Today was weigh-in and I didn’t think I was losing anything but I ended up down 5 lbs. I’m at 197.2 with clothes on, my lowest weight in 20 years and the first time I have been under 200 in an outrageously long time. Granted, I was dehydrated after a run this afternoon but I’ve never been that light after runs in the past. I may need to get a digital home scale so I can accurately track my own weight. Do people use digital scales at home?
My original goal was to lose 20 lbs, then became 50 lbs, and now that that is in sight, I’m wondering if I should set a lower goal. Once I get to my current goal I may try to spend some time maintaining that and just get comfortable with my the changes.
Must maintain momentum and focus…
This week, I made this Hoppin John recipe. It seems to be a fairly healthy recipe - basically just rice, beans, and veggies. I made mine without the ham bone. It’s cheap to make, too. I have eatten it for 4 days straight and I still have most of it left.
Week: 18
Current weight: 160
Total lost: 30
Target weight: Maybe 145? Whatever feels and looks right.
I’m totally satisfied with my overall progress. I’m still exceeding my target rate loss of 1.5 pounds per week. I still spend less on food than I did a year ago. I’ve found tasty low-cal recipes for comfort foods that don’t make objectionable substitutions. I’ve also eaten at restaurants a couple times, and I’ve either chosen menu items wisely or kept myself from overeating and packed up leftovers.
I’ll do my best to reinforce these thought processes and behaviors, because I know doing so will make maintaining my loss easier.
Good for all y’alls! I’ve been in the yard digging every day in the hopes of breaking this stupid plateau. I have to keep reminding myself, too, that I’m still going in the right direction overall - sooner or later if I keep doing the right things, I’ll break on through!
So I finally hit my first big goal. 50 pounds melted away. Down to 275(274 actually) my BMI has slipped under the morbidly obese category to the severely obese category. Arbitrary as hell but every little line crossed is cool. About 6 months
for it so my progress is right on schedule. I expect things to get a bit slower soon,but I should be moving pretty good downward for now.
Second Yay. I finally got a job. the pay I wanted, seems like a nice place to work, and most importantly it is my first contract in 5 years that is open ended with no scheduled end. Stability sound realllllllly good to me about now. Three weeks till health insurance, and hopefully I can get a clean bill and the major form of stress in my life will be bye bye too.
The Ok part. It is a little disappointing there is very little physical change. Nobody has noticed, and my clothes don’t fit any different(I do wear big loose fat guy clothes, but still). One belt notch is all for 50 pounds. Although that does partly make me feel better about one thing. I don’t feel quite so bad about how I let myself go to quite that extreme. I just carry extra weight well I guess.
and the sucky sucky part. I gave myself two conditions. Lose 50 pounds and get a job, and it’s bye bye smokes. I didn’t want to begin the quitting smoking part when I started the weight loss. I know myself and the nicotine will be 50 times harder for me. So I didn’t want to have the 2 goals associated so strongly in my mind. Realistically, there is a good chance the no-smoke will fail once or twice, and I didn’t want the eating part to seem like it would be all part of the same failure. So I gave myself the 50 pound headstart so I would have a positive outlook when I step in to battle the real monster. Plus not having a job depression does make it impossible for me to quit I do know that about myself.
But the conditions are met, and my mindset is very positive, except for the dread of the quitting process, so I bought the gum, and I’m peering over the edge of the cliff about to jump in when I feel strong.
I’ve thought about losing weight (it will help a bit with my joints and even though I’m ashamed to admit it I feel I look better). However my fear is gaining it all back plus more. If I just gained back the weight I originally lost, that’d be ok (lose 10, gain 10 back). But I feel like if I lose 10 pounds, I gain 13 and end up worse than before.
So I am seriously debating if I should even try for that reason. I feel I know enough to lose weight, but if I am just going to end up even heavier in 2-3 years it isn’t worth it.
Then don’t gain it back. Make a commitment to make some life changes about your eating and exercise habits and make something positive in your life. We’ll still be here to help.
I’m realizing that a big part of maintenance is keeping track of your weight; I think we should be able to ease off on keeping track of everything we eat; just weigh weekly and if the weight stays the same, I’d know that we aren’t eating too much. Jim and I are trying to lose weight slowly, by making a few adjustments, not turning our lives upside down, going on a drastic diet, or denying ourselves food that we love. I’ve done the crash diet and gain it all back about three times already, and I know where you’re coming from, Wesley.
I GOT MY WII!!!
I got my (final) Aflac check and it was a lot more than I was expecting so I went out and got my Wii. Finally. I got the Fit Plus and Sports Resort, in addition to a few regular games.
Now that my boyfriend has finally admitted that he really is badly overweight, I have a workout and diet partner.
My arms aren’t happy with me but so far my elbows just feel like they’ve been exercised, not like the tennis elbow is acting up. My knees aren’t too happy either (damn, that crackling has gotten bad).
So, I had fallen off the wagon over the last few weeks but I’m back on and I have my Wii and a new partner. I can also stop using my crappy scale now that I have the balance board.
So, as of today:
Wii Weight - 213.5 (higher than I’d like but lower than my other scale said)
Wii Age - 39 (I’m 30)
Wii BMI (39.7 (holy shit!)
Well, another week at plateau (actually gained 1.2 pounds). I busted my ass last week, getting about 600 calories of exercise every day, eating no more than 2000 calories of food. It is so incredibly disheartening to work this hard, do everything right, and have no results to show for it month after month.
Sometimes things just slow down for no effing reason. And 1.2 pounds could easily be just a daily fluke, water weight, wind blowing the wrong direction etc. I wonder if the plateau is perhaps because you’re putting on more muscle mass? If so it should be self-correcting.
Wanted to whine a bit… I need to exercise, and I can’t, dammit! My knees have been getting progressively more painful, to the point where I can’t walk more than a block without the left one starting to hurt. I have to haul myself out of my chair using my arms. Saturday I walked a couple of blocks and started to get nervous because I hadn’t brought a cane with me (I now keep one in the car). Yesterday at the grocery store, as I was walking around with the cart every now and then I’d maybe step funny, something inside the knee would go bumpity-bump, and then PAIN.
So, walking is out. The elliptical is out. Biking has been out for 20 years.
Swimming is (possibly) OK though most kicks would aggravate the knees. And of course this would involve driving 5 miles, paying money, going to a grody locker room to change, swimming, going back to that same grody locker room and trying to dry off enough so my clothes won’t stick unbearably as I try to force them on, and driving back home. All in all, minimum of 90 minutes lost for 20-30 minutes of exercise.
I’m really hoping the doc goes to the next step intervention-wise tomorrow, even if it does involve a needle that’s >---------------THIS---------------< long.
Once a week for three weeks.
:eek:.
Then maybe I can do more to get some of the tonnage off. Simply reducing intake isn’t likely to do enough.
Okay, that makes me feel a bit better - I am able to exercise at least. It might be due to muscle mass - my legs are like iron from all the walking and biking and digging. We went to the local Comic Con last Saturday and I spent about nine hours on my feet, and was only a little sore at the end of the day. I’m going to go try on summer clothes today - hopefully that won’t bum me out even more.
Apologies if you’ve explained this before, but it seems to me you’re focusing your effort on burning off weight through exercise. Is your goal fitness or weight loss?
I ask because I have been focusing on diet and haven’t experienced much frustration. I’m female, 32, 5’5", 160 lbs, and my caloric intake is currently at 1300ish. I do exercise, but as part of a daily routine I’ve had for 5+ years. Looking at your caloric intake, I’m just wondering if you could decrease that and see better results.
My goal is weight loss - I just exercise more so I can have more calories. I aim for 1500 calories a day if I’m not exercising heavily. At my age, weight, and height, I should be losing a half pound a week on this calorie level, and I’m simply not losing any at all and haven’t since February.
Last night I did a bit of pants shopping as my size 40s were getting ridiculously huge and the 38s have gotten a bit too baggy. I’m sitting here at work wearing the brand new size 36s, and you know what? They’re a bit too tight. Ack. They’re fine if I sit up straight, but if I slouch a little bit, I’m getting an uncomfortable midsection hug. I believe I have jumped the gun a bit too early on these pants, but I’m happy they almost fit.
Cat Whisperer, I’m a 37 year old guy at 6’ and 219.8 (just made it under the 220s, woohoo! But I digress). My caloric intake is 1500 calories and that’s on days I work out too.
Here’s my menu for today. It’s not perfect, but it’s really filling.
Breakfast: 300 calories
2 slices of toast=90 calories (Sara Lee makes it and it’s really good).
Peanut butter=120 calories
Jelly=40 calories
A little bit of butter=50 calories
Midmorning snack: 100 calories
Sometimes a banana, sometimes a package of 3 cupcakes (Aldi’s Fit and Active=yum!)
Lunch: 400 calories
Today I’m having 2 large baked chicken breasts (12 ounces): 360 calories
A cup of cantaloupe: 53 calories
Afternoon snack: 100 calories
Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Smart Pop small bag: 100 calories
Dinner: 400 calories
I’m feeling lazy tonight, so it might just be Subway and a 6" sub can be had for 350calories
Add a cup of steamed broccoli: 50 calories
Dessert: 200 calories
ZOMG this is the best ever, Edy’s Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Yogurt Blends. I feel like they’re lying about the calories it’s that good. Have a cup of the Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl and it’s 200 calories
The one thing “missing” is drink. A friend who does Weight Watchers said “don’t ever drink your calories”. So, I dropped soda and juices and have zero calorie flavored water. I swear by the stuff sold at Kmart and have actually gotten a bunch of my friends hooked on it.
Do you take measurements or are your clothes looser? This may tell you something the scale can’t. If everything seems to feel the same, maybe changing your exercise routine and/or diet around a little will help. I’ve heard that some people try to vary their calories per day so instead of eating 1500 calories per day they may eat 1400 one day and 1600 another.
stpauler, this sounds counterintuitive and I’m certainly no fitness expert but you may want to eat more. Everything I’ve read says guys shouldn’t eat less than 1500 calories a day. According to this basal metabolic rate calculator, you would burn 2099.4 calories a day even if you never got out of bed. Just my two cents but congrats on the progress so far.
Don’t get too hung up on the plateaus - it has taken me almost a year to seriously break 88kg (194lb) - the last month has been great, though and I am now pushing 85 kilos. And I am working out daily (pretty hardcore, too, according to one of my gym class instructors). But I had stopped worrying about it. My body was changing, even if my weight wasn’t, and I was still maintaining the eating/exercise habits I had established when I was losing weight. Obviously, now it is spring, my body has decided to shed weight again, so things are looking good for summer. My big goal is a standard distance Tri in September (target, under three hours on a lovely flat course), and I would be super-chuffed if I was under 80kg (176) by then (I could justify a new wetsuit at that point, as the old one will be too big - another win). I just have to resist the temptation to sign up for a marathon before the end of the year.
Si (who had dropped out of these threads due to very little to report over a long time)
