First time posting (kinda long)

WT Brooks wrote:

My mom was never big on making biscuits, so I latched onto the fast
food ones pretty early. When I was 17, I worked at McDonald's and
made biscuits some mornings. I don't know if they still do it this
way, but when I took a pan of biscuits from the oven, I was to brush
butter flavored Wesson cooking oil all over the them. They wanted me
to drown those *******s in that stuff. Man, that must have been
fattening.

I used to live with roommate who ate at Popeye's chicken every single day.
Sometimes I would accompany him and as I'm not a big Popeye's chicken fan I
would get an order of biscuits. Some of those things would actually be
dripping when I picked them up. Now that I think about it, it's pretty damn
gross. I loved 'em at the time, though.

--
PL
(320/291/170)
(First mini-goal: 299 Reached! 08/26/04)
(Second mini-goal: 279)


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"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
Yes, I do plan to get almost-daily excercise. My only problem with that
is
that I'm recovering from a herniated disk right now. The walking and
running will have to wait until I get better, but I am able to get on the
excercise bike to some extent.

If you like swimming and have access to a pool, this might also be an
option. Swimming (especially on your back) is easy on the back and builds
some muscles in that area...

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
Yes, I do plan to get almost-daily excercise. My only problem with that
is
that I'm recovering from a herniated disk right now. The walking and
running will have to wait until I get better, but I am able to get on the
excercise bike to some extent.

If you like swimming and have access to a pool, this might also be an
option. Swimming (especially on your back) is easy on the back and builds
some muscles in that area...

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
...
I count calories and stick to foods that are under 30% cals.
from fat and just try to eat lots of good veggies, lean meat and go easy
on
the white flour foods.

There is really nothing wrong about fats, as long as :
- You're aware of the difference between healthy fats (nuts, olive oil,
fatty fish...), not so healthy fats (saturated fats) and really unhealthy
fats (hydrogenated oils).
- You take into account that fats are the densest nutriment, and you limit
your portion size.
Fats have some advantages :
- Good fats can improve your blood lipids (LDL,HDL,triglycerides)
- Fats are packed with essential nutriments : vitamins, essential fatty
acids...
- Fats bring lasting satiety
The current advice here (France) is to get 50% of your fats from
mono-unsaturated fatty acids (olive oil, rapeseed, nuts...), 25% from
saturated sources and 25% from poly-unsaturated sources (walnuts, walnut
oil...). That sounds about reasonnable.

The main reason I wanted to go ahead and post is that I've always had a
history of trying to lose weight but not sticking to it. Maybe coming
clean
in a public forum would keep me accountable long-term.

You also have to learn to be accountable to yourself. You have started to
try to understand why your diets failed in the past. That's a good thing,
keep working on that front, and you will be able to see early signs of
failure and correct them.

The bad thing is that all the bad foods seem to keep me in a mental haze
that makes me feel
like I can't cut down. When I'd get hungry, I'd get REALLY hungry and
high-fat food (especially Mexican food) would be the only thing that would
fix it.

That's a natural process. The hungrier you are, the more the body will crave
for calorie dense food. So, don't get that hungry in the first place. You
should strive for never feeling bloated after a meal, not for feeling hungry
all the time.
Mexican food doesn't have to be "fattening". A chili con carne can be a very
decent diet meal, it's high in legumes, not that high in fats, and usually
packs long lasting satiety...

I was even able to resist a huge temptation last night because I was
in a high-stress situation and was very hungry.

Stress = hunger. There is no reason for that. Actually, for many people,
intense stress is an appetite suppressant.
You have to perceive the difference between real hunger (your body needs
energy) and emotional hunger (your brain needs a comforter).
You can try skipping a meal (breakfast or lunch) to let some real hunger
build up. Try to slow down a bit and dig at your feelings. How does being
hungry feel exactly. If you're familiar with meditation or similar
processes, that would be a good time for them. Then, you can eat as slow as
possible, while tasting the food and focussing on eating (no TV, no
reading...). Notice the point when the hunger disappears and gets replaced
with feeling well and satisfied. Notice how the taste of the food feels less
and less appealing. That's the cues that tell you that you were really
hungry, and then, that you have eaten enough to satisfy that hunger.
Likewise, you can try to work on the stress level. Try to find non-eating
related activities that can help the stress level. It can be anything :
meditation, music, physical activity, reading... The best would be to find a
short ritual that allows you to reduce the stress right *before* a meal. A
few deep belly breaths with eyes closed can do the trick. If you're into
religion, prayer can also work (I actually think it was one of the social
role of the pre-meal prayer).
You have to cut the link between stress and eating/hunger.

I knew it would be hours before I could make it home to eat, but a KFC was
convenient to me.

Let's see. You're 205lbs. Let's assume 30% body fat. That's 60lbs of fat at
3,500kcal per pound. So, you have 210,000kcal stored as body fat, with an
additionnal 1,200 stored as glycogen (glucose). That would have been plenty
enough to survive until dinner. You could also have eaten a little
something and wait for dinner at home. Or even cut a single dinner into two
small meals. Or you could carry some food to eat between meals, I used to
carry some nuts for instance.
Skipping a meal from time to time to feel your hunger will also make you
feel that it's a perfectly survivable experience.
But of course, the urgency was probably more with dealing with the stress
than with the hunger itself.

I went there and got a 2 piece dinner, but I skipped all of the crust and
skin and
ate half of everything else (OK, I ate one bite of crust). It was just
enough to make me feel better without overdoing it.

Good thing. If you can keep that kind of control, eating at KFC is
probably not such a problem.