Seeking: PERSONAL COOK-TRAINER TYPE

[Guest mondo]

Guys my problems have been well posted around here. I have recently brought my compulsive gambling problem under control. I have also learned to accept my Asian twink friend that he must like me for just me and now I just enjoy the time we can spend together, I don't analyize it any longer. So now I'm ready to take on a larger issue, me .

 

I don't know what the best title would be but I'm seeking a guy to hire as a cook that understands nutrition as it's time for me to lose about 150 of my 350 pounds. I'm not looking for a quick fix and not interested in anything but doing it by reasonable diet.

 

Along with this it would be ideal if this same person would be able to walk with me about 30 minutes each day.

 

So if you happen to know of a guy who can spend about 2 hours a day shopping and cooking my meals and possibly walking a bit with me please have them contact me or send me their contact information. I am not certain what email I have on file here so the best email to reach me at is [email protected] Thanks in advance for any suggestions or assistance.

 

A quick edit, I forgot to mention that this person should live in Orange County or Los Angeles area

[Boston Guy]

Mondo:

 

This is good news.

 

I'm so happy to hear that you're moving forward and that you've begun to work on some of the things that were bothering you. Congratulations!

 

I cannot recommend a cook for you but wanted to throw out three suggestions:

 

1. You probably have already done this, but you should really talk with your physician before and during any attempt to lose a large amount of weight.

 

2. Consider the Atkins diet. A good friend of mine has lost 110 pounds in the last 13 months doing Atkins. His doctor started off by saying "I cannot recommend Atkins for you..." By month 10 of the diet, the doctor was doing Atkins, too. Over the course of the 13 months, as he lost weight, my friend was able to be taken off each of the five different drugs that he was on for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Today, his blood pressure and cholesterol are all in the normal range. And the best part of it was that he didn't have to starve himself to lose the weight. Instead, he followed Atkins rigorously, without going off for a single day. If you're interested, I can provide some more info on it for you, although the best way to really learn what to do is to read Atkins' New Diet Revolution ($7.95 in paperback). And, by the way, "doing Atkins" isn't a diet, at least according to Atkins: it's a lifestyle that necessarily involves at least some exercise, taking multi-vitamin/multi-minerals, etc. But it is easy, easy, easy compared to how hard most diets are. Anyone can do Atkins if they want to.

 

3. Getting back to the meat of your question (sorry :-) ), I'm not sure if this is the best place to find a good cook in LA. Someone here might be able to recommend someone and maybe you'll be lucky. But you might want to also think about talking to the Department of Labor for either California or Los Angeles: they might have real cooks or chefs who are unemployed and who would love to be making some money again. Or, alternatively, if you really want to have a gay person working for you, you might explore what resources the City of West Hollywood might have along the same lines. It's not that close to Orange County, but maybe they'd have some resource that could help you hook up with some young gay man looking for income.

 

Good luck to you -- it sounds like you're really on the right course.

 

Regards,

BG

[sdg]

losing weight and maintaining that loss is a serious, life-long committment. so before you enter into it you need to find sometime that is going to work for you for the rest of your life. Atkins is working for a lot of people but it does tend to get boring and is limited. your thoughts of hiring a cook are excellent if you can maintain that cook forever or take the opportunity to learn how to cook for yourself. either way you are going to have to change your whole life to focus on first the weight loss than the maintenance of that loss. definitely a worthwhile endeavor but not a real easy one.

 

always remember on your journey as you move ahead you will on occasion fall backwards but hell you can always just get up and start moving forward again.

 

GOOD LUCK

 

i have never eaten anything that tasted better than being thin feels. how comes that looks and sounds dumber in writing!

[eastbayguy]

Good news and best wishes as you begin your weight loss journey.

 

I'll add my voice to those touting the Atkins program. My doctor told me that he wasn't a fan of Atkins year in and year out. But, he said I needed to loose weight and said that any diet was better than staying fat. Congratulations on reaching this decision point in your life. The fact is, YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

 

Between diet and excercise, I've lost almost 100 pounds and still need to shed a few more to look ideal. Those who say it takes a lifetime change in habits are correct. But, it need not be an unpleasant shift.

 

I also suggest you go see a physician skilled in weight loss through diet. A physician can provide a lot of support as you go through the process. Plus, keeping an eye on your blood chemistry can be very helpful. Also, with Atkins, a prescription for Allopurinol can help avoid any kidney problems, etc. Weight loss specialists know about these things. Interview the doctor carefully. Don't be afraid to ask questions and get the doctor to tell you how they do things. If you'd like, I can ask my weight loss doc if she knows anyone in the LA area if you'd like a referral.

 

You might also take a look at the South Beach Diet. It is similar to Atkins, but allows more variety in what you eat. If I were starting out again, I'd do the Atkins induction phase as long as I could stand it, then gradually switch over to South Beach. The Atkins induction phase is wonderful. Especially if you do it with proteins lower in fat, like chicken, turkey, etc. I dropped a ton of weight in a hurry and it was a huge boost to morale, motivation, ego and so forth.

 

Once again, congratulations and best wishes on the journey. I'm really proud of you for making this committment to change. Hang in there and keep us posted on the results.

 

--EBG

[foxy]

Why hire a cook? Learn to cook for yourself. There are always classes you can take in learning to prepare nutritious food. Don't sign up for the pastry class though. I've never understood why people say they can't cook. My reply is "Can you read?". Contrary to popular belief, cooking is not an art. You just need to follow a recipe. It's science. You weigh and measure, throw in some basic chemistry and apply heat. The best part is you can cook something that tastes good, it's relaxing taking the time to prepare a meal, saves you a ton of money and you can control what you eat. Most restaurants give you way too much food and they load it with salt. There are a million cook books out there to suit every diet. You should consult a nutrionist and find out what is good for you. Good for you for taking the steps to get your life in order. There is nothing better than feeling in control of your life. Also, find a supermarket you can walk to so you get your exercise when you go shopping. Buy small amounts so you have to go often. I've walked in LA, it can be done, plus the weather is usually good unlike this mess here in NY right now.

[gregkidman]

In New York, there are a number of services where they deliver food for the day so that you only have to heat it. Most of the meal plans follow the 'Zone' diet which enables you to be really healthy and become leaner. I have no doubt that there is a meal-plan service that follows the Atkins plan or the South Beach diet in New York.

 

I am not following any type of plan, so I am not an authority on any diet plan. Just one note: if you follow Atkins, you will have really bad breath and this diet is hard on the kidney so make sure your kidney is very healthy to take on this diet. One of the posters mentioned that there are some pills to help the kidney, so you may want to investigate that. I don't know anything about the Zone diet or the South Beach diet but I would like to think that they are less hard on the kidneys and you wouldn't get halitosis (bad breath). Again, I am not an authority on these matters.

 

Los Angeles is certainly a large enough city for this type of market to deliver Zone/Aktins/South Beach meal plans.

 

As for walking, you could get a dog. A dog MAKES you walk every day. Or you could volunteer at a local SPCA, where they have dogs that needs to be walked.

 

Cheers,

Paul

[NYCOperaQueen]

Another option is to consider a food delivery service. There are companies in NY and LA that will delivery a complete day's worth of meals and snacks to you every morning. These meals typically follow the dietary requirements of "The Zone" or Atkins. Some friends here in NYC have found these services to be useful when they were trying to "reprogram" their eating habits at the start of a diet. It can be very helpful to have someone managing your overall calorie and food intake. The services cost less than a personal chef!

 

Good luck,

 

Richard

[Boston Guy]

My friends and I have found no problems with bad breath on the Atkins diet. I think the people who end up with that really aren't following the diet correctly.

 

Also, the whole issue of Atkins being unhealthy for the kidneys was based on one study that lasted six weeks. There seems to be no real evidence at all that Atkins is bad for the kidneys or any other organ, done properly by someone who understands the program. Many people have been doing Atkins for decades now (since the 70s) and are in great health.

 

BG

[Guest mondo]

Excellent suggestions guys. I had briefly been on a offshoot of the Atkins diet called Sugar Busters. I lost about 25 pounds in a few weeks ... I just wasn't in the proper frame of mind to follow it fully. The main difference, I think, between Atkins and Sugarbusters is you can eat unbleached and unprocessed pasta and bread. The basic part of the diet is no while flour, sugar or bleached foods. Mostly ate pasta, steaks, burgers, turkey and chicken.

 

I have looked into the Zone diet for some reson I don't feel comfortable with it. There are a few items about it's balance of nutrician that bug me.

 

There is a place near me that delivers well balanced foods as well as low carb, if I want even vegie food, all meals are prepared fresh and not frozen. They delivery every 3 days and I just put them in the microwave to heat them if needed. If you are in the area and want to check them out http://susanshealthyourmet.com I had used this service for about 5 months a while back and lost about 60 pounds. It is just reasonable well balanced meals that taste really good.

 

I don't mind cooking except I really work odd hours and have little time to do so. That is why I wanted a cook but some brought up some good points that it might not be the best of ideas for the long term.

 

The idea of seeing a Doctor first as BGT and others mentioned is a good one, and I have done so. He has no real preferencee ... just wants this weight to get down to a managable size especially at my age of 50.

 

BTW:I had a great time with my Asian twink pal and didn't even question myself why he came by last night. He now even spends the night once in a while. It feels so nice to cuddle up to someone all night, especially him

[eastbayguy]

>I am not following any type of plan, so I am not an authority

>on any diet plan. Just one note: if you follow Atkins, you

>will have really bad breath and this diet is hard on the

>kidney so make sure your kidney is very healthy to take on

>this diet. One of the posters mentioned that there are some

>pills to help the kidney, so you may want to investigate that.

> I don't know anything about the Zone diet or the South Beach

>diet but I would like to think that they are less hard on the

>kidneys and you wouldn't get halitosis (bad breath). Again, I

>am not an authority on these matters.

 

Between my own experience and that of several friends who lost copious amounts of weight on Atkins, bad breath was never an issue for any of us. All of us discussed the various kidney rumors with our doctors. We all went through various urinalysis checks during and after, and no difficulties were detected. Taking allopurinol was suggested by my doctor as he said it would prevent uric acid levels from rising.

 

Drinking a LOT of water, which I do anyway, probably helped. Anyone wanting to loose weight should get in the habit of drinking as much water as they can stand.

 

At no time that I was on Atkins were any signs of kidney stress detected. Instead, my blood chemistry improved greatly, very quickly once on the diet. My blood sugar levels had been variable before, but went down and stabilized. Although my cholesterol wasn't high, the "bad" cholesterol level went way down and has stayed there.

 

My doctor was pretty impressed with how the diet worked and how fast I lost weight. He said it worked a lot better than the Heart Association diet.

 

--EBG

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Boiling Water

 

If you lived closer, I would offer to come by and both help teach you about food, including some ideas about nutrition and some simple tricks to prepare your own meals. A very good book for you to look at is called The Nutrition Almanac. It will give you the nutriton contents, including calories, and other constituent parts, like you would find on nutritional labeling information for everything from produce to various items prepared in different manners.

 

Cooking is not rocket science but to make it both interesting and enjoyable does require some patience, affinity and practice. It really is not hard to make rice or boil water, but there are things you can both learn and teach yourself. Time is also a factor and it is not hard but it is also not as simple as reading. Anyone who has tried to program a VCR can tell you that. Sometimes, it matters how the recipe is written, what your starting base of knowledge is and the biggest trick is planing (for example, knowing what spices you really can do without or substitute). I like to look and read cook books, I will try to figure out a good basic one, beyond the Good Housekeeping, Joy of Cooking type, which often do not have the best nutrition material in them, even the more recent editions.

 

I am not a big fan of Atkins. I believe that carb content, and more particularly, how the carbs are defined, is too high. The Los Angeles Times ran an article yesterday about low carb alcoholic drinks becoming the new trendy thing; the article quoted one "personal trainer/nutritonist" who stated that "some hard" alcohols contained no carbs (but were instead fat), which clearly makes them acceptable under the Zone, Atkins, South Beach diets, etc.

 

Just FYI, all liquor generally has less calories (one shot) versus one bottle of beer or one glass of wine, but rarely does someone drink alcohol straight up. A martini has more calories than a glass of wine or beer (and these, obviously) are averages.

 

However, ALL liquor is a product of fermentation of starches and sugars.

 

As for pasta, even though I know how to make it from from scratch and often have (and we are not talking a pasta machine here, I mean the old fashioned way), I have neither made it nor cooked it in years. I rarely eat it, even though I grew up eating pasta every day. I do have very good quality (duram) and whole wheat from Tuscany in my home right now, but even a 2 ounce serving of cooked pasta has 42 grams of carbs. I would be better off with a container of Mocha Thunder Soy Dream.

 

I think you need to look at and concern yourself with the fat content, gram of carbs, sugar and salt content of the food you eat, whether it is prepared by you, prepared by someone for you, store bought or eaten out. In looking at fat, you need to look at the total fat content AND the type of fat, avoiding or looking for the lowest possible saturated fat content. You also need to attempt to understand and look for "trans fat" which acts like saturated fat to negatively impact cholesterol.

 

The human body needs fat. Fat is how the body stores energy and fat is also needed to help absorb certain vitamins and for other beneficial and very necessary functions of the human body. The body likewise needs cholesterol (to produce Vitamin D, for example) and for digestion. However, there is NO daily requirement for cholesterol because your body can synthisize what it needs readily and easily.

 

Here are some simple suggestions you and anyone else can follow:

 

1. Avoid sugar

2. Stop adding salt; look for low sodium products, cook without salt (and when it is required - brown rice is a good example - use sea or kosher salt MINIMALLY).

3. Drink as much water as possible. While there is such a thing as being too hydrated, this is actually rare. The equivilent of two 1.5 liter bottles is not extreme.

3. Add more fiber to your diet, particularly when eating meat

4. When you eat diary products, always go for the non-fat or lowest fat alternatives. Since you live in Orange County, Trader Joes is an excellent place to shop for cheese which is low in fat (50 to 75 percent lower) that still has a very good taste to it.

5. Avoid baked goods, particularly pasteries of any kind

6. Cut down on bread, switch to whole grain, multi grain, corn

7. Switch to egg whites

8. Avoid fried food

9. Avoid butter, mayo, most salad dressings, prepared sauces (if you are going to eat pasta, I can show you how to make your own very low fat, no added sodium and extremely tasty marinara sauce; I can even give you some pesto recipes).

10. Finally, realize you can treat yourself once in a while and should; conceptually, you should avoid foods which are bad for you, nothing should be forbidden. For example, I avoid salt and never cook with it, but much on this planet - including ourselves - has naturally occuring salt and once you start cooking without it and not adding it at the table, you really do not miss it at all. I also look for low carb food, but I do not force myself not to eat them at all. I made and ate an apple pie for Christmas this year (and no, Lucky, I did not eat the entire pie myself).

[Guest 2004]

I know low card is VERY popular right now. I just wouldn't be too quick to discount low fat diets. You also might want to check a site called diettalk.com for more advice aside from the good advice that many posted here.

[SoCal]

I liked "Sugar Busters" quite a bit, and lost a lot of weight on it. Like Atkins, Sugar Busters is a bit healthier for you if you choose more chicken and fish, rather than steak and chicharonnes (pork rinds!). I appreciated the fact that most all fruits were allowed (no bananas) and more vegetables, but of course no potatoes, etc.

 

The diet is satisfying, VERY easy to follow if you eat out a lot like I do, and I lost about 80 pounds on it.

[+ bigjoey]

RE: Boiling Water

 

much good advice is given here; i prefer the SOUTH BEACH diet myself as it has more variety than atkins. to me one of the keys is to realize that it is a lifetime change you are making. you say you lost 25 pounds on sugar busters and then fell off the wagon and on another diet you lost 60 pounds before going back to the way you use to eat. the yo-yo of losing and gaining shows why it is not so much which diet you use but to permanently change your lifestyle. even a "cheating weekend" while on vacation can be a killer and end all the hard work. you really need to think lifetime change.

 

second, exercise is most important. again, it is not so much which diet you use; it often comes down to how many calories you intake a day and how many you burn; if you intake more than you burn, you gain and if you burn more than you intake you lose. without getting too technical there are the differences in intaking fat, carb, sugar calories and how they "burn" but by and large it comes down to simple physics of intake and use. exercise helps with the "burn" side of the equation in addition to helping you feel better (endorphins in the brain and all that). even just resting, muscle burns more calories than fat so that a 225 pound body builder burns more sleeping than a 225 fat man (talk about not being fair).

 

the keys are excercise, eating the right foods (and portion control; large portions of "good" foods still have calories that need to be burned). good luck on your adventure.

[langster]

I agree with several of other posters about Sugarbusters. Read the book, which was so informative and a must. Not only does it tell you what to eat but WHEN to eat. I had been eating at the wrong times as well as the wrong foods, which I had already knew. It took me about a year to lose the amount of weight I wanted. I lost 90 lbs,with that came off 10 pants sizes and a shirt size. I follow it still to this day and have keep the weight off now going on three years. I do cheat a little, I love rice being from the South, but do not get a rapid gain of weight as I did when I was on the Atkins diet and cheated! It is really an easy diet to follow but one make up his mind that he does want to lose the weight, if not NO DIET will work!!!:+

[Guest mondo]

The diet thing is still up in the air. I have tried several different diets this past week all never made it past the first day or two. It's really hard to do this, even harder than the gambling thing or accepting my Asian twink friend liking me for me.

 

I even put more weight on than I thought recently so now it has become a huge (pun intended) situation.

 

I am going to attempt to go back to what originally worked best for me. Fuck the diets, just eat a bunch of very low fat foods and try to walk some each night. I think if I can lose the weight that I did before I might be able to adjust the diet to fit my lifestyle more now and keep the weight off this time.

 

Oh I have tried Atkins I just don't feel good eating all that fat. I can hear my arteries getting hard. And while Sugar busters did work a while for me it is kind of the same thing ... I don't like all the fat. Plus why should we eat like our ancestors? Their average duration was half of our life duration . I don't understand the South beach diet. it seems like Sugar busters to me.

 

Well guys thanks again for all the feedback (haha another pun).

[eastbayguy]

>The diet thing is still up in the air. I have tried several

>different diets this past week all never made it past the

>first day or two. It's really hard to do this, even harder

>than the gambling thing or accepting my Asian twink friend

>liking me for me.

 

Loosing weight is difficult in the extreme. Lots of factors working against you, including genetics and your own metabolism. It can be done.

 

>Oh I have tried Atkins I just don't feel good eating all that

>fat. I can hear my arteries getting hard. And while Sugar

>busters did work a while for me it is kind of the same thing

>... I don't like all the fat. Plus why should we eat like our

>ancestors? Their average duration was half of our life

>duration . I don't understand the South beach diet. it

>seems like Sugar busters to me.

 

Atkins is about PROTEIN, not fat. You can do Atkins on a very low fat intake, which I did. I prefer turkey, chicken and other lower fat foods over the less lean cuts of beef anyway.

 

Again, I'd urge you to see a physician skilled in weight control who is well trained in nutrition and all the physiologic and other implications. A friend steered me to a nearby internist with special and specific additional training in weight control. She had spent a lot of her career working with women who wanted to loose weight after childbirth. At one point, under the care of this physician, I was loosing almost two pounds a day. It was scary, but a good kind of scary. A couple of weeks of that and people were coming up to me saying "Is that you? Wow!"

 

Meanwhile, we're all rooting for you.

 

--EBG

[Guest mondo]

thanks eastbayguy for the info again and the nice words of encouragement. my doctor basically wants me to get the weight off now. he knows i have tried just about every diet. at this point he is more concerned about just doing it than how. he doesn't feel that any reasoanble diet will be a health risk and isn't even against the fasting witht he powder supplement stuff as well. he thinks the risk of being so fat is far greater than atkins, sugarbusters weight watchers or whatever the diet might be.

 

i just need to focus, get very serious about it all and do it. easier said than done.