Losing Weight

I am not on a weight loss plan. I just wanted to say good luck to you. My husband always had good success losing weight by counting calories. I worked for him I hope you are the winner of the outfit and hairdo.

I am on a weight loss plan. I'm about halfway to my goal weight. I started out calorie counting (isn't really hard if you find a counter online somewhere). I usually shoot for around 1500-1600 calories a day right now. I cut soda out of my diet completely and replaced them with those flavored sparkling waters from Walmart. My biggest meal of the day is usually lunch, but I have to have healthy snacks (usually at 10am and again at 3pm) to feel 'satisfied' throughout the day.

I work out 3-4 times a week, some circuit training and just light cardio on the treadmill or bike.

And on the weekends, I'm allowed to eat whatever I want!!

I've lost about 10lbs so far, another 8 or so to go...I'm pretty happy with the results. PM me if there's any questions you have or if you want meal suggestions. I'm still learning too, but my friend's been at it awhile and dropped 40 lbs...he's got tons of great healthy recipes.

Snacks:
A boiled egg
hummus and vegetables
yogurt and fruit
fruit with organic peanut butter
fruit and veggies in a smoothie with yogurt (greek has a good punch of protein)
raw fruit
raw veggies
vegetables and peanut butter
vegetables and black bean dip (homemade)
vegetables, nuts, fruit, and homemade dressing for a light snack sized salad
homemade granola
raw nuts
roasted nuts
cottage cheese

I need to lose weight but honestly, stopped trying. When I did, it started to come off. I have dropped 2+ dress sizes.

However, for full disclosure, I am a vegetarian (I only drink milk in latte's... no eggs, fish or milk otherwise). I also have food allergies. Finding food is obviously challenging, especially when going out.

What has worked for me is calorie trackers (I have an iPhone and use one there) so I can be sure to 1) realize what I eat daily & 2) be sure I am burning more calories than I am consuming.

I also started to go to the farmers market and now I devour fresh fruit because it tastes sooo much better than grocery store fruit! I be sure to eat breakfast and force myself to eat lower calories alternatives (like G2 instead of Gatorade or sugar-free instead of not). I also be sure to stop eating when I am full, when I am bored or when I truly do not NEED to eat.

I also drink 75+ ounces of water a day.
I am also fairly sedative (no, I'm not running marathons!) as I am on oxygen 24/7 currently.

Small changes are big changes in the long run.

That's the truth! I JUST started working out again regularly a few days ago, so none of the 9-10 lbs I've lost so far can be attributed to that. For me, it was all about the little changes to my diet. I also use a calorie tracker on my iPhone and had no idea the kind of crap food I was putting into my body on a daily basis!!

It's still hard to not have oreos for dessert, but I remind myself that I can have them on my cheat day and that helps me focus I'd die if I knew I couldn't have sweets in the forseeable future.

As a poster mentioned earlier, the hardest thing for me is finding supper recipes as well. Lunch is pretty easy, I'm at work, so it has to be something simple -- usually a Smart Ones meal. But when I have to get more creative on my own, I stall out. And then the temptation to order a pizza sets in

I find that I have to be in the right frame of mind to lose weight. I don't believe in dieting. There are no miracle cures for being over weight other than to cut back on portion sizes and exercise.

I also find it helpful to have to account to someone, so at work there are a few of us that weigh each other every Friday. It's incentive to make sure that I'm not the one who gains during that week.

So far as eating tips:

1. Lots and lots of water. Not soda, tea, coffee. Water! At least 2 litres or more per day. It helps to fill you up and it helps to flush out the toxins.

2. Don't skip meals. Eat 3 meals per day, plus a snack in the daytime. Skipping meals puts your body into what is known as starvation mode. Instead of shedding weight when the body is deprived, it will do what it can to hold onto it.

3. You don't need expensive equipment to exercise. Canned goods can act as weights. You can buy those stretch bands pretty cheaply. And stretching and walking are free. Even if you walk inside in the hallway, or do laps around your apartment. You can also turn on music and dance in the nude if you want.

4. Reward yourself. Set a reasonable weight loss goal for the next 2 weeks. 1 to 2 pounds per week is reasonable! Once you have achieved it, give yourself a reward. NOT FOOD! Never reward yourself with food. Go and buy yourself something small, like a new necklace or earrings, or even a book.

5. Never try to hide what you consider "cheating". Be honest. If you haven't stuck to your healthy eating plan, admit it. It's not cheating. It's a lapse and nothing to be guilty about.

6. Be proud of who you are regardless of your weight. We all come in all shapes and sizes.

7. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so if you do work out and you don't see the numbers dropping on the scale and you are sticking to your sensible eating plan, consider how your clothing is fitting. My friend is 5'4" tall and has about 2% body fat. She does a lot of aerobics and weights and she weighs almost 150 pounds. You would think that is heavy for someone her height, but she wears about a size 4 because she is mostly muscle, which is heavier than fat.

Can you give me a list of things that you do or don't like? I would be happy to put together a meal plan for you!

If you can list things you don't like in the following categories, it would help:

Meat
Poultry
Vegetables
Fruits
Dairy
Grains (rice, pasta, breads)
Spices
Condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo, salad dressing etc)
Beverages (coffee, tea, juices etc)

The best way to eat is to count food groups, not calories or fat. The nice thing about food groups is that a portion size of any food in a food group, has roughly the same amount of calories. So it's basically sensible eating for dummies.

And the most healthy way to eat is to follow the food guide for a diabetic way of eating, which considers cheese a protein, not a dairy.

Here is a menu plan you can download. It's pretty easy to follow. Under each food group is a list of foods and the portion size.

DivShare File - menuplan.zip

The right column shows the number of food groups in the basic meal plan. This basic plan is 1200 calories.

The centre column shows a sample menu for the basic meal plan.

The right column shows how much of each food group to add to increase your calorie intake. For example if you want to increase to 1500 calories per day, add the following extra to the basic meal plan.
- 1 extra serving protein (List I)
- 2 extra servings starch (List II)
- 1 extra serving fruit/vegetable (List IV)

If you want to increase to 1800 calories per day, add the following extra to the basic meal plan.
- 2 servings protein (List I)
- 5 servings starch (List II)
- 1 serving fruit/vegetable (List IV)
- 1 serving fat (List V)

Between 1500 and 1800 calories is considered optimal.

Linda, you're a wonder! After finding out my A1C is 'waaaay too high (9.3!), I'm redoubling my weightloss efforts, so I'll be trying to follow your plan, too. Thanks so much!

And LuvMyParker -- you're so smart to start getting this under control when you've only got 25 pounds to lose! I waited much too long to get serious about it, and having 80 pounds to lose seems just overwhelming... it's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. Good for you for taking action early! And good luck!

Get a really hot female personal trainer who really does nothing other than cheerlead and focus your attention. You then push yourself ten times beyond your limits so as not to disappoint her and appear as completely out of shape as you are, but act like its nooooo problem (pshh, could do ten more miles... *heart attack*). Worked for me.

But seriously, the lazy/procrastinator approach is to streamline and force yourself to an exact schedule.

Go to the supermarket, and just buy a WHOLE bunch of those healthy choice or similar frozen meals, and download P90x or something similar. Set exact times (set an alarm on your cellphone) to do the exercise, and only eat the 4-5 frozen meals and nothing else. Your calorie intake will then be exactly known and controlled, and you are on a forced routine for exercise.

I dont' need to lose weight anymore, I lost about 60 pounds 2 years ago and last year about 15-20 so I'm at a pretty good weight now, healthy for my height BUT I need to decrease my % fat and increase my percent muscle so my muscle can show and I can just be lean..
I keep thinking does this ever end, this dieting and worrying about weight and size and appearance....Back when I weighed 180 pounds I was thinking, if I just lose weight everything will be good and now I'm still not happy with myself, I just want to be leaner I want to have 10% body fat....I have like 23%
Sigh...I just had a fruit detox day, I had lots of oranges, some apples and bananas and I feel better, but the day before that I had donuts and ice cream
And, I'm trying to eat more protein and work out, because from my research that's the best way to get lean, eating less carbs and fats and more protein...So hopefully it works. Sorry for the vent, I'm just kind of stressing out and beating myself up for not eating healthy and of course beaing PARANOID of gaining even half a pound...that's all normal for me though
Anyway vent aside, some of the foods I need to eat to get lean according to the research I've done are

cottage cheese with some raw fresh veggies
fat free turkey breast with a salad (or any kind of lean meat, I just prefer turkey over all other meats)
beans, lentils, although they have some carbs
almonds, or any kinds of nuts

just examples...

And basically staying away from all sugars and carbs...and carbs are in almost everything It's sooo hard I just love my carbs!!! Fat is easy for me to avoid but not carbs...

I lost quite a bit of weight with those lean cuisine, healthy choice, etc meals, its so easy to count calories with those..
They are kind of gross, but before I started eating those I was having crackers and diet coke all day so it was amaaaaazing to me (yea, I was stubborn no diets worked for me so I just decided to cut down my calories A LOT, not a good idea according to any medical authority, thankfully I didn't do that long enough to where I'd get medical problems)

thanks! I have anxiety too, it's awful I'm not sure if it's social anxiety or not, but I do always look around to see if there are any mirrors around to make sure I look OK lol...it's kind of sad!! I'm really just a perfectionist, and wayy too critical of myself, about everything really not just weight..

BTW I watch this girl and sometimes do her workouts

www.youtube.com/charliejames1975

she is soo good and makes me sooo motivated because she is in perfect shape!! I started doing her workouts in November of 2010 just on and off, and then by January I could do a push up without the knees!!! I honestly wasn't even doing that much I was surprised. And then when I got on a treadmill for the first time in January I was surprised at how I was able to run a mile in 15 minutes...I used to run before, but I thought I'd be out of shape since I hadn't been on a treadmill in 2 months...The only thing I can attribute this to is doing those workouts ...

You aren't picky. The way I'm looking at your list is that you like most everything.

So far as onions go, what is it about onions that you don't like? Raw onions are way different than cooked ones, or ones that have been cooked until golden brown. When they are golden they are actually sweet. And red onions are not as strong, and sweeter than regular onions. Then you have Spanish onions vs. yellow ones. Both taste very different, and Spanish aren't as strong as the yellow ones. Green onions don't taste much like onions. Will you eat those?

Will you eat things with onion powder in it? What about garlic powder? Oregano? Thyme? Basil? Dill?

Do you eat carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, red, green or yellow peppers? Peas? Corn? Spinach? Pea Pods? Raddish? Tomatoes?

Do you not like all beans, or just a certain type of bean? How about french cut beans? Or yellow beans?

Eggs?

What type of rice? White, brown, wild?

Do you like fish? How about salmon (not canned). What about shrimp?

Have you tried bamboo shoots and water chestnuts? Do you like them?

There are many ways to lose weight, but the one that works the best and keeps the weight off for good is to change eating habits towards healthy, whole, unprocessed foods. Sometimes that means re-training the taste buds.

The sweet tooth disappears after cutting out refined sugar (and anything containing refined sugar). It takes about 2 weeks and then it's amazing how sweet real foods taste - fruits (some vegetables, too) become as sweet as you could ever want.

Here's what worked for me: I eat mostly foods that are in their natural state. Raw is best, but cooked is fine, too. The more the food is tampered with, the less chance that I'll eat it.

Convenience foods or meals that are boxed or frozen are fine occasionally too, but you have to carefully check that the ingredients are all whole foods that you would eat anyway.

Eat fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts, and seeds, and drink lots of water. Stay away from processed flours, sugars, and oils; and treat artificial sweeteners, colors, and flavors like the poisons they are. Run far away from high-fructose corn syrup, it is very, very bad and will pack on the pounds and push you towards diabetes.

A typical breakfast: an egg, sprouted grain (no flour) toast with butter, and coffee with cream - never gonna give up my cup of coffee in the morning!. Sometimes, I have french toast with maple syrup. One of my favorite drinks right now is sparkling water with fresh lemon juice - sometimes with a spoonful of honey. A sample dinner: roasted chicken with gravy thickened with oats (or baked fish or grilled pork chops) with roasted vegetables and a fresh green salad - will leave you wanting for nothing and feeling great!

Good luck in your efforts!

*I gained 40 lbs. during the first 3 years after having our baby, which is when my Hashimoto's Thyroiditis was triggered and I went into major hypothyroidism that went undiagnosed by my doctors, despite my repeated efforts to get help. (One doctor thought he'd solve my problem by telling me to "cut out eating steaks" when, at the time, I had been a vegetarian for 17 years - and exercised daily.)

If you've never had it, that means you are open to trying it.