summerset

I don't really have a secret as well, I guess. With people around me wanting to lose weight or wanting to prevent weight gain, they sometimes ask the people around them about "their secret" (including me, even the ones who know about surgery, which strikes me quite odd). Most seem to answer with "moderation" and I see them eating salads and lots of vegetables but also sweets and pastries or French Fries etc. as well. Two petite women come to my mind when I think about this and one of the male colleagues in his 50s. You never know if they're struggling inside but they don't give the impression of doing so. At least there seems to be this interesting difference between them and the colleagues who e. g. are into the new weight watchers program. It appears... more relaxed. I can't pinpoint it, it's just some kind of vibe I get. Anyway, when I mulled this whole stuff over I came up with some "big three" so to say. Two might be seen as guidelines or rules, one is just the way things are (the secret??). 1) Whatever you plan to change - ask yourself if you're willing to change it forever. Going to the gym regularly five days a week for two hours straight might sound like a good plan for now but is it sustainable for you when considering the rhythm of your life? 2) Overall lifestyle and personality. How high is your NEAT? Are you a fidgeter and not able to sit still? How physically demanding is your job? Do you e. g. bike to work and like it? Walk to the grocery store, even if it's only because it's too much of a hassle to inch your car out of the underground garage, through traffic, the store's parking lot, go back through traffic and inching it back into your parking space at home to get a few bread rolls? Do you take the stairs just because when you see the elevator is on the 10th floor you roll your eyes because you know that it will take ages to come down and it gets on your nerves simply thinking about waiting for it only to find it crammed with people and damn thing holding at every damn floor on your way up? Are you a more nervous person that tends to move more, exercise more to calm yourself down and have e. g. better quality of sleep? 3) Only eat foods you like. Don't eat anything you don't like just because it has little calories. Nothing wrong with experimenting and if you find a substitute for a higher calorie food you really like and don't feel deprived eating it instead of the original stuff - go for it because why not? I buy new products or try new recipes as well. If it tastes good, is not much of a hassle to prepare and don't need to spend a fortune on one portion of it I'm going to buy/cook it again. If I don't like the product, no matter how little calories or how healthy it might be, I won't buy/cook it again. I might not throw it into the trash bin (depends on how awful I think it tastes) but I definitely won't have it again. Not eating foods you like and substituting them with foods you think taste awful will leave you feeling deprived. Diet fatigue won't be far away then.

Banana and coffee granola on caramel protein pudding.

Yeah, I guess I will be a self-pay, too. However, of course I'm going to try to get my money back from insurance.

In Germany admitting to this is about the biggest no-no ever. Insurance will send you happily to some nonsense psychotherapy then.

Plus one can always set lower goal weights later. (If one wants to, that is. The point of diminishing returns will come after all.)

That bread looks interesting. Now that I think about it I could get some Naan bread for variety. Haven't had that in ages as well because most of them contain some form of dairy. Hopefully there are some vegan versions floating around the market by now. I'm definitely too lazy to make my own.

Haven't gotten my hands on real injera in years (since I moved away from Frankfurt/Main in fact). I had some really good Moroccan corn bread lately I bought at a store near the clinic that does my follow up.

It reminds me of injera.

Crammed in the bottom: red batavia salad, an egg, cucumber and leftover steamed broccoli. Crammed in the top Caesar salad dressing from yesterday's batch, canned tuna and chickpeas. Here is aforementioned sandwich, btw.: pita, "Schnitzel", red batavia salad leaves, raw yellow onion, a bit of the Caesar dressing mixed with tomato paste. Not a good picture, sorry.

Yes, it gives the impression. Anyway, some people gain weight, some lose weight, others are not affected but I'm looking from inside a bubble as practically all of my friends work in the medical field so take it with a grain of salt. My own life didn't change much during lockdown so no change in my chaotic eating habits as well and not in my weight. Only thing I changed is that I started working out in the early morning instead of the evening (too many people on the streets stressing me out, plus summer heat). However, I didn't expect that so many people in general would be complaining about gaining weight. People already struggling with eating disorders, yes, but it really seems to run rampant. One might think that since people don't go to restaurants or bars with friends/spouses the calories would even out, even if there is some more snacking at home or less movement during home office time. Obviously not.

Workday was as awful and stressful as I thought it would be with two of five people on vacation. Had a 19.5 h unintentional fasting window, one successful intervention, one not-that-successful intervention that lasted for ages, ate my sandwich and salad and a piece of the fruit. Now I'm beaten. Whatever, it's sandwich time again since a pita package contains five pitas, my freezer and fridge are full, I want comfort food tonight anyway and I'm too lazy to whip up a soup. Here's a snap shot of the salad for tomorrow:

I think the important thing here is that they're talking about "long term". No offense, but while we have quite a few people on here who've lost 100% EWL and more there are at least two things to consider: 1) selection bias of internet boards. 2) the majority of the above mentioned users are less than 5 years out, some even less than 2 years.

I admire people for their commitment to WFPB. I'm not exactly a junk food plant based eater but I eat way too much fake meat/fish, also protein powders (at least lately). ETA: Do you eat cashew based cheeses, btw?

I use "Mühlenhack" - that's basically the only fake ground beef that's good tasting to me. It looks like already bakes ground beef, e. g. brownish and crumbly. The Garden Gourmet one has a realistic look (like raw ground beef) but it has "that typical taste" so to say and I didn't like it that much. I've seen a new brand lately that also sells fake ground beef and burgers, also looking like the raw version but haven't tried it so far. Maybe I'm going to get it and add it to some kind of casserole as a layer but for testing purposes I might simply make it into patties and fry it in the pan. I don't want to ruin a whole casserole with a taste I don't like.

Rest of the portion made a pita stuffing for tomorrow's lunch. Also a mixed salad with chick peas and a caesar dressing (cashew based with spice mix). Will also take some fruit with me. No idea how long tomorrow's working day will be.

Times are changing. A WFPB diet is more popular nowadays than it was several years ago. Plus, with too many patients not experiencing sufficient long term weight loss it's obvious that the "ideal post WLS nutrition" hasn't been invented so far.

Fake ground beef over rucola, shiitake, garden cress and some cucumber with cashew cream, eaten with a pita.

The more you see it as a "forbidden fruit", the more you're going to crave it.

The rest of the broccoli head will make a nice addition to a salad tomorrow. Slightly more entertaining: hazelnut protein mug cake. Unfortunately the top broke this time when I got it out of the cup. Tastes good though. Some chocolate sauce for decoration purposes.

Steamed broccoli with sweet & sour sauce. Boring, I know.

Almost everyone who's on a diet (especially a low calorie one) will experience this sooner or later, usually rather sooner than later. You're depriving yourself of the foods you like a lot and it's pretty normal that you're craving them. Expecting not to miss or crave foods you like and used to eat will just set you up for frustration.

That's all what these kind of comparison charts are doing: making people anxious.

Maybe I missed something but they don't seem to take height and therefore BMI into consideration? Interesting.

This will make a nice pita stuffing. I had leftover sandwich from lunch so I didn't open the pita package. Next time.

I had some salad greens that had to go. I was in the mood for something warm though and simply mixed the greens in. The greens wilted nicely. Tasted quite good.