Boone

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As I've gotten older (I'm 56 now), noticed my metabolism has slowed way down. I used to just think about dropping 10 lbs and *poof* it was gone. I'm only 5' 9" and have drifted up to 200 lbs over the past couple of years. I carry it well - I have a muscular frame and no one would describe me as 'fat'. But that's way more weight than I want to or should carry. My ideal weight would be in the 170-175 range.

Prior to picking up this weight, I had a leadership role at a hospital. Long, long hours, but I had the flexibility to hit the gym on the way out of work everyday. I could easily ride the stationary bike for an hour most days, or do some lifting. I had no problem keeping my weight where it needed to be. Job change a couple years ago, to one where I work 12-13 hour days, and despite it being a physically demanding job, have gained weight. Part of that is just being too whooped after a long day of work to exercise, and part of it being convenience food choices for dinner because I'm too whooped to cook something healthy. On my days off I'm mostly trying to recover for the next round of work days.

I've done a version of the South Beach diet before. I'm not really a 'diet' guy. I plan to get back on the bike before long and try and consistently ride - but I want to get my weight at a more comfortable level before I start riding again. The South Beach plan is mostly a high protein, no sugars, carbs, or starches diet. Essentially that means I can eat all the meat/protein I want, most vegetables (except those with a lot of starch), and non-calorie drinks.

Biggest barrier for me is boredom. I've never been a big carb guy. I can live without bread or pasta. But I love rice and potatoes, and eliminating sugar from the diet, including most fruits - that makes it tougher.

Anyone done this kind of plan before - and how'd you make it work? Any thoughts on food additions that meet those basic rules would be welcomed.
 
Good luck with it Boone.
I know I drop weight when I cut the carbs down.
 
I wife and I did this diet about 8 years ago. We each lost about 30lbs in about 3 months. A lot of it is water weight in the beginning due to cutting out your sodium intake. It took a lot of discipline to eat on the diet. We only made 1 thing out of their cookbook that we didn't care for. Now we didn't make everything but out of the meals we made we only found 1 we didn't like.
 
I never did the south beach diet, but I recently (about a year ago) changed the way I ate to the slow-carb method (Tim Ferris preaches this in his 4-Hour body book). For 6 days a week I will strictly eat protein (chicken/grass-fed beef/fish/eggs/protein shakes), veggies (spinach/broccoli/asparagus/carrots/etc) and legumes (beans/lentils). No white carbs (pasta/potatoes/rice) or sugars (fruit/soda/juice). However, I am allowed one cheat day a week where I eat whatever I want (used to shock the system and keep body out of ketosis, and also help with daily urges if I know I have one day a week I can eat "bad").

The non-cheat days can get pretty boring as I mostly eat similar meals each day, but when you think about it even when you eat poorly you are eating similar meals in routine so it actually isn't as bad as it seems.

Since starting to eat this way last October I'm down about 90 pounds from my peak and have probably put on about 15 pounds of muscle mass (I try to get some type of work-out in 2-3 times a week), so taking that into account I'm probably down a little over 100 pounds of bad weight.

For me the hardest part was the first two weeks, once I got into a rhythm it became easier as time went one. Just need to stay focused on whatever your goal may be.
 
Take in less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It's quite simple. There are more calories in 1g of fat than there is in 1g of carbohydrate. But carbs are easier to cut out. There really is nothing special about any diet. It's just a simple math equation. The best diet is the one you can stick to. For some that's keto. For some that's veganism. For some its low carb style diets like South Beach.

I am on the simpler plan of "just don't eat so damn much."
 
I never did the south beach diet, but I recently (about a year ago) changed the way I ate to the slow-carb method (Tim Ferris preaches this in his 4-Hour body book). For 6 days a week I will strictly eat protein (chicken/grass-fed beef/fish/eggs/protein shakes), veggies (spinach/broccoli/asparagus/carrots/etc) and legumes (beans/lentils). No white carbs (pasta/potatoes/rice) or sugars (fruit/soda/juice). However, I am allowed one cheat day a week where I eat whatever I want (used to shock the system and keep body out of ketosis, and also help with daily urges if I know I have one day a week I can eat "bad").

The non-cheat days can get pretty boring as I mostly eat similar meals each day, but when you think about it even when you eat poorly you are eating similar meals in routine so it actually isn't as bad as it seems.

Since starting to eat this way last October I'm down about 90 pounds from my peak and have probably put on about 15 pounds of muscle mass (I try to get some type of work-out in 2-3 times a week), so taking that into account I'm probably down a little over 100 pounds of bad weight.

For me the hardest part was the first two weeks, once I got into a rhythm it became easier as time went one. Just need to stay focused on whatever your goal may be.

That's awesome brother! Yeah - I am starting out very strict. No carbs. No sugar. No starches - at all. But that's not really sustainable. Will start working in fruits and maybe adopt your cheat day once per weak once I've dropped 15 or 20. Thanks for the info!
 
Take in less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It's quite simple. There are more calories in 1g of fat than there is in 1g of carbohydrate. But carbs are easier to cut out. There really is nothing special about any diet. It's just a simple math equation. The best diet is the one you can stick to. For some that's keto. For some that's veganism. For some its low carb style diets like South Beach.

I am on the simpler plan of "just don't eat so damn much."

Yep. Honestly - the thing I struggle with when 'dieting' (I don't really believe in diets and if I were doing what I normally do, long distance cycling 1-2 times a week, I wouldn't even have to be doing it) is cutting out beer. I love beer. I'm a homebrewer. And going cold turkey which is pretty much a requirement at least early on with this kind of regimen, it kind of sucks. I have no problem doing it. But I don't enjoy that part.
 
Yep. Honestly - the thing I struggle with when 'dieting' (I don't really believe in diets and if I were doing what I normally do, long distance cycling 1-2 times a week, I wouldn't even have to be doing it) is cutting out beer. I love beer. I'm a homebrewer. And going cold turkey which is pretty much a requirement at least early on with this kind of regimen, it kind of sucks. I have no problem doing it. But I don't enjoy that part.
Yeah....that would be hard. I drink a lot of whiskey. No carbs in whiskey!
 
I lost 30lbs about 4 years ago. I drink 4 coffee's a day and they were always extra cream/sugar. I also ate a ton of bread. Now it's 2 sugars for xl hot coffee and none in iced. Cut bread intake down as well. I also work out 4 days a week. I had blown up to 230lbs and had zero energy. I went from 230 down to 195 and have maintained it.
 
As I've gotten older (I'm 56 now), noticed my metabolism has slowed way down. I used to just think about dropping 10 lbs and *poof* it was gone. I'm only 5' 9" and have drifted up to 200 lbs over the past couple of years. I carry it well - I have a muscular frame and no one would describe me as 'fat'. But that's way more weight than I want to or should carry. My ideal weight would be in the 170-175 range.

Prior to picking up this weight, I had a leadership role at a hospital. Long, long hours, but I had the flexibility to hit the gym on the way out of work everyday. I could easily ride the stationary bike for an hour most days, or do some lifting. I had no problem keeping my weight where it needed to be. Job change a couple years ago, to one where I work 12-13 hour days, and despite it being a physically demanding job, have gained weight. Part of that is just being too whooped after a long day of work to exercise, and part of it being convenience food choices for dinner because I'm too whooped to cook something healthy. On my days off I'm mostly trying to recover for the next round of work days.

I've done a version of the South Beach diet before. I'm not really a 'diet' guy. I plan to get back on the bike before long and try and consistently ride - but I want to get my weight at a more comfortable level before I start riding again. The South Beach plan is mostly a high protein, no sugars, carbs, or starches diet. Essentially that means I can eat all the meat/protein I want, most vegetables (except those with a lot of starch), and non-calorie drinks.

Biggest barrier for me is boredom. I've never been a big carb guy. I can live without bread or pasta. But I love rice and potatoes, and eliminating sugar from the diet, including most fruits - that makes it tougher.

Anyone done this kind of plan before - and how'd you make it work? Any thoughts on food additions that meet those basic rules would be welcomed.
I did atkins for 3 years.

My best advice is too get things to snack on on that work for your diet.
If you have them on hand your much less likely to go off diet.

I lost 4 pant sizes and I usually try to keep my carb count moderate.

If you have any questions feel free to send me a pm.

Sent from my Note 8 using Tapatalk
 
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