2013 Weight Loss & Healthy Living Support Thread

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Our last thread went on for almost exactly a year then died!

Maybe we need to include people who aren’t just trying to lose weight, but also those who are trying to just live a more healthy lifestyle by changing their eating and exercise habits. And of course those of you who lost the weight they wanted and want to keep it off. Yay!

So what’s everyone doing?

I was stalled and then slacked off since about October 2012. I was going up and down the same 10+ lbs. Blech.

A couple weeks ago a friend asked me if I wanted to try the Whole 30 Challenge with her. It’s a super-strict Paleo plan that you follow for 30 days - no sugar or starch, no soy or legumes of any kinds (meaning no peanuts), no dairy, no artificial sweeteners and no preservatives like sulfites or nitrates.

At first I thought “this is dum!” but I realized I needed something to focus me back on healthy eating, which I had pretty much abandoned. Even though I was technically eating “low carb” it was all dairy, peanuts, chocolate and low-carb tortillas. Hardly any meats or veggies. That’s just the junk version of Atkins!

Plus, it’s only 30 days.

So we started last Monday the 18th. I’ve already lost all my Christmas weight, a total of 16 lbs. Just 4 more pounds to go until I’m back at my lowest weight for 2012 and will start breaking my plateau. No doubt I can do it in the next 21 days! My goal isn’t to lose a ton of weight on this plan, just to get under that plateau weight.

I haven’t been to the gym in 3 weeks. I got a cold, then pinkeye, then an ear infection. Today was my first day back. I got in the groove of this new eating plan and was basically eating exactly enough to fill me up without needing exercise calories, so today was very new.

Today I could only do 60% of my regular workout, because I just wasn’t full enough. I had almost 1200 cals during the day before I went but I guess I needed more.

I needed to have had hamburgers for lunch instead of chicken soup. I need to calorie load before the gym!

Anyway enough of my rambling. What is everyone else up to?

Let’s keep going!

#2

I’m starving my ass off, today. It’s my second week on Weight Watchers and always in the past I’ve coped with it fine, but this time around I’m just constantly ravenous. I hope I get over this phase soon.

#3

I’ve…kinda fallen off the wagon. :frowning: I still eat well during the day, but come nighttime, all bets are off and I chow down on dry cereal and peanut butter from the jar. Last night I found some chocolate-coated peppermint sticks someone gave me around Christmas – I don’t even like peppermint candy, but I ate four sticks just to get that chocolate.

That 30-day challenge is appealing to me because I feel like for months now I’ve only been looking at food as how it hits my required food groups, and hey, one piece of chocolate cake is the equivalent of two grains and two fats, so if I plan my meals accordingly, I can have chocolate cake every day, right??? Hey, why am I not losing any weight? I need to get back to thinking of food as fuel for my body and refined sugar and flour being anti-fuel. Then I won’t want the junk in the first place, so I won’t have these daily fights with temptation that I always lose.

#4

Hi Sattua. It’s my second week on WW as well. I lost 4 lbs my first week and they rewarded me by dropping me a point and telling me that it was the lowest point level they have. Waiting to get over the ravenous stage as well.

I lost 35 lbs a couple years ago and mostly kept it off until about 6 months ago when job and health stress for both my husband and I made me stop paying attention and I put back about 25 lbs of it. Now I am trying to take that off, along with the other 25 that I still needed to lose.

My husband had out of town training for 10 days so I took advantage of being alone and changed over the kitchen. I now only have healthy things around and started meal planning again.

This time I am trying something new. I put a whiteboard on the wall in the kitchen and each night before bed I write out the next day’s menu with its point and calorie values, and portion if needed. I make up lunch to take to work and make sure everything else is out on the counter or at the front of the refrigerator. In the morning I review the menu and try to keep myself in the frame of mind of “this is what I am eating” not “what should I make for dinner?”. I found just having everything planned helped me lose weight before, so maybe the extra nudge of seeing it in big black letters on a white board will keep it even more in my mind, and I can check off the items as I eat them and add or change easily if something comes up. This will also help when my husband gets home because he really wants to lose 30 lbs and if I do most of the work and planning, he will keep to the diet.

#5

Right now I’m not giving up, but I am a bit disillusioned. I thought that my knee doctor said that if I lost a bunch of weight that he’d be able to fix my knee. It turns out that I was apparently only hearing half of what he said.

I’ve lost 80 pounds so I went to see him. It turns out that my knee might not be fixable. If I have a torn meniscus, he could fix it, if I have cartilage damage, he can’t because the only fix is a knee replacement and I’m too young for that. This was really a blow to me. The whole time since my boyfriend passed away, this is the thing that I’d been looking forward to and now there may be no solution.

In the meantime I quit taking Prilosec because I felt I didn’t need it anymore and it appears to have messed with my whole body physically and mentally. I’ve started taking it again after consulting with my doctor and I hope that I will start feeling better.

Since all this craziness has ensued I gained 1.6 pounds but I’m hoping that I can turn this around and keep on losing. I just need to reexamine my goals and, I guess, come up with new ones.

#6

Hello!

I’m still doing Weight Watchers and at my last weigh-in, I officially stopped being morbidly obese and moved into the obese category, which has been very motivating!

I’m currently battling the flu, so not counting points or exercising. Just trying to get well.

#7

2 fish sandwiches for $4

#8

I wasn’t involved in the last thread. I was able to lose a fair amount of weight over last summer, but succumbed to my old pattern of emotional eating and gained back 15 lbs.

Over the weekend I determined to get back into the routine of counting calories, making better choices, and not eating after 7:30pm. The 30 day challenge ZipperJJ linked to looks intriguing to me, but my pantry is currently stocked pretty deep with stuff that’s not on that list. Not awful stuff like Entenmann’s danish rings, but a lot of my weeknight supper repertoire includes beans; chilis and soups and so forth. I might keep that in mind for the summer when my son is at his dad’s.

For now I’ll just obsessively record calories using a phone app called “Lose It!” Once I get into the groove it’s pretty easy. I’ve stayed out of such threads for the most part because I didn’t want an added element of accountability, but it turns out I probably need that.

cheers!

#9

Great job,** sandra_nz**!

#10

Congratulations sandra_nz

Sticks and Scones I’m sorry to hear about your knee problems, I have issues with my knee and hopefully losing weight will help. I was told I have a beginning of arthritis :frowning:

Well let me introduce myself, I’m jools and I’m overweight. I started a month ago quite a drastic diet which I stopped because I need to eat and it was a liquid protein diet. So now I’ve slowed down the process but hopefully it will be easier to succeed!

#11

I need to lose 30 pounds (want to lose 15 by May 17, vacay). I’m at 165 and would love to be 130, would be happy at 135. The funny thing is all my numbers (HDL, glucose, etc) are beautiful. So I’m a healthy, slightly chunky person. I follow Weight Watchers, not strit enough to lose, but enough to maintain. I gotta get 100% with the program.

#12

I feel you. I was starving for the first 2 days of the Whole 30 and was so very pleased when it went away. I wondered if it wasn’t due to the half an apple (30g of carbs!) I was eating at lunch! The hunger went away but now that I’ve added exercise, it’s back :frowning:

Oh man I can totally see myself doing that. I don’t like peppermint either. I was having a similar problem - but it was more like good during the week, bad on weekends. I don’t have any advice for you - you know it’s got to come from within!

How awesome!! That’s part of why this thread is good - new good ideas to help with our goals :slight_smile:

I always feel bad for people who live with kids or spouses who eat differently. It’s bad enough to have to live around Fruit Rollups and Cap’n Crunch, but to have to make different food sometimes must suck too.

Hopefully with all this work your husband will slip right in to good habits with you!

Holy cow that is soooooo disappointing! All that work and being denied your ultimate goal!! I feel so bad for you!

It’s motivating me now too! Congrats!

I know, right?!

Accountability is good, even if it’s just accountability to yourself. I wax and wane on what I share…I usually only share when I’m doing really good. Boo!

Here’s a link to gwendee’s app. I use MyFitnessPal as a Web site, some use it as an app (or both!)

Welcome! I’m glad you realized you need something that works long term. Gotta change up those eating habits for life!

#13

I really appreciate the inclusiveness of ‘‘healthy living.’’ I am about 50 lbs overweight but losing weight is so far down my list of priorities compared to improving chronic pain, managing depression and high cholesterol, etc. I’m going to be 30 in like, a week, and my body is already starting to fall apart. I know if I don’t take care of it now, it’s all downhill from here.

I know this guy from way back in elementary school/high school - we always ‘‘clicked’’ on an intellectual level so I’ve been happy to keep in touch with him on Facebook. He’s some kind of hard-core military trainer for the Department of Defense in Texas, he’s a cold weather survivalist and generally just insane. Anyway, a couple of months ago I PMed him asking for some basic exercises I can do for general conditioning. To my surprise, he sent me a YouTube video he made for me, and ever since then, he has been my Coach, free of charge. He gives me assignments every day, and I gotta tell you, I feel great. I injured myself a lot at first but he taught me how to take care of injuries and work through them. He’s helped me with my chronic back and knee pain and has me doing things I never thought I could do. Like I did fifty 8-count bodybuilders the other day, which is like a cross between a burpee and a push-up. 50! But more importantly, I went down our laundry room stairs without hurting my back.

And the thing about it is, I’ve never done more than 20 minutes a day, usually only 10 minutes. The assignments are short and grueling. I asked him about doing long periods of cardio and he told me not to waste my time. So here I am, actually getting stronger and healthier in 10 minutes a day. I’m slowly learning to let go of my excuses not to exercise - the aforementioned body-builders were done outside, in the rain.

We are just getting to the nutrition part. My assignment this week is not to eat dairy, not because dairy is bad but just so I can get used to planning my meals.

It’s interesting how your priorities change as you age. At this point I could care less about fitting into a bikini - I just want to feel good.

#14

Fan-f’n-tastic! I am so glad you have finally found something that WORKS for YOU!

#15

I need to get back on the wagon. I went from cooking every day and eating a strict diet which had a ton of payoff to eating pretty much ‘whatever’. I’ve been breaking out, my dark circles and bags are terrible, I can’t wake up in the morning and I’ve gotten sick twice this winter already which is far from usual! It’s totally not worth it, and I’ve been spending too much money eating out all the time. I’m moving tomorrow and will finally get to have my own, clean, kitchen - and I swear I am going to start with new healthy habits.

#16

I’ve been struggling with my weight (and compulsive overeating) for almost 20 years. I’ve lost significant amounts of weight on several occasions. I was in the best shape of my life, though stil heavy, just over four years ago. Then I lost my momentum, developed hypothyroidism, and had a severe ruptured disk in my back that required surgery. I reached my highest weight ever last spring.

I had lap band surgery in November. I am now 55 lbs lighter than I was at my highest. I still have a long way to go, and I worry because I have never stuck with any major food/fitness-related “lifestyle change” for more than six months. The band keeps me from eating large quantities of solid food at once and should help control my appetite between meals once it is adjusted properly, but I still have to choose the right foods and do the necessary exercise.

#17

I love hearing this. All I can say is nice job, keep up the good work.

#18

I’m going to try to participate this round. I need to drop about 40-45 pounds. I’ve recently been diagnosed with arthritis in my right hip and the prescription is lose weight.

I lost 35 pounds several years ago, but out it back on plus 10 pounds over the course of 5 difficult years during which I lost my mother, father and sister. I know how I gained it back - I had no motivation to keep active, we ate far too many take out meals and my portion size crept up gradually. Comfort eating to be sure.

2 summers ago my husband had bad cholesterol, homocystine, etc numbers at his checkup, so we transformed our diets, switching to primarily whole foods, tons of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean meats and fish. He immediately lost 25 pounds, (the bastard!) and I gradually dropped 15. This winter has been hard though, all I want to eat is carbs. We subscribe to an organic produce delivery service and are receiving their “Dogma” box which is 100% sourced locally. IN summer and fall this means an orgy of great fresh produce, but for Massachusetts in February this means cellared turnips, potatoes, apples, some greenhouse herbs, and more kohlrabi than you can shake a stick at. This is not doing much to help curb my carb cravings.

In short - I need to find my motivation again - both for walking and other activities which help my arthritis, and for getting back to lighter eating.

#19

I have found a really easy way to good the recommended daily amount of vegetables and fruits. A big ole salad for lunch. One romaine heart, a buncha grape tomatoes, and a little cucumber dressing, dill, and sunflower seeds. Crunchy and very filling.

#20

I forget about sunflower seeds. Great way to add a little protein and fat to help with satiety.