Park food for dieters
A calorie is the amount of heat required at a pressure of one atmosphere [sea level} to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. The more calories you eat, the more energy your taking on.
There are three main catorgorys of calorie soruces.
-Fat is the most concentranted source of energy with approx. 9 calories per gram. You really need to watch fat. Monounsaturated fat is the best for you, Polyunsaturated comes in close second, saturated fat sits way back in third place.
-Carbohydrates [suger and fiber] are less concetrated than fat at approximently 4 calories per gram but don't let that mislead you. Some people get the idea that no fat means they can eat as much of it as they want without gaining weight.... WRONG! I'm drinking a can of mountain dew right now. It has 46 grams suger and totals at 15% of my daily need for carbs. That is a lot.
-Protein has approximently 4 calories per gram but isn't too important.
Putting it all together with calories. Assume that you require 2000 calories. This is just a random tally also assuming you eat breakfast lunch and dinner without anytthing else between.
Here is the breakfast of champions, pop tarts and milk. 2 pop tarts [2 pastrys in one package, who doesn't eat two?] with 200 calories per pastrys is 400 calories total. One 8oz. glass of 2% milk has 130 calories. That totals to a 530 calorie breakfast. Not bad.
You go to burger king for lunch. Whopper with cheese value meal king sized. The Whopper has 760 calories. The kingsized fries has 590 calories. I'll just ignore the hundreds of calories in the drink for now. The whopper and fries total at 1350 calories. Your total so for is 1880 without the drink, if you add the drink to it, it'll be over 2000 calories for sure.Did I mention that all unused calories get stored as fat? Going over 500 calories per week is a very easy thing to do if your not careful. One pound of fat is about 3500 calories, 500 calories over your daliy requirements will gain you one point of fat per week. 1000 calories per day over will gain you 2 pounds per week. In the long run, it adds up.
Fast foods including park food is usually high in calories thus bad for you. If you only eat it once in a great while, it's not a problem. Fast food bites you since it's so convenient. I know some people that eat it several times per week. It's a bad habit to get into fast food.
For weight loss, the magic number is 1-2 lb's per week. That is the most you should lose in over the course of a week. Every diet, and I mean EVERY one shouldn't promise more than that in a given week. If it does, it's a waste of your time.
There are ways to lose more than that, but it uses extreme workouts. One, for example requires you to job in winter cloths on a hot day. You'll burn off lots of weight, but you'll probably wish you were dead while doing so.Football players buringing 6-8 thousand calories in a game is possible also. The more exercise you get, the better.
'Eat less and exercise more' is a very true statement.
I would also include stuff about metabolism and caloric needs, but I'm sick of typing. :) Ok, I'll make it breif
Metabolism is your bodys current ability to burn energy. High metabolism means higher caloric needs. Metabolism is reduced when you don't get enough calories which is caloric shock which is your bodys ability to cope with long periods without food. This means that if you go on an extreme diet, you lose a lot of weight in the initial period, but is kills your metabolism. When you go back to your old eating habits, then you gain it right back.
Caloric needs is the amount of calories you need to stay at the same weight. There are calculators on the internet that tell you what you need. Everyone needs particular amounts of calories per week. This is usually 1500-3000 calories per day.
Ok, maybe that wasn't exactly breif...
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Joe Barnett
Forum Moderator/Editorial Writer
www.pkiunlimited.com
Dehydration is a problem depending on how bad. It actually has an effect on your health
I lost a bunch of weight walking around the parks. Thats always a good diet!
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Lets go its on!
Visit History of PKI!
What I have done has been to quit going out to lunch every day. I don't go hungry, but because I am single, it's real difficult to prepare one meal...and because of profitability issues, lunch portions are out of control. I end up with a larger dinner, perhaps, but overall, I'm eating more sensibly. The result is that I'm getting plenty to eat, I eat pretty much whatever I want, (I'm not on a diet, remember?) and I've been dropping pounds. I do tend to prefer proteins to carbohydrates, but I am enough of a Coke addict (and I can't touch the non-sugar stuff) that I'm gonna get plenty of those anyway.
Of course, once the parks open, this will all be moot anyway because first of all the exercise kicks in, and people who have suffered through park visits with me know I usually don't eat much in the parks anyway... :)
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(was >250#...am now closer to 238# and generally shrinking...)
We've adjusted the diet in the past month, adding fruit and vegetable carbs, and we treat ourselves once a week...he loves his weekly pizza...but we don't over-eat. In fact, we feel bloated if we do.
We drink LOTS of water, and diet pop (generally only once a day). We don't feel deprived, and the fruit takes care of any sugar cravings (and is good for us).
What we HAVE realized is that we do not crave the carbs anymore. I'm happy that both my son and husband are eating much more fruit and no more sugary crap, which is much healthier IMO.
Although Atkins allows for fatty foods (the fatty foods keep your metabolism working since it doesn't have the carbs to process), we are careful not to overdo it.
Above all, it's helped us to change our eating habits, which is better in the long run.
BTW, my husband has lost 3 inches from his waist, and 2 from his chest. He's confident he'll fit into Wicked Twister this year...his reason for losing the weight.
As for park food, we are going to consider our trips our "splurge" days, and consider the exercise we'll be getting walking around all day as a partial counter effect.
If interested, I've been keeping an Atkin's Diet Journal: www.webtechnik.com/ebony
You can access it from the index on the left.
CPLady: 3 months, 15 pounds lighter and feeling better than I have in years.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm
Im getting his recommened menu of foods and I have plenty of vitamins including my multi. and a fiber one, to help keep me regular.
I haven't drunk pop for over two years, but I have taken in more juice, chips, ice cream and stuff like that, which is terrible. Im at 263# right now, and by the time Cedar Opens, I hope to at least be at 230#. Thats my short-term goal, because if I have get myself in wth a Shoe-horn on the Force right now, then I'll have the same problem with Dragster. :(
In this country right now, Obesity has climbed from 40% of Americans to over 60% in less than 10 years. We are the fattest country in the world because we have more snack foods and junk foods than anyone else. Atkins advice to grocery shopping is to stay on the outer perimeter of the store and stay away from the middle (since thats where most of the bad processed stuff lives)
People seem to have forgotten how the human body works. It is (in general) made of calcium and protein, it is lubricated and insulated with fats, and it runs on carbohydrates. Thing is, between hysterical news stories, and the well-intentioned lousy pop science of outfits like the Center for Science in the Public Interest, we have dramatically demonized fat in the past few years to the point that a ridiculous number of products are "low fat", and because everybody is so "fat" that's all anybody cares about. But those low-fat products are loaded with carbohydrates (mostly sugar to make it not taste like cardboard) and as a result have these sky-high calorie counts...and as a result, as a Nation, we're eating less and less fat, while growing fatter and fatter. Even worse, the anti-carniverous lobby has done such a good job of convincing people that "meat = bad for you" that the American diet is skewing more and more to heavy carb-loading instead of protein. Meanwhile, if you really want to do something about not being so big and heavy, you gotta get more protein and less carb. Which these days can be difficult, just from a practical standpoint because of the bad attitude towards food out there.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Since I've been on Atkins, I've done a ton of label reading. Compare the "low fat" items with the regular items, and you consistently see the same thing. Higher calories and much higher carbohydrates.
And John Peck, good luck. The hardest part of Atkins is the first week. Once you've kicked the carb addiction, it gets much easier.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm
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"It's not a Too-mah!" - Arnold after riding Batman the Ride
I think exercise is better than dieting.
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God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts!
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.
I had no trouble getting into MF, WT or any other ride at any park last year but I just feel really dumpy lately and want to get rid of all this excess weight. A girl at work is going on it with me and is my "support system" as I am hers. It's always very important (and much easier) to have someone on a diet with you. :) Good luck to all dieters involved and may we all feel better for dropping the pounds. :)
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This ain't no book you can close, when the big light hits your eyes. Cropduster-Riot Act-Pearl Jam
As for exercise, I've been an on-and-off user of The Firm's videos (coming soon to an informercial near you!). I really like the combination of high-rep, low-weight lifting and aerobic workout. I (no longer) want to Be Huge, so heavy weights are no longer interesting to me. But, when I stick to only running/biking/whatever, I'm a bit less toned upper-body-wise than I'd like. These workouts are not easy, but they are definitely rewarding.
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http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~bnoble/
-'Playa
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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.
I did it by leaving the diets alone, and just eliminating foods that slow my body down(sugar and bread), and staying active. I run 3 miles a day and lift weights when I can. When I go to amusement parks, I make sure to eat a *huge* breakfast before hand so that I'm not hungry. I then spend the rest of the day burning it off on my neighborhood Vekoma ;)
If I must snack on something, it's usually butter-less popcorn or a salt-less pretzel. Other than that, stay away from park food, it's not my friend.
Of course, every body type is different, and what works for me may not work for you.
BTW, I once lost 5 pounds in two days just walking around SFMM in 95 degree heat ;)
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People complain about clones, yet can't even come up with original conversation, which is ten times worse.
I started this program right after the 4th of July last summer and I found that you can indeed find park food that works, but you've got to be choosy. Stay away from walk-up stands and go to the sit downs. You're options are much better there. Grilled chicken is your friend :)
Good luck!!!
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Scott W. Short
scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com
Cutting out all the rice, bread and pasta, and sticking to water and caffiene free diet drinks has made a big difference. We can still cheat with those items once a week, so long as we don't go overboard.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm
The old fundamental of balancing your diet and portion control makes sense. It's simple, find your basal metabolic rate per week (number of calories you burn per week sitting on your ass), consume fewer calories than that, then subtract for the number of calories burned during exercise. That's how much you'll lose, a pound for every 3500 calories. The only caveat is that you can't over-do it on cutting back food because your metabolism slows down, your body thinking that you're starving.
It works... I lost 10 pounds in a month by keeping my weekly calorie intake down and playing DDR five times a week for 30 minutes or more. And get this, I can to this day go to Burger King, get a regular .89 burger, a baked potato and a medium soda every day and still maintain that weight (that's 855 calories, leaving 1100 for the rest of the day plus whatever I do in exercise).
Dieting should be common sense, not these ridiculous imbalanced "diets." You have to make lifestyle changes, pure and simple. You need to exercise, you need to control portions. You'd be surprised at what cutting out soda alone will do.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM
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