Battle of the Bulge

[Cracker]

If you are naturally skinny and don't have to watch what you eat or exercise, leave now.

The big 4 Oh ran away with my metabolism. I can no longer eat everything I see without suffering the effects.

How do the rest of you stay slim? Do you stay away from carbs and white foods? Are you vegetarian? Do you starve yourself or eat five small meals a day? Do you binge one day a week and eat rabbit food and chicken the rest of the week? Do you spend hours at the gym?

I was just wondering.

[Lady Cop]

my job kept me in fighting trim. sometimes i became too thin.
i've eaten whatever i like my whole life. i just don't like junk crap.

after retirement i just said fuck it, i'll still eat whatever i want. and i do. i'm not fat, or skinny. luck of the genes in many respects.
the formula is really easy, burn more calories than you take in. but of course there are other factors. overall health and ability to be active matter. i do agree that after age 40 your metabolism does change. and perhaps some become more sedentary.

[Cracker]

I used to go out almost every Friday night. Now you have to drag me out kicking and screaming. I am definitely more tired than I used to be and am less active as a result. I make myself exercise now. I want to be healthy when I retire. Plus, like most women, there is no fucking way I'm going into a store to buy a bigger size.

[Fibonacci Prima]

Cracker, I will respond to this in great detail tomorrow when I have far more time. I have a great deal of very practical info you need, spoken from one 29 yr old to another..

[sally]

When I'm not pregnant I can normally maintain a fit 125 lbs by eating 5 clean meals a day and working out for about an hour 3-4 days a week and still drink beer or wine every night and junk food in moderation. I found that I can eat quite a bit and not gain weight as long as it's the right types of food.

I still eat pretty clean minus the 6 crab rangoons I ate last night on the way home from picking up Chinese takeout .

[Duchess]

Food is the devil & if I didn't need it to live I wouldn't even have it in my home.

[Cracker]

When I'm not pregnant I can normally maintain a fit 125 lbs by eating 5 clean meals a day

Have you ever put on weight when you weren't knocked up? Because I'm thinking Big Sal is a naturally thin person. Like dick. He's just skinny. Most of his body weight is body hair.

What do you mean by "clean" food? Do you mean fresh food? Free range/organic food? Unprocessed food?

[Cracker]

Food is the devil & if I didn't need it to live I wouldn't even have it in my home.

Really? Eating a nice meal is one of life's great joys.

[Duchess]

I have issues with food, I give it power.

[Cracker]

I wish I were a therapist at this point. But only for a minute, because listening to people bitch all day would make me want to stab myself in the eye.

[thekid65]

Really? Eating a nice meal is one of life's great joys.

Fuckina...to me, there's very few things more enjoyable than a kickass meal. It irritates the living shit out of my wife, as I have no qualms about dropping $150 or so on a quality meal for two. Albeit, I do wonder about it the next day when I take a dump.

Anyhoo, I'm naturally somewhat thin..mostly due to an active job..so I'll be leaving now, as requested in the OP.

[Cracker]

Fuckina...to me, there's very few things more enjoyable than a kickass meal. It irritates the living shit out of my wife, as I have no qualms about dropping $150 or so on a quality meal for two. Albeit, I do wonder about it the next day when I take a dump.

Anyhoo, I'm naturally somewhat thin..mostly due to an active job..so I'll be leaving now, as requested in the OP.

You can stay. Your work counts as exercise. When I worked a physical job, I was a lot less tired. Working a mental job sucks at times. It makes you a different kind of tired. Both are better than an office/kill time until I get lunch, kill time until break time, kill time until I go home kind of job.

Do you prepare the meals yourself or dine out? Dining out is hit or miss. I hate paying a ton of money for shitty food. I can't make good Thai at home like they have in ATL, so I will spend money for that. Steaks seem to taste better out of the house, too. Fancy burgers have to be at home, same with chicken dishes, so I can inspect the meat. I go both ways for pork, the KING of meats!

[username]

I eat pretty well and I do at least 30-50 minutes of cardio almost every day. I add weights around 3 days a week.

I tend to eat very lightly in the a.m. and at lunch and then gorge at dinner. Probably not the healthiest approach but I find big meals early on make me feel sluggish for the rest of the day.

I once had an argument with someone on here who said that eating more later in the day would cause you to gain weight. No, it's like LC said, if you burn more calories in the day than you take in, you'll lose weight--it doesn't matter when during the day you do either. I'm glad that asshole's gone--don't fuck with my big dinners!

[Cracker]

I eat pretty well and I do at least 30-50 minutes of cardio almost every day. I add weights around 3 days a week.

I tend to eat very lightly in the a.m. and at lunch and then gorge at dinner. Probably not the healthiest approach but I find big meals early on make me feel sluggish for the rest of the day.

I once had an argument with someone on here who said that eating more later in the day would cause you to gain weight. No, it's like LC said, if you burn more calories in the day than you take in, you'll lose weight--it doesn't matter when during the day you do either. I'm glad that asshole's gone--don't fuck with my big dinners!

You have a small bone structure. I doubt you would ever be hefty, even if you tried.

I agree with the calorie thing, BUT you burn more food during the day. If you eat a ton late at night, your metabolism won't burn off as much of the food and you have a greater chance of storing some of it. I try to eat dinner before 6 PM if I can.

How long does it take to make fat? Can you make fat cells instantly if you don't burn off your food? My ass wants to know...

[thekid65]

You can stay. Your work counts as exercise. When I worked a physical job, I was a lot less tired. Working a mental job sucks at times. It makes you a different kind of tired. Both are better than an office/kill time until I get lunch, kill time until break time, kill time until I go home kind of job.

Do you prepare the meals yourself or dine out? Dining out is hit or miss. I hate paying a ton of money for shitty food. I can't make good Thai at home like they have in ATL, so I will spend money for that. Steaks seem to taste better out of the house, too. Fancy burgers have to be at home, same with chicken dishes, so I can inspect the meat. I go both ways for pork, the KING of meats!

Yeah, I'm on my feet all day at work...I like that aspect of it. I could never enjoy sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day.

I don't mind cooking at all (albeit the clean-up afterward sucks) of course, if I'm cooking were not talking about a $150 meal. I love to BBQ...and I love to cook breakfast. One of my recent favorites in dining out has been fondue..we have a couple joints here in town that do a great job. I was amazed at how things that at first dont sound good together, actually turn out to be fantastic. Melted cheese and fruits, for example. You ever tried that? MMMM-MMMM-GOOD. And yeah, at the end of the night, it's around $150 w/tip. I can't recall ever paying a lot (over $100) for a meal, and having a shitty one. The ones where I've been disappointed tend to run in the $80 range or so...ya know..a meal that you expect to be very good, but not top notch...

[Cracker]

I have a fondue pot and an electric wok. The electric wok works for heating oil for meat, I put cheese in the fondue pot. We have Melting Pot restaurants here, but I will only pay $40 once for that. Cracker is too cheap to pay a 300% markup often. Unless it is a Japanese steak house. I'm a sucker for funny Asian guys and the secret white sauce. (The Benihana downtown had a fake Asian last time, he was Mexican, they think white people can't tell the difference.)

[thekid65]

We've got Melting Pot's here too...they're OK..but the better one we have is called Mona Lisa. Of course it's always cheaper to do it yourself..but damnit..I like being served. I don't mind the mark-up..and besides, it's not like it's a once-a-week meal.

[IMaDick]

your biggest enemy contrary to popular belief is high fructose corn sugar, it's in every fucking thing now days.

soft drinks are the biggest culprit, but even the beef you buy in a store has it in it as a preservative.

It's not so much what you eat as it is where you buy it, farmers markets, and butcher shops.

if you can afford it have your beef slaughtered and cut yourself, county fairs are the best place to buy, same with the pork and poultry.

4H and FFA are cool stuff, I support my local chapters by buying their animals.

[sally]

When I'm not pregnant I can normally maintain a fit 125 lbs by eating 5 clean meals a day

Have you ever put on weight when you weren't knocked up? Because I'm thinking Big Sal is a naturally thin person. Like dick. He's just skinny. Most of his body weight is body hair.

What do you mean by "clean" food? Do you mean fresh food? Free range/organic food? Unprocessed food?

Eating clean means that foods are selected from those in their natural state, unprocessed and whole like nature intended. No processed foods, refined grains, artificial sweetners, and foods containing saturated and trans fats. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates such as legumes, brown rice and oats, lean protein, and sources of healthy fats like olive oil, avocado and raw nuts.

Basically just eating healthy, but not everyones idea of eating healthy is the same. I know people that think a lean cuisine meal and crystal light are healthy.

[IMaDick]

Eating clean means that foods are selected from those in their natural state, unprocessed and whole like nature intended. No processed foods, refined grains, artificial sweetners, and foods containing saturated and trans fats. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates such as legumes, brown rice and oats, lean protein, and sources of healthy fats like olive oil, avocado and raw nuts.

Basically just eating healthy, but not everyones idea of eating healthy is the same. I know people that think a lean cuisine meal and crystal light are healthy.

^^^^^^^^
This is great. It's the way I eat. and it really is the right answer.