[quote]JPBear wrote:
When I was in Italy I ate to my heart’s content and never gained an ounce. I think it is because I walked so much. We must have spent a good 5 or 6 hours a day walking. Go on lots of walking tours or just explore the cities yourself on foot.
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I was basically going to say exactly this. I lost weight in Italy. Have fun, and let me know if you need an, uh, “assistant” to come with you and show you around…
Man, it’s only 2 weeks. Enjoy the food and drink and the rest of your travels. Make the most of the country-see everything you can. You’ll probably be doing a lot of walking and touring. don’t deprive yourself, but don’t unecessarily gorge. Do bodyweight exercises if you want. Have fun!
I agree with the rest of the group. Being of Italian decent, I say enjoy the foods all you want. Their diet is actually incredibly healthy, with the olive oils, tomatoes, fresh herbs and breads. Have a ball and eat up!!
Hey I travelled for almost 4 months last year (Asia/Europe). Just can’t escape the plethora of ‘bad’ food people eat in those places. Particularly in some of the poorer places - quality of nutrition is not one of the peoples’ priorities.
In Asia, every meal consisted of deep fried [insert food]. The chef will tell you it’s ‘baked’, but what he means is that it was baked in a large pan oven, submerged in reheated oil.
I was eating 3 meals a day, like this for four months. The only exercise I did was walk everywhere (although on some days, the entire day would be spent just sitting on the bus/train waiting to get to the next location).
What Charles Staley said was true for me. I really didn’t gain much fat at all, but I did lose a heck of a lot weight (84 to 77 kg) mostly from upper-body mass.
At the beginning, I seemed to hold onto my weight reasonably when I had a place to do some high-rep bodyweight stuff (dips and chin-ups). They were enough to hold onto my lean body mass despite being very low resistance. (I have very good relative strength and can normally do added resistance of +50 kg and 70 kg respectively for sets)
I tried to do some isometrics just to stay active on those long bus/train trips. Aside from making me look quite stupid, isometrics accomplished very little and after a few weeks I noticed I had lost a lot of weight!
I worked in Milan for a four months about two years ago. I’d agree with most of the posts that encourage you to experience the local cusine and enjoy yourself. One other point to remember is portion size. Real Italian portions tend to be much more reasonable in size than they are in the US.
Also, most Italian meals are long-term, multi-course affairs, so you can usually keep things reasonably sane by limiting the number of courses (or sitting out a course or two if you’re dining with a group).
One more: I’ve been to Italy 20+ times, and I’ve lost weight every single time.
THe food is much fresher, like someone said and the more I read and learn about food additives and how the American food supply works, the more I’m convinced that the chemical sh@t in our food is a HUGE factor in so many americans becoming fat or obese.
BTW, I leave Thursday for Italy. See ya over there :0)