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Letter From a Friend

July 4th, 2008 · 15 Comments

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Everyone who reads this blog knows that the majority of the struggles I face when trying to lose weight stem from my internal (and now external I guess) battles with food. I have a tendency to eat when I’m not hungry and to eat foods that aren’t good for me when I’m stressed out. I’ve been offered a lot of advice from you guys and I wanted to share one such piece of advice.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a friend that told me he has gained a bit of weight due to a hard work schedule and lack of activity over the last 6 months and it’s time for him to shed those extra pounds. This system utilizes a 500 calorie per day deficit for a total of 3500 calories, or 1 pound per week weight loss. There’s a few key points in it that he wanted to emphasize:

  • The plan assumes no exercise! If exercise happens, he replaces any calories burned with a high protein shake or a yogurt.
  • There is a marked lack of processed foods in the diet. High fiber cereal and a white baguette from a local bakery are the only processed foods.

Here’s the plan. All lunches and dinners for the entire week are cooked and portioned on 1 day. They tend to be repetitive. Breakfasts vary and are cooked at the time of eating. There are 3 meals and 3 snacks each day–and one latte! Shopping, and cooking, for the entire week takes place on Sunday morning. It takes him approximately 2 hours to cook and portion into plastic containers his lunches and dinners for the week.

In general, I like this idea. Go to the fridge, pull out your meal, heat it up and eat it. Stop thinking about food. Realistically, I know that in order for it to work for me, I would have to add a whole other level of discipline to my life. After reading the email several times, I’ve come up with a list of advantages and disadvantages to this system.

ADVANTAGES

  1. I don’t have to think about what I’m making for dinner any more.
  2. I don’t have to cook during the week.
  3. I don’t have to count calories.
  4. I lose 1 pound per week instead of 2-3 pounds one week and then nothing for the next 3 weeks.
  5. There is no hunger.
  6. It’s a maintainable weight loss figure.

DISADVANTAGES

  1. It takes a level of organization that I generally don’t possess.
  2. I, and my family, eat the same meals for dinner each night.
  3. I would have to buy a lot of plastic containers.

I really appreciate this kind of advice. There’s some great information in there that I can use as is or modify to fit my own habits and schedule. The main point of this plan I think, is that by preparing your food ahead of time, you start thinking about food as fuel for your body instead of the many unproductive ways that I tend to look at it. While I don’t think that my family would appreciate this type of diet, I might be able to modify it in such a way that it’s enjoyable for my family and healthy for me.

Tags: Eating · Nutrition




15 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Sheamus // Jul 4, 2008 at 9:55 am

    While dropping 500 calories a day will have some success in the near term, you won’t indefinitely (or probably much longer than 4-6 weeks) lose a pound a week for two reasons:

    1. Eventually you’ll lose X pounds, and your calorie intake (whatever it is now, less 500 kcal/day) will then be right for your body

    2. Your metabolism will quickly become used to the daily routine

    Here’s the secret – the body needs to be kept on its toes to lose weight consistently. That’s why diet alone doesn’t work - you need diet and exercise. You also need to have one day per week of very low calorie intake, and one day per week of relatively high. It keeps the metabolism guessing! It doesn’t get used to the same foods and totals each and every day and just switch off or, worse, go into ’survival mode’ and start storing more fat. The other five days you just eat clean – lean meats, no starches, no white foods (bread, pasta, rice etc), and lots of vegetables and water.

    Everything in moderation - I have great success with six days a week of fairly strict, low-GI eating, and one day a week of ‘whatever’. Literally anything goes on my day off - cookies, ice cream, beer, burgers, donuts… anything! This solitary calorie spike - coupled with one other day each week where I make an extra effort to eat lean - works well for me, and I think would work for everybody else, too. Better, you know it’s only six days until treat-time. :)

  • 2 Kaila // Jul 4, 2008 at 10:25 am

    This is pretty much what I do with my meals, except I’ve never thought about it in terms of a diet. And my body requires much fewer than 3500 calories a day to maintain itself.

    Basically, at the beginning of every week, I plan out all my meals for the week, then go grocery shopping, then cook anything that requires a lot of preparation. It used to be that I varied my meals, but I found that I would have tons of leftover food that would go bad (I’m single with no family).

    This is useful for me because I don’t typically stock anything that isn’t on my meal plan for the week. So if I’m feeling like snacking, my options are pretty much limited to my planned snack foods (fruit, nuts, whole grain crackers, etc). And if I plan healthy foods, I’m forced to eat healthy foods.

  • 3 Andrew is getting fit // Jul 4, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    I tend to do something similar to your friend but I add in exercise and a bit of variety.

  • 4 Leah // Jul 4, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    Sounds like the perfect system for a single, overweight grad student! Did your friend come up with this plan himself, and/or is it on the web somewhere? Thanks!

  • 5 TwiLightLi // Jul 4, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    I had success with _You on a Diet_ when I used it. That system also relies on repetition. Also, the food is good, so you could serve it to your whoe family, rather than being separate.

  • 6 macdaddy // Jul 4, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    @Leah: He came up with the number of calories he needed each day and then made his meals fit the plan. He says he’s a creature of habit and doesn’t mind eating the same meals for a week. He also said that he has about 40 recipes that he rotates through his plan so that his meals are repetitive throughout the week, but not from week to week. That might help a lot.

  • 7 Toby // Jul 5, 2008 at 8:21 am

    For me that plan would present a problem — it does not take into account the social aspect of eating. I think that aspect is too important to omit other than for limited time periods, or if it is absolutely essential…

  • 8 Pam // Jul 5, 2008 at 9:20 am

    You forgot one other problem this kind of diet would pose for you, Mac: You HATE eating leftovers. We often have things in our fridge that are packaged in a way that you could get them out, microwave them, and not think about your food any longer, but you go out of your way to avoid these things! I don’t think you could stick to a diet that involves eating leftover type food everyday!

  • 9 budding gardener // Jul 5, 2008 at 9:46 am

    Thought I would suggest some modifications that might make something like this easier (i do it myself):
    1. It takes a level of organization that I generally don’t possess.
    — Organization is learned, and once you try it, it doesn’t require that much work. Just imagine you’re cooking for a large family gathering or something like that.
    2. I, and my family, eat the same meals for dinner each night.
    — you could make 2-3 dinner options. And if you take the time to cook something that really tastes good, maybe no one would mind eating it 2-3 or even 7 times.
    3. I would have to buy a lot of plastic containers.
    — because of the problems with some plastic containers and microwaving, I actually use glass containers. You can usually get single serving sized ones for about $2 each. But if you’re cooking for your whole family, you can probably get a set of larger ones for a reasonable price.

  • 10 BK // Jul 5, 2008 at 10:12 am

    I actually already do this for my lunches, but not my dinners. I usually make a large single dish on Sunday and divide it up into 5 portions. I do this so I’ll have a lunch to take with me to work and since I’m too lazy to make something every morning or every night. I have no problem with eating the same thing 5 days in a row as long as it tastes good!

  • 11 greenman2001 // Jul 6, 2008 at 7:01 am

    Pam’s got your number, Mac.

    What is it about the plan that you think your family won’t like?

    Stress eaters have it tough, because the solution to their eating problems doesn’t really involve reducing the amount of food they eat, it involves reducing the amount of stress they experience, which is much harder problem. If you’re ultimately committed to maintaining the level of stress in your life, there isn’t an eating plan in the world that will be sustainable for you. And, believe me, meditating is not the answer for stay-at-home parents. You have to look at the inputs and the structure of your life and make very fundamental changes — like JD quitting the box factory.

    The problem with one-size-fits-all plans is that if they don’t address your specific issues, they won’t work. But the problem with no-plan-at-all (like: eat less/exercise more) is that it’s willpower-based, and willpower is what got you overweight and not exercising in the first place. Add the responsibilities of stay-at-home-parenthood, or any extremely busy or high-stress occupation, and you will get knocked off course a hundred times a day. So a plan — particularly one which takes thinking/planning/doing out of the equation — can make an end run around the obstacles that you place in the way of yourself. There’s something about the statement, “my family won’t like it,” that sounds like an excuse you’re inventing to avoid making a specific plan. If you’re cooking delicious meals for them, what objection do you think they’ll raise?

  • 12 Katy // Jul 6, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    Speaking of delicious meals… I haven’t subscribed to the menus at this site, but I did try out a few of them from the book (which I got from the library). If you want to try pre-planned meals, it’s worth a try. These even have shopping lists for you.

    http://www.savingdinner.com/

  • 13 Susan // Jul 6, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    I’m a firm believe in advanced preparation. For me this means sitting down at my computer on Sunday morning and logging in a weeks worth of meals in to FitDay.com.

    Sunday late afternoon/evening is spent chopping vegetables, pre-cooking chicken breasts and pre-measuring protein powder for my shakes. Everything is pre weighed and measure to ensure I stay on track. I’ll also whip up a turkey meatloaf that I can then cook and portion for multiple meals throughout the week.

    Susan
    http://www.catapultfitnessblog.com

  • 14 Cara // Jul 7, 2008 at 10:40 am

    On June 14th I started the 3-day Perricone diet. I am not overweight, just wanted to stop my cravings for bread and sweets. Main foods on the plan are egg whites, old-fashioned oatmeal, salmon, chicken breast, berries, nonfat yogurt, almonds, and TONS of greens. I’ve continued the plan (modified) since then. I have lost six pounds, but more amazing is how good I feel. No cravings. No stuffiness/allergies. I sleep better and wake up refreshed.

    The meals are easy to prepare — 15 minutes in the morning to make breakfast and my lunch. Dinner is about 15-20 minutes. Per the plan, I stopped all caffeine, alcohol, and soda — I kept that up for two weeks. I no longer drink coffee at all, and I drink alcohol only on weekends. I love to eat out, so I’m not staying on the plan for all my dinners, but I find that I’m ordering “smarter.”

    When I do stray from the plan (when I eat out), I can really feel it the next day. My cravings are back. If I have a piece of bread and butter with dinner, I crave a bagel the next day. If I have dessert, I spend the next day pining for a huge brownie. But if I get back on plan, the cravings fade away. Knowing that the cravings are being caused by a blood sugar spike/drop is helping me ignore them. It’s not about me “needing” something or deserving a reward. It’s just my body reacting to the food I’ve been giving it. When I eat better, I feel better.

    Of course, the mental game is still tough to beat. Knowing that a big ice cream sundae is going to make me feel terrible in an hour, or make the next day a living hell, doesn’t negate the fact that it will taste SO GOOD when I’m eating it. :) But I am going to keep focusing on moderation, and tiny portions of “dangerous” foods. So far, so good!

  • 15 Brian // Jul 8, 2008 at 7:18 am

    For those of you looking to get into calorie counting the site http://caloriecount.about.com has helped me lose 35 pounds so far.

    It’s free too!

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