Posts by ewillman

Actually, I'm not sure what bread's nutrition info you're looking at, as bread can vary, especially if its homemade or fresh from a bakery.  But most breads stocked at the grocery store are under 30 grams for a slice.  Panera Bread and several other Bagel shops often have bagels that exceed 140 grams.

Although I'd never heard a bagel equated to 5 slices of bread ... was that posted on here somewhere?

You will likely get a lot of opinions on this, but the rule of thumb that I use:

• A deficit of more than 1000 calories will likely send your body into starvation mode (slowing your metabolism).
• A deficit between 500 to 1000 calories is okay - on occaision - but having this large of a deficit consistently, can also lead to starvation mode, or unhealthy rapid weight loss (which causes a whole list of other health problems, immune system, digestive system, etc.).
• Any deficit under 500, consistently each day, will yield good healthy weight loss.

Congratulations!  The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter...

LMAO at the  7 Random Objects Sold as Exercise Machines

I think we all know at least one person who has purchased all of these!

Thanks for all the input -- it does seem that there are several workarounds to make this a little less painful -- unfortunately, none of them work unless you're the author of the recipe!  Guess from now on I'll just re-enter any recipe I try as my own.

Yes, although a pain workaround -- increasing the number of servings does get you more flexibility -- but only for things you enter.  If you've tried a recipe that someone else has entered, you can't modify it, and are stuck with their serving size.

No, I would say hunger and weight loss are not connected in any way -- fat people who gorge themselves at lunch still feel hungry at dinner time. 

In fact, if you are eating healthy, you are less likely to feel hungry for various reasons, including lower glycemic foods keep your blood sugar from roller coasting (which is a primary cause of that "hunger feeling"), and things like leaner cuts of meat and vegetables have considerably fewer calories per volume of food, so you can eat more of them -- as I mentioned on another forum post, there are fewer calories in 20 cups of broccoli than one serving of lasagna -- 20 cup!  Obviously, no one is going to eat 20 cups of broccoli for a meal, but if you had second or third helpings of broccoli with your meal, you would feel much fuller with very little caloric impact.

Thus, while there is no direct correlation between dieting and hunger, or lack there of -- the healthier you eat, the less likely you are to feel like you are hungry.

BTW, I use the term "hunger" here very loosely, what we in an industrilzed nation call "hunger" is nothing more than a craving caused by our blood sugar -- go talk to a starving child in Darfur about your "hunger".

My philosophy has been this:

If you are going to log your activity in the Activity Logger, and do it consistently and accurately, then base your activity level on what your daily non-excercise activity looks like (do you sit at a desk at work or manual labor on your feet all day).

If you don't feel like keeping your Activity log up-to-date, then incorporate your average exercise into your decision of which activity level to choose.

The first option will give you the most accurate Meter, but the second option is less work to do!

I haven't heard of this particular study -- but I recently read about a very similar study, which found that when you eat sweet-tasting things (even if that sweet taste comes from a zero-cal artificial sweetener), you body automatically starts making insulin to counterract -- even before the food hits the stomach.  So, if that sweet-tasting item didn't really contain any sugar, there's nothing for that released insulin to do except causing a significant drop in your body's blood sugar.

Your body slows down its metabolism if your deficit is too large.  Having too large of a calorie deficit will make you feel lowsy, both physically and emotionally -- so things that would normally be acceptable (making a simple meal, eating a few veggies) revolt you.  Eating a small higher calorie snack should get you out of the doldrums enough to do something a little healthier with the rest of your calories.  In general, you need to do better planning to avoid such a large deficit.

Yes, weight loss occurs whenever you have a calorie deficit (i.e. you consume fewer calories than you burn).  But it is much easier to eat low cal when you are eating "healthy" foods -- this is not just some subjective "feel good" kind of statement, just look at the numbers, most nutritious foods are far lower in calories for the same volume than less healthy foods, which means you can eat a lot more food and consume fewer calories.

1 serving of your Stouffer's Lasagna: 690 calories
20 cups of brocolli:  600 calories
(Yeah, 20 cups!  and its still fewer calories than one serving of lasagna)

If you've tweaked something, you may need to initially give yourself a few days to heal.  You also need to learn for yourself which parts of your body give the most trouble and make sure they get a good stretching before you start your run.

I too had knee problems when I first started running about 9 months ago.  After letting things heal, I made sure to give my knees a good stretch before each run -- haven't had any problems with my knees for several months now.  Basically I do a squat -- like what you would do when lifting weights (keep your back straight/perpindicular to the ground, facing forward, bend at the knees), but without the weights.  Do that three times, slowly before the run, and again, three times slowly after the run.

whatever diet you're on, sometimes you gotta have a little cheat to motivate yourself to keep going ... for some people that might be a slice of cheesecake once a week, or a bag of doritos every once in a while -- for me, hitting some fast food a couple of times a month keeps me going -- its hard to resist the 1200 calories in a double whopper or the greeezy goodness of white castle.  But then when the bloated "ugh" feeling sets in, you get the willpower back to stay away for a couple more weeks.

Yeah, its gross, its unhealthy, and should generally be avoided -- but if you eat fast food as a rare "treat", instead of as a way of life, you should be okay.

As we all know, doctors have very specialized training and lots of education, and if your doctor has a great reputation, then you know he has gotten results -- BUT, doctors are people too, with the same personality traits and quirks that all the rest of us have - regardless of a doctor's skill/knowledge/experience level, you need to consult with a doctor you feel comfortable with, have a good rapport with, and can trust.  In order for a doctor to be a good fit FOR YOU, both sides of the coin need to be shiny. 

My advice:  If you don't 100% trust what your doctor is telling you, find a doctor you do trust (even if s/he is in a different specialty) to talk to.  Obviously, you're not going to follow a doctor's advice absolutely perfectly unless you absolutely trust the advice you're getting, so it will be better for your health (and maybe even better for your doctor-patient relationship) to validate your doctor's recommendations with another trusted medical professional.

It's the frackin' fried chicken!

Even healthy, low fat, boneless, skinless, grilled chicken breast strips are like 120 calories for 4 oz.  But as soon as you bread it and deep fry it, you more than double the calories for the same size portion (not to mention the extra saturated fat and carbs). 

Check out any restaraunt's nutrition info on their website -- if they offer both a "Grilled chicken" and a "Crispy Chicken" version of their salads, the Cripsy (read: Fried) version is like 200 cals more!

Check out this bit of trivia:  We all know that chicken is healthier for you than beef, right?  But did you know that there is less fat and calories in the average hamburger+bun than in the average cripsy chicken sandwhich?  Next time, opt for the grilled chicken!