[Sawyer]

Exercise is for good health and fitness.
Weight loss for overweight people is less about what you eat and more about how you eat.
Simple principles, to be observed in combination, to allow your body to get down to and stay at your optimum weight:
1. Learn to recognise signs of true hunger and eat only then. No comfort eating.
2. Eat consciously and slowly, relishing every morsel, and do nothing but enjoy what you are eating. So - no reading, TV, alcohol and the like when you eat, all of which interrupts this single minded attention. And till you are at the weight that feels right for you, no alcohol. Thereafter, if you must, in moderation, but not while eating.
3. Eat what you feel like at the time, not what someone else says is good for you. Your body knows what it needs, if you listen to it you won't go wrong. Even if there is a time when your body is saying - I need a chocolate. Or whatever else.
4. Stop eating as soon as you are close to feeling full.

This practice works. It is also more liveable over a lifetime, than staying on some "diet". The latter sounds like a prison sentence.

[Saanil]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to get your views on 2 things:

1. Is corn not a healthy part of the diet? I am talking about American corn here.

2. Earlier when I used to have chapati and vegetables (sabzi), I used to put Ghee on my chapatis. Do you guys also avoid that? Or is it ok to consume it in very small amounts?

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by Saanil

Earlier when I used to have chapati and vegetables (sabzi), I used to put Ghee on my chapatis. Do you guys also avoid that? Or is it ok to consume it in very small amounts?

If it is weight loss you are targetting, have the ghee but avoid the chappatti!

[Saanil]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

If it is weight loss you are targetting, have the ghee but avoid the chappatti!

Wow! That was not the answer I was hoping for. Ghee is total fat right? Roti is made from wheat which is not that bad? Not sure if my understanding is correct

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Saanil

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to get your views on 2 things:

1. Is corn not a healthy part of the diet? I am talking about American corn here.

2. Earlier when I used to have chapati and vegetables (sabzi), I used to put Ghee on my chapatis. Do you guys also avoid that? Or is it ok to consume it in very small amounts?

(1) No Corn or cornflakes are not considered very healthy , Corn has lots of starch and also some amount of sugar. For weight loss cereals like barley , maze , wheat are much better due to complex carbohydrates in them.

(2) Avoid ghee on Chappatis if goal is weight loss and also if you are not aiming for Ketonic diet.

Someone may advice you to eat a lot of fat and protein and near zero carbs for weight loss this is called Ketonic diet but I have my own reservations.
Scroll back few pages a member cited many papers in support of Ketonic diet I went through them but the conclusion of many of these papers were ironically not good and one paper actually showed hight mortality.

I do not want to start the same debate again so please scroll back , read links and draw your own conclusion.

[srishiva]

Corn also has high fibre. Its good since you can have pop corn (without the salt and butter)

[k_ajay]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Exercise is for good health and fitness.
Weight loss for overweight people is less about what you eat and more about how you eat.
Simple principles, to be observed in combination, to allow your body to get down to and stay at your optimum weight:
1. Learn to recognise signs of true hunger and eat only then. No comfort eating.
2. Eat consciously and slowly, relishing every morsel, and do nothing but enjoy what you are eating. So - no reading, TV, alcohol and the like when you eat, all of which interrupts this single minded attention. And till you are at the weight that feels right for you, no alcohol. Thereafter, if you must, in moderation, but not while eating.
3. Eat what you feel like at the time, not what someone else says is good for you. Your body knows what it needs, if you listen to it you won't go wrong. Even if there is a time when your body is saying - I need a chocolate. Or whatever else.
4. Stop eating as soon as you are close to feeling full.

This practice works. It is also more liveable over a lifetime, than staying on some "diet". The latter sounds like a prison sentence.

Well written. The fat keeps accumalating mainly due to eating when the body 'does not' need food. Ask me how I know. Comfort eating is ultimately not good for the body, no matter what you eat.

Originally Posted by Saanil

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to get your views on 2 things:

1. Is corn not a healthy part of the diet? I am talking about American corn here.

2. Earlier when I used to have chapati and vegetables (sabzi), I used to put Ghee on my chapatis. Do you guys also avoid that? Or is it ok to consume it in very small amounts?

Small quantities of corn won't matter. Steam it well and have them raw or with very little lemon concentrate (extracted fresh, not bottled crap). Too much isn't good as it's a lot of starch.

Hope the chapati's you're mentioning are taken in the day (lunch) rather than at night (dinner). If you're on a high carb diet, than 2 chapati's for dinner is ok, but if you're not on a high carb diet, then totally avoid chapatis in the night. GHEE is totally out of question. It is fat (coming from butter).

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

If it is weight loss you are targetting, have the ghee but avoid the chappatti!

Interesting. just keen to know on why consuming ghee is ok. Since most nutritionists and certified trainers will recommend to keep of saturated fats. Having 2 chapatis in day time is not bad (i speak from experience).

Originally Posted by Saanil

Wow! That was not the answer I was hoping for. Ghee is total fat right? Roti is made from wheat which is not that bad? Not sure if my understanding is correct

Wheat is not bad but has carbohydrates. While this should not be totally avoided, it needs to be consumed in moderate quantities when on a fat loss program.




Anyway, i came back to this thread to share some initial success I've been having. I started a recommended 'nutrition plan' (i don't believe in a word diet anymore) where I consume food(s) with more proteins and only natural sugars and highly reduced carbs and very, very low fat content.

My meal plan also includes low fat milk, low fat cheese, low fat peanut butter and low fat yoghurt. Now don't think these can be had in bucketfulls but more like spoonfulls (meaning, had in appropriate quantities and in moderation). Other stuff I eat are lots of egg whites (omlette, boiled), oats and museli (breakfast only) and loads of vegetables (which I used to take earlier too but much higher quantities now). New food introduction have been veg soup (for dinner) and whey protein shake post workout. My family is strictly vegetatian but I've always loved egg omelet. Now without the yolk, its just better for the health.

I'm still embarrassed to reveal these but I'm confident doing this now will cause more shame if I ever go back to these body weights again. I weighed 117.8 on 4th June 2013. I started going to the gym from 2nd June 2013. Started following the nurtition meal plan provided to me by 6th June '13.

My exercise at gym is a mix of cardio and strengths. Trust me, I'm enjoying it. Getting up at 5.10am everyday is no joke for someone used to getting up at 7am. Being up this early and awake well until 11pm on some days, I see visible benefits by working out early in the morning. I feel fresh for almost the entire day when I'm awake. I hardly yawn and my body feels charged.

Since I first took my weight record on a tuesday (4th June), I decided to watch my weight increase/reduction on tuesdays every week, post workout. So, here goes:

4th June - 117.8
11th June - 116.5
18th June - 114.3
25th June - 112.1
2nd July - skipped, didn't check weight.
9th July - skipped, didn't check weight.
16th July - 109.8

On 28th June, I had my aunt and cousin come home for dinner (from US) and they pleaded me to eat with them (had got outside food for them and family and it wasn't very healthy as home cooked). Hesitantly I ate the tasty food but regretted doing it for 2 weeks (the guilt of additional calories was irritating from within).
So, I was a little worried to even check my wheight on 2nd July (reason I skipped). I wasn't sure if my BMR had increased to a level to burn incoming fat and assumed my weight could have increased from the unavoidable June 28th intake.

9th July, just forgot to check weight and realised only by thursday 11th. Instead of breaking the schedule, I preferred to check again next Tuesday 16th july).

I'm supremely happy that I'm under 110kgs now. For someone who has never recorded lost weight, you cannot imagine how awesome this is for me. The only time I remember I actually lost weight was when I tried a 'dieting' stunt sometime in 2007 (lost 1kg, that's all).

My goal is to reduce 40kgs of 'fat' and arrive at 77kgs. With my workout, my nutrition and constant reminder to keep focused on my goal, I'm now positive that this is doable.

I'm sharing this not to embarrass myself or boast my achievement, but just to share with other bodily heavy-like-me members that if I could do this, anyone can (sounds very cliched but I literally mean every word of that sentence). All it needs is a little initial kick-start motivation.

Point is, focus on your goal and learn that the foods you eat now (if your choices are not the healthy food varities) is not providing your body any 'nutrition'. Foods that do not appeal to the tounge are possibly what provide good nutrition or value to the body. Don't blindly go on a diet. To me diet means nothing, it's just a word coined to fool oneself. Rather, understand food sources, its nurtition and get a certified professional body trainer or nutritionist and get a meal plan customised for you, THAT YOU CAN FOLLOW. Accepting anything won't work on the long run.

Some basic info that I have today. If you'd like, you can consider them:

a. Prefer to eat low fat cheese than butter. Low fat cheese has lesser fat and carbs and more proteins. (ditto with probiotic/low fat yoghurt).
b. Veggies and fruits already provide their share of carbs, so try to avoid prepared foods with carbs like roti/chapati, etc for dinner. Eat these for lunch. Avoid rice as much as you can (heavy on carbs).
c. Consume more Peas. Most people like this but not many know its protein rich.
d. Don't be fascinated with the word weight loss. What fat/obese individuals need to embark is on 'fat loss'. Your body will need the muscle to be able to maintain a healthy BMR (basal metabolic rate). Just losing weight could lead to muscle (tissue) loss too.
e. If someone says for fat loss, you shouldn't do strength training, simply laugh at them and keep walking. They're WRONG.

Our Indian culture is such that it's not tuned to eating healthy. Lots of ghee, sweets and the numerous festivals that won't let a person follow healthy food plan is our bane. Also we're not a very 'fitness' oriented country to begin with. But the trend is now changing and that is positive. So if you are going to start a fat loss program, you'll have to beat a lot of the temptations and rising challenges. Yes, avoiding (or reducing to the least) that celebration gulab jamun and festive ladoo is critically important (till the time you lose the excess fat from your body and your BMR is at a level capable of buring stored and incoming calories).

My biggest mistake was thinking that I should go to a plush and reputed gym so that the training will be good. One cannot be closer to being wrong than having this thought. My gym owner and head trainer (is ofcourse multi-certified) but it isn't gold's gym, talwalkars or snap fitness. You never know where, in which gym, you'll find a trainer with a wealth of information to help support your body transformation program (fat loss, weight gain, tone, whatever). If I had joined the gym earlier than I did, I probably would be well under 100kgs today. Ultimately now, I know I will reach there and beyond.

I have a (now turning) 2 years young daughter and with her, I understood my fitness levels were going down alarmingly and I needed to get fit for her and for everything I will experience with her in life. I don't want to be that obese dad that was in the background when my daughter was living and experiencing life. That's my motivation.

Find yours.

[Sawyer]

Losing 40kilos is very doable. I went from 105 to 70 in ten months in 2006, and then again from 105 to 75 in 2012. The mistake I made from 2007-2012 is common - not eating right in between.

Now, although I still run and lift heavy, I have also changed the way I eat, not what I eat. That has allowed me to stay at 75 for a year now. At 54 years age.

The bad foods are the refined and processed ones. Flour, sugar, junk style non veg. As are liquid calories via fruit juices and colas - and alcohol of course. On its own, fat isn't the problem. Indeed, I take a straight teaspoon of ghee a day for health. Eggs with yolks are better because the yolk helps the absorption of the whites by the body. Up to a 4 a day is not an issue. And normal - full fat - cows milk is better than the low fat version.

Basically though, it is more of how you eat.

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by k_ajay

Well written. The fat keeps accumalating mainly due to eating when the body 'does not' need food. Ask me how I know. Comfort eating is ultimately not good for the body, no matter what you eat.

The best comment here

b. Veggies and fruits already provide their share of carbs, so try to avoid prepared foods with carbs like roti/chapati, etc for dinner. Eat these for lunch. Avoid rice as much as you can (heavy on carbs).

Now this is what gets me!! What's the difference between rice and wheat in terms of carbs? Both are equally heavy on it. In terms of percentage, hardly any difference

If the diet is working for you, that's very good

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Losing 40kilos is very doable. I went from 105 to 70 in ten months in 2006, and then again from 105 to 75 in 2012. The mistake I made from 2007-2012 is common - not eating right in between.

Now, although I still run and lift heavy, I have also changed the way I eat, not what I eat. That has allowed me to stay at 75 for a year now. At 54 years age.

The bad foods are the refined and processed ones. Flour, sugar, junk style non veg. As are liquid calories via fruit juices and colas - and alcohol of course. On its own, fat isn't the problem. Indeed, I take a straight teaspoon of ghee a day for health. Eggs with yolks are better because the yolk helps the absorption of the whites by the body. Up to a 4 a day is not an issue. And normal - full fat - cows milk is better than the low fat version.

Basically though, it is more of how you eat.

Agreed 100%

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

The best comment here



Now this is what gets me!! What's the difference between rice and wheat in terms of carbs? Both are equally heavy on it. In terms of percentage, hardly any difference

If wheat makes you are think of white bread or kerala parrontha that is made of refined floor
and rice means white rice then you are right there is no difference.

How ever for most people in India by consuming wheat means consuming rotis with flour of full grain with no husk removed and rice means white polished rice ( except Kerala)

White polished rice has glycemic index (GI) of approximately 70 and refined wheat floor ( maida) is very similar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index

Whole wheat rotis ( Chappatis as people in south prefer to call them ) contain full bran of wheat and glycemic index is nearly 40 to 48. Please note that "atta" used to make rotis have full grain so much more bran then the so called whole wheat bread where a portion of bran is removed.
Whole wheat bread has GI of 56.

Apart from this wheat bran has 15 to 18% protein and it is full of fiber which is good for the guts whereas white polished rice is devoid of any such benefit.

However seeing your user id "mallumowgli" one may assume that you do consume brown / red rice which has many benefits :-) similar to whole wheat.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

Now this is what gets me!! What's the difference between rice and wheat in terms of carbs? Both are equally heavy on it. In terms of percentage, hardly any difference

As a fellow South Indian (read rice eater) I feel your pain. I guess there are two reasons. Rice is a very simple carbohydrate and is easily digested. So it makes you hungry faster. Also it has something called a higher glycemic index than wheat, which makes it less desirable. Cutting out all rice, refined flour and sugar from your diet will ensure that you lose weight, no question about it.

In fact I have now gone on a diet where the only sources of carbs are oats, bran, vegetables and fruit. Coupled with a regular cardio and gym workout schedule, hoping to go back to under 80 kg (currently around 97) which will be college weight. It is tough, but desperate times called for desperate solutions.

[mallumowgli]

Amit and Anoop : Yes. I know all these stuff.

But I've totally cut out the wheat, apart from all processed food. Wee bit of rice and loads of natural food - that's my diet. I work out just 15 mins a day for 3/4 days a week - I've a near flat tummy now and boundless energy the whole day. After drastically reducing weight, am now trying to increase it now but finding that a slow process!!

So am not buying all those US health advisory derived crap about wheat being superior to rice!! Both are equally bad - so I prefer rice in small quantities, since it goes better with South Indian curries

Am not going to post further on this thread. To each his own. Though I've boundless energy, can't spare that for an argument on diet, of all things

[k_ajay]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

The best comment here

Now this is what gets me!! What's the difference between rice and wheat in terms of carbs? Both are equally heavy on it. In terms of percentage, hardly any difference

If the diet is working for you, that's very good

Agreed 100%

Thanks mallumowgli. The nutrition plan is working for me as I've been monitoring it over the last month and a half. And I know I've not lost this weight by some short cut trick so managing to keep this lost weight off isn't going to be a herculean task.


Regarding your query, I'll share my limited knowledge (I like to do a little research into whatever gets my interest but still i'm not a registered/certified nutritionist). The main difference is that wheat is still a whole grain while (white) rice is a processed grain. Before we get white rice, the rice grain is actually brown rice with it's bran and germ intact (which are good and contain essential nutrition [and with the 'husk' intact, the rice is also a whole grain]). The white rice is processed to remove these 2 components to arrive at it. By this, it loses some of the essential nutrition..

Individuals who are working out (for either fat loss or muscle gain, tone) still need carbs for providing energy to the body. And normally for this, they're encouraged to eat, amongst other food with carbs, 'brown rice'. Because it's a much better nutritious whole grain to consume.

Whole grain wheat meanwhile has far more dietary fibre than white rice and is more rich in protein and minerals. I should have also mentioned that it's better to eat brown rice than consume white rice (if one must eat rice).

A nutritionist can help point out the differences in better and far more detail that the basic info I have. There are clear differences between consuming white rice and whole wheat.


And losing 40 kilos is very doable but 'only' losing 40 kilos of fat is a different matter. But it is possble.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

I've totally cut out the wheat, apart from all processed food. Wee bit of rice and loads of natural food - that's my diet. I work out just 15 mins a day for 3/4 days a week - I've a near flat tummy now and boundless energy the whole day. After drastically reducing weight, am now trying to increase it now but finding that a slow process!!

Am not going to post further on this thread. To each his own. Though I've boundless energy, can't spare that for an argument on diet, of all things

Oh sorry...I wasn't trying to contradict you, thought you asked a question and was replying that's all. Small (monitored) quantities of rice should be absolutely fine, after all you need your carbs somehow! There are enough people in my family who eat rice and are absolutely slim and fit.

As for putting on weight after reducing, why on earth would you want to do that? If you must, you could try doing more weight training. That will build up your muscle and since muscle weighs more than fat, you should see your weight go up and feel awesome at the same time!

[amitk26]

yes mallumowgli diet is an individual preference and one should follow what works best for him or her.

In fact I have achieved my weight loss goals already without any significant diet change and on an average exercise of 1 hour daily. For past many months my focus is on improving muscle definition and endurance rather then weight loss. I do not want to bulk up but trying to be lean and mean.

My food habits were generally always healthy and I never used to take fatty food. Only thing I have cut is occasional evening snack of Dosa /Vada / Idly in office cafeteria and reduced rice consumption at home to 3/4 times a week.

I do not believe in low carb diets much but anecdotal evidence of diabetes epidemic in parts of country consuming white rice and less protein says that there is some role. As per couple of doctor friends diabetes incidence is as high as 1 in every 4 person in some parts of AP.

We need to keep in mind that diet patterns have altered a lot in last 50 years.
Once upon a time course grains like ragi , bajra , jowar were significant part of diet even in south but today they have almost totally disappeared from the platter.
Also average life expectancy in India in 1947 was mere 31 years so most people probably died of infections and malnutrition before diabetes can hit them in middle age.