If your on a diet do you smoke less

[rickgregory]

Diets don't work. By definition, you're changing what you eat from normal... and then you go back normal and.. boom. The idea of a diet that eliminates X and Y is that, if you enjoy X and Y (pasta, whatever) you feel like you're being deprived and that's a powerful psychological thing.

If you want to see what you're eating from a nutrition point of view, the best thing to do is track what you eat. https://www.myfitnesspal.com is excellent since it has a lot of common foods in the database. So does https://www.mynetdiary.com. You're not after ultimate precision here, but to get a close approximation of what you're putting in your body. Do that for a week or a month and you'll see how many calories you're consuming and what the breakdown is. Then think about how to adjust.

For example, instead of pasta 4x per week... 2x. Or it's Sunday dinner. Or instead of a chicken cacciatore over rice or pasta... just by itself. Or half the pasta in a dish. Or maybe you cut out the fruit juice with breakfast and thus drop 26 carbs and 22g of sugar from your day right there.

Can you tell I've been thinking about changes to make?

ON smoking - I think that's been covered well above. If you're doing big items like pork butts etc, package, seal and freeze. Do leaner meats (chicken, fish) and grilled items.

[realdocBBQ]

These are the things I tell people each and every day at work. Literally EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I use the phrase, "Diets don't work." It's about lifestyle changes - things you can sustain in the longterm without feeling like you're "depriving yourself."

[Attjack]

If you're eating at maintenance and then cut out 200-300 calories a day, you will meet your goal, and then you can go back to eating at maintenance. That's a diet and it will work every time. A tracker like you mentioned is ideal for meeting your deficit and for returning to maintenance.

[rickgregory]

Attjack - I was more thinking of diets that represent a radical change in how one eats that's either not sustainable by itself (extreme calorie restriction) or that, while theoretically sustainable, prohibits a lot of foods that most people like. Keto, for example. Sorry, you can never have dessert, a sandwich with good bread, pasta. I know that you can cheat rarely but I think diets like this put psychological pressure on people that works against them.

[bbqLuv]

The not-so-final answer. BBQ and smoking lend very well to a low-carb weight loss diet.
The weather has had more of an impact on my BBQing. That is, I just rather not do the Q in the rain.
But that is me.

[Mosca]

It’s just me and Mrs now. I’m not dieting, but I’ve been skipping lunch since I retired in November last; I’m just not hungry, so I don’t eat. I usually make a sandwich for breakfast, that and a piece of fruit, and then I eat again around 5-6PM.

The up side of this is that I can make whatever I want for dinner. So we still eat pretty much the good stuff then.

[Potkettleblack]

When I was dieting religiously, I cooked a lot more. A lot a lot. I smoked more, I sous vided more, I did everything more, except bake.

Much easier to diet when you are prepping your own food.

[jfmorris]

Does eating kosher food like pastrami from a kosher deli count as a "dieting religiously"?

[Potkettleblack]

If you griddle it into a sandwich, sure.

[FireMan]

Talkin bout not doin this & doin that has got me thinkin chili! Yessir, no bread, no crackers, I just want me sum chili! I feel the chili jones a comin on.

[snowswamp]

No, I don’t smoke less. I’ve been using a calorie tracker app, MyFitnessPal, over the last year to set daily, realistic goals to loose weight slowly and change habits. This way I understand what I’m eating and can plan how to enjoy what I want to eat rather then what not to eat. This may not work for you. Good luck with however you find gives you the results you’re looking for!

[Bbqmikeg]

Overeaters Anonymous is free and you still can smoke meat.
Let’s just say you can lose 100lbs and keep it off for over a decade.

[leol2]

When I first retired I put on nearly 30 pounds. Went on a diet about a year ago allowing myself 1700 calories a day. So I eat anything I want that day until I reach my calorie limit. I have lost 65 pounds in that time from 245 to 180. So I smoke and grill as much as I ever did

[texastweeter]

Naw, got a venison loin in the pit and a LFD unreleased that I have aged in my hand, lol.