Ramblings

dietary needs

11 July, 2005 (10:05) | Ramblings

So i have been trying to lose weight and get in shape and eat right and all that jazz. I usually eat one meal a day, and everyone was telling me that the key to good weight loss is to eat more small meals rather than large meals. They say to eat a breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The more i tried to change my eating habits, the more i realized that it wasn’t going to work. This meal plan is formulated for the average person who wakes up in the morning, and goes to bed at night. I wake up at 3:30am, go to work, come home at noon, go to bed from ~3 to ~6, up for a while and back to bed at ~12 to do it all over. so if we are supposed to have 3 meals a day, what constitutes a day in my case? bodies don’t know days and nights, and hours. They measure things with muscular exertion, how much rest they have had, and all that jazz. The only thing that has validity is the practice of not eating before you get to bed. With me though, I am never sure when to eat because i could go to sleep within the next hour or two at any time either than work. And all i do at work is sit on my butt, so it’s not like I want to eat before that and just sit there. My whole life, i’ve never really been hungry consistently, like i could go for 2 days without eating, and i don’t feel that hunger in my stomach, and i’ve done it before. Sometimes, i just forget to eat altogether. So far i’ve been trying to eat a bowl of cereal in the morning, and either eat as soon as i get home or later on when i wake back up, and it seems to be working. i’m down to 198 or so, and i want to get down to 190. I just find it interesting how people can put this blanket diet guide out there, but not really give any building blocks for those with alternative lifestyles to build their own structure. I know guys who live on the geek calendar of 36 hour days, what should they do?

 2,527 views  





Comments

Comment from Runering
Time July 11, 2005 at 7:24 pm

ok, you want a biologist to sort this out for you?
firstly you say you sleep them wake up and go back to sleep again, this ain’t the best thing to do, but if you must make sure that you get at least 4 hours of continous sleep in on a regualr basis. sleep has a major influence of heatlh and is directly related to weight changes.
secondly, time wise you should just alter you day to suit your own time frame, breakfast when you get up. make sure its healthy, balanced (fibre and fruit) is better than small, though small is better than large.
now lunch and dinner, take them when you feel hungry and only eat as much as you need too depending on your daily intake and energy expenditure (more if you do manual labour, something light if you have a desk job).
for lunch you should consume more if you have a job around that time, and if you finish work at dinner time have something lighter then and vice versa.
don’t bother with supper, and if you feel hungry have youself a healthy snack like an apple or something, keep snacks infrequent, small and healthy (no packets of crisps, even if it says 33% less fat).
most importantly, keep your diet balanced with a good intake of carbohydrates, not so much protein for a fully grown person, though more from younger people and fats to a minimum, but don’t think no fat, fats are essential for protecting vital organs though only a very little is required.
all in all just think about what you are eating, a little common sense goes along way, and stay away from crash and fad diets, they only cause your weight to go ape-shit, and put your health at risk.
as for geeks and their 36 hour days, you have two choices, either add another meal in and an extra light snack or join the rest us in the real world of 24hours, foo’s.

Comment from Runering
Time July 11, 2005 at 7:24 pm

ok, you want a biologist to sort this out for you?
firstly you say you sleep them wake up and go back to sleep again, this ain’t the best thing to do, but if you must make sure that you get at least 4 hours of continous sleep in on a regualr basis. sleep has a major influence of heatlh and is directly related to weight changes.
secondly, time wise you should just alter you day to suit your own time frame, breakfast when you get up. make sure its healthy, balanced (fibre and fruit) is better than small, though small is better than large.
now lunch and dinner, take them when you feel hungry and only eat as much as you need too depending on your daily intake and energy expenditure (more if you do manual labour, something light if you have a desk job).
for lunch you should consume more if you have a job around that time, and if you finish work at dinner time have something lighter then and vice versa.
don’t bother with supper, and if you feel hungry have youself a healthy snack like an apple or something, keep snacks infrequent, small and healthy (no packets of crisps, even if it says 33% less fat).
most importantly, keep your diet balanced with a good intake of carbohydrates, not so much protein for a fully grown person, though more from younger people and fats to a minimum, but don’t think no fat, fats are essential for protecting vital organs though only a very little is required.
all in all just think about what you are eating, a little common sense goes along way, and stay away from crash and fad diets, they only cause your weight to go ape-shit, and put your health at risk.
as for geeks and their 36 hour days, you have two choices, either add another meal in and an extra light snack or join the rest us in the real world of 24hours, foo’s.

Comment from sixf00t4
Time July 12, 2005 at 5:56 am

you’re so schmardt Runering. potatoes are bad cuz they slow down my motabolism right? carrots are cool?

how about muscle mass? i want to lose weight, and tone up. since muscle weighs more than fat, what should i be doing? any idea how to get rid of lower stomach fat?

Comment from sixf00t4
Time July 12, 2005 at 5:56 am

you’re so schmardt Runering. potatoes are bad cuz they slow down my motabolism right? carrots are cool?

how about muscle mass? i want to lose weight, and tone up. since muscle weighs more than fat, what should i be doing? any idea how to get rid of lower stomach fat?

Comment from Runering
Time July 12, 2005 at 5:29 pm

carrots are cool, thats cause they are more simple carbs (sugar) than complex (starch), while spuds are the other way round.
well if you lose the fat and put on the muscle, but stay the same weight thats really good going. tone up by doing light and regular exercise, your body should automatically become more toned as you lose the body fat.
don’t go lifting heavy weights or anything like that, just jog the 10mins to the shop rather than taking the car, maybe do a few pushups every morning, just keep it regular and non stressful, don’t go doing 100push ups in one sitting and then do nothing for a fortnight….
getting rid of that spare tyre around the gut is hard, but the diet combined with a bit of exercise targeted at your gut should get things started. most importantly if you wanna lose the gut, stop drinking alcohol. beer guts are hard to get rid of once they’ve established themselves.
now go check your bmi (body mass index), you can just google it; stick within its limits and you should be alright, just remember to make sure you are using the correct units when doing the calculation.

Comment from Runering
Time July 12, 2005 at 5:29 pm

carrots are cool, thats cause they are more simple carbs (sugar) than complex (starch), while spuds are the other way round.
well if you lose the fat and put on the muscle, but stay the same weight thats really good going. tone up by doing light and regular exercise, your body should automatically become more toned as you lose the body fat.
don’t go lifting heavy weights or anything like that, just jog the 10mins to the shop rather than taking the car, maybe do a few pushups every morning, just keep it regular and non stressful, don’t go doing 100push ups in one sitting and then do nothing for a fortnight….
getting rid of that spare tyre around the gut is hard, but the diet combined with a bit of exercise targeted at your gut should get things started. most importantly if you wanna lose the gut, stop drinking alcohol. beer guts are hard to get rid of once they’ve established themselves.
now go check your bmi (body mass index), you can just google it; stick within its limits and you should be alright, just remember to make sure you are using the correct units when doing the calculation.