Dieting Ideas

[Fragems]

So I'm bored, overweight, and I need to pinch some pennies while I search for a house to move into. So in my boredom I've decided to make a kind of diet game . Essentially I'm going to do a kind of survival game mainly focused around rationing my food since portion size is a big part of my eating problem. Currently trying to figure out a rule set for myself though. Anyone done anything like this before and have any tips or ideas.

Ideas so Far:
1. Starting the game by inventorying the food in the house.

2. A point system for food each day. Say 2-3 points per meal and a total of 3 meals with maybe 1-2 points for snacks tossed in. With each point being a single food item.

3. Setting up some form of resupply rules for instance for every 5-10 miles I walk I roll a standard die and the resulting number is the amount of food items I gets to add into my inventory. Kind of helping me budget my food buying while setting goals for fitness at the same time.

4. Figuring out what food I'm allowed to buy. I'm just mainly going to be using up my current stuff which should last at minimum of around a month rationed out but I've got to figure rules for buying food to add to my inventory as well. If I go apocalyptic it's probably going to be a lot of canned stuff and things that don't require refrigeration although I'll probably allow some cheating for basic stuff like milk, fresh produce, and etc.

5. As for food prep I would probably stick mostly to stove top cooking. Really limiting food prep choices isn't necessary unless I wanted to go really hardcore .

6. As for drinks I'm pretty much sticking solely to filtered tap water anymore so I don't have to worry about limits on that.

7. As far as eating out / family dinners go I'd probably permit those whenever they happen since I don't want to come off as weird . I will limit what I eat when doing so though.

[Tanooki]

Dice rolling seems dumb if you have bad luck, you starve.

For one, get all standard and labeled 'diet' soda out of the house. Something like Coke's Zero products in moderation (1 a day max) is fine, they taste good and are hunger and sugar craving suppressants. Second, water is great, do that, but also get an iced tea maker and pound a pitcher of that every couple of days as teas are antioxidant and all that good stuff.

On food, get all the microwave 'meals' out of the house if you can't control yourself, and second to that any cookie or as bad treat items too, unless you again can control yourself as a reward -- like one serving (3 cookies) of normal chips ahoy once maybe twice a week. If you need sweet, find natural sweet like moist(ish) but dried fruits that sweeten like mango. Great snacks or meals(for breakfast) 1 nutrigrain bar or non breakfast those honey and oat 2 bars to a pack thing (come in a green wrapper.) That stuff is very filling if you take a few minutes to eat it and don't woof it down.

Do cheat, but not often -- that whole garbage about 'shock' seemingly does work. Maybe every week go get some ice cream or a shake, or a candybar somewhere and that's that, no more. Do it randomly, very randomly around what you eat. Keep straight up snack items out of the house if you're incapable of reading what a 'serving' is on a box and putting that on a paper towel, plate or in a bag to eat (same with chips.)


After I got c.diff last December I shit my brains out so bad and starved myself around it too to slow it before the trip to the hospital (and the after) I lost about 15lbs now I'm closer to 20. A combo of that blowout and my stomach shrinking I changed what I do. I can now eat or peck at stuff like above and not feel hungry a few hours later. I went from 212-13 area down to 193-195 currently. I cheat some days, others I don't. Maybe I'll go to subway and sub 2 cookies for the lame chips, or I'll have a coke with a dinner out (but if I refill I switch to zero or iced tea) or I'll go and get an ice cream cup, or I eat a few left over easter chocolate eggs (serving is 7.)

Lame little moderation like that is all you need at least to get a good start. The hard part is shutting down your crappy will to waffle and stuff food in your face. Mine was the craps, you won't have that luxury if you can call it that.

Just purge the crap food from the house, throw it out, donate it to a friend or someone who has a need. Keep a junk item or two to reward you, otherwise moderate and follow serving sizes fairly well. I mean some are ridiculous like Rice Krispies with them being puffed air I'll do 2 servings as 1 is toddler food, but for a sandwich one is enough with bread and dressing. Find stuff that has no calories but fill like pickles and put that on a plate or is minimal like apple sauce cups. It works.

[Michi]

5. As for food prep I would probably stick mostly to stove top cooking. Really limiting food prep choices isn't necessary unless I wanted to go really hardcore .

You go outside and roast that hotdog on a stick over a (carefully maintained and well enclosed) campfire like your forefathers intended, damn it!

6. As for drinks I'm pretty much sticking solely to filtered tap water anymore so I don't have to worry about limits on that.

Tea is also a good option if you want to add some variety to your tap water. Just remember to nix the milk and sugar and you should be golden.

Dice rolling seems dumb if you have bad luck, you starve.

It would probably be fine, there would just have to be a clause to the rule requiring a minimum number of rations per week.

[samsonlonghair]

2. A point system for food each day. Say 2-3 points per meal and a total of 3 meals with maybe 1-2 points for snacks tossed in. With each point being a single food item.

The point system you need is calories (kilocalories or "dietary calories"). Trust me. Eat 2000 calories a day - no more and no less. I guarantee you will burn a small but steady amount of fat every day. The best part is that if you eat 2000 calories, you will not get hungry. It's just the right amount of food. If you keep this up for a year, you could burn a hundred pounds worth.

Google "counting calories". It works. I've done it. I promise you. This is pure math - not complicated math either - just basic arithmetic. You burn just a few more calories than you eat every day, and you will burn fat.

portion size

Portion control is the one thing that counting calories really taught me. Our idea of what a "single food item" should be is totally out of whack. Did you know that one portion of bread is one slice? Did you know that one portion of cereal is one cup, and that the milk you put in that cereal is a whole portion unto itself?

[MrPopo]

Just eat 1/5th less of every meal and don't increase your current snack amount.

[Exhuminator]

Every time I've ever had to lose weight, only two things worked in tandem. Eat less, exercise more. I know I'm sounding like a boring jerk, but that's honestly it. Straight talk. That's all that ever worked for me.

As far as portion control goes, get smaller bowls and smaller plates. Fill them up and you'll still be eating less than you were before. It sounds like psychosomatic nonsense, but it works. Also helps to have white plates and bowls, because they look larger, and therefore make you think you're eating more than you actually are.

[Fragems]

Dice rolling seems dumb if you have bad luck, you starve.

Well there has to be an end lol. Really I wouldn't starve myself basically once I used up all the food items I would lose and then reset by going to the grocery store for a restock. It's mainly setup to get me using everything I buy as well as helping me diet. The goal is to see how long you can go before a none goal related restock.

Plus the dice roll would go towards a retail size aka a full box of cereal etc. So walking 10 or so miles for the possibility of up to 2 1/2 days worth of food wouldn't be bad. It's kind of a simulated scavenging with a reward mixed with a gamble for added excitement.

Plus I'm starting out with a full pantry so the food I would earn would just be extending that as I go as I said I have enough food starting out to probably last a month rationed out.

As far as my portion problems go it centers around going from cooking from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1. So I end up making a bunch of food then I end up eating about 2+ peoples portions .

[Xeogred]

Are you carb heavy right now? Maybe try to get in more protein to go longer in between meals and potentially eat less. You mentioned focusing on water, definitely stick with that... soda should be cut out completely if that's been a factor, then after time you might come to despise that nasty syrupy taste that feels like it gets stuck between your teeth! Like some others said, don't go too crazy or you might burn out, I usually allow myself to cheat on the weekends.

Portion control is definitely key though. For awhile I was getting 4-5 chicken breasts a week for one per meal... now I get 2 breasts and turn that into 4 meals. I feel much better and so does my wallet. The very rare times I go out with family now or grab something on the road, I go for small/lunch portions. But you should cut out fast food completely if that's been a thing. Just stick to home cooking and load up on those awesome greens. Try to knock down the sugars, breads, pasta, etc.

You probably do need to exercise too though as others mentioned. They definitely go hand in hand. I've been doing DDP Yoga for years now and love it, he's got a few that are 20-30 minute sessions so it's really easy to fit in the day.

[Key-Glyph]

When I stopped eating white pasta and breads I dropped about ten pounds without even trying. I know that doesn't necessarily happen in all cases, but I was amazed.

My one trick would be this: pick a food that you like. Say it's ice cream. Think about what it is specifically about the experience of eating ice cream that you like (the texture? the ritual of eating it on a cone? the coldness?) and try to come up with a healthier substitute that hits on some or all of those points. Then, every time you want ice cream, try to eat the healthier substitute instead. In this particular example, maybe a fruit smoothie.

I've found that eventually I start craving the healthier thing instead after enough repetition.

Oh, my other trick: If you're hungry, eat something healthy and simple first, like an apple. In my mind that's just less space for other crap right off the bat, and sometimes I even wander off for another half hour or hour afterwards, having forgotten that I had been craving something else to begin with.

[fastbilly1]

You have to find what works for your body. Everyone's body works differently and there are some massive differences even between members of the same bloodline. For some people, cutting out bread or pasta will cause an instant drop in pounds, like Key-Glyph stated. I went without bread for two months, no other changes to diet or exercise, and my weight stayed within three pounds. But when I swapped to veggie noodles from white noodles last winter, I lost five pounds when I usually gain it. Also when I started making bread at home, I lost weight while still eating the same sandwiches. Obviously this is not the case for most people.