Anyone want to share their eating habits?

[cattygurl]

I'll share mine for now, which has been working really well. I lost a lot of weight due to stress (I stop eating when I'm stressed) with my grandmother's illness, pets' illness and a breakup of a long term relationship happening in short succession.

Losing weight via stress (aka not eating) slowed down my already sloth-like metabolism to the point where a snail seems like speedy gonzalez...

So how do I start eating again without gaining more weight without starving myself while having a healthy diet?

I'm doing something called the zig-zag method in terms of calories.

A lot of ppl do this when they hit a plateau, many ppl who compete in fitness competitons do this to prepare for one, I know many who do this year-around to keep their metabolism in high gear. I plan on being in the last category.
A lot of actor/models swear by this, because you can use it as maintenance to keep you at a weight that may be difficult to maintain otherwise without starving yourself all the time/resorting to drugs/etc. It also makes logical sense as to why it works, and I prefer this method to following a diet regimen like the Zone/Atkins/South Beach/whatever.

Read more about it here:

http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/zig-zag-calories-for-weight-loss-74803.html

*BTW, HIIT means high intensity interval training.

To figure out your caloric needs under the zig-zag system, check here for this nifty calculator:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Remember, if you're trying to lose weight, punch in the lb that you want to reach, not your current weight.

Basically, for myself, I try to eat small, frequent meals (important). I also get whole grains, veggies/fruit and lean protein with every meal. I basically try to get 3 servings of lean protein, 3 servings of whole grains, 6 servings of veggies and 1-3 servings of fruit every day. For snacks, I stick with protein shakes, nuts, lean dairy, fruits and veggies. Generally, the difference between the higher/lower calorie days lie in my choice of snacks than meals. I'll choose to snack more often or indulge in higher calorie snacks (like nuts vs veggies, slather peanut butter on my celery rather than eat it plain, have a serving of my favorite 60% fat brie with my apple).

Exceptions: Once a week, I just eat veggies and fruits for an entire day- fresh or steamed (or dried in the case of fruits). This generally ends up as my lowest calorie day of the week. On the highest calorie day, I'll pop a meal with whatever I want- pizza, deep fried foods, cheesecake... because I can't eat healthy all the time. I refuse. There's too much good food out there.

Aside from fruit juice (to take supplements), I've cut out soda and I don't sweeten my tea anymore.

I've found it pretty easy to adapt this to my eating habits, as I absolutely love veggies and fruits. I also found whole grain pasta that I love (trader joe's whole wheat pasta rocks), I actually love steel-cut oatmeal and I found a few whole grain cereals that rock (Kashi's Go Lean Crunch being one).

I've also been futzing around with creatine cycling and glutamine supplementation, I'll see how that works out for me. I'll post more on that later.

[kimtae]

Hey Catty, sorry to hear about some of the craziness that went on recently. I hope you're feeling good, your mental state has as much to do with your physical health as anything else.
I've been working with a friend of mine to basically save his life. He's a 28 year old man at 6'1" and a starting weight of a whopping 155kgs (over 340lbs). He developed adult on-set diabetes and his circulation was so poor that he lost a toenail out of the blue. I told him next it would be the toe and then the foot and then his life. This got him motivated and over the last 8 months he lost 12kgs. Not a lot of weight for a man his size but at least he's in the gym and trying though he has backslided quite a few times on the diet. He was stuck at 143kgs for two months with no results due to his cheating on his diet.
In the meantime I ballooned up to 98kgs from 91 due to some personal matters (all good by the way) that required me to eat and drink a hell of a lot until just recently. So I laid down a challenge for my buddy, first one to drop 8kgs gets either half the cost of a new leather jacket (for him) or half the cost of a new motorcycle tire (for me). It's been just over a week and I'm down 1.5kg while he's down 2. The issue for me is to try and keep my muscle mass up at the same time while he has the less difficult task of simply dropping fat.
I was thinking of using the zigzag diet, I'd heard of it before but I didn't know how to plan the days and I could never find a good free calculator online. So, thanks for the links.
In your case, I think the zigzag diet might not be necessary. Just a good healthy eating plan with plenty of free-weights and some cardio should do it. You've been out of the gym for a while so you're at that rare stage where you should be able to efficiently burn fat and build muscle at the same time. Just get busy. Watch out for that creatine, it causes you to retain a lot of water and could make you look fatter than you really are. Also consider doing an HST style workout. This is a lot less stressful on bad joints and will make you more muscular fast.

[cattygurl]

Oh man, diabetes can be hell. I'm wishing your friend tons of luck- I have diabetes running in both sides of the family- another reason to eat healthy and not do weird diets.

Yeah, plenty of ppl have warned me about creatine and water retention, but I'm taking it more to help muscle recovery, as I've found myself unusually sore even after a light workout. I think it's because I lost a lot of muscle mass with my stress induced starvation (hey, let's call a spade a spade here). I don't care about gaining mass, but by god I'd like the soreness to go away. I used to work out 2 hours a day sometimes, now a 20 minute walk feels like I've worked out 2 hours. I know what's up, but it's frustrating. I figure I'll cycle the creatine until I have more muscle mass and strength again, then I'll drop it. I'll see how the glutamine works for me, but I have a few friends that swear by the stuff, and ppl say it helps recovery. Same for bromelain. At this point, i'm so wimpy I need all the help I can get. I'm also being careful and eating good quality carbs so I don't crash during my oh-so-short and pathetic workout. The first time I took the dogs out for my cardio, you would have thought I was in middle of a cardiac accident after 10 minutes, especially on the big hills near my house.

I'll look into trying the HST. I've never tried it so I'll have to read more on it. Do you have any good sources?

The main reason for me to try the zig zag is because damn, my metabolism is butt slow, esp with all the muscle mass I lost. I got it measured recently and had a heart attack at how slow it was. My BMR was showing up about 750 cal/day. Consider that my BMR used to be above a thousand on a bad day, that's a sad drop and it's due in big part to not eating a losing muscle mass, dammit.
So the zig zag, eating frequently is to help my metabolism from slowing down even more.

[kimtae]

HST is really easy for beginners. It's easy because you don't have to calculate all the weights and stuff or take two weeks off like if you're hardcore lifter. Bodybuilding.com is your best source. Plenty of folks there in the forum can help you get going better than I can. The good thing about it is that it's a total body workout 3 times a week which leaves you free to do other stuff like MA on your days off and it really doesn't stress your joints like other routines.
Check your PM. I wanna send you a pdf.

[kwak76]

I wasn't aware that creatine helps with muscles soreness .

My diets crap. I give you what I just ate on Sunday .

First meal . Coffee and two Chinese pastry for breakfast.

Second meal . Some fried rice with sausage and duck.

third meal . Ice cream and cookies.

I kid you not that's what I had yesterday.

Today because I was in a rush to go to work I skip break fast but had cold coffee that was still in my car from some other day that I forgot to empty.

For lunch : cocca-cola and two slices of pizza.

Probably for dinner I have takes out or something. Believe it or not this is more or less how I eat. I go to 7-11 allot and pizza and Chinese takes out.

I'm not fat and my weight is still the same. I think allot of it has to do with the fact that I work out 4-5 times week. I box 2-3 times a week (average 60 -90 mins of training.)

I stop doing bodybuilding training in favor of Kettlebells training which I do 3-4 times a week (full body routine -40min-60 mins.)

I pretty much could eat anything I want as long as I work out.
So I guess I'm lucky. Having a better diet will probably benefit me more but I like my sweets and pizza to give it up.


Cattygurl,

I don't know if I would recommend a HIIT training program. You mention that walking just 20 mins feels like a 2 hour work out. The reason is that HIIT has intensity in it and I think at your current level you should focus a beginner program.

For example a few years ago I had a virus which made me sick for a month. I lost close 15 lbs and lost some strength . When I went back to the gym I just did intro level again to regain everything and gradually ate more as I gotten stronger.

[blockthebox]

Today because I was in a rush to go to work I skip break fast but had cold coffee that was still in my car from some other day that I forgot to empty.

Haha, kwak, that's disgusting.

[cattygurl]

The more I work out, the more careful I have to be with my diet because otherwise, my workout starts to suffer in a major way, and I just become a burnt piece of toast. I'll give myself a meal or three a week to eat whatever I want once I'm in shape, but I have to eat healthy. I went on a junk food binge a few years ago figuring I'm working out a lot, I'll be fine- I ended up with major headaches and exhaustion, I had to cut my workout early consistently towards the second week of stuffing myself with shortbread and potato chips (my downfall).

I've ramped up my dog walks to 40 min this week, up from 30 min the week before. I'm also going to add a super quick whole body weight session 3 times a week starting Wednesday. I've stocked up on bengay and tiger balm, I've got glutamine and creatine sitting on the kitchen counter, so I am good to go.

[kimtae]

Damn Kwak. It's not how you look on the outside only, you must have the guts of a 60 year old truck driver. You need help, brother. You need that pdf that I e-mailed to Catty. PM me your e-mail again. This is a 911 case for sure.
Yesterday I had:
Breakfast- Oatmeal with a banana, an orange, skim milk (300mg), Earl Grey tea.
Lunch- Pollock soup (Dontae maeuntang) with a little rice and lots of veg.
Snack- 25g beef jerky
Dinner- Sweet and sour pork (not my choice)
Post workout- whey milkshake with banana
Snack- Tuna Kimchee stew with tofu (no rice)
4 cups of green tea throughout the day, one cup of coffee.
Today's menu looks like:
Breakfast- Tangerine, Oyster omelet (one yolk, two egg whites, no cheese), French bread, Earl Grey tea
Lunch- Bibimbap (no pepper paste or egg)
Snack- 25g Beef jerky
Post workout- Whey milkshake with banana
Dinner- Stewed mackerel

[ellencho]

Ha, no wonder kwak wants to get married so bad, he totally eats like a bachelor. Didn't your mom teach you a couple of easy Korean dishes? Or couldn't you just go out and buy a bunch of banchan and just eat that with bap?

Usually I eat what I want and usually too much of it :( I also go through phases when I don't like any vegetables. I'm just getting out of one of those phases and am trying to incorporate more greens into my diet. Unfortunately I've been eating a lot of cabbage for the past 2 weeks and you can imagine that I've been farting like it's my job.

[cattygurl]

My meals yesterday:
Breakfast whole grain cereal, soy milk, banana, yogurt.
Snack- frozen grapes, steamed broccolli
Lunch- Canned tuna with chives and lowfat mayo, 2 cups of brocolli with salad
Snack- 2 cups of tomatoes, celery sticks
Dinner- whole wheat spaghetti with fresh marinara, huge bowl of salad with vinaigrette and a skim milk cheese stick
Snack- asian pear, dried cranberries, dried peaches

[Pat the Great]

my regular eating schedule:

breakfast: two eggs + spinach + cheese mixed up together and microwaved. a little bit of yogurt and an orange on the side, and water or green tea to drink.

post-workout: protein shake (2 scoops ON whey protein, peanut butter, rolled oats, milk, yogurt, banana)

lunch: spinach, fish steak or pork chop, sometimes some hardboiled eggs.

snack: some raisins and an apple, maybe with cheese or peanut butter.

dinner: some kind of stew or soup or curry. usually has: tomatoes, sweet potatoes, japanese pumpkin, carrots, eggplant, spinach, onion, garlic, and chicken or ground beef.

post workout: protein shake.

before bed: dinner leftovers.

yum.

[nottyboy]

Yesterday

Breakfast: Ravioli w/ marinara
Lunch: Hummus with two 60 cal pita bread loaves
Dinner (after workout): steak, frozen green veggies, and a 100 cal klondike bar

Today
Breakfast: Egg white omelet w/ hot green peppers
Lunch: Will probably hit an Indian joint for some rice & chickpeas in masala (sp?) sauce.
Dinner: 60 cal pita bread w/ some ham & low fat cheddar cheese, toasted on the Foreman grill. A Klondike bar too. :)

[kwak76]

Kimtae,

Thanks for the offer. I know I have to brush up on my diet but last time I took my blood test and all these other internal test the doctor told me I'm allot younger than my biological age.

Yesterday I ate better.

First meal: coffee and bagel with scallion.

Second meal: Subway foot long sandwich : ham , cheese , lettuce , tomatoes and dressing : forgot what I drank;

third meal : corn beef sandwich , tuna pasta salad with some fruit drink. Had potato chips after that.