Posted: 10/13/2005 7:12:20 AM EDT
| I need some help picking a diet. I'm 23, 6'1 and and right around 285lbs(I don't look it, most people say I look around 240lbs). On top of that my blood pressure had gone up to around 150 over 105 every time I go to the doctors. For now, they've put me on 40mg of Benicar, and thats helped alot. The biggest problem is I don't exercise/lift weights anymore. I've done the Atkins diet before, with really good results. For starters I've started walking everyday, drinking at least 6 glasses of water and a few classes of juices everyday, and am going to start taking multi-vitamins and vitamin C. I feel run down alot and I know packing an extra 50-60lbs isn't helping. I've also noticed that this year I've gotten sick 3-4 times what I normally do. I'm wanting to try to drop alot of weight before Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I'm thinking of doing the Atkins diet again for a month or so. I'm going to consult my doctor about this, but wanted to get some input from anyone who has been in this position. Is there any other diets out there that you would recommend? My final goal is to get back down to about 230lbs. |
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Well, I would think that if Atkins worked before, is should work again. Couple it with some cardio type exercises and you should be on your way. Also, cardio does not have to be hamster type training. There are others now, like tire flipping, sledgehammer swinging, sled dragging, or farmer walking. Be creative. If it gets your heart rate up, and your breathing up, it is cardio. It doesn't have to be just legs. |
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the problem is blood pressue. atkins might help you loose some weight quick, but it's heavy in cholesterol and sodium. I'm going to recommend what i recommend to everyone. The only real way to loose weight safely, effectively and permenently is to reduce caloric intake. a pound of fat is 3500 calories. if you cut 500 calories a week from your diet, you will loose a pound a week. This can be burning X calories exercising and subtracting X in food to equal 500, but loosing carories by watching your diet is way easier than burning calories at the gym. Reducing fat is the most effective way to do this Fat is 9cal/g, carbs and protein are 4cal/g. Also increase your fiber intake. fiber fills you up and doesn't cost you anything. Get rid of the white foods and replace with whole grain. |
I was in a very similar situation (23 years old, 6'1", 275 pounds, people said I looked about 230 pounds). I'm now down to 250, and still working on it.
+1 All the fad diets are a waste of time. The best option is to just eat a well-rounded diet based on the food guide pyramid.
Dropping too much weight, too fast, isn't very good for you either. You want to try to lose about 1-2 pounds a week. Also, get a heart rate monitor. It really helps you monitor your progress, and keep a consistant pace when doing your cardio. |
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I'm on the Atkins diet now...since Labor Day, I'm down 22 pounds. I feel great. I did it last year about this time, and went off it, and gained all the weight back, plus more. Atkins isn't a diet you can just use to take off some weight, and then go back to eating again. It's a lifetime choice (I'm not preaching, just saying from experience). I'm finding Atkins easy to follow, and since I've had such good luck with it, I'm sticking to it. I don't feel deprived, or bored at all. I do get cravings once in a while, but mind over matter does the trick. So, if you only want to do a diet to drop some pounds before the holidays, I wouldn't recommend Atkins or South Beach. Both of these are total lifestyle choices. Not to take off a few pounds. I'd suggest just upping the exercise, and cutting back on calories/fat. YMMV. |
| At 23 your "target rate" should be 150-175 or so during your cardio activity. As said it doesnt have to be fast walking up hills, bicycle, or running...but you want to keep an elevated rate for about 30 minutes or so. Cardio conditioning doesnt mean a pulse rate of 80 while doing something productive. Cardio training and sensible eating will get you off the medication over time. The "best diet" is one that works for you. Goodluck |
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Pred, I totally understand your concerns as they are the same ones I once had. Everyone seems to have this miracle diet these days, and I'm sure they made a good amount of money pitching them. Almost any diet will yeild quick initial results, but in the end most of these "diets" aren't designed for extended use. Most are designed to go after any access water weight you might be carrying first, and as a result you will see impressive losses initially. But after the bodies access water is addressed, weight loss slows down drastically and most people loose interest. Of course water weight can be as easily gained as it is lost, and this starts the Yo-Yo effect in dieting. The key to dropping weight and becoming healthier is simple: You need to change your lifestyle in order to get permenant results. Insanity is said to be the act of doing things the exact same way over and over but expecting a different outcome. This is especially true for getting healthy. Notice I said "getting Healthy" and not "Dropping Weight". Fact of the matter is, you WILL drop any access weight while getting healthy. If your body doesn't need it, it will get rid of it. Stop watching the scale. Take your initial weight if you want to for a base line, but quit the obsessive monitoring of your weight, it doesn't help things. You have an individual ideal weight, and you will get there as long as you work at it, but this number is yours and yours alone, it's not written anywhere and it certainly isn't what you weighed when you were 15 years old. You have grown, and your body is NOT the same one you had back then. Metabolism. The key is to up your metabolism to the point where your body is able to effectively burn the fuel you give it. The higher your metabolism, the easier it will be for you to get rid of excess fat, the next step into getting healthy. Your body will sooner eat from muscle tissue that it's fat stores. Fat is there as backup. Simply eating less will cause you to drop weight, but it is important that you DON'T loose muscle tissue doing it. Try this for a couple of weeks: No expensive scientific diet here, no special foods to buy, just common sense and a little DISCIPLINE. Try to drop your carbohydrate intake by at least 50%. Don't torture yourself, there is no time limit to this. Your goal is to get healthy, not to drop X amount of wieght in X amount of days. The more carbs you are willing to drop, the quicker the results. Up your protien intake to take the carbs place. Sound like Atkin's huh? Well it is, but in no way are you to deprave yourself of anything you don't want to. Your body uses protien for energy, but it is a much slower burning fuel than Glucous. Still it is fuel, and a more efficient fuel at that. Here's where it gets a little different. Sugar is NOT poison. You need sugar in your body just as much as you need protien. It's ok to eat things with sugar, just try to stay away from processed sugars. Instead of a candy bar, eat some canned peaches, it won't kill you and it won't make you fat. Just don't over do it. TUNA. I use canned tuna in my daily diet. Tuna in water. It is a good source of protien in a conveinient package. Put whatever you want on it to make it more edible if you can't handle it straight. Hot sauce, Soy sauce, hell, I've even used ketchup. The thing is, this will be your "filler". This is the one food you can eat as much as you want of. It's not the main part of your 'diet', it's there to take the place of all the crap you were eating instead. Whenever you get hungry between meals, have a can of Tuna...or 2 if you want. It's there for you to fill up on. If Tuna isn't your thing, roast a turkey, cut it up into pieces and freeze them in meal packs. Mirco them whenever you get hungry. Or maybe chicken. Point is, PROTIEN with as little fat as possible. A suggestion for the carbs you can eat, try Oatmeal. Treat yourself here: get them instant packs, Apples & Cinnamon, Brown Sugar or whatever. It'll help your Cholesterol level and it'll fill you up. Eat all the Veggies and Fruits you want. Start having a salad with your meals. Eat sensibly. If your having Chili for dinner, use it as salad dressing on a big salad. You get the idea. Drink alot of water. Lay off Soda. If you don't like drinking water (some people are like that) drink Crystal Light. The peach flavored Iced Tea is excellent! You will find yourself feeling better within the first week Pred. You'll find yourself sleeping better, and waking up easier and faster. Now it's time to start excercising a bit. Go for a walk. Ride your bicycle or go for a swim: the point is to get up and do something. As soon as your Endorphins start kicking in you will feel better and WANT to do more stuff. Don't over do it, the point is to have fun. So, use common sense and don't pressure yourself for results. Results will come. Boiled eggs are another good source of protien, and so is Beef Jerky. Don't starve yourself, EAT, but eat right. Good Luck. E |
I stop in here every now and then just to see what the fitness guys have to say. This is by far the best post I have seen. This is something that I think I can actually do. Thanks Atreides! I'm 5'9 and about 240ish. After me and my first wife, (currently on #2 for 10 years now), I worked out quite a bit and got down to about 178. After a few years I met my current wife and then balooned to my current sad state. Thanks again A! |
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Why don't you just try eating a balanced diet, but LESS of it, and get some exercise? Gee, sounds reasonable to me...but what do I know? I just managed to drop 25 pounds by doing that, in three months. Cut out the sodas and caffeine if you have any in your diet. That ALONE can make a big difference. NO SECOND HELPINGS! That's critical. Eat TWO THIRDS of what you'd call a full meal and then walk away. If you're still hungry HALF AN HOUR LATER, eat a few more bites. More likely, you WON'T still be hungry at that time. Your stomach's "full sensor" has a delayed action. CJ |
You are very welcome my friend. In all seriousness, the "diet" I just wrote down does work, it really really does. Like you I've tried all sorts of diets over the years, and I can truthfully say that the majority of them DO work...for awhile. Once you get all the weight off, all it takes is a small change in behavior to gain it all back again. Here's some other suggestions: You could replace your lunch with a nutritional shake (Ensure, Slim Fast whatever) to make sure you are getting all your vitamins and minerals during your lifestyle change. Either that, or a good multi-vitamin. Remember: when it comes to you "filler food" the leaner the better. I suggested Tuna because it's cheap and easy to store. And you don't have to eat only one type of filler food either. You could mix it up- Tuna today, Roast Turkey tomorrow, Canned Salmon on Wednsday, something like that. You can eat some lettuce with your filler food too. The trick is not to accompany that Tuna with 2 slices of bread and mayonaise. :) YOU CAN EAT AS MUCH OF YOUR FILLER FOOD AS IT TAKES TO FEEL SATISFIED. Be sensible. I'm not telling you to eat 10 pounds of canned tuna a day. After a while, you will become aware of what your body is telling you it needs. I know this sounds a little hokey, but it's true. You will begin to eat only when you are hungry, and not just because it's 12:00 o'clock. You'll also start to look at meals to fuel up, and not occasions to induldge yourself. NOTHING WRONG WITH EATING A SENSIBLE MEAL. If the family is having beef stew, use it like dressing over some lettuce and fill up that way. THERE NO LONGER IS A NEED TO EAT BIG MEALS! Since you can eat your filler food anytime you get hungry, there no longer is a need to eat large meals. Eat enough to satisfy yourself, but NOT to the point where you are stuffed. When Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner comes around EAT WHAT YOU WANT. It's just 2 meals: no sense in feeling guilty about it. Remember: you are changing your lifestyle, not just following a "DIET". Your body will tell you what it wants at those meals, it's your choice to give it what it wants or not. :) Oh and by the way, thanksgiving and Christmas is a great time to roast an extra turkey or some whole chickens for your filler food supply. Do me a favor and let me know how you are feeling after a month of doing this, I'm interested in hearing how it works for you. Remeber also that there's NO TIME LIMIT to this: you are getting healthy not just thinner. :) |
| Actually I've already started. I've had basically nothing but meat and veggies for the last couple of days. I'm a bit sore today from the walking/jogging I did day before yesterday. I leave for the states tonight for a 12 day R&R (been 4 months since I've been home) and will try to maintain what I have started. I know it will be hard because my wife loves to cook and she is an OUTSTANDING cook! Thanks for the input and I have already cut&pasted it into a .doc file to keep handy here! |
Lots of really good advice here. As is the advice to just not eat as much. Gee who'd a thunk it? One thing I have to add, when you are trying to cut the carbs out, cut out the breads and gravies. They are full of carbs and fats together. These in combination are really bad. Also watch your sugar. Check the labels of the processed foods. They are full of it. It's just plain not good for you, and it will make you fat. If you are going to eat some carbs, eat them early in the day. Have them for breakfast. This will give your body time to burn them off. |
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GOOD SOLID ADVICE there, no arguing that .338winmag s1rGr1nG0, Have fun on your trip dude! I just wanted to remind you to ease into this change. Going all out and going for broke from the get go may not be the best thing to do at this point. I know you're excited about making a change and all that, but there's no sense in you getting hurt OR working out so hard it takes you days to recover. This will lead to laziness for sure. Good Luck! |
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Fitness and strength training guru Dan John has a diet called the Meat, Leaves, and Berries diet. Basically a variation of the paleolithic diet where you eat like you were a hunter-gatherer of old. I don't have the web address but if you Google the name and Dan John you should be able to find it. Brian Jones KAGI Sports, Inc. www.jiujitsugi.com |
mmm....cavemen. I love neanderthals. |
Google be yo fren linkaroo |