I got an overnight job that ate up around ten hours out of my day and made me so stressed that I never wanted to eat and when I did it sometimes didn’t stay down. Success! I lost 45 pounds in three months. So I guess I’d say the key to weight loss is total physical collapse, poor sleeping habits, and malnutrition. By the time the job was over, I was a skeleton (since then I’ve put on fifteen more pounds, so am squarely in the normal range), which I guess some people think is hot.
I’ve kept it off by walking an hour a day. I don’t eat much (actually, I never did, but I never exercised/left the house either so whatever I ate stayed on), but I don’t believe in diets. Exercise is totally the way to go. I believe that obsessing over food is a cause of obesity, and diets are just a structured food obsession. Get out of the damn house and get moving.
Well, I put on the freshman fifteen and then some (I’m 5’1" and went from 125ish to, at one point, 150). I’m down to 135 now. My goal is to fit into my jeans from /before/ I started college, but DC summers are so damnably gross that it’s hard to go outside and run.
FilmGeek’s right about no sugared soda. As one of my coworkers once told me, high-fructose corn syrup is the worst thing you can put in your body. Flavored water is the best thing ever. Eventually, you won’t miss regular soda.
Meals-in-a-can worked great for me, for the few weeks that I did it. I had a meal-in-a-can or Balance bar for breakfast, often with an apple or pear. Lunch was the same thing, only with something along the lines of a salad or rice and veg (my favorite recipe: 1c rice, 8oz tomato sauce, whatever frozen veggies looked good, a tablespoon of curry powder and a couple smidges of cumin). I usually carry my lunch to work now, and carried a protein bar when I had classes. I still keep one in my purse most of the time.
I’m a stress eater who has trouble managing stress and takes on too much, which is why mine was the freshman /twenty-five/. I had to train myself to ask, “Why am I eating this?” Now I chew gum. I chew gum like some people smoke cigarettes.
Unfortunately, diet alone has done all it’s gonna do for me, but I can’t bring myself to go out in 90+ (100+ with heat index), muggy weather to run or walk. And I’m backsliding lately. :smack: Oh well, when I start at my new school next month, I get a free gym membership…
Bah!! I cut something out and forgot to put it back in!
Give it 3 weeks and you won’t miss fat at all. In fact, if you’re anything like me, fast “food” will quite likely make you vomit when you finally cave. I’ve found that it’s a pretty good deterrent from eating anything /too/ unhealthy.
A great way to walk in AC is to go to a nearby mall; if you can resist the temptation to shop and you don’t mind going slower than usual it’s a blast. Our local mall is two-story, so I go end to end walking then up the stairs and repeat. And I see plenty of other people doing the same thing! My mall also has early-open for mall-walkers if you have the time.
I was a bit shocked last night to hear someone on a ‘news’ show that followed brides trying to lose weight advocate the use of laxatives for quick weight loss. It was under ‘supervision’ and w/ the caveat that it shouldn’t be done on one’s own, but still - people listen and will use the easy and dangerous way. They’ll wind up dehydrated or worse, and I’ve read about what damage laxatives can do to your regularity long-term…ew.
If calories in > calories expended, weight increases.
If calories in < calories expended, weight decreases.
It simply has to. Physically, that’s the way it works. And it works. I’ve been counting/estimating my calories and eating about 500 or so less than I need per day. I’m down about 15-20 pounds from where I started at the beginning of June.
I run, like I’m being chased by demons, every day. The net calorie burn is not terribly high, but it’s enough and it probably keeps my metabolism higher the rest of the day too.
Nothing special with diet, save for asking myself if I really need a 2nd helping, desert, apetizer, etc. Usually no, but sometimes yes.
I’m a fan of making tiny changes that make a big difference. It’s far less painful and it doesn’t feel like a diet, so I stick with it.
For example, I recently started working on-site as a contractor at a pharmaceutical company. It’s got a huge parking lot, so I park as far away from the building as I can. That way I have to walk all the way in. I usually leave and go to the park during lunch hour, just to get away, so I have to walk to and from my car at least 4 times a day. That adds up to about a mile, sometimes more (it depends on whether I’m on time or not), which is a mile more per day than I was walking earlier. And if it’s nice, I’ll walk in the park for a half hour or so, adding even more mileage. Even though I used to exercise three to five times a week, and thought that should be enough, it turns out adding that that extra mile or so per day (depending on whether I walk in the park) to my regular schedule regardless of whether I work out has made a HUGE difference. As a result, I’ve lost about an inch around my waist in the past month and a half (I have a 31-inch waist now).
I also take a big lunch of something like a turkey sandwich, spinach salad, banana and some carrots or dried fruit and nuts and spread it out all day. That way I’m never hungry and not as easily tempted to eat the junk food people normally bring into the office. I’m very careful to bring my lunch every day. We have a cafeteria downstairs, and though they do have a salad bar, it’d be too easy for me to go down and get a slice of pizza.
The beauty of all this is that I don’t feel it. I mean, I can tell a noticeable difference in my size, but I don’t feel like I’m dieting, I don’t have to go through an induction period or subsist on rabbit food, and I don’t have to run another marathon (they take forever to train for anyway). I just make a few little changes and, ever so slowly, they start to really pay off.
Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend it either. But it was the only way I lost the extra 20 lbs. I was hauling around. After 2 years, I still keep my stomach trained to be satisfied with less food. If I happen to eat more than usual, it’s very painful. Then I have to re-train it, because the stomach gets stretched and requires more food.
I nibble on fruit and veggies throuout the day, although I’m not hungry. Otherwise I’d only poop once a month.
I lost about thirty five pounds on Atkins, and most of that was over a single summer. I’ve stayed at roughly 145 pounds for about three years now, and have liberalized my diet to the extent that I don’t really say that I am on it anymore, though it still influences many of my food choices.
One thing I have kept pretty strict on: avoid sugar! I used to drink so much soda, it was ridiculous. I got used to diet soda. It wouldn’t surprise me if I had gotten much the same results by simply avoiding sugar.
I guess I mean, avoid unnecessary sugar. I don’t sweat the sweet-n-sour pork, I just don’t binge on Dr. Pepper and milkshakes anymore. (And by the way, may I say that of the diet drinks, Diet Dr Pepper is IMO the most regular tasting).
And as I always say when someone asks me about doing Atkins:
Take the recommendation to use fiber supplements seriously. You’ll be sorry if you don’t!
Budget now for a new wardrobe, especially work clothes. I had lots of nice gig clothes, and it was something of a financial burden to replace them all.
I also did Atkins, lost about 55 lbs. I have gained a little back (working on it again now but still have maintained most of my loss now for 2 1/2 years. I am horrible about exercise (BORING!!!) but do get out and work my dogs (which involves lots of walking) several times a week. During my lapses, during which I usually don’t indulge that much, I feel awful. Takes about 2 days to get back to my “low carb self” and the difference is extreme- much more energy, feel better all around. I think Atkins is good for someone who needs clear rules (i.e moderation is highly subjective and it makes it much easier to get back on track when you lapse. Plus, to be honest- I like to eat, I’m a very short (5’1) female and “normal” serving sizes are too much for me to lose weight with. I cannot eat “in moderation” and lose weight. Whether its because I do eat less because there is more fat/no sugar involved or whether what Atkins says is true- that this way of eating does work in a way that burns fat more efficiently- I don’t care. I can eat satisfying portions and never go hungry (good food too, like my home-raised lamb I’m marinating right now :).
but still have maintained most of my loss now for 2 1/2 years. I am horrible about exercise (BORING!!!) but do get out and work my dogs (which involves lots of walking) several times a week. During my lapses, during which I usually don’t indulge that much, I feel awful. Takes about 2 days to get back to my “low carb self” and the difference is extreme- much more energy, feel better all around. I think Atkins is good for someone who needs clear rules (i.e moderation is highly subjective 
and it makes it much easier to get back on track when you lapse. Plus, to be honest- I like to eat, I’m a very short (5’1) female and “normal” serving sizes are too much for me to lose weight with. I cannot eat “in moderation” and lose weight. Whether its because I do eat less because there is more fat/no sugar involved or whether what Atkins says is true- that this way of eating does work in a way that burns fat more efficiently- I don’t care. I can eat satisfying portions and never go hungry (good food too, like my home-raised lamb I’m marinating right now :).