Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Diet is the single most important factor in attaining any fitness goal.
I completely disagree with this. So a couch potato who has a "perfect" diet but who never moves their skinny ass from the sofa is attaining a "fitness goal?" Diet is the only thing that matters?
Sorry... I usually run about 9 marathons a year, some of them have 25,000 people participating, so I get to meet and see these people at the pre-race expo and then after the race. What we eat is always a big topic of discussion. The people who run them under about 4 hours are very fit and very dedicated. No one who isn't fit can put in the mileage/training necessary to run 26.2 miles. Few marathoners give one damn about "diet." We eat whatever we want and a lot of it is junk food.
Yes, there are exceptions, and I'm not talking about the elite 2:08 marathoners. I have no idea what they're eating, they're in another league.
If you do intense cardio for many hours a day and want to eat brussel sprouts and string beans, go for it. I prefer chocolate, bread, pizza and carbs. It fuels my body and tastes good. Try thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail or PCT-- both over 2,000 miles. I've done both and have never, ever met a thru-hiker who ate anything healthy or paid attention to their "diet." When you're hiking at 10,000+ elevation on the PCT for 33 miles a day you crave ice cream, fats and carbs. The body doesn't lie.
Sure, if a person is overweight and does little exercise, they need to pay attention to their diet. Someone who does massive amounts of exercise can generally eat whatever they want and be way more "healthy" than an inert person who dutifully consumes 1200 calories a day of lean meat and carrots.
If you can handle not eating breakfast that is ok. There have been many recent studies that disproves the idea that you have to eat breakfast to ramp up your metabolism. As long as you are eating the proper amount of calories per day it does not matter if it comes from 6 meals or two. Your body will not go into starvation mode from not eating breakfast. However, the half and half thing is pretty inaccurate. If you want milk, then drink milk. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't half and half loaded with sugar and processed garbage?
I think the big issue with not eating breakfast is people tend to overeat to make up for the loss of breakfast later in the day.
Half and half is not loaded with sugar and processed garbage but non-dairy creamer is. It has more fat than milk but apparently the OP can handle that.
I agree that we don't need breakfast but I don't think skipping it will make you overeat later and obviously the OP hasn't been overeating. I've been a faithful breakfast eater for years but I've begun to skip them lately b/c I really am not hungry in the morning and because I'm doing intermittent fasting. I've lost 5 lbs just this week and I'm not overeating later b/c my stomach is shrinking so I can't eat as much. Other than that I'm eating what I want so I think it's a myth that eating breakfast is better for your weight. The biggest change is that my cravings are more under control, and before I was eating a low carb or complex carb breakfast--I was not a poptart and fruit loop eater--not for many years anyway. I think a lot of weight problems in this country could be solved if we'd just train ourselves to eat only when we're hungry and the OP is hungry so she should eat.
And OP, I did not get hungrier when I began to exercise but that's probably b/c I was already eating too much to begin with.
Half and half is not loaded with sugar and processed garbage but non-dairy creamer is. It has more fat than milk but apparently the OP can handle that.
I agree that we don't need breakfast but I don't think skipping it will make you overeat later and obviously the OP hasn't been overeating. I've been a faithful breakfast eater for years but I've begun to skip them lately b/c I really am not hungry in the morning and because I'm doing intermittent fasting. I've lost 5 lbs just this week and I'm not overeating later b/c my stomach is shrinking so I can't eat as much. Other than that I'm eating what I want so I think it's a myth that eating breakfast is better for your weight. The biggest change is that my cravings are more under control, and before I was eating a low carb or complex carb breakfast--I was not a poptart and fruit loop eater--not for many years anyway. I think a lot of weight problems in this country could be solved if we'd just train ourselves to eat only when we're hungry and the OP is hungry so she should eat.
And OP, I did not get hungrier when I began to exercise but that's probably b/c I was already eating too much to begin with.
Not to mention eating enough for 3 in one sitting.
I completely disagree with this. So a couch potato who has a "perfect" diet but who never moves their skinny ass from the sofa is attaining a "fitness goal?" Diet is the only thing that matters?
Sorry... I usually run about 9 marathons a year, some of them have 25,000 people participating, so I get to meet and see these people at the pre-race expo and then after the race. What we eat is always a big topic of discussion. The people who run them under about 4 hours are very fit and very dedicated. No one who isn't fit can put in the mileage/training necessary to run 26.2 miles. Few marathoners give one damn about "diet." We eat whatever we want and a lot of it is junk food.
Yes, there are exceptions, and I'm not talking about the elite 2:08 marathoners. I have no idea what they're eating, they're in another league.
If you do intense cardio for many hours a day and want to eat brussel sprouts and string beans, go for it. I prefer chocolate, bread, pizza and carbs. It fuels my body and tastes good. Try thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail or PCT-- both over 2,000 miles. I've done both and have never, ever met a thru-hiker who ate anything healthy or paid attention to their "diet." When you're hiking at 10,000+ elevation on the PCT for 33 miles a day you crave ice cream, fats and carbs. The body doesn't lie.
Sure, if a person is overweight and does little exercise, they need to pay attention to their diet. Someone who does massive amounts of exercise can generally eat whatever they want and be way more "healthy" than an inert person who dutifully consumes 1200 calories a day of lean meat and carrots.
The notion that your diet is not important is very questionable. Also, you do realize that consuming fats and and carbs is not a bad thing right? You need both of them to fuel you during exercise.
I did not say that diet is all that matters. I said it was the most important thing. If you are training hard and not feeding your body properly, or with the right stuff, it will hamper your progress. I have a hard time believing that legitimate marathoners eat a ton of junk food on a regular basis. You're going to be eating Burger King before you go out and run 26.2 miles? I doubt it.
A couch potato who has a great diet and is at a calorie deficit will most certainly use weight. It will not be as fast as someone who couples said diet with an exercise program, but they will lose weight.
Sorry, forgot to bold the part of the post I was commenting on.
"I think a lot of weight problems in this country could be solved if we'd just train ourselves to eat only when we're hungry and the OP is hungry so she should eat."
Basically, overeating at the dinner table is a large part of the weight problem in the USA as well.
I suggest just listening to your body and feeding it when it demands to be fed. You seem to have a good grasp on how to feed your appetite without overeating, so it shouldn't be a problem for you. Eating because you're hungry is a good thing. Eating because you're bored, sad, happy, etc is what really gets people into trouble.
I am really good at listening to my body. My body never craves, cheescakes, jelly beans or pizza. I crave chicken, rice, beans. If Americans started listening to their bodies no one would be over wieght but again from talking to overweight friends this is harder than I realize apparently.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
