A Weight Loss Thread - tips and support welcome!

[Jabberwockey]

Weightwatchers discourages diet soda...too much sodium. I gave up diet soda. And I find caffeine makes me hungry so I only have coffee in the morning, then swtich to decaf. Not eating after dinner has helped me too.

This is part of my downfall. I LOVE my soda and have an easier time giving up cigarettes than soda. I really should switch to decaf at work as I drink a full pot after having two thirds of the pot at home. That and I doctor the hell out of my coffee, basically making it into a cappuccino which makes it that much more fattening.

 

[Lil]

Resurrecting this thread - I'm TICKED OFF!

For months now we've been seeing the nutritionist and using My Fitness Pal and now Jabber and I both own activity trackers. I'm watching what I eat, logging everything...even if I go over my limits big time...just to stay honest. I'm walking when I can. I even take breaks from my desk a couple times and just walk around the building.

I GAINED 5 LBS THIS WEEK!

I know that fluctuations are normal. I know that people can go up or down a couple lbs. That's why I don't weigh every day as a general rule. I'll weigh about once a week. Except that when I weighed Monday, I was exactly where I was a week ago. So I weighed Wednesday - and I'd gained 4 lbs. Today I weighed before lunch, up one more pound. I thought, maybe I was retaining water, maybe I needed to "go". I just got off the scale, and I'm up another half pound!

I'm completely annoyed, frustrated and generally angry. I have been spending months obsessing over this and I feel like it's all for nothing! I changed My Fitness Pal UPWARD. I weigh exactly what I weighed a month ago.

Seriously, I could cry. I feel like I should just have a pie and a cigarette then take a nap.

 

[pasajes4]

I have not smoked for years. I can't stop thinking about wanting one. S T R E S S

 

[InsaneCdn]

Lil...

This doesn't work for everyone. But for some of us it isn't enough to cut calories. There IS a difference in types of calories. Care to try something really radical? Try going gluten-free for a month or two. Throw in casein-free while you're at it (no milk protein - which also means no soy cheese because it's made with casein). And see what happens.

Gluten throws my metabolism for a tailspin. I'm far better off of it - but I LOVE to make (and eat) bread. I never said it was easy. It's part of the reason I've plateaued again. Time to get some self discipline going again.

 

[nerfherder]

For me, it's wheat. Not gluten - but wheat. I retain fluid and get asthma attacks.

Me, when I started on a better eating plan, I stopped all wheat products, and also said "no" to the following:

Artificial flavor
Artificial color
HFCS
Partially hydrogenated anything oil.

My thinking was, if any foods had any of those four ingredients, odds are they're processed crap and even for junk food, if I need to eat at least it's likely to be real food. So even if I didn't lose any weight, I'd be healthier.

I am down 50 lbs from when I started this back in 2000 and while I've fluctuated a bit, I've been a size 12 for at least the last 5 years now.

 

[InsaneCdn]

For me, it's wheat. Not gluten - but wheat

Mine turned out to be... also not gluten, but not just "not wheat". I can't tolerate the modern strains of wheat, which have more gliadin and less gluten. If I use older wheat such as Red Fife (which is reasonably available and not too badly priced), I can have real bread.

But I still lose weight better without it. So... I cut it out for weight loss, and put it back in when I'm just wanting to maintain.

 

[Lil]

I'm thinking it might be two things.

First, sugar. We eat a lot of ice cream - not in quantity but frequency...we fit it in the calories, but perhaps it's time to change that to more natural sweets.

Second, I do NOT drink enough water. I usually get to lunch time and even maybe as late as 2:00 p.m. on 3 cups (well - 6 cups if you're going by 8 fluid oz) of coffee. I just don't drink much and nurse a cup of coffee sitting on a warmer for hours. Then I get a 32 oz mug of water and drink that before I come home, but I've been known to go from 5 to 10 drinking a single caffeine free diet coke.

So realistically, I'm getting about 4 cups of water a day - 5 1/2 if I count the soda - and that is half what I should be. I suppose, now that I'm walking in the heat, I could be retaining a lot of water because I'm not getting enough.

I really, truly, would rather weigh 300 lbs than cut out all wheat. And I have weighed 300 lbs, so I know what I'm saying...I'm too damn close to that now to suit me. (Yeah...okay...maybe I wouldn't. ) But I would actually have to have a doctor tell me it was killing me to quit eating wheat. I know how bad that sounds, but I'll cut out fats and sugars and caffeine...even chocolate...before I'll cut out wheat. Quitting cigarettes was a piece of cake compared to even thinking of not eating any...cake (or bread or pasta).

So...I'm going to try to start drinking more water and eating fewer sweets...and no more than one diet soda...I know it's terrible for me but I love it.

 

[Tanya M]

I never liked the word diet. For me it's more lifestyle. It comes down to the choices we make about what we are going to eat.
I used to be able to eat anything and everything, not anymore. The older I get the more I find certain foods and I do not get along. I've had to make some adjustments and give up certain foods.
Again, it's not about dieting it's about lifestyle changes. Start small, make one change and hold that change for 2 weeks then add another change.
Yes, drinking plenty of water is a must. I drink 1/2 gal a day (my husband calls me his camel)
Because of the radiation treatments I had for cancer I now have an under active thyroid that has caused me to gain 30 pounds and lets not forget the older we get the slower our metabolism is. I have tried to lose the weight but really struggle with it. I decided to change my mindset about it. Regardless of my size or weight I just want to be as healthy as I can be. I do my best to eat healthy and exercise daily. I'm more concerned about what my body looks like on the inside than the outside.
Lil, you have been under so much stress and stress can wreak havoc with our system. Don't give up, slow steady progress. Just because you didn't "lose" 5 pounds doesn't mean you didn't lose weight. You may be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat.

Hang in there!!

 

[Lil]

Just because you didn't "lose" 5 pounds doesn't mean you didn't lose weight.

But I didn't just not lose it...the scale says I actually gained it! I had to adjust my My Fitness Pal stuff UP five pounds from where it was last week...and that was the same weight I'd been since July 23rd. So not only did I not lose for two weeks I gained in the last. It's SO frustrating. And while I'm sitting here saying I'm retaining water, it's sure not in my hands because my rings are sliding around to the extent they annoy me. Not happy.

Not to mention I already have to pee at least once every darn night...all that extra and I'm never going to sleep. Sorry if that's too much information.

When I lost all that weight before (100 lbs) I was in my early 40's. Now I'm in my early 50's. It's not been 10 years, but close, and menopause has definitely raised it's ugly (grumpy, hot flashy) head. Last time I really barely exercised at all for at least the first 50 lbs...this time I'm getting more exercise and it's just not working.

And I really do want a cigarette.

 

[InsaneCdn]

...and no more than one diet soda

DIET soda is really bad for diets. The artificial sweeteners make your body think it needs more insulin... and then when it doesn't, you get a craving for calories to balance the insulin. If you're going to have a soda, have the real thing.

 

[Lil]

Can't stand real soda...nasty. I haven't had one with sugar in 37 years and now I can't stand the taste. Too sweet. I know it's bad for you...which is why I've cut back so much. I used to drink lots!

 

[1905]

Lil- If you didn't just weigh yourself, you would think you are doing very well. And you are doing everything right. You are seeing a nutritionist, tracking things, exercising ...Don't weigh yourself or only look every 6 weeks or so. Go on the scale backwards so the nutritionist only can see the scale. Don't focus on the number, just keep doing everything right. You're body needs gluten and other things. Plus you can't deprive yourself of your favorite things, it will make you just eat more of something else. Have your favorite in small amounts and maybe a reward for let's say doing a long hike or some other activity.

Since your weight loss journey began, have you lost? Yes, you have! Focus on the big picture, not the weekly weigh-ins. You don't want to be this discouraged so....if you only look at the scale once every couple months, then you will see a marked difference. You know the right things to do, just do them, the number is bs!

 

[Lil]

I know all these things ladies...I really do. It's just so disappointing to have gained over the last two weeks when I'm actually working at it. Last time I dropped weight, at least in the beginning for the first 50 lbs or so, it was pretty easy...keeping it off was the hard part.

Since your weight loss journey began, have you lost? Yes, you have!

Not much. 13 lbs. - in 5 months! Last week I told someone it was almost 20... Can't say that anymore.

But I do know that it's a journey, not a sprint.

It's just a really annoying journey...especially since Jabber is doing fantastic. Proud of him...but I hate that I'm not there with him.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Lil - are you tracking the other key "fat-loss" measure? i.e. waistline? I find that one to be more important.

Muscle weighs more than fat. So, you can lose fat and gain muscle by exercising, and the scale won't make you feel good. But if your waistline is shrinking... then you are turning fat into muscle, which means that you are definitely winning.

I don't even use a tape measure. I use one article of clothing that is barely comfortable - and wear it at least every other week. It's really noticeable as it gets looser, and when it gets too loose to use as a "measure" any more, I select a something else to wear as a measure.

 

[Scent of Cedar *]

Seriously, I could cry. I feel like I should just have a pie and a cigarette then take a nap.

I love the part where you said you should just have a pie. Not a piece of pie, but a pie.

:O)

This is a plateau, Lil.

That's all it is.

One last, hard challenge to the genetic proclivity to store every calorie especially in times of stress, that you were born with.

Hold steady state, Lil.

You can do this.

You can.

I'm sorry it's so hard.

Cedar

 

[Tanya M]

Lil, you are doing what you can, you have adopted healthier habits and that is key. The rest just takes time.

Try not to focus so much on the "number" but more how you are feeling.

 

[InsaneCdn]

There have also been numerous studies that demonstrate that it is better to be "overweight and fit" than "skinny and a couch potato". Focus on health, do what it takes to feel good.

 

[Lil]

don't even use a tape measure. I use one article of clothing that is barely comfortable - and wear it at least every other week.

Actually yes. I know my clothes fit looser...but they fit looser two weeks ago too. I have some jeans that are getting baggy.

It's just annoying because I want it to come off faster. Jabber's leaving me in the dust and he'll be stuck with dumpy wife. I would very much like to weigh less than my husband. I've actually managed that only ONCE in our 15 years of marriage. And I KNOW - the numbers don't matter to him. (I really am pleased FOR you honey that you're doing so well. I love you and do want you to be healthy.) But the numbers actually do matter to me. It depresses me greatly that I outweighed him before we started and that gap just keeps growing.

So yeah, I know it's a plateau. I know if I keep doing the right thing it'll come off. I will never be a thin person. I don't even WANT to be a thin person. I just want to be less fat.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Actually yes. I know my clothes fit looser...but they fit looser two weeks ago too. I have some jeans that are getting baggy.

Then find something in your closet (or Jabber's... lol) that fits snug again. And put it on once a week... and watch the bagginess grow.

 

[Scent of Cedar *]

I'll cut out fats and sugars and caffeine...even chocolate...before I'll cut out wheat.

I have something like an addiction to sugar, and to wheat/cornbread/quinoa even. To every starchy thing. When I do eat these things, I love it so much. But I can feel a reaction beginning within twenty minutes. When we have these things in the house (like when the kids are here), I eat and eat pasta and cookies and pie and ice cream. After everyone is gone, we don't have those things around and I go through a kind of sugar-craving, starch of any kind craving withdrawal. Once I am through that...I see the bones on my face, again. My eyes are not swollen. I have energy and my mood improves.

I haven't researched the why behind it, but I am very sure that is how my body works.

I too have food-related asthma. It isn't just to any one thing. I think it must be something to do with sugar/starch metabolism more so than gluten. Gluten free products elicit the same reaction non-gluten free things do.

I also believe we require a certain amount of fat to counteract the sugars in ice cream and etc that are made now in low fat varieties. I do not eat low fat anything. When I see pics of myself taken with the kids at the beginning of our time together I look like myself. Pics taken toward the end of the trip show my face swollen and just ~ I just look less defined, less clear.

There is a diet my sister used. The one where you eat all the meat, all the fat, all the eggs, you want. No veggies, even. Then, after your system has cleared, you add veggies.

Then, fruit.

Sugar, the metabolism of sugar, sets up a pattern of insulin release and sugar craving and more sugar and more insulin release, so that we feel as if we are starving because of our own insulin.

My sister had always had a heaviness in her hips. With this diet, she lost that.

So it does matter what we take in.

I ate cookies again last night for that same craving-related reason. The kids have just been here and I am pasta addicted, and sugar addicted, again.

D H craves pasta, too. As he ages, he finds too that if he eats too much of it, he just isn't feeling right.

Same thing with potatoes. For me, rice will set off whatever it is happening with starches and sugar for me.

I love to bake. I love everything to do with baking and smelling and eating fresh bread or any kind of bread, even bread pudding.

For me, it has to do with how we metabolize sugar.

What if you were to stop using any kind of sugar, to stop eating any form of starch too, for three weeks, Lil?

Or even, for three days. That is the amount of time it takes for me to stop craving sweets or bread or pasta after the kids have gone home.

I weigh less than what is expected, for my height.

Cedar