It's Time for a 6 Pack Weight Loss Diet Journal

[thunder_god]

I decided to start a weight loss diet journal to help me stay on track with dieting. I have failed numerous times to achieve my weight loss goals, hopefully this time it will be different, especially with members here to keep me accountable.

 

[thunder_god]

Woke up late and skipped breakfast

meal 1: pan seared chicken breast with salad and greek dressing
meal 2: Baked sweet potato fries
snack: kettle chips and pineapple slices
meal 3: chicken breast and salad
snack: had like 6 lint lindor chocolates. I couldn't resist. I went to buy some snacks last night and saw that there were only $3.50 a pack and couldn't help myself. I need to be more discipline in the future.

Workout

Today I did chest and back. Pretty simple exercise routine. 3 x of chest x 10-12 reps and 3 x of back x 10-12 reps
I ran out of time to do cardio today so I'm going to have to make up for it tomorrow. I'm finding as I eat less and less carbs, I feel more tired when doing cardio.

I'm so frigging hungry right now!!!

 

[thunder_god]

meal 1: mushroom and egg omelette made with 3 eggs and mushrooms
had 4 lind lindor chocolates ( I really need to stop eating this crap, but I'm going to have to finish all the chocolate I bought first)
meal 2: hungry man turkey dinner around 485 kcals
snack: pinapple, a few lind lindor chocolates
meal 3: 10 breaded oven baked chicken strips
meal 4: chicken breast and salad

 

[thunder_god]

Keep hitting it and be open minded. My advice is just advice. There are lots of opinions out there and different things work for different people.

Your diet needs stepping up, in my opinion. You're not fueling your body efficiently or sufficiently. Which leads to cravings for the old familiarly simple, cheap, and processed stuff.

You may have already posted it, but tell me your current weight and height. Photos would be even better. Then I will make some personal recommendations for diet and training.

My height is 5'11. Not sure about my weight though. I don't own a scale. Last time I weighed myself was a few months ago and I was hovering around 170 but I'm sure I put on a few lbs since then. I would guess between 175-180lbs at the moment.

This was taken last night.

 

[thunder_god]

I have some suggestions. Keep your mind open because my ways of doing things might sound different to you.

Set a goal for 8 weeks.

Eat every 2-3 hours. 5-6 meals per day.
Protein in every meal, size of your first (doesn't have to be exact) The more minimal the food and ingredients, the better. PLAIN stuff and organic whenever you can. Chicken, lean ground beef, eggs, tuna, protein bars, protein shake mix.

Carbs in first 4 meals for weeks 1-2; then 3 meals weeks 2-4; 2 meals weeks 4-6; 1-2 meals 6-8 (see how you are feeling). Brown rice, oatmeal.

Fats in first 3 meals. Dressings, almonds, coconut oil. Avacados.

Unlimited green veggies. Kale, spinach, green beans, broccoli work well.

Drink a gallon water a day.
No alcohol for 8 weeks.
No sodas at all except on weekly reward meal.
Reward Meal: Eat or drink anything you want (except alcohol) 1 meal (not day) per week. Indulge for 2 hours.

Fitness:

Cardio 6 days per week, first thing in the morning, on a treadmill, on an empty stomach when possible. Don't stop till you burn 300 calories. The sooner and more intensely you burn the calories, the better. Don't be afraid to hit the treadmill hard and sweat. You will feel leaner every day you do this.

Weights 3-4 times a day. Full body. Hit the weights hard, just like the treadmill. Go after it hard.

How do you eat your almonds? Straight out of the bag or do you put them in a pan or oven to roast?

Also how do you eat your avocados?

 

[thunder_god]

I'm gonna have to pick up some avocados and almonds tmr along with some whey protein and a protein shaker.

 

[thunder_god]

Workout

legs and abs:
leg press 12 reps x 3 sets
kettlebell squats 12 reps x 3 sets
leg extensions 12 reps x 3 sets
crunches 15 reps x 2 sets

24 minutes of jogging on the treadmill at 6mph.

 

[thunder_god]

Dying of hunger here. I had to eat a can of tuna. I need to start eating more carbs.

 

[thunder_god]

Meal 1: oatmeal with a tablespoon of honey, omelette made with 2 eggs
meal 2: stir fry shrimp, straw mushrooms and broccoli
meal 3: pineapple
meal 4: can of tuna
meal 5: spaghetti
meal 6: baked sweet potato fries

 

[thunder_god]

Picked up some avocados, brown rice, and tuna today. Almonds were way too expensive for my budget $7/lb

 

[thunder_god]

Diet

meal 1: oatmeal with some honey
meal 2: stir fry shrimp with straw mushrooms and broccoli
meal 3: pineapple
meal 4: protein shake
meal 5: beef and broccoli stir fry
meal 6: brown rice pilaf with fresh mushrooms, frozen mixed veggies, and chicken broth (was meant to be eaten with the beef stir fry, but didn't know it took so frigging long to cook brown rice)

Workout

They closed off the gym in my apartment today so I couldn't workout. Apparently there was a fire in the basement where the gym is wtf.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Meal 1: oatmeal with a tablespoon of honey, omelette made with 2 eggs
meal 2: stir fry shrimp, straw mushrooms and broccoli
meal 3: pineapple
meal 4: can of tuna
meal 5: spaghetti
meal 6: baked sweet potato fries

Look at all those carbs you're eating. No wonder you're hungry and not losing weight.

Cashews are cheaper than almonds. Peanuts are even cheaper than cashews. Coconut oil is another healthy fat that is cheap. You can put coconut oil in just about anything. I put it in coffee. Olive oil isn't very expensive; you don't need the extra virgin if you are cooking with it.

Learn to cook dried beans, peas, and lentils. A pound of lentils is 130 grams of protein for about $1. I cook it with a lot of chopped garlic and olive oil. I can live off about 50 cents a day by eating lentils, and lose weight at the same time.

Do you have access to any space that could hold a garden?

It's winter right now, at least for me, but when summer comes, track down your local farmer's market and get in the habit of going.

You might also try to find a local farmer selling farm eggs. The nutrition of an egg depends on the diet of the chicken. Factory-farmed chickens are fed the cheapest crap they can get in order to maximize profits. Farm chickens that roam have a diverse diet. They get to eat grass and plants, which contain omega-3, and that makes the eggs have it. Omega 3 has a ton of health benefits, one of which is improved metabolism. Farm eggs from a farmer are about half the price as they are in a store. I pay $2.50/doz. The cheap grocery store eggs are disgusting to me now; I can't eat them.

 

[thunder_god]

Meal 1: oatmeal with a tablespoon of honey, omelette made with 2 eggs
meal 2: stir fry shrimp, straw mushrooms and broccoli
meal 3: pineapple
meal 4: can of tuna
meal 5: spaghetti
meal 6: baked sweet potato fries

Look at all those carbs you're eating. No wonder you're hungry and not losing weight.

Cashews are cheaper than almonds. Peanuts are even cheaper than cashews. Coconut oil is another healthy fat that is cheap. You can put coconut oil in just about anything. I put it in coffee. Olive oil isn't very expensive; you don't need the extra virgin if you are cooking with it.

Learn to cook dried beans, peas, and lentils. A pound of lentils is 130 grams of protein for about $1. I cook it with a lot of chopped garlic and olive oil. I can live off about 50 cents a day by eating lentils, and lose weight at the same time.

Do you have access to any space that could hold a garden?

It's winter right now, at least for me, but when summer comes, track down your local farmer's market and get in the habit of going.

You might also try to find a local farmer selling farm eggs. The nutrition of an egg depends on the diet of the chicken. Factory-farmed chickens are fed the cheapest crap they can get in order to maximize profits. Farm chickens that roam have a diverse diet. They get to eat grass and plants, which contain omega-3, and that makes the eggs have it. Omega 3 has a ton of health benefits, one of which is improved metabolism. Farm eggs from a farmer are about half the price as they are in a store. I pay $2.50/doz. The cheap grocery store eggs are disgusting to me now; I can't eat them.

Space is pretty tight in my tiny apartment that I share with my roommate. I picked up a 2kg bag of brown rice last night for $6. I also purchased some whey protein isolate today with a shaker bottle. Damn, that stuff has really gotten expensive. I remember paying like around $40 for a 5lb jug several years back and now they cost like $70-80 for the same thing wtf.

Good to know about the eggs. Never knew that it made that much of a difference. I will have to look into a local farmers market or something. Eating healthy is so expensive .

 

[Bible_Belt]

The brown rice is a much more acceptable carb source because of the huge amount of fiber in it. Mix it with beans or lentils and it is cheap food that goes a long way.

Eating healthy is expensive, but you can pay with time instead of money if you know how to cook. Dried beans are half the cost if they are dried as opposed to canned, but take much longer to cook.

My family's farm grows some giant squash that get 20-30 pounds. We sell them to migrant workers for $4-5. They told us they make soup out of them. 30 pounds of winter squash will make enough soup for a big family to have all week. They add whatever other bit of meat or vegetables they have and boil it all down into a stew. They can feed a big family for several days on less than $10 - and the food is healthy.

That's how poor people have to eat in lesser developed countries - they have to work at it. Meals take hours to prepare. Poor Americans just go on food stamps, then live off of pop tarts and twinkies. Then they get obese and diabetic, so the jokes on them. For all of history, being poor meant you were skinny, because you couldn't afford a lot of food. But now being poor means you get fat, because the government buys you junk food. The companies that peddle that crap are the real winners of our modern welfare state.

 

[dasein]

They can feed a big family for several days on less than $10 - and the food is healthy.

I made my family New Year's Meal today, three of us. Bought a nine pound pork tenderloin for 1.99 a pound a month ago and froze it. Our meat was $4 worth of this in a crockpot overnight, veg was $.50 worth of dried blackeye peas and $.50 worth of turnip greens, $.50 worth of corn muffins from a mix adding two eggs, milk and some oil. We were stuffed due to the fiber without actually eating much, it was delicious. Total cost for three people New Years feast? $6.00 including butter, tea, condiments. OK, enough bragging.

OP, here are some things that help me. 1. Learn to wok. Woks are cheap, easy and fast. 1-2 tbsp. of peanut-olive oil, onion first, then meat, then other veg. On high the whole time. Onions keep very well in the fridge when you only use part of one, same for celery. Canned tomatoes diced are a way to turn anything "Italian." Microwave dense veg like carrots and potatoes for 3-4 minutes before putting in the mix. Stirfry enough for 3 meals at once and it gets BETTER in the fridge. Add a tbsp. of peanut butter and some curry powder to stirfry for no hassle thai taste. Along those lines, there are usually many ways to cut corners and achieve the same results as opposed to the complicated recipes that women follow like they are the ten commandments. 2. Listen to others on beans, yes they have carbs, but the fiber and protein make them well worth it. If you can switch most of your daily carbs to beans and a couple of fruits for breakfast, the battle is half won right there. You will almost certainly not have cravings if you are eating a serving of beans two meals a day. 3. Learn spices. Ginger, cinnamon, cumin, curry, soy sauce, mustard, chili powder, hot sauce, Adobo, etc. Once you know spices, you can make your food delicious with next to no added fat and no sugar. Avoid salad dressing, ketchup, barbecue sauce entirely, you don't need them to make the food good. Light Soy sauce makes good salad dressing and yields a bit of protein. 4. Get offending food OUT of your environment. If you buy junk in the grocery, throw it out as punishment. 5. Nuts, Walmart brand great value in large pouches are cheap, even cheaper are planters peanuts in the large plastic carton. 6. If you have to get fast food, get one or two things off the $1 menu, skip fries and soda, eat a couple of bites then throw it out the window. taco bell bean burritos aren't half bad nutritionally if you like those. IIRC, 15g of protein, 8g fiber, 11g fat, 55g carb and about 350 calories. There is no good fast food, but that ain't bad. Eat two of those when cheating, you will get that fast food taste, and you will not be hungry for some time. Good luck.

 

[thunder_god]

Meal 1: oatmeal with a tablespoon of honey, omelette made with 2 eggs
meal 2: stir fry shrimp, straw mushrooms and broccoli
meal 3: pineapple
meal 4: can of tuna
meal 5: spaghetti
meal 6: baked sweet potato fries

Look at all those carbs you're eating. No wonder you're hungry and not losing weight.

Cashews are cheaper than almonds. Peanuts are even cheaper than cashews. Coconut oil is another healthy fat that is cheap. You can put coconut oil in just about anything. I put it in coffee. Olive oil isn't very expensive; you don't need the extra virgin if you are cooking with it.

Learn to cook dried beans, peas, and lentils. A pound of lentils is 130 grams of protein for about $1. I cook it with a lot of chopped garlic and olive oil. I can live off about 50 cents a day by eating lentils, and lose weight at the same time.

Do you have access to any space that could hold a garden?

It's winter right now, at least for me, but when summer comes, track down your local farmer's market and get in the habit of going.

You might also try to find a local farmer selling farm eggs. The nutrition of an egg depends on the diet of the chicken. Factory-farmed chickens are fed the cheapest crap they can get in order to maximize profits. Farm chickens that roam have a diverse diet. They get to eat grass and plants, which contain omega-3, and that makes the eggs have it. Omega 3 has a ton of health benefits, one of which is improved metabolism. Farm eggs from a farmer are about half the price as they are in a store. I pay $2.50/doz. The cheap grocery store eggs are disgusting to me now; I can't eat them.

Eating the brown rice made a huge difference in my satiety and energy levels. I no longer feel hungry anymore. I couldn't even finish one cup of brown rice. I still have like half a cup left.

 

[thunder_god]

I made my family New Year's Meal today, three of us. Bought a nine pound pork tenderloin for 1.99 a pound a month ago and froze it. Our meat was $4 worth of this in a crockpot overnight, veg was $.50 worth of dried blackeye peas and $.50 worth of turnip greens, $.50 worth of corn muffins from a mix adding two eggs, milk and some oil. We were stuffed due to the fiber without actually eating much, it was delicious. Total cost for three people New Years feast? $6.00 including butter, tea, condiments. OK, enough bragging.

OP, here are some things that help me. 1. Learn to wok. Woks are cheap, easy and fast. 1-2 tbsp. of peanut-olive oil, onion first, then meat, then other veg. On high the whole time. Onions keep very well in the fridge when you only use part of one, same for celery. Canned tomatoes diced are a way to turn anything "Italian." Microwave dense veg like carrots and potatoes for 3-4 minutes before putting in the mix. Stirfry enough for 3 meals at once and it gets BETTER in the fridge. Add a tbsp. of peanut butter and some curry powder to stirfry for no hassle thai taste. Along those lines, there are usually many ways to cut corners and achieve the same results as opposed to the complicated recipes that women follow like they are the ten commandments. 2. Listen to others on beans, yes they have carbs, but the fiber and protein make them well worth it. If you can switch most of your daily carbs to beans and a couple of fruits for breakfast, the battle is half won right there. You will almost certainly not have cravings if you are eating a serving of beans two meals a day. 3. Learn spices. Ginger, cinnamon, cumin, curry, soy sauce, mustard, chili powder, hot sauce, Adobo, etc. Once you know spices, you can make your food delicious with next to no added fat and no sugar. Avoid salad dressing, ketchup, barbecue sauce entirely, you don't need them to make the food good. Light Soy sauce makes good salad dressing and yields a bit of protein. 4. Get offending food OUT of your environment. If you buy junk in the grocery, throw it out as punishment. 5. Nuts, Walmart brand great value in large pouches are cheap, even cheaper are planters peanuts in the large plastic carton. 6. If you have to get fast food, get one or two things off the $1 menu, skip fries and soda, eat a couple of bites then throw it out the window. taco bell bean burritos aren't half bad nutritionally if you like those. IIRC, 15g of protein, 8g fiber, 11g fat, 55g carb and about 350 calories. There is no good fast food, but that ain't bad. Eat two of those when cheating, you will get that fast food taste, and you will not be hungry for some time. Good luck.

I'm thinking maybe start making chili? Buy a can of kidney beans and some other beans, mix it with canned tomatoes, lean ground beef and a packet of chili seasoning.

 

[thunder_god]

12/31 eating is off a bit in my opinion. Consume a protein in every meal; carbs in the first 4-5 meals; fats in the first 3.

The almonds are expensive. Good fats usually are. Eat them sparingly. A SMALL handful is good. Or just stick to avacadoes.

Your 1st meal for today is missing a protein and a fat. I count eggs as both a protein and a fat. I would add 2 organic or cage-free eggs to that meal.

Can I use egg whites plus eggs or is it better to just go with eggs? I never found egg whites filling.

 

[dasein]

I'm thinking maybe start making chili? Buy a can of kidney beans and some other beans, mix it with canned tomatoes, lean ground beef and a packet of chili seasoning.

Sure, chilis and soups are great, make big batches, double recipes and freeze 3-4 meal portions. Try to avoid any processed ground meat, lean or otherwise generally, but to get started and learn it's OK. Pork tenderloin or chicken are better. Canned beans are good, but dry are much cheaper and easy to make. There are instructions for cooking beans all over the net, if you can't find any, will post them here.

My favorite recipe for all purpose meat is crockpot barbecue pork tenderloin, it's a starting base for tons of other stuff, or good by itself. Take a thawed out 2 lb hunk of pork tenderloin, trim any big fat, but leave some sheath on it. Cut into 1.5" slices or chops, you should get 4-5 chops from one hunk and this should fully cover the bottom of the crockpot. Mix one medium can of crushed tomatoes, 1/3 cup vinegar any type, 1/4 cup soy sauce any type, 1 cup water or chicken broth or beer or red wine, 1 tbsp. olive or other veg oil, 1tbsp mustard any type I use yellow, 1tbsp medium hot sauce (Sri Racha is great and cheap), 1 tbsp. brown sugar or white, 1 tsp celery seed, 1 tsp ginger fresh or powder, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/8 tsp cinnamon in the crockpot, stir and heat til well mixed, Submerge pork chops into sauce, add more liquid if needed until chops are just covered (or almost covered, they will shrink down while cooking so you shouldn't have to add too much liquid). Turn crockpot on high for 1-2 hours, flip chops, then down to medium for another couple of hours, flip chops, then down to the setting above low. You can cook this overnight or less. If cook overnight, turn it down to just above low heat. You want the meat to be just about to fall apart. Keep the sauce in the fridge for part of a soup or stew base later OR you can cook another batch of meat with it later in the week.

You can eat a chop whole, you can pull the meat apart and it's excellent barbecue, you can pull it into chunks and add cooked veg/beans to the crockpot to make chili, soups or stews. It's very versatile, cheap, tastes incredible, and easier to do than it looks typed out.

 

[thunder_god]

Sure, chilis and soups are great, make big batches, double recipes and freeze 3-4 meal portions. Try to avoid any processed ground meat, lean or otherwise generally, but to get started and learn it's OK. Pork tenderloin or chicken are better. Canned beans are good, but dry are much cheaper and easy to make. There are instructions for cooking beans all over the net, if you can't find any, will post them here.

My favorite recipe for all purpose meat is crockpot barbecue pork tenderloin. Take a thawed out 2 lb hunk of pork tenderloin, trim any big fat, but leave some sheath on it. Cut into 1.5" slices or chops, you should get 4-5 chops from one hunk and this should fully cover the bottom of the crockpot. Mix one medium can of crushed tomatoes, 1/3 cup vinegar any type, 1/4 cup soy sauce any type, 1 cup water or chicken broth or beer or red wine, 1 tbsp. olive or other veg oil, 1tbsp medium hot sauce (Sri Racha is great and cheap), 1 tbsp. brown sugar or white, 1 tsp celery seed, 1 tsp ginger fresh or powder, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/8 tsp cinnamon in the crockpot, stir and heat til well mixed, Submerge pork chops into sauce, add more liquid if needed until chops are just covered (or almost covered, they will shrink down while cooking so you shouldn't have to add too much liquid). Turn crockpot on high for 1-2 hours, flip chops, then down to medium for another couple of hours, flip chops, then down to the setting above low. You can cook this overnight or less. You want the meat to be just about to fall apart. Keep the sauce in the fridge for part of a soup or stew base later OR you can cook another batch of meat with it later in the week.

You can eat a chop whole, you can pull the meat apart and it's excellent barbecue, you can pull it into chunks and add cooked veg/beans to the crockpot to make chili, soups or stews. It's very versatile, cheap, tastes incredible, and easier to do than it looks typed out.

Sounds delicious. I will have to try this recipe out when I get a crockpot.