(see bottom for real life diet)
I took some posters' advice and 'people watched' waist sizes at grocery stores (and just in general in downtown) and holy shit, we are in trouble.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be in shape, you just need to WANT to be in shape. If you're drinking soda and eating burgers and donuts daily, you clearly don't want to lose weight and should stop lying to yourself, pretending that you do.
Everyone's life situation is different, so there is no one correct way to do it. But everyone (especially all readers of this message board) at this point should know what's good and what's bad, and personalize their own life situations to a healthy life style.
- It starts with food shopping. If you don't have unhealthy food at home, you won't eat unhealthy food (while at home). Do your own food shopping, don't rely on your spouse.
- While food shopping, look at all the labels and don't buy a single item that has high-fructose corn syrup (HFS). This sucker sneaks up often, for example: it is sometimes found in pickles, bread, bbq sauce - there are always options available without HFS, they're a bit more expensive, but worth it.
- Make substitutions:
Coke for water
Regular pasta/bread for whole wheat pasta/bread
Regular rice for brown rice
Donut for tangerine
Ice cream for Greek yogurt
Pork bacon for turkey bacon
M&Ms for almonds
(Any food that you have an addiction to, there is always a healthy substitute for, I'd be glad to help if you need ideas)
- other things you can / need to do are obvious: lower daily calorie intake, don't eat late, don't lay on couch all day.
- work out: if possible, increase your game - if all you do is walk, add some running; if you lift same weights, add weight; do a set of pushups while watching tv. I realize that some are elderly and are limited to what they can do, but many aren't and are simply lazy.
I'm in low 40s and by far am in the best shape of my life. I'm about 5'10 200, go to gym 6 days per week. I'll post my last 3 days diet below, in case it could help someone:
Day 1*
- Breakfast: 3 eggs with cheese & spinach
- Lunch / snacks: protein bar (only 3g of sugar); apple; tangerine; 2 cheese sticks
- Dinner: grilled chicken with salsa, asparagus, olives;
- Snack (7:30pm): Greek yogurt with organic honey and almonds
Day 2*
- Breakfast: smoked salmon (from Costco); 1 avocado
- Lunch / snacks: homemade split pea soup; protein bar; tangerine; banana
- Dinner: 2 veggie burger patties (from Costco); broccoli;
- Snack: pistachios
Day 3*
- Breakfast: shake (spinach, frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, lime juice, 30g of protein powder, a bit of almond milk) - JL is frowning; cheese stick
- Lunch: sushi (wasn't happy about white rice)
- Dinner: salad with mozzarella, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado and avocado oil
* every day I take 2g of Vascepa for breakfast and 2g for dinner; drink either water or unsweetened green tea (buy regular green tea packs, make it hot and let it cool down and consume daily)
Eat out as little as possible, so you can better control what you eat.
Lastly, I have a serious sweet tooth and when tangerines or yogurt with honey aren't enough, I eat 1-2 dark chocolate covered almonds. Key here is that I limit it to no more than 2 per day, probably 3x per week.
Hope this helps someone.
