A Unicorn on a diet - kill me now!

[ProudRealist]

So us unicorns are living the dream, we never have to do anything for ourselves and we're pretty much living the life of former Roman Caesars! (who might as well have been quads!)

Like our imperial ancestors there's a subtle trap that we can fall into - weight gain Now there are your common reasons why being overweight is bad, especially for a quad, but for me personally I simply don't feel good about myself. The quad belly is bad enough, but that's followed by the all so attractive double chin (or neck rolls).

Losing weight as a quad though is a BITCH! You pretty much borderline starve yourself and even then you lose weight in all the wrong places! About a year ago, in desperation I starting taking duromine (works REALLY well but i would never recommend it). So now I'm back to starvation

Two questions:

• Fellow quads, have you discovered any loopholes or tricks that have helped you lose weight? Especially the infamous quad belly?
• Quad/Para Devs, I know it sounds somewhat vain but do you find overweight quads physically unattractive? Dumb question i know, but my curiosity gets the better of me.

Cheers all.

[mutt59]

I fell backwads in my wheelchair and fractured C5-C6 vertebrae which helped me to lose weight. Don't recommend that.

If they can handle the wheelchair I don't see where a little jelly roll would be any problem.

[Maurine]

Apr 29, 2017 21:02:30 GMT -5 mutt59 said:

If they can handle the wheelchair I don't see where a little jelly roll would be any problem.

We are into the wheelchair, but we are just as picky about looks as regular women. Some devs are specifically into quad bellies, some don't care and some find it unattractive.

I guess you won't get rid of the quad belly, but some quads do have bigger ones than others. It may also depend on one's sitting posture how big it appears to be. Lying down flat on his back, my bf's quad belly disappears, while visible when he's sitting. Several people asked my bf if his belly got smaller after he had started to eat healthier and slightly less and work out more, so it seems that we're not just imagining it.
If you only lose weight in the wrong places, I'd be careful because it could increase the risk of pressure sores. The double chin is something I've only noticed in high quads. Not an actual double chin, but the neck somehow seems thick where it meets the chin. I wonder why that is.

[j]

hey man I been training I studied the body for a long time I can tell you from personal experiences and peoples
the best way to get in shape all round for quad or para
is too arm bike strap your arms in and go for as long as you can start with bouts of 10 mins x 3 work your way up to 15x 2 then a full 30 that's a start how I started it will help you shape your whole body but you must do this religiously in order to see results
diet is key also plays the biggest part

[devogirl]

As I understand it, the quad belly is not necessarily fat. When the stomach muscles are weak, the inner organs bulge out when you sit. My ex was quite thin but he still had the round belly. It disappeared when he laid on his back, so it clearly was not fat in his case. I didn't find it unattractive; I understood it was just part of how your body changes with SCI. Maurine is right, some devs definitely like the quad belly specifically. Be healthy and exercise but don't stress over the belly.

[Deleted]

Unfortunately, the "quad belly" is here to stay for me. I've been watching what I eat and drink and have had good results, though. Someone recently expressed how surprising it was to see me without a shirt because my giant head is deceiving. lol There's nothing I can really do about that, thanks Dad. But I have lost some weight and feel better as well as look better. The only shitty part is that I need to buy new shirts.

[ProudRealist]

Thanks for the responses The inevitability of the quad belly has always been known to me, and as devogirl said it's not necessarily fat - but proper eating and a high fibre diet keeps it at a minimal for me. I bought an FES machine a while back but between work and, well work who has the time...so that was 2k down the drain

Thanks again all.

[matisse]

Here are a few things that have helped me:

1. Counting calories. This tells you where to cut, where you stand, and so you can set goals. It only takes 5-10 minutes a day to enter the information in a spreadsheet.

2. See if you can just eliminate dessert most days. This saves 250 calories a day for just one cookie, and a whole lot more for stuff like cake or ice cream.

3. I'm not a fan of lots of small meals instead of larger ones. I think you end up eating more. I often would not eat anything until dinner, then eat a filling dinner. I dealt with the hunger during the day by keeping my stomach full with zero-calorie drinks.

4. You can actually trick your stomach a little, but getting low calorie foods that have a lot of bulk, like broccoli.

5. I use lime and salt for my salad dressing, this just happens to be the way I grew up eating salad.

6. Enjoyment of food is learned, for a lot of foods the more you eat them the more you like them. Think of milk--most people start with whole milk and eventually end up with skim milk. Once you're used to skim milk, then whole milk tastes gross.

Don't go for any of the fad diets. The ones that work best are the ones that count the calories for you, like weight watchers. One pound is about 3500 calories, and it is astonishing what a strong correlation that really is. If you cut 3500 calories from your weekly intake, you will lose a pound a week until you get to equilibrium.

[devogirl]

That is solid advice, Matisse. Counting calories really does help. There are apps now that make it super simple.

[tori]

Apr 30, 2017 19:58:54 GMT -5 matisse said:

Don't go for any of the fad diets. The ones that work best are the ones that count the calories for you, like weight watchers. One pound is about 3500 calories, and it is astonishing what a strong correlation that really is. If you cut 3500 calories from your weekly intake, you will lose a pound a week until you get to equilibrium.

I agree with you matisse and devogirl it really just breaks down to calorie expenditure. I've done everything out there, Zone, Paleo, Whole 30, and the "eat whatever the crap I want" diet (a.k.a. Flexibile Dieting also known as "If it fits your macros").

There was a study done on the "Twinkie diet". I know it sounds ludicrous, but this guy ate ONLY like hostess cakes and Twinkies for a month, but he ate LESS calories than what his body actually needed and he LOST 27 pounds. 

Now this is NOT to say that you should just eat Twinkies, I mean, over a long time the junk in this is just awful for you, but it shows how well the flexible dieting module works. Here is link to article

So that said:

Count calories. Determine your caloric needs based on activity level and body weight. There are tons of places online that you can do this. Start tracking. My Fitness Pal is a great place to do this to break it down.

If you really want to fine tune it you can start counting your macronutrients. (Protein/Carbs/Fat). Here is an online calculator to do that: healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-calculator

[malibu]

Apr 30, 2017 19:58:54 GMT -5 matisse said:

5. I use lime and salt for my salad dressing, this just happens to be the way I grew up eating salad.

I use the same dressing for my tequila

[Deleted]

Even though I don't have any advice on dieting I do want to answer the attraction question from the original thread:

Of course there are beautiful people in this world, able bodied and disabled ones but I'm assuming we don't have any celebrities of that caliber here so I'm assuming we are all pretty normal HOT people.

And with that I personally find a variety of men attractive but a nice smile is always hot. Of course I have my dream/fantasy guys but in reality I have come to find many different men attractive, skinny ones, bigger ones, long hair, short hair, different hair colors, different skin tones and so on.

I find some bigger men attractive, but it has to be a healthy bigger man...I know that sounds contradicting but maybe you know what I mean. I also find some skinny dudes hot, I really don't know what it is. But I think throughout the day if a bigger guy is nice and has a friendly smile and is clean and dressed right, I could find him attractive. A guy that only eats salad would be weird too...   And I can't have a jock because I'm not all that athletic either.  

I have no problems with quad/para bellies, that's the dev in me. The bellies are part of the whole package. That's the same thing with skinny legs, missing limbs or anything, no problem with it. I think as a dev we know very well what comes with certain disabilities and it's most likely not an issue whatsoever. On the contrary, some of it is very attractive to some of us.

I have certain things I look at to actually determine hotness too. If the guy is all hot and has nasty long nails on toes and fingers, he's done...then the smile won't help either. I hate when guys wear flip flops or sliders out in public unless they are at the beach or near water or something. If they really have to wear Flip Flops, it better be a nice pair on taken-care-of feet, not a cheap rubber brand...and the rest of the clothes better coordinate with those Flip Flops  

And of course good breath is important, I think we can all agree on that....

I have a type but I also have found many different men attractive. I think it comes down to a good mix between personality and looks. There are hot guys who are full of themselves and that's disabled and able bodied one's and so they are not that appealing to me personally.

[mutt59]

May 2, 2017 15:13:14 GMT -5 Dani said:

Even though I don't have any advice on dieting I do want to answer the attraction question from the original thread:

Of course there are beautiful people in this world, able bodied and disabled ones but I'm assuming we don't have any celebrities of that caliber here so I'm assuming we are all pretty normal HOT people.

And with that I personally find a variety of men attractive but a nice smile is always hot. Of course I have my dream/fantasy guys but in reality I have come to find many different men attractive, skinny ones, bigger ones, long hair, short hair, different hair colors, different skin tones and so on.

I find some bigger men attractive, but it has to be a healthy bigger man...I know that sounds contradicting but maybe you know what I mean. I also find some skinny dudes hot, I really don't know what it is. But I think throughout the day if a bigger guy is nice and has a friendly smile and is clean and dressed right, I could find him attractive. A guy that only eats salad would be weird too...   And I can't have a jock because I'm not all that athletic either.  

I have no problems with quad/para bellies, that's the dev in me. The bellies are part of the whole package. That's the same thing with skinny legs, missing limbs or anything, no problem with it. I think as a dev we know very well what comes with certain disabilities and it's most likely not an issue whatsoever. On the contrary, some of it is very attractive to some of us.

I have certain things I look at to actually determine hotness too. If the guy is all hot and has nasty long nails on toes and fingers, he's done...then the smile won't help either. I hate when guys wear flip flops or sliders out in public unless they are at the beach or near water or something. If they really have to wear Flip Flops, it better be a nice pair on taken-care-of feet, not a cheap rubber brand...and the rest of the clothes better coordinate with those Flip Flops  

And of course good breath is important, I think we can all agree on that....

I have a type but I also have found many different men attractive. I think it comes down to a good mix between personality and looks. There are hot guys who are full of themselves and that's disabled and able bodied one's and so they are not that appealing to me personally.

Looks like I am ok on the quad belly portion, and not being a Flip Flops wearer.

Win some, lose some.

[midwestguy]

As a quad I've always maintained my weight and stayed skinny after my injury and I only have a small quad belly. I'm guessing that I have a high metabolism but I also use a manual chair. I try and eat a healthy well balanced diet and of course portion control is important. It's all about moderation, I'm always cognitive of what I'm eating. Obviously being too skinny can be a problem if you sit on your butt all day. So I take a lot of vitamin C (6,000mg daily) which helps build collagen which is beneficial for the skin. Some may say that much C is overkill but I've never had a real pressure sore.

As far as double chins go, if I ever get one just shoot me.

[ProudRealist]

May 2, 2017 15:13:14 GMT -5 Dani said:

Even though I don't have any advice on dieting I do want to answer the attraction question from the original thread:

Of course there are beautiful people in this world, able bodied and disabled ones but I'm assuming we don't have any celebrities of that caliber here so I'm assuming we are all pretty normal HOT people.

And with that I personally find a variety of men attractive but a nice smile is always hot. Of course I have my dream/fantasy guys but in reality I have come to find many different men attractive, skinny ones, bigger ones, long hair, short hair, different hair colors, different skin tones and so on.

I find some bigger men attractive, but it has to be a healthy bigger man...I know that sounds contradicting but maybe you know what I mean. I also find some skinny dudes hot, I really don't know what it is. But I think throughout the day if a bigger guy is nice and has a friendly smile and is clean and dressed right, I could find him attractive. A guy that only eats salad would be weird too...   And I can't have a jock because I'm not all that athletic either.  

I have no problems with quad/para bellies, that's the dev in me. The bellies are part of the whole package. That's the same thing with skinny legs, missing limbs or anything, no problem with it. I think as a dev we know very well what comes with certain disabilities and it's most likely not an issue whatsoever. On the contrary, some of it is very attractive to some of us.

I have certain things I look at to actually determine hotness too. If the guy is all hot and has nasty long nails on toes and fingers, he's done...then the smile won't help either. I hate when guys wear flip flops or sliders out in public unless they are at the beach or near water or something. If they really have to wear Flip Flops, it better be a nice pair on taken-care-of feet, not a cheap rubber brand...and the rest of the clothes better coordinate with those Flip Flops  

And of course good breath is important, I think we can all agree on that....

I have a type but I also have found many different men attractive. I think it comes down to a good mix between personality and looks. There are hot guys who are full of themselves and that's disabled and able bodied one's and so they are not that appealing to me personally.

Thanks Dani, i was starting to think i wouldn't receive a response to the second part