My girlfriend is a dirty keto bitch and she observes fat/calories intake with things like small cheese snacks through the day to boost fat intake (we just buy cheap block cheese and then I'll slice or cube it up). There's also "Bullet Proof Coffee", which while high in calories is very high in fat and keto/dieters in general swear by it. My girlfriend drank it for quite awhile before our coffee maker busted and we never bothered to get a new one. Most people use it as a replacement for an entire meal, too. I don't know if I vouch for it much myself because I don't drink coffee, but there are also tea variants of it. Whenever I'm feeling a little groggy, some cheese and sour cream helps me feel a lot more awake. I don't really count calories, though. I was also going to suggest avocado. I know lots of people who lose serious weight on keto/keto-esque diets who would have a morning meal that was just an avocado. A staple of my girlfriend and I's diet is grilled chicken thigh (skin on normally) in a salad with a sliced boiled egg and ranch dressing. Sometimes with Avocado. This is an ultra fancy dinner for us, pretty much (spoiler'd for size; Spoiler
Ooh, yeah, eggs are good, too. Not super high fat, but enough to fill you up. One hard-boiled egg is, what, 150 calories? But it's a satisfying snack!
I’ve literally never eaten an avocado. Never even tried guacamole. I can’t imagine what they taste like. How do you eat avocados? Like... on toast? I used to hate fish. Maybe I’ll try it again and see how I feel. I do love cheese, but it’s so high calorie. Maybe I’d add some Gouda to my eggs and cut calories somewhere else.
Avocado can be slightly an acquired taste. It's not odd tasting or anything too exotic, but it has what I'd describe as a very mild kind of flavor, the texture is a little bit like a bland peanut butter I guess? Imagine soaking cilantro in water for a few hours and then turning it into a thick cream I guess. It's not something everyone can easily eat by itself, but there are some people who love it or learn to love it. Good guacamole is awesome. Lots of low carb/low calorie things you can dip into it, too. I'd recommend having guacamole first before plain avocado, maybe? Preparing avocado is also a task you have to kind of learn. Pitting it and then removing it from the skin can take a few times to learn right. A lot of food is akin to pizza, in that there's so many varieties of it that someone can't possibly claim they don't like any of them. Fish on the other hand is kind of different, because even across vast different species of fish their meat is all pretty similar. You could try experimenting with white and red fish and different seasoning styles. Baked fish seasoned with some basil and lemon pepper with butter melted on it will barely taste like fish in the end. If all else fails, you could dry doing fried fish by breading the fish in a low carb flour like almond flour. Homemade tartar sauce is a great source of fat.
The weather just started getting nice enough here to run outside, and Mr. Kelly and I have our first 5K of the season in less than a month so I've been trying to run at least twice a week (though I was at my best when I ran three times a week). My stamina is crap after months of slacking off and currently my legs feel like they're gonna fall off. But...healthy! Exercise! Whoo...hoo?
@CoyoteKing if you like red meat then tuna is a pretty close - salmon and swordfish are nice and meaty too. If you're looking for a very light flavor though, perch, sole and tilapia are super mild and not at all fishy when fresh. My favorites are red snapper and orange roughy, which are somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. And monkfish is the bomb if you like lobster - it has a very similar texture.
There has been an increasing following of the idea that calories in calories out is actually an incorrect model for healthy weight maintenance or weight loss. The fact that a calorie is processed differently by the body is more prevalent and could explain why some people can eat and eat and eat but don't put weight on and those who eat substantially less and seem to put weight on easily. This gives rise to the idea of metabolic syndrome and something to do with insulin production. Ketogenic diets tend to be more focused on those with such syndromes. There is a good podcast called 2ketodudes which actually go into the science of ketogenic diet, how and why it works. Albeit they are not doctors, however, they cite their research articles on their website.
I decided to experiment today. I realized I’ve been eating too many fruits and veggies... not enough protein or fat. So today I’m going to try to eat less carbs. Today the menu is— Scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese for breakfast (410 calories). Very hearty and delicious treat. Small salad for lunch, with a few small slices of salami and hard cheese. (250 calories) For dinner— chicken breast grilled in butter, plus a cup of grapes. Not sure about calories. Don’t know how to measure a chicken breast. I need to figure out how to cook fish. I bet I would like tilapia.
Do you think you're going a bit hardcore? I'm not surprised you're hungry, with so few calories! The general recommendation is to not go below 1200, isn't it?
Yeah your calories are too low! I'd try and calculate your BMR and then subtract 600 from it to get an estimate on how many cals a day to eat unless you intend to do a lot of exercise, therefore you may need to add calories or keep it the same. A simple approximation for calories to eat is Calories = BMR - BMR * %BODYFAT/100 You can get your BMR on an online BMR calculator %BODYFAT can be estimated by %BODYFAT = (Amount of weight to loose / Current Weight)*100 E.g I am a male with a BMR of 2356 and a %BODYFAT of %26 my cals should be 2356 - 2356*0.26 = 1743Cals That is my calorie intake allowance if I do bugger all all-day! Are you doing Ketogenic Diet?
Cooking fish is pretty easy. If you can cook chicken good, you can cook any type of fish well. Frying it in a pan nice and fancy can be kind of hard, especially without a proper fish spatula (I've learned to use anything to flip fish, though, so you don't really need an overpriced fish flipper), but you can also just toss some fish into a pan, top it with a couple slices of butter, lemon pepper, whatever else you want on it and then bake it at 400 or so just until the meat is no longer soft. Even if you mess up and overcook it just a bit, you can't really go wrong with baked fish. You can approximate calories and nutrients for something by weighing it. Small portion kitchen scales are pretty cheap and very helpful for food budgeting. Just Google up the brand of chicken breast you're using, find nutritional info for it and then weigh it out to your needs.
Kinda long but if anyone is interested in my kinda huge change in dietary habits: As I've mentioned, I've changed my diet to nearly all plant-based whole foods. I tried it for a month and it worked so well for me that at this point I plan to keep it. Now that I've gotten used to it, I don't feel deprived, aside from regularly craving shrimp, which I indulge. Husband seems to crave a luscious dessert (eggs, butter, cream) about once a week and he has that, too. We don't worry about going 100%. My and husband's blood work (cholesterol, triglycerides etc.) is looking great, and that's what we mainly go by because it's measurable fact, not opinion. I feel like for the first time in my adult post-baby life, I am no longer fighting with food, if that makes sense. My weight stays down automatically, I don't have to restrict or even count calories for it. (For those who aren't familiar, that's with plant-based "whole foods." Just "vegan" wouldn't do it because it can include endless fattening processed foods, sugar, oil, etc.) I guess we've been moving in this direction for years. Not really consciously but just because we're both a little vain and weight conscious, and you can't eat like a teenager anymore with some years on without likely getting mounting weight and health problems. Anyway, the results did surprise me because I thought our eating habits were already good- mostly fish, chicken and seafood, low-fat or no-fat dairy, very little fried food, vegetables with every meal, etc. But the meds we were prescribed kept accumulating anyway and now that's going in the opposite direction. To me, happiness is all in the spices. I just want food that tastes good. I'm used to pretty much treating the vegetables, starches and fruit as afterthoughts or jazzing them up with animal products so I'm basically having to learn to cook all over again. If anyone is considering it, I'd say: Indian spice mixes like curry powder and garam masala are wonderful as are Crockpots, get used to lots of chopping, and be sure to take B-12 supplements if you go near 100% plant-based. Now to get back into the exercise habit. I know I just need to shut up and do it for a couple of months and then I will crave it and look forward to it again. But getting to that point where the habit catches on, ugh. Oh yeah, I also make the exception of a glass or two of wine per day on average, which is probably not ideal either, dammit.
Well, different types of fish do cook differently. Trout and salmon tend to do well pan fried, whereas cod generally won't hold up to such abuse and is better battered and fried. Tuna, probably my favourite, I like best when I dredge it, roll it in sesame seeds, throw on a hot grill. Keep in mind, though that nature is rarely consistent and these guides (and even the ones on prepared foods) can be off by as much as 20%.
@OB1 & @BayView: Yeah, that’s true. I honestly hadn’t considered that. It’s not intentional. I’m just trying to figure out how I feel. I’m 5’8”, 230 pounds, and My TDEE is 2300 calories. I usually wind up eating 1400-2200 calories, depending on how I feel that day and what I’m doing. Part of it is, healthy food is boring, so I automatically eat less of it. Like... if I eat four boiled eggs for breakfast, that’s only 320 calories, but I feel stuffed (and sick of boiled eggs). It’s the same thing with grilled chicken. Maybe I’ll ease up a little and add some more things I like. My goals right now are very basic. Eat less than my TDEE every single day (whether it’s a 100 calorie deficit or 1000 calorie deficit). Focus on eating a lot of protein, when possible. Feel good. Feel awake, aware, and energized. Exercise when I have time. Do stuff I enjoy. Dig up the garden, mow the lawn, throw weights around, wrestle with my husband, hike with the dogs.
You'll be pretty fine if you bake any kind of fish, which is what I meant. None turn out bad and it's a very easy beginner way of preparing almost any seafood. Drizzle it in olive oil or butter and bake/broil it. Nothing fancy. That's why it's all done by approximation. No one can get 100% accurate dietary intake, especially considering everyone's body is different when it comes to absorbing and using nutrients anyways. Weighted calorie approximations are pretty close, though. There won't be too much caloric difference between two different 5 ounce chicken breasts as long as they're the same brand/sourced from the same stock.
@Coyote King- You want to lose a lot of weight so I wonder if Weight Watchers, OverEaters Anonymous (which is free) or another organized approach with ongoing support and learning (about a wide variety of tasty low calorie dishes, for example) would be a great help to you in reaching and maintaining your goals. ETA: Besides what's already been mentioned, other mild white fishes are pollock and flounder. You can microwave a piece of fish in just a couple of minutes, or spray with oil and saute it in a pan. When it's opaque, it's done. Some good seasonings are paprika, blackened seasoning, lemon pepper seasoning or garlic salt. A fresh lemon or lime wedge squeezed on top after it's cooked is great, too.
No. I’ve read a lot about it, and I like the logic behind it. I’m trying to eat a high protein, medium fat, low carb diet. But full-on keto is too hardcore for me. I like eating lots of fruit (and sometimes raw veggies). And I like having a drink on weekend. I eat too many carbs for keto. I wouldn’t be able to sustain it long-term. (Vodka is a carb, right? )
Yeah. I did keto for awhile (lazy keto, never tracking macros and stuff). My girlfriend stresses a lot about making sure she adheres to her strict ketogenic goals. It works really well for her but it's a very miserable way to eat food if you ask me. I just sensibly avoid carbs but indulge when I feel like it and eat lots of lean protein and, more than that, green vegetables. Takes no effort or thinking and it just works.
I actually did do weight watchers for a while! That’s what kicked this off. It worked very well for me and I learned a lot from it. I like the support from weight loss communities. I like to spend time on /r/loseit (which is a community on reddit). They had a lot of info there, too.
I find that too, whether it's eating, quitting smoking, exercise, improving housekeeping habits or whatever. It seems like you have to get really into it in order to actually make a big change in your life but then you notice people's eyes glazing over when you mention it lol. So nice to find a group who is also into it.
Not really - there were about 20 of us in the club plus a couple of instructors, and we sparred with each other. Most of the inter-club stuff over here happens as European events - or at least, it used to. It's been a long time since I hit anyone in the head with a pommel.
Have you heard about the primal blue print? Although this is a bit of a business for Mark Sisson, the actual plan is pretty simple. It centres around the paleo diet, i.e. If it don't grow in't earth or eat stuff grown in't earth don't eat it. Although it is a bit more complicated as they say you shouldn't have potatoes , grains, rice, etc. Sweet potato is ok in moderation, and a glass of red wine now and again is advocated.
Problem is if you eat too much protein, your body turns it into glucose, which causes insulin spikes. Not sure whether this is the exact science, but too much insulin makes you store fat rather than burn it. You body can only use a finite amount of protein for synthesis. The amount of protein is said to be about 1 gram of protein for 1 pound of lean body mass. i.e. If your lean body mass is 180lbs then you should be consuming no more than 180g of protein a day. When you say that healthy food is boring, it doesn't have to be. It all depends on how adventurous you are and how prepared you are to cook. I am a bit of a foodie. I love to cook, I love peoples reactions when I cook nice food etc. I love to experiment, and so between my wife and I, I am the cook in the house. She admits if I didn't cook we'd be getting a shove pass for our dinners! Perhaps we should start a thread on recipe ideas????
