I don't know what it feels like to be thin.

Status
Not open for further replies.
larek

larek

New member
I have been mentally debating with myself on whether or not I should start this diary. I am a 23 years old, 170cm (5'57"?) male. My weight is 100.7kg (222lb), but by the end of this diary I'm going to look at a much more comfortable number.

Now why the confidence? Because I don't feel like I am in my own body. I don't know what it's like to participate in activities, do grocery shopping, smile and be with friends without feeling slightly awkward about where I place my limbs to make it so I don't present my belly to the outside world.

But that slight awkwardness and tension in everyday activities is normal. At least for me. I don't know what it feels like to be thin, to be comfortable with myself, to lower my shoulders and not worry about my posture publicly. It sounds magical, and I am going to do my very best to reach that point.

Sex: Male
Height: 170cm / 5'57"
Weight: 100.7kg / 222lb
Waist: Soon

I'm not sure if I should write a specific goal for weight or waistline, because that's a bit irrelevant for me.
What I want is to feel good with myself, so let's start this adventure.
 
Hi Larek & welcome to the forum. I feel confident after reading your post that you can do this. I once weighed what you do now. Feeling good about yourself should start asap. I think it's the key to learning how to do what's best for your body.
Any time you find yourself putting yourself down stop. Be kind. Treat yourself how you would treat the ones you love.
This is a good place to have a diary. You will find it is very supportive. Cheers, Cate.
 
Thank you so much for the kind words, Cate. I am indeed starting to try and do what's best for my body. I've been converting to eating a lot more greens, as well as taking multivitamins on a daily basis. Lately I've loved having tea with honey, but since I started eating healthier, about four days ago, I've skipped that as well. So far I've done pretty well, and I've had few strong urges to eat fatty foods or sweets.

I've gone to bed on several occasions thinking about a hamburger or pizza, but it has been manageable. I think I might start logging my food a bit in the coming days.
 
Going to bed hungry is not a bad thing. I love greens. I add spinach to almost everything! :blush5: Even if I have a toasted sandwich it will have some spinach & a little avocado in it. I'm glad that in only 4 days your cravings are diminishing. That's a good sign :)
 
Hi Larek and welcome to our forum! Sounds like you´ve got the makings of a healthy, slim young man. All the best getting there!
 
Cate: I'm a big fan of greens as well. I Consider myself quite lucky in that regard, because there's few healthy things I don't like eating. I love that I've have little to no cravings these last two days, as the last time I tried losing weight I craved things all the time.

LaMaria: Thank you so much, that does indeed sound like the goal!

I'm going to sort of log my food today. I'm very rarely hungry in the morning, but I try to consume a fruit (apple or banana generally) sometime after I've woken up. I woke up an hour ago, and now I ate a medium sized banana, and had two cups of black coffee. I don't like skipping breakfast, cause then I just go several hours without getting hungry, so I feel like a banana kickstarts my system.

I'm guessing that in about 3 or 4 hours, I'll cook myself some chopped greens for lunch. My girlfriend really wanted Tacos for dinner tonight, so I'll ponder about how I can make that as healthy as possible. I'm excited to continue this diary, because it feels like I'm starting to listen to my body and respect food more.
 
larek said:
I've gone to bed on several occasions thinking about a hamburger or pizza, but it has been manageable. I think I might start logging my food a bit in the coming days.
Click to expand...

I'm in a similar position as you. Good to do it now rather than wait.

Biggest tip I can offer on cravings: you can't create a vacuum and expect to stay on a healthy plan more than a month. By that I mean if you take some foods away that you LOVE, you have to add others in that you also LOVE. Man cannot live on rabbit food.

This means 1.) Trying new foods and things that you can work into your daily plans, and 2.) Making versions of things that you love that you have the energy budget for.

Example: I love fried chicken. Tonight I had fried chicken with BBQ beans and caramelized carrots, coming in at 750 calories. The chicken was boneless breasts dredged in spices, flour, egg, and bread crumbs, fried in vegetable oil and drained. Was just as satisfying as a trip to Popeyes down the road. I make a mean pizza that's 550 calories, as well as other classics: movie popcorn, cheeseburgers, etc.

Home cooking is the key, along with knowing what you love and having it too, as part of an overall plan. Because you're satiating deep psychological cravings, it becomes a legit lifestyle instead of a diet.

Done well, there are no "rewards" - there's nothing you're not having. No other life you wish you could return to. No more cravings. No cheat days, since you work in the desired item and plan it in.

There is only today. It's the only place you have decision making authority.

Becoming a food ninja now will serve you well the rest of your longer life.
 
All of the above. Plus: make sure you don´t eat just fruit and veg (no matter how good and healthy they are) but get some protein inside you with every meal as well.
 
Fantastic advice DoctorBee, I'll definitely keep that in mind from here on out. I only cook at home, never really eat at restaurants or fast food joints, so I've started to find it very satisfying to try new recipes with greens I haven't eaten that much before.

Just two days ago, I tried this recipe, and it was downright delicious. Brussels sprouts are amazing. I've only eaten sweet potatoes once before this, but I can certainly say it's going to be something I pick up once in a while from now on. Instead of following the recipe to a tee, I added chicken for proteins. While I've tried to keep proteins in mind every day, I believe that if I lack something right now, it'd probably be protein. I've yet to read up on exactly how much we need of each vitamin on a daily basis, so I can't say for certain if my almost-daily chicken has enough.

I've bought myself a 70% or so dark chocolate, and a bottle of red wine I will enjoy a glass of as a treat tomorrow. I'm also trying to get into the habit of swapping my daily two cups of coffee for green tea, but that's more because I've heard it can help on concentration and focus - I'm just curious to try it out.
 
Lunch!

63g brussels sprouts: 27 calories
62g rutabaga: 24 calories
32g broccoli: 11 calories
70g cauliflower: 18 calories
63g peas: 51 calories
135g chicken: 322 calories (What!)
Lemon and garlic pepper for seasoning

Total: 453 calories, but I'm going to round it up to 500.

After thinking about it, I "regret" choosing chicken now, because I remember I have potatoes. I'm already going to have chicken with my tacos later, but I'm sure I can balance it out some way or another.

15555331_1170321729688564_1932850181_o.jpg
 
I just took a short walk, and then weighed myself unclothed. This time the scale shows 99.5kg / 220 lbs, which is 4 lbs lighter than when I posted this thread last Sunday. As much as I want to have lost 4 lbs in slightly under a week, there's just too many variables at stake. First off, my initial weighing in was clothed, and I think I also just drank a lot of water.

Numbers or not, I've started to feel better. Not like a huge amount, but enough to notice. I can feel it the most in the morning, as I have an easier time waking up (sleeping better due to not eating shortly before bed time?). I also have less energy than I have had before, but that might very well be because I eat less energy. I'm going to pay attention to my body and make sure everything is all right, because the last thing I want to do is damage it more than I've already done.
 
To make your weigh-ins more comparable it might be useful to always weigh yourself first thing in the morning (unclothed, after using the bathroom and before drinking anything). You´re always going to have some fluctuations but that´s as light as most of us get. Also: was that chicken breaded and fried? That´s the only way I can imagine it having so many calories :eek: Otherwise that looks like a delicious and very healthy lunch, well done!
 
You know what, I might have made a mistake on the chickens calories. It was just a clean piece of chicken, but I googled "chicken calories" and just picked the first one without thinking too much over it... Because I was reeeeaaaally hungry. After you mentioned that, I checked the box instead, and there it says that there's 97 (let's say 100) calories per 100 grams, meaning I consumed about 135 calories, not 322.

Thank you for noticing that, I was a bit baffled in my initial post, but I sort of just shrugged it off. :)
 
Hehe, I did powerlifting in college, so the quest for protein is something I love. Do you eat red meat? If so, the wide world of meats lies before you. Beef, lamb, venison, turkey, quail, salmon, tuna, pork, boar... DROOL.

If you're pescetarian, or just don't eat Bambi, don't underestimate milk, cheese, beans, lentils, and whey powder as sources.

Ex-wife was Vegan: for her, it's beans and lentils and nuts.

For me, nothing beats a good cut of beef tenderloin.

Recall too that according to Thermic Effect of Food theory, it takes more calories to digest protein, so protein with every meal boosts metabolism and increases burn.

I love protein. So much.
 
larek said:
You know what, I might have made a mistake on the chickens calories. It was just a clean piece of chicken, but I googled "chicken calories" and just picked the first one without thinking too much over it... Because I was reeeeaaaally hungry. After you mentioned that, I checked the box instead, and there it says that there's 97 (let's say 100) calories per 100 grams, meaning I consumed about 135 calories, not 322.

Thank you for noticing that, I was a bit baffled in my initial post, but I sort of just shrugged it off. :)
Click to expand...
Yup. EAT ALL THE CHICKENS.
 
I'm very open to all sorts of food, and I'm no stranger to meat. I've heard red meat is less healthy than chicken, hence why I've transitioned a lot over to having chicken with my salads or greens instead. I didn't know that about thermic effect of food theory - that sounds awesome!
 
Red meat *is* higher in saturated fat, and some say, carcinogens and free radicals.

HOWEVER

There are a lot of food theories out there, but latest research in Sweden and other intellectual leaders like UK is that you aren't what you eat, you're what you eat and didn't burn.

Meaning, if you are at a calorie deficit at end of day, saturated fat and cholesterol are cool because you used them like a lamp that burns oil. The "paleo", lo-carb, and Atkins people swear by this principle. If you eat 600 calories of bacon, and 100 calories of Fruit and greens, that's 700 calories, a reasonable breakfast for me (I eat three meals a day, not six, it works for me). The fruits and veggies are physically high in volume and low in calories. Fills you up, and leaves the bacon as the "oil" to burn. This actually RAISES good cholesterol, prevents gallstones, and the antioxidants and fiber even out the free radicals and low volume of the bacon.

Is it perfect? No. Is it better than the alternative? I think so.

I used to love beer and wings. Examine. 6 beers is 900 calories. 10 wings is 1100 calories. 1 meal on Friday night, and it's your whole days calories. Worse, the liver can't filter alcohol and process fat too, so it burns the alcohol first, a metabolic requirement. So the alcohol chips in 7 calories per gram in energy to run you, leaving behind all the fat from the chicken wings and sugar from the beer. The liver stores this fat in your man-gut overnight, raising your bad cholesterol and cancer risk along with your waistline BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T BURN IT.

No food is inherently evil. They just have different chemical properties that need to be respected.
 
That's very interesting, thank you for the info. I also eat three meals a day, maybe four on some occasions. It works perfectly for me as well. Somewhere down the line I'm going to read a lot more about what vitamins our body needs and such, just to educate myself on how I can treat my body nicely.
 
Dinner:

2 Tortilla = 366 calories
33g white cheese = 104 calories
100g cucumber = 16 calories
55g tomato = 10 calories
71g pinapple = 46 calories
27g lettuce = 5 calories
24g dressing = 13 calories
102g chicken = 100 calories

Total: 660

15609354_1170619756325428_81438938_o.jpg


This meal was downright delicious, and I do think I've spoiled myself by taking two. But halfway through making it, I remembered... It's saturday! I felt really slow the moment I realised that it is in fact not Friday, which means I also get to spoil myself with...


Wine and dark chocolate!

23g dark chocolate = 135 calories
150g red wine = 130 calories (approximate, there was no calorie-label on the bottle so I googled)

15609201_1170612176326186_1576852728_o.jpg


I believe this puts me at about 1300 calories today. To be honest, that feels wrong. Completely wrong, because I've thoroughly enjoyed each meal, while even having a glass of red wine with dark chocolate as a saturday treat.
 
1300 kcal is very little for a grown man, even when you're trying to lose weight. I know we all want to get to goal as quickly as possible but going too low will make it harder to stick to your healthy changes long term (even if it feels like you're not depriving yourself). At a guess I'd say you should eat around 2000 kcal while trying to lose weight and anything under 1800 would make me nervous for your health. That said: great job on your food choices today!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top