Diet Newbie: any tips?

About three weeks ago, I started the 'hacker's diet', a rather simple
calorie-counter supplemented by the logic an engineering mind needs
and statistical analysis tools. At the beginning of the diet, I
weighed 245lbs. After just this modest time, I am down 9.5lbs to
235.5 (although the weighted trend suggests my true weight is slightly
higher)

I'm cutting my daily intake by 1000-1200 calories a day (haven't
nailed my daily expendature just yet), and I find this actually
liberating.

I imagine I'm pretty young compared to the group average, at just 18,
so I figure I'll ask the a.a.diet community what tips and tricks make
the little annoyances of a diet a little less noticeable.

Some tips....

Eat breakfast, preferably with some protein.
Drink lots of water (8-10 glasses). This does help.
Keep a food diary and write down everything.
Get a small kitchen scale and weigh portions.
Up the fruits and vegs.
Make short, medium and long term goals.
Exercise.
Recognize this is a marathon, not a sprint - and the hardest part is
not actually losing the weight, but developing life long habits that
will help you keep it off.

Mary G.
Lost over 50lb in 2004, maintaining.

said...

Some tips....

Eat breakfast, preferably with some protein.
Yep! "Breakfast is gold, lunch is silver and dinner is lead."


Drink lots of water (8-10 glasses). This does help.
Yep! If I'm hungry between meals, I drink water.


Keep a food diary and write down everything.
Yep! Use software like dietpower (www.dietpower.com). NO affiliation!


Get a small kitchen scale and weigh portions.
Yep! Become a food label expert! Eat as natural as you can. Where ARE my
reading glasses?


Up the fruits and vegs.
Yep! Diabetics use caution with the fruits. Gout sufferers use caution with
some veggies.


Make short, medium and long term goals.
OK. I strived to fit into the BMI "mold." And I have arrived!

Exercise.
Yep! Upper and lower body, not just walking or bicycle riding.


Recognize this is a marathon, not a sprint - and the hardest part is
not actually losing the weight, but developing life long habits that
will help you keep it off.
Yep!


And stay off the saturated fats as much as possible, in favor of the mono-
unsaturated kind.


Mary G.
Lost over 50lb in 2004, maintaining.


Congrats!!!

Best,

Andy
6'3" 198lbs. (A slimmer image of my former 247lb. self)
--
T2
HBP
Gout

Thought of another one -

Be ready to be put denial, excuses, and avoidance away. Yes, people
have metabolic differences due to genetics, age, hormones, activity
levels, blah, blah, blah.. However, in the final analysis, if you are
taking in less in calories than you are expending in energy, you WILL
lose weight. And if you are not losing, you are still eating too much,
and need to experiment and dial it back a bit.


Mary G.

James G wrote:

About three weeks ago, I started the 'hacker's diet', a rather simple
calorie-counter supplemented by the logic an engineering mind needs
and statistical analysis tools ...

I imagine I'm pretty young compared to the group average, at just 18,
so I figure I'll ask the a.a.diet community what tips and tricks make
the little annoyances of a diet a little less noticeable.

Time issue -

The time scale for fat loss is month to month no matter that
not one dieter in history has liked the fact. One advantage
of the engineering approach in the Hacker's Diet is an
understanding of noise in the data readings (the scale bounces
from day to day) and the use of smoothing formulas (the average
of the last couple of weeks matters not today's reading).

Being able to view the time scale on a monthly basis during the
losing phases and on an annual basis during maintenance is
a huge advantage. Any smaller view of the time scale leads to
frustration. In the short term (months) action gets more leverage
than attitude. In the long term (years) mental attitude gets more
leverage that action.

Problem solving issue -

Note that a stall is define dby Dr Atkins as 4+ weeks without a
cheat, without a new low, without a lost inch. This definition is
useful across the board not just on Atkins because it gives
time scales about what is and isn't reasonable in expectations.
It also points out that inches matter - Lose size and you're
successful. But the time eventually comes when a stall
happens by that definition.

Treat a stall as a puzzle to be solved. There are blocking
foods and chemicals, nutritional deficiencies that can cause
lower metabolism and such. A stall is the time for experiements.

Reaction to a binge -

If you binge, remember what triggered that binge. Then avoid
that trigger. In the process you've learned a way to not binge
in the future. Learn a lesson and the memory of that binge
becomes a victory not a failure. Thus don't fear the unknown.
Rather learn from what happens. If you plan says this is the
month to try eating X, and that triggers a binge for you, don't
refuse to try X in fear that it might trigger a binge. Step out in
faith that whether it does or not you will have learned how to
improve your maintenance variety.

On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 05:38:18 -0800 (PST), in alt.support.diet,
wrote:

Some tips....

Eat breakfast, preferably with some protein.
Drink lots of water (8-10 glasses). This does help.
Keep a food diary and write down everything.
Get a small kitchen scale and weigh portions.
Up the fruits and vegs.
Make short, medium and long term goals.
Exercise.
Recognize this is a marathon, not a sprint - and the hardest part is
not actually losing the weight, but developing life long habits that
will help you keep it off.

Mary G.
Lost over 50lb in 2004, maintaining.

Great tips Mary.
thank you
Karen- lost 42 lbs and maintaining since April 2006

On Mar 7, 3:00*pm, wrote:
Thought of another one -

Be ready to be put denial, excuses, and avoidance away. Yes, people
have metabolic differences due to genetics, age, hormones, activity
levels, blah, blah, blah.. However, in the final analysis, if you are
taking in less in calories than you are expending in energy, you WILL
lose weight. And if you are not losing, you are still eating too much,
and need to experiment and dial it back a bit.

Mary G.

Having attempted several diets in the past, this is the one single
thing I wish somebody had told me. I mean, in all reality, my
acquaintances aren't very health-minded, so they probably didn't
know. All the same, I suspected for years that dieting had to be
simpler than just cutting calories. The body's complex, so why isn't
dieting?
I have been following the majority of the advice given here since the
diet began. All except the exercise; naturally, I understand the
importance of exercise (I actually ran long distance for three years
in high school), but my schedule just makes it rather inconvenient to
do something. HackDiet actually recommends a simple high-intensity 15-
minute workout everyday, moving up a ladder of intensity to
continually stay at a personal maximum.

Have any of you tried these high-intensity, short duration exercise
plans?


I also find my biggest trouble moments come a few hours after dinner.
Right now I usually budget a few calories in that time to munch on a
few dill pickle spears (at 5 calories apiece). Anybody know of any
other easy low-cal snack attack foods?


Thanks for the replies so far everybody, it's comforting to know that
even when my charts and numbers showing good progress can't convince
me, I can seek the support of others familiar with the trials of
obesity and diet.

James G wrote:

I imagine I'm pretty young compared to the group average, at just 18,
so I figure I'll ask the a.a.diet community what tips and tricks make
the little annoyances of a diet a little less noticeable.

I personally do not subscribe to the
ensuring eating breakfast rule. You know
your body, you know your willpower.

For me, I am weakest in the evenings. No
matter how much or how little I've eaten in
the day, I *will* eat a lot a night. So,
for me, the best thing to do is to eat as
little during the day as possible so that
my night eating is not so disastrous.

Your mileage will vary.

-- Anita --
149/140/130