The Weight Loss Support Group - 2016

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paiger8

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Louann Jude said:
 
I honestly tried to understand the fat percentage thing. I couldn't. What I understand is If I eat less and move more I get results. 

I started on 1/3/16 I weighed in at 283 pounds. I am only 5' 5". My BMI was 47. I am morbidly obese. I write down everything I try to keep my calories between 1200-1500 a day. I am always cleaning, when I am not sick like this week. I wash down walls move furniture and shampoo carpets. I also dance my babies. I only drink water now. 

At my last weigh in I weighed 270.4.  I have lost 12.6 pounds in two weeks. It's normal at least for me to lose at a faster weight when I start. I then slow down to the couple pounds a week. I dont think I will pull a good number this week. I have been sick, so not moving as much. Also its my lady time. I noticed a one pound gain yesterday, I cried. But I didnt wavier. My calories yesterday was 1300. 

My sister lost over a hundred pounds a few years ago and has keep it off. She was 275 and now 150. She didnt count calories just did portion size and always had sunflower seeds. I tried her way and failed. Each person is different. And has to do what works for them. 

Oh and by the way every one is doing Great. Doing something and trying to make a change is better than nothing.
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Do you use a fitness app or a weight loss tracker? Make sure you're eating enough. Bigger people need more calories per day for weight loss. You want to make sure that your body is healthy and happy. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into starvation mode and start storing fat instead of burning it. Which is the opposite of what we all want. :)  I did a quick calculation based on your weight and height, and it looks like these should be your calorie goals. 

You need 1,805  Calories/day to lose 1 lb per week. 

You need 1,305  Calories/day to lose 2 lb per week.

Also "morbidly obese" people tend to lose more weight faster, because they have more to lose. So I wouldn't worry about that 12 lbs in 2 weeks. Sounds super normal to me for your current weight. 

And don't worry about weighing in on your period week. I can EASILY go up 3-4 lbs on my period because I get super bloated. Don't feel bad about that. It's totally normal. It drops as soon as the week is over.
 
jtbo

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Paiger8 said:
I think the amount of weight lost per week depends on the person, and also where they are in their weight loss journey. I don't have a ton to lose (only about 30 lbs to lose to hit my ideal weight, which for my body is 135 lbs or a women's US sized 4.) I ALWAYS drop like 4-5 lbs per week for the first couple weeks, because I'm switching from eating pasta & french fries to salads & chicken breasts. I'm sure quite a bit of it is water weight/bloat from cutting down on the carbs and sodium.

I use the My Fitness Pal app and log everything I eat, which usually puts me eating around 1200-1300 calories a day for weight loss. It's supposed to be 2 lbs a week, but lately it's been a little more loss. I'm sure that will slow down as I lose more weight though. I think a lot of people lose more weight initially, and slow down eventually as their body gets used to eating more healthfully and exercising.  

Great information though @JTbo
! Also a great reminder to lose fat not weight. :) I struggle a lot with getting enough protein too, and have a huge love for carbs. I basically have to ban pasta and chips from my house because they're my trigger foods. I can easily eat 1/2 a big bag of potato chips in one night without thinking about it.
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Just be careful with large deficit, if body can't get it from fat (as there is that 69kcal/kg of fat limit by some study), missing calories must come somewhere and as far as I know they come from muscles then, so body eats muscles. I can feel this as soreness even not much workout has been done, I believe, higher protein amount should help to minimize that effect then.

Of course that 69kcal might be 60kcal or 80kcal depending from person, or it could be that process is such that it is 69kcal for everyone, I don't know that but I'm curious to find out.

One other thing to note is that muscle has 4kcal for each gram where fat has 9kcal for each gram, so weight loss by body converting muscle to energy will be faster.

I read about that from some pages last year and I figured out that it is actually possible to loose weight while gaining fat, measuring waist should show if such is happening.

I have learned that there are such dangers hard way, there has been weeks when I have lost weight but gained fat, that has lead me to believe that fat loss is lot more complicated than just having deficit of calories.

My danger item is chocolate, every time I visit a groceries store I tend to get some and that is putting more fat into me, reduces amount of protein I can have for calorie limit and generally messes everything.

For example today, energy came 38% from fat and 36% from carbohydrates, rest from protein, more than 40% of energy came from chocolate, yes, I know, I go to shame under spruce tree and kick all the snow from branches to my neck :(

I do have still 25% deficit for today, which will change a bit for evening yet as I'm going to exercise now, but that means I get less of some vitamins and protein, I got only 67 grams of protein, but with better choices I would of got 79 grams, which still would be bit little, but much better than now.

Somehow it does not help to know, at least not always, but maybe it helps to know that others have struggles too, however in long term even with struggles there will be results :)
 
jtbo

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Louann Jude said:
I honestly tried to understand the fat percentage thing. I couldn't. What I understand is If I eat less and move more I get results. 

I started on 1/3/16 I weighed in at 283 pounds. I am only 5' 5". My BMI was 47. I am morbidly obese. I write down everything I try to keep my calories between 1200-1500 a day. I am always cleaning, when I am not sick like this week. I wash down walls move furniture and shampoo carpets. I also dance my babies. I only drink water now. 

At my last weigh in I weighed 270.4.  I have lost 12.6 pounds in two weeks. It's normal at least for me to lose at a faster weight when I start. I then slow down to the couple pounds a week. I dont think I will pull a good number this week. I have been sick, so not moving as much. Also its my lady time. I noticed a one pound gain yesterday, I cried. But I didnt wavier. My calories yesterday was 1300. 

My sister lost over a hundred pounds a few years ago and has keep it off. She was 275 and now 150. She didnt count calories just did portion size and always had sunflower seeds. I tried her way and failed. Each person is different. And has to do what works for them. 

Oh and by the way every one is doing Great. Doing something and trying to make a change is better than nothing.
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Fat percentage is just how much there is fat stored in body, more fat there is more weight loss you can get in a week without weight loss becoming unhealthy.

We have to worry also about vitamins and such though, so for example I could of lived only from my fat at the beginning of my journey if I looked only how much fat my body could convert to energy, but to still have healthy diet I could reach only part of my maximum potential.

I have now 21.9kg (48.18 pounds) of fat according to my spreadsheet, that is in theory 1511kcal deficit possible for a day, but to be on safe side I use 80% rule so that becomes 1208.88kcal deficit for each day which is what I consider my theoretical limit.

So my BMR (energy consumption if I stay in bed whole day) is 1920kcal a day with 1208.88kcal deficit I would be allowed to eat 711.12kcal each day, any activity, walking, doing chores and exercise of course increases that 1920kcal, but my deficit limit would still be same 1208.88kcal.

That brings us to issue with too little protein, because I need in theory 86 grams of protein in a inactive day for not to loose muscle, that 86 grams of protein equals 344 calories and it would be quite difficult to eat that much of protein and only 367 calories of carbohydrate and fats.

If there is deficit of protein, that protein is taken from muscle, also heart is muscle and body does not separate much which muscle gets targeted, so there lies real danger.

So often 20% energy deficit is quoted to be safe and quite easily possible to maintain in long term, it makes also easier to get enough protein and vitamins than aiming higher loss, but of course higher loss is possible, one just have to be bit careful then, some do choose to accept muscle loss and then after loosing weight gain muscle back.

Of course one does not die very easily from diet, but one might get discouraged if feeling really poor health and weak.

For each person amount of calories will be different and everyone's situation is unique, but I think that these are basics that apply to everyone, it is just limits that are different for everyone.

Just be careful to stay within your limits and your journey will be a success! :)
 
jtbo

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Here is some good information for weight loss:
http://www.hyvaterveys.fi/artikkeli/laihdutus/vyotaronymparys_kertoo_enemman_kuin_vaaka

Of course few of you can read it, translator might not help there, I try to write up most interesting points for you.

Article is interview of professor Aila Rissanen who studies obesity.

Key point she tells is that measuring waist is much more important than weighting with a scale.

My addition to article would be "Measure your waist ~1inch above navel when you have exhaled normally."

For you girls she tells that waist should be kept under 80cm (around 31.5 inches) if possible, for us boys that would be 88cm (34.6 inches).

She tells how there are different kinds of fats, some are really fast, some are slower, liver converts bad fat from waist to such type that it attaches to walls of veins for example, fat in butt would be preferred over fat on waist.

Smoking and drinking affects stress levels and stress can cause fat to be stored to waist.

Loosing 3-4kg (6.6 - 8.8 pounds) of fat reduces risk to get diabetes 60% according to study, she can't say reason for sure, but guesses that most harmful fat goes first.

She tells that stress might prevent that harmful fat from waist to melt, so smoking, drinking, too hard exercise, loosing weight too fast, all makes stress to body which in turn prevents most harmful fat from waist to disappear.

Also according to study she tells about, smoking is connected to increased waist fat in women.

She tells also that fast weight loss might not get rid of fat, first 3-4kg (6.6 - 8.8) pounds would be likely water stored in muscle's and liver's glycogen.
Glycogen releases energy quickly and when there is energy deficit glycogen is used for energy first.
Vigorous exercise and too large energy deficit would cause weight to be lost from bone tissue and muscle tissue, but not so much from fat tissue according to her.

In slower and longer energy deficit body learns to burn fat instead of glycogen.

So that is how scientist tells why slow is good, I think that I too need to workout with less intensity to avoid body to get that stress mode.

Also I need to set new target for my waist, I used formula of height/2 when using metric units, but according to this article I need to go thinner waist. My target is low fat percentage so I guess it will be somewhat less than what was told in article when my fat percentage is what I want it to be.

There was quite bit more text in that article, but I think those were most interesting points for those who want to loose fat.
 
paiger8

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Happy Monday Everyone! 

This Week: -2.4 lbs

This Month: -12.2 lbs

I was actually SUPER surprised because I snuck a glance at the scale on Saturday morning and I was only down like a half a pound. I wasn't feeling well Friday, so I may have been retaining water or something. I ate really well this weekend, and worked out Saturday & Sunday, so that apparently worked.

Good luck this week to everyone else!
 
tammat

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Paiger8 said:
Happy Monday Everyone! 

This Week: -2.4 lbs
This Month: -12.2 lbs

I was actually SUPER surprised because I snuck a glance at the scale on Saturday morning and I was only down like a half a pound. I wasn't feeling well Friday, so I may have been retaining water or something. I ate really well this weekend, and worked out Saturday & Sunday, so that apparently worked.

Good luck this week to everyone else!
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:woohoo: that's great :clap:
 
louann jude

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Congrats to everyone on their weight loss this week. 

Despite it being that time and being sick I lost 3.4 pounds this week and the total of 16 pounds. 
 
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catlover19 said:
I'm down a few pounds. I can't keep track exactly because my scale is awful but it's showing some loss.
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Have you checked your waist measurement? Usually that shows better if there has been fat loss, but even tape measure can lie at times, at least for me it is bit difficult to get same measurement each time.


Today new all time low, 90.7kg (199.54 pounds, yay under 200 mark!), I have been able to stay away from sweets now some days, still have to struggle with those when I visit the shop, but at least there is some improvement to eating.
 
blueyedgirl5946

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Hubby has lost three pounds and I have lost two since we started back with walking. We try to walk every day.
 
A

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Is it too late for me to get in on this? I need help, support and accountability! My will power is nearly non existent. I am 43, not 23. I've had 1/4 dozen kids, I had failed back surgery in 2013 that greatly decreased my flexibility and mobility. I am extremely tall, a little over 5'8. I have always been slender, decent metabolism, never dieted or restricted calories. Tall and lean until I hit 35-40ish! I've actually gained 32 pounds over the last 15 years. 2-3 pounds per year sure adds up! I weigh 145 lbs. this is the heaviest I've ever been in my life, barring pregnancy with my second son and I gained 60 lbs. I lost the baby weight after my pregnancies because I nursed them for a short time. I suffer from depression and had to go back on Wellbutrin, antidepressant. I have closets full of tiny clothes I can't fit into. Size 4's and 6's. I can still fit into size 8's but oh my goodness they're getting tight and it doesn't look decent. I have some 10's that fit adequately but I feel very bad having to go into double digit sizes. I have a disgusting potbelly. My arms and legs used to be so thin. I'm fat and flabby now. My fiancé is careful not to blatantly criticize me but he talks about all the beautiful, young, skinny girls at his work. I'm insecure. I know it may seem unrealistic and unhealthy but I truly do feel better when I'm very sleek and trim. My goal is 110-115. When I met my fiancé I weighed 118 pounds. I wanted to weigh 115 even then. My doctor said I'm the ideal weight right now for my height. I feel like a freakishly tall giant at 5'8. Most of my friends are 4'11-5'6! I wear a lot of flat shoes. My children are 22, 19, and 17. Nala Ava Marie is my 4 1/2 month old kitten girl, hoping she'll have a long life ahead of her and I want to be healthy to care for her. Despite the doctor stating my weight and BMI, blood pressure, etc is ideal, I have evidence to the contrary! Mentally this extra weight is wrecking havoc on my emotional, psychological state. I was always a "skinny" girl. Now I'm not. I refuse to take pain meds. That will only make me even fatter. I'm in a lot of pain bc of sciatica, spinal stenosis and herniated discs in lumbar region. I used to go to colonics. Very helpful! I had the most firm, flat little belly, very cleansing! I have wanted an infrared sauna for years now but $2,000-$3,000 is out of my budget. My fiancé thinks I have "flaky" ideas. I just know from personal experience what has works for me. I have absolutely atrocious diet. I love Pepsi & Dr. Pepper! I eat chocolate daily. Ironically, I do not consume fast food too often anymore ' I'm way fatter now than when I weighed 115-120 and lived on fast food. Super size everything! My fiancé reminds me I was younger then and my kids were little and I was more active. I know it's sick but sometimes I think how stunning and lovely I could look potentially if I only weighed 100 pounds though I know I'd be too thin since I'm so tall. Realistically, my goal is 120. At risk of tmi, it's a bad time of the month, I'm bloated. It's winter in Iowa. I saw the scale actually slightly over the 145 mark so I'm trying not to freak out. Even to have an outlet to vent will help. [emoji]128522[/emoji] Oh, I did get on my old elliptical machine for 20 minutes earlier today! Going to do it again tomorrow. I'm very out of shape. I used to walk 6 miles per day, not for exercising to lose weight but for recreation and fun! I used to hike. I just want to regain my confidence. I'm determined. (Right before I found this thread I did devour a half gallon of Breyer's.) PMS explains that binge but I'm done with excuses. [emoji]128522[/emoji] I do like ice cream!
 
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tammat

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Adoringangel72 said:
Is it too late for me to get in on this? I need help, support and accountability! My will power is nearly non existent. I am 43, not 23. I've had 1/4 dozen kids, I had failed back surgery in 2013 that greatly decreased my flexibility and mobility. I am extremely tall, a little over 5'8. I have always been slender, decent metabolism, never dieted or restricted calories. Tall and lean until I hit 35-40ish! I've actually gained 32 pounds over the last 15 years. 2-3 pounds per year sure adds up! I weigh 145 lbs. this is the heaviest I've ever been in my life, barring pregnancy with my second son and I gained 60 lbs. I lost the baby weight after my pregnancies because I nursed them for a short time. I suffer from depression and had to go back on Wellbutrin, antidepressant. I have closets full of tiny clothes I can't fit into. Size 4's and 6's. I can still fit into size 8's but oh my goodness they're getting tight and it doesn't look decent. I have some 10's that fit adequately but I feel very bad having to go into double digit sizes. I have a disgusting potbelly. My arms and legs used to be so thin. I'm fat and flabby now. My fiancé is careful not to blatantly criticize me but he talks about all the beautiful, young, skinny girls at his work. I'm insecure. I know it may seem unrealistic and unhealthy but I truly do feel better when I'm very sleek and trim. My goal is 110-115. When I met my fiancé I weighed 118 pounds. I wanted to weigh 115 even then. My doctor said I'm the ideal weight right now for my height. I feel like a freakishly tall giant at 5'8. Most of my friends are 4'11-5'6! I wear a lot of flat shoes. My children are 22, 19, and 17. Nala Ava Marie is my 4 1/2 month old kitten girl, hoping she'll have a long life ahead of her and I want to be healthy to care for her. Despite the doctor stating my weight and BMI, blood pressure, etc is ideal, I have evidence to the contrary! Mentally this extra weight is wrecking havoc on my emotional, psychological state. I was always a "skinny" girl. Now I'm not. I refuse to take pain meds. That will only make me even fatter. I'm in a lot of pain bc of sciatica, spinal stenosis and herniated discs in lumbar region. I used to go to colonics. Very helpful! I had the most firm, flat little belly, very cleansing! I have wanted an infrared sauna for years now but $2,000-$3,000 is out of my budget. My fiancé thinks I have "flaky" ideas. I just know from personal experience what has works for me. I have absolutely atrocious diet. I love Pepsi & Dr. Pepper! I eat chocolate daily. Ironically, I do not consume fast food too often anymore ' I'm way fatter now than when I weighed 115-120 and lived on fast food. Super size everything! My fiancé reminds me I was younger then and my kids were little and I was more active. I know it's sick but sometimes I think how stunning and lovely I could look potentially if I only weighed 100 pounds though I know I'd be too thin since I'm so tall. Realistically, my goal is 120. At risk of tmi, it's a bad time of the month, I'm bloated. It's winter in Iowa. I saw the scale actually slightly over the 145 mark so I'm trying not to freak out. Even to have an outlet to vent will help. [emoji]128522[/emoji] Oh, I did get on my old elliptical machine for 20 minutes earlier today! Going to do it again tomorrow. I'm very out of shape. I used to walk 6 miles per day, not for exercising to lose weight but for recreation and fun! I used to hike. I just want to regain my confidence. I'm determined. (Right before I found this thread I did devour a half gallon of Breyer's.) PMS explains that binge but I'm done with excuses. [emoji]128522[/emoji] I do like ice cream!
Click to expand...
Welcome. Im 44 and cannot eat as much as I
Used to. It's no fun at all. You can turn this around though. If you cut out the Pepsi and Dr Pepper for a start I bet you would see a difference. We are your friends. Hugs to you.
 
Winchester

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Welcome AdoringAngel.

I just turned 61 (gosh, I'm an old fart compared to you guys!). If I even look at food, I swear I gain 5 pounds.

January has not been a good month for me. I lost two pounds at the beginning of the month and haven't lost anything since. And it's my fault. 

February 1 is on Monday and I'm really hoping for a better February, both exercise-wise and weight-wise. I need to get off The Excuse Train and back on track with all of it.
 
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