I admire people who can eat just enough amid the sumptuous food in the dining table. It is noticeable that I would be gaining a pound or two whenever I would over-indulge in eating particularly when I am invited in gatherings and feasts. Like in this holiday season, there were so many who invited me for free lunch - instead of gifts, some people would treat you to a meal instead. And how can I refuse the invitation? It is loud and clear that if we would eat just enough amount of food that our body needs then we wouldn't gain excess pounds.
@Corie Henson , I was taught an easy formula for weight control. (Example) Weigh yourself once a week, if you weigh 158, add o zero, (1580), and that this the amount of calories you should eat to maintain your weight. If you eat more than 1580 calories a day you will gain more weight. If you eat less than 1580 calories a day you will loose weight. I always found this easier than trying to keep up with the most recent diets.
First off, thanks to Ken for setting up this sub forum for those of us who want to lose a few pounds. The way I have conducted my goals on weight loss is ti set small reachable goals and when I do then set another goal. It doesn't matter what our goals are as long as we're working on them. I'm going to try to lose ten pounds and I hope to lose a pound a week. I'm going to weigh in the morning and report that here on this forum. Each week I will report my loss or gain, whatever it happens to be. I hope others join in.
To be honest, I really don't know about calories and there is no way for me to determine how many calories each food item I am about to it. For example, I am in front of a buffet table, how would I know what to eat that is good for me. Another thing is the volume of food that I should eat vis-a-vis the calorie count. But with those numbers, I guess there is a science to it.
@Corie Henson , I'm sorry I forget that many people don't count calories. I have a mathematical mind, plus I grew up with a couple of diabetics. I learned the calorie count of most foods by reading the list for so many years, that now I can pretty much just look at food and come to at close estimate. Plus I use to love to cook, so I generally know what is in the different recipes. You can pull listings of the different foods with their calorie counts in chart form from the net, which is a lot easier than carrying around a book as I used to. Here on food packaging they list the calories per serving size. It became a fun mental exercise for me growing up to calculate everyone's daily intake of calories.. You can get apps now days that will calculate the calories you take in per meal, and many people find them useful. I use to make a game of it even with my kids, until they showed me all the different apps omline. That took all the fun out of it.
Ina, I agree with Corie. It's just not practical for most people to count calories. I grow most of the vegetables we eat and they don't grow with a calorie chart attached. Fresh meat doesn't have a calorie chart either. I'm glad it works for you but I don't think it would work many people. In my experience it doesn't matter so much what you eat or the calorie count. Just eat small amounts and eat often enough so your body doesn't wonder if it's going to get fed. That's called starvation mode and to protect itself from starving your body stores fat to live on in case it doesn't get more food. When it does get more food it still keeps the fat. That's why breakfast is important, because you've been fasting all night.
The object of the forum is to assist us in losing weight if we choose regardless of our method. I have counted calories in thew past but doing so is something of a hassle. I don't plan to count calories but to eat smaller portions most of the time if I can and cut out a heavy meal at night. I started on a new effort to lose fifteen pounds yesterday. I ate a big breakfast, two eggs, a sausage patty, a slice of toast, coffee and an orange. I want my heavy meal of the day, if i have one, to be lunch, so I had some left over pasta, a piece of left over chocolate pie, and water. During the afternoon I ate a banana. At seventy-thirty, while I watched the local college football lose in the orange Bowl, I ate another banana and a large, thick skinned orange. Over the holidays I had gained 21/2 pounds. I now weigh 185 I want to lose down to 170.
I know most calories by heart now, at least a rough estimate as well as all the other nutrition of most foods. My weight has been fairly consistent lately at home I eat less, at my daughters I eat more but my weight stays the same. Up or down by only a few lbs. I'm 5'4" and average 126 lbs. haven't weighed myself in 2 weeks though. Weigh every day in Fresno. My problem is I need more exercise. I also stay away from bad carbs.
Me too CC, I grew up with a diabetic step-mother and step-sister and they got me started counting calories. I could remember both of their daily counts, and it help my step-mother, who was blind. I would go food shopping with her, and read the labels to her. I have always loved numbers. I guess that was why I liked being an accountant. As a New Year's pledge to myself, I will loose ten pounds this year. I lost 30 last year, so I can't afford to loose more than that.
Ida, I need to lose the ten pounds I have gained since I retired last Dec. 31. Maybe y'all can help me get motivated. Right after I finish eating all this Christmas candy.
I'm doing my best. I am seriously considering throwing out all these chocolate covered peanuts. My son knows I love them and the only time I allow myself to eat them is Christmas. He brought me three bags. Siiiiigh.
Gee, I can understand the difficulty of being around diabetics in the home. My sister's eldest is a diabetic and she has a chart for the calorie count like what you are saying. Even the fruits have a quantity like just 1 small banana or half if the banana is large. When I saw that chart, I said that it is like walking on a string, too many restrictions with food. Definitely, food is one gift of God that we savor all the time and to think that we were also given the appetite, it is wonderful to think about it - food is what makes us live. With a diabetic's life, it's a hard one.