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slynne
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Nutrition Tool
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Mar 14 19:23 UTC 2007 |
I came across a pretty useful tool for anyone interested in diet and
nutrition. I had to do a diet analysis for school but I was also curious
about how bad my diet really is, especially since I have been trying to
eat intuitively.
The link is:
http://mypyramidtracker.gov/default.htm
This is a site where you can enter everything you eat in a day and get
nutritional information not just for one item but for one's entire day
of eating. If one does enough days, one can track trends. I kept a food
diary for a month. I wrote down every thing I ate, even if it was just
2-3 M&M's from the gumball machine at work.
What I found is that I eat about 80% of the calories that should
maintain my weight. Not surprising to me really. I have always known
that weight is more than just how many calories one eats. I still eat a
lot of calories though (an average of 2320 per day). My worst day had
almost 4000 calories and I had skipped breakfast! That's what eating
almost a whole large pepperoni pizza will do. go figure.
My total caloric percentages from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are
as follows: Carbohydrates 56%; Proteins 13%; Fat 31%. These values do
not differ more than 2% from any of the USDA recommended percentages of
55% of calories from Carbohydrates, 15% of calories from proteins, and
30% of calories from fat.
Honestly, that kind of surprised me because I would have thought that I
eat way more fat than that. I am going to continue with the food diary
and see if I keep getting the same results.
Anyhow, I just wanted to share that tool for folks who are curious about
exactly what they eat.
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| 41 responses total. |
furs
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response 1 of 41:
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Mar 15 00:02 UTC 2007 |
I use www.fitday.com to track mine. I average around 1800-2000 a day,
which I know is not enough, especially since I'm training to be in a
triathlon. But it's hard for me to eat more.
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slynne
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response 2 of 41:
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Mar 15 00:52 UTC 2007 |
Jeanne? Do you find yourself feeling hungry a lot? If not, you are
probably eating enough.
A triathalon? That is sooooo awesome! When is it?
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furs
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response 3 of 41:
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Mar 15 10:35 UTC 2007 |
well, the main one I've been training for is July 22. It's a 1/2 mile
swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. But I'm doing a small indoor one
this weekend for training (it's 20 minutes swim, bike & run each
indoors) And my crazy cousin who talked me into this in the first place
has another one in mind in June that we might do. This one is a 1/4
mile swim, 10 mile bike and 3 mile run, so we might do it as practice.
Well, my rule is if I'm hungry I eat. So really the only time I get
super hungry is in the mornings when i wake up. So do feel like I'm
eating all the time, I eat about 6 meals a day. I'm sure I have days
that I eat more than 2000, but I think I had a couple this week where I
only had 1600. So it just depends on how I feel from day to day. But
I'm eating a lot of fruits and veggies so I feel like I"m eating a ton
of quantity.
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mary
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response 4 of 41:
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Mar 15 12:32 UTC 2007 |
I too like fitday. All of these programs are a nice way to keep
portion-creep in check. I tend to fall into the pattern of
thinking I'm eating mostly healthy stuff, so I can eat all I want.
Wrong. It doesn't matter if it's ice cream or apples if
I'm eating more than what I'm burning, I'll be carrying
it around for a while.
I'll check out the link. Thanks, Lynne.
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denise
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response 5 of 41:
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Mar 15 18:06 UTC 2007 |
Jeanne, that's so cool about doing the triathlons! Let us know when
and where and perhaps we can get a cheering section for you. :-)
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cmcgee
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response 6 of 41:
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Jun 27 15:17 UTC 2007 |
View hidden response.
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cmcgee
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response 7 of 41:
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Jun 27 15:24 UTC 2007 |
Here's the abstract of the article in the hidden Response 6:
Portion-control dishes helped people with diabetes lose weight
Last Updated: Monday, June 25, 2007 | 4:29 PM ET
CBC News
"Eating from plates and cereal bowls marked to show portion sizes helped
people with diabetes to shed pounds comparable to the results of weight
loss drugs, researchers in Alberta found.
As well, more people who used the portion control plates 26 per cent
were also able to decrease their use of diabetes medications after six
months, compared with almost 11 per cent of those who did not receive
the special tableware."
I went online to take a look at the plates. Essentially they are
different diameter plates, with hand painted pictures and dividing lines
to show what to put on your plate, and how much space it should take up.
I've heard of a similar rule: 1/2 of plate geography for vegetables,
1/4 for breads/grains, and 1/4 for protein. Looking at this, I realized
that the difference in an 8-inch luncheon plate, a 10-inch dinner plate
and a 12-inch dinner plate can make a huge difference in how much you
consume at a meal.
Might be time to measure out portions (I'm with Mary on that, I have to
*constantly* retrain my eye to exactly what a 1/2 C serving looks like)
on my favorite plates and see which one is the best size to use in the
1/2, 1/4, 1/4 system.
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edina
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response 8 of 41:
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Jun 27 15:25 UTC 2007 |
That's brilliant. I know that I have been working hard at reducing
portion size with my husband and I. What's funny is that he rarely
goes back for seconds...so I think a lot of it is visual.
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slynne
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response 9 of 41:
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Jun 27 15:44 UTC 2007 |
I think that something like a plate that helps with portion control is
a good idea and certainly is better for one's health than other methods
such as weight loss drugs.
But I will point out a few things about this study that I think are
worth noting.
1. It was a six month study. I would like to see a more long term
study. There are many methods of losing weight that have some limited
success at six months. There are many fewer where the weight loss is
still present at one year and even fewer still where the weight loss is
still present at five years.
2. The average weight loss of 1.8 percent of body weight is about 5-6
pounds lost for a 300lb person. That really isnt much weight loss. I
wonder if portion control can help with diabetes even if one doesnt
lose weight?
3. While 1/4 of the patients in this study who used the plates were
able to decrease the use of diabetes meds, that is about 15% more than
would have been able to anyways even without special plates. I wouldnt
call that a wildly successful program although I am sure that the 15%
of people who found the plates helpful might disagree.
I think that since plates dont have side effects like other weight
loss methods do, at the very least one can say that the plates do no
harm and may do some very small amount of good.
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mary
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response 10 of 41:
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Jun 27 16:35 UTC 2007 |
If I didn't make it an ongoing project to keep my weight down (as best I
can) (and it is work) I'd easily weigh 300 pounds. I'd be a very unhappy
person at that weight and I know my health, both physical and
emotional, would take a hit.
So how do I figure into your facts about dieting not working?
It works for me although imperfectly. But that's sure better than
not working at weight loss at all.
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mary
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response 11 of 41:
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Jun 27 16:51 UTC 2007 |
When visiting Asheville, NC, last winter, I had lunch at a nice bistro.
On the dessert menu they offered a sundae with a clever name, which
escapes me now, but it came with its own dish that you could take home.
I was intrigued. My sundae came in a little dish (hold 1/2 cup). It has
a colorful fun glaze outside and inside around the rim it reads, "Yum time
is..." and on the very inside bottom, "over". The little card that came
with advised to take the dish home and use it for indulgent delights.
But "...don't overfill it and use it only once a day". I really enjoyed
that sundae. And you know what, when I'd eaten that 1/2 cup it was
enough. The taste had worked and more would have been out of habit. I
left satisfied and feeling I'd made good choices.
I wish more restaurants played with food so nicely.
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slynne
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response 12 of 41:
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Jun 27 17:20 UTC 2007 |
resp:10 I am not convinced that you would weigh 300 lbs if you didnt
strictly control your food intake. But clearly you are convinced of
that and you know your body better than I do. Maybe you are one of
those 5% of people who have so much self control that they can beat the
odds. Maybe you are hungry all the time and it is only through serious
will power that you can keep yourself from eating more than you do. I
dont know.
I will say that most people tend to have a natural range and find it
just as difficult to gain enough weight to move out of that range as
they do to lose weight to move out of that range. There are things that
people can do to change their "set point" of course. But generally,
most people will not weigh 300 lbs even if they allow themselves to eat
as much as they want to eat. So where does your diet figure into the
idea of diets not working? Well, I suspect that if you were to just not
consciously pay attention to portions, you might gain some weight but
unless you started seriously overeating even when you're not hungry,
you probably wouldnt gain more than 5 pounds or so. Or maybe you would.
I dont really know. I can tell you that in the last three months, my
diet has been *really* bad due to outside factors. And by bad, I mean I
am eating fast food about 3 times a week which a pretty big increase. I
analized my calories on the cdc website and have been eating around
3000 calories a day which is 800 a day more than what I was eating
before. I have gained no weight. I expect to have more time soon and
will return to my old habits. I dont expect to lose weight but I do
expect to feel better.
Let me ask you this. Are you at a normal BMI or are you considered
overweight? And if you are overweight, why havent you changed your diet
such that you end up at a lower BMI?
FWIW, I have found that portion control has helped me with my eating. I
say this because I have a tendency to finish what is on my plate and I
am working on only eating when I am hungry. So I dole out small
portions but my rule is that if I am still hungry after I eat what is
on my plate, I can get seconds (or thirds or even fourths or fifths or
whatever). That does help me because I only get more if I am still
hungry. That is something different than being on a diet though, imho.
I dont restrict the amount of food I eat except that I am working on
reducing "emotional eating"
As for being unhealthy mentally and physically at 300 lbs. I can say
that I am not unhealthy at 300 lbs. I probably will eventually become
unhealthy but that pretty much happens to everybody as they get older
regardless of their weight. I dont think that weight increases the risk
of bad physical health significantly.
I do think that being heavy can be a blow to mental health. But it isnt
so much the weight that is the problem as people's reactions to it. But
ok, yes...being fat is hard and stressful and if a person internalizes
society's messages about fat=lazy, fat=sloth, fat=no willpower,
etc...then yes, being fat is a good way to feel shitty about oneself.
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mary
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response 13 of 41:
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Jun 27 22:10 UTC 2007 |
Require an emergency appendectomy at 300 pounds and then tell me how
morbid obesity is healthy. It's a challenge to simply intubate someone
with such issues. Diagnosis gets trickier. Getting the wound to stay
closed and heal is dicey. And emergency surgery is just one example. 300
pounds comes with issues you don't have at 150. But we've had this
conversation before.
I have been heavier and I know I'll always need to be paying attention
to diet if I don't want to go there again. And I don't. And there is
something else too, something I don't quite know how to explain, but
I feel better about myself for trying to be as healthy as I can, even
knowing I'll never make it to ideal.
But there is that word healthy again. I tend to link weight to
health. You don't. We'll simply have to agree to disagree I guess.
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