I cannot eat junk food or dessert.

[ayin jade]

1 hour ago, Marathoner said:

Some things are a mystery, @Wayne222. For a long time, I ate one large meal a day --- after work --- and my weight remained steady at 220 pounds. When the muscles in my upper legs were affected by muscular dystrophy four years ago, I dropped to 200 pounds. I have a type of muscular dystrophy that doesn't emerge until you pass the age of 50. 

Since the Lord reversed the atrophy in my upper legs, I'm back up on the scale. You'll laugh at this: 15 years ago, when I worked for the San Diego Zoo, I weighed 230 pounds. I walked over 13 miles a day on the job and there was plenty of heavy labor to throw myself at, which is the kind of work I love. According to my doctor, I was obese. 

I had a 34 inch waist but according to the doc, I was overweight. The doctor judged me according to a height and weight chart. She then proceeded to tell me that I needed more exercise... brother, I laughed so hard that I cried. More exercise? LOL! 
 

I detest those charts. I have a large heavy skeleton and the muscle mass to go with it. Now yes i have fat but back in the day very fit i was 25 pounds over the charts but only 2 pounds over what my 'measured by calipers' said i should weigh for my bone and muscle mass.

[JohnR7]

6 hours ago, ayin jade said:

Love them raw. Love them cooked.

There is a reason why people steam them. To much heat will break them down and you lose nutritional value. But cooking food in general is good because cooked food is easier to eat and gives you more neutritian.  This like everything in life requires a balance, not to much and not to little. 

[Starise]

I know of very thin men who are diabetic to the point of needing insulin, so weight and body fat are not always factors in a diabetic prone person.

[Marathoner]

4 hours ago, ayin jade said:

I detest those charts. I have a large heavy skeleton and the muscle mass to go with it. Now yes i have fat but back in the day very fit i was 25 pounds over the charts but only 2 pounds over what my 'measured by calipers' said i should weigh for my bone and muscle mass.

The U.S. armed forces used to refer to that same chart to determine if a servicemember is overweight. In the case of bodybuilders, they would be issued a waiver because they were classified as overweight according to the standard. The DoD eventually saw the error of their ways some time ago and so they adopted a new standard with much more realistic ranges for height, weight, and age.

It used to be that a male my height had to weigh 190 pounds or less, but now those weights are expressed in a range: 170 - 210 pounds. However, that's for a male of my height who is 40 years old. According to this new standard used by the DoD, I'm 10 pounds overweight (I'm over 50) but that's within the standard for an automatic waiver. At least they've improved the standard since I was in during the Gulf War. 

My doctor at the VA hasn't said a word about my weight. She knows that I'm not obese. 

[Bluedragon]

I'm an oddball ...

I crave a cookie, buy a box, eat one. The family gets the rest. Crave a cake, make or buy one eat one slice. Family gets the rest. Pie the same, doughnuts same thing ...only one and the craving is gone. I don't drink if any at all, but occasionally I'll get a craving for beer. I resit for weeks, stop and buy one at the convenience store. Nurse it along on the back porch and there is no need for a another beer for at least a year sometimes more. 

I've always been that way.

[Starise]

3 minutes ago, Bluedragon said:

I'm an oddball ...

I crave a cookie, buy a box, eat one. The family gets the rest. Crave a cake, make or buy one eat one slice. Family gets the rest. Pie the same, doughnuts same thing ...only one and the craving is gone. I don't drink if any at all, but occasionally I'll get a craving for beer. I resit for weeks, stop and buy one at the convenience store. Nurse it along on the back porch and there is no need for a another beer for at least a year sometimes more. 

I've always been that way.

You are fortunate to have a family living at home who can help you eat it. When we have a birthday party there is often a half cake left. We try to give most of it away.Often we aren't successful at it. Still wasn't much of a problem for me because I didn't like the kind of cake the birthday person liked, but I will eat almost anything with chocolate frosting on it, even though white cake isn't my favorite. Real cakes are either chocolate, carrot cake or red velvet. 

From now we will probably have a smaller cake. If invited to a birthday party it's going to be a temptation. If they have strawberry shortcake I can at least eat the strawberries. My favorite was a cake you could get at Costco called death by chocolate. It's a huge cake and it boasts about the most delicious dark rich  chocolate you could ever imagine. One good piece of it is probably 2500 calories. You could get fat just looking at it.

Beer really doesn't do anything for me any more. The last one I opened, I decided to dump out, which would have probably made a beer lover cry. 

Thankfully I can still make keto brownies and have cake with sugar free sweetener in it if I ever get the urge. There are plenty of alternatives to unhealthy sweets for those who can't seem to give it up. 

Here is a dark chocolate healthy snack.

 

 

[ayin jade]

Be careful with keto diet. It was developed for intractable epilepsy but it has a nutrient deficiency problem when used long term

[JohnR7]

12 hours ago, Marathoner said:

The U.S. armed forces used to refer to that same chart to determine if a servicemember is overweight.

I remember a small group of people in basic that were considered over weight. They use to have to do extra running and exercises in the hope of getting their weight down. They would not be able to graduate basic training if they did not get their weight down to what the chart said they should be. It seemed funny that most everyone wanted to finish their training, even though it meant going to VietNam. 

[JohnR7]

1 hour ago, Starise said:

Beer really doesn't do anything for me any more. The last one I opened, I decided to dump out, which would have probably made a beer lover cry. 

Alcohol is like a poison to me. I do not understand why people drink or do drugs when they are just making themselves sick. There maybe some benifit to fermented foods but not if people are going to over indulge the way they do so often. 

[Starise]

36 minutes ago, ayin jade said:

Be careful with keto diet. It was developed for intractable epilepsy but it has a nutrient deficiency problem when used long term

Thanks. I remember reading this. My intention is to stay on it for awhile and then switch over to a low carb diet. FWIW I'm probably not on a strict keto diet now because I allow for some carb intake.

It is almost impossible to eliminate all carbs period. Having said that it isn't hard to eliminate pizza, potatoes and spaghetti or similar. Maybe allow oneself some very small amounts every now and then. The problem I think is, many people don't know where to draw that line. I try yo err on the side of too little instead of going the other way. Most people could probably accidentally get enough carbs even when avoiding them.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Starise