[MandaLynch]

Hi everyone,

I started working out and "dieting" on July 5. While I've lost a little bit of weight, my diet is absolutely awful and I sabotage myself on an almost-daily basis.

I do work out very consistently and I am seeing results in muscle and inches lost. I definitely need some help with the diet though. I actually eat very well during the course of the day but at night . . . not so much! I eat CRAP. I'm talking cookies and ice cream. I don't know how I managed to lose the little bit of weight that I did, let alone gain muscle but eating the way I do at night. The muscles in hamstrings/shoulders/abs are rock hard. My thighs are noticeably thinner too.

It has gotten worse the last week though. I am the editor of a new local crime newspaper and our content depends on the cooperation of county jails and prosecutors. We were due to launch tomorrow, but one of our counties decided they need "more time" to get us all of the arrest logs and other information we need to launch. We have been getting this run-around for months attempting to access PUBLIC information. Now they've ignored our attorney's phone calls for the past week. I think I am just getting depressed about the whole situation and it is showing in my diet.

I think I need to sit down and come up with some day-to-day diet plan and just follow it. Maybe seeing it on paper in front of me will help. Do any of you have specific diet plans that you follow? Would you mind sharing what a day or two looks like?

[singforthedayx]

I know exactly what you're talking about with the nighttime eating habits. I'd say the first month or so that I started this, I had the same problem. I would be doing great all day, and then at night I'd just want to eat and eat and eat. It was probably because I wasn't eating enough calories during the day to satisfy me... and plus I was still in the habit from before....

I'd like to say I have a pretty good system going that keeps me from binging or eating too much garbage. I don't follow any one persons diet, (although, I take QUITE a lot from Jillian Michaels because she's my girl lol) and I'm always researching and changing as I go along. I actually think independently studying nutrition is what's keeping me on the ball with my weight loss. For my weight, I try to keep calories between 1600-2000, probably around 1800 average. But I don't obsess over counting. I'll put my food in maybe once a week just to make sure I'm on target, but I don't do it every day.


So. I read the label of EVERY food I buy. I check calorie content, fat content, sodium content and the ingredients. As a general rule, I avoid foods that contain corn syrup, bleached flour and most of all TRANS FATS.

In the morning, I'm not a big eater but I never skip the meal. I usually have some sort of cereal. (With fiber if I can find it- though a lot of fiber cereal tastes awful to me lol) I'm a very big fan of Carnation Essentials Instant Breakfast. It's one of those breakfast shakes with vitamins and protein. It actually does fill you up pretty decently and it tastes good. I also just discovered 100 calorie low fat bagel flats - they're adorable, and they're so good. I just put a bit of cream cheese on there.

Lunch is different every day. When I first started, I used to eat Smart Ones pretty consistently because I didn't know what else to eat besides McDonalds. I figured they were fast, and they tasted good. As I get further into my journey, I've been trying to cut back on them because I've become increasingly aware of how bad too much sodium can be for you. I still eat them, but I've been trying to make other kinds of lunches as well. Ham sandwiches on some kind of multi-grain bread being one, or some kind of canned soup.

I'll usually eat a snack in between lunch and dinner. (If I'm hungry, but I'm sometimes not...it depends on the day) Lately it's been some kind of fruit, watermelon being my favorite - or pita chips with hummus, guacamole, or multi-grain crackers with flax seeds. I just try to keep it simple, because I have to eat a snack at night too, or I'll be too hungry to sleep.

Dinner depends on the day. I work Monday nights and Wednesday nights. Monday's I'll bring in a frozen dinner, and Wednesdays is sort of a cheat day, because my co worker and I like to bond over take-out. I just limit my calories during the day in preparation. The other days of the week, I usually eat at home cooked meals with veggies, some kind of carb, and some kind of meat/protein.

A few hours before bed, I try to get something slightly filling into my stomach. At one point, I had tried to cut out evening snacks completely and ended up being so hungry by the time I went to bed, that I'd either not be able to sleep at all, or wake up in the middle of the night and have to go down for something to fall back asleep. I think as I lose weight/need less calories, I might be able to do it eventually, though. For now, I like to eat a piece of bread with a bit of peanut butter and drink a glass of milk.

As far as the kind of "bad" food I'll let myself have, I kind of live by moderation and portion control rather than elimination. If I crave something, whether it's french fries or a glass of coke - I let myself have it. It gets it out of my system, and I'm less likely to binge on it when the craving gets too bad. I only do it like, once a month at that... and only if I'm craving it. (I haven't had coke in who knows how long.)

Check out Jillian's book "Master Your Metabolism"... it was a real eye-opener for me, because she talks about what different ingredients in food can do to your body. To be honest, it scared me so bad that it really made me start being super-aware of what I was putting into my body. You may also want to check out her oxidizer quiz - it'll tell you what percentages of carbs/proteins you should be eating for your individual body type. http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/t...d=0x55x9273861 (scroll down about halfway to find the quiz)

And that's about it. I hope it helps... let me know if you have any questions. (:

[Digging Deep]

I think that you are probably being too hard on yourself. When I first started losing weight I did little things such as switching to diet soda, switching to skim milk, switching to the low-fat version of whatever I was eating including junk foods. Try Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches in place of your normal ice cream at night. Make homemade cookies instead of buying them from the store and use oats in place of some flour, and reduce the amount of sugar and butter used in the recipe (and chocolate chips, for example.) Start small and once you get comfortable you can up the ante. Strict diets are very hard to keep and I would only recommend them for people who are trying to lose that last bit of weight to reach their goal. This should be a lifestyle change that you can maintain in the future. Also, make sure that you are following a reasonable diet. Use a diet based on balance and science. Do you research. It sounds like you are not eating enough to begin with if you come home and are craving junk food. Your body is probably just telling you to give it more food to begin with. Sorry for making this so long but I hope this helps.

[singforthedayx]

Originally Posted by Digging Deep

It sounds like you are not eating enough to begin with if you come home and are craving junk food. Your body is probably just telling you to give it more food to begin with. Sorry for making this so long but I hope this helps.

Agreed! You don't want to deprive yourself during the day, because your body will want to make up for it at night. Eating too little calories will not speed up the process, it'll just slow it down... it messes with your metabolism.