I'm failing my diet because I can't comply on the weekends

[RPD]

I had a little bit of this problem, but it takes discipline and planning help. Now I really only cheat on Sundays, and even then I try to not make it a shit show day, but maybe after lunch I'll indulge in some things I normally wouldn't eat during the week. I will say, if you can be good during the whole week without cravings it should be easier to cut back come the weekends, but if you are having a hard time every day, weekends are going to be that much more difficult.

I pretty much never eat breakfast anymore, just a large coffee (probably technically 2 cups of coffee) with a scoop of butter and some heavy whipping cream. Same for Saturdays, but after that I goto the gym with a friend, we bang out our 3 mile run and do squats afterwards. If we have any energy left we'll hit some miscellaneous stuff we didn't hit during the week. Depending on how late it is, I'll hold off eating my lunch until 11am-ish. So that basically eliminates half of Saturday. From there I want to keep the momentum going for the rest of the day.

Sunday is a different schedule, but attempt to do the same thing, but sometimes I'll have breakfast with the family and lunch as well. What I always hold out for cheating is ice cream, it's my crutch (Haagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry). But because I'm focused on it and that's my reward I try to almost never compromise on any other meals or snacks that don't fit into what I deem healthy (low carb almost no sugar).

 

[z1ggy]

Weekdays are fine. I have structure.... I wake up the same time every day, do the same things, eat the same stuff. Somehow I'm just not tempted to stray mon-Thurs... Sometimes Friday I am tempted, and sometimes I cave, but not too often.

The problem is Saturday and Sunday. I have no set schedule or agenda like 98% of the time, so it's just a total free for all. This will be the first week where I shouldn't have any kind of temptation or junk food in my house to even eat, regardless of how I feel.

I am now committing to going shopping for food Friday night after dinner so I don't have that urge to buy bad foods and buy with my stomach. It worked last weekend, but I still had some garbage food laying around from the weekend before.

It also sucks that my ankle is busted and I can't exercise as hard as I want. I can do pull ups and push ups, but no heavy lifting and maybe I can start doing elliptical soon. The sprain still hurts.

 

[Red Squirrel]

2 days a week is probably not a big deal. It's not like you're doing it every day. Though I find for me personally what works is to only eat when I'm hungry. I don't calorie count or any of that, way too much work, but I don't eat just because it's time to eat, I only eat if I'm hungry. I don't have any real eating schedule, I just go by what my body tells me. I manage to hover in the 150lb area. I probably don't eat as healthy as I should and could do better but overall I don't concern myself too much about my weight or counting calories and manage ok. When I do hit like 160 then I start to watch more. Summer is kind of bad because all the chip stands and ice cream stands open up lol.

 

[IGBT]

Diets and similar are a test of discipline..you either develop it or you don't.

 

[z1ggy]

Diets and similar are a test of discipline..you either develop it or you don't.

I 100% agree, although unless something is your job or you are being forced (physically) to do something that you don't enjoy, it's much harder to comply to something.

But I think I've found my answer.

Again... I struggled since I started this thread, up until about 2-3 weeks ago. I'd eat well Mon-Fri, then I'd loose track on weekends again. I've realized I need to do 2 things again that I did before years ago when I lost about 25lb and got down very lose to 10% body fat:

1) Don't sweat the small stuff. Focus on calories above all else, then protein macros. The rest is kind of fluff at my current body fat %.

2) Adhering to point 1 above, it's okay to treat myself, and treat myself often. I'm not talking having big slices of pizza or ice cream, but for example, I now regularly incorporate small amounts of sugar free caramel sauce on my oatmeal, which by the way, is a new meal I added, and started losing weight. I'll also have raspberry and banana/plantain 2 days a week as a replacement to that meal.

When I first posted this issue, I wasn't really lifting, and I was still healing from my sprained ankle. I was maybe doing some weak excuse for cardio a few times a week (jumping jacks, or golfing) and eating about 1600-1800 cals. I'd be fine all week, then cave and probably eat 3000-3500 on Saturday or Sunday via ice cream, junk food and/or chinese take out.

Now, I've actually upped my calories to about 2200 a day, eat more carbs during the week and I went back to heavy lifting. So instead of eating 100 carb per day and 1600 cals, no gym and then binge on Saturday/Sunday, I eat ~220 carb, lift heavy 4x a week and I've managed to eat the same on Sat n Sunday because I'm allowed some "treats" as part of my regular diet.

So far I'm down almost 5lb. So for me, it's not about trying to force and push myself through misery of some low carb/low cal thing just "because have some discipline", I've realized that it's helping to reward myself often with foods that I crave in small amounts, that fit into my macro/calorie plan. I'm able to "enjoy" the adherence, which in turn keeps me disciplined.

 

[deadlyapp]

Great news. Many people struggle with diets because they are conditioned to withhold the things they like, which just leads them to crash binges and a cycle of regret.

Any time I try to give nutrition advice I try to make sure that foods aren't meant to be regretted and you should absolutely include foods that you enjoy, just with less abandon. I regularly use sugar free sweeteners in foods to satisfy my sweet tooth and have regular savory foods in moderation.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've always been a believer in everything in moderation. Trying to cut out things completely just makes life difficult since you always crave those things and life is too short for that.

I was drinking way too much pop for a while so I cut down, and rater than cut it out completely I just slowly weaned off. Now I have one like maybe once or twice a week in average. I don't really crave it that much anymore, but if I tried to cut it out 100% then I'd probably always be craving it. It's kind of mind games.

 

[z1ggy]

Great news. Many people struggle with diets because they are conditioned to withhold the things they like, which just leads them to crash binges and a cycle of regret.

Any time I try to give nutrition advice I try to make sure that foods aren't meant to be regretted and you should absolutely include foods that you enjoy, just with less abandon. I regularly use sugar free sweeteners in foods to satisfy my sweet tooth and have regular savory foods in moderation.

I've always been a believer in everything in moderation. Trying to cut out things completely just makes life difficult since you always crave those things and life is too short for that.

I was drinking way too much pop for a while so I cut down, and rater than cut it out completely I just slowly weaned off. Now I have one like maybe once or twice a week in average. I don't really crave it that much anymore, but if I tried to cut it out 100% then I'd probably always be craving it. It's kind of mind games.

Yup, sugar free stuff on my oatmeal, with some real raspberries or fruit basically keeps me from wanting to buy sweets at the store when I'm grocery shopping. Having some cous cous or whole wheat pasta every day during the weak is helping to curb my desire for greasy chinese lo mein that my grocery store hot foods section sells. It's still there, but I just try to avoid that section of the store so I'm not tempted. So far, haven't had any chinese food or korean food (my main binge foods) in 3 weeks. Maybe when I take a diet break around September, I will have some again.

Also my strength is returning pretty fast now in the gym with some carbs added in. Back in the day I was benching 225x5 for my heavy days, I still managed 185x3, so not all hope is lost. Hopefully I can get 225 back up by end year. No squat rack at this gym unfortunately so I'm reduced to dead lift and leg press there.

 

[rga]

I'm going to enjoy posting pics later this year. Please, keep being a douche, it's very motivating honestly.

Current average weight is 196.4 now. I was just calipered by the gym PT @16.6%. Since last August when I had it done, the calc shows I've gained 8lb lean mass.

Remember a couple years back when you said this? So where are those progress pics? Looks like there hasn't been any progress to photograph.

 

[pete6032]

It's with my coffee which is around 16oz or something. Yes, that's a lot but I also sleep like crap (for unknown reasons, no caffeine after 12pm) and I actually don't like the taste of black coffee much, go figure. Used to drink sugar free Monster but then I figured that it's probably slowly killing me, so I stopped it (also expensive).

I do intermittent fasting which I feel helps me eat less while trying to diet. I've been doing this consistently for probably the past 4-5 years. Only eat between 12pm-7pm although one could argue that the half and half would be disturbing that fasting, which it probably is to a degree. I have no issues changing that to fat free, but I also am probably addicted to morning coffee... Mentally and physically.

Try eliminating caffeine for sleep. The metabolic half life of caffeine is 5-6 hours so if you drank 16 oz of coffee at noon it would be like going to bed at 10 PM and drinking 4 oz of coffee just before bed.

 

[shortylickens]

start loving celery.
it might save your health.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Celery, one of the few foods that burns more calories eating it than what it gives you. It's like working out, but you're eating instead!

 

[deadlyapp]

Celery, one of the few foods that burns more calories eating it than what it gives you. It's like working out, but you're eating instead!

A stupid myth

 

[Red Squirrel]

A stupid myth

First I hear of that. TIL.

 

[ArchAngel777]

First I hear of that. TIL.

In this case, I don' think it is a myth perse - But it really depends on what angle you are trying to to approach it with. It provides 15 calories per 100g. That is practically nothing... Compare that to oatmeal, which is 375 calories per 100g.

This is what people mean when they say it is a negative calorie food: You can east as much of it as you want and still lose weight. This is most true - You would die before you could consume enough celery to meet your daily energy needs. However, that doesn't make it a negative calorie food, as you would die with no food, as well. It just means that celery is basically a "free" food. Eat as much as you want and do not track the calories.

Also, the cited sources that say the "Thermic effect of food is is 5% - 10%" However, as is often the case, no much critical thought is used with this simplistic answer. The reason the thermic effect is quoted at between 5 and 10% has do with the content of the average diet. The more processed foods, the easier to digest, therefore, less thermic effect. If, by weight, for example, you ate 1000g of celery, 1000g of meat and 300g of grains, the thermic effect of food would probably be closer to 15 - 20%, even more if the food is raw. However, if you have a processed food diet and eat just a bunch of potato chips, you would probably only lose 5% in the digestion process. What would the thermic effect of an only celery diet be? Probably 50-100%. No one knows, because I don't think it was tested. In other words, the base line touted 10% for thermic in food is based on the entire diet, not just one aspect of it. The less dense the food, the more energy required to extract it. Remember, all that diver has to travel down through the digestion track and get expelled. The energy used, is no joke - especially when 100g only provides 15 calories, vs 375 for the same serving size of oatmeal (which is also healthy and contains resistant starches).

So whether celery is a negative calorie food, or whether one such exists, I'd say, it absolutely does exist. If you consume sand, it provides zero energy, and it still must run through the digestive track. At some point, one just needs to use some common sense and stop quoting simplistic reasoning for why it doesn't exist. The thermic effect is food is VARIABLE, based on the content of the food. If you extract very little or not energy, and the food must still run through the digestive track and be elminiated, it only makes sense that the end result is lost energy.

To be clear: I am not saying Celery is a negative calorie food. But I am also not saying it isn't, because until it is actually tested in a laboratory, no one knows. But I'll tell you one thing: The thermic effect is much larger than simpleton articles quoting a mere 10% and in the case of celery, the point is this: Eat as much as you fugging want: You won't gain fat.

Keep in mind calories expended from:

Mastication (Chewing)
Swallowing (Esophagus is a muscle)
Stomach (Acids breaking down unprocessed raw foods)
Small and Large Intestines: Food must travel, this requires energy
Sphincter: More energy required to eliminate said food
Wiping: More energy

It takes much more energy than people realize from the chewing process, to the cleanup process after pooping.

Some interesting reading material - if you are interested:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-hidden-truths-about-calories/

 

[snoopy7548]

Isn't water a negative-calorie "food"? Especially if it's cold, your body has to compensate for the thermal difference.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Isn't water a negative-calorie "food"? Especially if it's cold, your body has to compensate for the thermal difference.

Yes, however a pedantic person is going to say that water is not a food. In any event, you brought up a perfectly good counter point to the "negative calorie food is a myth" - Whatever goes into body must come out, and if what goes in provides no energy, or less energy that required to run through the entire process, then you have net energy loss. This means, by definition, you have a negative calorie food (or substance, if you want to be pedantic).

Snoopy - To be clear, I am agreeing with you. Good point.

 

[z1ggy]

Here's one - hockey season has now started and I play two, sometimes three times per week. Can this replace my Cardio routine? I'm actually even considering upping calories a bit. I estimate each game burns around 600 calories or so. Right now I'm only doing about 45 mins Cardio per week, maybe burning 450-500 cal.

 

[deadlyapp]

Here's one - hockey season has now started and I play two, sometimes three times per week. Can this replace my Cardio routine? I'm actually even considering upping calories a bit. I estimate each game burns around 600 calories or so. Right now I'm only doing about 45 mins Cardio per week, maybe burning 450-500 cal.

If it is elevating your heart rate, then yes, it is likely accomplishing the same thing as steady state cardio.

It should not replace weight lifting / resistance training.

If you want to really nail your calorie expenditure, investing in an inexpensive chest strap heart rate monitor (I use Polar H7, costs ~$63) and your phone can give you a good way to actually monitor and adjust your eating as necessary.

Wrist monitors don't do a great job, especially when sweaty, which is why I prefer a chest strap.

 

[z1ggy]

Yeah still plan to lift 3x per week. I'm interested in how much hockey really does burn because the wrist ones have said at much as 1200 cals.

 

[deadlyapp]

Yeah still plan to lift 3x per week. I'm interested in how much hockey really does burn because the wrist ones have said at much as 1200 cals.

If your heart rate was in the 140 or so range constantly, then yeah you could be doing close to that over the span of an hour.

 

[z1ggy]

If your heart rate was in the 140 or so range constantly, then yeah you could be doing close to that over the span of an hour.

It's possible depending on the circumstances that my average for that hour was around the 120-140 range. It's tough to tell because when you're out there I might get up to like 150 or something when I'm sprinting around the ice for 1-2 minutes, but then you go sit down and I might get back down to 80-90bpm for 3-4mins. Then there's other times I play pick up where I might be out there for 15 minutes straight, going at a more constant rate of like 110 or something, then rest for a couple mins, then back up again. I honestly feel more tired after those kinds of sessions than I do from games.

 

[z1ggy]

I just wanted to post an update because it's been a while but more importantly, I think I have finally had my moment of clarity when it comes to my weight loss struggles.

Long story short, even after I made this thread, I still could not lose weight. I'd lose a few pounds then shoot back up. Right before Xmas, I was 203lb. Fast forward to yesterday, I am down to 192lb. How did I do it? Well, some may criticize and we'll see how it works in the medium to longer term but I'm doing what's being called as a (modified) protein sparing modified fast. Essentially, what I have been doing the past going on 3 weeks now is I eat a very very low amount of calories 5 days per week, consisting almost entirely of protein, with just enough fat and almost no carbs except for veggies. Then 1 day a week, I eat one "cheat meal" which is just basically me adding some pasta or rice to one of my meals. Then on another day of the week, I have 2 or even 3 meals of choice, as long as it's not junk. And... I'll even toss in a little junk, such as a few choco. covered pretzels or something (had them laying around from Xmas gift). It's very similar to the Ultimate Diet 2.0 which I used maybe 5-6 years ago to break though a weight loss plateau at the time, but I was more in the 10-12% body fat region back then.

This works very well for me because I know I'm never more than 2 days away from eating something really yummy. Previously... I was always trying to "cut" slowly and left myself no room for error, and even though I was eating plenty of carbs regularly, my cravings never went away. My cravings now are arguably worse, but I have enough will power to tell myself "no" and that I can give in a little bit, just in a few days. And somehow I don't over indulge or stuff myself... my brain/body doesn't give me those signals. I actually struggle on the 2 or 3 day cheat meal day to even eat enough food.

Finally, comes the gym. I'm lifting heavy weight only, 3 days a week with 1 day LISS cardio and another day is my hockey game. I haven't lost any strength, in fact I think I've gained... but that's almost entirely because I wasn't lifting heavy enough before. I only do 2 or 3 working sets per muscle, per session. It's very easy to push myself to an RPE of 8 or 9 when I know I only need to do it 2 or 3 times. I start with squats, then bench, then pull ups, then OHP. I'll usually toss in a little bit of abs and a little bit of posterior chain. Maybe 1 or 2 sets of curls/tricep push downs for fun.

I plan to run this diet for another 2 weeks, then take a week or two off from it, because it's pretty intense. I'll hopefully get down to about 189 or 190 by Jan 15th, then resume another 4 weeks of this again starting first week of Feb. My long term goal is to see myself hit 10-12% body fat again. May experiment using a similar methodology to 'slow bulk' after, but by then it will be golf season and I only lift 1 or 2 days a week at that point.

 

[deadlyapp]

It's certainly not healthy and I question your capability to maintain it, even for an additional two weeks, but if it works for you then great.

 

[purbeast0]

@z1ggy that sounds KIND of similar to how I eat when I lean up. Typically my meals M-F on my normal schedule include protein shakes (3x a day), then my lunch at work is 2 of these chicken burritos I make in low carb tortillas, and dinner is usually some chicken or pork + a salad. My snacks are primarily string cheese and almonds. I'm not going for 0 carb or anything, but it's like < 30-35g/day or so NET carbs.

Then on the weekends I usually eat whatever I want, or I will try to keep that lower carb diet going on some weekends, etc. It just depends how I feel. Knowing your cheat day is coming up definitely helps from the mental point of view.

I have had great results doing this over the years. I'm starting this week again on it since after my trip to Turks and Caicos in mid-November, through the holidays, I have been eating like crap. My abs aren't really visible like they were 2 months ago so I want to get that back.