I've recently had an Epic Fail on the trying to lose weight front, after weeks of feeling demotivated whilst on summer break from my degree course. Have been exercising only irregularly and not enough - and have had several relapses of eating too much sweet stuff.
However, I know how to exercise properly, and the solution to the sweet stuff thing is to simply go back to not buying the things that tend to make me go off the rails, so that policy restarts today! (I need to go shopping for a few basics today). And I'm working on slowly ramping up my exercise to a sensible level again. Sigh.. it's gotta be done though!
As regular readers here will know, I tend to keep up with science news across a range of sciences, and I've spotted the following that may be of interest.
First up - why having "cheat days" off a keto diet may be a very bad idea:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0327112657.htm
Secondly, plant-based diets and choline levels:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0829184143.htm
There was a fairly recent article I read which unfortunately I can't seem to find again, but Firesignfemme's post above brought to mind, regarding the foods we eat and what makes us feel full. It isn't just about bulk. From my admittedly not great memory, the article I can't find at the moment was saying that a lot of the high-calorie naughties that we like to consume actually affect our feeling of fullness chemically so that we don't feel as full as quickly as we would eating a similar volume of other stuff.
One thing I noted with myself over the years as food became cheaper and more easily available is that I seemed to develop a tendency to eat larger portions of favoured foodstuffs more rapidly - and yet enjoy the experience less than when whatever it was was less readily available and in smaller portions. Recently, I've taken to eating strawberry mousse (I buy packs of six most weeks to eat as dessert) with a chopstick rather than with a spoon. By spoon, it's all gone in seconds in about 3-4 spoonfuls. Via chopstick, well, I
can still get through it fairly quickly, though not as quickly as with a spoon, but tend to instead find myself savouring the taste of each little blob I eat off the chopstick and enjoying each pot of mousse far more than if I just spoon it down quickly.
Hmm.. that's just given me an idea about next time I fancy some savoury nibbles - I'm thinking small cheese squares I can spear with a chopstick, and pickle-coated crackers cut up so I can pick them up with chopsticks! :-)
For those of you
not so familiar with the sciences, please note that articles like the ones I've linked to above should be regarded as signposts to things worth looking into further, NOT as infallible guides to what to do improve your personal situation. Because humans are extremely complex biochemically and vary biochemically way more than most people realise (both between individuals and over time), what works fine for one person might be downright dangerous for another. So, for instance, the article on choline doesn't mean that vegetarian or vegan diets are inherently unhealthy - just that they can't so easily provide a healthy level of choline, so folk shifting toward such a diet (like me) need to be aware of that, particularly if they are picky eaters who will only eat a small range of veggies (again, like me!).
As ever, please check with your own doctor or bariatrician before doing anything too drastic with your diet or exercise regimen, and checking the website of your national health service for advice is seldom a bad idea, as is the adage of changing your diet and exercise regimen bit by bit over a reasonable period rather than drastic sudden change. And never forget that authors of weight-loss books are in it for the money and what they say may not be founded on good science and may be dangerous!
The relevant bit of the National Health Service website (UK national healthcare provider) website can be found here:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/ and the US equivalent can be found here:
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/index.html