Weight Loss Buddy

[Christi]

Thanks MQ I will take all the encouragement I can get!

[tom502]

I used to have the Montignac book, it's good, and based on GI, and combinations. But I didn't follow it. I do agree with it. I also like the book Neanderthin, and I think he really hit's it on the nail, as that all the foods we eat today in our post industrial time, are unnatural to the body, and cause for illness and obesity. Man's natural diet is that from the pre-industo-agricultural times.

[RedMacGregor]

i'm taking the opposite approach... i'm going for 275 pounds at a 34-36" waist.. I'm currently at 240 with a 40" waist, with a 405lb deadlift, and a 405lb squat (I need a real squat cage, joining a real gym next week)

not concerned about weight, just shape and strength

[WickedKitchen]

Ahhh weight. Anyone want some...I'm trying to give mine away.

I've battled with fatness all my life. I've always been a gym-person but I'm a chronic over eater. After my wife had our second child we bought a scale. I was embarrassed to see it read 278. I'm 6' tall and that was too much for me to handle. In a year I lost 29 pounds. I've since gained almost 20 of that back although it took four years. Now I'm on a mission to loose again.

A food journal works for me too. I have a spreadsheet I made for this and it works very well. It also includes caloric expenditures tailored to me. I don't think that the actual calories are as important as being accountable for what you eat. That's how the food journal works for me. It also helps if you exchange your daily food intake with someone. I had great results emailing my daily eating the next morning to a friend who did the same for me. To make life a bit more interesting I'd follow his consumption sometimes and he'd follow mine.

Make fitness a part of your life. I do 3.5 days/week at the gym. 60-90 minutes of cardio and 30-40 minutes of weights each time. I eat much much less now. Cut out the booze, INCREASE the water intake. I'm already back down to the 250's and my goal is 225.

Some people think 225 is obese...technically I think it is, but @ 257 my waist is still 38". I'm pretty strong, now I'm on a mission to see the muscles that have long since been covered in a layer of fat. Besides, I don't know too many obese people that can run five miles per day or press their body weight. It's the ticker that matters more.

Best wishes Christi. If you truly want to do it you will without much effort. Every diet/lifestyle change that leads to a healthier weight are all versions of the same thing...eat less and exercise more.

As many have said processed carbs and refined sugars are terrible. It REALLY sucks cutting them out at first but you'll get way used to it.

On a side note my wife is NO HELP to me in this department. She's 5'10" and weighs 135. She wants to loose 5 pounds and I'd be happy if she gains 10 or 20. She is one of those "blessed" people that eats about 3500 calories/day with reckless abandon. She spins 3 or 4 days/week though but can't run for sh*t. Eff her...wait a minute...I do. Oh yeah, lots and lots of sex helps too.

[spirit72]

Today is my first day that I am going to watch everything I put in my mouth. And I am sorry but counting calories works for me. If I eat/drink only 1100-1250 a day then I will lose a pound a day for a good long time.

Yeah, but you'll be hungry and miserable. A pound a day is a little much anyway.

I've been losing slowly and consistently for about a year now. I do try to stay right around 2,000 a day, but I don't kick myself if I go over. It's more important to control where the calories come from.

Fast food and soda have to go, those are the two big things. If you use white bread, switch to whole wheat. Fiber. Lots and lots of fiber. Make sure you're getting at least 100%RDA a day. Natural as much as possible, but Metamucil, etc. works too. Take a multivitamin every day too. Instead of Coke, etc., drink water, or iced tea(unsweetened of course).

It'll begin coming off, but you'll also be surprised at how you start to crave the Good Stuff and not be able to stomach much of the Bad Stuff.

[Christi]

Today is my first day that I am going to watch everything I put in my mouth. And I am sorry but counting calories works for me. If I eat/drink only 1100-1250 a day then I will lose a pound a day for a good long time.

Yeah, but you'll be hungry and miserable. A pound a day is a little much anyway.

I've been losing slowly and consistently for about a year now. I do try to stay right around 2,000 a day, but I don't kick myself if I go over. It's more important to control where the calories come from.

Fast food and soda have to go, those are the two big things. If you use white bread, switch to whole wheat. Fiber. Lots and lots of fiber. Make sure you're getting at least 100%RDA a day. Natural as much as possible, but Metamucil, etc. works too. Take a multivitamin every day too. Instead of Coke, etc., drink water, or iced tea(unsweetened of course).

It'll begin coming off, but you'll also be surprised at how you start to crave the Good Stuff and not be able to stomach much of the Bad Stuff.

I did good yesterday, I hit 1400 calories including the few beers I drank. I wasn't hungry or miserable. I also went to the store and got me lots of fresh veggies to much on through the day. I am lucky that I love fresh veggies. Taziki is another one of my favorite treats, low calorie and very good for you.

On a side note, I never did exercise yesterday I am sure once I incorporate that I will be right on track. I am not weighing myself until I start to see a difference in the way my clothes fit. Generally, in the past, that has taken a good 2 weeks before I notice.

Thanks again for the support and thoughts, it really means a lot.

[WickedKitchen]

You have to have a caloric deficit of about 3500 calories to loose one pound of fat. Of course, this varies a bit from person to person for a number of reasons but you'd have to expend a lot to loose a pound a day. It's not healthy either as your body will burn protein as well as fat. You don't want to loose too much protein.

The first two weeks one can easily "loose" a pound a day but beware it's usually not all fat. There's a lot of water in there too.

2 pounds/week seems to work for me and fiber works wonders as some have said.

[lobstershack]

your mileage could definitely vary, but one way I lost a ton of weight ( my family said I looked sickly, even) is severely cutting meat from your diet. That, and a steady diet of brown rice ( high fiber, unprocessed, so your bod has to work to make it a bit more digestible), veggies, and quinoa ( not only really tasty but great protien source) helped. Also, soy and rice milk. It's way lower in calories and fat, and usually is fortified too... It's decent straight but you can make all sorts of stuff with it that helps ( I even made ricemilk based gravy once or twice- all you need is a little soy sauce or bragg's liquid aminos, and a little pepper- doesn't really keep well in the fridge but you can make it pretty quick) Then again it might've worked for me because I'm a 20 year old guy and my metabolism is as such.... but good luck! It's definitely better, I ended up having more energy as I lost weight too, which seeing as you have a couple little ones running around, is probably one of the best benefits....
edit: left out something important, High Fructose Corn syrup- that stuff is in almost everything, and it goes directly into your liver rather than hanging out in the body like sugar, so that's something you should definitely avoid. It's the sweetener equivalent of ten pounds in a five pound bag just due to it's actions ( which admittedly, I don't fully understand, though know they're worse than sugar)

[Christi]

You have to have a caloric deficit of about 3500 calories to loose one pound of fat. Of course, this varies a bit from person to person for a number of reasons but you'd have to expend a lot to loose a pound a day. It's not healthy either as your body will burn protein as well as fat. You don't want to loose too much protein.

The first two weeks one can easily "loose" a pound a day but beware it's usually not all fat. There's a lot of water in there too.

2 pounds/week seems to work for me and fiber works wonders as some have said.

I totally understand everything you are saying. I always take the pound a day for the first two weeks even tho I am sure most of it is water weight. Hey a pound is a pound. Once I put all the water I need back in, I normally see big results. The bloat needs to go, then I can be sure to notice what is going on.

Today my calories will be up some since my a**hole hubby made a huge pizza and I had a slice. Other than that I have done very well today.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post in this thread, it is nice to take everyone's opinions into consideration.

[MrAbstracto]

Ahhh weight. Anyone want some...I'm trying to give mine away.

Ill take it. Im 6" 1' and weigh 145 lbs.

[adm]

Today is my first day that I am going to watch everything I put in my mouth. And I am sorry but counting calories works for me. If I eat/drink only 1100-1250 a day then I will lose a pound a day for a good long time. Once I hit a plateau I have to change my intake either up for a while then back down to get going again.

It has always worked. Then once I have a good idea about what my body can intake and still lose then I can stop the vicious counting cycle and just eat right.

Christi, sorry to say it, but your comment that "it has always worked" just means that it never has - or you wouldn't be back in the same place again. The key is to eat BETTER, not less. Try eating 2000 calories of vegetables and salad per day - you'll be full as hell, and still loosing weight, rather than starving yourself on 1100 calories of pizza. It's a totally different deal.

What's more, losing a pound a day is dangerous to you. Aim for maybe 2lbs a month or so, but make it constant. If you try to drop 30lbs in the next few months, all you will do is starve yourself and then get back into bad habits once you hit your target goal. Added to that, you'll be losing valuable muscle tissue as opposed to fat - your body stores the fat for worst case scenarios.

Finally, the absolute best way to lose weight is to eat better, but exercise more. No question about it. If you exercise enough, you can pretty much eat whatever you want (although eating better is always best) and still lose weight!

Good luck with it - but just be aware that any kind of crash diet that loses you a pound a day isn't sustainable and will always result in your body storing fat as it thinks it's being starved.

[RRK]

I think 1-2lbs per week is recommended by something we read. Even then there will be weeks when you don't actually lose any net weight.

[Roo]

After a pretty long break due to running-related lower leg injuries, I'm trying to get back at it. Personally, I found that by running 3 miles 4 times a week, cutting out as much refined sugar as I could and eating healthy foods, yet still drinking my usual 3-7 beers every night, I lose a pound a week. It's slow going, but that really is a healthy expectation for weight loss. Sometimes 2 pounds, sometimes 0 pounds, but the average for me with adequate exercise and a reasonable diet is 1 pound a week, or maybe 5 pounds per month. If I cut my beer consumption drastically I could pull off 2 pounds per week, but no beer is just not part of the equation for me. IMO if you lose 1 pound per DAY over any extended period of time, your body will revolt and bad things start to happen. Such as: any variation in your crash diet and your body will convert whatever it can to fat because it thinks you are literally starving. So I agree with most folks here, burning calories is more important than limiting calories, and a combination of both is ideal. Good luck!

[spirit72]

Christi, sorry to say it, but your comment that "it has always worked" just means that it never has - or you wouldn't be back in the same place again. The key is to eat BETTER, not less. Try eating 2000 calories of vegetables and salad per day - you'll be full as hell, and still loosing weight, rather than starving yourself on 1100 calories of pizza. It's a totally different deal.

This. Exactly.

[WickedKitchen]

Serving a 20 pound roast of belly meat and 10 pounds of thigh-meat side dishes to Mr. Abstracto...and hey, it's prime! Ha!

It's pretty good with onions and a brown sauce but watch out...it'll make you fart like crazy.