Danger

[wish959]

I've been made aware today that my body is reaching it's critical mass. I'm in the worst shape i've ever been and it's starting to take effect on my health. Besides having next to no stamina, I'm always hot, i feel muscle pain rather often, and now i've started to feel a pain in my chest. I've had bad digestion recently as well as heartburn. I

Comments

[fizzlee]

Before you go cutting things out of your diet, you need to figure out what it is exactly that's making you gain weight. Different people gain weight from different things. Some people gain weight from sodium, others sugar, others carbs, and in some instances, even dairy. My first suggestion to you is to keep a small notebook handy (pocket sized if you want it to be more portable). I would write down what you eat and what effect it has on you (chest pain, drowsiness, indigestion, making your body feel heavy, feeling bloated, etc) just until you get an idea as to what your body has the worst reactions to. Fast food should definitely be cut out not so much because of what's in it, but because of how it's cooked. If you're going to eat rice, try to eat brown rice. Although too much rice isn't good either. Grill or bake instead of frying. Buy lean meats if you have the means to purchase meat (since you said it's expensive). Seafood is good... some nutritionists recommend 10 servings of seafood per week. By servings, I don't mean plates. The serving size may be one fish fillet or 5 shrimp, not one dinner of 2 fish fillets and 10 shrimp. Make sense? That will require some research because I'm not familiar with the actual portion sizes. Steam your veggies or eat them raw if you'd like. Sesame oil is good for curing constipation, but I find olive oil to be lighter... extra virgin olive oil being the lightest (and best). Soy sauce has a lot of sodium... if you find that sodium is a contributing cause to your weight gain, you may need to lower your soy sauce intake. Eating 3 big meals is only ok if you make breakfast your largest meal, and dinner your smallest. Otherwise, it's best just to have several small snack-sized meals. Stay away from sodas (I lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks when I stopped drinking that shit)... and as difficult as it may be over there, try to drink water with your meals. Food can still be flavorful. I use some spices to make something bland taste better. Garlic and different types of herbs are great ways to add flavor. Grill some chicken with rosemary and thyme or paprika (paprika should usually stand alone... it has such a distinct flavor that adding anything else besides salt and pepper detracts from it). Bake fish in the oven (if you have one) with some lemon juice, sliced onions, and a Tbsp. of butter. I can email you some recipes later. Let me know what appliances you have at your disposal. Hope this helps in the meantime. :-) Oh, and don't expect immediate results. Losting weight the healthy way means only losing 2-3 pounds/week. Anymore than that can be dangerous. It's very hard to change your diet so make sure you stay disciplined about it, and try to overcome and cravings for bad food. Also remember that you're not always hungry when you think you are. Sometimes the feeling of hunger is actually due to dehydration. Try drinking a glass of water first when you feel hungry and see if that surpresses the feeling a bit. But listen to your body... if it's truly hungry, feed it. If it's thirsty, drink water (even juices have a lot of sugar nowadays). If it's tired, SLEEP. Lack of sleep is bad for your health, too (not that I should talk because I sleep on average 6 hours/night). Exercise is key. If you don't want to go outside, try jump roping inside (if your ceilings allow it). Go for a walk on nice days, jog if you want, ride your bike, go swimming if there's a pool anywhere and the weather is good. Anyway, yeah. Good luck and let me know if you need any help!

[wish959]

Great advice, thanks D!! I'll call you tonight to give you some details about my appliance situation and to get some recipies from you :)

Actually i cut out soda a long time ago, and i don't drink juice either anymore -- just water and tea. That change made me feel good for a while, but now something else is messing with my health