Thread: Girlfriend helps with diet..

Not knowing anything about where you are at w/ your stats, it sounds like having a better grasp of food quality and portion control would go a long way for you.

People usually have no sense of how much or what they are really eating. I would suggest you write out a typical day's meal plan (or just pick a day & record what you eat) and then put it into a food counts program like FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal. I like this program - it is free, online and very easy to use. You enter your foods and the portion size and it will calculate your total calories for that day as well as the macronutrient breakdown (% protein / % fat / % carbs).

The next step is to get a sense of how big portions are and the true calories associated with them. General guidance is to stick to simple foods (i.e. minimal processing, keep the sauces, deep fry, etc. to a minimum) to avoid the excess fats / carbs. And also get a sense of portions - e.g. a good serving size for protein is a portion the size of your fist. For ex, I'm female - my typical protein serving size is about 35 grams = 4-5 oz chicken = 4 oz steak = 6 oz fish - these portion sizes I can eyeball as being about the size of my fist. If you're a guy, I assume you're going to have bigger fists so your portions are going to be more like 6-8 oz where mine are more like 4-6 oz, which would equal around 40- 50 g protein.

Hope this helps. If you have some basic guidance on quantifying what you're eating, it helps to keep your overall consumption undre control.

I would also then recommend you check out Built's "Homework 1" (I'm sure she'll chime in soon enough on this thread - check her signature for the link). This will also help you to determine how much you should be eating for your size, which, in turn will give you an idea of how much more or less you are actually eating typically.

It is annoying as hell if you've got someone nagging you about what you eat. I grew up w/ that and have spent a large part of my life developing a better relationship w/ food. My response to my mom getting on about what I ate growing up, was to wait until everyone went to bed. I became master of sneaking food out of the kitchen. I still have hangups up about it, but at least now I have something logical to help track what Im' eating instead of just being driven by whatever sounds good at the time. I'm sure your gf is concerned about your health and wants to help - but its really something YOU need to take responsibility for if you both acknowledge that it is an issue.

stick to the pact. If she's being disrespectful about it, tell her to remind you in a nice way, but when she reminds you, remember you asked for it and that's it's good for you hehe

Originally Posted by sassy69

Not knowing anything about where you are at w/ your stats, it sounds like having a better grasp of food quality and portion control would go a long way for you.

People usually have no sense of how much or what they are really eating. I would suggest you write out a typical day's meal plan (or just pick a day & record what you eat) and then put it into a food counts program like FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal. I like this program - it is free, online and very easy to use. You enter your foods and the portion size and it will calculate your total calories for that day as well as the macronutrient breakdown (% protein / % fat / % carbs).

The next step is to get a sense of how big portions are and the true calories associated with them. General guidance is to stick to simple foods (i.e. minimal processing, keep the sauces, deep fry, etc. to a minimum) to avoid the excess fats / carbs. And also get a sense of portions - e.g. a good serving size for protein is a portion the size of your fist. For ex, I'm female - my typical protein serving size is about 35 grams = 4-5 oz chicken = 4 oz steak = 6 oz fish - these portion sizes I can eyeball as being about the size of my fist. If you're a guy, I assume you're going to have bigger fists so your portions are going to be more like 6-8 oz where mine are more like 4-6 oz, which would equal around 40- 50 g protein.

Hope this helps. If you have some basic guidance on quantifying what you're eating, it helps to keep your overall consumption undre control.

I would also then recommend you check out Built's "Homework 1" (I'm sure she'll chime in soon enough on this thread - check her signature for the link). This will also help you to determine how much you should be eating for your size, which, in turn will give you an idea of how much more or less you are actually eating typically.

It is annoying as hell if you've got someone nagging you about what you eat. I grew up w/ that and have spent a large part of my life developing a better relationship w/ food. My response to my mom getting on about what I ate growing up, was to wait until everyone went to bed. I became master of sneaking food out of the kitchen. I still have hangups up about it, but at least now I have something logical to help track what Im' eating instead of just being driven by whatever sounds good at the time. I'm sure your gf is concerned about your health and wants to help - but its really something YOU need to take responsibility for if you both acknowledge that it is an issue.

Yeah its rough, I have a huge attachment to food, my mom used to make me feel good for joining the "Clean Plate Club" and I tend to eat as fast as I can to get more food, especially in grouped portions like pizza, pie, ect. ect.. I am almost afraid the food will run out. Also being from the south and having every friend's mom say "Eat up your a growing boy" didn't help either... How should I break the emotional tie-in? The Girl friend wants to go on the "Eat this now! Diet" by Rocco Dispirito and we've started watching the shows to learn about portion control and different foods I can get, but being fairly young its hard to buy fresh ingredients, find the time to do it, and time to cook it. Its a total life transformation I need, and all of my friends still like going out to eat too... Could you check into the Rocco book or watch the show tonight at 10? To see if this is going to work?

Thanks!

Man I feel you. I was in the same boat. I'm from the south and it's hard to get away from the fried comfort food. I'll be honest. I indulge every now and then. The key is to find foods and veggies you like. You are going to have to change your life. It's really hard at first but once you see the results from the hard work you've put in, it gets much easier. I enjoy grilled chicken and steak. So if I get off work and don't know what I want, I go wander around the grocery store. The worst thing for me is being in a time crunch and having to eat out. You can still do it, but it's really hard.

Good luck bro.

Originally Posted by sportsgalore

Yeah its rough, I have a huge attachment to food, my mom used to make me feel good for joining the "Clean Plate Club" and I tend to eat as fast as I can to get more food, especially in grouped portions like pizza, pie, ect. ect.. I am almost afraid the food will run out. Also being from the south and having every friend's mom say "Eat up your a growing boy" didn't help either... How should I break the emotional tie-in? The Girl friend wants to go on the "Eat this now! Diet" by Rocco Dispirito and we've started watching the shows to learn about portion control and different foods I can get, but being fairly young its hard to buy fresh ingredients, find the time to do it, and time to cook it. Its a total life transformation I need, and all of my friends still like going out to eat too... Could you check into the Rocco book or watch the show tonight at 10? To see if this is going to work?

Thanks!

I don't know what this show is - you'll have to watch it and see if it "speaks' to you.

I would still suggest doing the exercise w/ the food counts program because these are tools that YOU can use instead of waitng for this show to sell you on some particular "program". The number of calories you are eating and quantifying that is a hard fact that has no dependence on whatever program this guy is selling.

Sassy, thanks for that. Homework 1 is in my sig.

Also, in the meantime while you work through the exercise, I am going to suggest a trick I use to help me put the brakes on my own appetite: have a large (50g protein) sugar-free whey shake before each meal, only eat three or at most four times a day, and don't snack, ever. You'll feel fuller longer with the shake and the large meals, and it's not so hard to avoid snacking when you know you get to feel full every time you eat.

Don't be a quitter!

Quitters never win!

If you have some basic guidance on quantifying what you're eating, it helps to keep your overall consumption undre control.

Man up! Seriously. If you know what you're supposed to eat then eat it. If it's an issue then don't go out to eat unless it's your cheat day. No need to break up with your girl if you wanted her to help. I say screw most diets that have a name. As suggested, go to FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal All you need to do is learn what an average portion looks like. Or estimate. Otherwise forget long term change. learn how to eat so you don't need anyone to tell you or help you and you won't have the issue. No need to have any more stress when it comes to eating. Running a decent deficit is enough stress on the body if you ask me. I'm from South Carolina, it's doesn't get much worse.