DOOD.CA: Guy Stuff

I’m going to share with you guys how I lost my weight. I lost over 70 lbs over the course of 5 months at one point about 7 years ago now. I really was down on myself and had some low self-esteem issues since gaining the weight and decided it was time to lose it. I included eating properly and exercising, though I am now certain that exercising had less to do with it than the eating.

It wasn’t easy, but it sure was simple. I started educating myself and learning all about calories and different diets… I think the hardest thing was convincing myself that I needed to do it and forcing myself to stick to a given eating schedule. Like everything else in life, I wanted best bang for buck… so the highest satisfaction of food eating, for the least amount of caloric intake.

I don’t think losing weight is all about calories… I factor in five things when it comes to eating: Calories, Fat, Sodium, Fiber and Fillingness. Not sure that last one is a word 🙂

Calories
I don’t think you can always eat the same number of calories a day, but its good to try and keep that relatively consistent. I found that fluctuations can cause weight gain for me. If my calories jumped one day, I’d immediately notice a rise in my weight.

I looked at my weight, and guesstimated a target caloric intake of about 1800 calories.. and as long as i kept to that, I seemed to lose weight.. its not scientific at all, but when I reveal to you what I ate to keep my calories you might find that it suits you really well.

Fat
Fat has over twice as much calories per gram as carbs or protein, so Fat is best kept far far away. I tried to keep my fat intake extremely low, but noticed that when fat intake was kept too low I developed dry skin and my eczema flared up, requiring me to use lots of moisturizers on my hands.

Sodium
I’ve always been against high sodium intake, not only is it bad for you, increasing your chances of heart attacks and other such things, but it causes water retension. It can make you feel puffy. So do yourself a favor and keep the sodium down and keep your body’s minerals balanced.

Fiber
Fiber is the free calorie. You can eat tons of it, and you won’t gain anything because your body doesn’t digest it, it just uses it to help you pass… stuff. High fiber foods are not only healthy, but can prevent constipation and some types of fiber help reduce blood cholesterol.

Fillingness
This is my personal big one, and it ties in with low fat. Fat does not fill. Certain foods have a high fillingness factor which keep you content longer than others. Take for example a Chocolate bar at 300 calories. It does not fill you up as much as a big bag of low-fat smart pop popcorn at 250 calories. Eat smart!

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I will talk more about what the Noodle Soup Diet is!