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Another good way to shed lbs. without doing much else is walking. My friend lost 20 lbs. very quickly by just going for walks after dinnertime. Additionally, just cutting out sugar in one's diet is another way to drop some extra lbs....easier said then done though, at least for me.
I don't know if you have tried any programs yet, but I think Weight Watchers is something to consider. I never did the regular program with visits and weigh-ins, although that is probably the best route to go, but if you get your hands on a WW flex points book and the points finder scale, you can really do it yourself. The book gives you target points for your weight, and you need to stay within those points for the day. Meaning, you decide what and when to eat, staying within your range. you also get bonus weekly points, and extra points for exercising. If you would like any help getting the items to get started, PM me, I would love to help you if I can. Jeannie
My husband and I and two of our friends have done pretty well on Weight Watchers. I don't think we would have done as well without attending the meetings though. The accountability of being "weighed" every weeks helps a lot.
A few years back I was very heavy - I dropped about 60lbs in a few months. I was down to 116lbs. I know it doesn't sound healthy, but I started exercising and did lots of walking and drank lots of water. I walked alot when I could. Climbing stairs, etc. I didn't go on one of those diets or take diet pills. I put my mind to it and it came off.
Now I'm trying to lose about 15lbs, from my last pregnancy. I lost 30lbs since having my lil boy - A year Plus later.......
Location: Ohio, but moving to El Paso, TX August/September
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Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!
I'm overweight...very overweight. I can walk forever, have a fairly good degree of stamina, follow no particular diet and have been a steady weight for about 10 years.
I would like to loose wieght and become physically fit.
Where do I begin? I know all the foods I'm supposed to eat, but realistically when cooking for an entire fam9ily, you just end up cooking what everyone likes. I know I cannot eliminate certain food from my diet for the longterm. I want to makes changes that will work and that I can stick to.
I want to start by eating less and moving more. I'd love to start a walking regimen but don't have the funds for a treadmill and walking outdoors in 4 seasons is not realistic. We get a lot of ice, snow, really low temps...I have asthma and can't breathe in the real cold. I just want something that I can stick to. I am thinking of just going up and down the basement stairs. Is that crazy??
Where should I begin to makes changes that I an stick with?
I have watched my Dad suffer, he is a diabetic with heart disease...I don't want to end up like him.
I want to be playing tennis with my teenage daughter next year!
Any suggestions from someone who has been there?
(I do not want to resort to bariatric surgery, God only knows what effect it will have on me when I'm 80)
Now is the perfect time for you to start your whole family eating right. If you can't eliminate certain foods because people like them so much, and they are "bad" foods, think about what you are doing to the people eating them. If you've struggled with your weight, don't subject your kids to poor eating habits and be the one who breaks the chain of bad food habits so your kids learn how to eat healthy. You should cook healthier for your family as well as yourself. If you can, go with as much fresh fruits and veggies as possible, and cut out the desserts. Also, stay away from things that have corn syrup in it. Pop is another big no-no. Drink lots of water.
I've never lost a lot of weight, but my cousin lost well over 100 pounds and I know someone else who lost over 200. They did it by exercising (I remember them both saying the beginning was the hardest) but for both of them, another important key was eating better.
I don't know what the person who was 200 did for meals, but my cousin was always a so-so vegetarian, but she became less lax (didn't "cheat" so to speak), and that helped her a lot.
If you like walking but can't handle cold, and without funds for a machine, the next best thing would definitely be mall walking. Most malls have programs for before the stores open.
Yes, I need to lose a lot of weight. Honestly, what got me motivated was one day, hubby and I just said, "Scre w this, we need to go work out." We picked a gym closest to us (which is still a 25 min drive) and it also happened to be the most expensive. I hate to say this but it's the best $90/month we've ever spent.
When the gym was les than 5 minutes away (10 minute walk) and we only paid $50/month, we hardly ever went! Not only spending a ridiculous amount of money for a gym motivated us but I think both hubby and I just got sick and tired of looking at ourselves in the mirror every day.
Honestly, IMO, you just gotta do it. Start, and start anywhere. Hubby and I started going the end of March. I'm REALLY lazy so getting myself to the gym every day was the beginning. As long as I went, it didn't really matter to me how long was there for. Gradually, I built stamina. I went from 28 MIN elliptcal (under 2 miles) to 45MIN jogs on the treadmill (3+ miles). Now I'm looking forward to my first 5K.
I don't really watch what I eat. We still eat whatever but it's almost involuntary to think now, "Dang, how long is it going to take for me to burn those calories from the oreo cookies? The greasy fish and chips? Those Lays sour cream and onion?" and so on. I just put them back. I give in here and there but for the most part, I'm just more conscious of what I eat now but I'm not really "dieting" per say. No declaring to declare here (Fred Thompson joke).
I will say this though, it's just me and hubby, no kids, so I can only empathize about the cooking part but you know what? I think this would be a great way for everybody in your family to start developing a healthier lifestyle. You don't have to cook every meal all healthy and what not but you can come to an agreement with your family to see about going healthy maybe a couple meals a week and then go from there. It's all about gradual change, IMO.
Have you tried your local YMCA? A lot of times, they have discounted or sliding scale fees. Or even your local gym maybe have the same thing - check it out. You can pay as little as $20/month at some gyms. It doesn't hurt to ask around.
I think the basement stairs is a GREAT idea!!! Also, swimming is very low impact and you can probably benefit from swimming. As your doctor, maybe he/she has some ideas about getting into a gym or something for physical therapy.
You know, I contemplated about getting surgery, too, and I just can't get myself to do it. Exercise is the best way to lose weight and stay healthy. A lot of people over-eat b'c of mental problems/addictions and after surgery, they realize the problems/addictions are still there and other problems start to occur. Instead of being addicted to or turn to food, they do other things like they start to shop or turn to alcohol.
If you think maybe there is something "mental" going on, seek a professional to get yourself checked out, IMO. It doesn't hurt. I know for me I just started getting lazy but after my Dad died, food became comfort.
I still have 100lbs to go and I've lost 40 to date. My goal is 40lbs more by the end of the year. Baby steps. The funny thing is, losing weight isn't really the hard part. Although losing weight is tough, the hard part is seeing the "aftermath". All the damn loose skin is starting to bug the sh*t out of me!! Like I can feel my arm muscles but it doesn't look nice (even though I work my ass off!) b'c of all the excess skin. Totally sucks!!
Good luck to you. Sorry about the long-winded post but I just want you to know I understand what you are going through. If you want to PM, feel free to drop a line! Best wishes - foma
The thread says, "Large Weight Loss". I've lost 240 lbs in just over two years. Do I qualify?
Never counted calories. Never exercised (was too big or I'd stroke out). Still eat the same things I used to, Pizza, Lasagna and stuff.
But here's what I did. Like somebody mention, the saucer diet. Well, I travel a lot and eat about 90% of my meals in restaurants and you know how they load you up. Well, I did a project down in Texas and come down with a bad case of the flu. Couldn't hold anything down for about 3 days. Then, when I did start eating it was very small portions. So I set my mind right then and there. Since then, I order the same as I always did. Except when it gets to the table, I divide everything in Half. Never touch the other side of the plate.
After I dropped the first 100, I started trying new foods. Well, new for me. haha Like a Fruit plate. But I still cut it in half when it got to the table. Salad as the main dish? Yup, cut it in half also. I used to drink coke, now it's diet coke.
They say that there's free foods? No there isn't. Do you know that ice berg lettuce is loaded with calories and such? Fruit, it's not free either. The reason I say not free, is because, say you eat a fruit plate. Tasted pretty good. But your hungry before the next meal so you tend to bing a little on the next meal. Kind of defeat the purpose.
An early post mentioned trying to cut back. I say, give it a week. That's all. Use half portions for one week. First day you'll say, this isn't bad. Second day you'll say, this sucks. Third day you'll be hating life. Fourth day you'll be saying this sucks. Fifth day, you'll be saying this isn't too bad. By the seventh day, you won't even miss it.
Just don't relaps.
Now I'm down to a weight that I can start exercise and start building all the muscle I've lost and I won't have a stroke.
Good luck, I'm pulling for you.
Oh, and one other thing. Purchase a good daily multi vitamin. That's all you need. You don't need all the rest of the crap. A good multi has more stuff in it then your body can burn and it's just wasted. So if you take a good daily multi, and then take a dose of B1, the B1 just passes straight through and isn't used.
Hmmm....iceberg lettuce loaded with calories? Well yes...if you use fattening dressing, otherwise I don't think so. If you can load up on lettuce/salads as much as possible, I think it can help a lot...if you can stick with it, that is (lol).
no... most lettuce you buy off the grocery shelves has been produced/stored/kept fresh before its shelf-life by them soaking the heads in sugar water. ...I thought this was a common fact that everyone knew?
I'm overweight...very overweight. I can walk forever, have a fairly good degree of stamina, follow no particular diet and have been a steady weight for about 10 years.
I would like to loose wieght and become physically fit.
Where do I begin? I know all the foods I'm supposed to eat, but realistically when cooking for an entire fam9ily, you just end up cooking what everyone likes. I know I cannot eliminate certain food from my diet for the longterm. I want to makes changes that will work and that I can stick to.
I want to start by eating less and moving more. I'd love to start a walking regimen but don't have the funds for a treadmill and walking outdoors in 4 seasons is not realistic. We get a lot of ice, snow, really low temps...I have asthma and can't breathe in the real cold. I just want something that I can stick to. I am thinking of just going up and down the basement stairs. Is that crazy??
Where should I begin to makes changes that I an stick with?
I have watched my Dad suffer, he is a diabetic with heart disease...I don't want to end up like him.
I want to be playing tennis with my teenage daughter next year!
Any suggestions from someone who has been there?
(I do not want to resort to bariatric surgery, God only knows what effect it will have on me when I'm 80)
my family and i have just this past summer tried to eat healthy. my dd has lost 20 lbs over the summer without working out at all. what i have done is chicken and vegetables only. when my husband cooks he makes chicken and vegetables and rice....we have been drinking sugar free lemonade/1 percent milk/water or diet soda.....i have not "measured" our meals but only cook in olive oil and cut up chicken...i have been adding soy sauce and/or low sodium soy sauce....we do have cheat days where we will eat maybe a weght watchers ice cream or something like that at night. hope this helps... btw i saute up lots of vegetables so we are always totally full...we don't feel hungry at the end of a meal. lunches usually consist of salad with tuna on it or chicken salad on it or diced up chicken.... breakfast is usually eggbeaters for scrambled eggs (with american cheese for cheesy scrambled eggs) and turkey bacon (microwaved)......
again, this has helped a lot in my family...it also may help with the asthma as my husband has it and it "acts up" when he is not eating healthy...
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Jeannie
