I left high school at 213, decently chubby, but with decent muscle from lifting, maybe 20% body fat.
Over my twenties, I started lifting hard and got up to about 275, around 15% body fat. Then I stopped doing bigger weights and shifted to more whole-body types of exercise along with general strength training instead of power lifting. Dropped to about 245 or so by the time my back gave out and I ended up disabled.
I’m sitting a little under 300 currently, after I got up to 325 after a lot of ups and downs via various causes relegating me to inactivity that made properly maintaining diet a major pain in the ass where I was always off of where I needed to be to maintain. Right now, it’s damn close to 30% body fat, though with a bit of uncertainty since I did the measurements myself, could be a little higher or lower.
I’ve been working, trying to get the fat reduced without losing muscle, and that’s been difficult what with fall risk, the nerve damage, etc. I pretty much have no choice about skipping leg day, which also makes cardio harder to get burning fat and stay at that. The physical therapist is helping build a routine that should be sustainable at home.
The struggle is fucking annoying tbh. It’s so linked to my mobility at any given point in time. It’s the thing I complain about most at support group meetings lol.
I don’t do a breakfast at all, it’s more of a brunch. I’m nauseous when I first wake up.
First meal is usually a bowl of cereal, whole milk, whatever the single serving on the side is. Sometimes it’s a biscuit with a teaspoon of jelly/jam/honey/whatever, and a pat of butter. Less often, it’ll be something like pancakes. It’s always something carb based because that’s all my stomach can handle as the first food of the day.
Then I’ll do something simple towards early afternoon. A sandwich, rotating between various meats w/cheese, pb&j, that kind of thing. Usually something fruity along with. Depends on the season, but we keep something around all year, even if it’s just bananas and apples. Sometimes the fruit is the sandwich, sometimes it’s instead of. Now and then, I’ll do up some eggs, two or three, since our hen lays more than the rest of the household will eat before they go bad.
Dinner is usually bigger. Assuming someone is able to cook that day, it’s almost always going to be veggie heavy, we too damn poor for a lot of meat. There’s no steady menu, we buy what’s on sale, or what’s available from family that farms. But it’ll typically be something like a big spoon of legumes; a similar size spoon of whatever we have between corn, rice, maybe something like quinoa or potatoes, running towards the starchy end of things. Then will be the “yummy” veg. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cooked greens, okra, carrots, sweet potatoes.
Most of the yummy veg is roasted because that’s what we prefer. A little olive oil, some salt and pepper, whatever herbs or spices work well with the specific veg.
The no meat days, it’ll be multiple yummy veggies, sometimes a medley.
In any case, that’s where I really splurge. It’s going to be a heaping spoon/spatula full of those. Two if I’m really into something with a craving.
Meat days, that’s typically going to be chicken unless it’s a special occasion. We usually go with breast meat because it can store better without turning funky. Approximately a half breast per person. Now, most of the time, we get that from family. I’ve got a cousin that does chicken farming alongside his corn. They’re red rangers. Not as big as some breeds, but they grow fast and do it almost entirely free range. So the pieces we eat tend to be smaller than a thigh you might get at a store. Usually around the 6 ounce range, though that’s obviously variable. Each breast comes in a little under a pound most of the time, after trimming and such.
Red meat tends to be ground beef, maybe every other month or so. I make some wicked meatballs, sometimes we’ll do burgers or a meatloaf. I never bother to measure much. We get our meat from a different cousin (yay for country life lol) that runs a dairy and raises a few steer for the family as a whole, so it’s cheaper than buying at a store (and better tbh). Usually a pound, pound and a half at a time. Split between 4 or 6 people, two meals each, depending on what we make with it. Those meals, I couldn’t tell you any measurements at all beyond that. We plate with a generous helping, but splitting it into amounts per person rather than a specific serving size.
Snack wise, I tend to not snack. But we keep fruit around, so that’s usually what it’ll be when I feel like having one.
Now, I do have my splurge choices. Stuff that’s purely for pleasure. I keep some dark chocolate around, and I’ll allow myself 2 squares a day if I want them. It isn’t every day, but a few times a week. I love me some chocolate milk, and I’ll have a 16oz cup once or twice a week, though I’ll add a smaller cup if I’m having a pb&j. Sometimes that’s a store bought, sometimes it’s from syrup.
I have a ginger ale or ginger beer as needed when my stomach is extra grumpy. I keep a few bottles of bundaberg in the fridge and cork them after I pour a glass. I think they’re 12 oz bottles? It’s into a cocktail glass, and it usually takes about half a bottle. That might be every day, might go a few without. Rarely, it’s a couple of times a day.
Now, that’s the norm, the way it usually is day to day. Days that nobody is physically up to cooking, we end up having shitty freezer food because it’s realistic. Chicken strips, prefab lasagna or pizza or whatever. My and my wife are both disabled, and my dad is old as fuck. So on the bad days, we feed the kid the good food and eat the cheap freezer crap as fuel. Which fucks up dietary balance (and calorie count), but it’s the best we can do some days.
can you make your earlier meals (I guess maybe lunch since you’re nauseous in the morning) bigger and have a smaller dinner? (larger meals later at night disrupt sleep and your body is more liable to store them as fat as opposed to during the day when you’re usually more active before and after eating so you have a chance to burn it off? Apparently its best to stop eating around 4 hours before bed so however close you can work that it would probably only help things
do you feel the need to sweeten most things? Can you get by sticking to things like cream cheese, butter, guacamole, peanut butter, salsa/marinara, stevia or natural mild sweeteners like mixed berries as opposed to concentrated pure sugars like jams/honey/sugar?
ever tried unsweetened coconut or almond milk for cereal? I swear coconut (particularly the Vita Coco 1L tetra pack of original coconut milk beverage) is the closest to perfect substitute for milk and it has a decent amount of satisfying fat without all the sugar and other unknowable stuff in milk.
I’ll add to this later but those were some initia thoughts. One of the big takeaways is fat is not bad or to be avoided as it satisfies and makes you need to snack less and sugar is generally more for energy to a level few of us actually need outside of the usual addiction to it
Well, we’ve tried shifting the bulk of calories to a more even amount. The problem comes in when trying to get 4 people on the same page. It worked out this way since I’m an insomniac to begin with, and I couldn’t get everyone to have a reliable lunch schedule. After dinner, I’m not hitting bed until midnight or so, and we have dinner by 6:30. We could probably do better, but it would take the adults agreeing to eat the same thing, which is like herding drunken cats.
About the only thing I add sweetness to is my biscuits unless we’re doing something specific as a dessert. That’s one of those things where if a spoonful of something is going to throw everything off, then it does. Well, that and the occasional cup of coffee or tea, but that’s in the same category.
As far as alternate milks, I don’t dislike them. Oat is my preferred, and I’ll do that in cereal or coffee sometimes. I just have to use some dairy of some kind or my guts hate me. So I might as well just drink milk since I can get it for about half of what it costs in stores, and know exactly how the cows are treated, how the milk is processed, etc. I used to just do fruit and yogurt for breakfast, back maybe eight or nine years ago. But my cousin doesn’t make yogurt, just cheeses, so I’d be back to paying more for stuff I can’t verify the conditions of. I keep trying to talk him into yogurt, but the last time they tried, it was a loss for them; not enough local demand.
It’s one of those things where I could consume less milk as milk, but it would just shift to a different kind of dairy product to keep the lactobacilli happy and active. Since the milk is way cheaper with the family discount than any other option, I just go with it.
I’m thinking of trying to make my own jams and jellies again though. It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s cheaper, and I can use way less sugar than branded options in stores. I haven’t yet because the only reliable sources locally are usually first come first serve, and I can’t always get to the farms when things are ready and then do the picking. Only one place will pick for you and sell directly. The rest, if they’re going to have to pay pickers, they’ll just sell the crop off in bulk and get a better profit margin. Can’t say I blame them.
Ehhh, a good ways.
I left high school at 213, decently chubby, but with decent muscle from lifting, maybe 20% body fat.
Over my twenties, I started lifting hard and got up to about 275, around 15% body fat. Then I stopped doing bigger weights and shifted to more whole-body types of exercise along with general strength training instead of power lifting. Dropped to about 245 or so by the time my back gave out and I ended up disabled.
I’m sitting a little under 300 currently, after I got up to 325 after a lot of ups and downs via various causes relegating me to inactivity that made properly maintaining diet a major pain in the ass where I was always off of where I needed to be to maintain. Right now, it’s damn close to 30% body fat, though with a bit of uncertainty since I did the measurements myself, could be a little higher or lower.
I’ve been working, trying to get the fat reduced without losing muscle, and that’s been difficult what with fall risk, the nerve damage, etc. I pretty much have no choice about skipping leg day, which also makes cardio harder to get burning fat and stay at that. The physical therapist is helping build a routine that should be sustainable at home.
The struggle is fucking annoying tbh. It’s so linked to my mobility at any given point in time. It’s the thing I complain about most at support group meetings lol.
Can you talk a little about what your daily staples are? What do you eat in an average day if you’re being honest with yourself/us?
Hmm, it’s pretty variable.
I don’t do a breakfast at all, it’s more of a brunch. I’m nauseous when I first wake up.
First meal is usually a bowl of cereal, whole milk, whatever the single serving on the side is. Sometimes it’s a biscuit with a teaspoon of jelly/jam/honey/whatever, and a pat of butter. Less often, it’ll be something like pancakes. It’s always something carb based because that’s all my stomach can handle as the first food of the day.
Then I’ll do something simple towards early afternoon. A sandwich, rotating between various meats w/cheese, pb&j, that kind of thing. Usually something fruity along with. Depends on the season, but we keep something around all year, even if it’s just bananas and apples. Sometimes the fruit is the sandwich, sometimes it’s instead of. Now and then, I’ll do up some eggs, two or three, since our hen lays more than the rest of the household will eat before they go bad.
Dinner is usually bigger. Assuming someone is able to cook that day, it’s almost always going to be veggie heavy, we too damn poor for a lot of meat. There’s no steady menu, we buy what’s on sale, or what’s available from family that farms. But it’ll typically be something like a big spoon of legumes; a similar size spoon of whatever we have between corn, rice, maybe something like quinoa or potatoes, running towards the starchy end of things. Then will be the “yummy” veg. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cooked greens, okra, carrots, sweet potatoes.
Most of the yummy veg is roasted because that’s what we prefer. A little olive oil, some salt and pepper, whatever herbs or spices work well with the specific veg.
The no meat days, it’ll be multiple yummy veggies, sometimes a medley.
In any case, that’s where I really splurge. It’s going to be a heaping spoon/spatula full of those. Two if I’m really into something with a craving.
Meat days, that’s typically going to be chicken unless it’s a special occasion. We usually go with breast meat because it can store better without turning funky. Approximately a half breast per person. Now, most of the time, we get that from family. I’ve got a cousin that does chicken farming alongside his corn. They’re red rangers. Not as big as some breeds, but they grow fast and do it almost entirely free range. So the pieces we eat tend to be smaller than a thigh you might get at a store. Usually around the 6 ounce range, though that’s obviously variable. Each breast comes in a little under a pound most of the time, after trimming and such.
Red meat tends to be ground beef, maybe every other month or so. I make some wicked meatballs, sometimes we’ll do burgers or a meatloaf. I never bother to measure much. We get our meat from a different cousin (yay for country life lol) that runs a dairy and raises a few steer for the family as a whole, so it’s cheaper than buying at a store (and better tbh). Usually a pound, pound and a half at a time. Split between 4 or 6 people, two meals each, depending on what we make with it. Those meals, I couldn’t tell you any measurements at all beyond that. We plate with a generous helping, but splitting it into amounts per person rather than a specific serving size.
Snack wise, I tend to not snack. But we keep fruit around, so that’s usually what it’ll be when I feel like having one.
Now, I do have my splurge choices. Stuff that’s purely for pleasure. I keep some dark chocolate around, and I’ll allow myself 2 squares a day if I want them. It isn’t every day, but a few times a week. I love me some chocolate milk, and I’ll have a 16oz cup once or twice a week, though I’ll add a smaller cup if I’m having a pb&j. Sometimes that’s a store bought, sometimes it’s from syrup.
I have a ginger ale or ginger beer as needed when my stomach is extra grumpy. I keep a few bottles of bundaberg in the fridge and cork them after I pour a glass. I think they’re 12 oz bottles? It’s into a cocktail glass, and it usually takes about half a bottle. That might be every day, might go a few without. Rarely, it’s a couple of times a day.
Now, that’s the norm, the way it usually is day to day. Days that nobody is physically up to cooking, we end up having shitty freezer food because it’s realistic. Chicken strips, prefab lasagna or pizza or whatever. My and my wife are both disabled, and my dad is old as fuck. So on the bad days, we feed the kid the good food and eat the cheap freezer crap as fuel. Which fucks up dietary balance (and calorie count), but it’s the best we can do some days.
Couple thoughts
can you make your earlier meals (I guess maybe lunch since you’re nauseous in the morning) bigger and have a smaller dinner? (larger meals later at night disrupt sleep and your body is more liable to store them as fat as opposed to during the day when you’re usually more active before and after eating so you have a chance to burn it off? Apparently its best to stop eating around 4 hours before bed so however close you can work that it would probably only help things
do you feel the need to sweeten most things? Can you get by sticking to things like cream cheese, butter, guacamole, peanut butter, salsa/marinara, stevia or natural mild sweeteners like mixed berries as opposed to concentrated pure sugars like jams/honey/sugar?
ever tried unsweetened coconut or almond milk for cereal? I swear coconut (particularly the Vita Coco 1L tetra pack of original coconut milk beverage) is the closest to perfect substitute for milk and it has a decent amount of satisfying fat without all the sugar and other unknowable stuff in milk.
I’ll add to this later but those were some initia thoughts. One of the big takeaways is fat is not bad or to be avoided as it satisfies and makes you need to snack less and sugar is generally more for energy to a level few of us actually need outside of the usual addiction to it
Well, we’ve tried shifting the bulk of calories to a more even amount. The problem comes in when trying to get 4 people on the same page. It worked out this way since I’m an insomniac to begin with, and I couldn’t get everyone to have a reliable lunch schedule. After dinner, I’m not hitting bed until midnight or so, and we have dinner by 6:30. We could probably do better, but it would take the adults agreeing to eat the same thing, which is like herding drunken cats.
About the only thing I add sweetness to is my biscuits unless we’re doing something specific as a dessert. That’s one of those things where if a spoonful of something is going to throw everything off, then it does. Well, that and the occasional cup of coffee or tea, but that’s in the same category.
As far as alternate milks, I don’t dislike them. Oat is my preferred, and I’ll do that in cereal or coffee sometimes. I just have to use some dairy of some kind or my guts hate me. So I might as well just drink milk since I can get it for about half of what it costs in stores, and know exactly how the cows are treated, how the milk is processed, etc. I used to just do fruit and yogurt for breakfast, back maybe eight or nine years ago. But my cousin doesn’t make yogurt, just cheeses, so I’d be back to paying more for stuff I can’t verify the conditions of. I keep trying to talk him into yogurt, but the last time they tried, it was a loss for them; not enough local demand.
It’s one of those things where I could consume less milk as milk, but it would just shift to a different kind of dairy product to keep the lactobacilli happy and active. Since the milk is way cheaper with the family discount than any other option, I just go with it.
I’m thinking of trying to make my own jams and jellies again though. It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s cheaper, and I can use way less sugar than branded options in stores. I haven’t yet because the only reliable sources locally are usually first come first serve, and I can’t always get to the farms when things are ready and then do the picking. Only one place will pick for you and sell directly. The rest, if they’re going to have to pay pickers, they’ll just sell the crop off in bulk and get a better profit margin. Can’t say I blame them.