Dear EoFf /fit/ or whatever you call yourself now

[Slothy]

Well if you really want to eat your pizza and drink your pop, you will have to excercise enough to still use more calories than you consume on your pizzapop diet . That could mean a lot of extra work.

A lot of extra work that probably won't work since her blood sugar will still be a mess. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's next to impossible to out train a titty diet because everyone who told people it was a simple matter of calories in minus calories out was either misinformed or an idiot.

And Pike, if you find it difficult to cut back on pizza and pop, then you can try cutting back gradually. Plan your days where you're going to have the stuff, like maybe eat really well for 3 days, then the other 4 have a cheat meal and gradually try to dial it back. I tend to lack the willpower for that so it's never worked for me but it's worth a shot. And is there diet mountain dew? I can't recall ever seeing such a thing but I'm rarely in the pop aisle. If there is, try switching to that and then gradually cutting it out. Diet pop isn't exactly ideal, but at least it can help you start getting away from crazy blood sugar spikes and crashes which is what's going to help burn fat and lose weight in the end.

[Pike]

Diet Mountain Dew is disgusting, I'd rather go cold turkey than switch to that sludge. Diet Dr. Pepper is okay though.

Mostly I like the caffeine and I hate coffee, so therein lies the rub!

Man, I used to have such great metabolism. Not so in the past couple of years, it finally caught up to me

[Mirage]

Well what you could do is just eat smaller portions of pizza, and replace mtdew with something non-sugary 3 out of 4 times. A few years ago, I found out that what i liked most about sodas was the fizziness, so i just replaced all my soda with carbonated water, sometimes with a slight flavor of lemon or other things.

Pizza doesn't *have* to be unhealthy. It all depends on what you put on it, how much you put on it, and how much you eat. If you break it down, it's just meat, vegetables, cheese and bread.

[Slothy]

As an alternative to eating regular pizza, you can try ditching the crust. Buy a block of Parmesan and a block of Provolone, chop them up into decent sized chunks (maybe sugar cube sized or there abouts, you want them small but not to small for the most part). Lay the Parmesan chunks in a frying pan to form the base and add the Provolone chunks on top. This will form the crust essentially. No need to grease up the pan either. Turn it on to low-medium heat. The cheese will gradually melt and you'll also see oil from the cheese pooling around it. I try to push the edges of the cheese back into the center with a spatula as it cooks so things don't flatten out too much. When the cheese has pretty much all melted you can add the toppings of your choice: pepperoni, peppers, whatever. If you're using tomato sauce try to find some that's pretty low in sugar and save it for the very end. When a lot of the oil has burned off after several minutes and the cheese completely melted, turn the heat off and give the cheese about a minute or so to solidify a bit. Once it's ready, feel free to lift it out with a fork or spatula onto your plate/cutting board. Add your tomato sauce at that point, cut it up and enjoy. All of the delicious bits without that crust we want to avoid.

[Sephex]

*Cardio.
*Eat Vegetables.
*Cut down on soft drinks.
*Cardio.
*Don't go cold turkey on ANYTHING. Start gradually.
*Even if you slack off for a week, don't give up.
*Also cardio.

[rubah]

You get used to diet sodas. it's easier if you don't drink them to taste the taste of the actual drink.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's next to impossible to out train a titty diet because everyone who told people it was a simple matter of calories in minus calories out was either misinformed or an idiot.

is it impossible because of body chemistry or because it's a hell of a lot easier to eat calories than exercise them?

[Sephex]

On the subject of calories:

For the record, I actually lost 80lbs years ago by simply cutting down on calories. I didn't exercise. I didn't really change my eating habits other than not pigging out all the damn time. I even ate a big burger or an ENTIRE medium Domino's Pizza nearly every Friday and still pulled it off. Kept the weight off for about 5-6 years too.

These days I am attempting to lose weight again, but since I am older, I actually have put a better effort towards it. So far so good (roughly 15lbs off in month and a half now).

[Slothy]

is it impossible because of body chemistry or because it's a hell of a lot easier to eat calories than exercise them?

Body chemistry pretty much. Insulin is the hormone most directly involved in triggering fat storage, and insulin production is driven by blood glucose. If you're someone who is overweight and trying to lose body fat, odds are unless you are one of the lucky few who's fat cells are readily tapped for energy (unlikely if you ended up overweight in the first place), you need to eat to control blood sugar in order to lose body fat. Many people do this accidentally when trying to lose weight, or at least cut back on foods which spike blood sugar like pop, bread, pasta, etc because they're trying to cut calories and inadvertently stumble into fewer and smaller blood sugar spikes by eating more salads and vegetables instead of Pizza and bagels washed down with pop. I've seen people doing CrossFit, myself included, put on or lose weight simply by changing diet composition with no real change in how much they were working out, or the total number of calories. Hell, one guy I know was training to run 100km's or so through the desert and gained 5-10 lbs because his diet had to be higher in carbs to sustain his endurance training. And this is a guy running as much as 60km's in training leading up to the race. You're average person isn't going to come near that level of energy output in their workouts, and while I know he was probably eating more than usual, we're talking about a guy who was carefully measuring his food and not only expected to lose weight but was actively trying to, and being surprised by some unexpected weight gain. If that can happen to someone training for some extreme levels of physical activity, imagine the average person who`s sensitive to blood sugar spikes trying to lose weight by going through the same old workouts in the gym without eating the right foods.

And to add to the difficulty some people have spent so many years mangling the bodies hormonal and metabolic functions with troutty food that even eating small amounts of that stuff on a semi-regular basis can completely negate any weight loss, and no amount of exercise on it's own is going to reset that body chemistry to something more normal. Assuming there are no underlying issues like thyroid problems, the only way to be guaranteed to lose the weight is by eating better almost all of the time, at least until the weight is off and the hormonal systems are back to something approaching normal again. Then it can be a bit safer to indulge occasionally without too much issue.

Even better is that some foods like wheat, or pretty much anything that spikes blood sugar and results in the inevitable crash afterwards stimulates the appetite. If most people eat the same junk and just cut calories they will almost inevitably fail to maintain their diet because they will be eating less and what they're eating makes them feel hungry again a couple of hours later and eventually they'll crack and start eating more again. Where the calories come from is more important than how many you're eating. Which is why I recommend avoiding wheat products, sugar and starches as much as possible. Do that and your appetite will pretty much regulate itself. You'll be eating better foods, fewer calories, have more energy and more consistent energy throughout the day, and maximize fat loss since you'll avoid blood sugar and insulin spikes throughout the day, meaning you not only won't be triggering storage of excess glucose as fat, but as your body readjusts to burning fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates it will more readily tap into stored body fat for energy when needed instead of telling you to eat more carbs because your blood sugar got too low a few hours after a huge spike. And all of that without having to do anything other than stick the right foods in the fridge and make the effort to prepare them. No weighing, measuring or calorie counting required.

Damn I need to stop being so long winded about this stuff.

[Jiro]

Peegee would know what to do.

Want to drop 40 lbs? Cut off your head!

[Slothy]

Big head?

[fire_of_avalon]

I am learning so much about why bread is bad for me. Now I am really sad.

[Mirage]

I eat the smurf out of bread, and I'll never stop.

[Jinx]

Mostly I like the caffeine and I hate coffee, so therein lies the rub!

Tea? If you make fresh tea with fresh tea leaves, it's delicious. I'm talking iced tea. You don't need any flavor, really, because it has so much if its own.

I am learning so much about why bread is bad for me. Now I am really sad.

"Bread makes you fat?!"--Scott Pilgrim

[Iceglow]

I personally find my diet works wonders for most people when coupled with excercise. My diet usually consists of a small bowl (30g or less) of fruit and fiber cereal with milk (now I know vivi will rightfully berate me on the nutritional values of cereal, but it does provide me when eaten with an additional apple/banana enough sustenance to keep me going til lunchtime) lunchtime consists of a small portion of rice and veg served with a chicken breast sliced up, my tupperware pot is one of the smallest in the fridge at work and no one understands how it keeps me going but I'm eating roughly a meal the same size as my fists placed together, this is the correct size portion for people. Alongside this I will usually have some fruit, either a banana or an apple/pear since I'm allergic to oranges I have to be real careful bout what I buy from shops like Boots where they'll often put fruit salads together with oranges or mandarins. Blueberries, Cranberries, Pineapple, Melon and Pommegranate tend to make appearances if I have to go out and buy my fruit in the day (usually I will since the tube leaves fruit bruised to trout) Dinner for me is usually a small affair since it'll be when I'm cooking my lunch for the next day and after I've worked out down the gym so I'm too tired to bother with something big but I'll do something like throw some potatoes on and an extra chicken breast or some fish in the oven leaving me with a small portion of chicken/fish with some form of veg. That or occassionally I'll have my cheat meal in the evening where I'll have something like a pizza.

I've lost over a stone in fat but my weight hasn't changed too much because I've mostly gained that weight back as muscle which means whilst I look leaner than I have in years I'm stronger, faster and more healthy as a result. It shows too generally people see me and realize how much I've changed in the last 6 months for the better. I've still not got a six pack going on though which disappoints but for that I'd need to give up all my drinking sessions and well honestly I'm not ready to do that.

[Slothy]

(now I know vivi will rightfully berate me on the nutritional values of cereal, but it does provide me when eaten with an additional apple/banana enough sustenance to keep me going til lunchtime)

Ha! I won't really berate you for the cereal. If it's working for you then great, don't change it unless you start to plateau before reaching your goals. My mind is just somewhat boggled by the thought of eating some fiber cereal and not needing to eat again until lunch. If I ate your breakfast I'd be starving inside of 3 hours. Give me some ground beef and milk though and I'm going strong for 6-7 hours.

Mind you, I don't process carbs very well at all and I know it. In fact, I've gone zero carb before for a couple of weeks just to see how it was and felt pretty darn good, so I tend to lean far more heavily on getting protein and fat and minimizing the carbs I'm eating when I really focus on my diet.