My New Fad Diet (advice)

Greetings Second Life Resident Answers!

This thread is a little off-topic I suppose, but I really enjoy the Resident Answers and predict I will get some awesome advice.

So, I'm in my late twenties, and I don't weigh what I used to when I was younger. As we age, we can't just OM NOM NOM everything we want to like we used to. I'm trying to lose 20lbs.

After playing Second Life for about a year, I got lazy "computer ass" as it were... At my heaviest I was 200lbs.

I went on what could be described as the "Jared Diet", yah, the guy from the Subway commercials. I ate nothing but lunch meat sammiches (whole wheat bread), fruits, yogurt (can't handle milk), carrots, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, eggs and washed it all down with water or green tea. This was a daily habit for about a year; I lost 30lbs in a few months with 10lbs more I would gain and lose randomly.

I exercised every day for 30 minutes.

I only ate twice a day, which I got used to quickly.

If I can lose 10-20 more pounds, I will be in a healthy BMI (body mass index) category.
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

I have revised my diet to only fruits, vegetables, eggs, yogurt, water and tea. I'm totally cutting out bread and meat or carbohydrates like pasta. I am also bumping up my daily exercise to a sweaty 60 minutes.

Here are some questions:

Am I going to hurt myself nutritionally? Is this diet safe? (I feel pretty good so far)

What can I do to supplement protein since I don't want meat anymore?

If you have any stories of weight gain and loss due to Second Life, please share it with me.

I am not a nutritionist or a doctor and would never give individual advice on weight lose. I do see several things that go against what my personal doctor and nutritionists have said. I am not sure if it is anything harmful in the long run. I think if I was you I would do more research and consult a professional if possible.

That said, I probably shouldn't have indulged this with any answer as it clearly does not belong in these forums. I think people make an effort to keep all blantenly non-SL content to a minimum.

Eat lots of legumes. I am a vegan and basically eat lots of legumes for my proteins.

If you cut out eggs you could really be on the right track.

you really need some protein in your diet. the south beach book has a terrific list of do's/don'ts to eat. no reason to buy the book, i think you can find the list online. carbs are good, as long as you take in moderation. they are what provides your energy. so don't do that no carb thing for too long.

if i were you i'd consult a gen MD.

(P.S. - starches and sugar are your enemy)

the best person to ask is yourself. how do you feel? but the BEST person to ask is your doctor. if it's working out for you then fine. i advise, if this hasn't been said already to add vitamins to your diet as well.

every septic pumper in the nation can tell you where most of those whole, undigested vitamins actually end up...

Eggs are bad?

I will try the legumes, thank you.

the most important thing is to ALWAYS eat a breakfast - then smaller meals during the day more like snacks, and take a walk each day at least 20-30 min - working for me, losing about 2 lbs a week...good luck

I and everyone I have known who have simply counted calories. Calculate the calories you need every day to maintain your current body way, slash 250-500 calories per day from that, and you lose a half to a full pound a week.

For the calories-per-day calculator (if you hit your target calories, you probably don't need to do the rest of the meal-planning stuff on the website; I didn't):

http://www.webmd.com/diet/food-fitness-planner

I never eat breakfast... I always eat brunch.

Vienna sausages potted meat and pretzles...

But...but... that means you can't eat PIE! What about the pie???

/me will eat it instead! OM NOM NOM NOM!

Do make sure you get enough protein, and you may need some vitamin supplements so you don't go all pale and weak. Probably better to consult a doctor or holistic health source rather than Resident Answers folks who may like to mess with you for fun.

Mmmm, pie.... I shall dream of pie tonight....

It is not that big of a deal.

I would however do more research than asking people on this forum.

Read vegetarian websites. You are looking at a Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet right now with the things you eat (eggs, yogurt). That is not bad at all. The choice to go vegetarian/vegan is often a personal choice based on dietary necessity or external impetus, like a change in how you view animals/organic life. I made the switch to vegan to try and gain control of my bipolar (no it did not help but i kept the new lifestyle anyways). Any diet can be healthy if done properly.

Good luck, and read vegetarian/vegan websites, they are chocked full of helpful, healthy information.

to say the truth the exercise is probably the thing doing you the most good in your weight loss..
diets that rob you of things your body need that have you losing weight without exercise do more damage than good and leave you hungry at the end of the day..
so really you are starving yourself of what you need..

the reason a lot of diets fail is because people on diets lacking in what their body needs reach their goal and think they are fine and then gain it back right away because the body is reclaiming what it was deprived of..

food is nothing more than energy..when we eat if we sit and not burn off the fuel it goes into reserves and builds which causes weight gain..

carbs are a big energy reserve..a marathon runner may stock up on a lot of carbs a month before a big race..this way it burns off the carbs during the race saving stamina and keeping a big range of energy to make it through a race..

they could never do it on proteins alone and be competitive..they need energy reserves or they would lose stamina and fall back half way into the race..plus be as thin as a string from burning off the proteins in their body..carbs have their place if you are looking for stamina..

so basically if you are wanting to lose weight you would cut back on the carbs so you can start to use the body fat resources that you have stored..

you don't have to starve yourself to lose weight..just make sure you eat healthy and burn off the fuel you give your body..once you are at your weight you are happy with is when you want to bring back the stamina from carbs..unless you want to count every muscle strand in your body..

but it is very important to see a doctor first to make sure a diet won't hurt you..some bodys need different things that they may not produce enough of ..so it's always best to see someone that knows the right diet for you..

"Exercise is less important than diet for losing weight, but once the weight is off, exercise becomes almost essential for keeping it off," says Robert H. Eckel, M.D., chairman of the American Heart Association's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Council and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado's Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Dietary changes tend to have more of an impact on weight loss because it's relatively easy to reduce calories through improvements to your diet, while it takes a lot of exercise to burn off an equal number of calories. For instance, you could cut 230 calories a day--enough to lose 2 pounds in a month--simply by skipping that afternoon candy bar; to burn 230 calories through exercise, you'd have to run or walk two miles, which could take up to 40 minutes. "That doesn't mean you can't lose a little weight by exercise alone," Eckel says. "But the caloric value of exercise is modest. You have to exercise a lot to make up for that malt over the weekend."

But don't use this as a reason to give up on exercise. Among people who lose weight without working out, the vast majority regain the pounds. However, research shows that 95 percent of those who succeed in keeping the weight off exercise almost daily. Rather than making drastic changes to both your eating and your exercise habits, make more modest improvements to both.
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Google is your friend. A dietary & lifestyle change is the best way to lose weight. Exerciser is the best way to keep it off.

But no way is running on a treadmill for 1 hour to burn 230 calories worth it as the cost for eating a Snickers Bar which lasts a couple minutes of gluttonous pleasure.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=what+is+more+important+diet+or+exercise&btnG=Google+Search&aq=0&oq=what+is+more+important+die

This goes counter to everything being spoken about weightloss in the 21st century by doctors and dietitians. What you are saying held true in the 90's.

There is so much information now (soooo many articles) by reputable doctors (like Dc. Dean Edell) who say diet is most important for weight loss and exercise is good for a maintenance. But a permanent change in eating habits is best.

Here's the bottom line for any diet. Food is fuel. You have to burn more fuel than you take in to loose weight.

If you want to make sure you are not eating your body away while you diet, you need to be sure you take in the basic foods. The old food groups we learned in school. The web is full of places to look. You need protein. If you want to start a vegetarian diet, be sure to find some resources for menus, recipes and pay particular attention to where you get your protein. Otherwise, Eggs, fish and turkey are the best because of the low fat. Stay away from ground beef if at all possible. Ground turkey can be used instead in virtually any recipe and is comparable in price. It's what all the muscle-heads in the back of the gym swear by.

Carbohydrates are not evil, but it depends on how you get them. Fruits and grains are what you want. Refined sugar in any form is best avoided. Alcohol is another form of refined sugar, so take that into consideration. All together, carbohydrates should be about 40 to 60% of your total calories each day.

Include more whole grains, cut out or really limit the eggs, limit the sugar intake from things like your green tea, include more lean protein like baked fish, and watch your portion size. Eat less more often, and stop eating earlier before bedtime.

i had a 300g ribeye steak for dinner tonight. beautifully marbled angus, served rare, with a dollop of dijon.
you ate beans

You also weigh 200kilos.




And yet, for some reason, i love you, regardless of your gluttonous ways.

This is great advice too.

Eating late in the evening, especially before bed is one the largest causes of increased weight gain.

Computer people in general have sedentary lifestyles and should definitely avoid snacking and eating late if your only means of burning calories is walking around the house and pushing a mouse.

Weight Watchers considers this a myth. What you take in, you take in. You're body is going to burn it off at some point as long as you exercise.

I do not include their information in any search i do regarding health, diet, and exercise.


I posted a google link about diet v. exercise above. Check it out, look at the credentials of the articles. I personally think Dr. Dean Edell is a very reliable source of information for a few decades now, as well as others.

I am not challenging that at all.

Exercise is fine and excellent for maintenance of the body.

Exercise in lieu of proper diet and eating habits is a poor trade off time wise and diminishing returns are soon recognized when "what you take in, you take in" requires 4 hours of running to burn off.

230 calories if roughly what is lost in 1 hour of running. You eat a Big Mac and you are running for a long time. So just eating anything at any hour is hardly proper if you wish to watch your weight, unless you intend on burning several hundred calories per day working out - which is also several hours.

I prefer to eat a proper vegetarian/vegan diet, do yoga occasionally, not eat after 7p and not gorge myself on things loaded down with High Fructose Corn Syrup, like soda and candy and other bad foods.

Congrats on your healthy and environmentally conscious choice!

When you cut meat out completely it's going to be hard. If you eat beef, pork, and chicken/turkey regularly then your body and memory is going to miss it.

A few years ago I felt that I wanted to cut meat out of my diet. I don't agree with the practices of the meat industry as a whole and I felt that for me the right choice was to become a vegan. I trashed stuff in the fridge and I went shopping for foods I had never tried. I bought all kinds of meat substitutes and read vegan recipes on the net. I tried. I really tried.

I went a couple of months and I thought I was dying. I was. I was losing a bunch of weight, and since I have a very high metabolism I've always been kinda thin, so losing weight was bad. I simply could not get enough sustenance to keep my health. Also a lot of the meat substitutes are awful tasting. It's a very difficult thing to adjust to if you've eaten meat all your life.

Eventually I had to reincorporate some meat back into my life. I eat chicken and yes I know it makes me a giant hypocrite. I don't eat a lot of it but I do have at least some chicken in meals regularly.

The food we take into our bodies is a very personal experience. People can be fierce about their food. People have different views of humankind and our role on the planet. Old ways clash with new fangled ideas. blah blah blah..

Social pressures from non vegan/vegetarian family and friends can be an obstacle. While you have your tasty vegetarian dish and they have their double bacon cheeseburger they may think you're judging them. You may feel they are judging you. Both are true sometimes. Despite this post I would recommend not becoming an evangelist on the topic since vegans/vegetarians are viewed by many as some sort of abomination of nature.

It's now been a few years since I had a bacon cheeseburger and I still miss it sometimes. I smell a good burger joint and the craving is unreal. It's always short lived though and logic kicks back in. Maybe it's like quitting smoking. You never really lose the addiction but you gain control of it. I need to quit smoking.

Good luck.