Weight loss- 15 lbs in a month is probably bad?

[Chapap]

Several years ago, I challenged myself with simple diet for one month. I had 3 rules: 1) Don't eat if I'm not hungry, 2) Stop eating when I cease to be hungry, 3) choose healthier options available.

Rule 3 cut out 99% of deserty, sugary, greasy, non-utilitarian stuff. I didn't go out of the way to eat healthy, but just cut out the clearly bad stuff. Rule 1 had me skipping meals. Rule 2 made my meals progressively smaller. I did this for a month, lost 15lbs, then had an astounding recovery (unfortunately). I crossfitted 5 days a week the entire time and never felt any negative side effects. Toward the end, I was only able to fit one taco worth of food in my stomach at a time. I probably gave myself a pseudo eating disorder.

Well it's long past due to go on a diet. This ^ seemed to work, but does anyone have any idea what happened to me? I'm sure that's not sustainable and would be a poor long term plan.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I think you need way more than a month to break lifelong habits, more like years... I also think that your plan seems reasonable. I'm trying to do the same.

 

[RonD]

Eat cold foods whenever possible, drink cold drinks
You body must burn calories to warm up and stay at 98.6degF internally, so anything cold coming in must be warmed up
That's just physics

Your stomach takes 10 to 15min to tell your brain, "I am full", lol, so yes, smaller meals then wait to see if you really want more

Nothing wrong with a snack, its that 10-15min thing, small snack and wait, I love the snickers commercials, lol, "hangry"
If you wait until you are really hungry you WILL over eat
Food is not the issue, TOO MUCH FOOD is the issue

Sudden changes in diet can cause weight gain, after an initial weight loss, because your brains basic instinct is to store up more fat when food starts to be restricted, many thousands of years of feast and famine has set that in stone in our brains
So it does take some time for the brain to adjust to a lower calorie intake, as said it takes a long while to break the habit/instinct of feast and famine

 

[Chapap]

That one month of dieting didn't start as a habbit breaking thing which is probably a big reason I didn't stick to it. At the end, it wasn't even hard to stick to it. But when the 1st hit, I had a cheat day that turned into a week, and now here we are. On top of that, I think I used the "this is probably not sustainable" thing to keep pushing the cheat period. Well now I'd like to get back under an eighth of a ton. That's just too big of a fraction for a person to be... except for those who don't need a jack to put their ranger on jack stands.

 

[Roert42]

If you feel full, you ate too much.

If you have stomach pangs, that isn't your stomach saying your hungry, that's your stomach saying that you have more room fill me up.

You know your hungry when you are fatigued and tired, then you eat and you feel full of energy again.

Being hungry and having space in your stomach aren't the same thing.

 

[Blmpkn]

Apparently if your body needs water it'll make you feel hungry.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I'm weird, as in opposite of American eating habits.
It amazes me the portions served to my friends as kids, and being told to clean their plate. The food was bigger than their stomachs literally.
This forced generations to eat more than their fill. Now everyone is fat from stretching their stomachs as children. Unwittingly trained to over eat.
I was raised different, eating when I'm hungry and stopping when full. Also much of it was home cooked mediterranean diet, low salt. Parents wouldn't force me to eat when and where, they'd just fix me a plate when was hungry. I did have a major sweet tooth, not so much now that I'm older. I am also a very plain eater, never was one to douse everything with various sauces, spices, and seasonings.

I am a little on the slim side, varying from 130-140lbs, depending on what's going on activity level wise.
Eventually you will listen to your body.
My body will crave meat and cheese when I need protein, bready stuff when I need carbs...Sometimes when I'm low on vitamins or whatever, I will suddenly crave fruits and vegetables.
When I am working a big job burning a lot of calories, I will have twice the appetite, killing meals easily.
When I am taking it easy, I won't feel like eating much, and a slice of pizza will fill me up.

Also if I'm hungry, a few bites will fix that. A granola bar or something will hold me over.
But then again I don't mind the feeling of an empty stomach, I don't like feeling full, makes me lethargic.

Diet wise I need to gain weight, but haven't been trained to eat beyond my fill in order to clean my plate...how come nobody ever questions the portions parents are serving their kids?

 

[Markos]

I'm weird, as in opposite of American eating habits.
It amazes me the portions served to my friends as kids, and being told to clean their plate. The food was bigger than their stomachs literally.
This forced generations to eat more than their fill. Now everyone is fat from stretching their stomachs as children. Unwittingly trained to over eat.
I was raised different, eating when I'm hungry and stopping when full. Also much of it was home cooked mediterranean diet, low salt. Parents wouldn't force me to eat when and where, they'd just fix me a plate when was hungry. I did have a major sweet tooth, not so much now that I'm older. I am also a very plain eater, never was one to douse everything with various sauces, spices, and seasonings.

I am a little on the slim side, varying from 130-140lbs, depending on what's going on activity level wise.
Eventually you will listen to your body.
My body will crave meat and cheese when I need protein, bready stuff when I need carbs...Sometimes when I'm low on vitamins or whatever, I will suddenly crave fruits and vegetables.
When I am working a big job burning a lot of calories, I will have twice the appetite, killing meals easily.
When I am taking it easy, I won't feel like eating much, and a slice of pizza will fill me up.

Also if I'm hungry, a few bites will fix that. A granola bar or something will hold me over.
But then again I don't mind the feeling of an empty stomach, I don't like feeling full, makes me lethargic.

Diet wise I need to gain weight, but haven't been trained to eat beyond my fill in order to clean my plate...how come nobody ever questions the portions parents are serving their kids?

In general, food portions are way overblown in US I agree, also most of the snack-type foods have multiple "servings" within 1 package. Re-learning to eat properly, especially when everyone around you consumes multiple thousands of calories per sitting took me years(and another 4-ish years of weightlifting and cardio to get in the decent shape). But hey, now I can run half-marathon and do some social runs(local store I've been getting my Hoka shoes https://rununited.com/hoka/ does those few times a week, pretty fun to run with a group of people to be honest!)

 

[James Morse]

A lot of packaged or canned foods have massive amounts of salt in them. I'm not sure why this is, but lots of times you see the salt at 40% or 50% of the daily intake number. That doesn't mean it's going to kill you to have them once in a while but I've been trying to in general avoid it. Some things, like potato chips, you can get low-salt or no-salt chips and I find the missing salt doesn't really bother me. The other thing is that if you're accustomed to lots of salt, at first you may miss it, but my experience has been that as you get used to it, less salty food tastes more salty than it did before.
Obviously you need salt to live so I'm by no way saying don't eat any salt. But too much increases water retention and, I don't know what else it does, but I know my doctor told me "watch the sodium intake" so I make an attempt. I like a little salt on veggies etc but I've found I don't need to dump half the shaker on it - a little bit is enough to taste it.
I'm looking forward to the garden veggies, the lettuce and spinach are coming along already, and peas. Beans and yummy yellow squash can go in right about now (for here). Usually I do cantelope (mixed success there). Tomatoes and peppers, I saved a lot of seeds, but I've found it's usually just as well to get plants well along, they are cheap at the co-op. Beets are yummy (peel after cooking) and when they are thinned out the greens are delicious. There's nothing like a salad made 5 minutes after you pick the stuff.
I was told to switch from whole milk to 2%, refused a long time as the latter seemed watery, but now that's all I drink for milk so as mentioned you can get used to, and like, changes, but it takes a while.
Asparagus are coming up like gangbusters along the fenceline, takes a few years to really get them going, but it's worth it. Cherry trees are finally producing. Peaches and apricots there are lots every year.
Saw 2 good size deer eating the invasive English ivy I keep snipping back from the fence, good for them. Problem is they eat everything else too, they'll eat the bark off small trees which really screws them up. It might not be all bad, they ate the string beans almost to nubs last year but they came back with more beans than we ever had, surprisingly.
You can grow an amazing amount of stuff in a small space, I have a couple little patches maybe 16'x24'. Squash will go all over the place but it's just for a while and can mow around it.
Berries seem to lose vigor after awhile, I don't know if I should cut them to the ground or what (blackberries, raspberries, black raspberries). Blueberries I never had good luck with them, or grapes, so there's something I'm not doing right there. I have red and yellow apples, they do ok. I don't spray, so, for the treed fruits - and some other things - you have to just assume between bugs and deer and rabbits, you will get some fraction of it.
The lot here is less than 1/2 acre and I'm doing all that with lots of available space. Trees are great for shade and soaking up water and heat, and they bring in all kinds of birds. I've seen squirrels go up a tree and take a whole peach and carry it away. I think they eat the pits too. Crazy stuff.
Kind of ran on about that, and I don't know how much is on topic, I guess I'm just saying there's an awful lot you can do, to get your own fresh stuff, it takes some work, but not all that much. A nice salad with some cheese and/or meat in it is very satisfying and fills you up, gives you roughage, and fresh vitamins. You do need protein and you do need carbs, just, I think not in the amounts 'they' would have you buy. I'm not a vegetarian, that's hard to do and still maintain nutrition. The extreme of that is the Aireans, who thought you get enough nutrition simply from breathing in things (bacteria, etc) in the air. The movement died out though.

 

[sgtsandman]

The closer you can get to real, unprocessed food the better. The majority of the food sold in grocery stores and restaurants have so many preservatives, chemicals, and substitutes in them due to various reasons that have little to benefit the consumer.

Aside from the proportions packaged and served, I think the chemicals, preservatives, and additives are a big reason we have so many health issues and weight problems.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Often losing 15–20 pounds quickly after starting a strict diet is simply loss of retained water because of reduced sodium intake. As noted above, sodium causes water retention. After the excess water is gone, the rate of weight loss drops quite a bit in most people, usually to just a few pounds per month unless someone is doing a lot of heavy physical work and just not eating. And if you are, you can't continue that for long.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Weight loss from illness is not good either, by the way. Often that happens quickly and it stresses the body.

My father was very obese (400+ lb), but he lost a lot of weight a couple of times because of medical conditions that were later corrected. At the lower weight (say around 250 lb), even though he was still technically overweight, he looked really bad and unhealthy, especially in the face. After regaining some of the weight, he actually looked better.

 

[Markos]

Weight loss from illness is not good either, by the way. Often that happens quickly and it stresses the body.

My father was very obese (400+ lb), but he lost a lot of weight a couple of times because of medical conditions that were later corrected. At the lower weight (say around 250 lb), even though he was still technically overweight, he looked really bad and unhealthy, especially in the face. After regaining some of the weight, he actually looked better.

Any "quick" loss is bad yeah. And on top of that you not only going to lose fat, but also muscle most of the time, especially when it comes to losing due to illness.(losing 150 lbs+sounds horrible even if it was through dieting, can't imagine how much stress his body was under).

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The closer you can get to real, unprocessed food the better. The majority of the food sold in grocery stores and restaurants have so many preservatives, chemicals, and substitutes in them due to various reasons that have little to benefit the consumer.

Aside from the proportions packaged and served, I think the chemicals, preservatives, and additives are a big reason we have so many health issues and weight problems.

This for sure! As a kid I had really bad Asthma. Think I was on like 4 meds and two inhalers. Mom did research and cut out a ton of processed foods and most dairy plus enforced staying hydrated (which at the time included the original lemon-lime Gatorade which I now refuse to drink but any other Gatorade flavor is ok, lol). I suddenly had problems with the meds after the change to my diet. That was the end of being medicated for it. I can tolerate some processed foods and some dairy, but too much and I start having problems. Hydration is key too, don’t only drink when you’re thirsty, by the time you’re actually thirsty, you’re actually dehydrated.

Soda is not good for you and actually most diet soda pop is worse. High fructose corn syrup is not really able to be processed by your body and neither is a lot of the artificial sweetener. Far better off to use real sugar (your body knows what to do with that), or things like honey or agave or something natural for sweetener. I cut out sugary drinks and sweets years ago. It took awhile to adjust, but I’m better off now. Some things now like store bought cake is actually now waaaayyyy too sweet for me, I can’t handle it, it’s sickening sweet to me. I usually down a couple gallons of water a day now, try to always keep some around.

@James Morse , yes, a lot of processed foods use a literal ton of sodium. Reason being is it’s a cheap preservative. The company makes it only cares about making and selling food, not that it’s healthy for you. Most people don’t give a thought to the fact that their fast food lunch and TV dinner end up giving them well over 100% of the daily recommended limit on sodium for the day just in those two meals alone. Add breakfast and a snack and it’s no wonder it’s a problem. But the flip side is it’s more expensive and time consuming to eat healthier. When you can buy a couple value menu salt and sawdust “burgers” and a large salty fry for $4-5 and eat it while you’re driving as opposed to a $7 salad that’s much more difficult to eat on the go, well…

There’s nothing like a good steak salad though on a hot summer day…

 

[James Morse]

I don't see how you can drink 2 gallons of water a day. But it's a good goal - well - anything would be better than what I usually do which is 2-3 cups of coffee and not a lot more. That's no where near enough; I keep a gallon of distilled water in the shop and hit that sometimes. I always have distilled water because the dog had kidney stones, had to have operation (it was bad), and now she has special food and gets distilled water. This is, I guess, supposed to cut down on the mineral content. The stones that came out of her, one was as big as your thumb, and a bunch more little ones, they looked basically like the stuff that builds up in the hot water heater. I still give her milk bones which is not really recommended but there's no big treats that come in dietary.

Realizing this isn't about dogs.... but related to hydrating, yes, I notice especially if it's low humidity, not enough water can make you feel yuck. I have to think more water is better, it would flush your liver/kidneys and help get the crap out that they filter - I myself would rather not have kidney stones. I'm just guessing about this, but it seems reasonable. Doctor says I am dehydrated. How they know this I don't know, but it's probably correct.

Truck forum is about the last place I'd expect to find health advice, but your point is well taken. The body has all kinds of dissolved salts in it, the concentrations have to be correct and they test for these things with blood tests.
The body is essentially a machine with some replaceable parts but not many and not easily done. It's not like a truck that you can keep it on the road forever. That said, being dehydrated would be like running your truck below the range in oil and missing some antifreeze, etc. You wouldn't do that. Shouldn't I treat my body at least as well as my truck (rhetorical)? Habits are hard to break.