I lost 35 lbs on LA Weight Loss a couple of years ago, and it was a good, healthy diet that didn’t include a bunch of weight loss drugs (I’ve gained the weight back, but that’s because I quit doing what they taught me). The gist of the diet is this: lots of fruit and veggies, limit (but don’t completely excluded) carbohydrates, and eat plenty of lean protein. Drink lots of water and eat several small meals a day. Low sodium, low sugar. It’s tough, especially at first, because you’ll crave sweets and starches, but once you get over that hump you’ll be astonished at how good you’ll feel.
Like everyone else has suggested, talk to your doctor first. You’re setting yourself a big task, and you want to do it in the way that’s best for your overall health.
Based solely on my own experience: above all, don’t get panicky about it. I’m not too crazy about the fact that you set a start date a month in advance, and will deliberately be indulging before then. That seems like a dangerous set-up for anxiety and feelings of deprivation.
But of course, you know yourself, and I don’t.
I’d never really dieted until last year. When I grew unhappy with my weight, I’d just cut back, and eventually unplanned changes in my life would knock my weight back down. (I lost 30lbs backpacking in Europe. Another time it was a change of job and schedule. Once it resulted from the end of a long term relationship)
Diets scared me. I’d heard so much about the rigors, and I knew that when I cut down, I often felt deprived.
But last summer, I decided to try a low carb diet - starting that day. I didn’t even know the details of the various diets, so I held myself to a fairly minimal diet that I knew was allowed (steak, salad, green leafies, and salmon) during the several days it took me to study the various options thoroughly. I just knew I had to start before I could start making subconscious excuses.
The pounds started coming off, first water weight and then fat. This encouraged me to exercise. By the end of the summer I’d not only lost the 20lbs I’d set as an immediate goal, but another 20lbs that I “really felt I should lose”, and I was ten pounds beyond that towards my ideal weight. I’d never really considered myself fat - if I thought about it at all I figured some of it was just aging, since I was fairly active, ate less than I had in my skinny youth, and worked with a lot of skinny people who were a decade younger than me.
As soon the weight began dropping off, I realized how many unnoticed psychological pressures I’d encountered in the past. I’d been trained to expect them - dieting is a hardship right? Well, this diet wasn’t. It was sometimes onconvenient, and there were foods I missed from time to time - bread, pasta and potatoes. It was expecially odd because these were foods I’d been drilled into thinking of as ‘good’ alternatives to the fatty meats I loved. That took a while to wrap my mind fully around. For months, I still caught myself thinking “I’ll be good and just have a small bowl of pasta.”
I’m not sure I’d have been able to achieve the results I did, as quickly as I did, if I had planned and dwelt and dreaded. That kind of thinking often sabotages stop smoking plans too.
It’s just a thought for you to consider. It may not apply to you.
Count calories. Eat the same thing day in and out, and switch it every week, desginating one day a week as a cheat day.
To be healthy it is recommended not to lose more than 1 lb a week. I would say 2 lbs a week wouldn’t be too bad if you just absolutely MUST lose 100 lbs in one year. Just make sure you exercise, specifically weight training, you don’t want to lose muscle. (which you will losing 2 lbs a week)
1lb a week is 500 less calories a day than what you burn. 2lbs would obviously be twice that. That is going to be hard. At your size I would guess your maintenence is around 2,600. That is what you would burn sleeping. Add about 500 on that and you have a good idea of what you burn daily. (that is a conservative number, for general work, some walking, driving etc, see http://caloriesperhour.com for more detailed and accurate counting)
Here is an example: It is what I am currently eating (I must eat cheap, I am a student and my budget is limited)
Breakfast- 710kcal (breakfast is most important meal of the day)
3 Eggs (jumbo)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Can tuna
3/4 cup of rice
Lunch- 560
1 cup of Pinto beans
3/4 cup of rice
Peppers and jalepeneos
Cup of milk
Dinner- ~420
3/4 pint of Chicken fried rice (I work in the department, thus it is free, not because it is healthy, give me a break. )
Before bed snack- 320
1 cup of milk
1 oz almonds
Total- approx. 2100 calories, I spend about 40 dollars a month on groceries, and I occasionally eat potatoes, buy stuff in bulk and eat what I can free. (once a week I visit my parents, they stuff food in me then, that is my cheat day)
Along with adjusting your diet, try to find a sport or activity that interests you. Lots of people hate excercizing, claiming it’s boring, but it doesn’t have to be.
I love swimming (which is also low-impact, good for your joints), roller-blading, and practice Shotokan karate. The roller-blading might not be for you if your joints give you trouble. The martial arts are especially good if you get bored easily because they help focus your mind and stay exciting. Find an art that you love and stick with it. It’ll take you from beginner to a more advanced level gradually so your body can adjust. Be sure to check out the instructor first, make sure he/she doesn’t run you too hard.
Sign up at your local YMCA and check out some dojos. That’s my suggestion.
Gender plays a role in how fast an individual loses weight. Another factor is age. Here are my anecdotes:
I’m a male, and have had several punctuated periods of weight loss (and gain) during my adult life. The most successful of them was when I was 19 years old. I lost 43 pounds over one summer (from mid-May through late August).
The thing is – when I was 19, my body was producing near the highest levels of testosterone I’ve ever had. This accelerated weight loss greatly. That is a natural advantage that I no longer have.
A quick note about exercise: I had never done anything fancy during my periods of weight loss. I would do a 30-40 minute routine of stretching, “calisthenics”, and some strength-building basics (push-ups, crunches, reverse crunches, a few yoga-inspired exercises) in my home six days a week. I needed no equipment save a sofa to do my crunches against.
During these time, I also used to walk a lot recreationally. Later, as years passed and my time grew shorter, I took up jogging sporadically. I got to where I’d run about 10 miles a week. Hardly hardcore, but it helped me stay in shape.
I had a good amount of muscle built up from working out for football in high school. I continued weight training sporadically for a few years after that, but purely coincidentally, never when I was trying to lose weight.
…
Whenever I’ve applied myself to losing weight, I’ve lost a lot of weight early on, then gradually got into a pattern of slow, consistent weight loss. For instance, about 6 years ago, I went on Sugarbusters. I was able to drop 12 pounds in the first two weeks. After that, about 2-3 pounds a week.
I always thought that everyone’s weight loss was this way – quick in the beginning, then it tapers off. If this is a safe pattern to assume (warning - IANADoctor), I could see a 300-lb man staring off with a 25-pound weight loss in the first 4-6 weeks, then losing an average of 1.5 - 2 pounds a week for the rest of the year. This would conceivably get E.T. Bass in the neighborhood of a hundred-pound loss within a year.
But E.T. Bass – do see a doctor and get an informed medical opinion tailored to your unique condition.
…
Now, to my current story.
I am close to being in E.T. Bass’ boat – same age, same staring weight, same realization that the weight needs to go bye-bye. We differ in that I do have an athletic background, and that I drink very little alcohol.
E.T. Bass, I went to my doctor two years ago about my weight problems – and also about problems with snoring and with conception of children with my wife (specifically, my libido was lower than whale-dung).
Here’s what my doctor, and some other specialists, revealed:
Low testosterone levels in the blood. Do ask for a blood test if you are not offered one (for diagnosis of conditions such as diabetes, say). I was prescribed a topical testosterone treatment … and now I’m happy to report that my wife and I are the proud parents of a 7-month old daughter.
Sleep apnea: my airway closed repeatedly during the night, leaving me constantly tired (and also not helping the libido). This is very common in overweight men. My doctor got me in touch with a local sleep clinic. The sleep tests are pricey, but were thankfully covered by my health insurance. I was fitted with a pressurized-air machine that helped me breathe at night, and was able to get a lot more rest.
Hypertension. Fortunately, it was fairly mild. I was prescribed medicine to keep my blood pressure in check.
Cholesterol borderline high, but rising. I did not – and have not – received medicine for this. I can manage this by diet in theory, but I do not in practice.
Unfortunately, since those rounds of medical visits, I have not made any progress in managing my weight. I had been treating some of the negative effects of my weight (see above), but couldn’t be bothered to do anything about the underlying cause. It’s my fault entirely.
E.T. Bass – with your permission, can I e-mail you in the near future? Your post here has really got me thinking about seriously knocking this weight off. Perhaps we can help one another in a small way?
This is an interesting take. When I’ve had successful period managing my weight, they would usually begin with no warning – I’d just starting “wanting” to do the right things all of a sudden.
Actually, though, there was always some inspiration. One especially inspiring event was when a friend of mine let me borrow the book Eat To Win by Dr. Robert Haas. Haas’ angle was more how to get athletes nutritionally ready to perform for their sports than it was for how regular Janes and Joes can drop their love handles. But the nutritional advice Haas offered gave me a useful blueprint for how I should tailor my eating.
…
Caveat: Haas’s ideas helped me personally at the time. My results may not have been typical. It so happened that I was able to lose weight using Haas’ general plans for eating. But the original Eat To Win was published in the early 1980s, IIRC, so a lot of research has gone into weight loss since then. Haas’ ideas are in many ways opposed of the ideas of folks like Dr. Atkins (except that both Haas and Atkins preach avoidance of simple carbs). I think a lot of the reason for this opposition is that Haas’ advice was originally meant for training athletes, while Atkins concentrated on regular folks. In any event, only you and your doctor can accurately evaluate the efficacy of any eating plan for yourself.
Correction to my post above – Haas does not hold a PhD. I messed up titling him “Dr.” He has a Masters of Science, and makes his living as a nutritionist.
I am not a nutritionist, but this is very bad advice, IMHO.
You will get sick of eating the same thing all the time and all it’s going to do is drive you to go overboard on foods you should eat in moderation. It’s all about variety. Your body knows from day to day what it needs, let it tell you.
Question – does the 1-pound-a-week figure apply equally to:
a 150-lb woman trying to lose 15 lbs?
a 300-lb man trying to lose 100 lbs?
Perhaps the figure is based on attempts to lose only fat, while losing little to no muscle?
The reason I ask is that my understanding is that the heavier one is at the start of weight loss, the faster fat will come off in the beginning. I realise that after a while, 1-to-2 pounds of fat a week is probably as fast as it will proceed.
I had quite a different experience. I set a date about a month in the future, and am convinced that this action has contributed greatly to my success, and I’ll tell you why: every time we ate out during that month, I’d look at the menu and think “What would I order off of this menu if I had already started this plan?” Plus, I sat down at my 'puter, and worked out plans for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, at least 6 of each. In order to give up the stuff I gave up, I had to decide what I was going to replace it with. That month also gave me time to get used to the idea of changing my lifestyle. It probably has more to do with personality than anything else. Some people prescribe to the “He who hesitates is lost” theory of living, others more th to “Look before you leap” theory.
Three things that reduce my hunger and generally make me feel healthier are
waking up early,
exercising before breakfast
and
hydrating (1 gal. of water a day!)
I can’t always maintain this, but I go through phases where I’ll hold to it for two or three months and then slide for a few weeks. I try to drink a fresh fruit smoothie with a raw egg for breakfast instead of pre-packaged cereal/carbs/etc., which helps keep me feeling fit.
My “breakfast of champions” is a banana, a seedless orange, a handful each of frozen strawberries and blueberries, one raw egg, and about a cup of carrot juice, orange juice, or flavored rice milk. Blend until smooth, decant and drink. Feel free to double or treble the quantity. I drink mine at 6:30 or 7:00 every day and it holds me until noon as long as I keep my stomach full of water in the interim.
I agree with the poster above who said your outlook on food needs to change–it’s not a “reward.” Food is fuel that happens to taste REALLY good.
I know you have a specific amount of time to do it in mind, but if you don’t, I have the following suggestions based on my experiences. I have no degree, no formal training, just what worked for me. Your mileage may vary.
Take it slow to begin.
I started out just walking(3 times a week), and I began to cut the worse things out of my diet(Soda, Chips, candy, Cookies). I could have them on occasion, but not daily. Slowely I began to do more, like some frying things or stop eating fried things, grilling them instead(a george forman is amazing for his).
Slowly, I worked up on both distance walked and intensity, running a little bit of the route and then walking the rest(at this point, I run the entire thing, which is much longer then it began). I began weight training. Start off low in reps and weight and increase to where your muscles are being challenged and work up. I’d suggest a weekly or bi-monthly interval for stepping up, depending on when you feel comfortable with what you are doing now. This goes for the aerobic exercising as well.
2. Eat better
You don’t have to go to a celery diet. Start off with elimiating the worst cuprits. Soda, Candy, Cookies, Chips, things that do nothing for you and just add calories and pounds. You can still have them occasionally but in small portions. Say, drink a coke once a week instead of once a day. Drink a lot of water. It doesn’t all have to be water(just limit the amount of the other stuff) but drink plenty, particulary while exercising.
Cut out the fried foods. You can eat chicken, but grilling is much better then frying.
Eat more fruits(perhaps substituting these for chips and cookies) and veggies. You don’t have to cut out meat(I didn’t) but perhaps instead of eating mashed potatos with steak, eat some mixed veggies instead. You can use dressing if you wish, but just use enough to give them some flavor. Spices are your friend and can be used to improve any dish to improve the taste while not affecting the nutritional content negativly.
In keeping with the above, if you don’t prepare meals, try to start doing so. This gives you an a much larger amount of control over the nutritional content. Find a reciepe you like, prepare beforehand(all the ingrediants you need, etc), and follow it. On subsqeunt times out, you can experiment with deviating from the recipe to see how to improve it.
Things to consider
In my opinion, checking the scale once a day gives you false readings becausr your weight flucates due to water weight and such. My personal system is to pick one day a week and weigh myself that day. After I get up, before I take a shower or eat breakfast. So far, it gives a nice indicator.
Weight training builds muscles, which weigh more then fat. As such, do not be discouraged if you appear to have gained a small amount of weight or have ceased to lose.
As you go, you will plateau(that is, you will reach a point where your weight does not appear to drop despite downward progress beforehand). You may want to step up your exercise, but assuming a steady adherence to the exercise(assuming regular increases in intensity and/or distance) and the healthy(or quasi healthy eating), sometimes it is just a manner of waiting a couple of weeks till it begins dropping again.
I don’t usually post to these threads but what the heck, I’m home sick with a cold, and the cold sinus medication is making me feel like sharing. (Except for my cold medication, you’ll get those when you pry them from my cold dead fingers.)
In October 2002, I had reached 250 pounds, was wearing size 40 jeans and was about to make the move to size 42. I had been pretty thin until my early to mid 20s, but as I got a bit older, my metabolism slowed down, I got less and less exercise, my diet got worse, etc. An example of this was a my fast food meals, which were a double quarter pound burger meal, with a smaller burger as an appetizer
I decided to start exercising, I did about 25 minutes on the elliptical machine, and fell absolutely thrashed. I burned about 350 calories. I started to look on the nutrition panels and saw that if I ate the bag of chips like I normally would, that was over 1000 calories. That caused me to change my diet. I cut out fast food, pasta, and junk food.
I started to eat lean meats, such as chicken, turkey, lean beef, etc. For snacks, I would eat baby carrots, clementines, and oranges. I ate salad several times a week, and usually had vergetables as well.
I go to the gym 5 days a week. I do mostly cardio, with some weight training to keep my metabolism up. Another thing that I made a point of doing is not paying close attention to the scale. i would only weigh myself once a month. Your weight can fluctuate. I weighed myself on the scales before and after I had consumed a good amount of water and it caused the weight gain of almost a pound.
I am now down to 184 pounds. I wear size 32 jeans. I have gone from wearing XL shirts, with some that were XXL to wearing medium size shirts. I feel much better. I can take the stairs without getting winded. I used to take them to my apartment on the 11th floor in my old building. I have a lot more enegy in general for things, and I don’t get very many food cravings for junk food anymore.
If I am in a situation where I know I am going to eat rather badly for dinner, then I have a light breakfast and lunch, and work out a bit harder at the gym. Interestingly, the smell of fast food now makes me feel slighly nauseous, which is a plus.
It is actually better to get into the habit of eating the same thing every day. Training yourself to eat at certain times and certain amounts. It prepares you for learning to eat for nutrition rather than pleasure. (the thing that possibly contributed to the weight problem in the first place)
One should eat for pleasure only once or twice a week, IMO.
And in no way is eating the same thing every day bad for you. (as long as said food is healthy and you have a balanced daily diet)
Oh, bordelond, I am not sure about that. I think it does not apply to intial weight loss, but the first month of weight loss is going to be mostly water weight anyhow.
The reasoning behind the suggestion of losing weight slow is to keep your body from panicing (which will happen at any weight) and burning muscle, bone, etc.
Just don’t over do it and burn yourself out. It is easier to lose 1lb a week (almost unnoticable to eat 500 calories a day less), but it could be difficult to double that.
What worked for me was never cheating on the diet. Never. After a few weeks, it was an accomplishment to have done something for that many days in a row, and every day I kept it up was even more of one.
Also, never buy anything you would feel bad eating on the diet. No special treat, nothing. I still haven’t bought any cookies or pie or cake in the three years since I started watching my weight. (This is much easier to do if you’re living alone though.) My basic rule: it’s much easier to defeat temptation when it’s not in the house. And if you give in to temptation, you will feel bad and be discouraged, and say screw it for today, and now you’re not following the diet anymore.
Government required warning: Poster is not a real Doctor but a cartoon character. Nothing Poster says should be construed as valid medical advice or even as valid.
I’m 35 and I’ve lost about 8 lbs in the last month. Here’s what I do. I avoid alcohol, sugar, and simple starches. No white bread, no potatoes, no candies. I work out at the gym pretty much every day. 2-3 times a week with free weights, and the other days on the eliptical treadmill for about 45 minutes. After the treadmill I do situps, leg lifts and back extensions (the club has those machines where you use your own body weight for this stuff) I also eat about 6 small meals a day. During work I eat Atkins bars (I’m not really on the Atkins diet though). Mainly I eat vegetables, lean meat (lots of chicken and fish) and some cheese.
I recommend the Atkins (or another low-carb) diet, and this is why:
Regardless of what some people think, there’s PLENTY of scientific evidence to back it up. Check out the website and the book (Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution). Both have a lot of cites. (I was VERY skeptical about this approach until I researched it. I always thought that low-fat, high-carb was the way to go. I was wrong.)
You lose weight quickly and safely.
Hunger is not a problem on this diet. As Dr. Atkins says (said), if you’re hungry, eat. I don’t think most people have the willpower to be hungry all the time on a long-term basis, nor do I think we should have to.
It’s very healthy. Before you start this diet, go to the doctor and have all your vitals taken (blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, etc.). Then, six weeks after you start, go again. My blood pressure went from 120/70 (normal) to 100/60 (still normal, but lower). My husband’s was borderline high, and he dropped to normal.
It has four phases to help you adjust to “normal” life again. Only the first two weeks (or longer, if you want to lose weight more quickly) are very restrictive, and even then, you get used to it.
Some of the foods that you think of as no-nos are actually good for you. Saturated fats, for instance, aren’t bad for you unless they’re combined with too many carbohydrates. In fact, they’re good for you. (Not all fats are good for you. Trans fatty acids, like margarine and shortening, are bad news.)
After the first few days to the first week, in which you feel like crap, you will start to feel better than you have in a long time. Even if I didn’t have any weight to lose, knowing what I know now, I would go on this diet just for the way it makes me feel.
This diet breaks the crazy blood sugar cycle and returns your appetite to normal.
While you are waiting to get in, go visit the Federal Trade Commission and read up on their announcements this week to get tough with all those weight loss claims.
"Consumers can safely lose more than three pounds per week for a period of more than four weeks.
"Reality Check
“Losing more than three pounds per week over multiple weeks can result in gallstones and other health complications, so the safety claim is false. If the claim also is that NO dieting is required, the claim is false for that reason too.”
)