Carb overload

[lizzboss86]

Working out is easy for me...its the nutrition part that kicks my butt. I need to cut back on my carbs, but I can't seem to stick to the diet plan. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[MM11]

pre-cooking meals is the best way to control what you eat. Sundays i always cook around 20 chicken breasts. that way i can always just grab one and add it to a meal, or eat it cold if i don't have a lot of time. taste good and cheaper than protein bars.

as well try keeping a log on what you eat, that is the best way to make adjustments. you will be surprised the outcome.

 

[Rosie Chee]

Working out is easy for me...its the nutrition part that kicks my butt. I need to cut back on my carbs, but I can't seem to stick to the diet plan. Does anyone have any suggestions?

You don't necessarily have to cut back on carbs. Just the processed, sugary **** (except after the gym; they're good for recovery then, getting that glycogen into your muscle quickly). Know exactly what you're going to eat in a day; plan a schedule; have the food prepared, or easy to prepare, and something around in case you get caught 'off' plan (i.e. a late meeting, etc.). And don't beat yourself up about cheating. It's all about CONSISTENCY.

 

[arizonanewbie]

Also, for all the foods you crave, research an alternative that'll be on-diet but still fulfill the same jones. My wife gets emails from a site called HungryGirl that's full of these.

 

[Joshua86]

As long as you know you're getting in your daily caloric needs, drink water to curb your appetite. Research shows that a large portion of Americans are chronically dehydrated, yet they don't know they are. So much, in fact, that a lot of people mistake hunger for being thirsty. Also, if you get a sweet tooth, just grab a stick of sugarless gum. Another problem I used to have when cutting would be that I essentially starved myself (to a certain extent, per se) during the daytime, and at night I would lose it and just go crazy with eating whatever I wanted! If you're trying to diet to get bigger, leaner, or whatever, you can do it in such a way that your stomach is constantly satisfied; you just have to plan it out. Well, I hear that competition dieting for bodybuilding competitions can be really rough, but luckily I'll never have to do that! Other than that, it just takes some self control.

A lot of other good advice in this thread!

 

[planetfuzz]

Working out is easy for me...its the nutrition part that kicks my butt. I need to cut back on my carbs, but I can't seem to stick to the diet plan. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Make sure to include a little bit of healthy fat with each meal. This will help curb hunger since fats take longer to digest.

Another thing you could try is to try to get the majority of carbs with your first meal on non-training days and the majority after working out on training days.

 

[kkschaef]

Planning is key. I find that if I have my meals planned and prepared I'm less likely to eat too many carbs. Make sure you are choosing the right carbs. Such as brown rice, sweet potato,and oatmeal. These carbs are slower digesting and timing of the carbs is also important. Getting carbs in for breakfast and before and after training are better times to consume them.
Someone made a comment on water, hydration is important to curbing appetite.

 

[Rugger]

can't stick to the plan = no discipline

You have to want it. End of story.

 

[Zukkini]

This is great advice. I've been low-carbing for the past month and this is all stuff that I've had to figure out on my own - chewing gum and drinking lots of water in between meals and chews has helped me control my portions the most. Planning meals, making mass quantities of chicken breasts, it's all stuff that has worked really well for me. I might add that sugar free jello has been helpful when I want to have something that's like a dessert. They have low carb protein bars and sugarfree icecream too, but I try to save those for really weak moments if at all possible.

All of the advice given in this thread have been things that have helped me stick to a low carb diet, and made it much eiser. I love love carbs and it's extremely hard for me to give up - I've tried other forms of dieting, but nothing works nearly as well as drastically cutting out carbs.

 

[Rosie Chee]

...I love love carbs and it's extremely hard for me to give up - I've tried other forms of dieting, but nothing works nearly as well as drastically cutting out carbs.

I am a carbohydrate (CHO) addict and I also have a binge eating disorder, so cutting out CHO would be hard (not that I would ever do that) and I love food too much. Cutting out CHO is not that healthy (glycogen is the only fuel your brain uses, amongst other things). And there are ways of losing fat that do NOT include cutting out CHO or being ridiculously low with your calories, such as calorie or CHO cycling. Personally I stay at ~10% BF (12% BF tops) and I never cut out CHO. "Dieting", a diet should be a nutrition plan that one uses all the time, and just changes every now and then to allow for their physique goals.

 

[Stallion83]

I would say something like a fiberous meal. For example oatmeal is a good whole grain and will fill you up usually in my muscle milks I have clear fiber poweder that I mix in too to avoid reaching for a carb meal. Maybe try spacing all the meals out maybe every 3 hrs small portion to avoid bingeing or have hypoglycemia. Thats way you wont have to always feel the need to eat. Hope this helps.

 

[Zukkini]

I would love to have the self control like Guejsn. I would eventually love to get to the point where I just eat moderately and nutritiously as a way of life, but for now I feel it's best to keep myself on a diet that is more controlled than necessary so I don't go overboard. Someday, though.

 

[EasyEJL]

I would love to have the self control like Guejsn. I would eventually love to get to the point where I just eat moderately and nutritiously as a way of life, but for now I feel it's best to keep myself on a diet that is more controlled than necessary so I don't go overboard. Someday, though.

I've got the solution for you

forget about "dieting" and instead learn how to eat. you can't view what you are doing as a phase or something you'll stop once you reach x goal, it has to be a change of life. You should target either one meal or one of your weak food points every 3-4 weeks to change. That gives you enough time to have adjusted to the last change and have it feel like a normal part of life. If you want faster results, remember how long it took to get to where you are = all of your life so far.

here is some referential stuff for her to think about, or pick up this book. They have it and some of the variations on it at Sams Club even

I feel like I've posted this a thousand times but here it goes again



So do you eat the muffin normally and then eat a ton of other stuff as well? a couple of eggs, some bacon, etc, or do you eat 1/3 of the pile of fruit and save the rest for later?

Do you have the tart for 440 cals or just one bowl of the raspberries for 55 cals?

Do you end up eating all the things on the left side, instead of the meal on teh right side that ends up being 1/3 the calories?


This is from Dr Randy Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss

http://pictureperfectweightloss.com/

It makes it a very graphic visual system for thinking about foods. Trust me, its easy to make the changes, and have them be enjoyable too. I go thru 2-3 whole pineapples a week, on top of a gallon of grapefruit juice and a bunch of other fruits.

 

[Zukkini]

Mmmm... Food Porn.
Lol, Just Kidding.
Too bad I just went to the Library, I checked my online database, I'll grab the book Monday when I go.

 

[EasyEJL]

It definitely helps, as training your eyes and mind to make the better choice for you lets you still QUITE enjoy what you are eating. Theres tons of healthy good tasting choices out there.

 

[Rosie Chee]

I would love to have the self control like Guejsn. I would eventually love to get to the point where I just eat moderately and nutritiously as a way of life, but for now I feel it's best to keep myself on a diet that is more controlled than necessary so I don't go overboard. Someday, though.

It's not self-control, chick. Diet is my bane; training is the EASY part. I don't think people realize that when I say binge I MEAN binge (and no, NOT proud of it; but at least I CAN admit that I have a serious problem now), and we're talking like 90 minutes NON-stop eating, or packing away 3000-4000 calories in a SINGLE sitting (and anyone who has ever lived with me or seen me eat will attest to that)! I don't eat moderately (in fact, I probably eat more than most of the guys here); I never have and I never will. I just counterbalance my excessive eating (which is what has allowed me to gain the muscle mass that I have) by training VERY HARD and INTENSE EVERY training session (when I go 'easy' it is only when my body can't go any harder). If I wanted I could probably be disciplined enough to "diet", but why would I want to when I can eat as I do and stay lean by training hard or adding in a little extra exercise? It's all about KNOWING your body and what you can (and can't) get away with. It's something that will come.

I've got the solution for you

forget about "dieting" and instead learn how to eat. you can't view what you are doing as a phase or something you'll stop once you reach x goal, it has to be a change of life.

This is what I meant when I said:

"...a diet should be a nutrition plan that one uses all the time, and just changes every now and then to allow for their physique goals.