In January I decided I needed to make changes so from that point on I made it my goal to lose weight. I cut out most fried foods and sweets and try to keep my calories between 1500-2000 a day. I also made a point to include either vegetables or fruits with every meal. In addition, I had been exercising daily for a few years now but started to exercise more: 40 minutes a day during the week and between 1 and 2 hours on the weekends.
So far it has worked. I miss many foods (see my recent thread about Pizza) and tend to cycle through similar meals over and over but after a few months I stopped feeling hungry all the time and my stomach has shrunk to the point where the meals I currently eat make me feel full.
If you are thinking of losing weight you can do it! And it pays off. I have so much more energy now and it is much easier to exercise than it was when I started. I am still very over weight (I would like to lose another 100 pounds) and I hope I never back slide (it feels impossible right now but I know how easy it is) but so far so good.
Sorry if this bragging but I am just pleased with myself (a rare occurrence! :)).
First, congratulations. What was your starting weight if you don’t mind sharing? About how many grams of protein do you eat daily?
Second, how did you handle the discipline involved? I have a middling BMI but I’d like to lose some more weight. Yet, I find that the recurring thought “Just one more, this time, how much difference can it make, really? And it would be so tasty.” ends up preventing me from losing weight.
If you found exercise unpleasant at first, how did you end up consistently doing it and staying with it?
First, congratulations. What was your starting weight if you don’t mind sharing? About how many grams of protein do you eat daily?
Second, how did you handle the discipline involved? I have a middling BMI but I’d like to lose some more weight. Yet, I find that the recurring thought “Just one more, this time, how much difference can it make, really? And it would be so tasty.” ends up preventing me from losing weight.
If you found exercise unpleasant at first, how did you end up consistently doing it and staying with it?
180 pounds is more than my weight, and I’m an overweight woman in her 40s - that’s a lot of extra weight to be carrying around! I hope you can keep on losing it and then keep it off, but also, are you working with a doctor or dietician at all? Most of the ones I’ve known were pretty horrid re. diet, sadly, but the good ones are great.
Thanks everybody! I appreciate the kind words and support.
To answer some questions:
I started at way over 300 pounds. I have way more to go to be what I want to be at. What helped me get started was I always liked the taste of many healthy foods. I like all kinds of different vegetables and fruits; I just wasn’t eating enough of them. Cutting bread and carbs and adding more vegetables really helped.
The vast majority of the exercise I do is brisk walking. If weather permits I walk outside. What I also do is on my cable’s On Demand they have exercise routines that are supposed to simulate waking X miles. I do those. i started at the one mile and now do the three miles. I used to watch them with the sound off and listen to podcasts or music but now I have done them so much I don’t even need them to play so I often will catch up on TV shows while I do it.
I had been doing this exercise for several years now. When I was at my top weight I would usually have to stop after 20 minutes. As I lost weight, it got easier so I could go longer.
Something else that helped, especially early on, is I have read that the fats in nuts are especially filling and I really like almonds (roasted without salt…I tried raw almonds and found they gave me a stomach ache) so I would always have a bag in the house. If I got voraciously hungry I would eat a handful. Now it’s possible it is just a placebo but it works for me.
I also learned that if I really really want something “bad” it is better to have a little and scratch the itch then just pine for it. I just have to be careful not to over do it.
ETA: While I do see my doctor (it was some troubling blood tests that gave me the fear that inspired these changes in the first place), this is all really just me on my own.
Congrats! And good on you for making changes that you’ll really appreciate down the road. As they say, the ailments of old age are the price we pay for not taking care of ourselves in middle age.
(And ride this wave of accomplishment for as long as you can - you’re in a very malleable state and can settle down wherever you want…)
Yay for Quimby!
I, too, have lost weight in the last few months. I quit smoking in 2008 at a normal weight, and since then have gained a lot, especially the last two years. When I went to the doctor in June, I had shortness of breath, high blood pressure, possible sleep apnea, and an A1C of 6.4, with diabetes being 6.5. Since then, I have lost 29 pounds, with a goal of about 40 more. I, too, cut out most of the carbs and sugar, mostly eat meat and vegetables now, and exercise. I would have said before that I’d be the last person to love exercising and do it willingly, but now I love it and it helps with my handling of stress as well as fitness. I can’t even wait to go to the doctor this month and let her see what I’ve done and get my tests again.
Anyway, if you’re on myfitnesspal, pm me for my username there- there’s a few dopers there with me and we give each other encouragement.
