Weight and random thoughts

Alicia · Senior Member

RE: Weight and random thoughts

CoffeeQueen · Guru

I know fast food is not the cause of weight gain. I really do know many skinny people who eat awful.

I have a friend who is tiny and her and the kids eat awful. They go out for donuts all the time for breakfast and the kids eat sugar cereal and nothing else for breakfast. They have processed food for pretty much every meal. I doubt they even get veggies in more then 2 times a month. So, I know she is not healthy on the inside, but appears to be on the outside.

I was curious to see how often people eat fast food and if those that did had weight to lose. There was nothing scientific to it,lol.

Rich use to eat an insane amount of fast food in high school. He had a open campus and all that was around was fast food for the kids to go to in the time they had for lunch. He had a wake up call when his cholesterol at 16 came back through the roof. He was an avid athlete and very in shape on the outside. He then hardly ever ate fast food.

I tell ya I do not know what switched in me, but this time around I really am focused on health and not just getting the weight off. My mind frame has been so different and this is honestly the first time this has really happened.

I do not buy junk food for at home. I have no clue why I do not lose this weight quicker then I do. I honestly eat pretty well at home. The only thing I can think of it was the crap I was eating when not home and also calories adding up in the course of a day.

mctex · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:

I know fast food is not the cause of weight gain. I really do know many skinny people who eat awful.

I have a friend who is tiny and her and the kids eat awful. They go out for donuts all the time for breakfast and the kids eat sugar cereal and nothing else for breakfast. They have processed food for pretty much every meal. I doubt they even get veggies in more then 2 times a month. So, I know she is not healthy on the inside, but appears to be on the outside.

I was curious to see how often people eat fast food and if those that did had weight to lose. There was nothing scientific to it,lol.

Rich use to eat an insane amount of fast food in high school. He had a open campus and all that was around was fast food for the kids to go to in the time they had for lunch. He had a wake up call when his cholesterol at 16 came back through the roof. He was an avid athlete and very in shape on the outside. He then hardly ever ate fast food.

I tell ya I do not know what switched in me, but this time around I really am focused on health and not just getting the weight off. My mind frame has been so different and this is honestly the first time this has really happened.

I do not buy junk food for at home. I have no clue why I do not lose this weight quicker then I do. I honestly eat pretty well at home. The only thing I can think of it was the crap I was eating when not home and also calories adding up in the course of a day.

Why do you feel like you're losing the weight more slowly than you should?

How many calories are you eating a day? How many are you burning?

You seem to be doing great so far, which is why I'm curious! :)

CoffeeQueen · Guru

mctex wrote:

CoffeeQueen wrote:

I know fast food is not the cause of weight gain. I really do know many skinny people who eat awful.

I have a friend who is tiny and her and the kids eat awful. They go out for donuts all the time for breakfast and the kids eat sugar cereal and nothing else for breakfast. They have processed food for pretty much every meal. I doubt they even get veggies in more then 2 times a month. So, I know she is not healthy on the inside, but appears to be on the outside.

I was curious to see how often people eat fast food and if those that did had weight to lose. There was nothing scientific to it,lol.

Rich use to eat an insane amount of fast food in high school. He had a open campus and all that was around was fast food for the kids to go to in the time they had for lunch. He had a wake up call when his cholesterol at 16 came back through the roof. He was an avid athlete and very in shape on the outside. He then hardly ever ate fast food.

I tell ya I do not know what switched in me, but this time around I really am focused on health and not just getting the weight off. My mind frame has been so different and this is honestly the first time this has really happened.

I do not buy junk food for at home. I have no clue why I do not lose this weight quicker then I do. I honestly eat pretty well at home. The only thing I can think of it was the crap I was eating when not home and also calories adding up in the course of a day.

Why do you feel like you're losing the weight more slowly than you should?

How many calories are you eating a day? How many are you burning?

You seem to be doing great so far, which is why I'm curious! :)

I am at 1700 calories right now, but my exercise is very low.

It is not so much for right now. I am very happy right now with my changes, but I think I am talking this last year overall. I look at what I eat and I tend to eat pretty well. I know that the big factor is the exercise, but I also wonder if something else is going on with me. I have a thyroid issue, but they claim that is ok right now. I do worry about getting this stomach fat off because I am high risk for diabetes with having GD when pregnant.

Juni · Guru

Melissa - I am SO right there with you on it sticking this time. I am glad because I am focused on being healthy and extending it to the rest of the family and that is helping a ton! I feel confident in saying I have given up fast food for good!

daisy · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:

I know fast food is not the cause of weight gain. I really do know many skinny people who eat awful.

I have a friend who is tiny and her and the kids eat awful. They go out for donuts all the time for breakfast and the kids eat sugar cereal and nothing else for breakfast. They have processed food for pretty much every meal. I doubt they even get veggies in more then 2 times a month. So, I know she is not healthy on the inside, but appears to be on the outside.

I was curious to see how often people eat fast food and if those that did had weight to lose. There was nothing scientific to it,lol.

Rich use to eat an insane amount of fast food in high school. He had a open campus and all that was around was fast food for the kids to go to in the time they had for lunch. He had a wake up call when his cholesterol at 16 came back through the roof. He was an avid athlete and very in shape on the outside. He then hardly ever ate fast food.

I tell ya I do not know what switched in me, but this time around I really am focused on health and not just getting the weight off. My mind frame has been so different and this is honestly the first time this has really happened.

I do not buy junk food for at home. I have no clue why I do not lose this weight quicker then I do. I honestly eat pretty well at home. The only thing I can think of it was the crap I was eating when not home and also calories adding up in the course of a day.

this is so awesome to read.
i'm really excited that so many are giving up fast food.
i promise you, you will never look back.
i've never been on a huge diet, but i have been on diets for other purposes (like no dairy while nursing, weight-gain diets, PMS diets) - and seriously when you have a different goal in mind besides looks, i think it makes the world of difference.
my mom has always had to watch her weight (she's overweight but not too bad) and she's always saying that when youre ready to commit to a lifestyle change, that's when you see the progress.
she always says that every failed diet was because she was focusing only on numbers, not lifestyle.
she was, unfortunately, never able to work exercise in - this was always her downfall. she really doesnt eat badly at ALL, but she's very inactive and that's been the piece she could never conquer.

allvowels · Veteran Member

CoffeeQueen wrote:

1. Do you eat fast food? Yes

2. How often and what is your fast food of choice? I eat it about once a week---Subway.   (I don't even love it, but my Dh takes the girls swimming on Saturday mornings, and then they go to Subway. He brings me the leftovers, so it's usually less than a 6 inch.)

(They used to go to McDonald's, but now it's Subway.)

Oh, and we do go out to eat (not fast food) about once a week---things like sushi, thai food, local breakfast places. The worst thing about these places is probably the sodium.

I just remembered something else--the kids and I will meet friends for lunch sometimes too (during the week).   These are sit down places, so not fast food. I always try to get the healthiest choice for the girls, something with fresh fruit.

3. Do you need to lose weight? (meaning are you overweight) No, but I definitely need to tone up!

4. Do you exercise on a regular basis? No (I need to!!!)

5. Would your family be willing to make changes to the eating habits in your home?

The girls' diet is pretty healthy, besides the Subway (which isn't too bad, I don't think, but it does have too much sodium, I am sure. They get turkey meat with veggies.)   They live on fresh fruit.

I don't eat well at all.  I love candy and sugar. I don't know if I could ever give it up (would life be worth living?! haha). I am not overweight because I don't eat a lot of any one thing, if that makes sense. (I am also breastfeeding too, so we'll see if I gain weight when Abram stops nursing (hopefully that won't be for a while!).)

(Oh, and I am not saying that everyone who is overweight eats a lot. I know metabolism and other things play a role too!)

muffy · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:

muffy wrote:

1. Do you eat fast food? when i was preggo i would eat it for lunch when i was by myself about 2 times a week. other then that, i would eat it about once a month, again by myself.

2. How often and what is your fast food of choice? frequency above. only mcdonalds. only quarter pounder w/ cheese LOL.

3. Do you need to lose weight? (meaning are you overweight) i have a solid 10 lbs to lose.

4. Do you exercise on a regular basis? when not recuperating from birth, yes, avg 5 times a week.

5. Would your family be willing to make changes to the eating habits in your home?

imo we dont need to. kids dont eat fast food or processed food because dh is strongly against it and he leads the effort in the household to purchase bio/organic and prepare healthy foods for the family. (he is big into "seasonal" cooking/eating as well.)

mcdonalds and my secret stash of american goodies (peanut butter, hersheys, nutty bars, girl scout cookies, occasional poptarts lol) is my guilty pleasure and i certainly dont share those with my kids LMAO!

Do European kids eat any junk type food that the kids in the US eat?

A mental inventory... fast food places are in the heart of the city center (think tourist area) we have a mcdonalds, a "quick" (a belgian frite restaurant like a mcdonalds) and a pizza hut. there are 2 other mcdonalds and 2 other quicks (that i know of) in the entire country, they are in other bigger city centers.
also, i can drive from lux to paris (4 hours drive) and there is not one single fast-food restaurant along the highway. (people will get a pre-made baguette sandwich at a gas station to eat.
I live within waling distance of the high school complexes and the kids walk around my neighborhood at lunchtime to grab a bite to eat. Older european kids (high school ages) will eat a "kebab" which is a gyro. or they will eat a slice of pizza from an italian restaurant (thin crust european style). there is also a fast food pasta place that serves them lunch (pasta with your choice of sauce on top) and there is a chinese restaurant that serves a cheap students "plat du jour" for 5 euros. there also are a few hole in the wall type joints where you can get an order of belgian french fries to snack on.
i do know that now that timmy is in lycee (combined junior/high school) he does take the bus into the city center tuesday and thursday afternoon with his friends and they get a snack at mcdonalds after school is done, before basketball evening training. he is skinny as all heck so i let it happen (not a good reason) but also, he does sports training 3-4 hours a day and does not get home to eat dinner till 8pm, so i figure its an extra way to get food in his gut.
younger kids - first, they go home for lunch break between 12:30-2. there is a cantene for kids whose parents work and they pay to supplement lunchtime daycare - and the food is seriously like hospital food. and the child will not get its "desert" (yoghurt, fruit salad) unless they have eaten all of their vegetable. children as served a protein, a carb and 2 veggies for the meal. no other choices. also school snacks are heavily monitored - nothing sugary, no salty snacks either. every day clara takes something from the following: slice of bread with a slice of ham, or slice of cheese, or nutella or jam on it. a piece of fresh fruit. a portion of flavoured apple compote. a yoghurt, breadsticks with kiri cheese to dip. that's pretty much all that is permitted. they bring a thermos to drink, it can only be water (fizzy or flat) or milk. no juice.

crystal · Guru

muffy wrote:

CoffeeQueen wrote:

muffy wrote:

1. Do you eat fast food? when i was preggo i would eat it for lunch when i was by myself about 2 times a week. other then that, i would eat it about once a month, again by myself.

2. How often and what is your fast food of choice? frequency above. only mcdonalds. only quarter pounder w/ cheese LOL.

3. Do you need to lose weight? (meaning are you overweight) i have a solid 10 lbs to lose.

4. Do you exercise on a regular basis? when not recuperating from birth, yes, avg 5 times a week.

5. Would your family be willing to make changes to the eating habits in your home?

imo we dont need to. kids dont eat fast food or processed food because dh is strongly against it and he leads the effort in the household to purchase bio/organic and prepare healthy foods for the family. (he is big into "seasonal" cooking/eating as well.)

mcdonalds and my secret stash of american goodies (peanut butter, hersheys, nutty bars, girl scout cookies, occasional poptarts lol) is my guilty pleasure and i certainly dont share those with my kids LMAO!

Do European kids eat any junk type food that the kids in the US eat?

A mental inventory... fast food places are in the heart of the city center (think tourist area) we have a mcdonalds, a "quick" (a belgian frite restaurant like a mcdonalds) and a pizza hut. there are 2 other mcdonalds and 2 other quicks (that i know of) in the entire country, they are in other bigger city centers.
also, i can drive from lux to paris (4 hours drive) and there is not one single fast-food restaurant along the highway. (people will get a pre-made baguette sandwich at a gas station to eat.
I live within waling distance of the high school complexes and the kids walk around my neighborhood at lunchtime to grab a bite to eat. Older european kids (high school ages) will eat a "kebab" which is a gyro. or they will eat a slice of pizza from an italian restaurant (thin crust european style). there is also a fast food pasta place that serves them lunch (pasta with your choice of sauce on top) and there is a chinese restaurant that serves a cheap students "plat du jour" for 5 euros. there also are a few hole in the wall type joints where you can get an order of belgian french fries to snack on.
i do know that now that timmy is in lycee (combined junior/high school) he does take the bus into the city center tuesday and thursday afternoon with his friends and they get a snack at mcdonalds after school is done, before basketball evening training. he is skinny as all heck so i let it happen (not a good reason) but also, he does sports training 3-4 hours a day and does not get home to eat dinner till 8pm, so i figure its an extra way to get food in his gut.
younger kids - first, they go home for lunch break between 12:30-2. there is a cantene for kids whose parents work and they pay to supplement lunchtime daycare - and the food is seriously like hospital food. and the child will not get its "desert" (yoghurt, fruit salad) unless they have eaten all of their vegetable. children as served a protein, a carb and 2 veggies for the meal. no other choices. also school snacks are heavily monitored - nothing sugary, no salty snacks either. every day clara takes something from the following: slice of bread with a slice of ham, or slice of cheese, or nutella or jam on it. a piece of fresh fruit. a portion of flavoured apple compote. a yoghurt, breadsticks with kiri cheese to dip. that's pretty much all that is permitted. they bring a thermos to drink, it can only be water (fizzy or flat) or milk. no juice.

from what i have observed from the dutch, they do eat junk (fries, sweets), but the do not over-indulge. if you go over to have coffee with a dutch person, they will give you one cookie with your coffee, and the cookies are then locked back up (and i mean literally with a key in a couple houses i went to). i went to a b-day party, and they brought a tray of cookies and specifically said "Please take one cookie", and it was obvious that they would not have liked it if you wanted another, lmao.

the short time i was working, in the cafeteria the dutch would eat a sandwich with cheese and maybe a slice of meat, a bowl of soup, some yogurt and a cup of milk. every day. i really think i would have ended up being skinny had i kept working, lmao. efe lost 20lbs his first few months here just from the lunches being so small. the portions are small here, it is like a snack for an american.

i think the biggest difference though is exercise. people are always walking and riding their bikes, and i mean ALWAYS. most don't have cars. i guess when you combine that with portion control it seems to work!

daisy · Guru

by the way, i didnt talk about our regular restaurant habits here.
i LOVE taking the girls for lunch - we just go to the bagel shop though and they have bagels with butter and fruit salad.
(i have the same).

mike and i get takeout quite a bit - from sit-down restaurants. on fridays we get takeout from our favorite local restaurant - i usually get a lobster risotto or a pasta dish - he gets a steak much of the time. sodium is definitely an issue there.

he also gets chinese (we live in an area where the chinese takeout is delicious and VERY common) - but i seriously dont like chinese so i dont eat it. i am soooooooo not into it. i never ask for an order.

we go out to dinner probably once a month - i never order meat or chicken in a restaurant (just bc i love pasta so much) -- or we go to a local organic mexican restaurant which is fan.tas.tic. i get a chicken salad there usually (bc i know the chicken is organic) - there's avocado and chopped veggies and the best dressing - SO GOOD.

we rarely bring the girls out for dinner, and if we do, we go to a local bar-type restaurant (pub style i guess??) and they get a grilled chicken with steamed broccoli, whcih isnt terrible, but who knows what kind of chicken that is. this is probably once every 3 mos.

we bring them out every sunday morning for pancakes at the diner. prob not great, but we love doing that.

daisy · Guru

crystal wrote:

from what i have observed from the dutch, they do eat junk (fries, sweets), but the do not over-indulge. if you go over to have coffee with a dutch person, they will give you one cookie with your coffee, and the cookies are then locked back up (and i mean literally with a key in a couple houses i went to). i went to a b-day party, and they brought a tray of cookies and specifically said "Please take one cookie", and it was obvious that they would not have liked it if you wanted another, lmao.

the short time i was working, in the cafeteria the dutch would eat a sandwich with cheese and maybe a slice of meat, a bowl of soup, some yogurt and a cup of milk. every day. i really think i would have ended up being skinny had i kept working, lmao. efe lost 20lbs his first few months here just from the lunches being so small. the portions are small here, it is like a snack for an american.

i think the biggest difference though is exercise. people are always walking and riding their bikes, and i mean ALWAYS. most don't have cars. i guess when you combine that with portion control it seems to work!

this cracks me up crystal - no way would one cookie be enough for me with a cup of coffee (depending on size of course) - i would think two would be better manners, but i guess that's american of me - LOL!!
i cant imagine limiting portions at a party. weird right? here we are always so stressed about not having enough for everyone!! parties would be way easier to plan if we figured "16 people are coming - 16 cookies should do it!!"

muffy · Guru

crystal wrote:

from what i have observed from the dutch, they do eat junk (fries, sweets), but the do not over-indulge. if you go over to have coffee with a dutch person, they will give you one cookie with your coffee, and the cookies are then locked back up (and i mean literally with a key in a couple houses i went to). i went to a b-day party, and they brought a tray of cookies and specifically said "Please take one cookie", and it was obvious that they would not have liked it if you wanted another, lmao.

the short time i was working, in the cafeteria the dutch would eat a sandwich with cheese and maybe a slice of meat, a bowl of soup, some yogurt and a cup of milk. every day. i really think i would have ended up being skinny had i kept working, lmao. efe lost 20lbs his first few months here just from the lunches being so small. the portions are small here, it is like a snack for an american.

i think the biggest difference though is exercise. people are always walking and riding their bikes, and i mean ALWAYS. most don't have cars. i guess when you combine that with portion control it seems to work!

Yes, there is junk food here and people do eat it.

but imo its different junk food - and not only is the selection of junk food much smaller (less choice) but the portions are much smaller too - a individual bag of potato chips is about 1/3 the size of a individual bag in the US. candy bars, about half the size of those "king size" candy bars you see all over the place. less choice.

its not only the fast food restaurants that kill us, its also the crap you find in the center aisles of any grocery store. stick to the perimeter and only go into the aisles in "emergency situations" don't they say that all the time on biggest loser?

PLUS, and i think this is big- the is a MUCH SMALLER selection of processed pre-packaged foods - people over here just dont buy their dinner frozen in a big box or bag to nuke and eat when they get home. any grocery store freezer section here is about 50% veggies, 30% ice cream LOL, and 20% any other packaged frozen stuff. another example - what about he cereal isles in a-dam? over here in lux, there are about 30 cereals TOTAL to choose from (and about 8 are different flavours of special K LOL) lots of grain cereal and muesli. as far as kids "sugary junk" cereal we are pretty much limited to: rice krispies, honey pops, nesquick choc balls, those sugar smacks with the frog, chocolate crispies...maybe a few more. that's pretty much it.

daisy · Guru

muffy wrote:

crystal wrote:

from what i have observed from the dutch, they do eat junk (fries, sweets), but the do not over-indulge. if you go over to have coffee with a dutch person, they will give you one cookie with your coffee, and the cookies are then locked back up (and i mean literally with a key in a couple houses i went to). i went to a b-day party, and they brought a tray of cookies and specifically said "Please take one cookie", and it was obvious that they would not have liked it if you wanted another, lmao.

the short time i was working, in the cafeteria the dutch would eat a sandwich with cheese and maybe a slice of meat, a bowl of soup, some yogurt and a cup of milk. every day. i really think i would have ended up being skinny had i kept working, lmao. efe lost 20lbs his first few months here just from the lunches being so small. the portions are small here, it is like a snack for an american.

i think the biggest difference though is exercise. people are always walking and riding their bikes, and i mean ALWAYS. most don't have cars. i guess when you combine that with portion control it seems to work!
Yes, there is junk food here and people do eat it.

but imo its different junk food - and not only is the selection of junk food much smaller (less choice) but the portions are much smaller too - a individual bag of potato chips is about 1/3 the size of a individual bag in the US. candy bars, about half the size of those "king size" candy bars you see all over the place. less choice.

its not only the fast food restaurants that kill us, its also the crap you find in the center aisles of any grocery store. stick to the perimeter and only go into the aisles in "emergency situations" don't they say that all the time on biggest loser?

PLUS, and i think this is big- the is a MUCH SMALLER selection of processed pre-packaged foods - people over here just dont buy their dinner frozen in a big box or bag to nuke and eat when they get home. any grocery store freezer section here is about 50% veggies, 30% ice cream LOL, and 20% any other packaged frozen stuff. another example - what about he cereal isles in a-dam? over here in lux, there are about 30 cereals TOTAL to choose from (and about 8 are different flavours of special K LOL) lots of grain cereal and muesli. as far as kids "sugary junk" cereal we are pretty much limited to: rice krispies, honey pops, nesquick choc balls, those sugar smacks with the frog, chocolate crispies...maybe a few more. that's pretty much it.

totally. i remember traveling to europe as a kid (a trip to italy and switzerland is coming to mind) and being in the supermarkets like "what.the.hell." - i felt like i was in a time warp. i was like "but where is the FOOD?!?" - LOL.

i also remember beign shocked by the amount of cheese they ate.

crystal · Guru

muffy wrote:

crystal wrote:

from what i have observed from the dutch, they do eat junk (fries, sweets), but the do not over-indulge. if you go over to have coffee with a dutch person, they will give you one cookie with your coffee, and the cookies are then locked back up (and i mean literally with a key in a couple houses i went to). i went to a b-day party, and they brought a tray of cookies and specifically said "Please take one cookie", and it was obvious that they would not have liked it if you wanted another, lmao.

the short time i was working, in the cafeteria the dutch would eat a sandwich with cheese and maybe a slice of meat, a bowl of soup, some yogurt and a cup of milk. every day. i really think i would have ended up being skinny had i kept working, lmao. efe lost 20lbs his first few months here just from the lunches being so small. the portions are small here, it is like a snack for an american.

i think the biggest difference though is exercise. people are always walking and riding their bikes, and i mean ALWAYS. most don't have cars. i guess when you combine that with portion control it seems to work!
Yes, there is junk food here and people do eat it.

but imo its different junk food - and not only is the selection of junk food much smaller (less choice) but the portions are much smaller too - a individual bag of potato chips is about 1/3 the size of a individual bag in the US. candy bars, about half the size of those "king size" candy bars you see all over the place. less choice.

its not only the fast food restaurants that kill us, its also the crap you find in the center aisles of any grocery store. stick to the perimeter and only go into the aisles in "emergency situations" don't they say that all the time on biggest loser?

PLUS, and i think this is big- the is a MUCH SMALLER selection of processed pre-packaged foods - people over here just dont buy their dinner frozen in a big box or bag to nuke and eat when they get home. any grocery store freezer section here is about 50% veggies, 30% ice cream LOL, and 20% any other packaged frozen stuff. another example - what about he cereal isles in a-dam? over here in lux, there are about 30 cereals TOTAL to choose from (and about 8 are different flavours of special K LOL) lots of grain cereal and muesli. as far as kids "sugary junk" cereal we are pretty much limited to: rice krispies, honey pops, nesquick choc balls, those sugar smacks with the frog, chocolate crispies...maybe a few more. that's pretty much it.

the cereal here is exactly that. all bran, some granola kinds, ect. no fruit loops, that is for sure. one of the biggest adjustments when coming here is that i had to cook EVERYTHING. i was used to just buying the processed mac and cheese or the processed flavored rice for a side. here, no. i cook every single thing that is put on the table, including the side dishes. however, this does mean that we eat plain rice a lot :P there are also freshly made sides that i buy every now and then (fried rice, pastas, ect) when i don't feel like making it.

the center isles here consist of a few cereals, cookies, crackers (very small amount of choices), lots of nuts and wine, eggs, and tons of soup. that's about it. i am used to it now and i am so happy that i have been basically forced to cut out all of that high-sodium crap i was eating back home.