Still losing slowly.
A few days weren't quite on track but I didn't fall face down in chips and fudge.
I experimented with mixing my usual menu into a kind of stew instead of eating items separately. I made the mistake of adding a garam masala spice mixture to it. It was delicious.... too delicious. Hunger came back even though I was eating more often and upped my calories a bit. I returned to the simplicity of eating everything on its own.
I still am amazed by the satisfaction a plain boiled potato can bring. Makes one get all philosophical about hunger, waste, ressources on earth, etc. (a bit like what is reported from people who fast, although I do not feel euphoria and such.) Everyone should try this way of eating once.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Day 8
204.5 lbs. 5.5 lbs lost.
Very good week for weight loss. I know some of that is water from the lesser amount of salt in my diet (I still salt to taste at the table). Potatoes are great, yay! Coincidentally that is typically the amount of weight I'd lose on a first week of low-carb eating. Except I'd have all kinds of trouble functioning.
I found out about Dr.McDougall's ideas on eating yesterday, and his guidelines for weight loss are definitely on the low food-reward side of things. He advocates a vegan, no-fat starch-based diet. Example meal would be potatoes or rice with steamed vegetables and cooked beans. He recommends having whole starch at every meal and eating a large quantity of plant matter. He also specifically recommends monotony in one's menus. This reminds me of Stephan Guyenet's usual diet (if you add fats and animal products of course.)
The rabidly anti-fat stance of the McDougall plan extends to forbidding nuts, avocados and olives on the weight-loss plan. If one is able to stay on plan I think it's probably very effective if a bit unecessarily strict. It is definitely a good intro to low-reward eating, at least as a detox-from-reward temporary mesure.
My daily menus are still based on potatoes. I will experiment eating beans this week to replace whatever lean protein I would eat. The added fiber may be helpful (not that I'm having trouble in this matter, mostly a case of testing out what makes me feel full the longest).
Current foods: potatoes, brocoli, cauliflower, carrots, kidney beans, eggs, tuna, onions, spinach, brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt/pepper/vinegar. Everything is boiled, steamed, lightly fried or raw. Calories: 900-1100.
Very good week for weight loss. I know some of that is water from the lesser amount of salt in my diet (I still salt to taste at the table). Potatoes are great, yay! Coincidentally that is typically the amount of weight I'd lose on a first week of low-carb eating. Except I'd have all kinds of trouble functioning.
I found out about Dr.McDougall's ideas on eating yesterday, and his guidelines for weight loss are definitely on the low food-reward side of things. He advocates a vegan, no-fat starch-based diet. Example meal would be potatoes or rice with steamed vegetables and cooked beans. He recommends having whole starch at every meal and eating a large quantity of plant matter. He also specifically recommends monotony in one's menus. This reminds me of Stephan Guyenet's usual diet (if you add fats and animal products of course.)
The rabidly anti-fat stance of the McDougall plan extends to forbidding nuts, avocados and olives on the weight-loss plan. If one is able to stay on plan I think it's probably very effective if a bit unecessarily strict. It is definitely a good intro to low-reward eating, at least as a detox-from-reward temporary mesure.
My daily menus are still based on potatoes. I will experiment eating beans this week to replace whatever lean protein I would eat. The added fiber may be helpful (not that I'm having trouble in this matter, mostly a case of testing out what makes me feel full the longest).
Current foods: potatoes, brocoli, cauliflower, carrots, kidney beans, eggs, tuna, onions, spinach, brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt/pepper/vinegar. Everything is boiled, steamed, lightly fried or raw. Calories: 900-1100.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Day 6
It takes commitment to follow through a low-reward lifestyle on weekends, but then it's the same for any kind of diet, including low-carb and low-fat. I still have to cook special meals for my family. New recipes are on hold due to me not wanting to taste while cooking. Saturday is traditionally a day where a bit of of a feast occurs, with more elaborate dinners and often a bit of wine; I kept it that way but avoided it myself.
The scale showed another drop this morning. So far this has been rather easy.
The flavor of a boiled potato sprinkled with salt and vinegar now seems amazing. Does this mean I should change starches, before I create too strong a flavor-calorie association? Hmm. Unfortunately I must plow through 10 lbs of potatoes on my own before they go bad, thanks to my boyfriend's newly-found prediabetic state.
I have switched from hard-boiled eggs to a small japanese-style rolled omelet (minus mirin and sugar, leaving the 1/2 tsp of soy sauce). Wondering if adding a bit of refinement to the egg preparation will mess up results. Simply couldn't stomach hard-boiled eggs for lunch a 6th consecutive day. Also fell upon a batch of omega-3 fortified eggs where the yolk tastes repulsively like fish. I love fish but not in eggs. The tamagoyaki hides this well.
Food:
lunch - 2-egg tamagoyaki, 200g boiled potatoes with salt/vinegar
lunch - 2-egg tamagoyaki, 200g boiled potatoes with salt/vinegar
dinner: - tuna, potatoes, carrots
Friday, December 9, 2011
Day 5
I tried eating some potatoes at lunch instead of saving most carbs for dinner. That day I felt much hungrier waiting for dinner. Coincidence? It could also be because my calories got too low.
Including a glass of wine at dinner, while pleasurable, definitely messes with the food reward thing. I find myself craving another glass, or craving sweets. This is incompatible with a weight loss strategy for me so I can't make this a regular thing.
I am wondering if switching from potatoes to rice will cause any ill effects. Kind of nervous about the switch from tubers to grains.... low-carb brainwashing maybe. I guess I should try it out.
Food is the same as the first days. Or maybe I'll get that rice, will report later.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Day 3
Starting to question the benefit of daily posts, especially if I'm eating the same same thing (so far) daily! I probably should reduce post frequency from now on if I have nothing to add. At least I can say that the scale showed a loss this morning and that I still do not feel especially hungry.
Another inspiration besides the writings of Seth Roberts and Stephan Guyenet is documentaries about modern hunter-gatherers such as these.
Commonly hunter gatherers eat plain, unseasoned foods, usually unmixed (one kind at a time), some raw and some cooked. One of the documentaries above show a tribe working hard at gathering some kind of wood pulp, going to a nearby creek to wash and knead out the pulp for quite some time then finally eat the resulting mush by small handfuls, a bit like sticky rice. The westerner that followed the tribe tasted it and deemed it almost inedible and dry like chalk. Next thing that was eaten was some fat shrimp-sized larvae, uncooked.
Talk about low-reward when seen from a modern eye! Evidently, this is survival eating but still, I find wonderful the way humans have always found things to eat in unlikely places and still thrived for millions of years now.
Food is the same as yesterday + 1 glass of wine.
Another inspiration besides the writings of Seth Roberts and Stephan Guyenet is documentaries about modern hunter-gatherers such as these.
Commonly hunter gatherers eat plain, unseasoned foods, usually unmixed (one kind at a time), some raw and some cooked. One of the documentaries above show a tribe working hard at gathering some kind of wood pulp, going to a nearby creek to wash and knead out the pulp for quite some time then finally eat the resulting mush by small handfuls, a bit like sticky rice. The westerner that followed the tribe tasted it and deemed it almost inedible and dry like chalk. Next thing that was eaten was some fat shrimp-sized larvae, uncooked.
Talk about low-reward when seen from a modern eye! Evidently, this is survival eating but still, I find wonderful the way humans have always found things to eat in unlikely places and still thrived for millions of years now.
Food is the same as yesterday + 1 glass of wine.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Day 2
I will only post current weight on Mondays. Daily fluctuations are mostly due to water levels in the body and menstrual cycle shenanigans. As it happens I'm nearing my period so I'm not taking seriously daily numbers right now.
I expected to feel hunger pangs this morning but it didn't happen. The black coffee I drink may be helping in that matter. I had a few late night cravings yesterday but they were more from "mouth-hunger" than from actual hunger. I was able to avoid eating the 9 pm popcorn made by my boyfriend; considering I last ate at 6 pm this was pretty good.
Currently reading Seth Roberts on what makes food fattening. A very interesting read, rounding up studies made about the flavor/calories association and body fat set-point. The diet I'm currently doing is based on most of the ideas in that article.
Something that leapt off the page: "A food is fattening (raises the set point) to the extent its flavor is associated with calories. The strongest flavor-calorie associations will occur, learning research implies, when four things are true: (a) the flavor is strong and complex flavor; (b) the food is digested quickly; (c) the food is eaten repeatedly; and (d) the flavor is exactly the same from one instance to the next. These four traits combine in a multiplicative way in the sense that if one is entirely absent, the food will not raise the set point at all".
If those 4 things aren't exactly what is wrong with industrialized foods (including fast foods and prepared supermarket meals and snacks) I don't know what is. But it also raises interesting questions regarding home cooking and food choices. Does a highly spiced potato curry that gets eaten repeatedly over time and made using a precise recipe every time also raise set-point, even if homemade? If one switches the potato to lentils and improvises more in the way of spices one would get a different result? Interesting stuff.
Food is the same as yesterday. I was eager to eat dinner at 6 pm (after lunch at noon) but didn't suffer from invasive hunger.
I expected to feel hunger pangs this morning but it didn't happen. The black coffee I drink may be helping in that matter. I had a few late night cravings yesterday but they were more from "mouth-hunger" than from actual hunger. I was able to avoid eating the 9 pm popcorn made by my boyfriend; considering I last ate at 6 pm this was pretty good.
Currently reading Seth Roberts on what makes food fattening. A very interesting read, rounding up studies made about the flavor/calories association and body fat set-point. The diet I'm currently doing is based on most of the ideas in that article.
Something that leapt off the page: "A food is fattening (raises the set point) to the extent its flavor is associated with calories. The strongest flavor-calorie associations will occur, learning research implies, when four things are true: (a) the flavor is strong and complex flavor; (b) the food is digested quickly; (c) the food is eaten repeatedly; and (d) the flavor is exactly the same from one instance to the next. These four traits combine in a multiplicative way in the sense that if one is entirely absent, the food will not raise the set point at all".
If those 4 things aren't exactly what is wrong with industrialized foods (including fast foods and prepared supermarket meals and snacks) I don't know what is. But it also raises interesting questions regarding home cooking and food choices. Does a highly spiced potato curry that gets eaten repeatedly over time and made using a precise recipe every time also raise set-point, even if homemade? If one switches the potato to lentils and improvises more in the way of spices one would get a different result? Interesting stuff.
Food is the same as yesterday. I was eager to eat dinner at 6 pm (after lunch at noon) but didn't suffer from invasive hunger.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Day 1
210 lbs.
I cooked enough hard-boiled eggs to last all week. I will also do the same with the potatoes. Since cooking and searching for new recipe ideas is also part of the food reward in my case everything related to food will be kept minimal, including daily preparation. Twitter and RSS feeds of my favorite food sites also were cut out.
I will keep calories around 1000. Yes this is low but I'm short and small-framed. The food reward theory implies I will feel less hunger eating this way than if I was eating regular processed crap on the same amount of calories. Calories will be adjusted if needed. I will salt and pepper my food, and use vinegar as well, but refrain from using other sesaonings (will surely be hard at first to let go of my beloved sriracha and not use anything from my 25+ collection of herbs and spices).
I will also use intermittent fasting on a 16/8 schedule. I am used to this already as I never was a big breakfast person and previous job schedules sometimes were easier to handle when eating one big meal a day.
I expect some hunger the first few days. That should change when I get used to my meals, which will be almost exactly the same everyday.
Lunch: hard boiled eggs; steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach
Dinner: tuna; boiled potatoes, carrots; onion, olive oil
Lunch was able, surprisingly, to carry me on easily until 5 pm. Dinner was enormous (really underestimated the size of 300g of cooked potatoes) but satisfying. I expect to not get hungry again tonight.
I expect some hunger the first few days. That should change when I get used to my meals, which will be almost exactly the same everyday.
Lunch: hard boiled eggs; steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach
Dinner: tuna; boiled potatoes, carrots; onion, olive oil
Lunch was able, surprisingly, to carry me on easily until 5 pm. Dinner was enormous (really underestimated the size of 300g of cooked potatoes) but satisfying. I expect to not get hungry again tonight.
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