Thank you for the replies & suggestions Pat, Taraw & Beth. Anyone going through this has my sincere heartfelt sympathy. I KNOW what you are going through. Strangely enough, I have some positive observations to share regarding my friend (Ed) and the past 5 days since I first posted here. His wife has been out of town and I've been helping him with some interior painting in their house. Very quick background: his wife firmly believes that he simply must keep cutting calories. She will count every single calorie he consumes and is quick to admonish him for eating anything she percieves as unhealthy. She rejects out of hand that he needs a relatively higher minimum level of calories each day (being a tall & robust man). Period. Simply burn more calories than you consume, right? WRONG! And I know you ladies know that yourselves. I'd wager anything all of you are eating mostly healthy foods and consume very little junk food, if any. And I'll also bet many of you spend time doing exercises of some sort...burning more calories than you are consuming!
Here's the recent (last 5 day change). Since we've been working around his house the past 5 days in the evenings, he's been eating dinner much later than usual. He's also been eating larger portions than his wife would allow. And (gasp) he had cookies & ice cream before going to bed! Repeat that for last five days with the following results: Friday morning: down 2 lbs, Saturday morning: down 1 lb, Sunday morning, down 1 lb, Monday morning down 1 lb. (oops, only 4 days so far). These are the types of foods he has consumed: Protein shakes in the morning, pineapples mid morning, large sandwiches from local sandwich shop for lunch, meat lovers pizza one evening, meat loaf with cottage cheese another evening, ribs with macaronic-cheese & beans & cole slaw another evening. Ice cream, cookies & little snacks. His wife prepared the meatloaf before she left & all else was ordered take out.
Just a few minutes ago I asked him when was the last time he lost weight for 3 days in a row, he couldn't remember.
Now I don't know if we're on to anything here. Eating lots of food before going to bed??? Sounds crazy!
If (and only if) this trend for Ed continues, then my advice would be to follow the advices of others here who strongly recommded keeping journals (i'm a big believer in that as part of helping you heal yourself, especially when you're not able to get this resolved through the 'experts'), and strongly consider adding some fats back into your diet. I would also suggest never allowing yourself to go hungry. Not ever! I watched Ed eat nothing but salads & skinned chicked for YEARS and it did nothing to relieve any weight gain & bloating. Perhaps I'm speaking way too soon here, it's only been 4 days now....but I'm sure you ladies understand how easy it is to grab onto anything that seems like it might work. Ed told me he is going to continue the new eating habits (eating more & eating before going to bed), and if his weight does go back up I will post here immediately so you will know I did jump the gun on this one. I hope he is onto something?!?
Edited to add: forgot to mention he also consumed 2 glasses of red wine each of those evenings. I also just now showed him this website & he thinks it's way to soon to report his good results. He's probably right, but I think he's afraid I'm going to jinx his 4 day run with decreasing numbers on the scale (and less bloating). I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway.
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Thank you for the replies & suggestions Pat, Taraw & Beth. Anyone going through this has my sincere heartfelt sympathy. I KNOW what you are going through. Strangely enough, I have some positive observations to share regarding my friend (Ed) and the past 5 days since I first posted here. His wife has been out of town and I've been helping him with some interior painting in their house. Very quick background: his wife firmly believes that he simply must keep cutting calories. She will count every single calorie he consumes and is quick to admonish him for eating anything she percieves as unhealthy. She rejects out of hand that he needs a relatively higher minimum level of calories each day (being a tall & robust man). Period. Simply burn more calories than you consume, right? WRONG! And I know you ladies know that yourselves. I'd wager anything all of you are eating mostly healthy foods and consume very little junk food, if any. And I'll also bet many of you spend time doing exercises of some sort...burning more calories than you are consuming!
Here's the recent (last 5 day change). Since we've been working around his house the past 5 days in the evenings, he's been eating dinner much later than usual. He's also been eating larger portions than his wife would allow. And (gasp) he had cookies & ice cream before going to bed! Repeat that for last five days with the following results: Friday morning: down 2 lbs, Saturday morning: down 1 lb, Sunday morning, down 1 lb, Monday morning down 1 lb. (oops, only 4 days so far). These are the types of foods he has consumed: Protein shakes in the morning, pineapples mid morning, large sandwiches from local sandwich shop for lunch, meat lovers pizza one evening, meat loaf with cottage cheese another evening, ribs with macaronic-cheese & beans & cole slaw another evening. Ice cream, cookies & little snacks. His wife prepared the meatloaf before she left & all else was ordered take out.
Just a few minutes ago I asked him when was the last time he lost weight for 3 days in a row, he couldn't remember.
Now I don't know if we're on to anything here. Eating lots of food before going to bed??? Sounds crazy!
If (and only if) this trend for Ed continues, then my advice would be to follow the advices of others here who strongly recommded keeping journals (i'm a big believer in that as part of helping you heal yourself, especially when you're not able to get this resolved through the 'experts'), and strongly consider adding some fats back into your diet. I would also suggest never allowing yourself to go hungry. Not ever! I watched Ed eat nothing but salads & skinned chicked for YEARS and it did nothing to relieve any weight gain & bloating. Perhaps I'm speaking way too soon here, it's only been 4 days now....but I'm sure you ladies understand how easy it is to grab onto anything that seems like it might work. Ed told me he is going to continue the new eating habits (eating more & eating before going to bed), and if his weight does go back up I will post here immediately so you will know I did jump the gun on this one. I hope he is onto something?!?
Edited to add: forgot to mention he also consumed 2 glasses of red wine each of those evenings. I also just now showed him this website & he thinks it's way to soon to report his good results. He's probably right, but I think he's afraid I'm going to jinx his 4 day run with decreasing numbers on the scale (and less bloating). I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway.
January 17, 2011 - 1:15pmThis Comment
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