weight loss Archives | Eat Bread 90

The True Advantages of Eating Bread on my Eat Bread 90 diet.

June 27, 2018September 14, 2018 by Lin Carson

Week 13: The True Advantages of Eating Bread

90 days later, and round two of my bread diet experiment is over. I’ve documented the many advantages of eating bread and now I have the end result: 8 pounds lost on a bread diet.

Although I’d like to attribute my weight loss to bread alone, these are the contributing factors as well:

Reduced calorie intake
Reduced exercise, but still daily
Reduced variety in food choices

When I started this project, I wasn’t worried about my high-carb diet. But I knew to lose weight would take some extra planning. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from 90 days of bread.

What are the advantages of eating bread?

Eating bread means:

Getting essential nutrients from whole grains, such as fiber, iron, magnesium, and folic acid
Giving your body needed energy in the form of carbohydrates
Eating a nutrient-dense food that satisfies cravings and is easy to incorporate in your diet.

Say what you will about diets that cut out carbs, like paleo or keto. The truth is, we need carbohydrates in our diets. And research is showing that U.S. adults are deficient in a number of important nutrients that are best made up via eating bread products.

Plus, it’s a relatively cheap, accessible food that carries real substance.

Is eating bread every day bad for you?

No, unless you have celiac disease. Eating bread every day not only gives you the benefits of whole grains, but provides the carbohydrates active people need to function.

Bread is healthy for you and has a place in any diet.
You won’t gain extra weight if you’re watching your overall calorie input/output.
You won’t develop a gluten intolerance.
You won’t feel bloated or sluggish.

Is bread the reason I lost weight?

It’s a big part of it. It helped fight cravings for one thing. Bread also helped limit the variety of my diet. Studies are revealing that too much variety in our diet can lead to weight gain.

To lose weight I also had to carefully watch my calorie intake, and exercised regularly. However, as I found out with exercise, less is more. By doing some physical activity for just 30 minutes a day, I found I burned the needed calories, but still had energy for staying active the rest of the day and didn’t feel the need to load up on food afterwards.

Can I make a bread diet work for me?

Absolutely! If this experiment has proved anything, it’s that you don’t need to cut carbs from your diet, especially to lose weight. Stay away from complicated fad diets that don’t work and give your body the food it needs.

The key is to do what works for you and your schedule. Eat healthy foods. Watch your calorie intake. Exercise. And enjoy bread!

If you’re looking for some delicious, healthy loaves to try, check out my bread gallery.

The final weigh in:

The first weigh-in: 147.4

Week 13 final weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 139.4 lbs. Brought to you be the advantages of eating bread.

Week 13 final weigh in: 139.4 lbs. Brought to you by the advantages of eating bread.

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Is bread really the main reason behind my weight loss?

June 20, 2018October 4, 2018 by Lin Carson

Week 12: You Might Not Like What I’m About to Say About Weight Loss

Is bread really the main reason for my weight loss? No. I truly believe that by incorporating bread into my diet, it replaces a lot of the calories from the other foods I usually consume, leaving me with little room for anything else. Therefore, I’m restricting my variety of food intake drastically.

In this study, the potential downsides of diet diversity results in having too many choices and leads to higher consumption of food—and consequently, more calories.

In another review, The American Heart Association reported that overweight people who were offered a variety of foods for their snacks ate 25% more snack servings per week than people who were told they could eat any amount of one favorite snack. The same goes for meals—having more variety of dishes on the table can lead to overconsumption.

So, I believe my ability to lose weight on this diet is mainly because I cut off my variety of food from other sources—especially sources that are high in fat and sugar, which are unhealthy. I focused on only eating whole grain bread as my main source of calories, and with that, came the benefits of a diet that was high in nutrition.

But isn’t this an experiment to show that bread helps with weight loss?

My use of the Eat Bread 90 experiment this time around was to show that you can use bread as part of a weight loss diet plan that works with exercise. I have a problem with all the low-carb and keto diets these days because I know that our body need carbs to function. I believe I have personally been effective in losing weight by not following those diet trends, and by sticking to the a restrictive diet plan focused around bread consumption. This affirms again that bread alone doesn’t make you gain weight.

Can I try this?

Yes. I want you to try out this bread diet. Grab that bag of sliced whole grain bread and follow the diet plan laid out in the first few weeks of my blog. You will see that your appetite and cravings will decrease, and so will your caloric consumption. Don’t forget to visit my bread gallery to look at the different varieties of bread!

Lastly, remember, if you can eat it, you can run it off (or exercise). A diet plan without exercise is a half baked idea!

The first weigh-in: 147.4

Week 12 weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 140 lbs.

Week 12 weigh in: 140 lbs.

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June 13, 2018September 9, 2018 by Lin Carson

Week 11: Exercise Less, Lose More Weight

I previously thought that high-intensity exercises over a longe period of time helped me lose weight. But training for triathlons was actually not helping with my weight loss. So I decided, I’m going to cut down on my exercise.

Man, this exercise for 30 minutes everyday thing is really working! Why didn’t I learn of this study before? Well folks, thirty minutes of exercise a day may be the magic number to lose weight!

Researchers in this study found moderately overweight men who exercised hard enough to sweat for 30 minutes a day lost an average of 8 pounds over three months compared to an average weight loss of 6 pounds among men who worked out for 60 minutes a day.

What? Why? Could it be because we are not stuffing our faces after 30 minutes?

The overall loss in body mass was the same for both groups, almost 9 pounds. Researchers were even surprised by this! Part of the explanation may be that people found 30 minutes of exercise so easy that they had the desire and energy for additional physical activity, said Mads Rosenkilde, the PhD student researcher. But what I really suspect is that they weren’t as tired and exhausted to be eating everything in sight (like I do when I’m done with an hour workout).

Why 30 minutes?

Researchers followed 60 moderately overweight men who wanted to lose weight. The men were randomly placed into either a moderate or high dose exercise group. The high dose group was instructed to exercise hard enough to produce a sweat, like from running or cycling, for 60 minutes a day. The moderate dose group only had to sweat for 30 minutes a day.

After 13 weeks, the study showed 30 minutes of exercise a day produced similar or even better results than 60 minutes a day!

The men who exercised 30 minutes a day lost an average of 2 pounds more of body weight. Researchers say those who exercised 30 minutes a day actually burned more calories than they should have according to their exercise program. In contrast, the men who exercised 60 minutes a day lost less body weight relative to the energy they burned during their workouts. Get this, the extra 30 minutes of exercise did not appear to provide any additional weight loss in body weight or fat!

So you’re telling me to exercise less?

Yes, if the goal is to lose weight! This research suggested that 30 minutes of exercise a day may provide additional weight loss benefits. For example, people may still have extra energy leftover after shorter workouts to be more physically active throughout the day. In addition, the study indicated that men who exercised for 60 minutes a day probably ate more to compensate for the longer workout session and therefore lost less weight.

See, I knew that was my problem!

The first weigh-in: 147.4

Week 11 weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 141 lbs.

Week 11 weigh in: 141 lbs.

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June 6, 2018September 9, 2018 by Lin Carson

Week 10: Bread Only. Skip Diet Variety to Lose Weight

Variety, variety everywhere, but I’m just sticking with bread.

Why? Because diet variety causes weight gain. Here’s why:

A study looked to see if there was a link between the obesity problem in our Western culture and access to highly-palatable and varied food. Past research with animals has shown the link between eating more food if it tastes good (and that makes perfect sense) which leads to a pattern of obesity—as the more used to good tasting food you eat, the more you feel you need to eat to become satisfied.

However, diet variety may also be linked to eating behavior and weight. Studies have shown short-term that the more variety in a diet, the greater probability of intaking more food and higher energy intake. On the other hand, eating the same foods over a period of time reduces palatability ratings and the amount of food eaten.

A different study looked at strategies to improve weight loss and maintaining that loss. They found that limiting diet variety can help reduce intake and when done long term, along with other healthy-eating practices and exercise, can help with weight loss.

Does this mean only eating one type of food for the rest of your life is the secret to losing weight?

Probably not. The bottom line is, it seems the more choices you have when it comes to diet, the easier it is to eat more. However, keeping a simple routine can help curve cravings.

How is exercise going?

Good, now that I am keeping to a schedule of running on the treadmill at least 25 mins everyday. This limited amount of exercise provides me a stress release and also kick starts my metabolism everyday without going excessively hungry. It’s done amazing things to my little muffin top, too! Which is taking the fat there and converting it to muscle mass somewhere else. I love this exercise regime, I wished I learned of it sooner.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

Week 10 weigh in: 142 lbs.

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April 18, 2018May 25, 2018 by Lin Carson

Week 3: Why I’m Eating Bread and Losing 10 Pounds

Why are you doing this? You look great. You don’t need to lose anymore weight.

As a startup founder, especially one that sits on the computer all day working on WordPress and editing articles, I just don’t move around much. At the beginning of my journey four years ago when I was a lone founder who worked everything herself, it was really hard to get away, let alone include an exercise routine. I spent over well over 15 hours a day sitting. If I didn’t sit, I was stress cooking or eating with my family.

Stress + sitting + startup = 10 lbs.

Like over 26% of founders, I’ve gained at 5-10 lbs on this journey.

How much weight do startup entrepreneurs gain?

How much weight enterpreneurs gain

There is little I can do about the stress level. Hey, when the bills are stacked up against you, and you have to make cashflow and still grow the company, there is little a startup founder can do with this bootstrapped system other than stress about it. Stress. It comes with the startup game, or anytime you become your own boss.

I finally found some relief in my third year of business when I was able to hire employees to take work off my plate. That meant I had more time to exercise. But I was at my highest weight ever at 145 lbs. So I took out my trisuit and went swimming, cycling and running again. Back then, I felt that I could handle a loaf of bread a day no problem. At that weight and the rate I was burning, it was easy to consume a loaf a day.

That was why the 90 loafs in 90 days experiment was possible. I was even hoping that I would lose weight, but the training period and my high caloric consumption for the Triathlons just wasn’t conducive to losing weight. I did, however, maintain my weight throughout that period with bread and for the rest of the year.

But you look good, why lose weight?

I was really pushing the upper limits of my BMI. Which means that I have excess fat I’m carrying around. I don’t need it. Not on my back, not on my knees. Especially not when I’m running the 5K of my triathlon (maybe that’s why I’m so slow for that leg – no wait, I’m just bad at running). Anyway, I’m confident that if I get rid of that 10lbs, I can be faster in the overall race this year at the HAAG lake Triathlon.

Dave’s Killer Bread Epic Everything Bagels.

This week, I added Dave’s Killer Bread Epic Everything Bagel into my diet. Can you imagine a person eating a bagel a day and still losing weight? This is how I’m doing it:

Food	Portion	Calories
Multi grain bread	4 slices	440
DKB Epic Everything Bagel	1	260
Butter	2 Tbsp	200
Orange Juice With Calcium and Vitamin D	8 oz	110
Strawberry Jam	2 Tbsp	70
Green grapes	1 Cup	65
Apple slices	1 Cup	60
Friend Egg	1	90
Steamed Broccoli	1C	55
Chocolate Eggs*	6pc	160
Total Calories		1510

*chocolate eggs are not part of a healthy diet. However, I have a weakness for Cadbury’s chocolate eggs, and if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am addicted to them.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

Week 3 weigh-in: 144.4

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Eating healthy bread to lose weight: week 1

April 9, 2018May 18, 2018 by Lin Carson

Week 1: Eating to Lose Weight is Hard. Bread Helps.

How did the first 7 days go eating to lose weight?

Tough, but worth it. I lost about one pound.

The toughest part? It is educating everyone around me on my bread diet. They bring me food and ask me to go out to lunch. And cooking meals for my family that is non-bread based is all very challenging.

What’s different this time around?

I used My Fitness Pal app to track all my caloric intake. 50% of my calories came from bread. My target caloric count for losing weight is about 1,500 calories per day. If I stick to this, 750 calories should come from bread, and that would mean about 6-7 slices per day! Come to think about it, 2 in the morning, 2 at lunch and 2 for snacks in the afternoon, and if I spread it out, voila! I should be able to cover all my hunger pangs. Sounds super easy yeah?

franz organic nine grain bread to lose weight

Wrong. It was hard to stick to that eating schedule. You know what they say about dieting: calorie deficiency isn’t the easiest thing.

Why is it so easy to put on, and yet so difficult to loose weight!

So my first week was plagued by me snacking on other things other than bread. Chips here, dumplings there, and that muffin’s calling my name!

klosterman organic 100 whole wheat bread

So all in all, I tried to keep as close to my caloric intake goal as I can on bread to lose weight. The result? I didn’t feel hungry all the time, but the weight is not falling off as much as I thought it would. I feel this is because of all the eating I do other than bread. So I’m going to do something different next week. I’m going to really streamline what I put in my mouth and be really disciplined about it.

This week I ate bread from two wonderful bakeries: Franz and Klosterman’s. Both of these products are organic, made with quality ingredients, and to top it all off, taste delicious! It’s loaves like this that will make eating bread to lose weight possible. Stop by my bread gallery to see all the breads I’ve eaten during my 90 days projects.

This is what a typical day looks like:

Food/Portion/Calories

Franz The Great Sprouted / 4 slices / 440

Klosterman’s Homestyle Wheat Bread / 4 slices / 320

Butter / 1 Tbsp / 100

Garlic and Herb cheese Spread / 2 Tbsp / 110

Clementines / 190

Coconut Water / 8.5 oz / 45

Strawberry yogurt / 113g / 90

Perogies / 3pc / 45

Roasted Chicken Thigh / 2.5 oz / 108

Buttered Broccoli / 1C / 50

Strawberries / 1C / 49

Chocolate Eggs* / 6 pcs / 160

Total Calories:1607

*chocolate eggs are not part of a healthy diet. However, it’s Easter egg season, and I need my easter eggs! No wonder losing weight is so HARD!

Before the start of my 90 days, this was my weight:

The first weigh-in: 147.4 lbs.

Week 1 weigh-in: 146.2 lbs.

1 pound down, 9 more to go!

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April 2, 2018May 5, 2018 by Lin Carson

Why I Revealed My Weight on Stage

Standing in front of hundreds of baking professionals this week, I was sharing about my EatBread90 journey. Many of them were there to see if I really ate a loaf a day.

Did you actually do it? What happened? Did you eat white bread as well? There’s no way you’re that weight! How can you not gain weight with this much bread? You must be really young to not gain all this weight.

The questions after the presentation were endless. This is what I wanted. I secretly planned the aftermath of this experiment. Which is, to get bread to be the topic of healthy eating again. And I did it. I sparked the idea in people’s minds that bread could possibly be healthy!

So why did I really reveal my weight in journey on stage?

Well, because I wanted to answer the varied questions about how bread can be healthy with just pictures. You see, if bread is the villain that everyone paints it to be, I would have gained a lot of weight. At 1 lb of bread a day, about 1,400 calories, I would have at least gained at least 30 lbs in 90 days right? These pictures pretty much said it all. The idea that eating bread makes you gain weight is a myth.

Now it’s time to take this experiment to the next level. Can you lose weight with bread in your diet? For the next 90 days tune in and read my blogs to see if I get lucky with this experiment.

As for the rest of you that consistently insist that bread still makes you gain weight, and that only a low carb and high protein diet works for you: understand that I will be using lipid catabolism, a well known fat burning technique, to use bread to loose weight. Wanna learn more? Go to eatbread90.com

My weight during Eat Bread 90

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March 28, 2018April 29, 2018 by Lin Carson

Is This The End? Eat Bread 90 Round II

NOPE! I’m just getting started.

After eating a loaf of bread a day for 90 days, you may think I would be done with bread-based diets…you seriously underestimate my love for bread.

I started my EatBread90 project to prove:

Bread is NOT bad for you
You can eat a high-carb diet and not gain weight.

I had heard too many times that bread makes you fat, it will make you gluten-intolerant, and grains are not meant for human consumption.

However, the results backed up my claims: I did not gain any weight, maintained a healthy nutritional profile, and was not bloated or uncomfortable. The journey also sparked conversations that helped give bread a good name. I got to cover healthy bread innovations, dive into the science of grains, and gain insight on how to market bread in an anti-bread climate.

As successful as the 90 days were, there’s still work to be done. So this time, I’m taking it a step further:

I will consume 6-8 slices, about half a pound, of bread a day to lose at least 10 lbs in 90 days.

Why the focus on weight loss this time?

Even if products like sprouted grain bread or whole grain bread are being recognized for their nutrition, people are still cutting carbs when focusing on weight loss. Paleo, Keto, and gluten-free are major trends right now, all focused around the idea carbs are the key to shedding those extra pounds.

However, the carbs found in whole grains are actually an important part of diet. And lipid catabolism is a highly effective weight loss technique that relies on carbs. My goal is to show that along with healthy eating, portion control and exercise, you can still enjoy bread!

Eat Bread 90, Round II

So for 90 days, I’ll be including around a loaf of bread ad day in my diet. I’ll also be exercising, eating healthy, and documenting it all. So come along with me as I discover tasty loaves, cover bread facts, and make more bread puns than you’ll know what to do with. I’ll be posting weekly updates on EatBread90.com, as well as highlighting the bread I eat—feel free to follow along!

If you run a bakery and would like to be a part of this journey, send your lovely loaves to:

707 SW Washington St., #1100, Portland, OR 97205. Attn: Ms Ana Rinck, Operations Manager, BAKERpedia.

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May 17, 2017August 9, 2017 by Katie Jones

Are Carbs Good or Bad for Your Weight?

We all have heard that carbs are bad when it comes to weight loss. It is no secret that eliminating ALL carbs from your diet will show weight loss in the short term. But, do you know how important carbohydrates are to keep your body functioning? Let’s take a look at this BAD molecule so you can see why it is really BAD ASS!

Can I eat a lot of carbs and still lose weight?

Carbohydrates are nutrients whose main role is to provide energy to the body. Carbohydrates are classified into various groups, the main ones being fibers, starches and sugars which are found in foods. Being one of the basic nutrients of the body, carbohydrates are important to your health. They are found in various foods such as bread, milk products, vegetable products, fruit and grains.

The nervous system and the muscles are involved in all of your daily activities. They require higher amounts of energy to function properly. This energy is obtained from carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates also prevent proteins from being used as alternative sources of energy and aid in metabolizing fat.

In general, carbohydrates provide energy to the body through oxidation, they supply the body with carbon which is essential in the synthesis of cell components, serves as a form of stored chemical energy, and they are part of the structures of some cells and tissues. Carbohydrates are classified into simple and complex carbohydrates.

Simple vs. complex carbs

Simple carbohydrates are those that that have only one or two sugars such as galactose which is found in milk products and fructose which is found in fruits. Those with single sugars are called monosaccharides while those with two sugars are called disaccharides. Simple carbohydrates are digested and absorbed quickly and easily. They have a huge impact on your blood sugar levels.

Complex carbohydrates are polysaccharides and have three or more sugars. They are commonly called starchy foods and they include cereals, whole grains, bread, corn, potatoes, and peas among others.

carbs, weight, bread, simple carbs, complex carbs, diet

Health benefits

Carbohydrates have various health benefits according to an article by the Poliquin Group.⁴ Some health benefits of consuming foods rich in carbohydrates include faster loss of fat from the body, easy maintenance of the body weight, faster muscle recovery, reduced risks of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, reduced risks of type 2 diabetes when consumed as whole grains, and improved overall well being.

Bread, especially when it is made with 100% whole grains, are very important because they provide fiber to the body.

These fibers improve the movements in the gastrointestinal tract by softening and increasing the bulkiness of stool. Fiber also provides relief from irritable bowel syndrome.

As Lin’s “Eat Bread 90” continues you can see that eating bread has helped her stay fuller, maintain her weight, and hopefully have regular GI movements! For all these reasons we believe carbs are not BAD. We believe carbs are BAD ASS especially in the form of bread!

References

Shea, Lisa. Carb Charts: Low Carb Reference.Kindle ed., Minerva Webworks, 2015.
Ruud, Jaime S. Nutrition and the Female Athlete. Boca Raton, CRC Press, 1996.
Owusu-Apenten, Richard K. Introduction to Food Chemistry. Boca Raton, Fla: CRC Press, 2014.
“Seven Reasons To Eat Carbohydrates.” Poliquin Group. 16 Jan. 2014. 2017. http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1100/Seven_Reasons_To_Eat_Carbohydrates.aspx Accessed 11 May 2017.

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