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No, don't drink tons of water; doing so washes the minerals and nutrients out of your body. To stay hydrated, drink nutrient rich liquids like orange juice.
This is simply not true. Water actually carries nutrients to your blood cells. Your body will use what it needs. And going by this logic, all fluids would flush minerals and nutrients out of your body, not just water. That makes absolutely no sense at all.
I've been losing weight for six months, and drink at least two liters of water per day. I have stopped drinking orange juice altogether, as I'd rather get my calories from solid food. Instead, I eat fresh fruits and vegetables.
I have my blood work done regularly, and my mineral levels are fine. In fact, they've improved over the last six months. They're certainly much better than they were when I drank little water and lots of juice.
Drinking a lot of juice is just adding a lot of calories to your diet. Eight ounces of orange juice is 122 calories. If you used orange juice as your sole means of hydration, you would blow your diet before you put anything solid in your mouth.
It's better to get your calories from solid food, not juice. Drinking water is good for you.
Here is are some quotes from the New York Times article (last month):
But never underestimate the power of telling people what they want to hear — like cheeseburgers and bacon are good for you. People are drawn to Atkins-type diets in part because, as the study showed, they produce a higher metabolic rate. But a low-carb diet increases metabolic rate because it’s stressful to your body. Just because something increases your metabolic rate doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Amphetamines will also increase your metabolism and burn calories faster, which is why they are used to help people lose weight, at least temporarily. But they stress your body and may mortgage your health in the progress.
Patients on an Atkins diet in this study showed more than double the level of CRP (C-reactive protein), which is a measure of chronic inflammation and also significantly higher levels of cortisol, a key stress hormone. Both of these increase the risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases. A major research article published recently in the British Medical Journal studied 43,396 Swedish women over 16 years. It concluded that “low carbohydrate-high protein diets ... are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.” An important article in The New England Journal of Medicine examined data from a study showing that high-protein, low-carb diets promote coronary artery disease even if they don’t increase traditional cardiac risk factors like blood pressure or cholesterol levels. A diet low in fat and high in unrefined carbohydrates caused the least amount of coronary artery blockages, whereas an Atkins-type diet caused the most.
I just wanted to say that since the last time I posted in this thread I've completely revised my own "diet plan". I no longer eat clean or diet. I came to my own shocking conclusions about both. The short conclusion is this: people are fatter than ever and there are more diets, gimmicks, and lose weight surgeries than ever before. When my mom was growing up people ate differently, but they ate white carbs(pizza, pancakes, etc) and were still slimmer. There also weren't as many diets and books about "how to lose weight" out. I now just work out 6 times a week(about an hour and a half at each session) and I eat whatever I want. Once I start realizing I could eat what I want, without having to restrict myself, etc, I stopped being as hungry and by default don't each much, because I know it's all there the next day, and the next, and the next. No need to binge, overeat, or go crazy on food. I'm happier as well. I've also lost 4 pounds in the last week and a half. The whole time I clean "ate" I did not lose a pound. I've changed my entire thought process and beliefs regarding food, and weight loss, and as a result no longer believe in what is pushed on the rest of society about dieting and weight loss. However, I know that most people will have to diet the rest of their lives since that is what they believe they need to do to be a certain weight. It's funny because my sister and mom are very thin and neither one eats particularly healthy(my mom is in her fifties) unless they want to and neither has any weight issues of any sort. They also don't follow the typical thought process and thinking that most people have about food and weight gain.
Just wanted to make it known that I'm done with dieting and on with other important things. :-)
sunkisses87, congrats! And welcome to the world of "eating like a human being living in a time more modern than the prehistoric age."
I would recommend you continue including "clean" foods in your menu, and I would recommend you still keep your starches reduced (though not eliminated). What your mom ate back in the day, has been changed on the molecular level by agrobusiness and isn't as wholesome as it once used to be. That's not to say it's dangerous, but unfortunately it does mean that people who enjoy grain-based foods, are more likely to eat more of them, than people who -used- to eat grain-based foods, 50 years ago.
There are more people with food allergies and intolerances than ever before and while lack of diagnosis might be an explanation, I don't think it's the -only- explanation. I think a lot of factors go into the results of what we eat. The quality of food, and the quality of the raw sources of our food, I believe, is a very certain factor.
I don't advocate any "diet" at all, because like you, I feel it's silly as long as you have the wherewithall to not overeat anything in the first place.
However if you DO tend to overeat, then learning about portion sizes, and what "fattening foods" *are,* and how to incorporate what you enjoy, into less fattening meals, is important. For that, Weight Watchers seems to be very useful to participants. They basically teach you how to eat well, eat healthy, not sacrifice what you like, and consume adequate nutrition in filling portion sizes.
I just wanted to say that since the last time I posted in this thread I've completely revised my own "diet plan". I no longer eat clean or diet. I came to my own shocking conclusions about both. The short conclusion is this: people are fatter than ever and there are more diets, gimmicks, and lose weight surgeries than ever before. When my mom was growing up people ate differently, but they ate white carbs(pizza, pancakes, etc) and were still slimmer. There also weren't as many diets and books about "how to lose weight" out. I now just work out 6 times a week(about an hour and a half at each session) and I eat whatever I want. Once I start realizing I could eat what I want, without having to restrict myself, etc, I stopped being as hungry and by default don't each much, because I know it's all there the next day, and the next, and the next. No need to binge, overeat, or go crazy on food. I'm happier as well. I've also lost 4 pounds in the last week and a half. The whole time I clean "ate" I did not lose a pound. I've changed my entire thought process and beliefs regarding food, and weight loss, and as a result no longer believe in what is pushed on the rest of society about dieting and weight loss. However, I know that most people will have to diet the rest of their lives since that is what they believe they need to do to be a certain weight. It's funny because my sister and mom are very thin and neither one eats particularly healthy(my mom is in her fifties) unless they want to and neither has any weight issues of any sort. They also don't follow the typical thought process and thinking that most people have about food and weight gain.
Just wanted to make it known that I'm done with dieting and on with other important things. :-)
Good for you and you are saving yourself from many years of misery and frustration over something that is so simple. Moderation is the key and moving. I've lost a total of 500 pounds over a period of about 13 years, no surgery, no diet plan, no pills just a lifestyle change, moderation and moving. I've kept off all but about 10 - 15 pounds for 5 years now and the 10 - 15 pounds is a result of medication and menopause.....LOL
That's awesome, sunkisses! I've been basically doing the same thing. However, like AnonChick suggests, I do try to eat as few processed foods as possible. I haven't eliminated them entirely, but I have stayed away from frozen, ready-to-eat meals.
It just makes me shake my head when I read all the mumbo-jumbo that people advocate for losing weight. Make something sound complicated enough, and people will say, "Wow, that makes total sense!"
What actually DOES make sense is what we learned in grade school: Burning more calories than you eat will make you lose weight. Eating more calories than you burn will make you gain weight. Barring any medical conditions, such as thyroid issues, this is all you need to know about losing weight.
I didn't get fat because I ate too much of this thing or that thing, or at the wrong time of day, or whatever. I got fat because I ate a lot more calories than I burned. Period. To lose weight, I have to do the opposite, and I did.
You also don't have to pay money to do it. There are a lot of online tools to help you track what you're eating. I've been using myfitnesspal.com, but there are others as well.
Good for you and you are saving yourself from many years of misery and frustration over something that is so simple. Moderation is the key and moving. I've lost a total of 500 pounds over a period of about 13 years, no surgery, no diet plan, no pills just a lifestyle change, moderation and moving. I've kept off all but about 10 - 15 pounds for 5 years now and the 10 - 15 pounds is a result of medication and menopause.....LOL
500 lbs??? That is an incredible journey! Congrats CSD!
I now just work out 6 times a week(about an hour and a half at each session) and I eat whatever I want.
Just?
Whether or not a "clean diet" promotes weight loss depends on what is being consumed.... If you didn't lose weight on such a diet, obviously there was some things you didn't understand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sunkisses87
It's funny because my sister and mom are very thin and neither one eats particularly healthy(my mom is in her fifties) unless they want to and neither has any weight issues of any sort.
What do you find funny exactly? That your mom and sister have genes that keep them slim despite eating unhealthy? That happens for some, but not for most.
I agree user id - very few people can eat junk, be slim and be healthy - this kind of eating eventually catches up with most people - heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, hi cholesterol - especially as people move into their 60's and 70's.
Also, calories do count whether you are eating "clean" or eating dirty. In fact if you are eating too many "healthy" foods to the point of gaining weight, then you ae not eating "clean".
Whether or not a "clean diet" promotes weight loss depends on what is being consumed.... If you didn't lose weight on such a diet, obviously there was some things you didn't understand.
What do you find funny exactly? That your mom and sister have genes that keep them slim despite eating unhealthy? That happens for some, but not for most.
Also, diet effects a lot more than your weight.
Nope I understood everything I needed to understand about "clean eating" which is why I'm no longer as stringent. That being said I counted my calories and ate "clean" 85% of the time. I was eating about 1850 calories a day(I'm a breastfeeding mom, and I work out 6 days a week and do resistance training) and nope I didn't lose a pound. The only thing that happened is my stomach got extremely flat and I lost a couple of inches. I did have a ton of energy though. Once I stopped eating clean, and stopped counting calories and went back to eating the foods I enjoyed I lost the 4.5 pounds. The only catch was that my stomach was not as flat as it was when I was eating clean. That being said I speculated that I might not have been eating enough calories when I was eating clean(who knows) and that could have been why I didn't lose weight. Especially since I think I do eat much more now than when I was eating clean.
I do want to clarify, that rarely do I eat processed foods. I love cooking so a majority of the things that I eat are not processed foods. However I have not banned processed foods, and eat them when I want to.
I feel freer, and life is easier.
In terms of what I concluded about my mom and sister. Perhaps you are correct to some extent that genes and metabolism play a role. However my sister was overweight just last year(she was 165 at 5ft2) and she lost weight just doing insanity and still eating the way she was before. She is now 130 and 5ft2 and still eats what she wants and the only catch is that she does work out at least a few days a week. For her the key to her weight loss was changing the way she looked at food(her thought processes about food and it's impact on weight) and incorporating physical activity into her daily routine to feel better mentally and to give herself a challenge. Now one thing I will admit is that my sister eats a TON of processed foods, she's in law school and in multiple activities at school and she's often cramming junk when she can. However everytime she goes to get a check up her health is in tip top shape. That isn't to say that it won't catch up to her, but really to point out that she doesn't eat the very best diet possible, but still is able to maintain her ideal weight, wear a size 4 and sometimes a 6, and feel good about how she looks.
My mom probably does have a good metabolism, she's always been lean and underweight. But they say that when a person get's in their fifties it becomes harder to stay smaller and you gain weight easier. She has maintained the same weight she has always been and sometimes eats as much as 3 cupcakes a day. Her thoughts about food is very different from a lot of people I know. She's never dieted and doesn't plan on it.
And I agree what you eat does effect more than your weight, it can effect your health as well(for some people I should add). However what I eat will not effect me negatively since I still consume plenty of fruits, some veggies, and still drink a ton of water and workout most days out of the week. That's not to say that I don't eat sweets, because I do, but I don't overeat and I feel great about myself. I recently had a check up and my health is fine.
Last edited by sunkisses87; 10-18-2012 at 02:02 PM..
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