Diet & Life Style Info

We really enjoy watching the biggest loser. It is an inspirational show, we actually learn a few things about diet and about how to manage our food intake. This past week we also learned that we already do some of the things that they discussed on the biggest loser which helps us control our weight and also save money !

Portion control!

Portion control is really the biggest thing to help you control your weight, lose weight and manage your diet.  It is the old adage, energy in must be less than the energy you burn if you are going to lose weight. So one way to manage this is to control the size of the portions you are eating.

If you are at home, use a small plate. I know for myself if I use a large plate, I have a tendency to fill it up, while I do the same thing with a small plate, there is only so much food I can put on the plate. BY the time you have finished the food on the small plate you are starting to feel full and if you can wait 5 minutes, you will definitely feel full. Sure you might go back for a second helping, but again you are using a small plate and it will only hold a small amount of food. Sure you are tricking your mind and your stomach, but if it works why not use every trick you can to lose weight.

When you are out of the home dining in a restaurant, it is a bit more difficult, so we have another suggestion that will also help to save some money as well.

Share meals when dining out!

As we travel around the country, one thing we notices is that the size of the meals served at restaurants are huge. Portion sizes at restaurants have gotten out of hand. Many restaurants and I guess their patrons as well feel that they must serve large portions to attract their guests.

We have found that for many meals if we split the meal it is more than enough for each of us and we save money at the same time. The restaurants for the most part are ok with this, and sometimes will even split the meal for us, serving it on two separate plates. Sometimes they will bring us a second plate and let us split the meal our selves. Either way we eat less and we save money. What a deal!

There are some places that want to charge a fee for splitting the meal. We just do not go back to them and we tell people as well. They end up losing business as a result. So when you go out to eat split your meals.

Portion Control and Buffets

Buffets are really difficult. If you have a problem controlling how much you eat, it is probably best if you avoid going to a buffet. With all of the excellent food it is usually best to just not go, because it is human nature to overeat when all of that food is just sitting there. Use the small plate approach and eat slowly, but we are pretty confident that you will still over eat in this situation.

Eat slow, Weight20 Minutes So your  Stomach Feels Full!

This is one of the best ways to manage the portion size and how much you eat. Apparently it takes a little time for your stomach to register that it is full and let your brain know that you have eaten enough. Some people say wait 10 to 20 minutes and then decide if you are going back for second helpings.

Fast eaters tend to over eat, so if you wait even 5 minutes before getting that second helping you may find that you have eaten enough. We find that discussing topics over the dinner table is a great way to slow down your eating and also get that full feeling. Let’s face it you cannot eat when you are talking, at least you should not, just for good manners. Talking slows you down and forces you to enjoy the food more and provides time for your stomach to register the fact that you are full. maybe you will realize that you are full and will avoid going for that second helping!

Use Every Trick in the Book

Aside from just deciding to not eat as much, we are suggesting that you use every trick you can to control how much you eat. If you use a couple of little tricks to manage your eating, so what. At least you are losing weight, or controlling your weight.

Bottom line, you need to deal with the long term reason regarding why you have over eaten. Using these tricks will help you get going, but to maintain your weight or lose weight you do have to deal with the reasons why you over eat.

There are probably a lot more tha can be used as well. If you know some of these tricks to control the portion size, why not leave us a comment and let our readers know about it. Spam comments will be auto deleted!

Well the third place finishers are not back yet, but they keep showing hints that they may be joining the show. They probably will need to compete for a place in the biggest loser house, so not all of them will be able to rejoin, but it will be interesting to see how they have progressed in the weeks since they tried out for the show.

Watch for our next update to see what happens. Meanwhile they grunt and grown, sweat and puke their way to losing weight. Not a pretty site, but they get pushed pretty hard so I guess we have to allow them some down time. Bob and Jillian frequently talk about some of the things we can do to control weight and to avoid putting on more pounds. We decided to include a few of these ideas on this post.

Cupcakes- 100 calorie, whole wheat flour, honey- no sugar

Can you believe that a cupcake made with whole wheat and honey instead of white flour and sugar is only 100 calories! Most cupcakes can have up to 700 calories and I do not know about you, but I can easily put away a couple of them. Far better to partake of 100 calorie cupcakes vs. those 700 babies!
Need to experience success, push through

Broccoli  loaded with nutrients

I love broccoli and apparently it is loaded with nutrients as long as you do not boil it and leach out all of the good stuff. I also like to smother it in cheese soup, which is not so good. Combined with the salt and the calories, this is not such a good idea. Try broccoli on its own or with a little butter!
Sophia, red line, 2 pounds

Subway breakfast 300 calories, egg white, vegetables

I have tried subway for breakfast and they really do make an excellent breakfast sub. Just try not to add the mayonnaise or some of the other sauces. That is were the calories are. If you can avoid the sauces, you will have a great low calorie breakfast. And don’t forget you can have a complete breakfast for less than $5, now that is a good deal.

Create failures to be comfortable, have to get outside of this, need to have some wins.

This seems odd, but according to the trainers, some people will create failures so they can avoid the limelight and attention that they might gather if they won something.  They have to get used to being the center of attention and to enjoy it. No more, poor as me.

Eat cheap get fat 5$ pizza, 5$ pasta, eat well instead

Many families in a rush when they get home from work , have to feed the lids, and then get them out to an activity. A $5 dollar pizza or some other kind of pasta is easy, but there is lots of calories and loads of salt, neither of which is very good for you. With a little extra effort and planning, you can eat healthy and avoid the salt and calories.

Rolling 900pounds of carpet , is it fair

They had to compete by rolling a 900 pound carpet down a field. Now the guys had a tough time with it, yet they managed to do it. The women on the other hand found it very difficult and could barely get the thing going. Could it be that this season is geared towards the men?

Make your life what you want it to be, you just need to decide to do it

Sounds easy doesn’t it. Deciding to do something and actually carrying it out are two different things altogether. But it really comes down to making choices for yourself that will help you lose weight and be the type of person you want to me. Stay focused and transform yourself into the person you want to be.

We watched the show again this week and they still have not brought back the contestants that did not make the show. I think they are going to introduce these people at some point. Maybe they are a shadow team that is working out with Bob and Jillian at another ranch somewhere. I hope so because those people really need the help. They were in worse shape than the people who made it onto the show. They really need to lose weight under a doctors care as well.

The show itself is sticking to the same old formula with one exception. People are still working out, puking their guts out, yelling and crying as they get into shape and try to lose weight. Can you imagine the pain they must be in. Every muscle in their bodies must hurt! There have been a couple times during my life when I have started to exercise after a prolonged period of no exercise. I was in pain for several days. Almost every muscle in my body ached for a week until I got over this period.

These are people on the biggest loser who are overweight, have not exercised in a long time and suddenly they are doing aggressive exercise in an effort to burn calories. They have to be in extreme pain for at least a week. I cannot imagine how much.

The Biggest Loser Weigh In

The variant so far this season seems to be focused around the weigh-in. Instead of the two bottom people being considered for removal from the show, there are 8 people that fall below the yellow line. In effect they are getting a second chance if they have a bad week and do not lose many pounds. If they do fall below the yellow line, the person who lost the most gets to pick one person to save from the group below the yellow line.

The remaining contestants then participate in some sort of competition and the two people who are the last to complete the competition are then voted on to see who is the person to go home. They are not the biggest loser.

I like this change since it gives everyone a second chance. Let’s face it you could have a bad week for some reason and not lose the amount that you need to stay safe. Getting a second chance can be a life saver for some and it focuses on who is the best shape and the person who has exercised the most.

When do the Extra Contestants Come Back?

I still think that the people eliminated in the first show are going to come into the biggest loser house. They obviously need to lose weight and this could be a huge twist in the game of biggest loser.

Let’s face it. while the show is focused on helping people lose weight, it is also a game of strategy. You need to work out and lose weight, but you can form alliances, you can win immunity and you can game the show. There is always a faction within the biggest loser house that is trying to control the game and protect each other when it comes to the elimination phase.

The show does try to avoid portraying this, for obvious reasons, however you can rest assured that these people are playing the game, while trying to lose as much weight as they can.

We will keep blogging about this show. If you would like to add your comments, please do so. We would love to hear your opinions as well. Spam comments will be deleted.

We are watching the reality show “Biggest Loser” tonight. This is the first show in the season and they are taking a different approach this year, showing us how they are selecting contestants from cities all over the US. We really love this show and watch it every chance we get. In fact, we also record the show if we happened to be out for the evening.

We have watched the show over the past 8 seasons and really admire the many contestants, their work ethic and the difficulties that they overcome. I certainly do not want to take anything away from them. However this years show is starting out on a less than positive note in our opinion.

They select three contestants from among thousands of applicants in each city and then they run a contest involving some sort of physical fitness activity. In some cities, the contestants had to do 500 steps on a step machine. In other towns and cities they had to run a mile. The first two contestants to finish the physical fitness test are the ones to get on the show.

Well you can guess the outcome. The person who is the least physical fit is the last to finish and as a result does not get on the show. One guy even fainted within 20 yards of the finish line! And they are the ones that need the most help! One guy weighed 468 pounds and guess what he was the last to finish. Don’t you think that he should be on the show!

He had the guts to get on the this part of the show, take his shirt off to show how over weight he is and weigh in publicly.  This has to count for something.

The show is still running and maybe there is hope for the show yet. Maybe they will provide the 3rd place finishers a place as well at the ranch. We can hope that these people get the help they need. Let’s see what the end of the show brings!

Well it ended but not without controversy. People had to be taken to the hospital. One of these days someone is going to die on the show or qualifying for the show and if this is not a turn off for many over weight people, then I do not know what is. I like the idea of motivating people but this is absolutely the wrong way to go about it.

At the end of the show, they alluded to the fact that some people who came in third may come back later in the show. At least there is hope for these people and maybe they will still be able to take advantage of the program that the Biggest loser offers.

We will blog about this next week as well, so stay tuned. Comments are welcome also and we appreciate any and all opinions as long as they are in good taste. Spam comments will be deleted.