As part of my attempt to stop being a disgusting fatbody and not die before my dogs, I started working out again and have basically decided to cut most animal fats and meat out of my life for the summer. In the last week, I have eaten a basically vegetarian diet with only a little butter and some hard cheeses and the occasional cottage cheese, while eating a great deal of veggies and my usual ridiculous amount of fruit. For example, today I had a banana and a half a container of strawberries and a glass of skim milk for breakfast, an apple and some white cheddar and some almonds for lunch, and tonight, this is my dinner:
Those are uncooked overstuffed portabellos that I just made and intend to have for dinner (as well as an ear of corn and some tomatoes, cukes, onions, basil, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar- one of my summer favorites).
And these stuffed ports are so good and meaty who could want anything more. I made this batch (two for tonight and two for tomorrow) using the following recipe:
1 bag frozen chopped spinach
1 can artichoke hearts
1 tomato
1 vidalia
4 portabellos
fresh garlic
black pepper
I dice everything but the ports up very fine, then mix them all together, stuff the mushrooms, add a little parm/asiago mix, and bake at 375 for 25-30 mins. If I am feeling really indulgent, I add a slice of buffalo mozz after the mushrooms have been half baked.
They’re really delicious. I’ve also been using tofu this week, but I read that tofu is the biggest health scandal going because they use Hexane to process it. Is that true for organic tofu?
At any rate, I had crab meat earlier this week in something, but other than that, I have been basically meat free for a week, and I feel fine and have had no hunger pangs. I’ve decided this just makes more sense than going on a diet because diets always are about deprivation in my mind, so I’ve just been changing what I eat and working that into my lifestyle.
I’m still eating a ton of fruit and probably always will. I will always be a fruitbat. I bet I eat 4-5 pints of blueberries, a dozen green bananas (I don’t like ripe bananas), and who knows how much pineapple, raspberries, and strawberries every week. I haven’t had sugar or ice cream or sweets in the house for so long I would probably go into a sugar coma if I ate them.
This is where you tell me my diet sucks and everything I think I am doing right is actually wrong. Or, in other words, a Balloon Juice thread.
Alexandra
I like thinking you’re a fruitbat. :)
burnspbesq
I can put up with just about anything from a blog host, but if I find out you rooted for Syracuse in the championship game …
Keith G
So…moving on to the manic side of things are we?
edit
I guess you drink the sugar free alcohol?
Gin & Tonic
Tofu is not food.
the Conster
I haven’t had beef or pork for over a year, and don’t miss it at all. I tried sticking to tofu, but soy beans are problematic – I don’t like tofu enough to track down all organic so my protein comes from fish and some chicken that I can get antibiotic free and organic, and if you use chicken and fish in things instead of as the center of your plate you can get by. I’m a fruit bat too, and there are so many vegetables and fruits and grains, I don’t know why you shouldn’t be able to stick to this. You’re a really good cook.
John Cole
@burnspbesq: I fucking hate Syracuse. My mom and uncle (both lax players) would shoot me if I rooted for them.
Google Eric+Rudolph+lacrosse
That is my uncle.
wmd
One of the objections to soy is that a large portion of it is from GMO, roundup ready patented seeds.
Organic shouldn’t have that problem.
John Cole
@Keith G: So now I am bipolar? I thought we mocked Bill Frist for remote diagnoses.
Suffern ACE
Today is World Milk Day and the first day of National Dairy Month and I’m about to go on a bender of cookies , milk and ice cream, so you won’t hear a peep out of me on diets.
Violet
Tofu is soy. I personally can’t do soy because of thyroid. It’s also an allergen for a lot of people. Just pay attention to how you feel when you eat a lot of it.
There are a couple of us here who have had great success with going gluten-free. I’ve had the full celiac panel done and I tested negative for it, but decided to give it up because I seem to have some kind of sensitivity to wheat. Giving it up has been a revelation in terms of the aches and pains that have just kind of disappeared. Plus, weight just falls off. I feel much better in general. Something to think about.
MikeJ
@Suffern ACE: When is World Vermouth Day or National Gin Month? I’m warming up.
eemom
fat and disgusting are not the same thing. Personally, I like a man with some, er, meat on his bones.
eta: Chris Christie, however, is in fact disgusting.
Comrade Mary
Sounds intriguing, John. I’ve been going the Pollan no-meat-before-6 route for a little while, partly because there is so much vegetarian food that I like.
How do you feel about nuts and legumes? Not a lot, maybe half a cup of beans and half that of nuts a day? Of course, if you don’t like nuts and legumes, don’t force yourself to eat them.
I just find myself that adding a bit of cooked beans to one of my chopped salads moves it from good to amazing. (Oh man, I have so much lush cilantro in my back garden right now that I simply must make black bean soup and some chickpea curry this week.)
muddy
If the tofu is organic, it has not been processed with hexane. I like it for curry, it really soaks up the seasoning. Lots of good stuff in those spices, I read that they have found residue of curry spices that are 20,000 years old.
Fruit is much the better choice than juice, I got borderline diabetic just from juice a few years ago, I’ve never much for starches and sweets. So weird that something so innocuous, seemingly healthy, would fuck up my health. What kind of a lame-ass vice is that?
Anyway, how does crab count as meat? I say “flesh” which covers all the bases. How about stuffing the portabellos with crab?
Violet
@muddy: Makes sense because juice is pretty much just pure sugar. Spikes your blood sugar without any of the stuff in actual fruit that would slow down absorption, like fiber. Plus, it generally takes a lot more fruit to make a cup of juice than you would normally eat in one sitting, so you’re getting a lot more than if you just ate the fruit.
Keith
Organic tofu shouldn’t have hexane. I’m proud of you though…good initiative and gourmet’ing the diet makes it easier to keep. Consider the cheese and butter your reward in moderation .
Comrade Mary
Ahh. On closer reading, I can see that you’re eating almonds. Almonds are lovely.
Mnemosyne
Violet and Werebear nagged me into trying to lower my gluten intake since I seem to have some of the inflammatory issues (like rosacea and IBS) that can be aggravated by gluten, but that’s not happening until tomorrow. Tonight, burgers and fries!
I am very wary of any diet plan that tells you that you have to cut a particular food group out entirely. Right now, my co-worker is driving me up the frickin’ wall because she’s doing the Primal Diet and is trying to tell me that corn is “killing us.” Not HFCS or corn syrup or corn oil — no, apparently corn on the cob is killing people right and left because corn is SO AWFUL AND UNHEALTHY.
Suzanne
@eemom: holy shit, is that personal growth I see?
John, the vegetarian diet is awesome. I was ovo-lacto veggie from 1998-2004, and went back to it about a year ago. Have lost ten pounds since and just in general feel better about life. Good for you.
Gin & Tonic
@MikeJ: Every month is gin month.
Keith G
@John Cole: I said nothing about a formal diagnosis. Many folks I know regularly move through a variety of emotional energy levels.Some use food and drink as a way to ease anxiety that accompany such changes. It seems to be quite common.
Suzanne
One sadness, though….oddly, portobellos give me massive indigestion. It’s tragic, as they are delicious, and so good for a vegetarian.
imonlylurking
I’ve been doing the diet thing also-I’ve never dieted before, ever, but I’m having so much trouble with colds this year I just can’t simply increase activity. I’m taking a break from it now-still getting over the remains of a nasty cold-but I went from 186-ish to 150, just on that. (No sugar, no fat, no grains.) It’s been an adjustment but my waist is shrinking and at this point all I care about is results. Plus, I have discovered that I’m really really good at making salad dressings from non-fat (no sugar added) Greek yogurt. I’ll have to try the portabello recipe-I love all of those ingredients.
Emerald
Actually, changing your diet to mostly plants (you don’t have to go completely vegetarian) is the only thing that works. Do this all summer and you will lose weight and be much healthier by the fall.
Do it for the rest of your life and you will outlive most of us. And not be fat either.
Salaam.
quannlace
Had two soft-shell crabs for dinner. They’ve been problematic lately, a little too over-fished. So was delighted to see them again. Just grilled with a little olive oil, and served with lemon wedges. How can anything be so delicious?
SiubhanDuinne
@John Cole: Your uncle was the Olympic Park Bomber? Man….
JPL
@John Cole: You should visit him and then we could have an Atlanta meet-up.
Interesting name by the way.
jeffreyw
Recipe thread! Chicken noodle soup.
Suffern ACE
@MikeJ: according to the authorities at punchbowl.com, National Martini day is June 19.
muddy
@imonlylurking: Do you have carpeting? I had a sinus infection for 8 years, as soon as I’d get done another one would come along. My ears were all messed up and I had terrible vertigo and pain.
Then my son tore out the wall to wall carpeting that was in the house when I bought it. I’ve not had a sinus issue since, and even the seasonal stuff is very slight. It used to be terrible, I guess the load was already so high. Don’t know if it was the carpet itself, dirt, mold, who knows. I am always advertising to people now, I can’t believe I suffered so long for no good reason.
guachi
Vegetables are much better for you than most fruits are. By far.
If you’d like to really see the nutritional content of your food in more depth than you can imagine, check out nutritiondata.self.com. It’s run by Self magazine, but the data is all pulled directly from the government databases and presented in a very easy to understand fashion.
You can analyze individual food items or create recipes and see the nutritional content. It was an eye opener to me just how much more healthful some foods are (broccoli, asparagus) than others (popcorn with even a little butter and salt, apples, peanut butter).
Meat and other animal products do provide some things that you might be missing from other foods (namely, vitamin B12) and can really round out your meal in small proportions.
Good example is the touch of cheese you added to your mushrooms. A bit of fat, a bit of salt, and a bit of some nutrients you might be missing from the other ingredients (as long as it’s not drowning in cheese). But, hey, quality parmesan/mozzarella goes a long way, right?
magurakurin
@Gin & Tonic:
Have you ever eaten tofu in Japan? It really is a different animal here. The freshness makes a huge difference. Tofu in the States sits on the shelf a long time. Here, the tofu section is empty by 8pm. Restocked in the morning with the tofu made the night before. Also the best way to cook tofu is to not cook it. In summer just slice it, cover with some freshly ground ginger, katsuobushi (bonita flakes) and some soy sauce. In winter you can simmer it a bit with some chinese cabbage leaves first and then do the same. It’s quite nice. The flavor is mild and creamy and the texture is just perfect.
Also too, tofu is not some new-agey, hippy dippy food here. It’s like, what everybody eats nearly everyday. It is absolutely “according to Hoyles” food.
JPL
In case anyone was wondering, what Sunday show will McCain be on, it’s Face the Nation . It’s unlikely that old crusty Schieffer will ask him about paling around with terrorists, though.
Cassidy
The diet sounds great. My only suggestion is add more protein. chicken and fish are the easiest way to go, but you can supplement 1-2 shakes a day and get the same effect. The reason is that since you’re working out again, your body is going to crave protein and will get it either from an external source or your muscle tissue.
Stay away from the soybeans and tofu.
If you need some advice on your touine, you’ve got my email. Stay away from old Army PT; it’s bad on your joints.
muddy
@Comrade Mary:
One of my favorite summer salad: black beans, corn, diced tomato and red onion, cilantro, olive oil & lime juice dressing.
Gin & Tonic
@magurakurin: Unfortunately, I have not yet been to Japan.
Ash Can
Thanks for the stuffed portobello recipe. They look awesome.
Omnes Omnibus
What is the work out plan?
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL: McCain’s going to be on the Sunday talk shows at last? A grateful nation rejoices.
eemom
@Suzanne:
Yes, personal growth, and I owe it all to the wise tutelage of your very own self.
You are so insufferable it’s almost cute.
Violet
Make sure your workout plan includes stretching. Mix it up–different stretches each day. Do them after you’ve worked out so your muscles are warm. Lots of good stretching resources online. You have mentioned aches and pains before. Stretching can really help with that. Don’t force any of them–ease into them, hold for at least 30 seconds.
Cassidy
@Omnes Omnibus: There is only one workout plan. Everything is figuring that out. :D
I’m a big advocate of 5×5.
quannlace
Since this is an Open thread:
We’ve had a mini heatwave here in the NE, and nights have not been good sleeping weather. Roused up around 3am last night, and turned on the news for a little bit. CNN was still reporting on the tornadoes. Fox? Why,it was back to Benghazi and the IRS and…. And one talking head stating how “of course this had a real impact on the election….”
God, I can’t believe, after how many months (?) they’re still trying to find any, ANY excuse for their boy Romney lost.
Anything beyond the reality that their candidate was a plutocrat who came across as just plain weird when ever he opened his mouth. And no coherent agenda beyond more tax cuts.
magurakurin
@Gin & Tonic:
well, the girls are cute, tv sucks, cities are crowded but peaceful, living space is small but somehow everyone manages, driving sucks balls and the streets don’t have names hence car navigators are gold when in a strange place, food is good but food other than Japanese is somewhat scarce so the tofu gets old, hamburgers generally suck and beef is crazy expensive, and for Cole so is fruit…an apple can cost 5 dollars(but others are only a dollar), and of course we have three leaking nuclear reactors. Worth a visit if one has the time, money and inclination.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: I don’t watch the Sunday shows much anymore, but it seems to me if any of them were going to challenge McCain, it would be Schieffer, who I remember did some pretty clearly anti-Iraq commentaries back in the run up to war. Unless ABC has brought back Amanpour or brings in Martha Raddatz, if it’s Gregory, Stephanopolous, Blitzer…? Oddly enough, if not Schieffer, Chris Wallace is probably more likely to do so than the other stooges.
Mnemosyne
Also, too, I’m sticking with Weight Watchers, because that’s what works for me, but I’m trying out the Slender Kitchen meal plans because I suck at meal planning and yet need to plan all of my meals for the whole week ahead of time because otherwise I eat what sounds good at the moment rather than on plan.
She has a free one-week trial menu that I liked, so I signed up for a month of plans. If I like it enough, I may splurge on the full year.
TaMara (BHF)
Great John. It all sounds delicious. You even make fungi sound edible. (sorry, mushrooms give me the willies). I’m with you on the fruit though. I could give up coffee before I could give up my morning OJ (full of pulp – thank you vitamix) and my blueberries.
Mike in NC
Tonight we grilled some superb lamb chops from Costco, and washed them down with a very good Cabernet (Kirkland label also from Costco; $7.99 for a liter and a half was an amazing deal).
Cassidy
@magurakurin: I’m disappointed you didn’t mention ninjas.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cassidy: I wonder how interested in body building Cole is going to be. I would think he is going to go the cardio route.
magurakurin
@Omnes Omnibus:
he’s going to tie 20 pound dumb bells onto the remote and keep it in the other room. Plus 20 pushups every time he thinks, says or sees the word “netflix.”
Comrade Mary
@muddy: Mmmm! Must try that!
mai naem
Buzzfeed’s got a Sad Dog Diary out. Not as good as sad cat diary but still worth a watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xw1C5T-fH2Y
Emdee
Tofu is the new Benghazi.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cassidy: He did. You just didn’t see them. They are like that.
ETA: They are gone now.
Cassidy
@Omnes Omnibus: I know people who only do cardio and that’s a lot of frickin’ work. You reach a point where you’re running a ridiculous number of miles just to stay thin. You can modify a 5×5 and get lean and strong. To each his own, though. I always suggest it because you don’t have to learn a bunch of exercises. If you got the money, go Crossfit.
magurakurin
@Cassidy:
Ninjas, that would be the high school students, dressed in black uniforms, riding home from cram school late at night with no lights on their bikes. They sneak up on you out of the darkness and narrowly miss you as they zoom by. Often the only warning is the glow from their smartphone as they play a game as they pedal like demons. Pretty scary stuff.
max
This is where you tell me my diet sucks and everything I think I am doing right is actually wrong.
I used to stuff things when I was starting out but I quit because I wasn’t happy with them texture-wise. Too much like some mushy casserole. However, if you like your portabellos, enjoy. As for your diet, I cut out all meat, and then went everything but fishless and eggless (I forget which one that is) for a while as a system clean out and then I went to what is essentially a low-meat diet (i.e. skip the hamburgers and meatloaf, or only rarely), which works well enough. (Makes recipes easier, at any rate.)
Or, in other words, a Balloon Juice thread.
Feh. You should get an electric pepper grinder to make things come out *better* faster and easier, not because it’s what the kool kids do. (I’m sure the kool kids use an imported mortar & pestle from Heimlicher Schlemmer for pepper and how nice for them.) I mean, you *can* carve some rolling donuts for your car from stone using nothing but hand tools, but I don’t think you’ll like the results.
I thought we mocked Bill Frist for remote diagnoses.
I figured the reason to mock Bill Frist was not remote diagnostics (they do remote diagnostics for people in Antarctica after all) but because he *knew* the state of the inside of that poor woman’s skull and he still handed out a big heaping pile of pandering bullshit to lunatics. Giving out bad diagnoses for purely political reasons is muy malo. And just not done, because it was wrong, he knew it was wrong or should have known it was wrong, and he fucking did it anyways. ‘First, do no harm.’
max
[‘I finally found a reasonably authentic alla carbonara, and it took six tries to get it perfect. So it goes.’]
pat
@jeffreyw:
Is that a slug on the right? ewww
TaMara (BHF)
On the protein front, those that are saying you might need it because you’re working out could be on to something. I was down to little or no meat/fish/chicken most of this last year. But after my rides I was wasted. I was beginning to think there was something wrong.
I did a two week food diary for my doctor and the problem became totally obvious. I added meat/chicken back and I am a little ball of energy again.
My only advice – listen to your body.
low-tech cyclist
John – I’ve got a very small number of diet rules:
1) Focus on changing what you eat rather than how much you eat. (You’re doing this, obviously, so don’t take this as criticism.)
The only exception I’ll make to that is if someone tends to keep eating after their hunger is sated. But no diet’s going to be very successful for very long that has you going around feeling hungry all the time.
2) Like Emerald said above, eat more plants. (You’re doing this too.)
3) Cut out processed foods (no problem for you, I bet; you can cook) and obvious fat pills.
4) Don’t deny yourself sugar-and-fat-based sweets entirely, but keep ’em to a minimum, and eat a lot of seasonal fresh fruit instead. Right now, strawberries are ripe in the mid-Atlantic, I buy them at my local farmer’s market every Friday night, and damn, they’re good. Blueberries and raspberries should be coming along soon. Later on in the summer, there’ll be peaches and blackberries and melons – cantaloupe and honeydew.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cassidy: I really don’t like lifting. Part of it is that weight rooms in gyms are often full of meatheads, but part is that I just don’t like it that much. Over the past year, I have gotten very into my cycling and I am burning about 5-6000 calories a week with it.
aaron
They just sound a little overcooked to me. I’d put the caps in a hot skillet for 5 minutes, sautee the veggies after that, then stuff them hot and put them in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese.
Wash the pans while they’re roasting off and you’ll eat 10 minutes sooner, too. Also, make some herbed up olive oil and dress with that. In the long run it doesn’t take any more time.
rikyrah
tell us how you feel after doing this for a month
Cassidy
@Omnes Omnibus: I hear ya; to each his own. I don’t judge anyone’s workout plan. It’s better than nothing. Usually, I’ll tell newbies to try the 5×5 because of its simplicity, but it’s so easy to modify. Sometimes, I’ll do 5×5, but 10 reps and 40-60% weight, or 25 reps at lower weight (obviously). It’s so damn simple.
Believe it or not, a lot of those meatheads are happy to help someone new to the gym, you just got to pick the right one. I like Planet Fitness and the Y.
My personal opinion is that Crossfit is the best workout plan out there, if you have the money to join a Crossfit gym.
carsick
Eat oatmeal in the morning. Add fruit as needed. It curbs hunger pains, is good for the digestive track, and gives good morning energy. I’m not meat or olive oil free (life’s too short to give up that) but, as my teen complains that I don’t eat enough, I explain I sit at a desk all day and he’s growing and goes to sport practices everyday. Also,no crappy carbs in the house – you like bread (that and pasta are my crave) then only get good bread (doesn’t mean expensive) so you get the joy of eating it (this also may counter the lack of joy of the morning oatmeal).
Just Some Fuckhead
OMFG, the only thing worse than fat people is listening to them whine about diet.
Burn more calories than you take in. That’s it. It ain’t fucking magic. Get out there and sweat, fatbodies!
Just Some Fuckhead
Hmm, re-reading that, it doesn’t seem as inspiring and motivational as I intended.
Cassidy
@Just Some Fuckhead: That’s not entirely true.
Keith
@Cassidy: Is Planet Fitness really as weird as the stories from last year (Lunk Alarm and free pizza)?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Cassidy: Yeah, I guess it is a little motivational. Good call.
lojasmo
Since you eat a lot of fruit I approve of cutting out meat.
I basically eat meat, with a little veggies and fruit, but without any grains.
FWIW, I have lost, probably, fifteen pounds over the last couple months by switching from ale to red wine, and walking to work (70 minutes, five days a week) We’ll see where I bottom out, and will go from there.
Cassidy
@Keith: They all have the lunk alarm, but I was never given free pizza. The one I went to never used it, but also never needed to.
Comrade Mary
@Just Some Fuckhead: Get a font that dots your i’s with hearts. That says “love” to the world.
Redshirt
Me do caveman diet. Me club tiger and eat. Good. Then me run cuz tiger friends come. Me in good shape.
Cassidy
@Just Some Fuckhead: I was referring to your other comment. It’s not always about burning vs consuming. What you eat has a lot to do with it.
carsick
Also, eat apples with that cheese. Apples have a natural hunger suppressant and are good for you and tasty with cheese.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Comrade Mary: Genius!
pat
Try the oatmeal uncooked. I buy equal amounts of quick-cook and regular (organic) oatmeal, mix that with some sunflower weeds (raw, unsalted) and organic raisins, and eat that with non-fat Greek yoghurt, 1% milk, and blueberries or strawberries.
That and a glass of orange juice and a couple of cups of tea for breakfast, and I am set to live to 90.
tybee
@quannlace:
mmmm. one of my favorites.
we’re going seining in the morn, hoping to snag crabs, shrimp and some fish. hopefully some of the crabs will be hooked up.
salt, pepper and flour just a bit and then saute in butter.
eemom
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Yer on to something though. The entire topic of body size obsession, including but not limited to all the infinity zillion subtopics about diet and exercise, really is boring as shit.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus:Bench press and arm curls with Tunch.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Cassidy: Spoken like a fat person. Tell me about your glandular disorder. *eyes glaze over*
tybee
@muddy:
and some diced jalapeno.
Just Some Fuckhead
@eemom: Yeah, we could be having a scintillating discussion about the best music instead.
imonlylurking
@muddy: When we first moved into this house there was carpeting. I ripped it out of my bedroom and noticed immediate improvement. I seem to be getting more sensitive to allergens as I get older, though. I’ve noticed an annoying sensitivity to dry air, though-15 minutes on the exercise bike in the excessively-climate-controlled gym at work is enough to trigger a mild asthma attack, but I can walk Manny for close to an hour (outside, in the humidity) without any problems at all.
schrodinger's cat
Make sure you are getting enough protein. I cut down on meat when it is hot. Substitute with fish, shrimp and lots of different varieties of beans and lentils. This week I am making matki (related to mung bean, but brown in color) and chana (tinier and darker version of the chickpea)
Redshirt
@Just Some Fuckhead: Very big bones. They’re also cast in iron.
protothad
I’ve heard it said that you should limit your banana intake to an average of a half of one per day… something about too much potassium not being such a good thing. Don’t know how true it is, but it might be worth looking into if you are really eating around a dozen a week. Otherwise, sounds like a great diet to me. The fiance and I have been mostly vegetarian for a couple of years now, and it has been a great thing for our health.
worn
Good for you, John. About 3 years ago my Dad (~6′-4″ & probably approaching 3 bills) had a sit down with his doctor, who minced no words. Doctor tells him that he’s pre-diabetic and should expect a visit where one or both of his feet would be cut off. Hyperbole or not, my Dad’s attention was gotten and he made significant and lasting dietary changes as a result. He’s shed a lot of weight and is seemingly much healthier.
I think it’s a matter of attitude and approach (i.e., making personal changes instead of “going on a diet”) and you seem to have the right one.
So rock on, brother!
Cassidy
@Just Some Fuckhead: Spoken like someone who’s been working out for years. I bench my own body weight and ain’t to shabby in the endurance area either. What have you got? Really strong fingers from typing insults? I know…you have an overworked tongue from saying all those insults you are too awkward and submissive to say in public to the mirror as you step out of the shower.
But it’s all good. I know you’re type. You don’t know shit about exercise or nutrition. All you know is being an insulting douchebag on the internet. but you’re a submissive coward in public.
kdaug
Move.
Cassidy
@Redshirt: I do have big hands and feet.
Hillary Rettig
Wonderful, John! I see you doing eggplants in a big way.
In semi-related news female animal rights activists dressed as badgers – and led by Queen Brian May – chased the EDL fascists off the streets of England today.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/473597/20130601/bnp-edl-hate-fascist-badgers.htm
? Martin
You’re doing it right. The exercise is the more important thing than the diet. Burn calories even if it’s just walking. I lost 40 pounds and didn’t cut out the burgers and steak – just dialed out the ice cream. But I walked 5 miles a day, biked, ran, etc.
Seriously
The fruit may be keeping your weight up. There’s pretty much nothing in fruit but sugar. The ‘shrooms are neither here nor there– they’re basically recycled dirt, which may be good for you but probably has nothing to do with your weight.. What makes you fat is the sugar and the sugars in whatever carbohydrates you eat.
Meat and fat, butter, lard, whatever, don’t make you fat– they just give you energy or are shat out. Of course you won’t believe this, but please consider it. It’s just biochemistry unconfused by the false science of epidemiology. Cut out most of the fruit and other carbs and eat a lot of meat, cheese, and butter. Beans won’t hurt, especially if they are refried in lard to make them edible. Try this for six months and get your cholesterol checked for a pleasant surprise. Just saying, and hoping that you’ll pick up enough independent testimony somewhere to give it a try.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Cassidy: Zing!
Redshirt
@Cassidy: My adamantium skeleton adds 75 pounds. I’m really quite svelte.
Cassidy
@Redshirt: I’m sure.
Gordon, the Big Express Engine
@Cassidy: totally agree. Calorie in calorie out is the wrong way to think about it. You read Gary Taubes?
Cassidy
@Just Some Fuckhead: So impress me genius. Spell out a diet for me that involves building lean muscle and burning body fat along with a workout routine. Take your time. I know you’ll need to google it and figure out what I’m talking about.
Gretchen
I just heard that the service engineer at work lost 40 pounds by greatly upping his vegetable intake and riding his recumbent bike 20 minutes every day, no exceptions. It sounds much like your plan, and it worked for him.
Cassidy
@Gordon, the Big Express Engine: No. I don’t read a lot of weight loss books. I’ll read up on particular diets, like Paleo, just to get an idea of what they are. The only weight loss specialist I really follow is *Dolce. I don’t follow his diet at all, but I’m fascinated with how he gets fighters to cut weight and still maintain/ add muscle mass.
Generally speaking, I go with “eat big to get big”. A good six month cycle of increased calories and the right increases combined with a heavy program can generate tremendous results.
ETA: * follow as in I like to read what he has to say.
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead: You punk. I bench my own body weight!
NWMagpie
@Cassidy: No kidding. Also, too many people feel free to toss this shit out without knowing anything about how the body processes food, and all the ways that it can go wrong. The roles of leptin and ghrelin in maintaining body weight, the glandular disorders and food allergies, etc. . . . and let’s not forget that, for many people, eating well is damn near impossible because they live in food deserts and can’t afford fresh fruit and vegetables. When you’re living on food stamps or minimum wage and trying to support a family of three or four (or more), your choices are, what can I make that’ll stretch for a month, and, can I get enough cheap canned goods at the dollar store to make it last a month?
Some people are aptly named.
And yes, I am overweight. I also have hyperparathyroidism, and back in 1997, I weighed 300 pounds. I’ve lost over 130 pounds since then and kept it from coming back while consuming around 2000 calories a day. I mostly swim, walk, and do a little weight training, but if you take my bacon or chocolate from me, I’m going to eviscerate you. Meanwhile, my sister-outlaw weighs 300 pounds (she’s only 5’10, so she wears it better), has better cholesterol than I despite eating more processed food and fats, and has only spinal stenosis and scoliosis as her major health problems. I’d love to have her body chemistry.
Redshirt
Do you even lift, brah?
Gordon, the Big Express Engine
@Cassidy: Taubes book (why we get fat and what to do about it) is not really a diet book. It is more of a book about understanding the physiology behind how your body deals with the food you feed it. He is a low GI person. He has written a bunch of pieces for the NY Times over the past 5 years.
I have lost 35 pounds in the past year (really in the first 6 months – I have maintained since then) with no appreciable step up in exercise. Prior to diet switch I was on a bike riding regimen for 5 months of 40-60 miles a week. No change to my weight. It is ALL diet. Exercise gets you fit, not thin.
NWMagpie
@? Martin: Indeed. I walk about 12 – 16 miles a week – a 2-mile walk four days a week, and my favorite trail Saturday and Sunday. I’d sooner walk than lift. I hate the gym; the only reason I have a membership is because Tacoma gets damn cold and dark from October to March.
NWMagpie
@Gordon, the Big Express Engine: Dude, if not for walking and exercise, I wouldn’t have lost half the weight I did.
Cassidy
@Corner Stone: Awww…did he call you and tell you I was picking on him? You two are so cute together. I don’t think I ever understood the term “star-crossed lovers” until you two shitstains found each other. Something magical has happened here.
Fortunately, you two can’t help but be yourselves and have reminded me that I need to update the shithead filter.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Corner Stone: lolz
He is pretty predictable, isn’t he? He always goes super manly man and starts screaming insults. Takes him a while to come back down. Prolly ‘roids.
Cassidy
@Redshirt: Well, that’s disappointing. I honestly thought you were better than that, but I guess the siren song of shithead has called you. If that’s the company you choose to keep, then into the shithead filter you go.
Redshirt
@Cassidy: Huh?
Msskwesq
Tofu is bad bad bad for you. Even organic. Most soybeans are GMO and raised with tons of icky chemicals. Even organic is bad. Men and children really should avoid soy because of the estrogen like properties of tofu.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Redshirt:
Go with it. It can be kinda funny. It’s like Stuck with better English.
Corner Stone
@Cassidy: I’m not even sure what you’re talking about at this point. Why’nt you go to bed and sleep it off, tough guy? I mean, before you experience an emotional event and all.
You’re kind of my hero. I’d like to one day sotto voce threaten people I work with as well.
Cassidy
@NWMagpie: I love the gym, especially when you’re in one that’s not being done on the cheap. You got your free weights and nautilus and a section with medicine balls, TRX, and kettlebells, a nice cardio room…it’s like being in a toy store every day.
eemom
I miss the General.
Just Some Fuckhead
@eemom:
He’s in a better place now, doll.
machine
@Cole
Keep the proteins but shitcan the carbs.
Suzanne
@eemom: Oh, don’t worry. I’ll take all the credit. Thanks, dolly.
p
Cole, if you truly want to be more healthy, cut out the self-pitying bullshit which only harms yourself. People would be right to mock the notion that a dinner of [steamed salmon/cut of steak/steamed chicken breast + asparagus/green beans/other greens, what have you] is unhealthy because omg animal fatz but your carb-loading fruit is healthy. Understand what makes people fat – INSULIN; grow up.
Shortstop
We need some new triangulations around here to freshen things up.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Shortstop:
Next open thread, we’ll pick new teams and start over.
mai naem
@Just Some Fuckhead: which general and what happened?
Cassidy
FYI, you can download the Mike Dolce show as a podcast.
MikeSJ
Portion control can make a huge difference for starters. Try to be aware of when you stop being hungry and then…stop eating.
I’ve found that I’ll end up leaving up to 50% of a plate when I pay attention to this. (especially eating out)
Of course if it tastes really good I’ll keep chowing down but hey its a start.
Also stay away from sugary anythings – fruit juice for starters.
Keep us informed and Good Luck!
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead: I did not like how that turned out last time.
You don’t get to go first this next time round.
Mart
You are mixing up Tofu and Textured Vegetable Protien – both soy protiens. Whether organic or not, no hexane is used to process Tofu. Can make Tofu at home – soak soybeans, blend/pulverize, separate milk. Heat/boil milk, add coagulant, press for desired firmness and that’s about it.
TVP is added to tons of processed foods to boost the protien on the label, without much calories. It is the primary protien ingrediant in nearly every fake meat, few exceptions like Quorn (kind of a Frankenshroom, or gluten (corn protien) based ones. TVP is used in a lot of pet foods. You can buy in bags to make vege caseroles, yucky burgers and the like.
TVP is a by-product of soy oil production, the No. 1 vegetable oil now used. All oils we consume, unless extra virgin, or first press are steam heated, crushed or flaked, and conveyed into a heated hexane (essentially gasoline) bath. The hexane pulls the oil off the seed then it is gravity seperated before more intense vacuum strippers and the like drive off most of the remaining hexane. The seed flake/hexane mixture is called miscella and it is dropped down plates with steam driven through them to drive off the hexane. Everything is closed looped and they work to recover all the hexane they can for efficiency. Thanks to the EPA and modern technology generally much better than in the recent past.
From here the raw oil is sent to a refinery to clarify,and remove flavors we do not want in our oil. Most of the spent seed flake is sold as high protien large animal feed. To make TVP you take the flakes and process them a second time in an alchol extraction process that further isolates the protien. This material is blend with spices and whatnot and sold as TVP.
Unless you have a soy allergy, I really see no harm in tofu consumption. Produced in Asia for 2,000 years. A tricked up tofu is tempah, which is fermentted Tofu. Some people digest better.
Obviously I am familiar with the oilseed industry, and I try to avoid all hexane processed foods but that means I probably only get a little less than you. It is everywhere.
dollared
@Suffern ACE: You have done me a service. It is now marked on my calendar.
fuckwit
The meats and animal fats are fine; those don’t add up to pounds very quickly.
Starch: that’s what turns into fat. So cut out as much starch as possible, and booze too. Alcohol is a hydrocarbon, which means a carbohydrate, which means…. it gets broken down into sugar and stored as fat if you don’t burn it. Cut back on the beers and booze, if you can.
I lost a bunch of middle-age weight fast when I quit drinking.
You could gorge on a huge plate of veggies at your pleasure, anytime, and not gain a pound, especially if you’re working out. Meats and animal products are fine too, though there are other issues with meat (cholesterol, if you have heart issues or family history).
Oh, and just hit the gym regardless, walk and bike everywhere you can, and do any kind of physical work you can get your hands on (on your house, yard, car, garden).
I am not a doctor, just a fellow 40something.
Roger
I only became a fat bastard after I became a vegetarian because I replaced meat and fish with cheese and pasta/rice neither of which had featured in my diet much at all – you seem much more sensible.
Certainly won’t lose you any weight but brush portobellos with garlic butter and stuff with mixture of gruyere, emmental, mozarella and creme fraiche (or any other mixture that will make a creamy stuffing as long as gruyere is included) top with layer of parmesan and bake.
Will also try a variant of your recipe with feta cheese as it goes so well with spinach (spinach, potato and feta pastries are another one of my downfalls).
Marching towards that coronary….
EmmATX
Someone already mentioned it, but I just started trying Mark Bittman’s idea of eating vegan before 6 pm. I’m doing it mostly because of the ethical and environmental issues with eating meat, but also to eat more healthily.
I’m not following it completely strictly, but it’s fun to try new recipes I”m not used to making. I bought the Vegan Before 6 book and his vegetarian cookbook at the same time.
ETA: oops, link fail! Well, you can find the books with an Amazon search.
Birthmarker
One thing I got out of the Taubes book was that everyone’s metabolism is not the same. I personally feel better when I follow closer to a low carb diet. This may not be true for all.
But if I ate the amounts of fruits and juices and cereals that many can consume I would probably already be gone from diabetes, a deadly inherited disease in my family.
Regardless of one’s feelings about diet, it really isn’t going to kill us to occasionally eat a few ounces of lean proteins. The Taubes book explains the pro grains propaganda campaign from the 1950’s pretty well.
The Paleo Diet book by Cordain really blasts through some conventional wisdom. Interestingly , almost every food he disdains bothers either my husband or myself.
RosiesDad
I made the mushrooms tonight with the modification that I crumbled a bunch of blue cheese into the mix before I stuffed the ‘shrooms. Definite winner with endless possibility for variations on a theme. Like–add some chipotle/adobo to the mix. Omit the artichoke and add ginger, water chestnut, bamboo shoots and drizzle some toasted sesame oil (and maybe a few drops of chili oil) over the top. Sauteed broccoli rabe and vegan sausage crumbles. Etc, etc.
Thanks, Cole.
nicteis
There’s a reason why portabellos – and mushrooms in general – are so satisfying to the palate. They really are more meat than they are veggie.
Fungi sit closer to animals on the evolutionary tree than they do to plants. In particular, their cell walls are built not of cellulose, but of chitin – the same chemical that firms up the skins of insects, spiders, and
lobsters.
Shrooms – it’s what’s for dinner.
kate
@Just Some Fuckhead: Long time reader/lurker here.. did you discover that the General dd indeed pass away?? i spent hours searching obits in silver city/gila new mexico to see if I could suss out anything
Dearolddad
I am a 60 year old vegetarian…been one for about 11 years, you won’t regret it. (although you may feel like throwing up every time you ride past and smell a McDonald’s, Burger King etc)
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Seriously: You’re nuts. There’s lots of stuff in fruit besides sugar. There’s healthy fiber, both soluble and insoluble, and lots of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Veggies may be superior from a weight-loss perspective but fruit doesn’t really have that much sugar compared to pretty much any sweetened food, and the sugar isn’t absorbed as quickly due to the aforementioned fiber. It’s a perfectly healthy thing to eat.