Posts by alexwilliams

If people are getting more energy from the pills, it's likely to do with the caffeine content of their source. 

I've read a lot of articles on green tea, most of them really emphasize the fact that the EGCG for the 'increase' in thermogenesis; however, this increase has usually been found to range from 3-5% increase in total energy expenditure. For a person whose expenditure is ~1800 cals a day (not intake), this would come out to be around 70 cals. Over a year, if you total up the amount of increased caloric expenditure, an individual might lose 4-8 pounds. In 365 days. That's not all that much of a boost, especially for the amount of money you'll be spending on the capsules. 

Though it's weight loss benefits probably aren't very high, I've read (note I haven't read EVERY article, but I've seen a good number) that there is decreased activity of some enzymes like amylase, thus might result in a lowered blood sugar level; however, I've also seen studies that say EGCG has no significant effect on lipolysis (fat breakdown). 

Now, in terms of it's other effects, there is no doubt in my mind that Green Tea is an excellent health product, high in antioxidants (though you CAN get them elsewhere) and polyphenols etc. There are lots and lots of studies outlining the other health benefits, unrelated to weight loss.

So the bottom line, in my opinion, is to just drink green tea on a regular basis, and see what you think. I used to try the caps, saw no effects. But I started drinking green tea (lots of GREAT flavors like pomegranate raspberry, and inexpensive for a whole box, you dont need fancy starbucks stuff) and love it just even out of habit. 

So that's my two (+) cents. Hope that helps!

edit: I forgot to say in the middle of this that it's easier just to cut down on something useless in your diet - if you can get rid of something sugary that will both help to reduce blood sugar levels and increase your caloric deficit by more that expensive green tea pills will! 

usually supplements contribute only about 10% of the total weight loss that an individual will experience while on a plan. They might help slightly with fat loss due to some of the compounds in the product, but nutrition is by far the most important part to any health or weight loss program, even over exercise. If you dont eat well, it will reflect and you will not see the results that you may hope to see.

So if you expect to see any of the products yo ubuy working, you would have to compare the results you see with it compared to your usual diet and exercise plan, rather than expecting the product to substitute for eating what you want and then show results on top of that.

hope that helps!

ilovechai - its so difficult to move to higher levels of care, especially in an addiciton or ED situation. I think you should be very proud of yourself for taking that step and especially talking to your friend. I wish you the very best of luck, let us know when you can how its all going!

bugsy - great to hear you're keeping the positive outlook even with starting back at the baseline. But you've made it so far already, I dont think you have too much to worry about ;)

sharonclaire - from what I've seen in the posts in the past few pages, and ever since you've been here, is that you are giving fantastic help and guidance to many in this thread. I hope everything is going well for you, and I thank you so much for everything you have inputted to the thread and the people looking for support. Youre awesome!

To all of whom I have not had the chance to chat with or who are new to the thread I hope you all find the guidance and support you are looking for here and wish you all the best of luck! I know I have HUGELY benefitted from the thread, and hope everyone makes fantastic progress :)

Personally... hmm I'm going to have to search back to figure out my days...

Ah ok. I think this is day 40 without bingeing. Just to fill you in, these are some more changes I have made to my diet that I think have been helping me quite a bit:

* I have been zig-zagging my cals, so they look something like (mon-sun) 1600-1400-1900-1600-1300-1800-1600

*I have been carb cycling: 35%-25%-45%-35%-25%-(REFEED :D) 55 to 60%-45%

*I have increased the amount of fat in my diet to AT LEAST 20% of daily... I usually aim for 25%-35%. And only healthy fats like fish oils, peanut butter, nuts etc.

*Keeping sugars below 40g/day, most of which come from fruits.

I think the up in calories and fat have helped a lot especially because of all the training for the triathlon. Which is in 2 weeks and 3 days! AHHH! My super-cool triathlon suit (UNITARD!) will be delivered next week :D

Anyway that's all I've got for now! Take care everyone and I hope you're all doing great :)

-Alex

You can do it!!! Do NOT worry about the extra 50 calories, not one bit. You're likely ~500 below maintenace for a sedentary lifestyle, so you're still at a deficit and moving toward your goals! I actually cycle around 1300-1600 during the week, and also have 1 re-feed day of higher carbs on every 7th day, aroun 1700-1800, to keep my metabolism and insulin sensitivity in check. I would highly suggest it, it also keeps the hunger down, and can help prevent plateaus :)

For the CLA, they sell it at most health food stores or nutrition stores, I go to Nutrition House (Canada), or you can even buy it easily online, depending on if youre willing to wait and pay some shipping. But it's pretty common so it's likely you should be able to find it easily.

I should just reiterate again to anyone else reading that this is just an addition to my regular diet, I dont use it as a fat loss product as I dont know if it truly has significant effects or not (yet...), but it has seemed to help so far and I have only ever read good reviews :)

illingal I'm glad to hear you held yourself back from purging. And a week in! Thats great, I'm sure you can keep it up!

bugsy you're destroying us all :D

I guess that today then for me is day 16 without bingeing :) I'm positive I'll get through this day, this higher protein diet is very satisfying and I hardly get hunger pains anymore! Or urges etc.

Oh and another add-on, this weekend was my uncle's 60th birthday, and I was able to keep myself to a tiny bit of cake and small (1/4 cup) touches of ice-cream. Yay!

Take care everyone!

Hey everyone!

I know it's been AGES since I've dropped by the tread. As usual, things have been getting quite busy and I've been away in Amsterdam for the beginning half of June, and then visiting friends out of town every other weekend.

I have to admit though, last weekend was my worst. My lowest. 2 straight days of S**T eating. Candy, chips, smores, cake, you name it.

I've been quite self concious lately as I think I've gained some weight from not being able to exercise with my foot injury. However, it has healed to the point that I can run 6k again every morning without it hurting! Im SOOOO happy about being able to train again.

Anyway I've jumped right back on track. I'm sticking to a very protein-strong strict diet, with TINY bits of sugar on the side. I've also been taking green tea capsules and using Whey and Glutamine for post-workout muscle recovery. Its all working fantastically and all week I've had no urges to overeat whatsoever.

So today I guess is day 8 without bingeing. I dont know what my last record was cause I stopped counting at some point, but here we go again!!!

I havent read up on the thread though, but I hope you're all doing fantastically and keeping up high spirits. I'll try my best to get back here more often and make an effort on reading up and checking up on everyone.

Take care for now!!!

All the best,

-Alex

Hey everyone!

Im so sorry I havent checked in for AGES, but work has seriously been taking over my life. I dont really have much down time in front of the computer, since when I'm not working, Im usually out of the house at the gym or shopping or visiting old friends or doing errands yada yada... you know, life hahaha.

Anyway I dont have time to read anything right now, but I truly hope that everyone is doing well, and if things have gone a bit downhill, I know you all have the strength to pull yourselves back up again and reach your goals! Also welcome to all new thread members!

I know a few of us are challenging ourselves for the month of may. Im currently on day 23 without bingeing. Almost there :) Hoping to beat last month's streak, and keep it going this time!

Take care all, I hope to check in later!

HI everyone! no one has posted in a while... I hope everything is going well for you all!

I'm currently on day 11 without bingeing. Hoorah! I havent been to the gym as much as I would hope, since Ive officially started full time work, but saturday and sunday will be long workouts and that should be good! I guess I still shouldnt push it since my achilles is still messed up.

also congrats yyonah! 6 months?!?! thats INSANE. and you had cake, and STILL didnt binge. Indeed true inspiration.

take care everyone!

bugsylover you can totally do it!!! if its 830 when you posted that it must be quite near bedtime for you now. You can pull through! if anything have an apple or something like that, even if you go 100-200 cals over. that much worth of fruits and vegetables is sure to fill you up!

let me know how it goes!

wowza, where did everyone go?

well hope everyones doing well!

im officially done school and back home. This is great so I now have NO CANDY in the house. The only threat is ice cream. Will have to learn how to ward that off, but so far so good!

Today is day 3 without bingeing. multiply that by 10 and you get to 30! haha one step at a time ;)

bugsylover - I definetly find that the amount you buy can dictate how much you eat! What I do is sometimes go to bulk stores and get small amounts of candies, smallll amounts. And thats all I have for the next few days, because theres no other chocolate in the house :) Also congrats on day 6, hope its still going great!

samesofam - if you bake, one thing ive found is you leave a few portions out/in the fridge, then freeze the rest. If theyre frozen, theyre harder to access and take more time to warm up, so it gives you less ability to make spontaneous 'bad' food decisions. Note that this only really works if you wrap them individually, for example my mom would put a container of choco chop cookies in the freezer, which were not wrapped individually and EASY for me to get my hands on and eat right away.

Congrats rampant on almost making a week! Im sure you can do it this time!!! One step further every time!

Im on to day 26 without bingeing! I ate to maintenance the other day, where aI had about 1300 calories up to 11pm, then had around 500 calories in candy at that time. But I had also been in a mosh pit for about 2 hours, and sweat my butt off, so with all the pushing, lifting and fighting, im pretty sure I burned *some* calories in there hahah.

Have a great weekend everyone!

OH and CONGRATS KAE on growing half an inch!!! thats awesome!!!

... I dont know what Id do if I grew another inch.... I'd duck/hunch HAHAH

rampant - im sorry to hear that these essays are bothering you so much. what type of courses are you taking that require these essays?

I think I understand your jealouosy. And I doubt that's a good thing on my part, but I think its the idea that they have reached a 'lower' weight, one that we're aiming for, even if it's by unhealthy means, though not one person should ever subject their bodies to that type of torture. I'm glad youre going to see the counsellor. Is this about course or about the eating habits? I hope that after these essays are over, the feeling/want to purge recedes and you can flow back into the healthy emotions/eating.

And vent ALL you want. It's such a great feeling, I know, especially when its sooo hard to talk to even some of the closest people in your life about this stuff. No one knows about my eating habits, not one person, except all of you fantastic / helpful people in this support group.

And now to add to that, things have continued to go well on my end. I had a full-year **** physiology exam today. We had to know: body fluids, skeletal muscle, neurology, cardiovascular phys, autonomic nervous system, respiratory, endocrine, renal, reproductive, gastrointestinal systems. ohhhhh myyy goodness. I think I had about over 300 pages of personal notes, plus our 500 page study guide to know. I was STRESSED today!!!! But I kept at 1500 cals, even including some small snacks of cookie dough ice cream! yay!

annndd after the exam, I went to the weight room. My achilles flared up again after that... so I might not be able to work out tommorow :(

Anyway, thats all Ive got for now. Days without bingeing: 14

and now, I start studying for more exams! hurrah!

Rampant - I'm sorry to hear that seeing that guy bummed you out. I can definetly understand where youre coming from, I have had the same situation effect me in very similar ways. Though I cant say I've purged :S I think the feeling of being "sick of yourself" likely is a huge combinations of a lot of factors right now, your eating habits only being asmall fraction. It's been a few days now, Im sure your back on your feet and hopefully feeling a little better.

Helpless - ohhhh do I ever know about Ice cream binges. Theyre probably one of the most comforting things/binges of time. I have come to understand that if theres ice cream in the house, it will be devoured by me. even if I swear to only have a little, I can control myself less with ice cream than I can with chocolate. its bad news! If the ice cream is in the house, just take my word for it - get rid of it. melt it. put boiling water in it and recycle the container hahah. just get it out.

Welcome bugyslover!...I cant say Ive ever been sore from a binge before...and I coulnt really postulate about the mechanism involved.. Ill have to look into this.

crystar and kae- i definetly used to do the same thing. at night, when youre not busy, its so much easier to just get or make food. especially when youre bored! so I try to go to the library at night, usually until abotu 11, then I come home. I luckily like 5 minutes from it so getting there isnt an issue. But Im sure there are other things you can substitue to get you out of the house or busy in the evening.

torpidire - its great to hear that youre making progress! every little step counts :D

sharonclaire and kickbox - its too bad to hear we didnt get through april together. Im still going strong, but do you still want to try to get to the end of april as of now? its a solid 21 days...

As for me, classes finish today, exams start tommorow. I actually had exams, presentations and papers for the last 3 weeks, and ended up pulling an all nighter last night writing a paper for my animal physiology class. BUT it was amazing, I didnt binge! I usually eat so much candy when I pull all nighters, but I started counting yesterdays calories as of midnight that morning, and by the end of last night I had logged only 1400 calories! I was so proud!!!! Im going to keep this up, its been so good for the past week or so, I think I can keep it up :)

Days without bingeing: 9, today will be 10!

take care everyone!

sharonclaire thats a magnificent mindset. And 6/30.... thats not bad at all. every improvement is a step, and even if you cant do a month, even down to 3/2 per month would be increadible!

unfortunately, last night the stress of staying up late and doing school work / working on a presentation got to me and I had a huge bulk bag of peanut m&ms and reese pieces. It was slow, kindof controlled eating, just continuous. I didnt feel too bad afterward though. Im sure it was around 600 cals worth. Oh well. I got up this morning and ran an hour, it was great and Ive been eating well all day. im only at 1370 right now, so I have lots of space for healthy snacks tonight!

Today will be day 1 without bingeing again. Sharonclaire, lets try for the month of april!!!! I'll just call yesterdays episode an "april fools" day HAHA.