Everyday Systems

One of the best thing you can do to prevent hunger is to drink a lil' bit of apple cider vinegar ... 1 tsp. diluted in a tall glass of water. 10 minutes before a meal. This will make you feel full much longer. It slows down the digestion, so the food hangs out in your belly longer, good thing.

Don't use too much though they say 3 tbsp. per day should be the maximum (due to the acidity) so using 3 tsp. you're only using about half your limit. (I use a teaspoon that is on the small side too, it's half the quantity I would put in a tbsp.)
I think some people use more than that, 6 tbsp. per day, so I am playing it very safe
using 3 tsps.

Don't forget to rinse your mouth a couple of times after you've had the diluted vinegar because it could cause problems to your teeth if you didn't so rinse at least twice (I wasn't believing this part though, unless you drink it straight !)

The vinegar is diluted 100 to 1 of course so it's a weak solution but better to be safe than sorry, takes 10 seconds to rinse twice anyway .... You can hardly taste it in the water, that's how diluted it is, really. If you are still bothered you can add a lil' bit of juice in there to mask it.

If you check it out on Google you can see that apple cider vinegar (other types of vinegar could work well too, but apple cider is mentioned more often) is a good appetite suppressant and I have been really surprised how effective this is really .. I've only started doing this a few days ago and I am really happy about the results.

It makes a big difference. Yesterday I had a small dinner and I still didn't feel hungry at all later in the evening. I was expecting to get hungry, but I didn't.

Just 1 tsp in a tall glass of water 3 times a day before meals, rinse 2-3 times, simple recipe. It has other benefits too, lowering the blood pressure, cholesterol and whatnot ... I was researching this just a couple of days ago since I just discovered all this about the vinegar trick.

Play it safe though, don't 'chug' it down ... geesh.

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 191 Pounds

Someone at a blog mentioned yesterday about apple cider vinegar lowering cholesterol.

Yeah, it surprises me some people are thinking it would taste awful ... the vinegar is so diluted you can barely taste it. 1 tsp in a tall glass of water. I've had things that tasted 100 times worse than this, really ... like OLIVES for example, YUCK, lol !

Besides you taste vinegar often, I mean come on ... mustard, ketchup, salad dressing, pickles and whatnot ... they all have vinegar listed high up in the ingredients.

I've only been trying this for a few days now but I am surprised how well it works to prevent hunger and it also has other health benefits.

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 191 Pounds

Apple cider vinegar is an incredible thing which is good for sooooo many health issues..
i'm sure it doesn't taste "yuck" at all.. thanks for the tip Mark
ps.. i would take the rinsing bit seriously, because vinegar breaks down calcium.. this would of course, affect the health of your teeth and bones.
i remember years ago putting a chicken bone into vinegar, and letting it soak overnight, as a project for science class... i don't remember if it was the next day, or several days later, but when left in the vinegar, the bone took on the texture of, almost, what i could describe as "rubber", and you could bend it like a piece of soft plastic.
In addition, apple cider vinegar is a very powerful anti bacterial, so if you are doing this now, it will most likely, help your immune system during the Winter months and hopefully you won't be at risk for catching colds.
pps.. not on topic, but since i'm writing u now.. i finally started doing planks this week and love them, tho i can only hold them for about 20 seconds.. doing between 3 and 5 sets per day depending on how i feel. My son can hold a plank for 2 minutes! Wow!!
Have a good week and I will be getting some apple cider vinegar soon.
Debs

Thanks Debs !

Yes, it's better to rinse, I agree ...

Doing planks ?? Awesome ! 20 seconds, good work !
Your son is an athlete, 2 minutes, wowo !! Once I tried doing only one plank, I was holding it for 3 and a half minutes, phew. But that was a max. 1 rep. I normally don't do that ... it was just a test. The whole thing is mental really, you just have to convince yourself not to quit, heh. Make sure you are very straight, not lifting or lowering your hips, straight line.

You can add a few seconds later on when 20 seconds seems too easy for you ... I have been doing those about 5 times per week in the evenings for over a year now. I started doing 35-40 sec. reps and now I do 100-105 sec., usually only 3-4 because I do other body weight exercices too :

The big 3 :

Push ups : 40-45 rep.
Planks : 100-105 sec.
Squats : 60-65 rep.

I alternate between the exercises. One after the other (Circuit training) usually 30 sec. 45 sec. rest in between sets.

This trains your whole body in 15-20 min., 3 best exercises you can do and no equipment is required at all. You can even do those while watching TV. I often do that and I have a timer nearby for my planks.

I'm sure if you do those regularly, at least 3-4 times per week, you will see an improvement in no time ... muscles help to burn calories as well, good thing.

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 191 Pounds

alright, maybe worth a try....

I've read that vinegar also is helpful for digestion (my husband uses it when he has an upset tummy, but he takes a strait shot of it *shudder*)

I find when I don't take my multi vitamins I have the urge to snack more and I tend to eat more at meals. I recently started taking an extra multi B vitamin and boy does it give me energy and curb my appetite. I had to switch to taking the extra B in the morning though, cause it gets me so wired if i take it at night I can't sleep.

I don't know if I'd try this as an appetite suppressant...but I have used ACV as a conditioner after shampooing. It makes my hair really shiny and squeaky clean =)

marygrace, i'm guessing that's probably because it's dissolving whatever built up deposits are there from hard water.. just taking a guess
my mom told me that soaking a clogged shower head in vinegar will remove the hard water residue, like calcium, from it.

gratefuldeb67 wrote:marygrace, i'm guessing that's probably because it's dissolving whatever built up deposits are there from hard water.. just taking a guess
my mom told me that soaking a clogged shower head in vinegar will remove the hard water residue, like calcium, from it.

That's probably true. I'm not sure whether we have hard water here in Austin or not, but the ACV also works to remove other built-up deposits, like extra gunk from hair products and whatnot.

marygrace wrote:

gratefuldeb67 wrote:marygrace, i'm guessing that's probably because it's dissolving whatever built up deposits are there from hard water.. just taking a guess
my mom told me that soaking a clogged shower head in vinegar will remove the hard water residue, like calcium, from it.

That's probably true. I'm not sure whether we have hard water here in Austin or not, but the ACV also works to remove other built-up deposits, like extra gunk from hair products and whatnot.

marygrace -- if you don't know whether or not you have hard water, chances are you don't. Those of us with hard water know it!

Murphysraven wrote:I've read that vinegar also is helpful for digestion (my husband uses it when he has an upset tummy, but he takes a strait shot of it *shudder*)

A couple of years ago I was having trouble with some acid reflux kind of thing. I woke up in the middle of the night extremely uncomfortable, and the only thing I could think of for relief was the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast). Well, I didn't have any bananas, didn't feel like cooking rice and was out of bread. But I did have apples -- though not applesauce. I ate part of one and got relief in a very short time. This happened a few more times and always relief from the apples.

I did some research on natural "cures" for acid reflux and found where I could get an e-report for some sum of money - don't remember now how much I paid. I figured if it worked it would save me a bunch of money on a doctor's visit and drugs and if it didn't work, I wasn't out too much money.

One of the things they suggested for acute episodes was apple cider vinegar along with honey. They suggested apples for prevention (a small wedge just before bed time). I only used the vinegar once or twice and it worked very well. I ate a little apple at night for about a year and had only the one or two episodes. No trouble since.

Yes, all I know is it works for me. It seems to curb my appetite longer than if I only had plain water.

I always have a tall glass of water right before or after a meal ... been doing that for 2 years. I eat about the same now as before, the only thing I am doing that is different is adding 1 tsp. of vinegar to the water, shaking it up ...

Apparently it's a bad idea to drink it straight though, not good for the teeth, the stomach ... but I dilute it 99 parts water, 1 part vinegar - - I haven't experienced any discomfort.

It seems to make me able to go at least an hour longer without being hungry, maybe 1 hour 30 min. even ... I noticed that the first day I started doing this so it was quite obvious. Slows down the digestion or something.

That's long enough to get me closer to the next meal or bed time so it helps a lot with the cravings and whatnot ... Instead of being hungry at 9:30pm and thinking about cheating, I can make it to 11pm, makes a huge difference. Avoiding the cheating instances made me lose a few pounds rather quickly. Instead of taking a step back, I move forward more often than not.

I've lost 3-4 pounds since I started doing this ... and it's been less than 2 weeks (?) (Plus I was away for 2 days straight this past week end, eating at restaurants and not really exercising hard except for a long walk ...) If I hadn't done that I probably would have lost 5 instead of 3-4 ...

It keeps me from cheating on my diet so I am spot on for the most part (nobody's perfect but I am doing quite well lately) and then I do my training as usual. It also seems to give me more energy, I read that somewhere too, as a possible positive side effect ...

I wonder why some people think this is gross, you can hardly taste it ... I've had things that were 10 times worse really ... so this is easy. Don't forget to rinse a couple of times of course.

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 191 Pounds

bluebunny27 wrote: Doing planks ?? Awesome ! 20 seconds, good work !
Your son is an athlete, 2 minutes, wowo !! Once I tried doing only one plank, I was holding it for 3 and a half minutes, phew. But that was a max. 1 rep. I normally don't do that ... it was just a test. The whole thing is mental really, you just have to convince yourself not to quit, heh. Make sure you are very straight, not lifting or lowering your hips, straight line.

Wow three minutes is crazy!! Nice one Marc
yes, i'm watching my form.. when i lose more weight i'm sure it will be a bit easier to hold it for longer but for now, i'm still only able to do 20 seconds.. but i am doing 5 sets and shaking a little less
I'm also doing squats and shovelglove in addition to my daily planks.. I'm only doing those every other day tho.. I do between 60 and 100 squats, depending on how i feel.

Yes my son has turned into quite an athlete this year!
He swam a mile every day all Summer, and now he's in cross country track. He's slimmed down so much and all his pre teen weight is just melting away from all his hard work and good eating! I'm really proud of him and he's been inspiring me so much!

You'll love this Marc.
There's one exercise/game that they do in Cross Country training before running, as a general conditioning exercise.. It's called "The Circle of Death"!!
Basically, they are all in pushup position in a circle, and they do one pushup, each, go all the way around the circle, then each person starts increasing the amount by one again.. so now they each do two pushups, etc etc... but the whole time that the guys are *not* actually doing the pushups themselves, they have to remain in pushup position without coming down to the ground! Hope that made sense?

- 3 and a HALF ... lol !! Don't forget the last 30 seconds ... cos' those were the hardest ! I've seen clips of people holding the plank position for 8-10 minutes straight ... yikes ! I'm not there yet, heh. This might take a few years !

You're shaking a lil' bit, huh ?? Nice ! It means you are working HARD. 5 sets seems like a lot to me though ... I was just reading about that, articles online ... they were sayin' you shouldn't do more than 3 sets, especially for the upper body ... they were talking about studies that showed 1 or 2 sets is alright for the upper body, 2 or 3 for the core and 3-4 for the lower body ... apparently for the upper body the difference between doing 2 sets or 4 is really not that great (they experimented with a lot of people) Just push yourself with 2 sets and you're done, isn't that nice ?

Apparently the lower body requires more sets because leg muscles are more developed naturally, people are standing, walking, going up stairs, etc. It takes more training down there to get results for that reason, the muscles usually have at least a lil' bit of toning due to day to day activities. The leg muscles are usually bigger and stronger naturally (and possibly other reasons too !) but their conclusion was to do more sets for the lower body than the upper body, you see.

How did you know I would like the CIRCLE OF DEATH concept ... am I getting too predictable ?? Yes, I love it ! Competing. Good thing your son is getting in shape as well - - and seeing his progress encourages you to get better as well so it's a win-win situation.

Keep up the good work !

Side note, I am 22 days away from a full year of MAINTENANCE now ... still doing well ... 191-192, my next official weigh in is in a couple of days...

10-22-2009 : 189.6 pounds (That was the 1st day under 190)
10-22-2010 : ???

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 191 Pounds

I am going to try this without grammatical errrors, or spelling mistakes.

Paul Bragg, and his daughter Patricia, might have been the first to advance the use of apple cider vinegar:

http://bragg.com/about/paul.html

Enjoy that shot.

ohhhhh thank you Marc....I have some Braggs in the pantry***pads off to the kitchen***

I had forgotten all about this old "diet" trick....it really does have health benefits and DOES kill appetitie....PLUS the taste is mild and pleasant (the Braggs, anyway)
thank u!

I have tried ACV in the past and I really dislike the taste. I mean I don't like it in my salsa, salad dressings etc.

Would capsules work?

I get very hungry between meals but with water, tea and even coffee and milk (I just can't seem to quit) it helps.

I don't want to rely on something to help my hunger. Isn't No-S supposed to get easier and easier the longer you've been doing it?

gettheweightoff wrote:
I don't want to rely on something to help my hunger. Isn't No-S supposed to get easier and easier the longer you've been doing it?

Yes.

I think what and how much you eat matters, too. If I eat fake food, I'll be hungry in 30 minutes. If I eat real food, I last to the next meal -- and sometimes way beyond that.

wosnes wrote: If I eat fake food, I'll be hungry in 30 minutes. If I eat real food, I last to the next meal -- and sometimes way beyond that.

This. So much with this.

Typically, I cook from scratch. Real food. Veggies, grains, meat, spices and all that smack.

Sometimes Life Happens and I'm eating a cup of Ramen. A bowl of homemade soup from real ingredients is more satisfying to me for longer. (Though I confess I kinda like Ramen occasionally. I'm not a total gourmet).

Well, it totally worked. Didn't have any hunger pangs for 4 hours after rising, as opposed to 2 hours. Eating my very moderate breakfast right now: mango smoothie, toast from my homemade bread, and strawberry cream cheese. I went to visit the Braggs site, and there is a lot of useful information there about the merits of ACV. Apparantly it is great for people with joint problems (anti-inflammatory)....and I swear the headache I woke up with this morning was gone shortly after I downed it. Their ACV is organic and not "dead" like the garden variety supermarket stuff. I am hoping that it really DOES help headaches, I get horrible migraines.

glimmergrrl wrote:Well, it totally worked. Didn't have any hunger pangs for 4 hours after rising, as opposed to 2 hours. Eating my very moderate breakfast right now: mango smoothie, toast from my homemade bread, and strawberry cream cheese. I went to visit the Braggs site, and there is a lot of useful information there about the merits of ACV. Apparantly it is great for people with joint problems (anti-inflammatory)....and I swear the headache I woke up with this morning was gone shortly after I downed it. Their ACV is organic and not "dead" like the garden variety supermarket stuff. I am hoping that it really DOES help headaches, I get horrible migraines.

I accidentally found that some of my headaches were due to being dehydrated. Before I take anything, I drink a glass of water (or two). I'm amazed at how many times that works!

Thanks for the tip Woesnes

First thing I do when I get up is guzzle a 16oz glass of water into which a packet of Emergen-c gets mixed. This usually does the trick, but if the ACV helps tooo, I'll add that to my arsenal. If that doesnt cut it, then the excedrin migraine....then the imitrex, then last resort a vicodan and go back to bed. Uggghhhhh.....headaches have been my nemesis since I was 13.