Metabolic Syndrome?

[SamSpade]

I'm glad you made this comment. I've always said those exact words, but it never dawned on me that I've been witness to both friends and family members who just can't drop the weight. I have a friend who eats good and exercises 3 days a week, yet she's struggling to even drop 5 lbs.

Know the feeling - I've been working out with a friend for the past two months. He's *always* been fairly fit. Yesterday before our workout, he offered me a couple cookies "for the quick energy". I explained to him in explicit detail why both before and after, that sugar simply knocks me out rather than gives me a boost of energy. With someone with a decent muscle to fat ratio, sugar helps. Without one, sugar has the opposite effect.

I haven't had that energy-inducing experience from sugar since childhood. In fact, it SO puts me to sleep, I sometimes have sugar IN ORDER to go to sleep. Works much faster than a pill.

As a consequence, dropping weight for him is almost effortless, because his body reacts differently to the very same food. For him, losing 5 pounds means skipping a couple lunches and a week of working out. I used to DATE a chunky woman who ran marathons and bike races. She never lost a pound, and she could do almost anything twice as fast as me.

 

[vraiblonde]

I'm glad you made this comment. I've always said those exact words, but it never dawned on me that I've been witness to both friends and family members who just can't drop the weight. I have a friend who eats good and exercises 3 days a week, yet she's struggling to even drop 5 lbs.

Weight loss is a simple mathematical equation:

1 pound = 3500 calories. If you want to lose a pound a week, eat 3500 calories less or burn it up.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? But when you figure that a half hour on the treadmill only burns 250-some calories (or 1,750 a week), and you can make that up by drinking two light beers or eating a small bag of Doritos, it becomes a lot more frustrating. Have a steak dinner at the Outback and you've just negated your whole week's worth of treadmill effort.

 

[vraiblonde]

Now add to that the less body weight you have, the less calories you burn moving it around. I don't know how Ethiopians do it.

The trainer at my gym says to forget weight loss and calorie counting. She says focus on your body's strength and endurance instead because it's better to be a healthy 140 lbs than to starve yourself into a 110 lb bag of sick anorexia who's tired all the time. You look better in a swimsuit, too.

 

[mainman]

Weight loss is a simple mathematical equation:

1 pound = 3500 calories. If you want to lose a pound a week, eat 3500 calories less or burn it up.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? But when you figure that a half hour on the treadmill only burns 250-some calories (or 1,750 a week), and you can make that up by drinking two light beers or eating a small bag of Doritos, it becomes a lot more frustrating. Have a steak dinner at the Outback and you've just negated your whole week's worth of treadmill effort.

It does sound simple in theory but in reality, that is not how our bodies work, we all retain water differently, what we eat and how often we eat determines how our bodies burn fat. It's a mess... What works for you might not work for me....

 

[vraiblonde]

It does sound simple in theory but in reality, that is not how our bodies work, we all retain water differently, what we eat and how often we eat determines how our bodies burn fat.

Plus you're fighting genetics - or at least I am. All the women on my Mom's side of the family are heifers (so are the men) and they don't really eat any differently than anyone else.

 

[Chasey_Lane]

Plus you're fighting genetics - or at least I am.

I'm fighting the box of fudge brownie mix in my pantry.

 

[kwillia]

I'm fighting the box of fudge brownie mix in my pants.

Okay... this ^ is how I just read that post...

 

[Chasey_Lane]

Okay... this ^ is how I just read that post...

 

[SamSpade]

But when you figure that a half hour on the treadmill only burns 250-some calories (or 1,750 a week), and you can make that up by drinking two light beers or eating a small bag of Doritos, it becomes a lot more frustrating. Have a steak dinner at the Outback and you've just negated your whole week's worth of treadmill effort.

I think you should just take your trainer's advice.

Because the base amount of calories your body consumes is directly proportional to your muscle mass. Build up the muscle mass, your body requires a higher calorie content. As a result, that bag of Doritos doesn't make any difference, good or bad.

Something else you probably already know - you burn off calories at the gym doing cardio or whatever - but - on the drive home, your body IS STILL BURNING calories at an elevated rate. Frequent, moderate exercise keeps this metabolic rate high. If you even exercise before bedtime, your body will burn off more calories than normal while you SLEEP - although this isn't very efficient.

 

[vraiblonde]

I think you should just take your trainer's advice.

I am. Plus I find that exercise kills my appetite. I had a Nutrigrain bar this morning before I went to the gym, so I should have been starving after working out for an hour and a half. But I wasn't - I ate about half the lunch I brought (which was half an order of the Drunken Noodles I had for dinner last night).

 

[SamSpade]

I am. Plus I find that exercise kills my appetite. I had a Nutrigrain bar this morning before I went to the gym, so I should have been starving after working out for an hour and a half. But I wasn't - I ate about half the lunch I brought (which was half an order of the Drunken Noodles I had for dinner last night).

You know what else? Bluejay rediscovered what I knew a few years back and that someone else showed me by example a few years before...

And something I know you know at least a LITTLE about...

*Protein* kills the appetite too. Bluejay has been on liquid diet protein largely for the past several weeks and has lost over 20 pounds. While she has to refrain from the normal snacking, I think she'd admit, it hasn't been very hard to do. If you replace two meals a day with large quanitities of low-carb protein drink, you'll find the pounds drop off easily.

You will however, grow to HATE the taste of most protein drinks until you learn a few tricks to mask the flavor.

I'd forgotten some of this, but Bluejay and I ran into a woman years ago at a GNC who swore by this, although she pretty much just drank the Optimum Whey chocolate crap they sell. I think she mentioned she'd dropped over 150 pounds, pretty much doing just that. We both kind of chuckled because she seemed so full of energy, she reminded us of - well, did you see that squirrel in Over the Hedge? You get the idea.

 

[Chasey_Lane]

I am. Plus I find that exercise kills my appetite.

Totally opposite for me. I am always starving after a good workout at the gym, and I always try to have a quick snack before I go. Usually it's a few chips with salsa, or two fig newton bars.

 

[SamSpade]

Totally opposite for me. I am always starving after a good workout at the gym, and I always try to have a quick snack before I go. Usually it's a few chips with salsa, or two fig newton bars.

Go with a good protein drink - or any of a number of combinations of protein powders and low-carb drinks. It'll kill your appetite and meet your protein need without adding carbs to your backside or waist.

 

[Chasey_Lane]

Go with a good protein drink - or any of a number of combinations of protein powders and low-carb drinks. It'll kill your appetite and meet your protein need without adding carbs to your backside or waist.

I can't stand the taste of those Slim Fast drinks so I don't know how I'd be able to handle a protein shake. I don't have a blender, so it's not like I can mix it in with a fresh fruit smoothie. Suggestions?

 

[vraiblonde]

I can't stand the taste of those Slim Fast drinks so I don't know how I'd be able to handle a protein shake. I don't have a blender, so it's not like I can mix it in with a fresh fruit smoothie. Suggestions?

Eat a piece of chicken or turkey. Good lean protein and doesn't taste like those whey or soy shakes.

 

[warneckutz]

I can't stand the taste of those Slim Fast drinks so I don't know how I'd be able to handle a protein shake. I don't have a blender, so it's not like I can mix it in with a fresh fruit smoothie. Suggestions?

Protein drinks aren't anywhere near as nasty as they used to be...

OK... some are, but some ARE NOT!

There's a few RTD's that taste decent (Muscle Milk is good if you can stand the after-burp and a few protein powders (again Muscle Milk, but Optimum Nutrition makes a great blend that mixes well with fruits, peanut butter, etc...)

 

[Chasey_Lane]

Eat a piece of chicken or turkey. Good lean protein and doesn't taste like those whey or soy shakes.

You know what, we eat chicken about 4 days a week. I LOVE chicken! I marinade in all sorts of things and grill it to perfection!

 

[vraiblonde]

You know what, we eat chicken about 4 days a week. I LOVE chicken! I marinade in all sorts of things and grill it to perfection!

Yum!

I should put a turkey in the smoker so we can have it to munch on this week.

 

[SamSpade]

I can't stand the taste of those Slim Fast drinks so I don't know how I'd be able to handle a protein shake. I don't have a blender, so it's not like I can mix it in with a fresh fruit smoothie. Suggestions?

I wouldn't recommend them either. They're loaded with carbs.

The Atkins ones aren't bad. They sell them by the case at BJ's. But they're a little pricey. There are some good items at bariatriceating.com where I go. My doctor recommends "UNJURY" (originally developed for athletes). They have a decent Strawberry Sorbet drink, and I mix their unflavored mix into stuff like Diet V8 Splash.

If you're trying to avoid carbs, you might want to avoid making fruit smoothies though. Fruits are loaded with carbs. The Diet V8 Splash stuff is pretty good, although a few of their flavors are yucky.

Anyway, most of our support group favors mixing protein with Crystal Light, although they seem to know more about different flavors than I know about.

 

[SamSpade]

Eat a piece of chicken or turkey. Good lean protein and doesn't taste like those whey or soy shakes.

No, but there IS one advantage those protein drinks have over meat. Well, two, anyway.

1). They have NO FAT. Unless you find chicken without the fat in it - and chicken is pretty fatty - you're getting unwanted calories. Protein drinks tend to be low in calories.

2) They have a much higher protein count per volume. An ounce of meat has anywhere from 7-9 grams of usable protein in it - which means 10-12 ounces of meat every day minimum. Two protein drinks and you're pretty much done, with much fewer calories.