Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
News

Foods for Geeks Over 30? 79

Posted by Cliff from the significant-changes-in-the-diet dept.
tliet asks: "Being a 30+ geek myself I've discovered that the continued consumption of pizzaslices and cola has a rather unpleasant effect on the body, especially if one is over 30. Not being aware of this in my twenties it's becoming awfully clear now that this lifestyle has to be changed. So, it's water and greenfood for me now. I'm wondering if older geeks like me have changed their eating habits while maintaining the geek lifestyle, e.g. having dinner at 01:00. Also, what do older geeks consume to stay alive?" Ah, how timely this question is....
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Foods for Geeks Over 30? More

Foods for Geeks Over 30?

Comments Filter:
  • Has to be said: the RDA of vitamin C is based on the avoidance of serious diseases like scurvy, not on well-being and health.

    Actually, the way you know you're getting enough vitamin C is when you get diarrhea. Then you cut back, and that's actually how much you need. I'm taking ~3g a day, and I know people who, while they were sick, were taking as much as 16g with no ill effects.

    It has occurred to me that, just as most North Americans are seriously sleep-deprived (according to recent studies, most people in fact need at least 8 hours of sleep each night), we're also probably just as seriously malnourished and nutrient-deprived.

    Interesting fact heard from the Barbara Walters show, whatever it's called: they did a study of young, fit men in their early twenties, had them do full routines including exercise, but only with 3 hours of sleep. After 6 days, they had sugar metabolism problems very similar to diabetes. That's only six days!
    --
    Change is inevitable.

  • Coding at 1am perhaps. You don't need to eat just because you're awake. Try limiting yourself to three meals a day. You'll quickly find that your body adjusts -- you won't be having intense hunger pangs at 1am, and you'll feel much better the whole day. It will help to cut back on sugar. See Rick Mendosa's glycemic index pages [mendosa.com].

    Some may be interested in maximizing health and longevity, perhaps at the expense of looking "buff". Check out calorie restriction [infinitefaculty.org].

  • If you have all those conditions, you'd better consult a doctor before you do anything. If you are healthy, but just a out of shape, a little good old fashioned hard work won't kill you.

    The original poster in this thread was complaining about not being able to go out and exercise in the Minnesota winter. The cross country skiing and the above alternatives are certainly good ways to do just that.

  • I haven't had any problems. It must be do to all the practice I got in my youth shoveling snow in the winter and manure all year round. =) Besides, you don't have to worry about frostbite if you are properly dressed and stay active. I've walked 10 miles in -50 windchill temps before and it wasn't that bad (I had to walk to an ATM and then to a impound lot where some bastard had my car towed...walking a mile home w/o hat & gloves the night before sucked).

  • True - I get out and play sports in the summer (heck, even softball is good exercise)... but winter in Minnesota doesn't leave a lot of good days for rollerblading/running/etc...

    Shoveling snow can be good exercise. So is running in deep snow.

  • No Pblm!

    I Have a Schwinn Rowing machine. Its resistance is regulated via a fan and I really like it. It set me back about $1000, kinda spendy, but since I kayak for fun, I am glad to have it to keep me in shape. It has a really nice smooth action and folds easily if I need to put it in the closet, oh wait I'm single, its always out. :)

    I have found a rowing machine that is nicer than the one I bought... at my gym they have a rowing machine that is magnetically regualed, and I like it a little better than mine. Can't remember the brand.... sorry!

    Feel free to mail me....


  • Watch out! The diet industry abounds in fakery and fraud. And the low-carb diet is one of them.

    Here's some sites to help get started - Google will turn up heaps more but you'll need to sift fact from fake.

    Rosemary Stanton is a highly respected Australian nutritionist:
    http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/stanton.pdf

    The American Heart Foundation:
    http://www.americanheart.org/Health/Risk_Factors /O verweight/Fad_Diets/recognize.html

    A few others:
    http://www.dietfraud.com/
    http://www.faddiet.com/ (funny)
    http://nutrition.miningco.com/health/nutrition/c s/ faddiets/

  • They're pretty filling and taste reasonably good. At first. But after a week of having them for lunch every day, the thought of having them again is... less than appealing. Be careful not to overdo it.

  • Apple Juice is a diuretic. It may be "full of goodness" but you can't drink a lot of the stuff and stay hydrated well enough to think at maximum capacity. It's hard to find many juices that aren't mostly apple juice unfortunately. Coffee will also dry you out. Of course coffee is even worse since the narcotics it contains also inhibit concentration. The euphoria coffee brings is sometimes worth the loss of concentration though.

  • I've been, what should we call it ... big boned seems appropriate. I've recently started to lose some pounds and while I'm a bit of an extreme case, I've found that the George Foreman grill is the best thing to cook on if you have access to one. For $25 I have something that will cook food in 10 minutes, help pull some of the excess fat away and as a plus it doesn't heat up the entire apartment as the oven. All this, and knocking out Soda for water, and embracing the leafy foods, instead of the fried ... but don't kid yourself. Give yourself one day of your old/bad habits a week so you don't lose your mind.

  • I've always said "diet is not a verb". A healthy diet is a habit. A healthy life is a collection of habits: diet, exercise, mind, and spirit.

    A friend of mine used to say "the best way to keep the fat off your ass is not to put it in your mouth in the first place."
  • Yes - it can... it is also quite tough on the lower back. Real low temps/windchills and asthma are also not the best of bedfellows, but for those who don't worry about frostbite or keeling over, have fun :-)
    --
  • >but rather get a frame grilled burger

    Would that be an Ethernet or an ATM frame?

    (OT: hey, when did we go to 2 minutes between submissions?)
    --
  • True - I get out and play sports in the summer (heck, even softball is good exercise)... but winter in Minnesota doesn't leave a lot of good days for rollerblading/running/etc...

    --
  • Mind if I ask what kind of rowing machine you have? Would you buy that kind again? I've been considering getting one because it was about the only stationary excerise I've been able to put up with. There aren't many gyms that have them, and I don't know anyone who has one in their house. While researching on the net, some of the ones I found looked almost flimsy, so I've been trying to hunt down some recommendations before I go ahead with my purchase.

    Thanks for the info.

  • A couple of years ago (at 29) I looked in the mirror and decided enough was enough. My weight had increased slowly from the age of 18 and I was 215 pounds (5'11"). Not massively overweight, but enough.

    My solution was just to be very careful about what I ate. You'd be suprised at how many calories you really have to cut out of your diet, at least 500 a day less than your recommeded daily intake. Also, you can't relax at the weekend, it just doesn't work that way. You will be hungry *all* the time, but it doesn't take long for that not to be a problem. After the first year I had dropped 30lbs, but then I got stuck at a plateau.

    About this time my wife and I decided to go totally vegetarian (we had been eating only chicked for a while anyway.) In the 10 months since then I have dropped another 20lbs down to my ideal weight (165lbs).

    Keeping at this weight takes a lot of effort though, you can't suddenly relax and eat what you want again. Some people may say this is excessive, but I weigh myself every day and if a couple of pounds have gone on, I simple cut back a little that day (e.g. no dessert with dinner.) to drop the weight off again.

    One thing to note though, it is the last 20lbs that really make a difference in your appearance.

    So - go for it - it's hard work, but definately worth the effort and you will feel much better about yourself once its done.

    Mike - Now back down to a 32" waist !!!

  • V8 Splash [campbellsoup.com] is actually pretty good.
  • A fellow firefighter went on the Atkins diet for long term and had some organ shutdown (liver? maybe) the stress of the diet has now seriously messed him up forever.. i wouldnt recommend ANYONE go on the atkins diet for more than 1 week. just some advice.
  • Want to lose 20 pounds of ugly fat in 10 minutes?

    Cut off your head

  • I take out the Dreamcast and play Samba de Amigo! Wheeeee!

    Link: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:dreamcast.ign .com/reviews/14748.html+samba+de+amigo&hl=en [google.com]

  • It's worked for alot of people. [weightwatchers.com] They are basically a support group with a membership fee. Lots of ways to exchange recipies, and more importantly, to understand exactly what affects which foods will have on your system. If you look at it shortsidedly, any idiot with a book on nutrition could come up with what they charge for. The long view of it is-- they actually did it, and in such a manner that it's easy to understand and becomes subconscious after a very short period of time.

  • Let me Nth that. One exceptionally cool thing that's part of this is a weight watching program that you can get for your Palm. The best part about it is that it has an adequate focus on staying at your desired weight, unlike most diets that only concentrate on losing the weight in the first place. If you don't want to yo-yo, this is a good place to look.

  • Oh yeah - take supplementals just in case you do something silly like try skimping on some food group or other.

    This is a very important bit of advice. Make sure that you get enough of the vitamins and minerals you need! You need more than calories to keep you going, and if you're not getting enough of the other things your body will let you know just the same way that it lets you know you're not getting enough calories. You'll get hungry, and try to eat more in order to get those other nutrients, meaning more calories and weight gain.

  • Weird. I'm amazed how much you lost that way. My fiancee has recently tried the Weight Watchers "points" approach (high fiber, low cal, low fat) and eats almost no meat... Yet she's lost the 35lbs she needed to ditch without having to give much up in terms of variety - it was just reduced in quantity & replaced by healthier alternatives. I have to wonder how much cholesterol you're getting as a price for your weight loss... if life then death
  • To sum it up:

    - eat less
    - do regular exercise
    - eat better (In the USA it's a big problem)

    Nothing else.
  • .... Stop stuffing your face fatty.
  • Low carbohydrate for me. Eating fewer than 30 grams or so of carbs per day lets me eat less. In fact, I actually do forget about eating sometimes, since the satiety of a low-carb meal lasts for many hours. Plus, I've discovered that my blood sugar is sensitive to carbs, especially sugar, spiking 50% or more above normal before settling back. This would indicate that I'm on the verge of diabetes. If I eat few carbs, my blood sugar is well within normal limits at all times. If you want to look into this type of diet, get a book like the "New Atkin's Diet" or "Protein Power". There are also mailing lists and many web sites devoted to this way of eating.
  • You're dead on about FDA's recommendations: they specify quantities for bare survival and don't take into consideration body size, activity levels, etc. For instance, I'm 24 years old 6'4" and weigh 220 lbs and exercise heavily (lift weights) 4 times a week (how many geeks benchpress over 250 lbs? :) ) - my vitamin needs are waaaaaay above some teeny 5'5" 120 lbs teenager who spends all his waking hours playing Quake.
    OTOH (I don't have any references handy so take this with a pinch of salt) consuming more than 8g of vitamin C a day can be detrimental to your health. I hope you don't evaluate your vitamin D needs the same way :) (if you didn't know: vitamin D can actually kill you if taken in sufficiently large qty)
    -----
  • Must be nice to work somewhere with showers. I sweat like a pig when I exercise, no matter what shape I'm in. I tried riding to work for a while (8 miles one way), but even I couldn't handle the reek.
  • I'm with you on everything except for one point - that it's easier to lose weight by changing your diet than by exercising. Everything I've read (and my own experience) says it's exactly the opposite - in the long run exercise will almost always result in more weight loss than just changing the diet. (this assumes that you're not already eating some kind of crazy-ass high calorie diet). With exercise, when you burn say 350 calories you also have an elevated metabolism for several hours that burns additional calories. In addition you will tend to gain more muscle mass, which raises your basal metabolism. So the benefits of exercising can be up to several times the actual number of calories burned during a workout.
    On the other hand, just reducing your calorie intake (without exercise) will cause your body to go into 'starvation mode' where the metabolism drops to try and maintain body fat. Sure you can eat little enough that you lose weight in spite of this, but you're fighting your body here. Also there will be a tendency to rebound in weight if you ever slack off from your diet.
  • Coffee is unlikely to dehydrate you unless you haven't had caffiene for a while. If you're having a daily cup or two, your kidneys and urinary tract will adapt to it fairly quickly and your body will maintain its water equilibrium. I don't know what kind of coffee you're drinking, but mine wakes me up a bit rather than gives a euphoria.
  • Now that I'm in my early thirties, I can definitely tell a difference in my metabolism. Unfortunately for me, I suspect that my genetic setpoint is on the heavier side, so it'll probably require constant effort to maintain my weight where I'd like it. Having watched myself and others battle with their weight, here are a few suggestions:

    Don't count on diets
    Diets (as in diet systems) only really work in the short term. I've seen plenty of people lose weight on no-carbohydrate, all-carbohydrate, all-fruit, etc. diets. But fast-forward a year and they're right back where they were. The only real solution is to modify your normal diet in ways that you can live with in the long term. For me, this means restricting fastfood to just weekends and maybe once during the week. I've upped my pasta intake and I usually try to avoid really fatty foods. Do I splurge occasionally? Sure, and I'd go nuts if I didn't. Mostly it's a matter of moderating my existing diet, rather than replacing it with a whole new one.

    Get some exercise
    This is really the key to maintaining your weight without undue suffering. You don't have to be running marathons or biking hundreds of miles to get most of the benefits, just do something consistently. Find something that you enjoy and that you can do fairly often - say around 2-3 times a week. Anything less than this (even if it's intense) and you're probably not getting your full fitness benefit and it's too easy to slack off and get out of the habit. I'm a big fan of walking, since you can do it almost anywhere and it doesn't require any equipment or facilities. Don't get over-ambitious in your workout, aim for something that you can maintain in the long-haul.

    Get some rest
    Another big overlooked factor in general healthiness is getting enough rest. In particular, try to get enough sleep. For me that means about 8 hours a night. There's a difference between the amount of sleep you need for functioning and the optimal amount of sleep for your body. When I'm getting the sleep that my body really needs, it's amazing how much more energetic and how much better I feel. I also do a bit of weightlifting, and I've always found a very string correlation between my periods of best progress and the amount of good quality sleep I was getting. While this may not affect your weight directly, it will affect your appetite and energy levels. This will tend to improve your diet and keep up your interest in exercising. Plus you'll feel better too.

    Anyway none of these suggestions are fancy, exciting, or even new, but they do seem to work in the long run. While you don't have to do all of them at once, a little of all three is better than a lot of one and none of the others.

  • well, I'm not quite thirty, hell, not quite even 20 and I'm already starting to put on the pounds. When I was little, I was a skinny nerdy kid who had asthma really bad and frequented the hospital so much, that my mother kept a pair of clothes in the trunk of the car all the time and the nurses knew me on a first name basis.

    Well, fast forward to the teen years, and I hit a growth spurt. My metabolism slowed down, and I started to eat more and the weight piled on. By senior time in High School, I was 6ft 3 inches and 250lbs! I wore a size 42 belt, and I had a santa claus belly.

    Things were getting out of hand, so I joined the fitness class at the community college up the street during summer. Well, the class helped me to establish better eating habits and I've lost about 15lbs. I don't feel any smaller, but everyone around me seems to notice a difference. I'm back to a size 38 belt, working my way down to a 36, is my ultimate goal. Anyway, the class was only 6 weeks, of excercise.

    Everyday, we did 1/2 hour of cardiovascular excercise, eg walking, treadmill or excercise bike. And for the rest of the hour, anything you wanted to do as long as it was excercise. I chose to concentrate on my biceps and triceps, and do lots of sit-ups. My pudge has decreased quite a bit, and I can do 110 on the tricep lift machine. I can curl around 40lbs per bicep.

  • I think this might have been mentioned on /. awhile ago, but there are tools and information at the Eat Watch site [fourmilab.ch] from John Walker, the creator of AutoCAD. Cool stuff, including Palm tools for weight tracking.
  • I went on this, I weighed 260, and within 2 months, weighed only 200.
    You basically eat no Carbohydrates. You don't need to exercise, just, no Carbs..
    So you eat Meat, cheeses, diet Coke, Eggs, Anything from a cow pig or Chicken, and a few veggies that are low in sugar like Broccoli.

    Get the book, you local Library should have it.
  • I'm 29. And if you believe the charts I'm about 100 lbs over my 'ideal' body weight. Getting off our butt and out from front of the computer is critical. My body allowed me to do this lifestyle up until I was about 26, and then started to fall apart. Rollerblading is fun, albeit deadly if you aren't careful. I've been looking into some type of eliptical to lessen the impact of my huge gut on my knees if I start running. I've also been told (By a Doctor no less) to lower the amount of carbohydrates & increase the protein side for a while. I lost a few pounds, but then the superbowl came and I was back to my old habits again.

  • Hmm, I have never owned a car, I often walk around the office(s) to get stuff or speak to people, I live on the top floor of a house, 6 flights of stairs whenever I enter/leave - there is no lift. At work the lifts are the only way between floors, as the stair doors are all one-way to the stairs - you can only access the ground floor that way. If ever I get a takeaway I walk the 2 miles to the takeaway and back.

    I am 25 and seriously overweight.

    I'm thinking of getting a bike instead of walking/taking the metro/bus/tram, but however nice your suggestions sound - they're not the solution to everyone's problems. If life were that easy I'd be far fitter than I am. I don't eat excessively, but the only way I'm going to get fit is to actively take more excercise, and that takes up spare time - which I put a very high value on.

    -- Pete.
  • >Doing 5km a day walking on a treadmill can work wonders.

    ... but can be pretty boring (unless you can rig up your kit so you can work at the same time. Why not try going out for your 5km?

    Another tip: use the stairs, not the lift.

    I have to say I don't think my diet has changed much since I was in my 20s (I'm 42 now - yeah, I know...). But then I never was much into pizza and cola. I don't drink so much beer though.
  • Find a food Mantra that works for you - The one that works for is I make sure my carb intake is 5% of my daily calorie intake and that my fat intake never falls below 60% total calories. These magic numbers have enabled me to be fitter than I was in my teens and early twenties. (and lighter too) What to eat: anything that walks, twitches, crawls, flies or swims. What not to eat: Any fat that is hydrogenated! Anything that is starchy or indigestible raw. This includes potato, wheat, corn, soya, peanuts, cashews, most beans etc. My typical day. Breakfast: bacon and/or steak and eggs, some berries. Lotsa water, some vitamins. snack: seeds like almonds etc, more watter Lunch: Tuna with lots of olive oil or some mayo, more water. snack: more seeds like sunflower or macadamia etc. Supper: steak, fish, chicken etc plus lots of colourful vegggies that are NOT STARCHY. More vitamins, plus lots more water. Lord_Hern - who lost and _kept_off_ 80kg (178lbs) the low carb way.
  • All fad diets are nonsense.
    Again please.

    My partner decided to loose weight (not me thank you, not yet at least). She began to exercise and looks great, she eats as much as she want and can't live without exercise anymore.

    Did you wonder why those shepperds in mountanious places or isolated plains live such long and healty lifes in spite of eating bunches of so called "bad" stuff? The hard physaical work is the answer, so wither you become a shepperd or satrt doing some exercise. Now (OK, I walk half an hour to the train station each way every day, avoiding the inviting bus. So don't tell me I don't follow my own advice. I should stop the cheescakes though....).
  • Narcotics? What narcotics?

    It was bad enough when the feral government started calling marijuana a "narcotic", now caffeine is a "narcotic"? Narcotics are opiates - heroin, morphine etc., and maybe other depressants, but all drugs.

    ~ If you like the war on drugs you're gonna just love the war on guns

  • Soda --- getting rid of that was hard, but I got hooked on carbonated water... so soda is not a big deal now. It also helps me measure my intake of fluids on a daily basis too. I drink at least a large bottle or Poland Springs water each day at home plus whatever at work. I think this really aids in washing away the toxins.

    David


    David Byrd
    CEO - 21st Century Tech., Inc.
    URL: http://www.nite-surfer.com
  • I can't eat vegetables. I can handle potatoes and corn for some reason, but there is not another vegetable you can name that I will eat. This is killing my health, and no one I know has any idea what I can do about it. I would LOVE to have a salad for lunch, and some carrots and peas with my supper, but I just can't eat them. I will gag to the point of throwing up if I try to eat any of these healthy vegetables. Does anyone know of something I can take/do that will make me crave vegetables? everyone's favorite munchie enducer just makes me eat more of the junk I shouldn't be eating. Will a list of things in the like/don't like category help out at all? It really feels to me like it's some sort of psychological problem... help would be much appreciated by anyone with ideas. what I DO eat: ALL meat (chicken is number 1) pasta with plain, non chunky sauces all types of rice with different flavours pretty much most of the fruits I can handle, no idea why what i DON'T eat: carrots any green vegetable cheese (I can stomach it, if it's browned, on a pizza) ketchup, mustard, relish cold sauces pasta salad (the cold food thing is something i have a problem with for some reason)
  • It's fairly simple: get up from the chair and do some sport. Learn how to eat. You can't live in front of the screen. The world is outside.
  • I'm 41. I went from 235 to 185 in 4 months and it stays off, my cholesterol is now great, and I eat prime rib regularily.

    After seeing my results, my wife has lost 25 pounds (and still has another 20 to go).

    No fad diets, no counting calories, just a couple of simple lifestyle changes.

    Here they are and why.

    1)CUT OUT THE CARBS!!!! Not completely, this isn't a fanatical thing but carbs will severely screw you up. Why? Ok, your a caveman (well that's where our current model body evolved from right? we are the product of those who survived before us), you NEED energy to survive, to fight, to hunt, etc. Anytime you find high energy foods (like ripe fruits) you crave them, you eat them until you're stuffed and you fall asleep so your body can absorb it and STORE ALL THE EXCESS SUGARS AS FAT!!!!!! so you can survive the coming WINTER.

    Starting to get the picture?

    Cut your carbs down to 1 meal a day only and limit it as much as possible (after you've lost the weight, and you will if you do what I say, you can add some more back in. That means bread, rice, deserts, pop, chocolate bars, etc.

    2) Water, Water, Water. Screw the pop and coffee. Because a) it's full of...CARBS! and b)your body need water to function (metabolically speaking). Remember you want 95% of your fluid intake to be clean pure water. Buy a Reverse Osmosis water system for your house and take a couple of Liters (Quarts) with you every day. Bottom Line, if your pee isn't clear your aren't drinking enough water.

    3) Yogurt. Yep, Yogurt. No I'm not a health freak. I don't even exercise (except my mouse hand). Yogurt (live culture yogurt not the dead stuff so plain yogurt is best) has bacteria that help you digest and help keep things "moving" if you know what I mean. I get up every morning, go to the bathroom and well, let's just say I GO. Everything works fine and I can tell you with a great deal of certainty from personal experience that a lot of the "beer belly" like syndrome is your bloated, stretched intestines trying to push out of your body. They are full of all kinds of putrifying crap that's going nowhere. It just sits there and ferments with the sugar youi keep feeding it. Can you spell smelly farts?

    Plain yogurt is sour and hard to take at first so add something to sweeten it a little until you get used to reduced sweetness. Try adding a couple of tablespoons of sweetend, flavoured yogurt to the plain or add a muesly cereal. That's what I eat for breakfast every day now, muesli with raisins and dried fruit and I use plain Astro yogurt instead of Milk.

    OK, that's it, sermon over.

    Believe me or not, it's up to you. I can tell you that almost a dozen friends of mine had seen my results, done what I do (which isn't dicfficult to do, just a few small changes) and their losing weight and feeling better. Allergies get much better, more energy. But you probably won't believe it unless you try it for yourself.

    Oh, by the way...EATING FAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU FAT...EATING CARBS DOES....I'm living proof, Prime Rib, burgers, (The buns are carbs so you have to be reasonable), margarine, butter, olive oil, ----- no problem ----, just drastically cut back the carbs.

    If it works for you send me an email and tell me - webmaster@canoffroad.net

    Good Luck

  • What to Eat? (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I went through a similar process myself. When I first started working in the computer industry I suddenly gained 20 pounds over the course of a year. I went from 165 to 180-190. This weight gain was not due to muscule build up but rather fat build up. I have two recomendations for you. First I'll assume you are a meat eater. Find a diet program. Learn how to eat. Period. Beleive it or not for some people the Jenny-Criag diet actually works. What they basically teach you is how to eat smarter. By eating more meals but at smaller portions throught the day, you will start to loose a siginificant amount of weight even without execersing. The meals you choose should consit of whole-grains, vegatables, and meats. A friend of mine went through this program with excellent results. Basically he ate approximately a handful each of grains,veggies, and meats. He lost about 50 pounds and went back to a more stable weight. Because he altered his metabolism, he shed off a lot of excess fat as well, without doing much excersise. Second, if you are a vegaterian, then I suggest you look at a book called ``the Vegaterian Way'' It is a good introduciton to vegaterian nutrion and cooking. Now if you start on a healthy well rounded vegaterian diet you will loose a siginifiant amount of weight in terms of body fat. However, just because you give up meat doesn't mean you will become healthier. You MUST eat a well-rounded diet. Just as there are meat-eaters who have horrible diets, there are vegaterians who have horrible diets. Personally I am a vegaterian, I did so for personal and health reasons. Being a computer person it has help me a lot in maintaing my weight. However, I too must watch how much I eat, otherwise I risk eating too many calories as I would on a diet of pizza or burgers. Last, you should take up some form of daily excersise. This is very important. My personal combination is Yoga and walking. I do Yoga simply because it is something I can do, most of the time, in the privacy of my own home at 0$ cost. But if you choose to do Yoga I suggest you seek out a qualified instructor and learn from him or her as much as possible, and only when you feel comfortable start practicing on your own. As for walking, while I was in school I used to have to walk every where, its amazing how walking burns a lot of calories, now a days I walk my dogs around the neightborhood in the evenings. Other excesises are martial arts, weight lifting, areobics, etc.. Choose one and stick to it. Which ever diet you choose. Remember avoid fast food like the plauge. And try and avoid processed foods as much as possible. The key to maintaining your diet is by making the food your self. Not only will you know exactly what is in the food, but you will have more control over what you put in your body, and it is a fun activity cooking your own food. If you don't know how to cook, then start with basic recipies and gradually build up to more complex ones. I couldn't cook a potatoe five years ago, but over the course of a year, out of necessity, learned how to cook for myself. Not only will you save money, but it is a rewarding skill. Some things to remember: 1) Avoid fast food. Make your own food instead. 2) Drink lots of water 3) Avoid sodas, drink lots of water 4) Avoid fad diets like the Atkiens diet like the plauge. 5) Eat a varity of foods 6) Eat whole-grains instead of processed grains. Ie brown over white rice. 7) Eat fruits instead of sweets 8) Eat lots of dark-green vegatables 9) If you eat meat, try to eat free-range or organic meat products. A lot of meat(in America) is raised with the use of rather nasty steroids and other chemicals which you ultimately ingest. 10) Cut back on your intake of dairy, if you can cut it out all together. Personally I still have a pizza every once and a while. But I limit how much dairy I consume. For instance instead of cow milk I now drink Soy or rice milk. 10) Eat smaller portions. Don't stuff yourself at each meal. 11) Do some kind of excersise. Good luck!!
  • Dude, you killed me with this one.

    My wife tried to get me to start the Body for Life thing, she's all into that. Actually she's into any fad diet, she doesn't actually do them but she loves reading about them.

    but the meth stuff, I about choked on lunch (hamburger, yogurt & apple - yeah I should have skipped the burger)

    Chris Cothrun
    Curator of Chaos

  • As a former Tubby Geek(TM) I recommend the following formula to maintain the geek lifestyle and not looke like a barge. Eat a big lunch a reasonable breakfast, and skimp on dinner.... That way when you are up till 2AM coding and get the munchies, you can snack and not put on the pounds. I always aim for about 2000 calories a day. Thats pretty reasonable for most 20-30 year olds, unless you are VERY active. When out backpacking (one of my hobbies) I usually budget between 3000-5000 calories per person per day. THe best way to stay slim is to not sit on yer hiney all evening. I got a stand for my Mountain Bike and when watching TV I ride my bike. Or I use my Rowing machine (for a few minutes at a time). Staying in shape keeps me sharper, helps me sleep better, and helps me with the ladies. Plus its damn hard to clean a 5-12 when yer ass is too big to pull up with two arms!!!

  • I'm 36 now. Last spring, after years of steady weight gain, I had reached 245 pounds/111 kg. I decided that I really didn't want to hit 250. I was (and still am) a soda-holic, so I switched from the sugar variety to diet. A 20 fl.oz. bottle of sugar pop will pour 250 calories or so down your gullet, compared to zero for diet. I also started eating a little less, cutting down on snacks and eating slightly smaller portions. Throw out half your french fries; have one taco instead of two; eat a bagel instead of a doughnut!

    In the year since I've made these little changes, I've steadily dropped poundage - I'm down to about 168 (76 kg) now. There's still a slight paunch if I slouch, but compared to last year, I look positively skinny now, and none of last year's pants fit me anymore. It's weird looking at that new, much smaller pair of pants and realizing that they fit me just fine!

    I've normally been able to get about 20 minutes total of walking in on weekdays, walking from the train station to the office. Now, with Chicago fuel prices reaching insane (by US standards) levels, I've dusted off my bicycle and started pedaling, instead of hopping in the car and going for long weekend drives. Even though my new car is much more fuel-efficient than my old truck, the bike's better for me...

    --

  • Coffee, Mt. Dew, Chinese food and White Castles.

    --
  • Mod that up!
    As with everything, the key is a good balance.
    I get disgusted with those Fad diets, like the high-protein, low carb diets! Talks about friggin' unhealthy... But back on topic:
    Plan, be reasonable, cut back gradually on the bad stuff, replace with the good stuff. I stopped eating chips after forgetting to buy them a couple weeks in a row, and then decided that I just didn't want to eat them anymore.
  • Huzzah!!! I second this. I lost around ~40 lbs. last winter. It wasn't all that fun, but I felt a LOT better about myself after doing it.
  • Decreasing the number of calories you take in is a start for losing weight, but in and of itself, it's not the way to go. You also need to find a way to increase the amount of exercise you get.

    A few years ago, I noticed that I was turning into a bit of a "clydesdale". Not good at all. I tried running, but in my mind that is just a silly thing to do. I found it insanely boring, and it felt too much like exercise. Going to a gym to work out also has never been my thing.

    So, one day some friends of mine took me out mountain biking on some of the easy local trails. Since that day, I've basically been hooked. In my mind, bikes are probably the most versatile machines humans have ever invented. They're toys for children and adults. They're a super-efficient mode of transportation on the road. They're a serious sport both on and off the road. And most of all, they're healthy.

    Now, whether I'm commuting on an old beater of a road-bike or going through trails on my mountain bike, I'm always having a good time. And even though it doesn't feel dreary enough to be healthy, I *am* getting (almost) enough exercise in my life that I feel good about myself.
  • Agreed. I lost 35 pounds in 3 months on a fairly agressive schedule using this plan. My pants are nice and comfy again, and I have no problem zooming up hills now when I mountain bike.

    While the Hacker's Diet doesn't really cover nutrition, it gives you the tools to continue making forward progress and more importantly, keep the weight off when the diet is over. Just a minute or two each day to record your weight and calorie intake. He even provides programs, complete with source code, to help you track everything. I extended it a little bit into a CGI that I run on my FreeBSD box, so I can enter my foods and calorie values from anywhere.

    That said, nutrition and exercise are also very important. Lots of other good comments here on that stuff.

  • I can't find the link to them at the moment, but studies have also shown that it is better for your sleep (and therefore your whole body, physical and mental/emotional) if you don't eat a large meal too soon before drifting off for a full night's sleep

    Yep. In general, you should try to avoid eating for at least 3 hours before bed (so no bedtime snack). Basically, your metabolism slows down when you sleep, so any calories that are still being digested will turn directly into fat cells rather than be burned off as would happen when you're awake.

    Oh, and like the poster below, I agree that actually going outside for a walk is far more enjoyable than a stinkin' treadmill. ;-)

  • A couple more suggestions...
    I'd substitute an eliptical running machine for the treadmill - easier on the knees and back, and you can run backwards as well as forwards - add a little spice to an otherwise mundane workout.

    I can't find the link to them at the moment, but studies have also shown that it is better for your sleep (and therefore your whole body, physical and mental/emotional) if you don't eat a large meal too soon before drifting off for a full night's sleep. So, no huge meal at 9, then drop out at 11/12 (adjust these times forward or backward depending on your own schedule).

    --
  • Of course, I have since gained it all back, but it did work, and I wouldn't doubt that it would work again...

    First off, I lowered my fat and carb intake - it is tough, to find foods that have low fat and low carbs (for instance, many times when you see a "low fat" food, look on the back, and see how many carbs there are - bet there are tons in many foods - but the sugar will quickly turn to fat, so you want low carbs as well). I wanted foods that tasted good, were easy to make, and were cheap - not an easy thing to do. Most of the stuff I did tended to be homemade - what little I could find pre-made tended to be vegetarian in nature, and expensive (comparitively).

    Walk - or do some exercise. I walked about a mile each day after work, not quickly, no power walking - just normal walking.

    Cut out soda - I started drinking a lot of water, and also flavored water, that used artificial sweeteners (instead of sugar - no carbs)...

    Need potatoe chips? Lays makes a brand of potatoe chips that are cooked with olestra, rather than vegetable oil - much lower fat, and they taste great (but be easy on them - olestra is a "fake" fat, and your body with flush it out via number 2, if you get what I mean, and can be nasty if you eats too many).

    Finally, don't deprive yourself - at the end of the "week" on a Friday or Saturday, I would go to Jack in the Box and have a burger or chicken sandwitch, coke, fries, as a "treat" - then it was back to the regemin for another week.

    I did this for about a month and a half - the first month I lost 20 lbs, then plateaued. What happened to knock me off the diet was not walking anymore. It wasn't because I got lazy, it was summer came around in Phoenix, temperatures soared above 100 in the evening, and I would be damned if I went out into that crap.

    But now I am thinking about trying it again, and maybe do something different for exercize in the summer months - I really need to get rid of this weight myself (as I too am an aging geek, approaching 30 - want to live to see 60 and beyond, certainly)...

    Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
  • Has anyone tried that 'eat right for your type' stuff, where they tell you what you should eat based on your blood type - ?

    And on the subject of exercise - have more sex. :-)

    "Smear'd with gumms of glutenous heat, I touch..." - Comus, John Milton
  • How much do you want to weigh?
    Let's say you want to weigh 220 lbs. Eat no more than 2200 calories per day. 180 lbs? 1800 calories. Multiply your desired weight by 10 to get how many calories you should eat per day.

    How many calories are in a pound?
    3500. Burn 3500 calories and you've lost a pound. Stop drinking 3500 calories of soda and you've lost another pound. It's easier to lose weight by changing your diet than it is by exercising. Drink water. Just consider the number of calories in everything you drink in a typical day. You'll lose a few pounds a week just from drinking water.

    What should you eat?
    Fruits. Vegetables. Stay away from breads. No more candy bars. If you can't create the same food at home, you probably shouldn't eat it.

    When should I eat?
    Don't eat before bedtime. If you're hungry, drink a couple glasses of water instead. Water is filling! Also, by spreading out small meals throughout the day, your body will spend the entire day digesting which in turn, burns more calories per day.

    Exercise is no fun?
    You're right. So don't exercise. Just find something to do away from your computer. When you go to the grocery store, make a lap around the entire store before you start shopping. Try hitting golf balls at a driving range. Buy a dog just so you can walk it. :-) Leave things laying around the house that you know you'll need later just so you have to get up to go get them.

  • If you want to be healthy with a reasonable physique, you need to do three things:

    1. Eat right, and eat the amount of food your body needs in a day. A mere extra 350 calories (think: half a Big Mac) a day translates to 3 pounds of weight gain a month. If you want to lose weight, aim for a 500-750 calorie a day deficit.

    2. Exercise. Not only does this improve your overall health, but the more calories your burn, guess what? The more you can eat without going into calorie surplus and thus gaining flab.

    3. Behavior. The big problem is, people tend to lose 5-10 pounds, and then go back to their old eating/living habits. Guess what? The flab comes back, and the exercise benefits go away.

    Be realistic, too. If you want to lose weight, the most you can lose and remain healthy is about 2 pounds a week, if you're lucky.

    There's a lot of solid information out there, avoid the 'fad' diets, they're a bunch of garbage. Your body is like any other equipment, except it comes with no manual. Learn about it, study it, and it will generally do what you want it to for a long time.
    --

  • One word: Dilberito [dilberito.com].

    "From Dilbert Creator Scott Adams comes a totally new, delicious meatless, hand-held meal that will change the way you think about convenience foods."

  • SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!

    I just had to say it. ;-) Apologies to the younger ones who haven't seen the movie.

  • Move out of the city and you'll do wonders

    Move out of the city and I'd die of catastrophic brain hemorrhage within hours.

    A little podunk one-horse farming town like DC is already enough to keep me pretty edgy. Once I get back to New York I can stop wasting my time on Slashdot and start living again.

  • Must be nice to work somewhere with showers.

    You'd be surprised at how many buildings actually have showers. Talk to your building engineer/super and see if there are any surprises.

    Alternatively, you can probably get a free health club membership if you talk three or four of your co-workers into joining. Or just claim to have talked them into joining, even if they were already planning on it.

  • Why has no-one modded this post's parent up? Informative with a capital I (sorry - the kids have been on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang marathon this weekend).
    --
  • I agree that junk food can be made a lot healthier with just a little thought. If you look at a grilled (not fried) burger, with a decent helping of salad/tomato/onion and a bun, that is all quite acceptable acceptable stuff. A little short on fibre, but that's it. If you just dump the fries for a salad or something, you're actually doing not bad at all, health-wise. As long as that's not all you eat, of course.

    A bit sad to miss out on all that Real Food you could be having, though.

  • Learn how to cook *well* (Score:3)

    by _Gus ( 5251 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @05:46AM (#241199)

    Seriously. It may sound odd, but cooking yourself good-to-excellent meals is an astonishingly pleasurable experience. It can also be very healthy.

    Put off buying that new Nvida card and invest some money in good kichenware equipment, particularly things like *good* knives.

    Here is one to get you started.
    Ingredients
    Salmon (about a fist-sized peice)
    Pasta (any kind except flat sheets)
    Coriander, basil and parsley. (get living plants or fresh bunched stuff, nothing else will do, the dried stuff sucks)
    Vinagrette (pre-made shop stuff is fine, substitute any salad dressing if you can't find some)
    Olive oil.
    Method
    * Turn on the oven and heat it up to about 250C
    * Boil the kettle, you'll need the water for cooking the pasta in a moment.
    * Strip off any bits you don't fancy eating from the salmon (bones, skin, eyes etc) and wrap it in some tinfoil. Put the tinfoil wrapped salmon in the oven (assuming it's heated up now).
    * Pop the pasta in a pan, douse with the boiling water and bung on a bit of oil and cook (boil) until the pasta is chewy.
    * Reboil the kettle and use the water to douse off the starch and gunk from the pasta. Drain off the pasta and chuck on some olive oil (very little, you only want to lightly coat the pasta w/the oil, so put a wee bit in and stir the whole lot around until it all looks sligtly glistening)
    * Take the salmon out the oven (about 25mins will have passed, I'm assuming) and unwrap it. Chuck away the water that'll have collected in the bottom of the foil and let it cool down.
    * Get a big bowl and chuck in the pasta and then shred/flake the salmon in to it. Chop up the coriander, basil and parsley roughly and pop them on top. (More coriander than anything else) dribble a bit of vinagrette on and shake it.
    * Eat.

  • Re:Learn how to cook *well* (Score:3)

    by ktakki ( 64573 ) on Tuesday May 08, 2001 @08:34AM (#241200) Homepage Journal
    Seriously. It may sound odd, but cooking yourself good-to-excellent meals is an astonishingly pleasurable experience. It can also be very healthy.


    Seconded, with additions:
    • Chopping that onion or garlic, or slicing into that head of lettuce with a honking huge cleaver is a great stress weapon. Just watch out for your thumb.
    • Cooking with wine is even more fun, especially if you grew up watching Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet get sloshed on camera every day. Again, watch out for the thumbs.
    • Eating less take-out food meant less colds, less flus, no more cankersores, and I can't remember the last time I had the runs. Restaurants are a vector of disease. Do you really think they actually wash their hands after using the bathroom? Cooking your own food is like compiling from source, rather than installing a binary. Hell, I've even found bugs in the broccoli and removed them. Would that happen at a busy restaurant? Also, it's not unheard of for one to find a thumb in your take-out.


    k.
    --
    "In spite of everything, I still believe that people
    are really good at heart." - Anne Frank

  • Re:Let this be a lesson (Score:3)

    by angry old man ( 211217 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @04:51AM (#241201)
    Bagh,

    Back in my day, working with computers involved lifting large tape reels, finding and replacing bad tubes, and walking all the way across the room just to read what you just typed on the LF printer.

    Now-a-days you lazy kids have it easy... "Ohhhh, logging onto a remote machine takes too much effort to type my password over again" or "I actually have to lift this fancy-schmancy flat panel monitor onto my desk? Can't a temp do it??" Do you know that all of the respecable hard-working user interfaces, such as line-feed printers, way at least twice that of a monitor.

    If you want computer workers to get excercise in their jobs, then start using respectable computers that have tubes and no monitors! Use respectable media like Reel-to-reel tape drives instead of the unnessecary CD Burner.

  • Food? Easy. (Score:3)

    by RareHeintz ( 244414 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @06:33AM (#241202) Homepage Journal
    Soylent green. I swear by it.

    OK,
    - B
    --

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @04:03AM (#241203)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Better Eating Habits (Score:3)

    by MDCore ( 324972 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @04:01AM (#241204)
    Morning:
    Eat a solid breakfast within an hour of waking up. I'm guilty of breaking this one though, opting instead to leave a bag of muesli in the office and crunching a bowl of that while reading slashdot.

    Lunch:
    If anything I'd say cut down almost completely on junk food. If you can't get anything else for lunch then try and get the junkfood that is (seems) a little bit healthier, i.e. not MacD's. It might sound like an oxymoron (healthy junk food) but rather get a frame grilled burger, for example, then something deep fried. Preferably though you should be making/buying sandwiches or rolls of some sort. Warming up last nights leftovers in the microwave works for me too.

    Supper:
    Cook your own supper! It doesn't take as long one might think, especially once you get a few recipes you know how to do. You'll be finished chopping, dicing and bundling into the oven before you know it. It's kinda boring if you're on your own but getting a friend/wife/g.f./s.o. to help should make things more fun (and even quicker too). Only get junk food if you are really beat or something like that. Again stick to the healthier side of junk food.

  • Kill Your Car (Score:4)

    by raju1kabir ( 251972 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @10:06PM (#241205) Homepage

    I find it discouraging that so many people focus on the eating side of the equation.

    Eating healthy is great - there's certainly no harm in cutting down on the amount of crap that you eat. But look around a little. People eat crap the world over, but only Americans are grotesquely fat. Why? Because they sit around all day worrying about diets. All that most people's "diets" ever lead to is cycles of weight loss and gain, frequently accompanied by malnutrition.

    There's a much simpler answer: Kill your car. Get rid of the damn thing. It's killing you.

    Build exercise into your daily life. Ride a bike to work. Too far? You're too fat and lazy? (Hint: about 20 miles is too far to practically bike to work if you're not a serious cyclist. If you're balking at anything less than that, then yes, you are too fat and lazy) Then at least walk to the subway station and ride that. Every one of my friends that started driving to work flabbed up within months. Those that woke up and stopped driving came right back down.

    Never again take an elevator unless you're going up at least 10 floors. Anyone at any age can climb 10 flights if they really need to. Anyone under 40 who can't jog (I didn't say sprint) up 10 flights without breaking into heavy breathing is seriously out of shape and needs to be jogging up a whole lot more stairs. Living in a low-rise city (Washington DC) I haven't been in an elevator for years, except in security buildings where the stairs aren't accessible.

    There are other advantages, too: Biking in a city is much faster than driving, and jogging up the stairs is much faster than taking the elevator (jogging up the stairs in my apartment building carrying my steel-frame bike is still faster than taking the elevator). So you save time AND your body.

    Whenever you need something from the other side of the office, stand up and get it that very moment. Rather than dialing someone's extension or sending a quick email to answer a question, just walk over to their desk. Don't stay in your chair more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time. There's always a reason to take a little walk around the office. It'll clear your head and help you live longer too. And you'll have a chance to chat with other people, making friends in the process.

    Want pizza for lunch? No problem. But don't have it delivered. Get off your spreading rear end and walk the four blocks to pick it up.

    You'll be amazed at the difference. Eat what you want, and keep fit at the same time. No need to waste money on gym memberships. Between that and the thousands you'll save by ditching the car, you can afford a giant vacation to Bali each year to show off your new fit self.

    -- raju1kabir
    mid-30s
    190lb

  • Let this be a lesson (Score:4)

    by clark625 ( 308380 ) <clark625@yahoo . c om> on Monday May 07, 2001 @03:47AM (#241206) Homepage

    All geeks under 30 should also heed the warning: sitting in front of a computer all day and night cannot be healthy. I'm only in my 20's, but the gut has begun to form. Trust me: chicks really don't dig guys with large guts.

    My current plan has been to work out 300x more than I used to. That means I go rollerblading around the neighborhood for at least 45 minutes every other day. I'm also trying to do a lot of work on my house since the weather's nice. Basically, I'm spending less time on the computer and more doing more laborious tasks.

    Food has been a sticking point, too. I was getting way too much food into my system, and healthy or not it was making me heavy. My solution to this was to eat a very light breakfast and then a nice lunch: turkey or ham sandwich, pickle, and a few chips. I'm also staying away from sodas when possible. For dinner, I tend to fix about the same amount of food I used to eat and separate it over two meals. Another good choice is a baked potato or good french bread and salad.

    So far, I've been doing this for about 6 months and have lost a few inches--my jeans feel much nicer now. Oddly enough, I'm also happier because I "seem" to get more work done. Good luck with your endeavor!

  • The most cost effective solution (Score:4)

    by JudasBlue ( 409332 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @07:31AM (#241207)
    My girlfriend has recently started a serious weight-loss fitness program using the EAS Body for Life [bodyforlife.com] challenge as a template. In five weeks of drinking 3+ myoplex supplements a day and working out in the gym at least 1 hour a day, she has lost 20 lbs. and 3% of her total body fat.

    This is at a cost of $2.10 per unit for the supplements, a loss of an hour a day at her console ($50-100 depending on the person) and nothing for her gym membership provided by her primary employer. This brings her weekly program cost to over $400.

    In response, I have been using large amounts of methamphetimines. An eighth of an ounce a week costs around $300 in any large metro on the west coast. I have lost 25 lbs. in the same time.

    My costs are 1 hour a week to score; $300 for the supplement; a GAIN of 3 working hours a day; and a loss of approximately 1 hour a day looking for the bugging devices I am convinced the government, friends, family and coworkers have started putting in my keyboard, clothes, and lighting fixtures. This brings my weekly program cost to a gain of $400 a week, which I place into my fund for eventual rehab, making my adjusted total cost zero.

    Let's recap: Body for Life Program: -400 Meth addiction: 0

    The choice is obvious.

  • I've recently broke that big 30 barrier, and I've been noticing lately (since about 29 or so):

    I need more sleep
    If I exercise, I find out very quickly how good of shape I was in at the end of high school/beginning of college (and how I wish my body was that way now)
    I *need* to eat healthier.

    So let me explain:

    I get tired quicker. If I go for a jog, I used to be able to run 10 miles at a drop of hat, in 'the day'. Now, a few miles and I want to keel over on someone's lawn for a nap.

    If I don't eat healthy, my insides quickly let me know. Indigestion, gurgling, you name it. I'll find out. I'm slowly realizing that if you take the time, and you listen, your body will tell you more then you ever thought it could. (rather rudely sometimes, but...)

    It seems like all my 'computer friends' are slowly all growing up. There's less lan parties, less endless hours on irc, less bar hopping, less getting trashed every Thursday, Friday and Saturday (using Sunday as recovery time). Now everyone's getting married, having kids, houses, mortgages, kids in sports, kids (did I mention that?).

    With all this new stuff coming in, the time on the computer is the hardest thing to make up. I find I'm falling asleep at night with all sorts of code and ideas and crap going through my head. Wakeup, kick the monitor on and type it in before I get a shower and head to work. Otherwise, if I try to put too much time into the comptuer, the wife will not be pleased, and the kids won't get the time they need either.

    Anyway, back to what to eat: whole grains (drop the white-bleached-bread), FRUIT, water. Yes, water. It's one of the best things for you and most people don't get the daily does they need. Eat smaller - most people garble down why more food then they need. Cut your portions down. Eat more often. Yes, that will help your metabolism and it'll help you burn callories quicker if you want to lose that gut and extra pounds.

    Stay *away* from fast foods. There's not much worse then the crap they give you at those fast food places. At first I thought this was a load of crap, but after not eating any for 6 months, I went and a had a burger from one of the national chains - damn did I feel horrible for the next 10 hours. It felt like I had ate a friggin rock. No more of that crap from now on, let me assure you.

    Don't skip meals. Make 'lunch' your biggest meal. At nite, eat a salad, and don't put a ton of goop and crap on it.

    My wife, about 8 months ago, started us on this 'new eating scheme'. (I don't know what book she got it out of, I can get the info if someone wants it). It's not a diet, as I've known them, but it's more of a lifestyle change (or minimally eating habit change). It's very similar to the above. It's not cheap at the grocery store, but quite honestly, after a while you'll feel better. When you eat better, you have more energy, you're apt to get more exercise, and you *think* more clearly.

    Don't believe me? Try it. Get an hour's worth of exercise everyday. (try walking to start off, stretch before and after).

    Go to bed at a timely fashion, so make sure you're getting minimally 6 hours of sleep. Some people require less/more, so if you're getting the minimum, leave yourself time to get a few hours more. But make sure you go to bed earlier. And if you're married, make sure you both do, and take advantage of that extra time alone when you're both not so tired :)

    You'll also be amazed at how hard you'll sleep if you get a bit of exercise each day. Personally, I took up mountain biking. But that's another story.

    That's my $.02. Good luck to all you fellow aging geeks out there.

  • Geek weight loss! (Score:5)

    by _outcat_ ( 111636 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @06:43AM (#241209) Homepage Journal
    I didn't have to hit 30 to know my body needed to change...I was about 15 when I really started to cut back in earnest. :)

    When I graduated from the 8th grade, about six years ago, I weighed 247 pounds. For a 5'7" female, that's not healthy! A few years before that my mother had gained a good deal of weight as she attempted to LOSE it on 80's fad diets, and as a result was diabetic. In fact, when I was 10 she had a hyperglycemic stroke and had to learn to speak all over again (she's doing great now, btw). It eventually got through my brains that sitting at a computer and playing Nintendo and eating potato chips/little debbies/Coke all day was REALLY increasing my chances of the same thing happenening to me. I wore a women's size 20 (!!) jeans (if you don't know what size this is, go to a Kmart and check out the plus size section. I'm willing to bet most of the skinny geeks on /. could fit two of themselves in those jeans.)

    I started out with little things. I recall using the cement steps in our basement as a stepping machine, and I would do 100 reps on it a day. I also began watching my thinner friends eat (by this time I was a freshman in high school) and I saw how much more slowly they were eating than I was. I'd eat my lunch slowly enough that by the time I was done, I couldn't go up for seconds. It didn't seem like much, but the excess weight came off so quickly at first that I lost about 45 pounds my freshman year! It was at this time that I bought a belt, a men's 38" in very cheap leather, with four punched-out holes in it each an inch apart. I remember wearing the belt buckled so it would be at its smallest..but that would still be about 35" or so.

    So, I got to buy new clothes *G* and I entered my sophomore year of high school, in which I discovered skateboarding. I was never good at it. Ever. But it made me run pretty fast to try to catch up with my runaway $13 board. Off came another 20 pounds, and I put two new holes in the belt.

    My junior year of high school I lost 20 pounds due to a deep depression. No, I do not recommend losing weight in this way. Do not, I repeat, do not starve yourself. I am still feeling the effects to this day of the calcium deficiency I developed (my teeth are horrible). When I got so depressed I could not eat, and I felt so nervously jittery that all I did was exercise. (It was at this point that I discovered my mom's stepping block, a sturdy plastic step with adjustable legs, and exercise videos, which make you feel silly but are WONDERFUL to do in a nice cool basement when it's 90 degrees outside.) The pounds came off and stayed off, but I would rather have done it in a healthier manner. Again, I got new clothing, and put two new holes in the belt.

    My senior year and freshman years of college were tumultuous, but I discovered new exercise videos. I also discovered that when I got to college, the shopping center was a mile and a half from campus. Often I would walk three miles a day, then go to the campus rec center and swim for a half hour. Unlike some of my friends, I LOST about 10 pounds my senior year and another 10 my freshman year of college. I put two more holes in the belt (which is about due to be replaced) and I also discovered running, which is surprisingly fun.

    I worry about some of my geek friends who sit around, snarf Doritoes and Mountain Dew all day, and play Counterstrike as their most strenuous activity. Sure, their metabolisms can handle it now, but they're not going to be healthy later on. They also scoff when I talk about calorie content and exercise time, and often try to pressure me to eat more tator tots in the cafeteria.

    What'd I eat? Normal stuff. I just cut back on fatty things and began to eat more fruits and vegetables. I've never been able to eat much for breakfast (usually a granola bar or a Pop Tart will suffice). At lunch I will have a sandwich with lean meat, a little mayo, and lettuce, with a salad on the side, and a cookie or two. At dinner I'll usually have something a bit more substantial, but I won't eat all that much of it. The key is moderation and exercise.

    Let's see. 45 + 20 + 20 + 10 + 10 = 105. I've lost 105 pounds! No gimmicks or shakes or diets...just normal foods and exercise.

    This was entirely too long. ENTIRELY. Wow. Maybe I'll help someone though.

  • Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:5)

    by glebite ( 206150 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @04:14AM (#241210)

    Get some exercise. If you don't like gyms - get a treadmill - a decent one which can tilt. Doing 5km a day walking on a treadmill can work wonders. At lunchtime, have a light meal, and go for a 20-30 minute walk and clear the cobwebs out.

    As for food - breakfast is important - moreso if you do that 5km a day in the morning. Lunch? Easy - small portions of leftovers from the dinner the night before or soup or a small garden salad. Dinner? Eat what you would normally eat, just don't eat the whole pizza - have 2 slices - don't forget that pizzas do have a bunch of goodness in them. Save the rest of the pizza for future dinners or for lunches. Always make dinner and plan for saving leftovers - cutting down on eating out of a restaurant or company cafeteria saves me $25 CDN a week.

    Beer? Drinks? I personally don't drink soda (unless it was made from barley) so I have a can of apple juice (200% daily recommended vitamin C). Oh yeah - take supplementals just in case you do something silly like try skimping on some food group or other. But yeah, don't drink the whole 12 pack in one sitting - share and save for later.

    For me, that formula has worked to allow me to lose 5kg this past month. So far I feel great.

    But yeah, just like on slashdot, moderation is the key...

  • The Hacker's Diet by John Walker (Score:5)

    by MagusZero ( 443648 ) on Monday May 07, 2001 @05:20AM (#241211)
    Read The Hacker's Diet [fourmilab.ch] by John Walker (of Autodesk fame).

Slashdot Top Deals

Say "twenty-three-skiddoo" to logout.

Close