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Hi. Im sorry if this is a thread that people feel like theyve answered over and over again, but I thought, maybe mine is a bit different, and gol, I can sure use any help, advice, etc. I can get......Please help me out here if you can.
Okay, my little story...I'll try to keep it shorter... First, I hit my 30s.. then, i cold turkey quit smoking...then, in the span of less then 2yrs, I gained 50lbs. I got kidney stones, and tired of being chubby, so I started exersizing more, and cutting back on soda...and still, i was gaining weight. So, about a month ago, i bit it, and went to the Dr. They did a full blood work up, and everything is as it should be (i thought maybe my thyroid was wacked) So, I have cut out ALL soda/juice/mochas, my only other things i drink besides water is occasional lemonaide and about 1 coffee a week. (not even my Grande Peppermint Mocha, just plain ole coffee) I went from baking either cake or cookies and eating it/them at LEAST once a week, to limiting my choco intake to one of those mini 3musketeers bitesize pieces after dinner. Used to HAVE to have a good sized serving of chocolate w/lunch AND dinner every single day. I have a very active job where Im up and going the entire time Im at work (I coach gymnastics, lots of movement, lifting and catching kids, stretching, go go going all the time)
heres what my average food stuff is like for the last few weeks,
I get up, have ONE egg, either scrambled w/water, or hardboiled, and a piece of toast w/a sprinkle of cinnimon. Or, one of those Special K bars. w/a full bottle of ice water...
I then do aerobic exersize for about 20mins.
clean house/do other chores/grocery shopping/etc. (another full bottle of ice water during this)
bout an hour of downtime (usually reading/computer)
lunch, this varies, ive had things like a 1/2cup of plain canned tuna (i canned it myself, nothing but tuna/water in there) w/a cup of veggies, like cherry tomatos and cucumbers...or ive had a boneless/skinless chicken breast w/a green apple. Again, w/a bottle of ice water.
another 20mins of aerobic activity, then about the same of some muscle building stuff.
Off to work, w/my trusty water and something in my pocket like a box of raisins or some nuts.
home again, for a light dinner, (similar to lunches, but a bit more, and then my one piece of indulgence chocolate)some moderate activity, usually some walking or something. the generous activity of getting 3 kids to bed, then 15min. or so of downtime (computer/reading/etc) then bed for my 8or so hours.
Sooooo....in 3 weeks, Ive now lost 2lbs. WTH???!?!!?! TWO pounds????? and nope, Im not losing the inches, all my clothes still fit the same. Does anyone have any helpful tips/thoughts/advice for me? Im 34yrs old and have about 40lbs to lose. its gonna take me my entire LIFE to do this if it keeps up like this. I thought maybe even just the first 5lbs wouldnt be so terribly difficult. Especially since I went from drinking on the average, 3 bottles of Henrys Root Beer a day, and 3 or 4 Grande Mochas a week, tocutting ALL of that out and drowning myself in water. help??
Tiffany
You're freaking out for no good reason. You actually ARE losing weight. There are differences in body composition throughout the day and throughout the month so maybe you've "really" lost 3 lbs. Maybe even a little more -- depending on what time of day you weigh, what time of the month it is, etc. But regardless, you ARE losing weight. You have to have an imbalance of 3,500 calories for each pound lost (expend 3,500 calories more than you take in) but there are other things that happen too. You may be gaining muscle at the same time you're losing weight, which would make it seem as though you're not losing as much weight as you are since muscle weighs more than fat. After such a short amount of time you can't expect to see significant changes in your clothing fit or in a tape measure. The important thing to focus on is the fact that you are losing weight and you are eating a significantly healthier diet.
I'm assuming you're a woman. You might read "Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell" by Debra Waterhouse. But you seem to be doing the right things to lose weight. It's just that you're psyching yourself out.
I have recently lost 47 pounds. It's taken about 6 months and I'm continuing to lose 5-7 lbs per month. My best advice is:
1. Keep a daily food diary of every calorie you take in. Use the calorie counter on nutritiondata.com or calorie-count.com to determine the caloric value of EVERYTHING you eat to ensure that you really are staying within the amount you need to in order to lose weight (nutritiondata.com also has a helpful widget that shows how many calories you need to sustain your current weight so you can use it to figure out how much less you should be eating than that).
2. Don't think about this as "trying to lose weight." Think of it as "trying to be as healthy as possible." It sounds like you are very active, which is good, but you had some seriously bad food habits. If you think of this experience as one of deprivation you're dooming yourself to being miserable and probably ultimately failing. Look at this as an opportunity to find a way to eat that you both enjoy and helps you maintain optimum health. Don't just deprive yourself of something that you really love -- find a healthy alternative that you love as much! I'm a dessert person myself. I inherited that from my mother and grandmother. Now, instead of ice cream or baked goods, I have a spectacular fruit salad for dessert every night. Ripe strawberries, blueberries, grapes & raspberries. It's spectacularly good, filling, and loaded with anti-oxidants. I don't miss traditional desserts at all. Once the summer fruits are gone, I'm planning to use frozen berries to create yummy smoothies for dessert.
3. Relax. You are psyching yourself out. If you coach gymnastics you must realize the importance of the head game. Quit focusing so intently on the number on the scale. Focus on how you feel and how much better you will feel and look in time as you adjust your diet to become as healthy as possible.
You should probably also stay away from the scale for a while. Try not to look for at least a month. Just keep a diary of what you eat (a record of your exercise is helpful too) to make sure you're actually doing what you intend to do. Then accept the number that you see when you step on the scale next month. If you're eating properly and exercising like you should the extra weight WILL come off. There are no secret formulas. As long as you take in fewer calories than you expend you WILL lose weight. You might not lose it in 2 months, but you will lose it and the rest of your life will be the better for it.
thanks you two.
the mindset is HUGE for me in this. A lot like quitting smoking was. I really enjoyed smoking, (ya, bad, I know..but gotta be honest!) but what i didnt like was the bad example I was setting to first, my own 3 kids, and second, the kids I coach. My eating habits follow likewise. I LOVE to eat!! For me, red meat, the fattier, the yummier, mashed taters, lotsa homemade gravy, hot choco chip cookies, fresh crab cakes covered in garlic butter, oh the list goes on and on and on!! Theres a few berries I like. Strawberries, and rasberries. (in fact, my late morning snack was a bowl of strawberries and a graham cracker) other berries, they just dont thrill me. I love tomatos, cucumbers, fresh green beans, asparages and brocoli. Others, are okay, I'll eat em cuz I know theyre good for me, but i cant say I enjoy em. But, I dont want to be setting this example for my kids, nor do I want to be known as the "chubby coach". So it all feels very resigned to me. Its not a lifestyle change Im excited about. even having the indulgences occasionally, (cuz otherwise, I know myself, if i totally exclude, I'll last a short time, then go on a massive binge, then its all over) Im trying to look forward to how I will look/feel in time, but its so discouraging to have results so slow. (I know, again, as a coach and ex competative gymnast, i DO know the head games and the importance of working towards reachable goals....ive just never been very GOOD at that!)
Im gonna try the suggestion of staying away for the scale for a month....GOD help me if theres not a change in a month though! That would be bad.
My doctor just told me only 4 to 5 lbs a mo is all they want to see as if it comes off too fast it goes back on faster. Just keep doing what you're doing. This didn't happen overnight and it won't be cured overnight.
You can lose more than that. A 2lb a week loss requires a daily calorie cut of 1000.
Problem with that is people can stall out because cuts over 1000 can freak the body out and make it think it needs to conserve. If you are under estimating your calorie cuts etc that will end up stalling you out.
thanks you two.
the mindset is HUGE for me in this. A lot like quitting smoking was. I really enjoyed smoking, (ya, bad, I know..but gotta be honest!) but what i didnt like was the bad example I was setting to first, my own 3 kids, and second, the kids I coach. My eating habits follow likewise. I LOVE to eat!! For me, red meat, the fattier, the yummier, mashed taters, lotsa homemade gravy, hot choco chip cookies, fresh crab cakes covered in garlic butter, oh the list goes on and on and on!! Theres a few berries I like. Strawberries, and rasberries. (in fact, my late morning snack was a bowl of strawberries and a graham cracker) other berries, they just dont thrill me. I love tomatos, cucumbers, fresh green beans, asparages and brocoli. Others, are okay, I'll eat em cuz I know theyre good for me, but i cant say I enjoy em. But, I dont want to be setting this example for my kids, nor do I want to be known as the "chubby coach". So it all feels very resigned to me. Its not a lifestyle change Im excited about. even having the indulgences occasionally, (cuz otherwise, I know myself, if i totally exclude, I'll last a short time, then go on a massive binge, then its all over) Im trying to look forward to how I will look/feel in time, but its so discouraging to have results so slow. (I know, again, as a coach and ex competative gymnast, i DO know the head games and the importance of working towards reachable goals....ive just never been very GOOD at that!)
Im gonna try the suggestion of staying away for the scale for a month....GOD help me if theres not a change in a month though! That would be bad.
I know how it is. I was raised with a typical Southern diet -- lots of fried foods, lots of fats and starches. Heck, even our veggies are soaking in rendered fat. The challenge is to search out foods that you like that happen to be good for you. It doesn't have to be berries (that works for me but who knows what your tastebuds will prefer). Here's another book that might help: "Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health" by Liz Pearson and Mairlyn Smith. It explains current research (in very friendly lay-person terms) regarding nutrition and the 2nd half of the book is recipes incorporating healthy foods (including a number of chocolate recipes). There are lots of online recipe sites as well. Experiment until you find things you really love. I just started experimenting with roasting vegetables. This is not a cooking technique anyone in my family has ever used, and I have realized that I absolutely adore roasted zucchini and onions (and potatoes, of course, but I love potatoes in any form). It's quick, it's easy, and it's healthy. Just a little olive oil drizzled on the veggies plus salt & pepper and pop them in the oven. Yummy!!! But again, that's what I like. You need to experiment to find what you like. Try to find one new healthy food each week.
Cutting out soft drinks is huge. I used to down at least 2 liters of coke a day! Now I rarely drink anything other than water and one cup of milk a day. But you might try to find the kind of milk I drink. It's Horizon Organic 1% chocolate milk and it is blissfully yummy. It's like a dessert. And it has no artificial ingredients. I get it at Publix so I assume it's available in major stores nationwide.
The way I think about it, I inherited a horrendous diet from my family but I can learn to eat like a healthy human being. As time goes by, I become less interested in going back to my old habits. I have been eating healthy and exercising now for 6 months and I feel so much better and happier and more in control of myself. There are weeks when no weight comes off and there are occasions when I do indulge. And I find that I enjoy those indulgences MUCH more than I used to when I indulged basically every day. But for the most part I don't want to eat my old way. I enjoy my new diet at least as much as my old one and I enjoy exercising and feeling healthy.
So don't worry. If you sit around thinking "NOTHING IS WORKING" even though you actually are losing weight (just maybe not as quickly as you would like) and think that you're depriving yourself and you'll never have anything yummy that you like again, you're bound to fail. Visualize the body you want and experiment with new healthier food choices until you find things you really do love that are good for you. If you can find one healthy new food each week and give up (or cut back on) one unhealthy food each week, you'll find that your diet will improve without much effort. The healthier your diet, the healthier you'll be, and the weight will come off (as long as you pay attention to how many calories you're taking in -- after all, you can get fat eating too much of healthy foods too).
To all of you women out there who can't seem to lose weight! I have found a product that really works. I know you are thinking oh ya! another diet pill, but it really does work! My sister has had a weight problem for ten years and has tried everything, including a personal trainer and nothing worked. She started talking Max WLX and in a couple of weeks had lost 10 pound. The best part is she is also losing inches! It is up to you weather you want to try it or not but it really does work. I wish you all the best in the mean time because I have seen how she has struggled and I know how frustrating it can be. Feel free to contact me if you would like further information on this product.
OMG....4-5lbs a MONTH?!!? OMG.....
wow, gone are the days of my 20s to lose 5lbs in a week w/o any effort
COME BACK 20s!!! COME BACK!!!!!
In order to lose 5 pounds in a week you'd have to have a deficit of 17,500 calories, which is almost impossible to do unless you're an elite athlete.
Weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week is considered safe (although the dietition who wrote "Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell" actually considers that too fast to lose when you are targeting fat loss). Remember, it's often easier to lose muscle than fat and the more muscle you lose the slower your metabolism will become which will enable you to gain fat more easily. Starvation diets force the body to break down muscle instead of fat. That's why you need to set a realistic goal of losing weight slowly and combining diet with exercise (and hopefully weight training to increase muscle mass).
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First, I hit my 30s.. then, i cold turkey quit smoking...then, in the span of less then 2yrs, I gained 50lbs. 
I got kidney stones, and tired of being chubby, so I started exersizing more, and cutting back on soda...and still, i was gaining weight. So, about a month ago, i bit it, and went to the Dr. They did a full blood work up, and everything is as it should be (i thought maybe my thyroid was wacked) So, I have cut out ALL soda/juice/mochas, my only other things i drink besides water is occasional lemonaide and about 1 coffee a week. (not even my Grande Peppermint Mocha, just plain ole coffee) I went from baking either cake or cookies and eating it/them at LEAST once a week, to limiting my choco intake to one of those mini 3musketeers bitesize pieces after dinner. Used to HAVE to have a good sized serving of chocolate w/lunch AND dinner every single day. I have a very active job where Im up and going the entire time Im at work (I coach gymnastics, lots of movement, lifting and catching kids, stretching, go go going all the time) 
TWO pounds????? and nope, Im not losing the inches, all my clothes still fit the same. Does anyone have any helpful tips/thoughts/advice for me? Im 34yrs old and have about 40lbs to lose. its gonna take me my entire LIFE to do this if it keeps up like this. I thought maybe even just the first 5lbs wouldnt be so terribly difficult. Especially since I went from drinking on the average, 3 bottles of Henrys Root Beer a day, and 3 or 4 Grande Mochas a week, tocutting ALL of that out and drowning myself in water. help?? 
