Dieting and eating habits

I've got a situation which might probably benefit from being discussed here.

One year ago, due to a long term foot condition (plantar faciitis), I had to stop doing martial arts entirely. Since them, my exercise amounts to some biking here and there. I have therefore gained a little weight.

To be perfectly realistic, I wouldn't mind losing maybe 15-20 LBS. I would like to modify my eating habits to do so. Here's my plan, I'd like to know what people think. It might also be a good occasion for us all to discuss diets in general and previous experiences of our own.


First of all, what I eat: The quality of what I eat is already not too bad. I avoid greasy fast food like the devil, and I try to limit the "healthy" restaurants as much as I can.(Subway sandwiches, Lebanese grills, Vietnamese restaurants are my three favorite). I almost never drink soda/soft drinks, I drink very little alcohol (one glass every 2 months or so). I never eat candy, only eat (a bit of) dark semi-sweet chocolate and I'm not a fan of chips either.

My three biggest problems are:

-I eat way too big portions.
-I much often between meals, generally cookies or crackers
-(Worst one) I have very irregular sleep and wake often at night. Around 3AM I am usually tempted by a slice of bread of 2-3 cookies.

My resolutions would be:

-Stop the night-snacks, that's an obvious.
-Eat smaller portions, eat slowly. Allow my stomach to register that there is stuff incoming and stop when it's reasonable, even if I still hunger. About 15 minutes after I stopped my last bite, the hunger passes.
-Keep munching because that's what helps me NOT eat a ton of food at meals, but replace the cookies by a random fruit/veggie.
-Drink lots of water.

Also, I tried to cut a little on meat and bread and replace with veggies.

That's pretty good, Aero. In reality, I've also been trying to lose a bit of weight, and I've modified my diet and exercise habits as such and so far, it's been working, if slowly (which I expected and is better/more natural). Since about March or April, I've probably lost about 7 pounds. In reality, I've probably lost more but it's been offset by muscle growth, as my exercise of choice is strength training with biking. If you can, I might advise finding a way to do strength training (I do body weight stuff, no gym membership required!) as it helps build muscle, which is your body's furnace and helps lose fat.

For food stuff, though...that's pretty strict. I don't know if you need to be THAT strict with unhealthy kind of stuff unless you're aiming for a supermodel body. I still enjoy sweet stuff daily and a beer now and then and I've still lost a fair bit of weight. Granted, I tend to satisfy my sweet tooth with honey, which has some good health benefits. It's somewhat lost by the heavy processing that most available commercial honey goes through, but it's still there if you can still get real stuff that came from bees. But if you look around, you can find less processed honey and 'raw' honey, but I take 'raw' honey with a grain of salt, as it's really only 'raw' when it's still in the comb (which you can find if you look around!) Plus, honey is technically just the syrup in the comb. But anyway...I also eat a lot of veggies and whole grains. With grain food, where you can, DEFINITELY get whole grain if you aren't already. That combined with veggies provides a lot of fiber, which helps curb appetite. So if you replace snacks with a veggie or a chunk of whole grain bread over cookies and crackers (which you can also find whole grain), that might help.

But a lot of what you do I do. I drink a TON of water and I eat between big meals, which really helps weight loss. Keeps your metabolism running and actually helps you eat less overall. I presume you eat breakfast, as not doing that is one of the worst things you can do if you want to lose weight. Also helps to cut down meat intake, and maybe have low-fat milk instead of whole milk.

So that's my

Very nice! Thank you CW!

I actually have lots of fiber in my diet already, namely in my breakfast (I cannot imagine life without breakfast), I always add a few grams of pure brand cereal in my Corn Flakes. I used to eat way too much cereal at breakfast, (to give you an idea, I needed half a liter of milk to fill my bowl). I cut my breakfast in half now and with an apple and a carrot around 10, I can make it to lunch no problem. I also only drink 1% fat milk.

It sounds radical but really it isn't. The biggest difference is I traded cookies for veggies, and I love veggies. (I just happen to love cookies more)

And yeah, I need me some muscle training. I spent my whole saturday doing pavement work and I'm more sore than after passing a karate belt exam...

Well, Aero, you're being a little more strict with your diet than I am with mine. But I just can't say no to chocolate candies sometimes. I just wish I could offer help for the sleep problems, but I can't. Other than to maybe say before you go to sleep, eat something fibrous. Helps me not need food in the middle of the night and I'm less hungry when I wake up in the morning.

If you're interested, I can PM you the site I use for all the various bodyweight exercises I do.

That would be just awesome CW

Diet ? I never diet. I eat what I want. I just make sure I want, and eat, less of it. Moderation is the key. Exercise helps more than you know. If you can't run, then walk. Walking is a great way to lose weight and stay fit.

You are doing marvelous in watching what you eat and that's a giant step forward. Don't deprive yourself of foods you love (candy, cake, etc.) just eat very small portions and eat them sparingly, like maybe as a reward of some type for some goal you have accomplished or something of that nature. Deprivation will only make you want those foods more.

As for eating the big portions, try eating out of smaller plates, bowls, etc. Eat your foods slower and savor every bite. As for the munchies, chewing gum may help. Healthy between meal snacks may help, several times a day, including the fruits and veggies you mentioned. Try nuts also if you are not allergic to them, or yogurt, or some other healthy snack idea. Instead of being tempted by bread or cake at 3am - hide the bread and cake - lol, just kidding - but not really. Reach for a banana, or a strawberry shortcake flavored yogurt instead.
Most of all, if you fall or fail in your diet one day, don't beat yourself up over it...forget it and get back to the plan...afterall tomorrow is another day.