Successful dieters? Need input!

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Husband had business trip. I went with him. I ate very well. Yet, I gained 1.2 pounds over 3 days. Would like a little input. I know there are some pros out there.

1. Breakfast.
Hotel had a buffet.
I either had one of two things
-Four bites of plain scrambled eggs and one fourth of a sausage
-small bowl of oatmeal with nuts

2. Lunch
I know a place I like in that city and each day got a medium plain salad with grilled chicken and cilantro dressing.

3. Dinner
-red lobster
Shrimp cocktail as main course
Salad, no croutons and balsamic vin. dressing
Vegetable (greens beans and mushrooms)
Three bites of husband’s mash potatoes

-ouback
Small sirloin steak
Potato with pat of butter
Salad no croutons
With vinaigrette dressing

Got about two skinny lattes at Starbucks over the days.

We drive home and that night I picked up a Panera Cobb Salad.

Anyway, I seemed to have gained 1.2 pounds (real/true) even though I did not have snacks or bread and ordered carefully. I took a water pill last night, so there is no extra water in my body. This is the real thing even after such a short trip.

Restaurant food Sxcjs. But I do see where I had a few extra carbs and fats.

I’m on one mg of prednisone currently and I’m wondering if that darn drug is still messing with me.

For you pro dieters ...lol... any thoughts?

Thanks

A.
 
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GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
It's likely the pred. Could just be a normal fluctuation. My weight swings about 10lbs or so.

I will point out that restaurant food is often MUCH higher in calories than the same food made at home. In fact, I don't know how they cram all those calories into some of that stuff!

Shrimp cocktails can be quite caloric, depending on what's in the sauce. I can't eat them or even handle shrimp, but my husband had two ways of making them, one for restaurant service and one for "fancy dinner at home" service.

We discussed it once when I was :censored2:ing about how I could make a darned good, big, juicy hamburger for half the calories of a similar restaurant hamburger.

husband said that the restaurant version he made used a cream (with-real cream) horseradish in the cocktail sauce, whereas the home version did not.

That's a calorie difference right there.

Restaurant made/purchased vinaigrettes often have quite a bit of sugar/corn syrup in them, which adds a lot of calories.

I also see a dearth of carbs here, which could be an issue unless you are diabetic.

I'd have to know about portion sizes and the like. Your breakfast might've been too small or not right for you.

Are you overweight or trying to maintain?

Another thing to remember is that restaurant food tends to be "big food", and one tends to eat more. I got a restaurant "chopped salad" the other day, and took half of it out and put it on a plate to eat. Looked at it and realized my half salad was considerably larger than a similar salad I would make for myself.

If you were having a nice glass of wine with your meals, and usually don't, or cocktails in the evening, that can add weight fast.

I suspect the weight gain was due to some of those factors, and the pred is making it impossible to take off
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I’ll tell ya, when I was on 20 mgs of Prednisone I’m not sure it was possible to lose weight. Some days I ate like a bird and exercised and drank water and ate the min acceptable amount of sodium, tracking like a crazed scientist and the scale didn’t move or I actually gained.

I’m on 1 mg and this drug is so nasty it wouldn’t surprise me if it is influencing at at least slightly.

But, I agree, restaurants seem to add calories and salt and sugar left and right. And with ANY pred in me Sugar is a horrible weight gainer.

I did not have alcohol.

BUT, there are things I did while eating on this trip I would NOT do at home while eating at a local restaurant. I often do not have ANY salad dressing at all do to possible sugar.

If I have a potato, normally I only eat HALF!

Plus, no way would I go out for all my meals.

It just go to show you how bad restaurant food is.

Plus I have a little extra burden with pred. in my system.

Carbs are an extra issue with pred in my system. And sugar creates an abnormal and quick gain.

ughhhhhhh

Thank you!!!!!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I just lost 10 pounds. I make sure I exercise every day and I eliminated sugar. I haven't eaten much sugar for years but I cut it out. I have been eating this way, as a sample. (for sweetness I use Stevia).

1. Breakfast might be: carton of plain fat free Fage Greek yogurt, my favorite food. Yes more than pizza!! I often lace it with fruit that has no added sugar such as strawberries, blueberries, etc. I have coffee. Love it. Throw in a splash of almond milk and Stevia.

Snacks can be a sliced apple with stevia and cinamin heated. Yum. I do not gain weight from fruits natural sugar so I take advantage of fruit's nutrition.

Lunch can be a boneless skinless baked chicken, seasoned, and riced cauliflower or broccoli. Maybe part skim cheese too if I feel like it.

Snack....grapes or a banana or whole wheat muffin with sugar free jam.

Dinner maybe eggs with mushrooms and a glass of almond milk (yum). I get the sugar free kind.

Snack maybe another container of Fage yogurt 6 oz. To me Fage is the best yogurt ever.

I walk 10k steps a day every day. I wear a tracker. Often I add a workout to it.

I want to add that I lose weight more easily than some people. And I am very active. And health conscience. I hope to avoid diabetes,heart disease, etc. I do have genetically high cholesterol and eating well doesn't help this but I take a pill to lower it and avoid bad cholestral so I don't make it worse. My 40 year old son already has high cholestral so....

I hope this helped. I want to be in shape for myself but also for Jumper's wedding.

I had to be on Prednisone long ago and it blew up my face and stomach but it's temporary. I just rode it out...didn't like it but ya do what ya need to do!! I wouldn't worry about one pound here or there.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Swot... many thanks
Can you explain how you prepare your Apple/stevia/cinn treat in more detail?
Thank you
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I just use an apple slicer then put the slices in a dish and sprinkle plain cinamin and Stevia on top. Then I put it in the microwave until it is the warmth that I prefer. It's good!!
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Hi

I started on WW in January of 2017 and lost 13 pounds. I did cheat on the weekends but not too severely. I also walk 2.5 miles per day most weekdays. I really want to do the recommended 10,000 steps per day but have a desk job so it's hard.

I have kept most of the weight off but usually on the weekends I gain a few and then get them off before the weekend rolls around. It is tough that is for sure!

I'd like to lose another ten but my BMI is good so I guess that's all that matters.

Husband is a foodie and cooks wonderful food. But I do enjoy WW recipes and love salads and healthy stuff too.

We are moving to a warmer climate and our new sub division has a workout room so we do plan to become much more active.

I was too thin most of my 20's (imagine that!) and then leveled off but it seems the older I get the more my metabolism slows which I think is normal.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Awesome RN!!!!
When I hit 1 mg of prednisone (lowered to this) I joined WW too. I love it.
I don’t touch sugar and I guess you could say I rarely, if ever “cheat.”
I think with any of that medication in my system , I know it could spell trouble.
I’ve lost five pounds in four weeks.
Hubby has lost more.
I did not count points on the trip though. :(
 

Crayola13

Well-Known Member
I did very well with LA Weight Loss for 7-8 months. Then, they changed it to be even more strict than it already was, and I couldn't do it. Then, I went to a nutritionist who was covered on my insurance plan. She customized my diet after doing blood work and talking to me about my weight loss goals, problems, and how to meet them more quickly. The problem for me is if I cut carbs and my calories too much, my exercise has be light, which is not fun. I like to really burn it in spin class, then go to water aerobics if I have time. That makes a person very hungry around 11:00 p.m.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
When I was on somewhere between 12-15 mgs of prednisone I went to a nutritionist here in our new city. For me, it was a negative experience. She told me I wasn’t eating enough carbs. When I ate what she said to eat, I gained three pounds per week. I told her I have a very negative reaction to this medication. Extreme. And asked her if she had experience with it. I don’t think she did. Plus having hypo thyroid , menopause etc.

My gp in the city I was just living in (we moved seven months ago) once told me that for me over 10 mg of prednisone spells trouble and to eat 900 extremely healthy calories per day. No sugar no flour. No salty foods. This worked. I either don’t gain /stay the same or lose a tiny bit. (Not meant to be a permanent diet at all. Only temporary.)

Around 2.5 mg of pred my body starts acting more normal. Less crazy hunger. Less water retention. Less fat retention. Less craziness.

I’m on 1 mg now and things are very comfortable. I still am retaining water slightly. Still slightly “off.”

Almost everyone struggles with prednisone, but as I’ve gotten older, it seems to be worse for me.

I gained a good twenty pounds. I wish I had done what that gp suggested. That is why I reached out to a nutritionist. But I gained weight with her advice.

I have the added complication that I can not exercise strenuously and I go through periods of time I can’t exercise at all.

Ironically, my husband’s cousin in a different city had a similar experience with a nutritionist who told her to eat more bread. When she ate more bread she gained weight. So, the cousin wanted to eat less bread. Maybe a half a potato instead. The cousin was gaining weight even though she was doing exactly what the tritionust said to do and she was exercising. No doubt there are very good nutritionists, but maybe some are too rigid or something.

WW is working for me. I’m actually a LT member. I find I have to be in the right frame of mind though. I do t eat any sugary foods and have reduced flour and dairy significantly as personal choices.
 
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Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
My trip without counting points cost me dearly.
Weigh in today: up two pounds
Five weeks on WW: lost three pounds
Very different result than just a week ago
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
SWOT

I started before they introduced FreeStyle but to me it just means that lean chicken breast and turkey are zero points! It did reduce the daily points a lot which sucks but I pretty much eating the same as I did before and maintaining the same weight patterns.

I really would like to add some weights in because upper body could surely use toning. It's a vicious cycle fighting aging. UGH.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
My husband is the same way and I use to be that way.

I strongly suspect if I have a drop of that nasty drug in my system it can cause craziness.

My husband has a good friend who is a veterinarian. He told me that if he is really stumped and desperate with a sick underweight dog once in a great while, he gives the dog a little prednisone until he can figure out what’s going on. He said it works like a charm. An emaciated sick dog will come back a week later significantly heavier.

I need to get rid of the 1 mg. It’s not helping me with my illness at this point anyway.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
RN, I still have my WW points book and remember the points I had. Maybe I will just do the old WW hereafter. I lost 40 lbs. On that in nine months.

I don't like not counting points. The smart points require portion control. Some of the things on the zero list now need to be measured or you can consume too many calories.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
My mom was on prednisone for a lot of years. She just could not lose weight during that time, no matter what she did. Your diet is very sensible, but losing weight while on prednisone is only for the very rare of constitution.

Restaurant food is NOT made the way food at home is made. Even when they put the same things in a dish that you would, they often use different quantities than you would. Restaurant mashed potatoes are often made with sour cream and real butter added in HUGE amounts. I once worked in a restaurant that added such a huge amount of these that their potatoes left a grease mark if you got a spot of them on your clothing. Imagine adding gravy on top of that! I took a cooking class from a man who ran a great little bistro here in my town. It was bread baking, but he taught us how he made his potato soup also. I always wondered why I didn't like his soup because normally I LOVE potato soup. He didn't use milk or cream in the soup. He used coffee creamer, the powdered kind. It was no wonder it tasted a bit funny to me. I don't even like that in my coffee. But I am really finicky about how things taste and most people rave about his soup. The calories in it with the coffee creamer were higher than if he had used half and half, because he had to use so much to make it creamy.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Wow...Susie...that is super interesting. Many thanks. Yes, that medication is a nightmare for me in terms of weight. Much better now, but I suspect still a tiny issue. Amazing about the restaurant info!!!!
 
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