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Programming and Dieting?
duncan bayne asks: "I've been using the Hacker's Diet to lose weight. What's interesting to me is how hard it is to focus on a complicated task when my body is busy running out of energy. I'm having to pay careful attention to snacking - eating enough that I don't 'fade out' in the afternoon, yet not so much that I exceed my daily kilojoule allowance. This got me to thinking about energy levels of those who aren't dieting. Do you find yourself correcting 'fade' by snacking (careful or otherwise) as you work?"
()Atkins
()South Beach
()CowboyNeal
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
I have an IV Caffeine drip, and a catheter. I once 'moved' in order to see whether the big shiny thing in the sky was still there. It was.
The best way I have found to fight fade, expecially when trying to follow a diet is to consume a Foosh mint when feeling, low. I am a "In Training" cyclist with very strict dietary restrictions and I have found that the Foosh Mints give you the buzz that you are looking for, in minutes, without interfering with your diet. Pick up a tin and try them for yourselves. They are great!
I find that if I consume too much food, my ability to focus is diminished. This is particularly true for sugars, caffeine, and simple carbs. I can feel my blood sugar getting high, and then the weird antsy hyper mentality kicks in, and I'd be better suited for writing off the wall humor.
If I snack, I have to make sure that it is not the stuff that comes out of a vending machine. What I typically do, or would like to, given the amount of self-control that I have on certain days, is to eat half the sandwich for lunch, wait a couple of hours, and then eat the other half of the sandwich. That way, it ensures that I am never too hungry, but also makes it so that I don't overload on things that will make my brain flighty.
Another helpful thing is exercise. If I keep to a regular workout schedule, I find that my blood sugar is better regulated, and that I am able to really concentrate on things.
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
if you eat the right stuff. Some diets recommend you eat 5 small meals a day instead of 3 bigger meals. Why? There is a significant "fixed cost" to digesting food, ie the amount of calories you burn to digest any amount of food, however after you pay the fixed cost the incremental cost is quite small. So you are actually doing yourself a favor if you snack on stuff like carrots and apples during the day. Esp. since your body has to do more work to break down carrots and apples than it does a Snickers bar.....
Monstar L
Stay with the diet, and avoid snacking whatsoever. I've found that the fade goes away with time. After a few weeks, my body regained its earlier concentration level. I found it helpful _not_ to think about the possibility to snack: thinking about it usually made it worse.
For a second there, I thought it said "Programming and Dating?".
After a while, reality kicked in and reminded me that the two are mutually exclusive.
from TFHD: "There is no magic secret to losing weight and keeping it off"
Incorrect. There is one great key to losing weight and keeping it off. Its called Math. If you take in more calories then you use, you will gain weight. If you burn more calories then you take in, you will lose weight. It is that simple. Eat a healthy blend of foods. Eat less and exercise more and you will lose weight. Period. Whether you eat nothing but stake, are a vegitarian, a junk food muncher, what ever your gimmic is, you need to burn more calories then you digest.
Go out and drop a few bucks on a quality diet/exercise tracking system. They are simple to use, just plug in what you eat and what type of activities you do during the day. They can spit out graphs of your expected weight changes and make recomendations for how to meet your weight goals over a period of time.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
> Do you find yourself correcting 'fade' by snacking (careful or otherwise) as you
> work?"
If by `fade` they mean `falling blood sugar levels` then the answer is to not binge on sugary stuff in the first place. But no-one wants to do boring stuff like eating properly, especially if you want to stay up all night debugging...uh, I mean coding.
I've weaned myself off coffee before lunchtime, and I avoid anything sugary until late afternoon. I now eat a light lunch, and drink more water. Since doing this, I find I get much less of the afternoon "fade" - even when I haven't eaten breakfast, or slept well the previous night.
Seems avoiding the caffeine / sugar crash is what's important. You can only keep yourself on the leading edge of a sugar or caffine rush for a limited amount of time during the day.
Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why. -- Hunter S. Thompson
I am not kidding when I say this. I am a science student and work also at Home Depot. If you work on the floor doing sales it is like a 8 hour visit to a gym. The pay sucks but with all of the moving around, climbing, pushing, pulling, and lifting you will loose weight quickly so long as you eat healthy and not in large quanities. When there, I walk about 7 miles. Granted managment is evil at times and oh the stories I could tell about customers (better to laugh than to get angry), but it is really good at providing a fullbody workout.
Eat something like a whole grain breakfast bar between meals if you're concerned about 'fading' energy levels. Whole grains take a while to break down and provide good metabolic energy. Stay away from anything with sugar, you'll just burn out even more 20 minutes later. Caffeine is okay but stay sugar free. If you must have something sweet, eat an apple. The fiber and pectin will help offset the fructose sugars in overall calorie count but you'll get a relative quick boost to your blood sugar.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
Please. Burning something and seeing how hot the water gets. How does that relate to the human body?
I wrestled for 8 years. You want to loose weight? Get a good scale. Step on it with the sandwich, snack, drink or whatever. If you weigh more than you did in the morning or what your goal is then don't eat it.
You will quickly learn what your body burns during the day and at night.
Also drink a glass of water and wait 15 minutes before you eat anything.
Seriously, increase your alertness by carefully consuming stimulants. Energy drinks like Redbull or a can of Rockstar...will really pick you up and as long as you're counting your calories and alloting for them you'll still be ok.
Or you could go for calorie free caffeinated water from www.buzzwater.com which is the best solution...caffeine actually speeds up your matabolism so you'll feel pumped from the extreme caffeine dosage and burn more calories.
Just don't get too addicted!
Good luck.
I'm not saying that yogurt and fruit is a magic combination that will work for everyone, but it worked for me. Try different foods and different mixes of the big three (protein, carbs and fat) and see how you feel. If you're already doing the hacker's diet, it shouldn't be too hard to track the additional information.
Good luck and keep at it. It's been about nine months since I started and I'm down to 175 pounds. I lost my workout routine (new job doesn't have a gym like the old one), but I have been able to keep my food intake under control thanks to what I learned using the Hacker's Diet.
Still, with a plan, you only get the best you can imagine. I'd always hoped for something better than that. -CP
I've been following Atkins diet for a while and it worked until I reached a line that my body refuses to cross, so I changed to a hipocaloric one (less than 1600 KCalories every day) and a little of exercice (walking as much as I can, and 2 hour gym every week), the results are very promising, and at this moments I think that I know a little about dieting and losing weight, some things that work for me :
1.- Watch what you eat, (http://www.nutritiondata.com/ has been a wonderful help) 1600 Kcalories enables you to loose up to 2 Kg every month.
2.- Eat frecuently, no more than 4 hours without eating something, 100 gr of fruit is right between meals when you are hungry. This way you are not empty (and hungry) when you do the real meal.
3.- If you are really hungry between meals, 10 gr of butter (yes pure butter only) helps me to avoid the starving feeling (thanks to Atking, this really works).
4.- Don't eat outside meal time, and stop doing it as soon as you have enough or you don't have hunger, this is really important, and it is an habit change that you need to track carefully.
5.- Make a little exercice, you don't need to train like Mr, Universe, just 20 minutes walking every day and some serious aerobic exercice 2 times (or more) a week is right.
6.- Avoid highly carbohydrated food, like rice, sugar, pasta, flour etc..., vegetables and fruit will give you more than enough for your needs.
7.- Drink, no less than 3 Liters of water every day, but no sodas or similar, just water or tea with a sugar substitute, saccharin is better than aspartame.
8.- Put the maximun food intake in the breakfast and the lunch, and the minimun in the dinner, this way you go to sleep almost empty.
9.- Loosing weight is a SLOW PROCESS, so don't try to recover your perfect weight in 2 weeks, put a realistic schedule, 1 to 2 years is a correct one. Going faster will not work in the long term.
10.- Persistence, all this is nonsense if you do it for 1 week and forget it the next one, loosing weight is a state of mind.
I've lost 20 Kg, in the past 18 months, and today I'm quite happy, even my sexual life has improved a lot, but I understand that every person is a world and at the end you need to decide what is right and what works for you, so watch how your body reacts to your actions.
I was in your same spot (although I had never heard of the hackers' diet) about 4 years ago. I had gone through surgery and gained significant weight due to being bed ridden for 3 months and having a mother that loved to buy junk food for me. At the point where I finally stepped on the scale and said "enough is enough", I had gained about 45lbs in 5 months, and I was consuming ~8 cans of mountain dew every day (this was when I was in high school, so that's 8 cans after 3pm when I got home), 2 ice cream bars, and 3 sugary meals a day.
Now, I've never been one for exercise. I played a few sports occassionally just for fun, but didn't really exert myself. Since my operation I hadn't played any, and lost the desire to do it. I had to lose the weight somehow, and I reasoned myself into a simple diet: no desserts, only a bowl of cereal for breakfast and one for dinner, and drink ONLY water. This last part was probably the biggest kicker. I lost 15lbs just from cutting the sugary drinks out of my diet. The best way to go on a diet cold turkey is to use water--whenever you want anything that you aren't supposed to have, cram water down your throat. That may sound extreme, but drinking 100 ounces of water a day is what made me lose 90 lbs.
I never really started to notice the 'fade' as you're calling it until I got to college though. The key was that, because of my course schedule and economic status (I couldn't really afford to eat that often), I had to start cutting back my meals. I started eating just 1 meal a day (dinner), and made it a big one. While I got used to that diet, and did continue to lose weight on it, I started to notice that midway through the day I got really tired. I needed more and more sleep if I wanted to feel truly rested, and even then I didn't feel great the whole day.
The main difference between the two diets was that I was eating the two bowls of cereal at regular intervals, everyday, and keeping my glucose levels high. Interestingly, I've recently tried to fix the fade I get now by cutting various things out of my diet and have realized that without a lot of meat in my diet I have a lot more energy. The fade isn't ever going to be completely gone if you aren't having a small meal in the middle of the day, so a snack might be a good idea.
So my 3 suggestions for cutting out the fade is to eat cereal for breakfast (keep cutting down bowl sizes also if you're like me and are used to much larger portions), eat something relatively small for lunch (nothing more than another bowl of cereal would give you (~300 calories)), and cut back on the meat you're eating.
I would recommend exercise instead of starving yourself. I've found that running for 20 minutes every morning increases my alertness and mood through the day. If you're programming all day, then exercise is advisable for more than just weight loss!
The other thing to consider is that different foods make you feel more or less full, and this is not necessarily related to their calorie content. If you feel like you need to eat throughout the day, take a look at one of the various lists on the internet, and choose wisely.
Otherwise, well, what can I say--not everything is easy.
My wife picked up Fitday PC by Cyser from http://www.fitday.com/
Its $29 for a download copy. Its extremely easy to use and has helped my wife loose and keep of 25 pounds.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
Let me tell you about my diet. I lost 20pounds (screw metric) and about 2".
I used to do tech support for a computer company. Think Geeksquad, but without the stupid name. I'd go from company to company during the day, work on their network, their servers, under their desk... It was a LOT of moving around. The catch was, since I was out, I always ate out. Mexican 3 times a week, Chinese 2. (After eating mexican, you're hungry again at 6pm, chinese - 3pm) I was nearly 200lbs, all on a pot-belly.
Now I work full time for a single company, mostly doing web development. I SIT all day long. I have coffe for breakfast, Ramen noodles for lunch, and then eat a huge dinner because I'm freakin starving by the time I get home! I should also mention I've had 2 kids since then. Not much more activity, but I have a LOT less money. Yeah, I'm broke. Hence, ramen noodles.
at this point I'm just rambling and I'm not even sure what the point of the parent story was anymore. Don't try my diet. I hate it. I'm hungry right now. I will be hungry till I get home. At least my wife has dinner waiting for me, and she's a good cook.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
How do you find out how much calories you burn during a day?
thomasdamgaard.dk.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I went on the Hacker's Diet in April of 2004 and lost 10kg over a couple of months.
I found that, for me, the best solution was to eat around 200-300Cal for each regular meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and about 100-200Cal snacks in mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and sometimes mid-evening.
I also found that, in order to keep my sanity, some small amount of chocolate helped. I ate around 20 M&M's each day after lunch.
I drink iced-tea all day anyway. Don't get the bottled stuff, make the real stuff. You will be amazed how many calories are in the bottled stuff, and for no good reason. Dunk a tea bag in 150-300mL of near-boiling water for five minutes, add sweetener (I used 2g of Splenda), and pour over ice. It tastes a lot better than the bottled crap, give you your caffeine dosage (about 1/2 per serving of what is in a cup of coffee) and has no calories.
Dill pickles have no calories, but be careful, they do have a lot of salt.
Pop your own popcorn, in an air popper. Toss it with a very small quantity of olive oil and add salt or parmesan cheese. It blows away even Smartfood.
Buy snack foods in single-serving sizes, or break them down into single-serving sizes so that you don't have to think about who much you've eaten; you can just grab one and eat. This breaks the tendency of some foods to become compulsive once you start eating them (e.g. "Betcha can't eat just one!") because you will hit the bottom of the bag and have to open another one to get more, at which point your guilt should kick in. If not, make sure you don't have more than on on hand.
Continuing in that vein, I still keep 30g packets of corn nuts and peanuts (bought in bulk, packaged myself) in my office cubicle.
It's occasionally unpleasant, but if you've read Walker's book, you already knew that. You can get through it by spreading it out and finding creative ways to enforce discipline.
www.wavefront-av.com
Where's Nedry? Check the vending machines.
All foods aren't created equal.
Pay attention to things like the gylcemic index of food. Food which has a really high glycemic index will be processed by your body very rapidly, give you a spike of energy, followed by a lull as your body crashes from all of the resulting insulin. And long term that will exacerbate possible things like Diabetes and the like. There may be the same amount of carbs in your ganola bar or your bag of chips, but medically/nutritionally, you're way better off with the granola bar.
Eat more complex carbohydrates, grains, and less heavily refined foods. Whole wheat (or multigrain) bread is a lot easier for your body to process, and gives you longer energy stores than will white-bread. It also gives you more nutritional components -- "encriched" white bread means that after all of the nutritional value is removed from the food, they add some back in.
Also, while you need some fats in your diet, try to choose which kinds your getting and know how much you're actually ingesting. The fatty acids in nuts, for example, have a lot of useful components. The fat in a greasy hamburger or the like isn't the kind of food your body really needs all that much of. Be aware of things like cholesterol and sodium as well.
Finally, there is an increasing amount of evidence that says that good quality protein goes a long way to keeping your energy up, and keeping yourself from feeling hungry for longer periods.
I've been a vegetarian for about 5 years now, and I know several people who are managing their Type 2 diabetes with this type of diet. For both weight loss, and diabetes prevention/management, these seem to be where most of the medical evidence is pointing.
Best of luck.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
...with near-null energy food. Vegetables. Fruits. Mushrooms. Stuff that is immune to processing in your FIFO and leaves in state nearly suitable for eating it again. There are quite a few such foods. When you're hungry you're tempted to eat something high on calories, but when you're full, you don't want to eat, no matter what kind of useless junk fills your bowels.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Is this the first time you've done a diet? I ask because I noticed this last year during my first serious diet, but after about 2 or 3 weeks the effect wore off.
Last year I lost over 30lbs. between October and January-ish using the mathematically proven method of simply eating less. I run with 1100 calories a day while on the diet and it works wonderfully. I just started it again a couple of weeks ago to shave off the remaining lbs. that I didn't get to last year and it's going quite well. It is not nearly so difficult this time. I just woke up one morning and decided I had to finish the job and that was that. No energy problems - and this year I've also cut out caffeine! Since I wake up rather late, I skip breakfast and just wait until lunch before my first meal. I limit my calorie intake to around 200-300 for lunch and then wait until dinner before I eat again. Usually at dinner I'll take in around 400-500 calories (unless I go out someplace) and then snack on small known quantities the rest of the night (most microwave popcorn is surprisingly lo-cal).
The upshot of this diet is that I eat whatever I want as long as I know the exact calories and that I'm under my daily limit. It allows for a huge amount of variety that many other diets eliminate. I can eat a candy bar if I want to, but I always am keeping in mind that it will have to cut out something else later in the day if I do. Pizza is fine, too, but that's about all I can eat all day if I go that route, so I need to be prepared for that. It really makes you think twice before eating anything - and that's important when you go off the diet or otherwise you'll just regain it all. When I went off my diet last year I almost immediately gained 5lbs, and then held that steady the rest of the year up until about August or September of this year. I believe my body was instinctively starting to prepare for winter by putting on weight. Eventually I crossed a small mental line in October and started the diet again - but I was nearly 20lbs. less than that same period last year! When I finish the diet this year I'll finally be solidly within the BMI numbers for my height. Last year I was obese. This year I'm over-weight. By next year I'll be in the normal/healthy range for the first time in almost 10 years.
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
Eat complex carbohydrates for lunch and you won't fade so much in the afternoon.
Chris "Ng" Jones
cmsj@tenshu.net
www.tenshu.net
Really, merge the two.
I've lost 100+ lbs after I started three years ago, and it is _never_ coming back.
Hacker's gives you all the tools to meter yourself, Atkins gives you the means to control yourself. The combo of the two is like have a scalpel for your weight.
BTW: One of the side effects of Atkins is the elimination of the "two o'clock doldrums".
Before I part with'em: two pennies weigh ~4.996+/-0.014g, have a zinc core, and the face of Lincoln. You can keep 'em.
For exercise, I use a portable gym made with a sledgehammer called Shovelglove.
Both of these plans, along with Urban Ranger, were developed by a computer programmer, so you may find they work for you too.
Once my body adapted to the dietary and exercise changes, I found that I had far more energy through the day than I was accustomed to.
JWL.Freakwitch.net
I haven't read The Hacker's Diet in a year or so, but IIRC what surprised me at the time I read it was its comments about exercise, i.e. it said something like "If you exercise hard for an hour you'll only burn off a can of Coke so don't waste your time with exercise, just don't drink the Coke."
What this overlooks is the fact that if you exercise regularly you'll build muscle, and once you have more muscle you'll burn more calories just sitting around (muscle cells need more calories than fat). So yes, although the hour's exercise won't burn a huge amount of calories it will have an effect throughout every day, not just for the hour.
If you're constantly feeling tired or hungry it's not a healthy way to lose weight. You should concentrate on eating healthy foods (get rid of those sugary snacks and pops NOW) and take up a good fitness sport like squash. I know people who have slimmed down a LOT over the past year or so by playing squash, it works wonders for your cardio and helps build muscle too. Coupled with a few hours at the gym a week and you should see yourself improving in no time. The key here is regularity, if you go less than 3 times a week (I like to go every other day) the results may be pretty slow in coming. Don't go EVERY day or you'll exhaust and injure yourself, leave at least a one day break. Drink lots of water, eat healthy foo. substitute your regular fatty beef meals with something healthy and protein rich like fish.
Fuck losing weight, I need to gain it. >_<
[o]_O
Some more personal notes:
(1) Stairs really help a lot. It made me realize how out of shape I had become. Take the stairs when you can, and be persistent. You'd be surprised how much more you can go after a few weeks of stair climbing at your office.
(2) Avoid drugs, including caffeine and alcohol. You've got to break that caffeine habit if you have one. When I drink a caffeinated beverage, I get really, really hungry.
(3) A little bit of candy or anything with too many carbs really does ruin your week. Avoid it like the plague. When you finally muster the willpower to tell people, "No thank you. I really like doughnuts, but I like them too much." then you are on the right path. Just think of what happens after you eat the candy or the doughnut - the hunger pains, the headaches, the slowness, etc...
(4) Stress is another biggy. Learn to deal with it properly. When you are geniunely happy and emotionally in control, it's a lot easier to regulate your intake. This also means you can't stress about your weight. (I know, it's almost a paradox: You want to lose weight so you have to become comfortable with your weight...)
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
Some years ago, I really needed to exercise. The problem is to motivate oneself to do so.
The trick is to find something that will really motivate you.
For example, I am gay and exhibitionist with a spandex fetish. Although I would like to exercise naked, it is unfortunately not always possible (but I manage - I rode my bicycle naked plenty of times, and I routinely hike a few kilometers naked). But showing-off myself in spandex is a sufficient motivator. So I bought myself a bicycle and plenty of shiny spandex, and I use the bicycle for most of my going-about during the summer.
The bicycle is a perfect excuse for showing-off in flashy spandex.
Working out is the same. I was fortunate to find a gay gym where no one frowns in me showing-off in flashy yellow spandex, and within a few months, I could also pick-up any guy I wanted to have sex with.
I have been on both ends of the weight scale... I found those dizzy moments when my body was busy eating all the fat it had stored to be enlightening... When I feel the urge to snack, it is liquid, tea some sugar.... I am good to go for another couple hours...and it is either lunch time, or quitting time... If you fade, suck it up, and get it done.... the end of the day comes eventually
Sig Hansen?
The Hacker's Diet uses a balloon analogy; energy in - energy out = excess fat. You can decrease the energy in by eating low-calorie foods or decreasing the amount of food consumed. You can increase the energy out by exercising or eating the right combination of foods.
There's nothing wrong with that analogy. Unfortunately the human body isn't that simple. A heavier person has to expend more energy just sitting there due to an expanded vascular system. A heavier person is also likely to be unfit, as well as carrying more weight, so it's more effort for them to do even the simplest activities such as walking stairs. That means their energy requirements during the day are entirely different to a lighter person. The lighter person doesn't have to deal with extreme peaks that the heavier person deals with.
Then there's another problem. An overweight person isn't looking at the Hacker's Diet to maintain the same weight. They're trying to lose weight. Consider a 150lb person and a 250lb person. Over a period of 12 months they both maintain the same weight. According to the balloon analogy they both took in as much energy as they expended. So far, so good. You often hear (young, stupid) people claim that "fatties" should "put down the bucket of chicken" and "go for a walk". The reality is that a "fatty" who isn't gaining weight is already eating an appropriate diet. They're not eating "buckets of chicken". If they were then they'd be gaining weight. The fatty ate an inappropriate diet to achieve their overweight condition, not to maintain it. The overweight person is trying to lose weight so they're actually eating less food than the hypothetical 150lb person. This means their body quickly consumes the "easy energy" from food and turns to the more difficult task of extracting energy from fat. They experience lethargy that the thin person doesn't experience, because the thin person is taking in more energy from food.
So the overweight person who is trying to lose weight experiences two problems that the thin person never deals with - extreme lethargy and wildly fluctuating energy requirements. The Hacker's Diet makes this clear: it says you'll be hungry and tired until the diet is over. You can't avoid it. Your best bet is to take an extended holiday so you can focus on exercise without the distraction of having to think, because it is next to impossible to think clearly while dieting.
This got me to thinking about energy levels of those who aren't dieting. Do you find yourself correcting 'fade' by snacking (careful or otherwise) as you work?"
As someone who happily has never had to diet, I can report that I've never been in the habit of eating between meals - just the way I was brought up I suppose - and I haven't experienced what you call 'fade'.
(If I'm out walking in the hills and lunch is very late, I've been known to run out of energy and just have to stop and eat a chocolate bar, but that's physical exertion rather than mental.)
I find that if I am in the mood to work hard on something that bodily impulses irritate me in general and I try as hard as possible to ignore them. I don't go to sleep until way too late, I barely eat anything unless I'm stumped and sometimes I'll try to push back taking a leak because I think I finally found the solution to a problem. Programming inspires me a little too much though, your mileage may vary.
Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
My experience with the hacker's diet has shown me that there are two things that affect fade for me.
1. When I eat, I have to eat a diverse meal. I need to eat some sugars (simple carbohydrates - immediate energy), some complex carbohydrates (medium to long term energy) and proteins (long term energy). If I eat only sugars then I'll fade and/or feel hungry very soon after eating. If I only eat carbs I'll probably feel sleepy for an hour or so, then I'll pick up for a few hours and then get tired again. I can just eat carbs and simple carbohydrates for breakfast and lunch, but if I want to wake refreshed I need to eat some protein at night.
2. Exercise is important. When I'm not exercising on a regular basis I have more consistant energy throughout the day. I don't know if this is a result of better managed blood sugar levels, more efficient energy storage and usage in fat, etc, but I experience less fade on those weeks where I've spent a few days on regular exercise.
Good luck with your diet! If nothing else works, remember that you can eat 6 pickles. Six!
-Adam
It's interesting how you're able to mix the insightful with the oblivious. Most people can't do that. You've got your facts right, but your attitude renders you incapable of properly interpreting them. Since essentially anonymous postings on public message boards don't change anyones attitudes, I won't try. Let me just point out the basic contradiction you've presented.
You said that "diabetes is believed to develop when..." any of several insulin-related things go wrong. That's right and there's nothing in there about weight. Later, you say that you know people who got diabetes "as a direct result of 30-40 years of doing nothing but getting fat and lazy." That's not the same thing. So, which is it? Do people get diabetes because of an insulin problem or do they get it because they're fat and lazy?
Here's a hint - characterizing people as lazy and attributing (even in part) an endocrine disorder to that characteristic is, shall we say, counterproductive to the pursuit of effective treatment. Understand, though, that remaining factually correct and accounting for attitudes and lifestyle are not mutually exclusive. A better way to explain to a new or pre- diabetic would run along these lines: "Parts of your endocrine system aren't working right. It's not sufficient for you to eat and move just like normal, thin folks. If that's all you do, you'll get fat. You're going to have to work twice as hard as most people to stay thin and you simply must do so because if you don't, that endocrine problem will spiral ridiculously out of control and put you in a world of hurt. It's not fair, but you got dealt a bad hand. You're going to have to play it perfectly if you don't want to lose the game."
See the difference? Or are you going to persist in being like those asshole ex-smokers who insist on denying that nicotine is addictive just because they were able to kick the habit?
How? I joined the Marines.
At first, as a DEPer, I had no change in habit other than twice a week aerobic excersices for less than an hour. Once at MCRD San Diego, the following became my schedule:
5 minutes before Revelle: Wake up, go to the bathroom, brush teeth, get back in rack.
Reveille: Wake up (again)
Rev + 5 seconds: Get dressed, make rack
Rev + 60 seconds: Get on the street in formation
Rev + 90 seconds: Start marching to morning chow
Eat breakfast in 5 minutes or less
Continue marching, running, PT, etc until mid-day chow
Eat lunch in 5 minutes or less
Continue marching, running, PT, etc until evening chow
Eat dinner in 5 minutes or less
Continue marching, running, PT, etc until an hour before taps
Clean, study, write home, etc.
Taps
Add in lots of cleaning and some classes and you have the first month of basic training. The mentality of "hurry up and wait" pays off when you have to run like hell and then stand straight as a board dozens of times an hour. I can't really go into detail about Phase II or Phase III since they kicked me out on T-15.
I went from over 200 lbs to less than 170 during the formation week, and two weeks of training. Believe me; there is absolutely no quicker way to lose weight than joining the corps.
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Like I said I know 1 person with adult onset type 2 diabetes that probably has it as a result of a "bad hand". All the others are just fat and lazy. Some are in my family, some are family friends and others are acquaintances.
When people start looking in the mirror and stop blaming others for their poor health, I might be inclined to agree with you. Until I see that with my own two eyes I'll continue to believe that well over 90-95% of type 2 diabetes cases are a result of poor diet and exercise by the person afflicted.
BTW my significant other is extremely overweight as a result of a tumor on the thyroid. After going through a significant number of doctors and finally getting all the subsequent related illnesses that were generated by the weight gain, a nice $7,500/month medication bill is what I get. If there is weight loss down the road there are 2 parts of her body that cannot be fixed and as a result she will need meds for the remainder of her life. That being said, what is her biggest concern right now? Type 2 diabetes. Why? because she's overweight. What has her doctor said to help avoid a possible future onset of diabetes? You guessed it, lose some fucking weight. She didn't choose to get sick. However she chooses every day to not work out and focus on eating a healthy diet. If she gets diabetes it will be her fault. The initial illness wasn't. However by neglecting to lose the weight related to her "fixed" illness due to laziness (in taking care of herself) she is at risk. Sometimes you get a bad hand and other times you get an even worse hand.
People need to own up to the fact that anything that goes into their body is almost always a direct result of choices they have made. For example, if you decide to live near 3 Mile Island. Let's say some day in 1979 there is a core meltdown. You didn't choose to live next to lethal radiation but you sure as hell should have known there was a risk and gone elsewhere. Every choice someone makes affects either directly or indirectly their life and the lives of those around them. To say otherwise is just burying your head in the sand.
Type 2 diabetes is normally a direct result of someone not taking care of themselves sufficiently.
Here's a good article: (emphasis is mine)
I think the problem with this diet crap is that emphasis is placed on a magic number, your poundage. Is a 250 lb bodybuilder fat? If you use the BMI-index it would tell you that he's going to have an imminent heart-attack.
Diets don't work. There is a one-word answer to your question: exercise. The more you do it, the easier it gets, and you can eat pretty much as much as you want as long as you exercise and burn it off. Oh, but there's more. You will naturally want to eat better because when you go work out, it will make your workout better and easier. And if you want to have laser-precision concentration all day, try working out first thing in the morning. You can also take really cool metabolism-boosting supplements which, if nobody has clued you in, is the best legal way to get high I've ever found.
The first week is hard. After that your life will totally change. And you can thank me then.
i got ball this is my adress 108 20 37 av corona come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it
Wow. That was, um, an excessively intense response to a simple suggestion that you look at things with a slightly broader perspective. Thanks for the exchange; I found it enlightening. I really did. It's always good to be reminded just how far people can go when they make up their minds about something.
Now I think it's time for a review. In my previous post, I said:
I think I'll stand pat on that. It pretty accurately sums up this conversation, one that is now concluded on my end.
No.
Lots of places are just out of walking distance, or you don't want to drive for various reasons (bars). rather than drive anyway, get a pair of heelys, those shoes with wheels in the heels. While a lot of the models look somewhat childish, they have adult size and styled ones too. not full on dress shoes (yet) but certainly some nice black ones that would work at most offices. The best part is no one knows :) you are just walking walking... rolling... walking... rolling.. walking... it expands your carless range quite a bit and any more incidental exercise you get is good.
takes a bit to learn though. harder than rollerblading, probably about as hard as basic skateboarding. They are very all terrain though, depending on the condition of the road you just change the percentage of time you are walking vs rolling but since you change in midstride you don't have to slow down, just pay attention to what is coming up.
Actually, if you buy better tea, you won't need the sweetener and the caffeine will be as intense if not more so than coffee. Try out a few different loose single-estate teas. You can get them off the internet or from (maybe) your local coffee and tea store. I recommend trying a few Darjeeling teas for taste, they're usually quite flowery, which most people taste as a natural sweettartness (not like the candy); if in doubt about what flush to get, most people like Autumnal at first and love 1st flust after they get their tea pallette. Also try some Assam teas for caffeine. Assams are usually very potent, like good coffee and tend to be quite malty, a taste most people consider to be sweet like molasses without the sugar. The broken leaf Assams are much maltier than whole-leaf Assams.
And then, of course, there are green, oolong and white teas for those who like a change of pace. They're lower in caffeine and don't necessarily require boiling water. Some green and white teas can be brewed with water temps as low as 140F. Scented and flavored varieties are also quite delicious, and are natuarally flavored so that they don't usually need sweetening.
While there are some very good and high-quality teas in bags, they're few and far between. Loose tea is much more likely to be good and fresh and of a higher quality. Most cheap, everyday teabags use some of the lowest quality teas on the market, usually OPF or BOP so they can say Orange Pekoe. The only lower grade tea out there is PF, BP and P and is used to make bottled teas like Lipton Brisk and Nestea.
Really? That seems odd. How fat do you have to get before jacking off to internet porn becomes difficult?
As a carpenter, I'm very much like the Home Despot guy (except that carpenters hate home despot guys- no offence). I have a full day of walking, climbing, lifting and a lot of fiddly stuff to do with my hands. By lunch time, I find that I'm completely ravenous, and my mood darkens considerably if I can't get it at my usual moment; the large coffee I keep at my side only helps so much. If I go a full day without lunch, I tend to pig out in the afternoon, and still eat a normal dinner, so I find that getting a good rhythm is the key. For me, that means knowing that I will have a snack in the afternoon; usually a hunk of cheese.
Get. Off. Your. Ass.
Find a hobby that is physical. Doesn't have to be your typical sports -- try karate or go cart racing. Some of the most fun activities are those you played as a kid; dodgeball, kickball, freeze tag, etc. Although, today you may require some liquid courage before trying these things, they are still fun.
...hit a hard thorny problem, go get something to eat or drink...whats going to make you feel better, ususally something bad for you.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Do remember, though, that a full sprint for 30 minutes could be dangerous to the health of someone who hasn't excercised in years. Those people should first start by walking some 30 minutes 4 or 5 times a week during a couple of months before even starting to "power walking" for another couple of months. Only then should those people start to jog.
Part of the thing about sitting in front of a computer is that often it makes you want to eat. You think of food, you think it would taste good, it creates a sense of hunger, even if your body doesnt really need food.
I suggest learning to drink water as an alternative. You need more water anyways, being mentally active, and it fulfils the oral fixation. I suspect most people do not drink enough water, do yourself the favor and try it. Without fail, everyone I've converted to my h2o cause swears by improved mental acuity, response time, and general mood. Water is my wonder drug.
I dont actually believe in diets (general fitness is far better), but I'd wager to say, any diet where you feel like you are running out of energy is just not a good diet.
Myren
I find exercise more effective first thing in the morning before I eat. AFAIK your body starts to pull from energy stores faster because overnight you burn off a good amount of whats roaming in your system.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
While I wasn't as overweight as the original poster, I did loose about 40 pounds of flab in the course of 3 months by excluding all meat from my diet. I still eat eggs and cheese, but no meat. I also felt a lot better generally (more energy, better rest, etc.) That was about 5 years ago and I've been able to keep my weight manageable regardless of my sedentiary lifestyle... :)
I found that Atkins works best.. Avoid pastas, sugars, corn, potatos. There is low-carb pasta you can take instead etc.
Eating habits are learnt from a very very young age. If you encourage your children to eat their vegetables, they will eat vegetables into their adult life. If you take them to a fast food place every day they will learn to eat pure crap.
The same applies to exercise but with a lesser extent. I loved walking and still do. There was no such thing as the school run. I caught the bus on my own in the morning and caught the bus back in the afternoon. Kids today are completely spoiled by this "if I don't take little Johnny to school someone might mug him" mentality. Kids need to learn to fend for themselves and look after themselves. My mother and school taught me to cook. Give me a recipe (not souffle leave that to Delia please) and I can follow it and make a tasty meal.
I'll tell you a true story. My mother went on the Atkins diet. She didn't lose a bit of weight and I ended up totally miserable becuase all of a sudden my fave foods (pasta, noodles, rice) were banned from the house. Also because of this diet I now shudder when my parents are cooking a fried breakfast (which is about a once monthly treat and not a daily occurance).
If you're going to feed your kids, make sure you're not setting them up for tooth decay, obesity and other stuff.
Also diabetes can and does run in the family. It's not always to do with lifestyle.
There have been many times when dealing with people that I wished I could kiss my own butt goodbye
I've been following the Zone diet for several years and it works great. The theory is that carbs and protein increase your insulin levels which can cause a blood sugar crash. The Zone diet attempts to control food intake to avoid problems with low blood sugar. Important factors are the ratios of carbohydrates, protein and fat, the form of the food (unprocessed solids are best), the amount and the timing (three meals plus 2-3 snacks per day).
You can learn more about the diet via google search or at http://www.drsears.com./ Dr. Sears invented the diet and also has written a few books on it.
A few notes: depending on your metabolism, etc., you may need 10-30% more carbs than they recommend, esp. immediately before and after exercise. Also, caffeine can have a large affect on blood sugar: while it gives you a nice up, it also causes you to burn all your sugars, eventually causing a crash.
Good luck!