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Weight Loss Tricks: SURRENDER THE BAGEL!
You’ve been so good. You’ve cut out sugar, lowered your fat intake, reduced calories, started exercising three times a week.
The result? Nothing. Nada. If anything, you’ve gained a pound or two.
Or maybe you’ve been eating this way for a while and still can’t lose weight.
Sound familiar?
Don’t blame yourself. People have been telling you lies.
Some years ago I sat down with a friend of mine who was despairing over her inability to shed pounds. She worked out fiercely, 6 days a week. She drank only diet soda, water, and black coffee with artificial sweeteners. She counted calories. What was wrong?
Together, we went over her diet.
Breakfast?
“Usually an orange,” she said, “and a bagel.”
“AHA!” I exclaimed. “There’s the culprit.”
Look in most calorie guides, and the calorie count you’ll find for a plain bagel is 150 - about 400 fewer than most bagels really contain. Eat an extra 4oo calories a day, and in ten days, you’ve gained a pound. The truth is, the calorie listings tend to be for those disgusting, soggy, frozen things that are shaped like a bagel but have as much to do with real bagels as candy corn has to do with corn on the cob. The bagels you probably eat, the ones you buy at the local deli or bakery or Starbucks, are at least triple the weight of frozen ones – and so, triple the calories.
“Forget the bagel,” I told her. “Have a raisin English muffin. Or an apple.”
Within a few weeks, she’d lost over five pounds – making no other changes in her diet.
Not a bagel-eater, you say? What about muffins? The same story applies here, too. How big is that muffin you grab for a pick-me-up in the afternoon? And please, don’t tell me that you think a “chocolate muffin” is really a healthy snack. “Chocolate muffin” is just another term for “brownie” – and be honest, you knew that. You know you did.
If you’re serious about losing weight, you need to get serious about the facts. That means doing a bit of your own research, rather than relying on “canned” information, “fed” to you while you sit passively, nodding your head. Not all apples contain 100 calories. In the real world, especially in supersize America, some apples can be 300 calories (still a bargain compared to that bagel, however, and a lot better for you). And no, not everyone burns 200 calories walking a mile.
The more you weigh, the more you burn, but conversely, that means that a 150-pound woman walking that mile with her 250-pound husband does not burn as many calories as he does. So if you’ve been counting more calories expended than you should, and fewer consumed than you’re actually eating, well….
But there’s an easy solution. Learn specifics, not averages. Find out calorie counts per cup, per ounce, per tablespoon – not per “average serving.” And learn how many calories an activity burns per pound of body weight, not for the “average person.” Knowledge, after all, is power.
Take it. And win the weight game.
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I always suspected that "muffins" were just a slick marketing trick to make cake seem healthy. Now, all I'm left with are my wistful, halcyon memories of the cranberry-orange-almond-muffin-shaped cakes at the NU breakfast shop . . .
I've trained myself to eat mini bagels, with about 120 calories per serving. Yeah, they're small, but they're tasty and satisfy my bagel craving without adding inches to my waistline.
Lynn
I'm not a huge believer that all carbohydrates are the enemy. Like everything in this world there are good and bad. Same goes for the various type of foods that contain carbohydrates.
While people begin dieting or start to modify their eating patterns they don't wan't to sacrifice certain items as it's like deprivation, and I agree. I think one of the best breakfast bagels as far as taste, nutrition, satiation and calorie content are 100% Whole Wheat Thomas Bagels. Each bagel is 270 calories, 2 grams fat, 55 grams carbohydrates, and amazingly 12 grams protein with 8 grams of dietary fiber. With modest amounts of peanut butter and fresh fruit this is a yummy, heatlhy, filling and nutritious breakfast which many people omit.
For anyone not willing to give up a bagel for breakfast I feel this is the most sensible and well rounded choice. The 100% whole wheat bagel is hands down a great choice for those who don't want to part ways with their beloved bagel in addition to taking those important steps to smarter eating choices now and in the future. If anyone has another bagel they feel is a contender to this, I'd certainly love to hear it, because I would buy them myself. As Abigail states don't be fooled with what you hear from an ad from radio, tv, celebrity or seller about a products nutrition value and benefits. Most likely you are only told half the story and it is up to you to find the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Mark Degen, BS, ACSM, ACE, LMT
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Mark, you just made me really hungry!
Well Mark, I have been all over looking at bagels, fresh fruit, wondering what was the best to buy...In a few weeks I will be doing a breakfast for 150 people for this porker walk, and I'm not doing any cooking but everything has to be healthy, now you just gave me a great Idea, bagels and peanutbutter & a low fat jam.....oh and many other things like fresh fruit trays, whole wheat toast/rye/ yogurt...etc..
eat these foods every day in a healty way your sure to lose some pounds..
*Smiles*
Wow, an eye opener. I'm totally in the same situation as your friend. I've been eating bagels for mid-day snacks thinking "it's a plain bagel how bad could it be." I probably would be better off eating a candy bar!
Great tips! I tend to forget to look at actuals, rather than averages. Maybe your friends success and your tips can help!
This article makes me wonder... I eat a bowl of cereal every morning. I wonder if eating, say, fruit and yogurt would be better? Cereal seems to make me feel bloated and full. But I just thought that was normal. I don't know, I guess I'm going to do a little experimenting.
Good article, but painful. I love bread. I love muffins and bagels! Ugghh!
(SIGH) I really like the carbs. I don't know what it's all about, but I just love my bagels, muffins, bread in general, rice, noodles, pasta... I can go on and on. Your article is a great reminder that there are many calories where we don't really expect in. I don't want to be reminded, but you did remind me to be careful of what I eat these days. This reading was good for me.
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