Anima's Diet

Okay, well. Late last fall I realized that I really wanted to lose some weight.

I went through a period where I was exercising 7 days a week; half of the days I danced from 1-3 hours and the other days I ran on a treadmill for 30-50 minutes. I also tried to watch what I ate, but had very little weight loss.

I did a lot of research on dieting, metabolism jumps along with metabolism in general, the psychological side of crash dieting vs. eating less as well as typical internal reasons why most people eat, I also consulted a couple friends of mine who were personal trainers at the time and finally came up with a method of weight loss that has actually worked for me.

Anyway, when I started this plan I stopped going to the gym, however I continued dancing merely for personal enjoyment.

So, I didn't originally eat breakfast ever, but had read this is unhealthy AND oddly associated with obesity. So I started eating fairly large, protein-rich breakfasts; 2/3 scrambled eggs (or a couple bowls of cereal when I was feeling lazy), a few pieces of buttered toast, a cup of juice, and maybe some fruit if it was available.

For lunch; I would usually have a moderately sized meal, nothing special. (however, most days I didn't really have lunch, just cause I'm on a weird sleep schedule)

For dinner, or what I've been calling my 'last meal of the day,'; I'd have whatever I wanted. Many times I kind of gorged during this meal, but you really shouldn't do this. Normally I'd either have Japanese food (unagi-don, chicken teriaki with some sushi on the side) or two bowls of spaghetti with meatsauce or a sandwich with noodles. Basically, not that small.

::Portion Control::

Now, the central aspects of the diet aren't really in what you eat during the meals necessarily, but it is more about portion control. However, it's not all that easy to just stop eating when you're chowin' down!
This is largley because there are 2 central causes of hunger/satiety.
1) the duodenum has been heavily connected to hunger (it's a sphincter at the bottom of your stomach that connects to your small intestine). This basically means that when your duodenum is not receiving food, you feel hungry. However, when you are eating or even once you've finished, you may not feel full, but then realize that you are in fact full 10 or 30 minutes later! It's because it takes a lot of time for the food to reach your duodenum. So half or even a quarter of the way through your meal you might already be full and not know even it!

So, to deal with this, my best advice is portion control and breaks when you eat. So if you'd typically eat X amount of food, only take 0.5X, eat it, then wait 10 minutes and if you're still hungry, go ahead and eat the other half of your meal. In this case, even if you eat as much as you were before, you'll digest it faster and it'll ultimately put less stress on your system and secrete fewer fats from the food.

2) The statistic changes all the time, but it's been found that somewhere between 40-80% of the time people mis-interpret thirst as hunger. Meaning; when you might just need a cup of water, you'll go eat a hamburger.
So from knowing this, whenever I felt hungry I would drink a large cup of water and wait 10 minutes. If I was still hungry, then I would eat the 0.5X meal, take a break and drink another cup of water and wait 10 minutes. For the first few weeks I continued eating the other half, but after some time I stopped feeling hungry after the second cup of water.

::Drinks and Snacks::

I only drank water and tried to usually have about a gallon a day. I know most of you probably drink no water and when you do it's not a pleasant experience. Well, for some reason I enjoy drinking water, so this wasn't difficult for me. If you really can't moderate your juice/soda/etc. consumption, then designate a flavored drink as a snack OR have those drinks only before/up to dinner.

I'm sure most of you have heard that people gain the most weight from snacking. I'm assuming it's true, however I have no direct references I can draw from at the moment. Anyway, I am and have been an avid snacker, however I knew it was bad for me. So, I replaced all my cookies, chips, etc. with fruit.

::The Most Important Detail::

Also, the most important aspect of this diet is not eating within at least 3 hours of going to bed! I know that eating right before you sleep is great and it really knocks you out. I also know that we've all heard the saying, "don't go to bed on an empty stomach," but right now I'm telling you that if you want to lose weight (somewhat) easily you certainly won't be going to bed full!

The reason why you pass out after eating a lot is because your body releases insulin (not tryptophan, unless it's Thanksgiving. hehe.) for some reason the combination of insulin along with all your blood going to your stomach makes you tired. I've also had a few friends who'se fathers have had multiple heart attacks which, according to their physicians, was due to their late-night gorging. However, I don't want to be saying that anyone's in danger of having a heart-attack if they eat a lot and pass out nor am I saying it's verified fact that it is even connected.

Anyway, the reason why I stopped eating before bed was this; one's metabolism drops greatly while sleeping. So if you're stomach is full during this time, then all the fats in the food you ate are being stored in your body instead of being burnt away by physical activity or just being awake.
So, it is very important for weight loss to have an empty stomach before going to bed each night.

As a basic trend; one's cortisol and metabolism are at their highest shortly after waking up. So, that is why it is important to eat then, because you'll need fuel for the day. Also, all the food you eat in the morning will be burnt throughout the day. Similarly with lunch and dinner. However, if you eat right before sleep, then you're not burning those carbs, they're just getting stored in your ass! (well, lets hope it's your ass. lol.)

So that's basically my diet is; snack on fruit, drink a lot of water (especially before/during meals), portion control, and DO NOT EAT BEFORE BED! Also, if you're not accustomed to going to sleep on an empty stomach, it'll probably throw off your sleep a bit. I know for the first couple weeks it was exceedingly difficult for me and I'd cave in and have a hand-full of cereal or a banana or something in the middle of the night just to quiet the hunger pangs. Although, now I can't go to bed if I've eaten, it actually gives me a stomach ache. So, if you're trying this and it's hard going to sleep, it'll pass.. and if you're becoming an insomniac, take some melatonin or benadryl (those are 'sleep aids' that have had some of the fewest side effects). Oh yeah, they're also over-the-counter.



But yeeaaah. I know dieting sucks and I'm going back into it fairly hard now, but! it's been such a pay-off being able to fit into girl's clothes comfortably and actually looking like a cute rubber-girl.
It's also made me more of a cute rubber/vanilla guy too.
=P