Posts by artofphire

I haven't posted in a while but I felt I need to drop in and offer my opinion on the matter of counting calories. I don't think AT ALL it's a destructive or even obsessive habit that may hinder your gaining goals. If anything, I feel it helps in the matter. I'm a week in to recovery. I've always counted calories before and during long periods of my "illness". Now, as I'm gaining, I'm still doing it. Do I feel it's an "obsessive" habit I need to get rid of? No. Everyone's ED obsessions (if any) are different. The reason you're going through your eating disorder may be COMPLETELY different then my reason. I find security in counting calories. Not only does it serve as a beneficial habit post-recovery but it also lets me know I'm eating enough to gain weight.

The person who stated that everyone's ED habits are different and that everyone latches on to different mediums during their illness is correct. For some, NOT counting calories may actually help them as they might be using such information to ensure they DON'T gain weight and some are completely indifferent went it comes to counting calories. I count calories because I find it is a healthy habit that I want to keep post-recovery. I count because it helps me know if I'm not eating enough to gain. It's been a week thus far and I found this habit very helpful. My brother, who is providing support, also finds it helpful. Possibly because it also helps him know if I'm not eating enough to gain.

I'm a guy, by the way. Also, someone brought up that counting isn't "normal". What is normal, anyways?

Around 200%? Is that based off of your own diet plan or the FDA's? Last I checked, the latter hasn't established a daily allowance of simple sugars.

Regardless, you're asking  how "healthy" it is to load up on fruits? Well, it isn't "unhealthy" if you're eating within your limit. However, if you're doing so, you're possibly not getting other nutrients that are vital for everday healthy living.

Keep in mind, however, sugars are sugars. Regardless of whether it comes from a cake or a fruit, they can add up if you're not watching your calories, they can lead to weight gain if you're consuming more then your daily allowance.

Original Post by rachmikayla:

- will i gain weight if i had a huge meal of about 800 cals in one sitting after my training? does the caloric deficit still work (esp since i'm technically over eating my average consumption?)

- does anyone feel the same ie exercising then getting hungry? and is there anything that can be done to curb it?

 - No. Only an over-consumption of your DAILY allowance of calories will cause weight gain. Theoretically, anyways.

- You're probably harnessing a bigger deficit then you're giving yourself credit for. Why not try concentrating on your diet more, then start exercising? Don't want to bother? Well, having some self-control will help you curve those cravings.

Use common sense.

Hot weather -> More sweat -> Dehydration -> Water weight retention.

Original Post by particle_woman:

No, because the 230 is for if you're weighing 4 oz of meat after cooking.  It would have started out at 7 or 8 oz raw.

OH, sorry, I misunderstood.

Oh, alright. I seem to get it now. Guess that means I can have a proper lunch.

It all comes down to the science of how, and how fast your body breaks down and releases sugar through out your body.

In this case, it comes down to refined sugars (sucrose) against fruit sugars (fructose).

• Fructose breaks down slower and evener then sucrose, leaving you feeling more satisfied and energetic.

• Sucrose, on the other hand, breaks-down too quickly into roughly equal parts of sucrose and glucose. It's spread far too fast into our bloodstreams. Now, if the body sense too much glucose in the bloodstream, the body converts that glucose into glycogens, a polysaccaride that gives a short-lived energy boost. (This is what usually causes you to "crash" [Feel fatigue]) Now, if there's too much of THAT, then the body turns it into a form of fat.
  

There's this whole Glycemic Index thing that has all of this sorted out. You can google a chart and it should give you all the information on certain foods and how fast they breakdown in your bloodstream.

Original Post by llliiinnnzzz:

Ate a Jimmy Dean Breakfast bowl as a splurge, 490 calories... That's still better than if I had cooked a 2-egg bacon-cheese omelet for myself, right?

Both don't seem to healthy in my opinion but, it would really only vary on the food's nutrition.

A Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowl might not be the best option for someone on a diet. A quick glance at the nutrition facts, most of the calories come from carbs, which isn't a problem except, from what I'm reading, there's upwards of 250+ carbs in there. It's not too good to consume most of your carbs in 1 dish.

On top of that, it has 20+ grams of fat - 9 of which are saturated.

It's junk food, to say the least.

The omelet, on the other hand, isn't too nutritious either. Mind you, eggs are VERY nutritious on their own - Condements and cooking oils make them pretty bad. You should stick with eating egg whites. Eggs whole contain quite a lot of cholesterol. Good or bad, I don't know, but too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing.

The bacon and cheese don't do any justice, either.

Again, I'm not sure if you're on a diet and I don't know how much exercise you get so it's just my guess.

Well, what are bland foods, anyways?

Foods that taste bland? Foods that look bland? I doubt it's any of those. The "bland" term is pretty subjective so I'm going to assume you mean foods that are simple/mostly refined. In which case, yes and no.

See, refined foods usually have ingredients in them that cause the enzymes in your stomach to break down the food a lot faster. It's mostly processed foods, mostly brand wheat products. White bread is probably the worse offender. Why? Well, it's made with enriched flour - Usually bleached.

See, they bleach the flour in order to get rid of any sort of unwanted substances found in the flour without having to resort to ageing it for long periods of time because they find it to be too costly. So they bleach the flour in chemicals to mimic this process. 

After the bleaching is done, they have to enrich the flour in order to restore some of the vitamins and minerals. The bad part about this is that the flour has gone through some heavy processing and once the bread is bleached and enriched, it has lost most of it's nutritional value making it a loaf of highly refined carbs.

Some people like to compare refined carbs to simple sugars. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's bad for you, but it really isn't too good for you either. That being said, it really depends how much you eat of it. For me, I've been eating about 4-6 slices of bread of ALL types of bread for my whole life. I checked the igredients a while ago and It seems to be all refined.

I'm 6'1, 155 lbs - I've lost about 40 pounds over the summer on a diet of mostly manafactured bread and salads. Doesn't really seem to be doing me too much harm. Or atleast I haven't noticed any.

But I digress.

In the end, it comes down to how fast food breaks down in your stomach and how the energy is spread through out your body. I'm pretty sure the Glycemix Index shows you how fast or slow carbs break down in your blood. (Google it)

You usually have to aim of a low glycemix index.

A key factor, however, really depends on how much you eat and your own willpower. If you're consuming the right amount of energy then it really shouldn't be a problem to keep your meals balanced. Don't deprive yourself of refined foods such as white bread, either. The problem is in the over-consumption of the food, not the food itself.