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[Caz]

Nope.

You do know that what it's about is eating for health with a possible side effect of changing weight, as opposed to eating to lose weight with a possible side effect of changing health?  This was definitely a message I needed.  Oh, and if anyone's wondering, I've spent most of my life--including now--thin enough that I have a really hard time keeping warm.  In California

So yeah, if you want to diet to lose weight, I'm fucking fantastic at it.  However, this is a public service announcement that if you're sacrificing your health to do it, it's not worth it.

Yea, I've also seen it used a lot to defend some really stupid ideas, though, such as obesity-related health problems not existing and just... wow. 99% of HAES rivals Scientology for it's completely insane beliefs.


But to respond to OP - Is your friend actually overweight or what? You said she's heavier than her peers but not fat. If she wants to change, sure, but at 'normal' weight levels it's kinda pointless to diet if you want a good body. Exercise has more of an impact at that point... get squatting etc.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Yes consider ways you could encourage your girlfriend to squat more.

Seriously though, some good advice so far, I wouldn't have anything to add. I'd +1 LordBucket and Bauglir, with Vector's response of smaller plates.

Also in general, eat at home and pack lunches instead of going to restaurants. The food you cook will be a bit blander, you won't feel like you're wasting food if you leave a few bites on your plate, and it'll be cheaper too.

[Caz]

Yes consider ways you could encourage your girlfriend to squat more.

Srs man. Squats.

[Eidolon]

I'll leave this here because i think it cuts through a lot of shit.
http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html
I like the more anaerobic side of exercise, particularly strength training w/freeweights, but it's hard to get women to do that, especially if their mindset is "lose weight" and not "lose bodyfat". I don't really believe in the intuitive eating stuff some of my fellow Bay12ers have posted, I tend to tell people to track what they eat. People who count calories do have a problem with missing out on important nutrients though, you need to be smart about it to make sure you're getting what you need while still coming in at a slight caloric deficit. I've posted about this before though, practically the only time I come out of lurking is to gripe at people to stop drinking soda or to lift weights.

Good luck.

[Anvilfolk]

One of the main points of Good Calories, Bad Calories is that calorie intake isn't as important as what type of calories you are consuming in how overweight and healthy you are.

For example: they did a test where people consumed 800 calories per day, 400 in protein, 400 in fat. These people were NOT hungry. Then they added 400 calories of carbohydrates. They became famished.

They also tried forcing people to overeat protein and fat, and couldn't. Then they did the same with carbs, and people were eating upwards of 7000 calories a day and were still hungry.

Non-fat or low-fat stuff is bad. They basically removed the fat by processes you don't want to know about, which makes things untasty. So to add tasty back, they put in either sugars, which spike your insulin, which leads to weight problems and diabetes. Or they use high fructose corn syrup, or just plain fructose, which is basically alcohol without the high, so really bad for you. In the early 1900s, we would have maybe 15g of sugar per day, from a variety of sources. This one little lowfat yoghurt next to me has 19g of sugar, plus 3 or 4g of assorted non-fiber carbs. Don't even look at a bottle of soda...


I've stopped caring about calories. I make sure I avoid simple carbs (e.g. sugar), basically. Those are naturally replaced by fats, proteins and complex carbs with lots of fiber. Trying to almost quit sugar altogether - fructose is evil. Also, avoid buying things whose ingredient list is a wall of text.

[Vector]

Sugar also runs your brain, and your body really doesn't want to break protein down into sugars because the side products are not good.  Personally, I do substantial enough brainwork that I need a fairly hefty carbohydrate intake.  Otherwise I feel listless and unfocused, if not hungry.

[Caz]

*quietly eats sugar out of a bag*

[Anvilfolk]

Sugar also runs your brain, and your body really doesn't want to break protein down into sugars because the side products are not good.  Personally, I do substantial enough brainwork that I need a fairly hefty carbohydrate intake.  Otherwise I feel listless and unfocused, if not hungry.

Same with brainwork for me, but I tend not to feel hungry.

Without getting into a debate, since I am totally not sold on the idea that any carbs = bad, I'd at least consider less refined carbs. I have rolled oats with peanut butter and almond milk fairly often, and those things make me stay full for a really long time. I guess they give you the same amount of glucose, but over a longer period of time, so no glucose/insulin spiking occurs? The fat and protein from the peanut butter (there's fairly comparatively small amounts of carbs there) probably help

I've been meaning to read grain brain, though I'm always suspicious of whether they're just capitalising on "underdog ideas". Same feeling I have towards Good Calories, Bad Calories.

Also, definitely do not rely on blog posts for your sources

[tykavanaugh]

Diets are not generally an effective or heathy way to lose weight. However, a lot of people are saying that your weight is "natural" no matter how little or much you eat and this is 100% not true in any way. Studies have shown that overweight/underweight people tend to over/under estimate how much they eat. When it comes to diets, you don't "go on a diet" for a month or year. You change to a healthy, sustainable habit and keep doing that diet forever. Cut out crap, most highly processed foods, candy, sugary food, avoid crazy amounts of carbs. Most people's diet needs more fat and less carbs than most people get. Eat reasonable, hearty servings of vegetables, meat, some fruit, sometimes a little bread or dairy.

Be physically active, find something you love to do- this is the most important part. Your body will need to spend lots of energy recovering if you're sore and tired from sports, and you can really enjoy a nice steak all the more when you're eating it in order to fuel your recovery and tomorrows activity rather than just because it tastes good.

Ignore that HAES person, that movement is less than useless. All of their discouraging "facts," particularly the "90% of people can't lose weight" one is based on cherry picking from questionable studies. Little of it reflects the consensus of the scientific community.

EDIT: Soda. Don't drink that shit. Even diet soda. That will probably be enough for someone to return to a more normal weight alone over a long time.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

*quietly eats sugar out of a bag*

Dang it caz your avatar fits that post perfectly!

[Ukrainian Ranger]

And thats my question- Has anybody here a suggestion for a solid, working, diet? Of course; That`s just one part, exercise is important too, and i`m also trying to convince her to pick up jogging or something. (Or rather, i don`t want to convince her to pick it up, i`m just making it clear to her, that exercise is one of the most important factors if you want to lose weight.

I'd say eat no fried stuff and drink no sugar containing drinks be it soda or simple tea is all diet normal healthy human needs. + Drink a lot of water. Good old plain water. Our body needs a lot of that stuff, most people drink too little.
And that kind of diet should be permanent, any temporary changes in ration do nothing good if not appointed by professional medics

Other than that - no need to limit yourself. Just force your body to do some work to spend those calories eaten

[LordBucket]

Soda. Don't drink that shit. Even diet soda.

Especially diet soda.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-study-is-wake-up-call-for-diet-soda-drinkers/

"diet soda drinkers' waists grew 70 percent more than non-drinkers. "

http://drhyman.com/blog/2013/02/15/how-diet-soda-makes-you-fat-and-other-food-and-diet-industry-secrets/

"Diet Soda and Diet Drinks Make You Fat and Cause Type 2 Diabetes"

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/10/diet-soda-health-problems/2507219/

"diet soda may be linked to health problems from obesity to diabetes to heart disease"

[tykavanaugh]

Soda. Don't drink that shit. Even diet soda.

Especially diet soda.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-study-is-wake-up-call-for-diet-soda-drinkers/

"diet soda drinkers' waists grew 70 percent more than non-drinkers. "

http://drhyman.com/blog/2013/02/15/how-diet-soda-makes-you-fat-and-other-food-and-diet-industry-secrets/

"Diet Soda and Diet Drinks Make You Fat and Cause Type 2 Diabetes"

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/10/diet-soda-health-problems/2507219/

"diet soda may be linked to health problems from obesity to diabetes to heart disease"

Here's a scientific study on the matter: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2008.284/full

We observed a classic, positive dose-response relationship between AS beverage consumption and long-term weight gain. Such an association does not, by itself, establish causality. But it raises a troubling question, which can be answered only by further research: are ASs fueling—rather than fighting—the very epidemic they were designed to block?

These results, together with findings of increased lymphoma and leukemia in young rodents exposed to aspartame (53), should be carefully considered when policy recommendations to deter the development of obesity in children and adolescents are being formulated—particularly those recommending increased AS consumption. Further research is needed to evaluate the possible impact of AS use on the risk of obesity—and its metabolic sequelae—in the next generation, as well as our own.

AS=Artificial Sweeter, aspartame is a common sweetener in the US
In other words, the most popular sweeter is strongly correlated with long term weight gain.

Anyway,
OP, I also strongly recommend learning about weight training. There is pretty much no other exercise on earth were you can get so much results from so little effort. Good ways to start are to look up "Starting Strength" or "Jim Wendler," those two programs are very beginner friendly and will give you awesome results.

[Anvilfolk]

A few of the artificial sweeteners used in diet drinks, like MSG, are used to fatten up lab rats. Just sayin'!

[Glowcat]

Only two weight loss plans have worked for me so far.

1) Moderately intense+ exercise every day and at or slightly below average calorie intake for your height/age/etc. For me this was at least one hour of biking 6-7 days a week. Without enough exercise (i.e. taking walks won't cut it) just calorie counting did nothing for me, to the point of frustration. With the exercise I not only lost weight relatively quickly but found an unexpected side effect where my appetite would be much lower than when I wasn't exercising regularly.

2) The atkins diet. Information can be found on the atkins.com website. Major issue with this is that it's a restrictive diet that might not be for everyone and you absolutely cannot take breaks or otherwise disrupt the diet without ruining the whole thing. However, if you can't find the time to exercise it might be a viable option. If you or your girlfriend try this method keep in mind that ~5 pounds lost in the first few days are entirely water weight that's tied up in your body's carb storage, so you might need to lose a little more than the scale is indicating. Cutting calories isn't supposed to be required with this method but I found myself reducing intake anyway due to protein satiating my hunger. On atkins it was harder to eat enough in calories than keeping under a limit, since there's only so much bacon that I can eat in a day.

Personally I preferred the first method, since food restrictions chafe me, but sometimes circumstances don't allow for the level of exercise required to make it worth much as a weight loss plan. These methods have worked for me compared to others, but your bodies and metabolisms might be different so *shrug*. Finding a diet you can stick with is the most important part in any case.