I hope you like China -- Shanghai is a city growing by leaps and bounds. I haven't been there since 2001 and I bet it's changed a lot. I was surprised by how much European influence there is!
Business class, I'm jealous! I've mad e 4 trips to Asia, all in economy. All weighing over 260 pounds. No wonder I'm so excited I can move the tray tables up and down now!
Wow! Weighing over 260 and sitting in economy must not be comfortable However...I was looking at your progress...WOW!!!!!
I'm only flying Business coz the difference between Business and Economy is like $ 50! The trip from India to China is more expensive than flying to the States!
Where all in Asia have you been?
I may not write in on the forums till I come back but would love to hear from you! Natasha
Yes! It is very very hard to adapt our style of cooking to these diets...they are very westernised and since asian cooking involved a whole lot of ingredients...it's very difficult But I guess...if I wanna be , I will have to find a way.... :wink:
I do exercise...however I don't know if it's enough...I do:
60 minutes of cardio (treadmill every alternate day and burn between 400 - 500 cals
30 minutes of cardio on the other days and add 1 hour of strength training
Sundays off
I don't know if this is enough... but it's what I can manage
I don't drink water thats bad - i know. So from today, I am setting alarms on my phone so that I remember to drink! sigh... the things i'll do to drop the fat!
Anyway, thanks for writing in and do keep in touch!
Wow, that's a lot of exercise!!!! Not in a bad way! That's terrific!
I've been only to China and Japan. Each 4 times. Three of the trips were 2-3 weeks in length, but my last trip was 4 months. I lived 2 months in China (Beijing) and 2 months in Japan (outside Kyoto).
Flying trips of that length at that weight really was no fun. Neither is trying to live in places where you have to walk a lot when you aren't in shape -- though I definitely improved over that 4 month period. I would love to go back now that my physical abilities are so much improved.
Yes! It is very very hard to adapt our style of cooking to these diets...they are very westernised and since asian cooking involved a whole lot of ingredients...it's very difficult But I guess...if I wanna be , I will have to find a way.... :wink:
Soulmia,
Just wanted to let you know that you can lose weight without changing to a westernised diet. I'm losing weight mainly on Thai, Mexican, and (ironically) Indian food, so it can be done. Maybe we can swap Indian recipes sometime.
With the exercise program you've listed, I certainly wouldn't be concerned that 1700 calories a day is too much, at least at first.
fiddler - how do you manage to lose weight on Thai, Mexican, and Indian? (you just gave me some cravings!)
I live in China and it's very hard to use FitDay because I can't find the exact foods I'm looking for. Basically I try to overestimate my intake and underestimate my activities to be on the safe side.
I just had a conversation with my mom (she's been on Atkins for like 3 years) about how I can't be on Atkins here. It's too difficult without all those yummy low carb stuff that they sell in the US (like Blue Bunny ice cream). I did Atkins while I was living at home for the summer when I was in college. It was easy because my mom was already on it and I just followed her. I got down to like 126-128 pounds... should've tried to maintain it!
fiddler - how do you manage to lose weight on Thai, Mexican, and Indian? (you just gave me some cravings!)
Well, let's take the Thai food first. There are a lot of Thai foods that are nutritious and have minimal calories because they are not coconut-based. I have a recipe for Tom Yum Khoong that I particularly like which has no fat (except for what is naturally in the shrimp) and very few carbs. There are many stir-fried dishes that can be made with minimal oil and then served with brown rice. Thai recipes tend to use a lot of fresh vegetables and not much sugar, so that part makes them naturally low in calories per serving. I substitute brown jasmine rice for the white because I like the brown rice better anyway. I generally don't make the deep-fried stuff, since I'm too lazy to clean up the mess afterwards. I do occasionally have the coconut-based curries now that the nutritional establishment has reversed their position on coconut milk being bad for you.
With the Mexican food, you have to understand I live in a place where if you go out for Mexican food, you are going to be lucky if your server speaks English well enough for the order to make it back to the kitchen without something being lost in translation. But real Mexican food tends to use very little cheese, unlike the Americanized version of "Mexican food." Cheese, of course, is very calorie-laden. There are some restaurants, where depending on which region of Mexico their cuisine is from, don't use cheese in ANY of the dishes. So you are left with dishes made with vegetables, beans, rice, homemade tortillas, and some type of meat or seafood. So as long as you stay away from the flour tortillas and dishes that are cooked in too much oil or lard, it's just not that fattening. One of my favorite things to order is a Mexican shrimp cocktail, which is usually served in a big margarita glass, and consists of shrimp, chile peppers, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, green onions, and avocados in some sort of lime-seasoned chilled broth. Healthy and not fattening.
I haven't found any good Indian restaurants around here, so when I want Indian food I mostly cook it myself. Mostly when people think of Indian food they think of those nice fattening curries laden with cream and ghee. But there are a lot of curries that don't use those things. One of my favorites is a salmon curry in a chunky tomato and onion based sauce. As with the Thai food, I substitute brown Basmati rice for white. And there is a whole range of what are called "Balti" dishes which are basically different types of stir-frys.
So it's not as difficult as you might think. You just have to learn a different way of cooking than you're used to. Of course, since I'm doing intuitive eating for my weightloss plan, I don't have to count calories or points, which I imagine could become pretty problematic.
Fiddler I am with you. I adore mexican food. if I can't have tacos once a week I go insane! I usually don't fry them any more, I use chicken more often than not and use cheese sparingly!
sigh.... i am now truly adicted to this forum! I am sitting at the new Bangkok airport... transiting for Shanghai and the first thing I do is log onto this forum!But OH MY GOD! This is not an airport.... it's a mini city!!!
Secondly, I have already cheated I ate dinner at home...reached the airport and the plane was delayed by 6 hours!!!! By the time I was on the plane, I was so hungry, I was prepared to eat the air hostess coz she looked like the best protein source to me.... the fact that canibalism is punishable by law.... held me back
But they served a chicken pilaf rice, garlic bread and some dodgy looking dessert.... i skipped the dessert but had to eat the rice coz thats all they had :-(
sigh.... am i imagining it or are my jeans tight already???
This is the shape of things to come for the next 5 days!!!
i guess the only thing i can do is continue the exercise... hopefully i wont gain...
Anyway... fiddler - thanks for the food tips.... i'm going to follow you around this forum
ok.... i'm off to explore this huge airport now.... oh lordy... i have to pass the muffin counter to get to departures.... sigh... wish me luck!!
Soulmia, most people retain fluid when they travel, so if the scale shows a gain for you after the trip, don't assume it is all fat. Make sure you drink plenty of water. That will help.
ok thats it. i am officially a hopeless case!
I have not only cheated, i have gone over board cheating!
But i'll worry and whine about that when i'm back home... i'm having too much of a good time to count my calories and crabs now!
I have shopped till i dropped!
i even bought myself a fake rolex!! I'm expecting it to stop working by the time i'm homeward bound
anyways just chcked in to say hello...and that i'll be back in full swing once i'm back home!
hugs!
natasha
Most of the popular diets are geared toward American cuisine. I can't imagine how hard it must be to stay on SB or Atkins if you are used to traditional Indian cuisine, which it sounds like you are from what you said you like to eat.
It sounds like what you are already eating is pretty healthy, and you just need to work on portion control. Have you considered Intuitive Eating as a weightloss plan? There is a thread on it in the General Diet Plans forum. That would help you work on portion control, and maybe you could just make a few modifications in what you are already eating. Like reduce the amount of bread, substitute brown rice for white, stick to yogurt-based rather than cream-based dishes, and cook with a minimal amount of oils.
As far as whether 1700 calories is too much, I agree with the other posters who said you should see if you are losing at that level. If you are exercising, you will be able to eat more than if you aren't, and exercise has a lot of other benefits besides, like keeping your metabolism from slowing down. When I incorporated exercise into my weightloss plan, it made a much bigger difference than I had anticipated. When I don't feel like exercising, I remind myself that I would not be able to eat as much as I do if I didn't exercise. Maybe that would work for you too.
Dont worry about calories on south beach, just follow the plan and you should see results after the first week. To continue on fiddler's post, if you do cook with any oils, use sunflower oil. Its very good for you and doesnt taste any different than other oils. I have started using it when cooking. Every little bit counts.
:-)
However...I was looking at your progress...WOW!!!!!
Natasha
ingredients...it's very difficult 
, I will have to find a way.... :wink:
thats bad - i know. So from today, I am setting alarms on my phone so that I remember to drink! 
sigh... the things i'll do to drop the fat! 
I do occasionally have the coconut-based curries now that the nutritional establishment has reversed their position on coconut milk being bad for you.
I am sitting at the new Bangkok airport... transiting for Shanghai and the first thing I do is log onto this forum!
I love that!
