Weight Loss Journey....

^Sounds like you have a good plan! I get bad headaches and migraines from aspartame, as well. And apparently sucralose will cause really really bad nausea (as in, can't even lift my head from the bed!).

Look into to vegetarian burgers and sausages, or turkey meat. You can get ground turkey for fairly decent prices. Veggie burgers taste great grilled.

I was talking about this on another forum, one very healthy but overlooked veggie are sweet potatoes. Just toss them in the oven like a regular potato. You can make extras then use them in other recipes. Squash is great, too.

Have you looked at any IBS diets? You may find some extra tips in them.

I've pretty much realized what I eat is good (aside from drinking pepsi ) but how I eat is horrible. Like JuneBugBear, I skip meals. This can really be bad for some people and may even catch up with me in a few years.

I've recently been getting hungry around 10-12 at night and have taken up the habit of snacking on salad. I hate cooking for myself so it's the perfect snack. I prefer spinach and don't use any sort of dressings (yuck).

Date: May 1, 2009
Name: Jade
Age: 26
Sex: Female

Height: 5'2"
Current Weight: 146
BMI: 26.7 (but I don't pay close attention because I have a curvy body-type)

Goal Weight or BMI: 145 right now, maybe 135 in the future


Current Pant size: Women's 9/10...I started out at around 13/14 or 15/16 depending on brand. I'm a fairly solid 9/10 now.

My thoughts/feelings: I started gaining weight in 2007, but it really picked up in early 2008. In August of 2008 I went to see a doctor to have bloodwork done to determine if I had hypothyroidism. The doctor I saw said he didn't think I had it, but that he would go ahead and do the test. My number was 7.95, with the high end of the scale being 4.2.

I began seeing a specialist in my city (one of the top thyroid and holistic doctors in the midwest) and he told me all kinds of things I didn't know about my thyroid, how it affects me entire body, etc. He also told me how he wanted me to change my eating habits, forever. Obesity and all those wonderful diseases resulting from obesity runs in my family. I weighed in at 178lbs in October 2008 (my home scale weighed me in at 175).

So, I've lost 29lbs since last October by following Protein Power and reducing my carb intake (not cutting out ALL carbs, just a lot). I haven't seen the scale go above 148 in over a month.

I'm nearing the end of my journey, but I hope that my story can help others. I was also seeing a therapist (for another reason) but she was wonderful enough to see that part of my eating habits were a result of poor body image. She helped me love myself as I was, and that's really what helped me be motivated.

No matter where you are in your journey, my #1 piece of advice is this:

If you have a bad day, don't just give up. A bad day is JUST that...a day. It does not have to be the same story the next day. You can ALWAYS move past a bad day.

Good luck!!

What a great thread Chris! Losing weight is a rollercoaster ride but as long as you can hang on over the hills, through the dark tunnels and around the turns, you can reach your goal. I you Chris for being so open about your weight loss journey.

I think I will join in because I just went to that BMI link and I didn't like the number!


Name: Sara
Age: 37
Sex: Female

Height: 5'5"
Current Weight: 150 pounds (I carry all my weight in my midsection; front, sides and back.)
BMI: 25.0

Goal Weight or BMI: 135 pounds, 22.5 BMI

Current Pant size: 8

My thoughts/feelings:

Years ago, I was always very active, healthy and skinny. In my late teens I worked at a roller skating rink and I lived next to a metro park and would bike ride and skate there all the time too. In my 20's I went to the gym and worked out. I had some nice muscle action going on in my arms and legs. As I've gotten older the exercising has decreased. I do nothing in the winter but I'm more active in the summer...mostly gardening, bike riding and walking.

A few years ago I had to take alot of medication, including steroids, which made me gain 20 pounds. I weighed the most ever and I felt so uncomfortable. I managed to lose 8 pounds without trying all that hard...maybe most of it was from not taking the medicine anymore. Last summer, I started taking Super B Complex vitamins, drank more water and for awhile stopped drinking beer. My stomach flattened out, which was amazing...but I only lost 4 more pounds.

Now I'm back to drinking beer occasionally and during this winter, I wasn't so good with food choices and I gained 7 pounds back.

I am hypoglycemic so I always need to make sure I eat, I can't skip meals and I need to eat snacks around 10am and 3:30pm when I can feel my sugar starting to drop. My 10am snack is usually yogurt and my 3:30pm snack varies and sometimes it's junk food. I LOVE chocolate and need to have alittle bit almost every day.

Oh, a new thing that I'm not liking...that probably has to do with not exercising and age...chicken wing arms when I flap them around. YUCK! I need to start exercising again and concentrate on my triceps!

More later...

Good luck everyone!

Originally Posted by emrldsky

No matter where you are in your journey, my #1 piece of advice is this:

If you have a bad day, don't just give up. A bad day is JUST that...a day. It does not have to be the same story the next day. You can ALWAYS move past a bad day.

Good luck!!

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for posting. You are so right too. I know I get down on myself and I hope to learn how to not do that soon. It wasn't one bad day that made me gain weight....it was many days of poor choices.

My day yesterday:

I was quite proud of myself, because I think I ate pretty darn healthy (which is part two of my journey....first part is getting a hand on portion control, paying attention to what I eat, and calories.... next part is focusing on nutrition)

Breakie: 1 toast and margarine.

Lunch: cut up chicken breast, brocolli and carrots, mixed with 1tbsp low fat ceasar dressing. Quite the yummy salad.

Snack: low cal protein drink

Supper: Pita pizza

Snack: yogurt and a handful of Skinny Chips.

Total calorie intake: 699 (slightly less because I didn't eat all the tuna and mushrooms I made for my pizza...they will be going into an omlete today for lunch)

I am NOT a breakie eater. The only reason I had the toast was because my DD was home sick, and decided to try a piece of toast...Well, she got so far as putting it in the toaster, then her tummy rebelled. I can't stand to see food go to waste, so I ate her toast.

How's everyone else doing?????

My Day yesterday, and my week.

Food:

- cranberry juice (30cal)

Lunch:

-scrambled egg with tuna/mushrooms and 1 sl of toast. (173cal)

Supper:

- 2 hamburgers, tomato, pickle, mayo ( 605cal )

Dessert- apple blossom (approx 250cal... the whole treat was 370 but I could only eat half)

-Snack

- 2 portions Skinny chips (200cal)

Total cals: 1258. (still under my goal intake )

My week in total, I've lost a pound through food alone.... I was -3621cal this week and 1lb of fat is 3500 cals.

My goals this week:

1. to start eating some sort of breakfast. Today I ate half of a banana. I'm not normally hungry in the mornings, which is why I don't eat breakie.

I also have yogurt in the fridge which would serve as a fairly good breakie.

2. Increase fruit and veggie intake Some days are better than others, but most days I do not have the recommended 7-8 servings, I have maybe 2-3. I don't eat alot of fruit. I'm picky LOL. I have bananas here (I'll only eat them slightly underripe, so I have maybe 2 days) I also have applesauce and fruit cups.

3. go for at least 2, 30mins walks.

What I am proud of this week:

For the most part, I ate pretty good. I had one day that I didn't eat much because of pain issues, and one day that I had a little binge. But for the most part I ate well, trying to get the different food groups in.... mainly focusing on veggies though, and less breads/pastas.

I also went for a walk thru the conservation area, about 45mins...then grocery shopping for bout 30mins.

What I am least proud of:

My binge.... It wasn't as bad as I normally do, but still. I would like to get to the point where I don't feel the need to binge. At the end of the week though, I still lost 1lb thru food alone, and my binge didn't do me any harm. (aside from the physical affects).

Weight: I know I'm at least down 2lbs, probally 4-6lbs. I won't know officially till I go to my dr's in bout 4wks. By then I hope to be down from 207 to 195 (12lb loss in 6wks).

I just wondered how everyone was doing?

On Sunday, I weighed myself on my scale and I was 197lbs My goal this week is to be 195 on Sunday. NOTE: this is on my scale... I weighed heavier at my Dr's scale when I started than I did on my home scale.

I did have a late night binge last night, and am lacking in motivation this week... but, even though I ate alot of food last night, I only put myself at +350 cals over my goal per day cals. As well as I went for a wonderful hike at the conservation area yesterday. We found a path we had not been on before, and it was quite the workout.... Uphill, skinny trail so lots of balance needed.... when we got to the bottom about halfway back towards leaving we discovered the path was still too muddy and ended up climbing back up the hill (very steep, slippery) and onto the path to backtrack.

It was one heck of a workout for me. We walked fast, and I actually was sweating quite a bit. So it was a good cardio workout for me. I had fun too, as I took my 2 kids, plus 2 of my neighbours kids with us.

Today, I am not very hungry.... could be due to eating at about 1am, as well as its close to my monthly woman stuff, and my insomnia has been acting up. I am soooo tired.

I WILL choose my foods wisely today, as I don't anticipate eating alot due to not being hungry... so what I do put in my mouth, I will make sure it is the healthiest choice.

I think for supper will be scrambled eggs, with mushrooms.

The grocery store had this liquid egg on sale this week, which I love. The one I buy for me has green and red peppers in it, and is 60cal per 1/2 cup of liquid. When I add the mushrooms, it makes it to be a full platefull and a very filling meal

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

I just wondered how everyone was doing?

On Sunday, I weighed myself on my scale and I was 197lbs

Click to expand...

Well Done!
I didn't do so well on the weekend. (It as a rough weekend) but I've dragged it back on track by today and have managed not to put any weight on at least. I've gone to the gym twice this week already so I think I'm going to aim for at least 4 times and try to at least drop a bit more before Friday. I did myself in while house sitting for my parents last week and I'm finding it hard to get back into my patterns. Ah well...at least I didn't touch any of the 4 different types of cookies that my coworkers brought to work today.

DH treated me to sushi tonight, but I'm allowed to have it on WW and I made sure I stopped eating before I was full so it didn't turn into a binge.

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

The grocery store had this liquid egg on sale this week, which I love. The one I buy for me has green and red peppers in it, and is 60cal per 1/2 cup of liquid. When I add the mushrooms, it makes it to be a full platefull and a very filling meal

Click to expand...

Good plan - I love omelets since they're pretty healthy and really filling...maybe I'll start my day with one tomorrow

Originally Posted by Ms. Freya

I didn't do so well on the weekend. (It as a rough weekend) but I've dragged it back on track by today and have managed not to put any weight on at least. I've gone to the gym twice this week already so I think I'm going to aim for at least 4 times and try to at least drop a bit more before Friday. I did myself in while house sitting for my parents last week and I'm finding it hard to get back into my patterns. Ah well...at least I didn't touch any of the 4 different types of cookies that my coworkers brought to work today.

Click to expand...

The weekend was slightly rough for me...well, Sunday was. I went on a car ride with her friend and on the way back they wanted to stop for supper. I really didn't want to eat fast food, but I felt I couldn't say no to her. (she insisted on buying me supper) I picked what I thought was the healthiest choice, a grilled chicken sandwich with side salad/lite dressing and a sprite. I only drank half of the pop.... the sandwich was a thin slice of chicken breast (nowhere near the size that I have at home) so I don't think it was overly bad. I did have a couple fries from my friend's food. Mmmmm.

I, too, find it hard to get back into patterns after being out of them for a day or two. I'm one of those people that tends to go ahead full steam for so long, and it just takes something like a couple days off to put me back into my old mindset. But I'm not doing that this time.

Sounds like you are doing well, and bouncing back. As others have said to me, and as the one book I have has said: we didn't end up overweight because of a couple days of bad eating or low activity.... we end up overweight because of repeated bad eating habits and lack of exercise.

I'm glad you've gone to the gym twice already this week. That is great.

Keep on with the good work

I lost a pound last week.
I can not have any fake sugars I get severe migraines within 5 minutes of tasting anything with it.
Today was not good.
I had enchiladas for dinner with guac and sour cream.
I also have anemia again.
Tomorrow I will have cereal and yogurt.
I really can nit eat that much greasy food because that terrible pain comes which i thiink is my gall bladder but you know drs sometimes.
I had that terrible pain again and almost went to er a few wees ago.
Good Luck to everyone.
I can not believe I weighed 157 once.
I weigh 138 now.
I also make smoothies myself and have carnation instant breafast with lite soy milk for breakfast.

Date: 05/05/09
Name: Meda
Age: 52
Sex: F

Height: 5'-3"
Current Weight: 187-189
BMI: if you know it 33.1-33.5

Goal Weight or BMI: 150

Current Pant size: 16-18

My thoughts/feelings:

When I was a kid I was very skinny. But when I turned 16, my metabolism changed and I started to slowly gain weight.

About 10-15 years ago, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. At that time I was about 200 lbs. In December, 2004, I had a mild stroke 5 days after my 47th birthday. I say mild, because the only thing affected was my speech and I recovered fairly quickly. I was only off work for 7 weeks. My voice came back but not all the way. Most people don't notice, but I do. At that time I was pushing about 225-230. I wore a size 22 pants. Didn't take my meds regularly. In the almost 4 1/2 years since then, I have lost about 40 lbs. I wasn't trying to hard.

A couple of months ago, I won a 3 month membership to a gym. I don't go as often as I need to.

The best feeling I have had is when my pants started to be baggy. I had a size 16 in my closet that had been too tight and I decided to try on. They fit!!

As for my diet, I am trying to eat better. I love fried potatoes, but I have started to roast them in the oven with a little bit of olive oil spray and Mrs dash seasoning. DH loves them!

I need to get motivated though. I have a very stressful job, and stress is not good for losing weight. Plus at my job I sit on my butt all day!

Well, I guess that's it

What do you eat after weight loss surgery? I'm considering weight loss surgery. What does one eat after a surgery? Could I just follow the same diet (without the surgery) and get the same results?

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

I just wondered how everyone was doing?

On Sunday, I weighed myself on my scale and I was 197lbs

My goal this week is to be 195 on Sunday. NOTE: this is on my scale... I weighed heavier at my Dr's scale when I started than I did on my home scale.

I did have a late night binge last night, and am lacking in motivation this week... but, even though I ate alot of food last night, I only put myself at +350 cals over my goal per day cals. As well as I went for a wonderful hike at the conservation area yesterday. We found a path we had not been on before, and it was quite the workout.... Uphill, skinny trail so lots of balance needed.... when we got to the bottom about halfway back towards leaving we discovered the path was still too muddy and ended up climbing back up the hill (very steep, slippery) and onto the path to backtrack.

It was one heck of a workout for me. We walked fast, and I actually was sweating quite a bit. So it was a good cardio workout for me. I had fun too, as I took my 2 kids, plus 2 of my neighbours kids with us.

Today, I am not very hungry.... could be due to eating at about 1am, as well as its close to my monthly woman stuff, and my insomnia has been acting up. I am soooo tired.

I WILL choose my foods wisely today, as I don't anticipate eating alot due to not being hungry... so what I do put in my mouth, I will make sure it is the healthiest choice.

I think for supper will be scrambled eggs, with mushrooms.

The grocery store had this liquid egg on sale this week, which I love. The one I buy for me has green and red peppers in it, and is 60cal per 1/2 cup of liquid. When I add the mushrooms, it makes it to be a full platefull and a very filling meal

Click to expand...

Wow you've come a long way since the beginning of this thread! I just wanted to say Congratulations!
A little update about me: I'm staying with my grandparents visiting right now until may 13th and it's really stressful. It's a national holiday here- It's st. George's day who is protector of the army so it's a big national and religious holiday and people have a week off from work so my entire family is together. My grandmother is throwing food in my mouth- It's crazy...Today she made lamb chops because that's the traditional food for this holiday. This was the most I've eaten since I got here because it was SO GOOD. I couldn't resist it. But besides this I've been doing really well food wise. I've been able to leave half of my plate full which I'm so proud of, it's a bit stressful when you're at a table full of people and the only thing you can do is eat to alleviate that social pressure and the boredom of pointless small talk. I've felt like I'm looking forward to every meal because it's a bit boring here- my grandparents only have a desktop and no wireless router so I can't use my computer, the only thing I can do is read a book, talk to people, sleep...But yea I'm trying really hard not to break from my usual pattern because I know that if I do eat too much now it might set a trend that might continue even when I get back home....
Well that's it for me, I did ramble on more than I wanted to but..Good luck to everyone!

One update: Victory!!!!!!!!!!!! My ultimate goal was to get to 145lbs, and I've achieved this. That is 30lbs of weight loss since last October!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by emrldsky

One update: Victory!!!!!!!!!!!! My ultimate goal was to get to 145lbs, and I've achieved this. That is 30lbs of weight loss since last October!!!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Achieved my goal for this week.

Update:

weight: 194lbs down from 207lbs.
bmi: 32.3 down from 34.4

all by changing how and what I eat. Now to add in some exercise. I've been going for 1 good hike per week. I want to increase that to 2 now.

I can't say I've been perfect, like last night: I had a bowl of apple blossom with icecream and syrup. But I'm ok with that....yes, I should have either just had the apple blossom or ice cream but....You gotta treat yourself once in a while. I just did not exercise portion control in that instance.

Goals this week:

1. Continue monitoring food intake/portion control.....try to have a serving of veggies with lunch and supper.

2. Go for 2 walks this week.

3. Lose 1-2lbs this week.

Originally Posted by mews2much

I lost another pound this week.

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Good job Jacky

Well, I think I did okay this weekend despite the family gatherings. I did treat myself a bit but kept the portions small, so I should be okay. The real test will be jumping on the scale tonight after the gym...
I did avoid all of the cookies and such in lieu of carrots and really good hummus and passed on dessert when we ate out, though. And I kept breakfasts on track all weekend.
What's weird is that lately I feel like I've not been eating enough for lunch even though it's the same size lunch I usually take. I wonder if I've just hit a plateau and my body's pitching a fit until I'm over it...

Well, I've been better this week than I expected. I've managed to stick to my decent eating (Yay for healthy soup!) and make it to the gym a couple times. Dh isn't working right now, though, and I'm finding it hard to keep coming up with cooking ideas for him to make that I can eat. Any suggestiosn woudl be wonderful.

How's everyone else doing?

Congrats to everyone who is losing!!! Right now I'm happy to say I'm back in the states and I weighed just as much as I did when I left. I'm going to start working on losing weight soon but not until I finish some turkish delights and a whole bag of sweets from Istanbul...They are so good and I just can't let them sit there if I have them