A Practical Strategy for Improving Body Composition
Hey Folks,
I'm in the saddle, hard, and on the body comp improvement train as I prepare for the Everest Challenge in September: 29k of gain in 2 days. Gonna hurt, no matter what, so I'm:
• Getting as strong as I can. You know the drill
• Researching a compact crank + 36-12 gearing :-)
• Getting as light as I can so I can work the w/kg problem from both ends.
• Using the experience to prove I can do it, learn how, and then have the confidence to apply these methods for other races.
IOW, in the past I've always said "gee, I sure do wish I could get down to 155lb before IMxx" but I never had a method.
So I'd like to share with you what I've been doing, we'll kick it around in this thread and I'll post it all to the Wiki.
If you've spent any time around me, you'll know that I like to eat. One of my huge weaknesses is that I simply can't say no to something I shouldn't eat...even as it's going into my mouth and down my neck. However, recently I've learned:
If I log what and how many calories I eat and how many calories I burn, every day, I lose weight.
In the end, burning fat is about creating a calorie deficit: calories out (exercise) greater than calories in (eating). You need to create a 3500cal deficit to lose 1 pound of fat. So, for example, a deficit of 500 calories per day is 1lb of fat loss per week.
So you can couldashouldawoulda all you want, but you can't improve something until you measure what you're doing. It really is that simple.
This is the method:
- I use an iPhone app called Lose It! There are others out there, Livestrong has a good one, I hear, that also works with the Blackberry and can be accessed from a desktop or laptop. Has a huge food database also. However, I like Lose It because it's dead simple, I like how it displays the info I want to see, and I don't eat out much so I don't need a huge food database, especially of restaurant menus.
- I simply enter my age, weight, goal weight, and say I want to lose 2lb per week. You can choose from .5lb to 2lb.
- It then spits out a daily calorie budget (ie, this is how much you can eat each day and achieve your goal of losing x lb per week. This calorie budget assumes a sedentary, desk jockey lifestyle.
I then simply log my food and exercise into Lose It. It keeps track, tells me how many more calories I can eat today, etc.
So I do all of this above (42yo, 5'9", goal of ~150lb, 2lb/wk loss) and spits out 1327 calories as my daily budget. Notes:
"Holy crap, that's NOTHING!" I'm gonna starve!!" However, you quickly find that:
- Exercise earns you the right to eat. You then log what you eat, stay within your budget and, poof, you lose body fat.
- Little things add up and have the effect on the balance sheet of basically canceling out exercise. For example, Joanne and I like to drink a non-fat mocha in the morning, when she is home and not working. That's about 175cals. If I have 7 of those across the week (pretending I make my own :-), that's 1225 calories across the week, or one very solid training ride. So if I have that mocha each day, I basically throw out the calorie burning effect of one very, very hard 1.5-2hr ride. Or, if I just drink black coffee instead, it's as if I did an additional bike ride that week. You'll find alllll kinds of opportunities like this throughout the day when you commit to keeping a log and actually pay attention to what you eat.
The act of logging your food creates accountability for yourself. "If I eat that cookie then I have to go to the trouble to search for it, log it, and basically record and make official my failure." Once upon a time 6 cookies survived a week on my kitchen counter due to this very thing. Back in the day...they wouldn't last 6 minutes.
Finally, it really drives home the learning point that if you don't have the habit, lifestyle, or health to exercise, it's very, very difficult to lose weight simply by not eating...I can't imagine...but that's another topic.
The How-To (or what I do) for Each Side of the Equation:
Calories Out (exercise)
Do you ride with power?
My Ergomo give me calories burned as well as kilojoules of work performed. The difference is usually about 10%, ie, 1000kj of work = ~1100 cals burned. No idea how accurate this us (the calories that is, the kj is correct) but I don't really care, I just want a number. SRM gives cals burned as well (I think). Powertap gives kj (it's the E number on the bottom line of the display) and I suppose you could use my little 10% deal above to do the math yourself. Marine Math, good enough. If anything, you want underestimate calories burned.
No Power?
Most heart rate monitors these days give you some kinda calories burned thing. Again...it's probably close enough and, if anything, you want to understate calories burned. IOW, it might be a 1000 calorie ride but call it 900cals to be safe.
Run
Same deal but via GPS or your heart rate monitor.
Swim
I personally pick 600cal/hr. No idea if it's correct but, if anything, it likely underestimates cals burned which is a good thing.
Calories In (eating)
- Tons of lean meat, fruits and veggiesLimit starchy carbs to before, during, or immediately after exercise
- Choose nutrient dense over calorie dense foods. For me, that means bread. I luvs me some bread = calorie dense vs nutrient dense = I get it out of the house or only eat it immediately before, during, or after a workout.
- If you don't want to eat it, get it out of the house, though, for me, simply logging my stuff has created a level of self-discipline that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Application throughout Rich's Day
Killin' Chickens
Yesterday (Monday) I went to a local mexican market and bought 10lbs of their marinated chicken. The carne asada is like crack (ask Patrick and Dan) but I choose chicken (see lean meat rule above). I froze 5lb and grilled the other 5lb last night, chopped it up and put in a tuperware container.
Big Ass Salad
Next, I make a BAS: romaine lettuce, raw red and green pepper, onion, cherry tomatoes, black beans, canned corn, slivered almonds, shredded carrots and dried cranberries. All goes into another big ass container.
Tons o' Fruit
Next, I hit Costco: apples, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, peaches, pineapple, bag of cut broccoli and carrots.
AM (I always ride or run first thing in the morning)
• Black coffee
• Water only on the bike/run. Note that I know I can exercise about 1500cals on an empty stomach, no problem. Today was 1200 cals of very hard work, no issues at all on coffee only and a bottle of water. However, when I'm running these daily calorie deficits like I am now, I may carry a bar with me just in case I start to feel a bonk. However, I'm not not taking any calories while exercising as a weight loss tool. Just me, personally, I've learned that if I'm going to be working really, really hard (think typical EN interval session) I can't have anything solid in my stomach. Over the years I've learned that my AM gas tank is good for about 1:45-2hrs of very hard exercise without eating anything. You may be different.
• Post workout Big Ass Smoothie: 12oz OJ, 8oz soy milk, 1 scoop protein powder, blueberries, raspberries, frozen strawberries and bananas (Sonny and Riley each get a strawberry :-). This is a Big Ass Smoothie and, to add volume and fill me up even more, I'll sometimes add 8-12oz of Crystal Lite lemonade or other non-calorie mix.
Log It:
Log my ride this morning, 1200 cals, my smoothie, 575cals, Lose It bounces this off
my budget for the day and sez I can eat over 2000 more cals today. Sahweeeet!
Lunch:
Big Ass Chicken Salad, mixing the two above together and adding salad dressing. I haven't bothered with low cal dressing because Joanne has some pretty good "normal" ones from Whole Foods. When those are gone I'll find some good low-cal flavors.
Log it
Kind of a SWAG but I call my salad about 600 calories. It's about 8-10oz of dark meat grilled chicken, some hot salsa for flavor, as much actual "salad" as I can stuff in the bowl and a drizzle of dressing. It's friggin' good and I hope that at 600cals I'm overestimating how many cals are in this salad.
Mid-Afternoon
Big Ass Bowl of Fruit: just open the fridge, take what I want...it's a lot and I log it all. Or a meatless salad. Or turkey sammich + broccoli, carrots, light dressing = ~400 cals.
Dinner:
Big Ass Salad, repeat
Mid-Evening
More Fruit
Water
I have 3-4 x 32oz stainless water bottles in the fridge and try to drink all of them throughout the day.
Again, I log all of this in Lose It, it does the math fo me, and I do the opportunity cost math throughout the day: "If I have two handful of nuts, 300 cals, that aren't going to fill me up at all, I basically throw away 20-25 very hard minutes of my ride this morning...not gonna eat it!"
"Cheaters" through the Day
Low Cal Smootie: I likes my frozen treats. So I'll make a Big Ass Smoothie using only no-cal Crystal Lite, a cup of frozen strawberries and frozen banana. It's like a 24oz sorbet and only about 150cals.
Veggies:
Brocolli, carrots, peppers, and low-fat dressing. Veggies have ludicrously low cals so I stuff myself.
The theme, for me, is to go BIG with the portions of very low calories foods. I absolutely stuff myself with my salads, the fruit, etc and I'm not hungry at all during the day.
Long Rides:
Again, I know myself and know that I can get by and do well on a ludicrously low calorie intake during my rides. Like, a 400-500 cal breakfast (PBnJ, nature's perfect food...) and then <800cals for a 3-4000 calorie ride. However, I have to be careful when I'm running a daily calorie deficit like I am now so I'm always packing drinking powder, extra bars, etc in case I need them. I've also bought a six pack of 20oz Coke bottles and keep them frozen in the freezer. Grab one, toss it in my jersey pocket as a mid-ride refreshment on long hot rides. Nice!! Again, I'm going light on these rides not as a weight loss tool but I'm learned that when I ride really, really hard, like I am now, my stomach is very sensitive to the number of calories I put in. For me, eating less = I can ride harder. When I do need to eat, I prefer to slam something pure sugar, like a Snickers, Coke, etc. Just works for me. <br />
Long runs:
Again, I'm good with water only and maybe a couple gels. More often I'll eat a bar before the run because I just don't like to carry anything with me when I run.
Weigh Yourself
I weigh myself every morning and before/after my rides. This lets me keep an eye on my hydration state, let's me know if I need to figure out how/make myself drink more on long rides, etc.
Routine: wake up, pee, drink big cup coffee, visit the Lil' Coach's Room, weigh myself, subtract 1 pound (the 16oz coffee). Then, if long ride, have breakfast, drink 32oz of water, weigh myself, ride, weigh myself afterwards, make a mental note that I need to drink an additional 2-3 x 32oz bottles of water throughout the day.
Weight Observations:
My heaviest days are Monday and Tues, I'm lightest on the weekend. My theory is that with high volume rides on Saturday and Sunday (this past weekend was ~11hrs) and my hydration state and glycogen stores bouncing all over the place, the scale just isn't accurate. Then, as I work my way through my routine above through the week, my weight will stabilize so to speak, at a more "normal" level. The net is that last week (19.5hrs cycling, 1100 TSS, 12,800 kj, and 334mi...yeah, it was big) I saw numbers from 155 to 164lb on the scale, depending on when I weighed myself. So I figure I don't see a legit number until maybe Wed or Thurs morning.
Thoughts? Observations?
Comments
The biggest shock to me was when I realized just how many calories I was taking in each day. Now that I am watching it like a hawk, it is like a game to me. And it works.
I like to weigh on Wednesdays because all of the hydration/dehydration noise in my weight from the weekend exploits are typically worked through by then. Good luck in hitting your 150 goal Rich.
btw, stay away from the large McDonald's Triple Chocolate Shake. 1,160 calories. Forget chipping away at negating a long training ride over a weeks time. You could do it in one day! It's not like I know anybody that would be stupid enough to hammer down one of those things after a ride. Nope. Suuure don't. No sir. I don't even know why I looked that particular item up on my app. Noooo reason at all. Just curious. Yep, that's it. Juuuust curious.
In a very unscientific way I have done this style of eating for almost 3 weeks now. Cutting way back on the carbs and dramatically increasing the things you mention (salad, raw veggies, lean protein). Doing the big smoothie post work-out, goes down so easily. BOOM, I am down 5 lbs to race weight!!!
Plain and simple, it works.
Rich,
Looks like your simple Marine status has put lots of thought into the Weight Observations area. Percentage wise you swing a great deal on weight.
I will ride hard tomorrow 2 hours on water and see if I can take it without bonking. I used to be able to but seem to be a sugar machine now.
Looks good. As I contemplate the ToC 2011 this may come in handy to getting a -5 lb bike as I need to drop 20 lbs to stay in your Zip Code.
This week I gave up processed foods (my Aunt even brought homemade cookies to my office on Monday and I haven't had one) as I want to drop 6-8 lbs by Aug 15th Oly I'm doing to make the run easier. 2 lbs on day one of water from decreased carbs.
Vince
Gina, I kinda eat like this most of time, with obvious lapses here and there...lots of lapses...but in general there is no junk food in the house, I don't hit fast food joints, I don't eat out often or work in an office with bad choices, etc. However, it wasn't until I actually started logging everything that I found out just how many calories I was eating, how easy it would be cut 800-1000cals per day from that without really denying myself anything that I like and making me eat stuff I don't.
You're plenty lean but, for everyone else, I recommend you log your stuff. You'll learn a lot and technology makes is stoopid easy. Just had my mid-day snack of peaches, blueberries and raspberries, LoseIt sez I can still eat 1360 calories today
.
Vince, I seem to be sweating a lot more than I used to. We've had a very mild summer down here, then it got very hot for a week last week or so. It was a big shock to my body. I drank ~9 bottles in a 4.5hr ride and still lost 5lb. It's was friggin' hot but at some point it's nearly impossible to stay on top of the water loss. I'm also riding in the mountains with several hours between water stops, etc. It definitely takes some planning.
Oh, Rich, I am with you. Can't tell you the last time I had fast food, and cook 6 out of 7 nights/week. Have my own garden and harvest as much as possible there. The one night we do eat out, it is at a bistro that uses local ingredients. Good, clean food.
My downfall was before dinner snacks. I could put AWAY some pita chips and hummus!!
And, then there is beer.....
Amen to all of this. Paleo for Athletes got me started, but I can't 100% stay on anything that limited. What it did do, however, is get me to really clean up my eating, and I can see the body comp changing. And that's with NO deprivation, complete eating satisfaction and satiety. HUGE amounts of fruits and veggies are the staples. By choice, we too hardly ever eat out, preferring to cook and eat clean. It's made a big difference in how I feel too--body and mind. Clean eating, AND getting my hypothyrois straightened out has changed my world a lot.
The hypo thing, though, that's a whole other kettle of fish in terms of not being able to make a dent in your weight no matter what you do. Body has to function correctly first for any of this to work, let me tell you.
So now I am logging everything in both Lose It and Livestrong. Both good apps but different. Lose It tells me I can eat 2279 calories a day while Livestrong has me at 2564. Needless to say I am using the lower as my goal. Actually Livestrong allows you to say what kind of lifestyle you lead and that affects the number of calories you can take in. Not really sure why I am logging in both but maybe it gives me double accountability.
As for what I have been eating, or plan to eat, I try to eat fruits and greek yogurt as my snacks. I love my PB sandwiches! I actually started just using 1 slice of multigrain bread instead of two at a savings of 100 calories a sandwich. Breakfast is usually a cup of cereal and skim milk. Hardest part for me, aside form my beers on the weekends, is dinner. I work at night so dinner is in the office. I have noticed I do better if I eat early, say around 6, and then just graze on fruits and my yogurts until I leave. Also, when I get home, a little after midnight, sometimes I am just so hungry. I know I should just go to sleep and deal with it but it is hard. Maybe I should look into the smoothies, for the rest of the day, not at night.
So I have put it out there, I want to be 185 come marathon time so I guess I have to do it now. I never seem to have a problem keeping the weight off given the amount we all work out, so it really is all about sustaining the caloric deficit to actually lose the weight. And dare I say I am actually going to start, don't hit me Rich, lifting some weights more often. Need to build my lean muscle back up to burn more calories.
Nice leadership on the body composition front; well done.
On a side note, you mentioned looking into smaller gearing options. In the rando world micro-compacts are sometimes used: 46x30 is a popular option. We don't need the top end! You can find these cranks through Velo Orange or Peter White. These will allow you to keep your 13x26 cassette.
If you want to calculate your energy needs, here's a link to last week's newsletter. I prefer calculating it based on your daily work habits and adding on calories burned during activity. http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs090/1102073774107/archive/1103577585351.html
I would caution trying to loose weight too quickly during race preparation. Cutting out 1000 calories/day for a 2 pound/week weight loss can impact training performance. I'll typically go slower with a 500 calorie/day deficit depending on where the person is in their training/racing plan.
I also wouldn't recommend going below your calculated or measured resting metabolic rate. That can cause your body to go into an energy conservation mode which is not good for you or it.
Al, I think I am lucky in the fact that I originally downloaded Livestrong when it was free. So I am grandfathered in for all updates. I think they only have the pay version now. It's $3 I think? I have been thinking since last night which I like better and for the life of me I cannot decide just yet. They both are great so you can't go wrong with either.
I use the same Lose It app and have adopted the Paleo thing too---mostly to be able to continue to eat the volume of food I eat, but have a caloric reduction. I think without some way of making the eating more conscious and less mindless, it's easy to exceed the amount of Cal you burn even with IM training by eating alot of Calorie dense food.
The calorie deficit game is very individual, @ 1000 calories per day, I'm good for about 3 days and then look out. Will power drops and I binge on something and its never a good item. (Bag of Doritos, Resse's PB Cups etc). I've found that 400-600 calories deficit is very repeatable and keeps me out of the junk food.
If you love Chips (like me). I've found a new brand http://popchips.com/ - Flavor of a tradional chip but the calories of baked.
I would guess he said to compare Mondays is that a lot of people have higher weights on Monday due to eating out, more alcoholic beverage consumption, training, etc. on the weekend that cause all sorts of weight things to go crazy. I don't like Monday/Tuesday weights because it can take your body a couple of days to recover from the weekend. Best thing, keep a chart of your weight and not freak out over swings. If I have a salty day, I can be up as much as 3 pounds the next day.
Al: As far as Livestrong, I use the paid version on the website because I want some of those features. I think the iPhone app is free. I use it because I like being able to log at my desk or on my phone.
Penny quick question for you, I used your link and calculated my BMR. That came out to 1,900 calories. Now this was without including any additional calories from my activity level. So if I understand you correct I should never try to go below that baseline 1,900 calories? That makes sense. So it would seem that my daily activity level plus and additional caloric burn from exercise with take care of the caloric deficit?
Good advice about the scale, I guess I should read the manual.
Oy, I wish I had begun this kind of process Jan 1 instead of May 1. Set a 9 minute PR on my marathon in April, but I've lost ~10 lbs since. ~8 more minutes???? I should really start logging - still a bit more to lose reasonably, and with the season winding down not too long from now, habits will have to change to keep it off. At least the loss since May 1 [and a good EN plan! :-) ] has let my run stay as fast as it was then, or even improve just a tick.
@Tucker: That's right. I would be cautious going too far below 1900 calories consistently. If you want to get it measured, you can search in your area for "Resting Metabolic Rate" measurement. I use a BodyGem with my clients to get an accurate number. The formulas can be off, but are good as a starting point.
My nutritionist allows one carb during dinner, which I usually choose sweet potatoes.
I usually eat:
Breakfast: Smoothie consisting of 2 cups soy milk, 1 cup frozen fruit, 1 banana, 1 scoop (100cals) whey protein, 2 scoops (140cals) flax seed
Morning snack: apple and pineapple, hard-boiled egg
Lunch: spinach salad with tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, craisins, raspberry vinagrette salad dressing drizzled with olive oil. Add some lean protein (fish filet or chicken breast)
Afternoon snack: baby carrots with hummus
Pre-workout: sometimes nothing at all, other times another smoothie like breakfast
Post-workout: 1 scoop Endurox R4 with l-glutamine powder
Dinner: same as lunch; maybe some sweet potato
Evening snack: handful of almonds
I didn't lose the ideal amount of weight I wanted to before Vineman (was down to 201, when I wanted to be about 195). We're working to modify it again to achieve that goal before Longhorn/Austin 70.3 in October.
I'll start that up again AFTER my 6-day camping family reunion trip this weekend, where I'll indulge heavily on good food and great beer.
Scott, I'm not picking on you here, but just want to clarify something. I think what you mean is you are allowed one "starch" a day.
All your fruits, soy milk, milk, veggies, endurox all have carbs in them. Carbohydrates are the primary fuel during exercise. Starches (potatoes, bread, pasta) contain long chain carbohydrates that our bodies process differently than the carbs contained in the other foods. A lot of people find that putting starches before/after workouts helps with body composition changes. It also helps get the processed foods out (since most people are reaching for starchy processed foods).
I feel I had to jump in because "carbs" get such a bad wrap when people really mean "starches."
Penny, thanks again for your help. I have been talking about this with my co-workers and I think I have maybe overthought this and started to confuse myself. You say not to go under 1,900 calories consistently. Do you mean net calories?
For example, so far today I have consumed 1,735 calories and burned 500 for a net of 1,235. If I were to eat/drink another 200 calories is that where I should be or do I need to then cover the 500 I burned through exercise?
I started using Lose It based on a Forum discussion last Spring and have 4 EN "friends". It's been a big motivator to know that Coach Rich and Matt Ancona are watching or at least could watch (and if you're not please don't tell me!). I have noticed how disciplined Matt is about logging; he never misses a day.
I noticed you had actually taken a big drop in weight lately Rich. Great job! The Everest Challenge sounds awesome
Penny, I like your newsletter too!
All, thanks for the tips!
Last night I changed my dealio to 1.5lb loss per week which "bought" me an extra 300cals per day. I've been feeling kinda run down in my workouts lately and think it may be related to the cal deficits I've been running.
I've also been thinking about the timing of my workouts. This is likely a non-issue for most of you but I can pretty much do what I need to do at any time of the day, though I prefer mornings because I get it done, it's cooler, and have a better chance of training with other people...anyway, yesterday Sawiris bailed on our AM ride so, being lazy as I am, I bailed too and decided to do my tri club ride in the evening. So I ate my normal way during the day and wasn't very hungry at all. I then did a very hard 2.5hr ride and got off the bike at 7:30pm with a "you can still eat >1800 cals" message in LoseIt. I absolutely stuffed myself for dinner and went to bed at 9:30pm still about 200cals under my budget. This seemed pretty manageable and my gut says that after my ride my muscles were primed to suck in all the cals from dinner, which they did.
Today I'll probably ride 2.5hrs at lunch, eating lunch on the bike, so to speak. Weather has been pretty mild lately so it works, and Sawiris has been kinda flakey on me, post his 7 day mtn bike stage race in BC...weak.
@Rich - well if you can ride at any time & your goal is fat loss; I'd get into riding 1st thing in the morning without eating first, then ride/train again in the evening after your evening meal. So you're not eating anything at all between rides other than your basic bike nutrition or not at all if you're doing intensive, short stuff.
Great way to get your body metabolising fat first - kinda training your system to adapt to fuelling on fat stores rather than muscle glycogen (Penny, pls correct me if this is BS!).
Its a real fat burner only - not recommended perhaps for performance but ideal if you wish to re-educate yourself (and body) on fat-burning nutrition and process for say a 7- day block (maybe drop 10lbs) - focus away from kcals and instead on actual grams of CHO, protein & fats by working out your nutrient requirements for your target weight (not actual) - take all/most of your carbs from fibrous/dense natural carbs, veggies mainly - eat minimum of 4 x /day in equal nutrient intake.
Seems to work for me as an OS strategy - no way if chasing watts/pace etc!
@David...uhhh...you lost me
. No way I'm riding 2x per day and I'm absolutely training to get stronger on the bike, not as a weight loss tool. Weight loss comes as byproduct of simply watching the cal intake and creating a cal deficit every day. I'm even swimming on my non cycling days so I can earn the right to eat on those days
My breakfast today
Yeah, as I mention, its a fat-loss strategy to kick-start the fat burning process and get the nutrition dialled-in so that you can maintain balance & control weight loss during the season.
great thread! after Eagleman (mid-June) I had my week of vaca and while eating/drinking whatever in paradise, I read Primal Blueprint. Got home, got back to training, and tried to implement what I read... it didn't stick exactly - eating out, traveling for the 4th of July (when I read Paleo for Athletes)... but when I returned from my trip (7/6) I essentially started over. Lots of fruits and veggies, lean meats, nuts, seeds, limited/no dairy, few starches (
Penny)... I haven't been counting calories or writing stuff down, but I've noticed I've dropped weight and, for the most part, kept it off. I've also noticed eating out is hard... but I'm learning workarounds (and that most restaurants will let me substitute some things without getting bent out of shape)... wine is still my downfall, but I'm limiting that which helps. I started OS after many months off - due to back to back injuries at my highest weight in 10 years, 139. I weigh in every day (after wake up and trip to the bathroom) and today is close to my since-Jan low of 131. Still have at least 5 to go to make me happy... but I wonder what my true race weight is now that I've really cleaned up my diet. At 126 last summer most of my friends thought I was emaciated and they begged me to eat (trust me, I could put it away and I did)...
I will take a look at the iPod apps... perhaps I'll load one on.
My typical day is pretty much the same - with the exception of dinner:
breakfast: smoothie (1c almond milk, 1 scoop whey protein powder, flax oil, 1/2 banana, frozen berries); coffee with sugar and 2% milk or half/half.
snack: coffee with skim and sugar, trail mix of some variety (this week: almonds, walnuts, cashews, dried cranberries...)
lunch: salad with lettuce/spinach, tomatoes, radish, cucumber, peppers (red, orange and/or yellow), flax seeds, sunflower seeds, hardboiled egg (or tuna or leftover chx);
snack: string cheese and/or fruit (peach, cherries, apple...), I might have another handful of trail mix
dinner: fish or lean meat, lots of veggies; sometimes a glass of wine; 1 row/square of a dark chocolate bar
**when I workout I will do starches before and after (I generally don't workout on a totally empty stomach): i.e., pre-workout I might have a kashi granola bar or a gel; post workout I will either vary the smoothie (substituting greek yogurt, oj, and honey for the almond milk), or have a glass of choc milk with a banana and pnut butter. If I do an evening workout I'll add a sweet potato or another "healthy" starch to dinner.
So far so good... I don't feel like I've given up much... but it is hard to resist the bread basket out at dinner... but I'm doing pretty well so far! Almost at my "normal weight" and close to what I'd always considered my race weight... and I really don't feel like I'm dieting well, I'm not dieting... I'm making healthier lifestyle choices and it's happening naturally!
First, I weigh myself every morning. I realize my weight bounces around, but it's usually in a range and I can tell pretty quickly if I'm trending up, down or sideways.
Next, is all the kids quick and easy snack stuff. When kids are melting down over hunger issues, quick and easy is awesome. Not always great in the nutrition department, but fast. Unfortunately for me, I eat the stuff too, especially when I'm feeling lazy or it's late at night and I have this urge to graze. My solution is simply to get it out of the house. For me, there is no other way.
Of course, high volume exercise often works too, but I often eat more when I'm tired, so cutting calories is best for me.