those foods, I could eyeball it, and would only weight/measure new foods I didn't have a good feel for. Once you get good at it, it comes naturally. I can grab an ounce of nuts out of a jar with my hand or cut an ounce of cheese and I'm…

You're supposed to put them under your T-shirt, right?

As long as you're only eating a couple pieces of fruit a day at most, ignore it in your sugar limit. The fiber and nutrients are worth it. I do the same with sweet potatoes. I try to limit sugar to 25 grams a day, and by not counting fruit and sweet potatoes, I have no problem staying under that. One apple alone could hit…

patching holes in sheetrock? Seriously, cream some egg and sugar together, mix that with the oatmeal, toss in some chopped nuts, raisins, and a 1/2 tsp of baking powder and bake those oatmeal cookies in a preheated oven. Dry oatmeal works extremely well in meatloaf instead of breadcrumbs. As long as it's plain cooked…

Well, my numbers are in for the day and even with eating 12 snack size candy bars out of the Halloween bowl and a couple glasses of wine, I only went 98 calories over my target calories, still running a deficit, but only around 150 instead of 250. 12 candy bars? For me, that's an awful lot of sugar, but then I compared it…

I haven't eaten much all day knowing I'd be having some candy tonight. I know I'll go way over my limit on carbs, but calorie-wise I should be OK. If I do go over, it still won't matter much over the course of the whole week. One bad day out of a week or two is really no big deal, but a few days can end up being a…

Death. Everything else is just a bump in the road.

Coconut oil is great stuff. I use it all the time for frying eggs and making popcorn. The popcorn with coconut oil tastes just like the old time popcorn that movie theaters had before the demonizing of fats in general and specifically saturated ones. Use it in place of other calories and not too much in addition to them.…

I hate those annoying pops, although I know they are harmless. Staying hydrated and getting more fat in your diet (especially Omega 3) helps. Also make sure you're good on all of your vitamins and minerals in your supplements. I also eat a lot of chicken skin and cartilage as great sources of gelatin and collagen. I always…

Only likely if mostly in water weight. Do the math. To lose 3-5 lbs of fat, you'd need something like a 10,000-18,000 calorie deficit. That's about a 2000 calorie deficit per day. You'd have to have a TDEE of at least 3000 or more, to be able to pull that off.

You schedule it or you take advantage of free time when you get it, whichever works for you. Either way, you have to prioritize working out so it happens regularly. If you have time to watch TV or surf the web at home or off work, then you have enough time to get some work outs in. And don't use the excuse that you don't…

Everybody needs a free day once in a while just to mix things up a bit. I dislike the word "cheat", though. Cheating means you got away with something, as if the calories didn't count at all because you didn't record them or nobody saw you eat them. So, you ate over your target for a day... Big deal. Move on and get back…

Fat is different than carbs in the way your body processes it. First, fat is a nutrient, so any that your body uses as a nutrient is not available to be burned as fuel. Second, fat can pass through the small intestines without being used. Protein is also a nutrient that some amount of may not get burned. The problem is you…

Get ready for the naysayers to jump in and take over this thread, but a low carb high fat diet is a great way to lose fat while maintaining muscle which over time lowers your body fat percentage. You don't have to go into ketosis (unless you want to), but just staying between 50-100 grams per day of carbs can give you some…

You have to want it bad enough to make it happen. All the best gadgets, exercise equipment, memberships, foods, etc... won't get you to your goal if you can't stick with it when you don't see the success you want when you want to see it. Those things can definitely help, but it still all comes down to willpower and…