Diet makes me sad.

[Kittish]

Yea, BMI is something that I pretty much discount entirely, even as a general guideline. Even way back when I was younger, unless I was downright skeletally skinny my BMI was in the obese range. I have very dense, heavy bones and the build of a linebacker.

One way to help with moderation is to learn to cook in proper portion sizes and only cook that much in one go. I package meats in two portion packets (since there are two of us) to freeze, and pull out one package at a time. Get a digital scale and actually weigh your portions.

Stir fry is easy, fairly quick, and if you load up on the fresh veggies, really healthy. I usually add some extra veggies and skip the rice entirely. It doesn't take much sauce at all to add a wonderful burst of flavor, and you can combine different sauces to make spicy sweet, savory, sweet-sour, salty, and spicy to just about any level.

[EricKei]

My brother's kinda on the opposite diet -- Heavy on the carbs, "any meat and butter/oils at all = bad for you," lots of potatoes, beans, and rice kinda thing. He's encouraging me to try it, as it seems to be working for him. Thing is, I'm diabetic and he knows this, so I need to reign in the carbs. He, however, is taking the diet at face value and telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about He *is* (perhaps wisely* doing the "allow himself one cheat day per week" thing, tho. Then he cooks a ham or goes to chickfila or something

To quote my ex-girlfriend,

"You know what 'diet' is? It's die with a t!"

Is she a Garfield fan, perchance? ^_^ they did that one way back in their first month or so of existence (1978~79ish), tho I'm sure it's been around for a loooong time

I agree with the sentiment, too.

[Barracuda]

Wait, what? An all carb diet? That's crazy. Seriously. And he's supposed to be losing weight on that? Carbs are what pack fat on as far as I know.

[Jester]

Stir fry is easy, fairly quick, and if you load up on the fresh veggies, really healthy. I usually add some extra veggies and skip the rice entirely. It doesn't take much sauce at all to add a wonderful burst of flavor, and you can combine different sauces to make spicy sweet, savory, sweet-sour, salty, and spicy to just about any level.

Uncle Jester's Cooking Tip:

When making stir fry, I often add chunks of pineapple (fresh or canned work just fine for me) near the end of the cook time to add that extra pop. Usually let it cook in for about 30-120 seconds. Major flavor, totally healthy. Win win!

[fireheart]

Uncle Jester's Cooking Tip:

When making stir fry, I often add chunks of pineapple (fresh or canned work just fine for me) near the end of the cook time to add that extra pop. Usually let it cook in for about 30-120 seconds. Major flavor, totally healthy. Win win!

Ooh must try this as I tend to do stir fries quite a bit (I also need to teach the SO). I usually do mine with the rice noodles, but I'm aiming to try ones with the egg noodles further down the line.

[Kittish]

Uncle Jester's Cooking Tip:

When making stir fry, I often add chunks of pineapple (fresh or canned work just fine for me) near the end of the cook time to add that extra pop. Usually let it cook in for about 30-120 seconds. Major flavor, totally healthy. Win win!

If the boyfriend likes the pineapple fried rice the Thai place in town has (going to be getting that Monday for dinner) then I may well get a few small cans of pineapple tidbits to start adding to our stir fry.

[Jester]

Let me know how much he loves it.

[Kittish]

Boyfriend said about the pineapple fried rice "Eh, it's ok." I'll probably still try pineapple tidbits in stir fry, cause at least he didn't hate it.

[EricKei]

Barracuda - He has lost SOME weight -- He describes the diet as "something even more strict than vegan in certain ways," it disallows anything that is even animal-derived (at least in theory), but he can get protein from things like soy milk, beans and rice, and the like, tho he avoids fats (and and all oil, butter, etc) as well as much as possible, save for his "cheat" days. He has lost some weight, but not a huge amount.

As for carbs = fat : well, anything will make you fat if you don't exercise it off. He doesn't exactly go hit the gym, but he walks a ton (real estate agent) and does basic at-home exercises. But yeah, carbs/starch is a type of sugar -- I will leave the details on that to people more knowledgeable about them

[TheSHAD0W]

As someone on a carbohydrate deprivation diet, let me tell you about a few things that help keep my diet on track.

(1) Lindt 90% dark chocolate. I'll have 2 squares of it as a snack.

(2) "Natural" peanut butter, no added sugar. Can't have a PB&J sandwich, but a spoonful suppresses the appetite pretty darn good!

(3) Nestle's original hot cocoa mix. One spoonful (not two!) in my coffee or peppermint tea makes it quite a treat. (Note that I've tried other brands and drink add-ins, like Quik and Ovaltine; the Nestle has more flavor per unit of volume, so less sugar per use, and none of the sweeteners that kill my gut.)

[Jester]

Barracuda - He has lost SOME weight -- He describes the diet as "something even more strict than vegan in certain ways," it disallows anything that is even animal-derived (at least in theory), but he can get protein from things like soy milk, beans and rice, and the like, tho he avoids fats (and and all oil, butter, etc) as well as much as possible, save for his "cheat" days. He has lost some weight, but not a huge amount.

As for carbs = fat : well, anything will make you fat if you don't exercise it off. He doesn't exactly go hit the gym, but he walks a ton (real estate agent) and does basic at-home exercises. But yeah, carbs/starch is a type of sugar -- I will leave the details on that to people more knowledgeable about them

He hasn't lost that much weight for two reasons: it's a shit diet, and he's not exercising.

Actively walking a lot as part of your job is not exercising. It's not working out. It's living a normal life. Yes, he's not sedentary, but he is also not exercising. I walk, run, bust ass, and haul beer and liquor cases up and down stairs as part of my job, and that is still not exercise. Again, not sedentary, but not exercise.

If someone wants to lose weight, keep it off, and get in better shape, no diet in the world is going to do that for you without exercise. Nor will any of those bullshit "miracle pills." The only tried and true method is the one everyone seems so eager to avoid: eating right and exercise. And eating right means a balanced diet, including plenty of fruits and veggies, and yes, probably starches and meats, too. Atkins doesn't work in the long term, and neither does the anti-Atkins your brother is on. No matter how much he tries to delude himself otherwise.

[EricKei]

I could swear he used to be on Atkins a year or two ago. I'm just treating this as yet another diet fad that he will grow tired of in a few months; it's simpler than pointing out the absurdity to him (he doesn't like to be contradicted anyway ). I just nod and smile as I'm cutting myself a slice of baked ham ^_^