How Long Does it Take to Change Your Appetite?

Diet and Nutrition
61

I also had to go to Amazon and gaze longingly at the options.

We bought $50 worth of meat from the farm down the street, which gave us 4 decent sized NY strip steaks and a couple of pounds of chicken breasts. Added a pack of maybe 10 chicken drumsticks, grilled it all up last night with corn on the cob and a salad and fed 7 people generously. I now have enough meat left over for lunches. Magical cooking skill needed for the meat = Montreal seasoning applied liberally. Butter and salt on the corn (just salt for me) and dressing for the salad (Boltthouse yogurt dressing for me).

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62

The Ninja combo tools are absolute game changers. Love them. I remember doing the boil in bag rice on a hot plate and chicken breasts on a foreman grill 20 years ago. The Ninja tool is there in spirit, but actually delivers great meals!

Easily my new favorite thing!

I also went to check out the pans @twojarslave linked. I’m still building up my pellet grill skills, too.

I like how this one turned back around!

63

Has anybody said to just eat healthy for 3 days, and then have 1 slop meal on the 4th day? If you eat 4 times per day, over 4 days, that’s 16 feedings. If you have junk Once, you’re still eating more than 92% clean. And you don’t go crazy.

It’s like the widely accepted 5:2 or Zig Zag diet. Only its 20% more strict, because you spend more time per week eating lower calories. And its 40% easier because you go 3 days, not 5 between trash meals.

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64

I would typically agree, but the way he talks he has a legitimate addiction to this food (or at least the ritual of ordering the food). I feel like this is a special case where any exposure to the trigger foods makes adherence more difficult rather than less.

I could also just be going too Dr. Phil on this.

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65

If i had a cheat meal every 4 days, i would be obese. I can very, very easily blow through 3 days deficit in one meal.

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66

This bro is really anxious and nervous and maybe even bipolar. He needs the carbs for insulin to cancel out cortisol and calm down. He needs the fat to build neurotransmitters so his brain can work right. He needs the the ritual to satisfy his compulsive nature. He’ll be less stresses out eating some General Tso’s every once in awhile that trying to live without it.

If he was addicted to smack or killing hookers I’d be more worried about feeding the addiction.

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67

This dude’s whole life is a cheat meal and he still weights 160. He won’t have that problem.

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68

I’ve tried this approach and it didn’t work for me. 92% of the meals may be clean, but if you’re really eating like shit with a large cheat meal it’s not really 92% of your calories. Crushing 5k calories in a slop meal is gonna offset you pretty hard every few days.

after posting, I think I mixed up my threads. Not sure weight loss is the goal here. I’ll let the comment ride in case it can be helpful to someone in another sense.

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69

Since this is back near the rails I’ll add my 0.02.

I usually don’t post much unless I’m at a keyboard, which means by the time I get around to replying, a thread like this has gone off the rails.
Anyway:

  1. To the extent that your budget is a constraint: If it is tight enough to prevent eating meat, it’ll prevent takeout and “junk” - because you can get full for less $$ eating rice. A deprivation diet will not be good for you long term due to lack of protein and other important things, but assuming you’re fat - most people are - the lack of takeout will be a benefit that outweighs the fact you can’t eat “optimally”.
    So in other words, lack of $$$ may be a barrier to following all the healthy cooking and eating advice here, but it doesn’t prevent you getting away from the processed junk. In fact it helps you, as you said in 1-2 weeks you’d go into debt if you keep buying junk.

Secondly: I’ve mentioned before on here that I find my food budget constrained too. IDK what country you live in but here’s how I cope:
-Rice. It’s cheap, can be added to every meal. Fills people up. Easy to make.
-Ground Turkey. It’s half the cost of ground beef. Not as tasty, but still protein. I don’t like cooking it, as it comes in all watery, but if you season with chili powder (taco seasoning) (which is still affordable) it’s OK.
-Ground beef. I buy it at costco. The cheapest is $4.80/lb approx. I buy $5.00/lb because the packaging is more convenient and I think it’s slightly leaner. We cook typically 1.3lbs of ground beef PER DAY at my house because there are 6 of us.
-Chicken: I buy lean breast at costco for dirt cheap. Cut it up small and cook it in a pan.
-Eggs. The really good eggs aren’t the cheapest but you’re OK if you get factory eggs.
-Sausage. Sometimes less than $5/lb. I don’t like going over that price for meat. Chop it up. You can add it to your ground beef for flavor.
-Oh and you can cook your ground beef into hamburger patties. I just make it like taco meat and mix it with other things in a bowl, but suit yourself.
What’s not on that list?
-Any meat over $5/lb.
Sure I like steak, but I’m honest with myself - I can’t afford it.
That’s OK!

(To be fair, this weekend I tried a new grocery store and found some meat I could afford, less than $10/lb but still a splurge, bought several lbs of different cuts of beef. Various results cooking depending on cut and method of cooking.)

(Also to be fair: “afford” is a relative term. I can “afford” to support my family of 6 solo and live in a very nice house. That could be switched around with my meat consumption instead, but not both LOL)

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70

I’m genuinely wondering if maybe a totally opposite tact is required here. If we know we fail every 4th day, instead of trying to stick with the diet on the 4th day, maybe we fast that day, so we don’t let food enter the equation at all.

It doesn’t sound like it’s hunger that’s causing the issue: it’s boredom/ennui. They don’t want to eat “diet food”: they want FUN food. So like any good parent: we’re turning the car around and going home! And then, after that fasting day, that “diet food” is gonna sound pretty damn good.

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71

I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying. I guess I feel like maybe those 3 days are less miserable if they aren’t such sacrifices to begin with - like if he’s already figured a way to eat the right carb/ fat combinations and he isn’t constantly reminded that he’s “restricted” from eating what he wants.

On the other hand, I don’t know what it’s like to feel this anxious and I’m more than happy to eat what I feel like when I feel like it, so I’m not speaking from a place of experience. I don’t have any reason to disagree with what you’re saying, and it seems sound, so I’m all onboard for it. I am playing with what’s more sustainable rather than is this really the addiction that will result in prison time.

Very fair

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72

They unfortunately jacked up the price substantially, as is the case with most things. I only paid around $60 for this pan last year and it lived in a closet for a while before I actually got around to deciding to forgo the more complicated seasoning process I learned about on youtube and just follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Even with the price hike it is an incredibly good value in my opinion. If the welds fail in the next 30 years I’ll be sure to come back and update my review, but as of right now the Matfer is my go-to pan for nearly everything I cook in a pan. It does almost everything a cast iron does, but in less time and the flared sides are also helpful for most things I cook compared to the straight wall of cast iron. The long handle is fantastic too since the end of it rarely gets too hot to touch, unlike the short handle on my cast iron.

The Matfer carbon s teel is what I use if I don’t feel like planning ahead or dealing with the hassle of a crock pot.

I’m at the buy nice, not twice stage of consumer spending. I love my Matfer, with my only complaint being it isn’t made in the USA. The French definitely know a thing or two about cooking.

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73

Probably better that it isn’t. Nobody needs a pictiny rail on a tactical saucepan.

74

Ok man. You’re officially off the shitlist.

Fly. Be free. Eat, drink, and be merry.

75

Since we’re talking pans-

I did a cook off between my old faithful stainless and my wifes “i hate your cast iron heavy stuff, so heres a birthday present I’d rather you used…” nordic ware pan.

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And the hands down, no contest winner-

Nordic Ware.

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Which surprised me, cuz it feels light & cheap. But it gapped ghe stainless to the extent that I finished what I was cooking in the stainless in the nordic.

:man_shrugging:t2:.
Learned sumptin new today.

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76

A good stainless steel pan is probably my next thing to learn how to cook on. I’ve thought about getting the one I want but the higher end ones are getting stupid expensive now, just like everything else.

I am not a fan of raised grill pans for the kind of cooking I do but the salmon looks great!

For the budget cook, I highly recommend Lodge cast iron pans. They are sold everywhere, are still cheap and I still have mine as they are indestructible with normal use. They are a great way to get into searing meat and veggies on the stove, among many other uses.

77

OP, what are your goals?

Most of these guys work really hard in the nutrition department so you aren’t going to get any sympathy.

Do you really enjoy training everyday?

I ask because that IMO training shoukd be your first objective. Many people feel they need to do both correctly or they won’t do anything.

If you take training very seriously, you will WANT to fix your nutrition, you will be motivated to.

Me, I subscribe to Rick the Stick, treats while lifting, they help get the PRs and they definitely help with the energy levels, after that, well, I’ve had my treats so I’m satisfied, plus I’ve made those gains in the gym, which when you lift hard, the sugar is utilized differently than when you not doing training. When I say treats I’m talking nature fig bars, cliff bars, maybe a bagel, maybe honey. Also most of my day is one big set of lifting. I do something in the morning, I do a set of arms later, then I hit my strength stuff in early evening. I will keep a weights in the car if I have to, it’s real easy to do a set of 50rep curls or something if I’m somewhere else. If you got your own office, it can be done there.
But if I’m not lifting, I won’t eat any treats.

No one is going to agree with me on this. No problem.

I’m not a big fan of 20 dollars for a steak for only 600 calories, I feel you there OP. So you have to eat a couple of them a day plus a dozen eggs. But if your getting carry out, then they are right.

There are some weeks I totally back off or even stop the treats, it’s usually when I start seeing too much fat. I then get very motivated to stop and the changes happen quickly because I’m dead serious about the daily training, no days off bro!

78

Gracias! I think the aluminum conducts the heat very quickly, which can be great with a large burner, but utterly futile with a smaller flame.

Yep. Thats what my griddle & pan are.

Piece of cake. They’re right between carbon steel and cast iron on thermal conductivity, and easy to clean/care for.

Crazy story time- Me & wife got those pans at a deep discount when we bought the entire set for the low low monthly price of… the bank holding that debt went tits up in '09 and we never heard from them or anybody else again. :man_shrugging:t2:.

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79

I do think this is a good point. If we’re sedentary, we won’t notice a difference in how we feel by cleaning up our diet. If it’s helping us better recover and perform, however, we’ll be a lot more excited to pay attention.

80

I use stainless for 90% of cooking. With proper pre-heating and the right oil almost nothing will stick. Plus you don’t have to worry about maintaining the seasoning on the surface. Just scrub the hell out of it with some robot pubes and youre good to go.

Cast iron and carbon steel do have their uses though, especially with open-fire or induction cooking.

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