Vocatus's Journal, 13 May 19

Pre-work out breakfast: coffee (of course), two fried eggs, a slice of honey wheat bread, and a 7 oz. Rojo chili steak 😁 

And plenty of water,too. Pictured is my third pint lol 

Morning James 

And a good one too! 

Help me figure out a plan for loosing weight. It’s so hard blc I don’t eat veggies but I’m trying to find ways to learn how. U gave me really good feedback in my last question. I’ll like more infor if you can. :) 

If you have access to Amazon streaming services, watch a program entitled "Fed Up." It was a huge eye opener for me. It's not only about regulating carbs, but more importantly, sugar. You can eat a low calorie diet, but if those calories are high in sugars, you will not lose weight. I changed what I was doing and adjusted my eating plan to make sure that no more than 50% of my calories are coming from carbohydrates and no more that 10% of those carbohydrate calories are from sugar. It has made a huge difference and I am losing more weight and feeling NO cravings because of this change. In fact, I am eating more food and sometimes have to force myself to eat my last meal of the day. I have been eating one salad meal a day and have found that by making my own salad dressings I can regulate the salt and sugar content. That has been very helpful. Another thing I have done is to start baking bread at home. There is so much added sugar and it is fairly high in sodium. I make a 12 grain health nut bread that I find very satisfying. I purchased an inexpensive bread making machine and that saves me a lot of time and money (good quality bread can be a little pricey). I think the important thing is to make a list of the foods that you really enjoy and find ways to tweak them so that they are more healthful and fit into your nutritional goals. If you can, invest in some of the newest non-stick cookware. That way you can use little to no oil/butter for cooking. Also, learn to use your microwave for cooking - not just heating things up. That really has saved me a lot of time and also, many foods can be prepared with significantly less fat. I also use my slow cooker a lot. I can prepare healthful versions of the foods I like and the best thing is that I can just assemble everything and when I get home from work the food is cooked. I pack 2 servings the leftovers in freezer containers and keep them in the freezer so that I always have a healthful meal available and no excuse to stop for fast food instead of going home and eating a great home-cooked meal. I pretty much eat what I want and am losing 2-3 lbs a week. For instance, this morning I had a microwaved baked potato, a 2 egg microwaved omelet with mixed veggies, a sliced tomato and I dressed the potato with 2 T of whole greek yogurt. I don't salt my food during cooking but I do have a salt shaker that is half garlic powder and half black pepper that I sprinkle on savory foods. I eat only three hearty meals a day and I do not, under any circumstances, snack. It's not all bad.... On Saturday's I have a group of friends over for tea - I prepare food as healthful as possible and before they even arrive, I have documented what I will eat and adjusted what I will eat for other meals and still stay within my eating goals. I also do this if I am going to a party or eating out. I even have things like pizza and oven fries worked into my plan - all made at home so that I control what goes into the food. So that is what has been working for me. Hopefully there is something in this that will be helpful. It's a lot of work, but I am worth it and so are you. 

@auntsissy thank you so much that was extremely healthful. Do you think I could eat boil potato’s?  

I agree with Aunt Sussy. I lost 30 lbs but then hit a stone wall. I couldnt figure out why..so I got a nutritionist. She helped me understand that even though I was eating fruit n protien bars and thinking that was good...it was what was sabotaging me. For instance, a banana seems like a good choice but it has so much sugar n carbs! No good. Most protien bars are super high in sugar! Ive since lost 27 lbs and am at my goal weight. Read up on healthy diets and exercise. Good luck!💜💪 

@diana1234 Wow that’s good to kno. I love bananas. I eat fruity everyday cuz I don’t eat veggies. It’s hard to eat them since i didn’t grow up eating them. 😩 I eat protein bars for a snack. Salads everyday or chicken wraps. Sometimes cheddar cheese wl crackers and turkey. Whole wheat bread wl turkey bacaon and lettuce. Idk what else to eat  

Well, here's what I've done since Nov. I started Keto just before Thanksgiving, then went to one meal a day (Sometimes two) shortly after. I averaged beween 1200 and 1400 calories a day -- some days I was as light as 800 and some days as heavy as 1600. In 5 weeks I dropped 28 pounds. I lost another 20 over the next two months. I got as light as 280 -- and even finished a 5K in 38 minutes! Then I really started hitting the weights. Once I did that, I brought my calories back up and started eating carbs again -- just not really much in the way of sugar. Since then I gained back up to 294, then 298. I've been sitting at 298 probably a month. While my weight isn't going up any more, my weights when lifting have. That tells me I have to be burning fat. I can't imagine mathematically how I could be getting so much stronger so quickly while keeping the same waist line and overall body weight lol. Seems that if I'm building muscle, I'd have to be burning fat for that. Right now my goal isn't even weight loss -- just fat loss and muscle building (strength building -- but of course that means muscle). Disclaimer: I'm a 34 year old man who -- aside from the weight issue -- is in fairly good health. I'm also as stuborn as a mule and willing to suffer for what I want. And finally -- and this might be the most important to the numbers I've seen -- I'm genetically blessed for this. Men in my family are always big -- either fat or muscled up, save those of us who are currently in the middle of transitioning from one to the other. I don't think I've met a skinny blood relative over the age of 20 lol. I am lucky enough to be able to build muscle and gain strength quite quickly. There are people who can put in more work than me and see less results. That's just the way it is. Anyone can lose weight or build muscle or both, it just takes more time and work for some folks than for others.  

and I still have a long way to go too! 

Great advice Aunt Sissy. Thanks for sharing