Welcome Key Lime Guy and zsofia. Good luck on your journeys!
Woo Hoo!
I was stuck at 162 for a while. Annoying as heck. Today I hit 159.
About 10 more pounds to go.
Slee
Was at 20 pounds down last month, now I’m at about 25.5 pounds down (I say “about” because I bought a digital scale to replace my analog scale and the digital weighs 2 pounds heavier, so technically I’ve lost 27 lbs, but I’m just going to say 25!), with an ideal 30-ish more to go by next spring if possible.
I hit a bit of a plateau recently, but I had a few higher-calorie days, and it seems to have jump-started my metabolism to start chugging again. I will say that I’m losing weight more slowly now, which can be frustrating, but I’m trying to focus first on health and last on numbers.
Glory, I’d like to know what is your view on wheat gluten. I’ve even cut out wheat pasta and many breads and doughs because of the whole “gluten issue”, but I admit there are a lot of things that contain gluten (incl wheat pasta), and I wonder if I’m being too restrictive on myself in that area. Just looking for your perspective, as you have obviously had success (great photos!) and we seem to share a similar body type (sorry I have no pics to prove this- I’ve been pretty camera-phobic over the last several years!)
WOOHOO SLEE!
I had never heard of restricting wheat gluten for health reasons (unless someone suffered from something like Coeliac disease). Wheat gluten has no ill effect on me, so I have never thought of it at all (I’m actually not even sure what wheat gluten is, except it’s in some Asian dishes and it makes some people sick).
I needed something I could stick with for the rest of my life and I love peanut butter on whole wheat toast and quesadillas made with whole wheat tortillas, the thought of giving up wheat products never entered my mind. Is wheat gluten supposed to be bad for you (even if it doesn’t aggravate any health condition?)
The only thing I pay attention to is if a product is “whole grain.” I’m radiantly healthy 
I have a personal trainer who told me from the start that gluten is bad for you. Of course I’m doing research now to try to find out why and all I can find are links to Celiac’s. I thought I remembered her saying that high gluten items tend to have higher amounts of the simple sugars that are broken down too quickly by your body and therefore aren’t useful fuel. I’ll have to ask her again. She’s very “raw foods”, so processed anything is off her list. I’m not so much that way, but have paid attention to the gluten thing. I’ll have to get back to you on that…
Down 5.5# since August 1. That’s saying something, since I was just on a cruise.
Is your trainer also a registered dietician? What are her credentials for dispensing nutritional advice? When I briefly had a personal trainer (ah, joyous time) he was very clear that he shouldn’t give any nutritional info, he really limited himself to the food pyramid guidelines.
For me, I had to weigh nutrition vs. real life. What could I realistically do long term to be as healthy as possible. I would love to do some sort of macrobiotic, raw diet and I might go that route if I lived a more rarified existence with a personal chef or a lifestyle that didn’t demand SOME convenience foods (/salute Gwyenth Paltrow). For me, that means bread and tortillas. I love sandwiches, I love toast, I love pasta, I love quesadillas and enchiladas. Those things are non negotiable for me.
I gave up a ton of stuff forever (fast food, packaged baked goods, soda) but they were worth giving up to me, since they have practically 0 nutritional value. I consider a piece of whole grain bread a good thing. For me, there was no reason to give up wheat gluten - I ate a ton of whole wheat, lost 70 lbs, kept it off for 2 years and feel great. If my weight loss had stalled or it were difficult to maintain, I would probably start looking for reasons (maybe wheat gluten?) but there was no need, in my case.
So, I got the Weight Watchers kit yesterday. 20 points?! That’s so totally unfair. 20 points is nothing!
I’ve lost about 9 pounds in the last month on Nutrisystem. Congrats to all the other “losers” here.
I had a wonderful experience at work today–two different people (who didn’t know I was dieting) noticed my weight loss. It was such a boost to get their compliments!
Weigh cool, you too Gangster Octopus.
I does feel very good when people who do not know your on a diet come up and ask about your weight loss.
Jim
Pretty cool! Enjoy your victory.
No my trainer’s not a registered dietician. I asked her to e-mail me her “reason for avoiding gluten”, and I won’t trouble you with posting it here, but I have to admit when I read it objectively, it smacked slightly of rumormill paranoia. Basically she thinks that gluten coats your gut and prevents the lining from absorbing vitamins & nutrients, and that this happens to everyone, some more seriously (Celiac’s) than others. Can I (or she) prove it affects everyone, including you & me? I don’t have that answer!
I’ve been doing pretty well keeping away from the things I’ve been keeping away from, but perhaps I won’t turn down the whole wheat pasta next time I see it, because I do really like it!
I don’t know if it has something to do with L.A. attitude, but not one person at my work has said one word about the very obvious weight loss I’ve had. I even made a mention to someone yesterday about my weight loss during a conversation about cholesterol (mine has gone down from 224 to 186!!), and it was like I never even said it. Not that I’m looking for accolades from these people, but if I were back in Ohio, people wouldn’t shut up about it! I just think it’s odd- people are different out here, for sure!
That why you have us.
WTG, sounds like you doing great. Have you re-tested for Cholesterol yet?
Jim
Hello, my name is Sandra, you killed my father, prepare to die.
Oh, hang on, that’s not right. Let’s try that again…
Hello, my name is Sandra, I am a fat slob and would like to join this thread. Please?
I’m not the official greeter but all are welcomed. Support, encouragement and advice seems to be in good supply.
Jim
Wasn’t sure what your question meant, until I re-read what I wrote. My cholesterol (not my weight!) went from 224 to 186. I re-tested last week.
D’oh. I misunderstood your post. That’s great. Mine did a similar drop, but I have to get my HDLs up.