Am I in "starvation mode?"

[release the hounds]

I was going to chime in, but I see a couple of you got this already.

[Locke]

Okay, so I'm being taught false information in my nutrition course. Lovely. My professor (a registered dietician) has said over and over again that the body does not need the added cholesterol from outside sources because our body makes enough and that excess is baadddd!

My professor said high fat isn't bad, but it should be from nuts, oils, and fish, not cows, pigs, etc.

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by Picklepaige

I've been struggling with my weight for the past two years. At 5'4 and 194 lbs, I NEED to lose weight. I started to research a bit, and I read about starvation mode. Am I in it?

To give some details, I walk briskly for about an hour a day, and workout (weights/jogging) a couple days a week for at least an hour. I also ride my horse once a week(mostly trotting) for an hour, sometimes more if I have the time.

As to what I eat, I'll tell what I ate yesterday; it's normally about the same every day.

For breakfast, I had a whole green apple. For lunch, one of those Smart Ones chicken fettuccine things. For supper, some mac & cheese and a tiny piece of skinless chicken (about the size of my index finger.). Snacks included a whole plum, chocolate yogurt, and an icee from Burger King.

I put all of that into a calorie counter, and it came out to 1000 calories. What am I doing wrong?? Do I need to bump up what I eat?

My ideas, some of what I do: breakfast: 2-3 scrambled eggs. Use olive oil to coat frying pan. You can even put in a thin slice of cheese (one thin slice). You can chop up a little baby green onion or saute some mushrooms, green pepper if you want to jazz them up. Sprinkle in some Chia seeds, a tsp of crushed flax seed. Skip the toast. Another breakfast might be oatmeal or quinoa with a tsp of flax, chia seeds, berries, raisins and a little agave if you need it sweeter. Quinoa is a complete protein. Chia seeds have protein too and lots of omega 3s...very good and will add a little variety. You can make quinoa a breakfast food or fry up and add a little onion, green pepper, garlic, mushrooms, olives, tiny bits of broccoli and use it instead of rice when you feel like you really need something like that.

Snack between breakfast and lunch if you feel hungry, otherwise save it for afternoon snack: 1/2 cup of walnuts or almonds, pistachios....whatever nuts you like. Have a piece of fruit or 1/2 cup of berries if you like. A stalk of celery with a tsp or 2 of peanut or almond butter makes a good snack. Just don't use a ton of peanut butter. Have sardines or kippers a couple times a week, either for a meal or a snack. Other than the salt, they're very good for you.

Lunch and dinner ideas: Home made soup that has meat or beans, legumes, lots of veggies, herbs....something like that. But homemade. Don't use processed foods.

Big green salad full of other veggies besides lettuce. I'll put in spinach (mostly spinach instead of lettuce, cut up carrot, yellow squash, cauliflower, red/green peppers, green onion, jicama, (fantastic stuff) maybe some bok choy or celery...something like that, tomatoes and sometimes half an avocado, maybe a sprinkling of nuts, sunflower seeds, chia seeds. Then I may or may not add some shrimp or salmon, a little blue cheese dressing, even though it's fattening because I love it.

Or...a piece of baked chicken or some other meat. Have wild Alaskan salmon 2-3 times a week if you can afford it. Or do something with the canned. It's cheap and you can make it into things or add to salad.

And lots of vegetables. Don't use creamy, fattening sauces, at least not often. Lots of vegetables make you feel like you're getting a lot of stuff, the variety is good and the fiber fills you up. Plus, they're loaded with vitamins and anti oxidants etc. Very important for any diet. I have vegetables with every meal....almost always and sometimes the vegetables ARE the meal. They're always the main part. If you don't like them, get use to them and try different kinds. They're essential to good health. And there are all kinds of ways to fix them.

Stir fry some vegetables and throw in a handful of shrimp or chicken, tofu...whatever protein you like. Skip the noodles. Have them once in a while for a special treat, but don't make noodles, rice, pasta, bread something you have to have because those things make you fat and aren't necessary at all. Go ahead and make up some stir sauce of your own...easy. Not the healthiest thing, but you gotta make your food taste good. You can use agave nectar instead of sugar for a lower glycemic index....it might help some.

I use olive oil instead of butter for things because it's better for you....like brush it on a boiled potato and add some herbs. I don't eat many potatoes, but some because they are good for you, especially sweet potatoes or yams.

Don't eat chips, cookies, candy, pop, fast food (NEVER)...processed food...something someone else already made and packaged with a lot of sodium and chemicals. Just ask yourself, when you want these things, "do I want that? Or do I want to be healthy?" You will lose your cravings in a short time if you load up on vegetables, good quality protein and some fat. You can definitely spend a Saturday cooking up some stuff and freezing it in small containers so you have ready made meals.

Look for healthy desert ideas that aren't too fattening.

I think it's great that you're working on this. Just don't let yourself feel deprived by eating too little. And don't do anything that you don't think you can do forever....within reason. There are some things we just have to give up sometimes in order to be healthier.

[release the hounds]

yes, there is a growing amount of information that is showing that your registered dietician professor is in fact wrong on this topic. Funny because my nutrition classes 20 years ago were off the cholesterol bandwagon already at that point. at least jumping off.

[Lyzelle]

Originally Posted by Locke

Okay, so I'm being taught false information in my nutrition course. Lovely. My professor (a registered dietician) has said over and over again that the body does not need the added cholesterol from outside sources because our body makes enough and that excess is baadddd!

My professor said high fat isn't bad, but it should be from nuts, oils, and fish, not cows, pigs, etc.

Well, it's a lot like vets, really. They don't know anymore than what was forced down their throats. Or they just don't care.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Lyzelle

Well, it's a lot like vets, really. They don't know anymore than what was forced down their throats. Or they just don't care.

Go figure.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by Locke

Okay, so I'm being taught false information in my nutrition course. Lovely. My professor (a registered dietician) has said over and over again that the body does not need the added cholesterol from outside sources because our body makes enough and that excess is baadddd!

My professor said high fat isn't bad, but it should be from nuts, oils, and fish, not cows, pigs, etc.

This IS pretty new to be fair to your prof. And its pretty radical.. but when you realize the food pyramid and the lipid hypothesis (the idea that saturated fats were bad) was a POLITICAL decision back in the day and the current scientists were an the whole against it...

Think about it, humans all through evolution would get most of their fat from animals. Why would we have evolved to eat a diet full of fats we wouldn't get much if any of? Its like dog food nutritionists who come up with corn filled diets for dogs. They went to school too

As I said I believed as you did, till I started looking into the biochemistry and metabolism aspect and was shocked. Nutrition studies are some of the worst IMO. One of the main studies back in the day that was used to show cholesterol was bad used rabbits. An animal that would NEVER eat saturated animal fat! No matter how much cholesterol they fed to omnivores or carnivores they couldn't get the same results...

[Doberluv]

So, should I stop taking my cholesterol medicine?

Is there anything wrong with my diet ideas? I don't eat a lot of animal fat...some of course, but I think it puts weight on me. My daughter cut out butter and mayo for a short time. That's all she did differently and she lost 10 lbs quickly.

[Zoom]

Originally Posted by Doberluv

Chia seeds have protein too and lots of omega 3s...very good and will add a little variety

I know they're a good thing, I just grew up in the 80's, so everytime I think about eating them, I picture my stomach turning into this:

[Dekka]

Actually possibly Carrie.. If its a statin.. the president of one of the big pharma companies said it was possibly harmful and none of those drugs had ever been proven to lower risk of heart disease. Check the stuff you are taking.. see if it has that little disclaimer.

Also it lowers intelligence as it causes the brain to shrink!! Some studies are saying no woman should be on statins and the like. As I don't have that issue I haven't looked into it, just read things on the periphery. If you want I can dig up some of the info.