-Diablo's Journal, 07 Sep 19

If anyone has any other tips or examples of foods they eat, feel free to post them! 

#7 is *so* tough. Maybe I’ll do a stand alone post on that. 

Also, I will add, people don't really grasp how much NEAT matters. NEAT stands for non-exercise activated thermogenesis. It can vary by up to 2k calories depending on the person. Now, these are the extremes on each end but take a mailman vs. someone at a desk job. Maybe when the mailman gets home he takes his dog for a long walk and/or also goes to the gym and the person at the sedentary job owns no pets and just goes home to sit in front yet another screen until bed time. Their energy requirements will vary drastically even at the same height and weight. The mailman can lose weight eating 3k a day, while the sedentary person would gain at that intake. Also being sedentary means you have even more time to eat so getting to that 3k intake will be even easier. Move more and make it a habit. Stand at your kids baseball game, go for an extra walk, join a gym, learn boxing/kickboxing, etc.  

@me,myselfandi, I can understand that. I know I do it as well, I just make sure the item fits into my daily allotted calories. I just had the rest of my iced pumpkin bar dessert, for example, But it is easier for me since I am losing fat at 3k calories a day. I know most wouldn't be able to do it as often. 

Another thing on NEAT. It will go down subconsciously as you diet. It gets more severe when calorie intake is very low. This is one reason why some people will have a harder time with fewer calories. Your body will make up for it by reducing your movement. Making you more likely to sit and just being less active in general. Raise the calories and voila, you have more energy you move more which makes up for the difference in calories and then some, then the scale starts moving again. 

That's how the "take the stairs skip the elevator" campaign started. They started realizing how much of a part NEAT played in staying fit. Another example is to park your car a bit further away from the entrance to stores. Every little bit helps. I read that diablo, as your calories go down you even figit less while sitting, crazy how your body tries to conserve those few calories. I myself, just raised my calories a bit and noticed my workouts intensify a bit more, and that's a calorie raise with no weight gain. So there is definitely something to this study. Once again very informative post! Oh and I like either halo top ( red velvet knew fav) or the breyers low cal chocolate or butter pecan. Also the quest chips are actually good with 20 grams of protein per bag ( the chili lime flavor). Those help me! 

Lol, yeah, DP hates when I have jimmy leg if it vibrates the couch or car. I don't even notice I am doing it until she says something. Maybe it's the 3k calories intake. My body is working on helping me release some energy. :D I just wached a podcast on metabolic adaptations. Bodybuilders who got down to very low body fat percentages spoke slower and even blinked slower. A guy who is usually really animated during speeches was leaning up against a wall while speaking, he didn't notice this until someone who coaches bodybuilders pointed it out to him afterward. Your body will force you to expend less energy and even raise hunger. This is why huge deficits are usually a recipe for failure. 

And thanks for the words and the food examples, Kennyn! Much appreciated! 

Great advice 

Really interesting! Not sure why egg beaters is ranked last though. ;) I eat 50 cal string cheese and 2 saltines if I "think" I'm hungry but shouldn't be. 75 cal. And I love cottage cheese and tomatoes- separately- not together. And great value greek vanilla yogurt with 4 cut up strawberries is delicious! 💗 

One of my fav low cal meals/snacks is cucumber sticks wrapped with sliced turkey. I also enjoy celery sticks topped with seasoned tuna. DP - same for me too w/cottage cheese and strawberries DELISH!  

GREAT post, btw Diablo. Nice you mention patience! I remember having very little patience and feelings of discouragement if the scale didn't move everyday (even fluctuated) - that always led to "ok, this isn't working, why bother" Thanks goodness I retrained my brain to just keep going!  

Orville Redenbacher is the best popcorn. I buy it in the plastic jar and pop in a microwave popcorn dish. You can also use a paper bag. No oil or chemicals. 

All very good habits Diablo...tying into #1 and #10, if you find that there are foods or snacks/treats that you have trouble enjoying in moderation (for me there are several), try to avoid having easy access to them or make sure you don't have them very often. Air popped popcorn for us too, with butter but easy to moderate calories.  

excellent thank you. I'm always especially curious about your choices 

I've been using the Mission Carb Balance or La Tortilla Factory Low Carb tortillas for breakfast tacos or fish tacos for dinner. 2 tortillas have pretty much all the fiber you need for the day and they have decent protein to add to the mix at half the calories of regular tortillas and they are really good tortillas. Sara Lee breads are about half the calories of regular bread, like 60 per slice. Again, decent fiber and protein. Sugar free preserves (Smuckers) are unexpectedly high in fiber. My drink of choice is iced herbal tea (mint or fruit varieties) but sometimes iced black tea but both with no sugar - no calories at all, just flavor. Cooler weather allows for making beans - fiber and protein galore. I eat more fruit now. Oranges are so sweet and good fiber. It's really not hard now to keep fiber and protein up and calories down. 

This is great info for me .. Thanks for taking that time to give examples..