Oh hi! Funny, this thread was kind of the beginning of my shift to a somewhat healthier approach to eating/exercise.
I can provide an update:
Some replies in the thread recommended that I track my eating/caloric intake and figure out some specific goals for my health. TBH my biggest concern was weight gain; my doctor didn't like my most recent numbers because I had gained about fifteen lbs in less than two years. For the first time in my life, my BMI was in the "overweight" category, and my cholesterol levels were not ideal, either.
So I tracked my calories for three weeks, and started realizing that I consumed a lot more calories than I thought because I was eating many "healthy" snacks throughout the day--mainly protein bar type snacks. I was also rewarding/numbing myself with food-based treats like brownies and chips at work. I thought it was fine because I exercise almost every day, but clearly exercise wasn't enough.
Somebody on the thread recommended the "No S" Diet, so I bought that book and listened to the guy's podcast. I liked the simplicity and that I didn't have to buy anything special...actually, it led me to STOP buying all the snacks and junk food.
I am a fairly religious person and I decided there was also a concerning spiritual aspect to all the numbing I was doing with food, so I replaced the snacks with walking and listening to podcasts at work when I needed a reward/break. I work at a beautiful campus and walking does feel like a reward to me.
So during the week, I only eat three meals a day, never have seconds at a meal, avoid all snacks and sweets, and then during the weekend I'm a bit more liberal with my diet to avoid feeling deprived and to keep the habits sustainable. I don't drink during the week, but I do sometimes have a drink or two on weekends.
I walk 10k steps/day (I have a fitbit) and I do a simple weight lifting routine three times a week at home. I really hate lifting weights so it's a quick routine with 15 lb dumbbells that hits all the major functional strength training moves but takes about 20 minutes.
With all that, I lost almost 20 lbs and I'm still going strong about 1.5 years later. It took over a year to lose that much weight and I have stopped losing but have been holding steady for about six months. My cholesterol levels are normal again and my doctor was happy with my weight.
As far as what I eat for the three meals a day, I honestly don't bother myself much about it and eat whatever I feel like making. My husband and I cook for ourselves for 9 out of 10 meals and I figure if I take the trouble to make something from scratch, it's probably healthy enough. So right now, for example, I'm eating a potato soup chowder that I made last night for lunch. But I am pretty conscious of trying to make sure there's fat, protein, carbs and fiber in every meal. I do eat Ezekiel bread a lot because I try to get a lot of fiber in all my meals for digestion and satiety. Satiety is super important to being able to not snack. It's a bit miserable trying to go without eating for six hours in between meals if you aren't intentional about protein and fiber.
So as far as PROTEIN POWDER! The original topic here!
...I actually bought some unflavored whey isolate protein powder two months ago and I put a scoop in my smoothie on weight training days. I have a smoothie every morning for breakfast--I put loads of different stuff in there that all have various purposes and the liquid is water, no juice or plant-based milks. If I put protein and fiber in the smoothie I find it does actually keep me sated until lunch, so I figure it's fine (lots of health gurus say smoothies are terrible, but I reckon that's more about Jamba Juice milkshake-style smoothies rather than what I make).
Anyway I feel pretty good these days! I reckon there must be something true about the glucose spike thing being bad, because my sugar fixes during work used to leave me miserable, and I really don't experience that feeling at all anymore.
Thanks to everyone who weighed in here. Especially the No S diet: that was really perfect for me.
