The official diet and nutrition thread

[SteelBlue]

I will definitely check out the shawarma recipe. Would go great with fresh pita. We have been stuffing the pita with chicken from Trader Joes along with cucumbers, etc. Pita Pit at home.

Yes she recommends the pita recipe with it as well as a three ingredient mediterranean salad that is super easy and adds a nice tang. She also teaches you to make tahini and tatziki both of which are quite easy and delicious.

Easy Chicken Shawarma Recipe (Video) | The Mediterranean Dish

[Pelado]

I was planning to weigh myself this morning before my colonoscopy to see just how full of shit I was yesterday. Sadly, I neglected to do so.

The discharge instructions said to rest for the remainder of the day, avoid strenuous activities, refrain from driving, and avoid making life or business decisions. So the first thing I did after returning home (after hitting the John, again) was shovel the 2-3" of snow off the driveway.

Probably a bad life decision to be posting here today.

Doctor removed one polyp. Said it wasn't concerning.

[Bo Diddley]

9 lbs a week is bonkers. I think the most I lost was 5 lbs a week during my most calorie restricted. A Dr I worked with told me that 5 lbs a week is probably too much and that losing weight that quickly will make my skin sag. But I don't think I was big enough to begin with for that to happen. I did look pretty awful for a couple of months after I hit my initial goal. Everyone kept asking me if I was sick.

I carry my weight evenly across my body, and am almost 6'2". People ask me where I carry my weight when they hear I'm tipping the scale at 240 or so. So I doubt sagging skin will be an issue.

[Bo Diddley]

Holy cow. What did you do, cut off your arm?

Literally counting calories, cutting out sugar/junk food, and keeping calories between 1200-1750 per day. I'm probably averaging 1400 calories/day. Also, I drink at least 64oz water per day. I haven't cut out Coke Zero completely, but I don't drink much of it. Also, no french fries.

A typical day consists of my breakfast sandwich (english muffin, sausage patty, egg), a PB&J for lunch, and something like a stir fry over rice for dinner. Mix in a couple servings of fruit, and I'm good.

Mrs. Diddley joined me, and as she is conscious of what we're eating, she's cooking healthier meals. Alas, she is not a Mediterranean food fan. And we don't eat out as much as we usually do.

But my body is used to it now. Once I get down to where I want to be, I'll find a good caloric level to maintain and just keep an eye on things.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Literally counting calories, cutting out sugar/junk food, and keeping calories between 1200-1750 per day. I'm probably averaging 1400 calories/day. Also, I drink at least 64oz water per day. I haven't cut out Coke Zero completely, but I don't drink much of it. Also, no french fries.

A typical day consists of my breakfast sandwich (english muffin, sausage patty, egg), a PB&J for lunch, and something like a stir fry over rice for dinner. Mix in a couple servings of fruit, and I'm good.

Mrs. Diddley joined me, and as she is conscious of what we're eating, she's cooking healthier meals. Alas, she is not a Mediterranean food fan. And we don't eat out as much as we usually do.

But my body is used to it now. Once I get down to where I want to be, I'll find a good caloric level to maintain and just keep an eye on things.

1400 calories! Yeah, that will do it. Not sustainable, but effective in the short term.

[USUC]

Literally counting calories, cutting out sugar/junk food, and keeping calories between 1200-1750 per day. I'm probably averaging 1400 calories/day. Also, I drink at least 64oz water per day. I haven't cut out Coke Zero completely, but I don't drink much of it. Also, no french fries.

A typical day consists of my breakfast sandwich (english muffin, sausage patty, egg), a PB&J for lunch, and something like a stir fry over rice for dinner. Mix in a couple servings of fruit, and I'm good.

Mrs. Diddley joined me, and as she is conscious of what we're eating, she's cooking healthier meals. Alas, she is not a Mediterranean food fan. And we don't eat out as much as we usually do.

But my body is used to it now. Once I get down to where I want to be, I'll find a good caloric level to maintain and just keep an eye on things.

1400 calories at your height and weight? On days I do 1600 calories I'm an anxious dick. I'm... not as tall as you either (damn, I forget how tall everyone is here. I may be the shortest active poster). You may want to look into reverse calorie counting when you reach your goal. When you start adding calories again you will gain some weight, but if you do it slowly it will me minimal.

[Jeff Lebowski]

1400 calories at your height and weight? On days I do 1600 calories I'm an anxious dick. I'm... not as tall as you either (damn, I forget how tall everyone is here. I may be the shortest active poster). You may want to look into reverse calorie counting when you reach your goal. When you start adding calories again you will gain some weight, but if you do it slowly it will me minimal.

A low calorie diet that extreme is going to cause one hell of a whiplash with the cravings, etc. Good luck, BD!

[Bo Diddley]

1400 calories! Yeah, that will do it. Not sustainable, but effective in the short term.

Yeah, probably not. But during Covid I did that for about 3 months, giving myself a cheat day every Friday. Honestly, when I set my mind to it, it's not a big deal.

But let me talk about how I normally eat. I've been pretty good at not overeating when I eat out, for whatever that is worth, but I eat a lot of junk food. It's not uncommon for me to hit the DQ for a banana split or a large blizzard. If I've gotta pick something up at the store, I would usually grab some oreos, chips ahoy, lemon oreo thins (more healthy!) or some chocolate frosted Donettes. Or sometimes I'll see one of those Hostess apple pies that reminds me of my youth and grab one of those. I'm a very impulsive consumer when it comes to junk food. Or let's talk about Christmas candy. I get a chocolate orange in my stocking. I ate most of it in one sitting. And finished it. And then Mrs. Diddley gave me hers. And I ate it. In almost one sitting. The neighbors bring by a sweet bread loaf with chocolate chips. I ate most of it in one setting. I ate all of it after giving it a day or two so I wasn't a pig about hogging it all for myself.

I do a lot of grazing at home. And that was the initial difficulty on this last round. I was fine until I got home, but then the muscle memory made me want to snack on treats. After a couple of days, that was no longer an issue.

[SteelBlue]

Yeah, probably not. But during Covid I did that for about 3 months, giving myself a cheat day every Friday. Honestly, when I set my mind to it, it's not a big deal.

But let me talk about how I normally eat. I've been pretty good at not overeating when I eat out, for whatever that is worth, but I eat a lot of junk food. It's not uncommon for me to hit the DQ for a banana split or a large blizzard. If I've gotta pick something up at the store, I would usually grab some oreos, chips ahoy, lemon oreo thins (more healthy!) or some chocolate frosted Donettes. Or sometimes I'll see one of those Hostess apple pies that reminds me of my youth and grab one of those. I'm a very impulsive consumer when it comes to junk food. Or let's talk about Christmas candy. I get a chocolate orange in my stocking. I ate most of it in one sitting. And finished it. And then Mrs. Diddley gave me hers. And I ate it. In almost one sitting. The neighbors bring by a sweet bread loaf with chocolate chips. I ate most of it in one setting. I ate all of it after giving it a day or two so I wasn't a pig about hogging it all for myself.

I do a lot of grazing at home. And that was the initial difficulty on this last round. I was fine until I got home, but then the muscle memory made me want to snack on treats. After a couple of days, that was no longer an issue.

This was me exactly. Man I love a Christmas chocolate orange. I think you could crush the Mediterranean lifestyle. You said your wife doesn't like that food, but you can mediterranian-ize anything. I haven't even thought about a calorie since I started in March. Once you learn to cook the Medi way you'll have quick meals to go to when tired and it's not the ordeal it feels like at first.

[Bo Diddley]

This was me exactly. Man I love a Christmas chocolate orange. I think you could crush the Mediterranean lifestyle. You said your wife doesn't like that food, but you can mediterranian-ize anything. I haven't even thought about a calorie since I started in March. Once you learn to cook the Medi way you'll have quick meals to go to when tired and it's not the ordeal it feels like at first.

I love Mediterranean food. I'm looking through some of the links you posted and will see if I can help her find some options that she likes.

I noticed Moroccan food was part of it. I think fondly of the training missions I've attended there and the food the cooks at their base prepared. Delicious!

[Bo Diddley]

A low calorie diet that extreme is going to cause one hell of a whiplash with the cravings, etc. Good luck, BD!

Yeah, there wasn't really a whiplash last time. Over time, I simply found myself eating the way I used to. It was pretty gradual really. But we can revisit later and see how it goes.

The odd thing to me is how my body will keep my weight right around 240 no matter how poorly I eat. I feel like I should really have ballooned.

[Bo Diddley]

Down 14 pounds so far. I'm most proud of walking past the donuts at the promotion ceremony we had this morning as well as other junk food since I started. And portion control. I smoked ribs on Saturday, but only ate three. Once I got used to not overeating, portion control was pretty easy.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Down 14 pounds so far. I'm most proud of walking past the donuts at the promotion ceremony we had this morning as well as other junk food since I started. And portion control. I smoked ribs on Saturday, but only ate three. Once I got used to not overeating, portion control was pretty easy.

Bravo.

I am down 15 but kind stuck on a plateau. I will power through it.

[Bo Diddley]

Bravo.

I am down 15 but kind stuck on a plateau. I will power through it.

Yeah, this past week has been a comparative plateau--down 2 pounds this week. I went five days in a row without the scale changing. My metabolism has obviously adjusted to less calories, but the flip side is my body isn't telling me to feed it more, which is good. I just need to kick in with the exercise. I just hate it in the winter.

[Jeff Lebowski]

The Mediterranean Dish - Anyone starting this lifestyle quickly finds this site because Suzy was smart enough to use the word Mediterranean in the name of her site. She has the most comprehensive site by far and it's the most functional. You just have to get past the influencer vibe with her. She has added a "jump to recipe" button on all recipes so you can skip the essays. Her videos are very well produced and I haven't come across a single dud recipe on her site. Her chicken shawarma recipe is a family favorite. You could eat for a year off of this one site alone.

Can't remember if I reported it or not, but we tried the shawarma recipe. It was good, but took a fair amount of prep time. Tonight we did the Trader Joe's chicken shawarma along with homemade pita from The Mediterranean Dish website along with some TJ tzatziki and a simple "arabic salad". It was a fantastic meal. The TJ shawarma is really good and it was only 10 minutes or so from fridge to table. Sliced it thin and filled the hot pitas with chicken, tzatziki, and salad. Highly recommended.

The arabic salad is something we ate at many meals in our recent trip to Jordan. Chop up some cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion, parsley, and add olive oil, lemon juice, and sumac (to taste). Super easy and very good.