All things in moderation. Those of us who like a drink or three can enjoy them. We just can't enjoy them as often as we like. I'm one who like a drink or two in the evenings before bed. But I'm having to restrict that to the weekends to make some progress. Good luck! This is funny. My gal often says "I wish I was breastfeeding...losing weight was so much easier when I was breastfeeding." LOL
Excellent advice! Congrats on your success. You're right...slow and steady is the way to go. Sometimes the things that cause pounds to be quickly and easily lost, lead to those pounds being easily gained right back. Mostly because the path you took to lose it all so fast was so drastic that you can't possibly keep it up. Making the lifestyle changes that aren't necessarily going to have you dropping 15 pounds in 30 days, but will impact your weight and overall health over a period of time, are going to be the changes that are more long lasting. Really good stuff. Thanks!
Lifestyle change is the key for sure. It is about much more than food. I am a real stress eater. For the time being I have been able to *binge* on carrots and celery. I have actually had food hangovers after a chocolate binge. Taking it one day at a time..........today is a good day.
My new pots and pans arrived so I can start cooking at home again!! That makes eating healthy much easier!
That is for sure. I remember when we came back to CA from HI. In our absence a bunch of fast food chains had opened just down the street. It was just too easy to give the boys a few dollars for some Jumbo Jacks and fries. I felt like I was doing well if I gave us some canned green beans on the side. Cooked in a mess kit I got at a thrift store!
I was reading a guy's comments on another website. Interesting: "One thing I have found, after ballooning up to 270 then losing 50 down to 220 ... Is that it is extremely hard to lose weight like that. I did an extremely disciplined regime, Power Walking 5 miles in the morning and 5 miles in the evening, every day including w/e's, and hitting the gym to build muscle mass every day or every other day. Recent research indicates that if a person achieves a certain weight and keeps that weight (maintains) for ONE YEAR ... They have a good chance to keep it off (with proper MAINTENANCE) because it takes about ONE YEAR at a certain weight level for the body to readjust itself to that new weight. Until then, the body (and brain/mind) is constantly trying to gain back that initial weight, before the weight loss. PS: Diet: I prepped ALL my meals in those 3-section plastic meal tupperwares available everywhere at a pre-measured level of 1,200 calories per day and that is ALL I ATE for about 4 months. The weight came off, stayed off for one year, and I am maintaining about 230 now. I need to get back on it to drop another 20-30 and level out at 190-200, that is my overall goal ... while maintaining good health. That is the most important thing." I've been thinking of doing that. Making daily food portions ahead of time to help control the amount of food I eat.
That is along the lines of what we are doing. Making a big vat of soup and knowing it is there relieves me of trying to come up with healthy menus. We know what is there and what we can add to keep it interesting. I make a few *meals we have to chew* each week too. I am not suggesting that everyone could do it with soup. We just really like our soups. But preplanning and knowing what you have is very helpful.
I'll join the club and share my (long) story. I'm tall, 6'4", but I ballooned up to over 300 lbs for a few years. It was awful. I actually carried it fairly well (I still looked very overweight so it wasn't a secret) and people were shocked when I told them what I weighed, which was rare or only after I'd lost some weight since I was so ashamed. I noticed things like being tired or being out of breath at the top of the stairs, but the one that really got me was when I'd be huffing and puffing after tying my shoes. I could barely reach them and I'd have to really stretch and squish myself—just to tie my freaking shoes. It's little moments like that where it really hits you. I was overwhelmed and going to school in the morning, waking up at 6 a.m. then working from 3 p.m. to midnight. My wife would come and get me and we'd go to McDonald's or other fast food joints at 12:30 a.m. When I think now of how I used to eat, it makes me sick. I finally had a couple of wake up calls. My son was embarrassed for me to come help out at his school because he was afraid the kids would make fun of me for being fat. Ouch. I read Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food" and that was another one. I went to the gym on and off for a while but the biggest thing was I started counting calories. I dropped from over 300 lbs to about 235 over the course of a year. I plateaued after that but stuck there for a couple of years. Then I got a new job about four years ago that, if possible, is even more sedentary than my last job. And everyone there loves to go out to eat. So I slowly crept back up until I weighed myself last year and was 255 lbs. It terrified me that I was gaining weight again. I never lost enough in the first place to be where I belong. What's more, I suddenly found it so much harder to lose weight. I used to go on vacation and gain five lbs, then come home, watch what I ate for a couple of weeks, and it was gone. Not anymore. It was like someone flipped the middle-aged switch and I couldn't lose weight. So last September I finally did what I've always despised and thought I never could do: I went to the gym five times a week, consistently. (I'm happy to tell others specifically what I did to motivate myself; it was a whole thing.) I started with walking uphill on the treadmill at about 3.5 mph while I held onto the top of the machine. I did that for an hour. I did some resistance stuff too. I slowly transitioned into running on the treadmill. I used a 5K runner app that trains you to run a 5K in 8 weeks. I did that and ran a 5K in April. Now I'm down about 90 lbs from my heaviest weight, I'm about 10 lbs away from officially being of the "overweight" list for my BMI. I go running a few times a week (8 miles today) and I'm running a half-marathon in July and the New York Marathon (!!!) in November. None of which is to say it's easy or look at me and how great I am, but rather, If I can do it, anyone can. Trust me. I'm lazy. I'm what they call "indoorsy." I don't go camping or hiking. I'm an editor for a living. I read all day long. I write my own stuff. I love eating out at restaurants. But I got way into cooking which I now love. It's just a matter of a lifestyle change and finding ways to motivate yourself. And I still need that motivation and advice, so I'll gladly read what others here have to say. I learned over the years to despise fad diets and gimmicks and pseudo-science. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out, end of story. There's tricky things w/ that, such as metabolism (the story in the New York Times on the Biggest Loser contestants was insane) and accurately counting calories, but that's it. I like tough love. I like knowing what I'm facing and what it takes, not being told lies or bogus stuff about HCG or "cleanses" or anything else. That's what did it for me: knowing this is hard and takes hard work but that I'm up to the challenge. Anyone is, provided they can make the time and are mobile enough to do it. /fin
I wholeheartedly agree with @Marlin Perkins and @ecdc. It is about calories in vs. calories out and portion control. I guess CONTROL is the main thing to come out of weight loss. We have to be in control of what we put into our bodies, and if we put more in than we're supposed to then we either pay the consequences in weight gain OR we can step it up with some exercise to balance it out. It does get MUCH harder to lose the weight past the age of 40. At least that's when my metabolism seemed to turn off for me. I have to be much more disciplined in watching what I eat, but it gets tough because I see others eating the stuff I want and I talk myself into the fact that I can do it just this one time (it's never just one time though ). I was pretty proud of myself this weekend though. I went to see The Jungle Book (they really shouldn't have put the songs in there...the movie was fine w/out them) and I got myself a diet pop w/out the extra treats. Everybody around me had popcorn, slushies, and all other kinds of goodies. I broke out my granola bar that I smuggled in...let out a resigned sigh as I smelled the buttery goodness around me...and stuck to my guns about not going back out to the snack bar. I think they need to make the foods that aren't as good for us smell bad, and have all of the healthy ones smell wonderfully...LOL!!
@PNWTigger Going to the movies without my popcorn and Junior Mints....That would be the ultimate test, for me. My hat's off to you! I finally weighed myself this morning. I'm going to try the portion control thing--planning food for the entire day.
@ecdc Thanks for sharing! That's inspiring! @PNWTigger Well done! That is some real will power! @Marlin Perkins I appreciate you sharing that snippit. Very interesting! Well, I jumped on the scale today after a long weekend of cheating a bit with some food and drinking some beers and what not. (I did work out on Saturday as well as Monday) I weighed in at 176! Woo hoo! I was able to be diligent with diet and exercise during the week, and then loosen up a bit on the weekend, and still come out down 4 pounds from where I was last week at this time. That's totally what I'm hoping for! I want to be able to have a balance of being able to be mindful of what I eat MOST of the time, still be able to have the foods and drinks I love on the weekends, while not compromising the exercise 5 days a week, and be able to move down the scale. Let's see how it goes if I kind of follow the same plan of attack this week.
Congrats to everyone who is trying. That is the first step. I do not know if this can happen to everyone but it has happened to me. Rod and I went *whole food* years ago. It started with raw milk and moved to gluten free and then more vegetables and finally no grain at all. Research led us to feel there was very little real store bought food. We bought some goats for milk but they have also become our meat supply as well as rabbit and chicken. We buy almost no meat. We cannot grow enough vegetables but we do as much as we can. We stopped fast food and sodas altogether and rarely eat at restaurants at all anymore. We got back to the gym but still are not going regularly enough. Anyhow, there has been little weight loss and when we lose, it comes back. Simple truth is; we were eating too much of the right things. But I still feel we needed that to completely change our habits. Now we are getting on with more exercise and portion control. But the thing that happened, and I realized it reading how we all want to have some of the food we love; my grandkids came in the house with donuts the other day. Donuts were one of my all time favorite things. The sight of these made me queasy and I truly had no desire to even taste one. That has happened to me with other foods as well. I caved and bought a Fast Break and it made me sick. We have treats but I make them all myself with only whole ingredients. But to no longer crave my *favorite* junk foods has me amazed. Like I said, it is still easy to eat too much but I feel so much better. I am still in the high 130's but seem to be fluctuating there instead of the 140's so I am happy for now. We are leaving on a 3 week vacation and I am packing all our own food. I did this last year so I know I can. Hopefully we will be fishing and hiking with the grandkids so we will at least maintain if not lose. Blessings to all on this journey to health.
Hmm... my story. I have always been BMI Overweight. BMI says I should lose 85lbs. I say I should lose 45. I was 55lbs less when I was 21 and working out every day and going to bed hungry every night. Since my pregnancy I have gained weight, gained 20lbs since I lost the baby weight (due to Gestational Diabetes), despite breast feeding exclusively 6m and a total of 14.5m til my son was no longer interested. My abdominal muscles all stretched so it looks a lot worse than pre-baby too! About a month ago I went to a GP to talk about my weight. She told me all my bloodwork was great and to work on one small thing. She sent me to a psychiatrist who I saw twice and didn't help at all. I saw a nutritionist today and will go back to her, I think. I liked that she told me I don't want my son seeing me eating Pop Tarts and copying me. I have been working out twice a week for an hour the last 3.5 weeks (which is great for this couch potato!) I know how to lose weight, it's just being motivated and doing it. I am SO lazy about food. So, the next goal is having food I like at home that is semi-healthy so I don't go out so much. Then we will go from there. I have considered a Fitbit but know I would not stick with it long. I wish I could do a Disney 5K or something, but running is not a reality for me with premature arthritis (worst in my knees) and scheduling seems impossible at this time. Maybe once our life settles down more (husband finishes MBA and DS starts day care.)
Don't worry about what you weight you were when you were 21. Metabolism changes with babies and age, so it's important to be realistic in our goals. Start with the 45 lbs, and once you hit that goal you can reassess if you think you should lose more. Motivation and portion sizes seem to be our main issue around here. @Marlin Perkins mentioned in a past post that he was going to portion out serving sizes for the week and see how that goes. I'm cheating w/ my portion sizes because I'm forking out the cash to do Nutrisystem to truly get back on track and letting them tell me what a portion size is. Keep up the great work being active. That's a tough one for me too because my body doesn't seem to agree w/ running either. I would do a WALKING Disney 5K in a heartbeat, but the only way I'm going to run a 5K is if somebody is chasing me the whole way. Try to fit in a walk around the block with the little one on days that you don't work out...just something to keep moving a little more than usual and doesn't take up a whole lot of precious time.
@WDWdreamin I never cared what the BMI says either. As long as you're comfortable and happy with your own goals, that's the most realistic. I went to a nutritionist but I didn't like her. They always seem so picky about details. That, and she wanted to sell me a lot of supplements, protein powder, fiber mix, etc. But, having to see her every week kind of kept me on track for awhile. I guess I'm a people pleaser. lol @PNWTigger Is Nutrisystem expensive? It always sounds much easier than going it alone. @iamsally I wish I could get to the place where I don't have those junk food cravings. I have never been there in my life. Have a nice trip! Has anyone tried the 5 minute workouts? I hear that doing a brisk workout for 5 minutes can be beneficial.
Nutrisystem is not cheap, but I am doing the most expensive of the 3 options to include frozen meals and more choices. I think it averages out to about $12 a day for food (breakfast/lunch/dinner/1 snack for women but guys get 2 snacks). It's about what I would pay when I ate out for lunch and a coffee on a regular basis, so I don't think it's outrageous in price. The hitch is you pay for it a month at a time, so it seems quite spendy from that aspect. The basic and core plan for men starts at roughly $12 a day (because of the extra snack included), but you can pick out what is sent to you. The highest level is $13.50 a day, but that includes your choices from their frozen food selection. The food honestly isn't half bad. I grumble about the serving sizes just because that is where I'm having the most difficulty when it comes to my eating habits. For example...I'll measure out a serving size for a bowl of cereal for myself, and then I watch my guy pour HIS version of a serving size into his bowl. I would much prefer his serving size, but it's not what a real portion looks like. I've attempted to show him what a portion should look like, and then he grumbles (like me) about how much it is...LOL! Once I become better able to police my own portions I will drop Nutrisystem. I have lost about 12 pounds since I started the system on May 12th, so it does seem to be working for me.
Lots of good ideas and encouragement going on in here! @WDWdreamin Good luck with your journey! One thing that is evident from everything that everyone is posting is that this fitness/weight loss journey isn't easy! It requires hard work, sacrifice, self control/self denial, and financial investment. Just hearing your stories, and the way that you all are stopping at nothing to reach your goals leads me to believe that you all will see success. Continue to invest the time, the work, the finances and the sacrifice in achieving your goals and you will succeed. There is very little in life in which we can achieve success overnight. This is a journey. And if we continue the journey, for as long as it takes, without losing heart, (and getting back on track if we start to stray from the path) then we will realize our goals! You all are great people with so many blessings around you to motivate you to be the best that you can be! You deserve the quality of life that you want to live! Wake up every day and remind yourself why you're doing what you're doing, and then make the decisions that are in line with who you're striving to be. Keep up the good work, guys! You all inspire me!
@PNWTigger Thanks so much for the cost info. I'll have to consider it. My other problem is that I cook for the family. Not that I'm a great cook, but it is definitely hard to watch others eat. Like being an addict in a crack house. LoL
When we do not make it to the gym or out for a walk; I will put my step in front of the TV and just do basic stuff for 5 minutes. My trainer said that is really good cardio. After a minute break I do it again. I hear that! This most recent effort I pretty much told the DH he would have to do the same as me or cook for himself. He seemed a bit reluctant at first but I think he is onboard now. I do not think he realized how creative I could be with one vegetable soup base. He was the one who took a pint jar for his lunch with no prompting from me. Good to see you WDW. (Kudos on breastfeeding for 14+ months.) My daughters and I are huge advocates!
