BEST WAY TO CURB YOUR APPETITE?

[stewie911]

There is a medical condition where the person is always hungry. I think I may have a mild case of that.

 

I eat 7+ meals a day.

Diet is high in fibre

I eat a big breakfast

Diet high in mono unsaturated fats

Drink lots of water

Eat immediatly after waking up

 

But I'm hungry all the time. I can count on my one hand how many times I've gone without something to eat for more than 6h in the past year.

[MDW]

Busted collar bone and ribs

 

No excuse now, I should have been back on the bike last week but it is hard to get going again

 

And it is 19kg now

Hey Chris I know how you feel was taken down in 94.7 I have 23 fractures and cracks across 8 ribs :-(,its been a hell of a 6 weeks, I took 10 days off and then hit the pool and the bike I have not managed to run at all, but started again this week and its coming back together again. The doc says the fall was so hard it will take 3 more months before that tightness disappears completely, anyway recover well. By the way as far as the weight goes my race weight is usually around 67-68kg, after 3 weeks of not much training at all, I was down to 67 and stayed there, muscle mass drop, my body fat stayed constant, but I kept my nutrition solid throughout, although when u r down and out a chocolate can sometimes look good :-).

 

later

M

[chris_w_65]

Hey Chris I know how you feel was taken down in 94.7 I have 23 fractures and cracks across 8 ribs :-(,its been a hell of a 6 weeks, I took 10 days off and then hit the pool and the bike I have not managed to run at all, but started again this week and its coming back together again. The doc says the fall was so hard it will take 3 more months before that tightness disappears completely, anyway recover well. By the way as far as the weight goes my race weight is usually around 67-68kg, after 3 weeks of not much training at all, I was down to 67 and stayed there, muscle mass drop, my body fat stayed constant, but I kept my nutrition solid throughout, although when u r down and out a chocolate can sometimes look good :-).

 

later

M

 

 

Ouch. Ribs are the worst, especially when you know you are about to sneeze

 

Funny enough, since I gave up smoking in August I have not had the urge to eat any form of junk food, not even once. I think the whole thing about losing weight is in the mind (like Powerbalance bands, lol). I decided I wasn't going to be like most people and gain weight when I stopped smoking.

[MDW]

Ouch. Ribs are the worst, especially when you know you are about to sneeze

 

Funny enough, since I gave up smoking in August I have not had the urge to eat any form of junk food, not even once. I think the whole thing about losing weight is in the mind (like Powerbalance bands, lol). I decided I wasn't going to be like most people and gain weight when I stopped smoking.

I could not sleep lying down on any side for the first 4 weeks, had sleep sitting up, sneezing and coughing are an absolute pain, but nothing we can do just go through the motions, congrats on giving up the smoking its a tough one but now that u have taken the step keep up the good work.

[Scotticus]

Ye, I have been drinking a lot of coffee for a looong time. What I've realised is that the caffeine gives you cravings and spikes your blood sugar the same way sweet / high gi foods do, so I'm trying to cut down and replace with green tea or yerba mate when I absolutely have to have some (usually first thing in the morning is hardest).

 

My wife has done weight watchers and it worked for her, but personally I've never bothered with the calorie counting / points system stuff. I don't think I could do it and I don't really need to - I'm usually full on the foods I mentioned in my last post and I snack on the healthy / high fibre stuff throughout the day. On rest days I'll try not to eat too much and I only take recovery drinks after really hard sessions. If I get hungry and I know I shouldn't be eating more I'll have some raw veggies - a carrot or similar rabbit food - and have a cup of green tea or yerba mate - keeps you going for another couple hours. haha

 

Losing the last few kg's takes a while, so if you are already eating right then I guess you just have to be patient. You can't lose more than like half a kg a week I guess and sustain the weight loss long term.

 

This is an awesome tip. My coffee intake is about 2-4 mugs a day. No wonder I'm always have cravings for stuffies.

And I just had my 3rd cup. So my next cup will be some green tea and less of the stuffies

[covie]

This is an awesome tip. My coffee intake is about 2-4 mugs a day. No wonder I'm always have cravings for stuffies.

And I just had my 3rd cup. So my next cup will be some green tea and less of the stuffies

 

 

I am not sure i agree with it being coffee, see i am a bit of an addict i drink literlally about 20-30 cups a day. well while at work weekends probably about 4-8 cups a day.

 

And I dont nibble all day long, and most days i dont even do lunch. The problem is not the caffiene its athe amount of sugar i consume 3 sugars per cup x an avg of 25 cups. thats a whole lot of sugar. So I am just replacing my sugar with xylitol, in an effort to loose my built in bently belt. 25 x 15ml of sugar a day yikes no wonder.

Edited January 6, 2011 by covie

[MDW]

COFFEE - THE TRUTH :-)

I love coffee too, but in all honesty there are so many things to consider when taking in a cup. Firstly instant coffee is really bad for you, if you are going to have coffee rather go for a bean brew.

 

Secondly coffee does not spike your sugar levels at all, BUT, it gives you an adrenalin rush, that feel good kick feeling to the brain, and this is because coffee is a stimulant, nothing less.

 

So is coffee good or bad?

Well it has its benefits thats to say that caffeine does have certain benefits. Caffeine obviously assists in keeping you focussed and alert, however the feel good from this is short lived. Its why during a race a caffeine gel or any form of caffeine should only be take in towards the very end, last 30-40 minutes or so. Caffeine obviously does raise the heart rate, so yes it can assist with calorie burn by keeping it up. In actual fact a lot of body builders that want to enhance fat burn during exercise will tend to take in a strong cup of black coffee 20 minutes before they start training, in order to enable fat burn from the onset, its a little trick they use.

In endurance caffeine plays a great role in sparing glycogen stores by up to 50%, beleive it ;-). However its not so simple. You will need to be pretty much caffeine intolerant for this to work properly, ie: no coffee or caffeine for 7 days before your event, and you will need to ingest the caffeine approximately 1mg per a kg of body weight 3-4 hours before the event, not close to the event at all, otherwise it dont work and you will land up dehydrating and probably stomach irritability. Problem is in SA I cant find a race that starts late enough to do this ha ha, no ways I am going to wake up at midnight to start my caffeine loading, besides the events here specifically cycling events are really not long enough anyway, but for a real endurance event if it started at 10-11am it would be worth considering.

Now another benefit of coffee :-), glycogen replenishment, did you know if you finish a hard workout, and want to replenish your glycogen stores 60% faster than usual, take in caffeine with a complex carbohydrate such as raw oats breakfast and it works like a bomb, especially brilliant for stage racing, and back to back workouts, its a fact.

 

Now I have said a lot on the pro's of coffee ie: caffeine, however here are the cons.

Take coffee with sugar and you are totally wasting your time, this it what will play with your mental rush as well as your glucose levels and basically when you mix caffeine with a high GI substance such as sugar, the caffeine does the opposite of burn it has the tendency to store the glucose as fat, :-), yip, so all you coffee lovers with sugar in the coffee, not a chance that has a benefit its the biggest weight gainer.

Now fructose and xylitol are better, but really guys coffee is best in its natural state. OK, so what about coffee in its natural state. Are there cons. YES of course, it raises your heart rate, gives you an adrenalin rush, and then leaves you craving more, people sometimes tend to over do it with the coffee and then they get into a cycle of 3-4 cups a day upwards. This is not a health hazard, as much as you think it does not affect you it does and in a real bad way. With time, sleeping disorders, lack of stability and focus, potential blood pressure, nervous system and or hypertension disorders are all waiting to happen. Why do this to yourself it baffles my mind. Aside from this for every cup of black coffee you drink 2 glasses of water are required to counteract the dehydration properties the caffeine helps provide, which of course is not where you want to be, as much as coffee is water with caffeine, its does not work that way. You need to hydrate yourself far more when taking in the stimulant.

 

Advice: Coffee who does not love it?

Its a great tasting feel good drink, but take it in wisely, if you are drinking it excessively, try and limit yourself to down to 1 cup per a day, medical experts advise 5 a week to be a cut off point from a health perspective. Rather take in the coffee and enjoy it knowing you are using it as a benefit and not to your detriment. If you are looking for alternatives rather try the herbal teas that are available, and get used to them, the ones I recommend, are

Yerba Mate - different polyphenols to the normal green teas, a natural immune booster and a great fat burner :-)

Green Tea

Rooibos Tea

Cacoa Tea

Honeybush

mix match, enjoy and remember put your health first.

 

Later

M

[Lucky Luke.]

COFFEE - THE TRUTH :-)

I love coffee too, but in all honesty there are so many things to consider when taking in a cup. Firstly instant coffee is really bad for you, if you are going to have coffee rather go for a bean brew.

 

Secondly coffee does not spike your sugar levels at all, BUT, it gives you an adrenalin rush, that feel good kick feeling to the brain, and this is because coffee is a stimulant, nothing less.

 

So is coffee good or bad?

Well it has its benefits thats to say that caffeine does have certain benefits. Caffeine obviously assists in keeping you focussed and alert, however the feel good from this is short lived. Its why during a race a caffeine gel or any form of caffeine should only be take in towards the very end, last 30-40 minutes or so. Caffeine obviously does raise the heart rate, so yes it can assist with calorie burn by keeping it up. In actual fact a lot of body builders that want to enhance fat burn during exercise will tend to take in a strong cup of black coffee 20 minutes before they start training, in order to enable fat burn from the onset, its a little trick they use.

In endurance caffeine plays a great role in sparing glycogen stores by up to 50%, beleive it ;-). However its not so simple. You will need to be pretty much caffeine intolerant for this to work properly, ie: no coffee or caffeine for 7 days before your event, and you will need to ingest the caffeine approximately 1mg per a kg of body weight 3-4 hours before the event, not close to the event at all, otherwise it dont work and you will land up dehydrating and probably stomach irritability. Problem is in SA I cant find a race that starts late enough to do this ha ha, no ways I am going to wake up at midnight to start my caffeine loading, besides the events here specifically cycling events are really not long enough anyway, but for a real endurance event if it started at 10-11am it would be worth considering.

Now another benefit of coffee :-), glycogen replenishment, did you know if you finish a hard workout, and want to replenish your glycogen stores 60% faster than usual, take in caffeine with a complex carbohydrate such as raw oats breakfast and it works like a bomb, especially brilliant for stage racing, and back to back workouts, its a fact.

 

Now I have said a lot on the pro's of coffee ie: caffeine, however here are the cons.

Take coffee with sugar and you are totally wasting your time, this it what will play with your mental rush as well as your glucose levels and basically when you mix caffeine with a high GI substance such as sugar, the caffeine does the opposite of burn it has the tendency to store the glucose as fat, :-), yip, so all you coffee lovers with sugar in the coffee, not a chance that has a benefit its the biggest weight gainer.

Now fructose and xylitol are better, but really guys coffee is best in its natural state. OK, so what about coffee in its natural state. Are there cons. YES of course, it raises your heart rate, gives you an adrenalin rush, and then leaves you craving more, people sometimes tend to over do it with the coffee and then they get into a cycle of 3-4 cups a day upwards. This is not a health hazard, as much as you think it does not affect you it does and in a real bad way. With time, sleeping disorders, lack of stability and focus, potential blood pressure, nervous system and or hypertension disorders are all waiting to happen. Why do this to yourself it baffles my mind. Aside from this for every cup of black coffee you drink 2 glasses of water are required to counteract the dehydration properties the caffeine helps provide, which of course is not where you want to be, as much as coffee is water with caffeine, its does not work that way. You need to hydrate yourself far more when taking in the stimulant.

 

Advice: Coffee who does not love it?

Its a great tasting feel good drink, but take it in wisely, if you are drinking it excessively, try and limit yourself to down to 1 cup per a day, medical experts advise 5 a week to be a cut off point from a health perspective. Rather take in the coffee and enjoy it knowing you are using it as a benefit and not to your detriment. If you are looking for alternatives rather try the herbal teas that are available, and get used to them, the ones I recommend, are

Yerba Mate - different polyphenols to the normal green teas, a natural immune booster and a great fat burner :-)

Green Tea

Rooibos Tea

Cacoa Tea

Honeybush

mix match, enjoy and remember put your health first.

 

Later

M

 

Sheesh great post. I think that about covers the coffee issue back to front and inside out

 

Mark, one other thing I've started to realise or suspect.. perhaps you have some input here:

 

When I'm training large volumes and trying to balance mentally demanding work at the same time I tend to drink a lot of coffee to try and stay alert after a hard workout.

 

I think this is a fast track to adrenal fatique and being really overtrained, given the extra stress the caffeine places on your adrenaline glands. After a while you cannot get your heart rate up on the bike. What do you think?

Edited January 6, 2011 by Luke.

[MDW]

Sheesh great post. I think that about covers the coffee issue back to front and inside out

 

Mark, one other thing I've started to realise or suspect.. perhaps you have some input here:

 

When I'm training large volumes and trying to balance mentally demanding work at the same time I tend to drink a lot of coffee to try and stay alert after a hard workout.

 

I think this is a fast track to adrenal fatique and being really overtrained, given the extra stress the caffeine places on your adrenaline glands. After a while you cannot get your heart rate up on the bike. What do you think?

 

I have been through phases like that as well. Adrenal fatigue is an issue and yes it can impact your heart rate significantly a lot of people actually dont realize that. If you really want to check if thats the case, if you know your resting heart rate, when you wake up each morning and take it, under fatigued conditions you will actually notice it to be significantly higher.

 

Some tips on trying to curb fatigue and dealing with work related stress at the same time is really around nutrition and sleep.

Its important to eat a proper recovery meal after a workout, when I say recovery I talk of 3 things:

 

Muscle Recovery - A decent protein shake 10/90 (maltodextrin / Protein isolate combo) I would go with a soya based, but each has their preference, this needs to come in within 15 minutes of finishing your workout.

Re-hydration - fluid, ensure you hydrate during and after the workout, u need to put in the liquid u lost, water is best, if u feeling flat a isotonic drink will help.

Glycogen Recovery - decent breakfast if after morning workout. I usually have a bowl of oats, with 3-4 types of fruit, low fat yoghurt and seeds mixed in.

 

To fight stress and fatigue as well, because it can also severely impact your immune system and allow illness to come in, especially if your interferon levels drop, I actually go for a neurobian injection once a month, and sometimes I combine it with a Vit B Complex, I find it helps.

 

I also take in a decent multivitamin with my morning meal just to provide some balance of elements, I use Veridian, its expensive but its the best :-), and no i dont work or am related to them, I just know their quality is really at the top of the list they only use natural organic ingredients.

 

As for mental focus, I would stick to the non-stimulant drinks, I eat fruit to provide my mental focus during the day, apples, apricots, dried mango, pears, etc etc, they provide a slower release of glucose and more mental focus, the problem with coffee is its too up and down and eventually u hit the mental wall.

 

I just edited because I forgot to mention something very important, Sleep Sleep Sleep listen to your body, if you are battling to fall asleep at night it can mean fatigue, then u require some rest time to get back on track. Remember training is about quality workouts, listen to your body if u dont feel like training and not passionate about getting on the bike in the morning, then rather miss the workout take it easy and wait until you are really craving it. You will be the better off. Also key times to be asleep at night to receive proper hormone release is proven to be between 11 and 1am, and 4-5am, yes i know us cyclists get up early, but we cannot do this every single day or we will pay the price, sleep is still king ;-).

 

Hope this helps

all the best

Mark

Edited January 6, 2011 by MDW

[chris_w_65]

Just got back from my ride and read the last few posts Went to the kitchen and DAMN, remembered my bean to cup machine is in for repairs

 

Will have to settle for a cup of Jacobs. #4 for the day and probably the last. Drink it with no sugar and fat free milk

[gummibear]

I have heard that if you take cinnamon it curbs your cravings for something sweet when you are hungry.

 

Nothing nicer than a cinnamon and sugar pancake or a cinnamon bun

[covie]

Nothing nicer than a cinnamon and sugar pancake or a cinnamon bun

 

Cinnabun with icing yummmmmmy

[Lucky Luke.]

I have been through phases like that as well. Adrenal fatigue is an issue and yes it can impact your heart rate significantly a lot of people actually dont realize that. If you really want to check if thats the case, if you know your resting heart rate, when you wake up each morning and take it, under fatigued conditions you will actually notice it to be significantly higher.

 

Some tips on trying to curb fatigue and dealing with work related stress at the same time is really around nutrition and sleep.

Its important to eat a proper recovery meal after a workout, when I say recovery I talk of 3 things:

 

Muscle Recovery - A decent protein shake 10/90 (maltodextrin / Protein isolate combo) I would go with a soya based, but each has their preference, this needs to come in within 15 minutes of finishing your workout.

Re-hydration - fluid, ensure you hydrate during and after the workout, u need to put in the liquid u lost, water is best, if u feeling flat a isotonic drink will help.

Glycogen Recovery - decent breakfast if after morning workout. I usually have a bowl of oats, with 3-4 types of fruit, low fat yoghurt and seeds mixed in.

 

To fight stress and fatigue as well, because it can also severely impact your immune system and allow illness to come in, especially if your interferon levels drop, I actually go for a neurobian injection once a month, and sometimes I combine it with a Vit B Complex, I find it helps.

 

I also take in a decent multivitamin with my morning meal just to provide some balance of elements, I use Veridian, its expensive but its the best :-), and no i dont work or am related to them, I just know their quality is really at the top of the list they only use natural organic ingredients.

 

As for mental focus, I would stick to the non-stimulant drinks, I eat fruit to provide my mental focus during the day, apples, apricots, dried mango, pears, etc etc, they provide a slower release of glucose and more mental focus, the problem with coffee is its too up and down and eventually u hit the mental wall.

 

I just edited because I forgot to mention something very important, Sleep Sleep Sleep listen to your body, if you are battling to fall asleep at night it can mean fatigue, then u require some rest time to get back on track. Remember training is about quality workouts, listen to your body if u dont feel like training and not passionate about getting on the bike in the morning, then rather miss the workout take it easy and wait until you are really craving it. You will be the better off. Also key times to be asleep at night to receive proper hormone release is proven to be between 11 and 1am, and 4-5am, yes i know us cyclists get up early, but we cannot do this every single day or we will pay the price, sleep is still king ;-).

 

Hope this helps

all the best

Mark

 

Thanks again, helps a lot. I think sleep is mostly what I've been missing. Never heard of Neurobion before but I've looked it up and it sounds like good stuff though.

[MDW]

Neurobion is actually a Vitamin B1,6 and 12 so with a compex which contains the Riboflavin etc u get a nice pick me up for your body. Any Dis-Chem nurse can administer it and the cost is around R80 or so