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Sushi for weight loss?

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Lazarus52980

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Good morning all.

Like many of my fellow geeks, I am overweight and will be trying to get into a healthier lifestyle at the turn of the year. I find it tough to bring a bag lunch to work each day, so I go out to eat too much and am trying to find a healthier lunch choice. I enjoy Sushi and it seems "balanced" to my understanding, but could someone tell me if it is a reasonably healthy choice for a daily lunch?

Thank you for any responses and assistance.
 
Limiting yourself to just sushi sounds like a good way to fail your new diet after a very short time. Check out the fat loss sticky at the top of this forum.
 
While sushi is a low fat high in protein food, limiting yourself to one type of food is a sure way to cheat & fail.
Leafy greens tossed in a bit of olive oil & lemon juice or vinegar with lean chicken breast is another tasty great lunch. you want to mix it up to keep from getting board. Also, maintain proper portion size.
 
It's not really about healthy choices. A good first step (I lost 60 pounds this way) is to make sure you only eat during meal times, that includes food and drink. Outside of meal times, drink only water. Diet soda and other low/no calories doesn't count. Water. No snacks!

If you can do that, you are taking a brave new step, and it's much more difficult than it sounds. But if you can conquer that, you've made good progress. Don't worry about what you eat, or how much you eat during this phase during meal times. I'd suggest doing it for 3 months. It took me 3 months to start losing, but then my body started dropping pounds rapidly.

(It helps regulate Leptin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptin)
 
Alright, thank you all very much for the advice. I will try to do it another way.

My wife watches what she eats a lot, I was thinking I might do the "wife" diet. Meaning I eat only what she gives me... that scares me though...lol
 
When you do it sushi go for just the raw fish. Its all fat and protein. Rolls are not that healthy if your main focus is to lose weight. Avoid those mayo based sauces!

Grilled meats and veggies are also a great way to lose weight. Though it doesn't work for all people, going low carb helped me lose a lot of weight.
 
Wait, so if I get "rolls" (Which I presume means the classic sushi of rice along with meat and veggie) I am not doing myself any favors? Is the rice bad for you? Too high in carb?
 
Lazarus52980 said:
Wait, so if I get "rolls" (Which I presume means the classic sushi of rice along with meat and veggie) I am not doing myself any favors? Is the rice bad for you? Too high in carb?
Click to expand...

Exactly. Specifically, white rice is mostly converted to fat by the liver.
 
douglasb said:
Exactly. Specifically, white rice is mostly converted to fat by the liver.
Click to expand...

Seriously? Everything is converted to fat in the long run, not just white rice.

The problem with white rice is that it's calorie dense and has relatively little nutrition (no fiber, no minerals, no vitamins). The sashimi that everyone's promoting is less calorie dense, high in protein (which makes you less hungry for a longer period of time), and contains vitamins and minerals.

Also, sushi everyday is just silly. Don't limit yourself to one thing. Research what healthy eating entails (or read the fat loss sticky) and start a lifestyle. You need to have knowledge to continue eating right.
 
SociallyChallenged said:
Seriously? Everything is converted to fat in the long run, not just white rice.

The problem with white rice is that it's calorie dense and has relatively little nutrition (no fiber, no minerals, no vitamins). The sashimi that everyone's promoting is less calorie dense, high in protein (which makes you less hungry for a longer period of time), and contains vitamins and minerals.

Also, sushi everyday is just silly. Don't limit yourself to one thing. Research what healthy eating entails (or read the fat loss sticky) and start a lifestyle. You need to have knowledge to continue eating right.
Click to expand...

Not true. Not everything is converted to fat. Obviously, some of what we eat is used for energy. My point was that very little of the calories in white rice are useful for energy, and a larger percentage gets converted to fat than, say, brown rice.
 
douglasb said:
Not true. Not everything is converted to fat. Obviously, some of what we eat is used for energy. My point was that very little of the calories in white rice are useful for energy, and a larger percentage gets converted to fat than, say, brown rice.
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Carbohydrates are the first thing to reach the bloodstream. They are also the most quickly metabolized macronutrient. If anything, they will be converted to fat to the smallest degree. Almost ALL of the calories from rice are useful for energy. They're pure starch. The problem is that people eat too many calories from white rice. Once the cells within the body acquire proper glucose levels, THEN the glucose from the white rice is converted to fat. I'm stating this based off of human physiology. If you have any research that states otherwise, please post it. And yes, everything is converted to fat to a certain degree. Amino acids from protein go through gluconeogenesis, come out as glucose, and are stored as fat if they're not being used to build cellular proteins. Fatty acids enter the lymph system, are used primarily by the resting metabolism, and are stored as fat as well. White rice doesn't magically stop all of that.

Also, brown rice contains a fair amount of soluble fiber, thereby slowing digestion. This prolongs the amount of time that passes and thereby the amount of calories that must be stored period. If you took in an equivalent amount of fiber extrinsic from the white rice at the same time you ate it, the same effect would be present.

And to finish this summary off - the thing that matters is calories in vs. calories out. If I ate 2400 calories of white rice and burned 3000 calories, I would still lose weight. White rice isn't a poor choice because of its fat conversion, it's a bad choice because it doesn't fill people up and because of that, they eat more. With that, they are more likely to exceed their caloric maintenance and gain weight. It doesn't inherently make you fat.
 
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Mmmm sushi tonight.

Limiting yourself to one thing has a 10% chance of success. If you like those odds, go for it.
 
SociallyChallenged said:
Carbohydrates are the first thing to reach the bloodstream. They are also the most quickly metabolized macronutrient. If anything, they will be converted to fat to the smallest degree. Almost ALL of the calories from rice are useful for energy. They're pure starch. The problem is that people eat too many calories from white rice. Once the cells within the body acquire proper glucose levels, THEN the glucose from the white rice is converted to fat. I'm stating this based off of human physiology. If you have any research that states otherwise, please post it. And yes, everything is converted to fat to a certain degree. Amino acids from protein go through gluconeogenesis, come out as glucose, and are stored as fat if they're not being used to build cellular proteins. Fatty acids enter the lymph system, are used primarily by the resting metabolism, and are stored as fat as well. White rice doesn't magically stop all of that.

Also, brown rice contains a fair amount of soluble fiber, thereby slowing digestion. This prolongs the amount of time that passes and thereby the amount of calories that must be stored period. If you took in an equivalent amount of fiber extrinsic from the white rice at the same time you ate it, the same effect would be present.

And to finish this summary off - the thing that matters is calories in vs. calories out. If I ate 2400 calories of white rice and burned 3000 calories, I would still lose weight. White rice isn't a poor choice because of its fat conversion, it's a bad choice because it doesn't fill people up and because of that, they eat more. With that, they are more likely to exceed their caloric maintenance and gain weight. It doesn't inherently make you fat.
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Exactly. White rice isn't inherently bad for you per se, it's just that--like with pasta--it's very easy to eat a LOT more of it than you need, and if not mixed with other types of foots (proteins, fats), it won't leave you feeling satiated for very long. And, as SC said, it's not exactly nutrient-dense. The main problems for most people, though, would seem to have more to do with portion control and less to do with white rice specifically.
 
Problem with sushi is many eat too much as the small pieces are slow to 'fill you up' and most overweight people eat until that feeling is met.

In general though, unless sushi is going to be your lifelong diet, creating a diet that's going to be drastically different from your 'final' one may have you packing back on the weight.

For me I go to a pretty bland, limited diet when I am dropping weight. Once I hit my target weight I don't really gain much if I am sticking with the training.

If I don't my body pretty much hits a little over 200 no matter what diet I try.
 
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