Tommy
Senior Member
- Location
- New Hampshire
As we get older our metabolism slows down and some of us tend to put on weight. That's where I found myself a year ago, so I made the decision to try a personal experiment. I made a commitment to myself to clean up my food choices and to maintain a well balanced diet. No special exercise regimen, no fad diet, just that.
For the first part, I chose to seriously minimize my consumption of highly processed foods, refined sugars, fried foods, white flour, foods containing significant amounts of saturated fat, and alcohol. I found this to be much easier than it first sounded.
The second part involved keeping detailed records of what I eat. I don't know that many people could/would actually do this, but here I have two distinct advantages. One, I actually enjoy keeping records (an occupational hazard) and, two, my wife is an exceptionally good sport.
My dietary targets were to get less than half of my calories from carbs, less than 30 percent from fats, and at least 30 grams of dietary fiber per day. No limit on the total number of calories. I have to say, the results of my experiment fascinated and truly astounded me.
Initially, my daily calorie intake plummeted to around 1200/day. Eating the right foods in the right proportions, I just wasn't very hungry. After about a week, any cravings for junk food had all but vanished. By the end of eight months, I had lost over a third of my starting body weight and reached what I consider an ideal weight for me. I've maintained that weight for four months now. My caloric intake slowly increased to about 2000 calories per day and I sometimes have to remind myself to eat a bit more to keep from losing any more weight. And I've had to replace all of my size 42 waist pants with 36 waist.
The down side is coming to understand just how difficult it is to maintain those nutrient ratios. Many good fiber sources come with a lot of carbs. Protein is often accompanied by high fat content. I'm wondering if there is a good way to maintain a healthy nutrient balance without having to record every single thing one eats.
For the first part, I chose to seriously minimize my consumption of highly processed foods, refined sugars, fried foods, white flour, foods containing significant amounts of saturated fat, and alcohol. I found this to be much easier than it first sounded.
The second part involved keeping detailed records of what I eat. I don't know that many people could/would actually do this, but here I have two distinct advantages. One, I actually enjoy keeping records (an occupational hazard) and, two, my wife is an exceptionally good sport.
My dietary targets were to get less than half of my calories from carbs, less than 30 percent from fats, and at least 30 grams of dietary fiber per day. No limit on the total number of calories. I have to say, the results of my experiment fascinated and truly astounded me.
Initially, my daily calorie intake plummeted to around 1200/day. Eating the right foods in the right proportions, I just wasn't very hungry. After about a week, any cravings for junk food had all but vanished. By the end of eight months, I had lost over a third of my starting body weight and reached what I consider an ideal weight for me. I've maintained that weight for four months now. My caloric intake slowly increased to about 2000 calories per day and I sometimes have to remind myself to eat a bit more to keep from losing any more weight. And I've had to replace all of my size 42 waist pants with 36 waist.
The down side is coming to understand just how difficult it is to maintain those nutrient ratios. Many good fiber sources come with a lot of carbs. Protein is often accompanied by high fat content. I'm wondering if there is a good way to maintain a healthy nutrient balance without having to record every single thing one eats.