Ask Sugar

1. Question from Gavz- Calorie Counting and measuring food.

One of my readers has asked me to do a post on calorie counting and measuring of food.

Early on in weight loss, I came to know that it takes 3500 calories to burn 1 pound of fat! Is not that a lot of calories? Even my 6 days a week of exercise , does not cause me to burn 3500 calories per week. So it is no secret of weight loss that you have to be pretty restrictive on the food to actually lose a pound a week. It will mean cutting out 500 calories a day from a diet that permits you to maintain your weight.

Another crucial piece of information would be the carbohydrate content of foods. Once cup of white rice/ 2 medium chappatis = 240 calories. Too little food? Yes. Back in the day, I would easily eat 4-5 chappatis instead of rice and think I was on a diet! Hah! Obviously I never lost any weight! So first thing to monitor would be the carb intake.

 I would say for beginners, cutting out two rotis / one cup of rice and compensating with vegetable ( cooked or raw as you please will give you results). I use spark people to track calories. I have a set of measuring cups and spoons, which one can easily buy in a super market. I should get a kitchen scale soon too! So measuring foods will give a fairly close estimate of the calories you consume. Another thing is to read the labels on packaged foods as also the calorie information. That will be how you know the total calories you eat in a day.

Measuring foods is important because 1 cup of rice in your head is a lot lot more than 1 cup of rice in a measuring cup. Often eyeballing food will not give you the correct calorie information. I used to eat nadfuls of chips and sweets straight out of the box. That way I think I'm eating only a little, but I end up finishing up the packet before I even know it. So portioning out before you eat is a sure shot wat to weight loss success.

I am no doctor/nutritionsit/ expert of any kind. So I have no right to walk around stating things I don't know. I would recommend that you use google to estimate caloreis in various vegetables, legumes or other standardised foods, so that you will get an idea. I am just sharing ideas here and no mandates. Ofcourse each person is different and different strokes for differnt folks. Hope this helped!

2. Question from Manjula of XL to XS : I believe from ur earlier posts u have tried GETRIM.Can you please let me know how far its useful.Though I stay on track till 5 PM,things does not fall in place during dinner time.Thought of stuffing with some protein shake.

Yes I have tried Getrim and given up. Honestly, it tastes pretty bad. I HATED the smell of it. But yes, it does have very few calories and has decent satiety levels. I glass of getrim shake holds you for about 4 hours.

Personally, I did not want to feed myself chemicals to lose weight. I think I should try and develop a healthy eating pattern, instead of resorting to a boxed meal for my body's needs. Those are the two reasons I stopped getrim. Yes you will lose weight, as you will if you follow a set diet plan, even like the Special Kellogs K. But you must decide if that is how you want to lose weight.

I have the 5 PM problem too, which is when I have begun to have a very large cup of tea. I also eat a small snack like two biscuits or something because I have other problems like acidity & gas. But Getrim did not solve my problem. Hope this helped!

 

3. Question from Gowri of My thoughts, my experience, my life Regarding exercise during "that time of the month"

 

Ah yes!!! Mother Nature's special gift to us. So what do you, when you want to lose weight?

 

First some pointers based on my own experience. Yours may be different, please feel free to share.

 

I never had very painful periods. Yes I do have some pain on the 1st/ 2nd day. If the pain is hard to handle, I usually pop a pain killer may be some - Crocin pain relief or brufen or something and get along.

 

• I found periods to be less painful when I had a month of eating low sugar. As in saying no to sweets and other sweetened stuff. (I take sugar with my tea/ coffee. I cannot take sugarless tea.)
• I also find a general sense of well being when I am active - my wheezing problems are under control, my digestive system works well and my periods are not too painful either.
• Some heat causing foods like black til seeds, papaya etc do bring on my cycle early. I therefore eat those foods moderately. Eg. I do buy papayas along with my regular fruit purchase. But not always. I rotate with other fruits including bananas, apples, oranges, grapes. chickoo, melons & strawberries. (Yes I DO eat bananas & chickoo & mango when in season :)

So should you? Or not? I suggest - Listen to your body. If you feel tired, pain or just dont feel upto it, I'd say - give it a pass. If you feel alright, then go ahead and sweat it out. If you are doubtful and its only a mental battle you have, like I do many times, then I go to the gym. I exercise at a moderate intensity. I rev up if I feel good or just do a quick cardio session and get back.

Usually I take a day off - 1st/2nd day. Then I treat that as my weekly day off and continue. But yes, sometimes I also get lazy and decide to "just chuck the idea and be".

I am sorry Gowri, did I confuse you more than ever? Or did I help in anyway?