July 2010 Weight Loss Thread

Last week: 195.88
Today: 195.12

Not a great week, sort of leveled off for a bit. And with the holiday, I doubt this coming week will be very productive either. However, I have lost 0.96 pounds per week since I started this in late January, and one of the most important things I have learned so far is that it’s not the weekly losses that are important, it’s the loss over the long term. In the past, a holiday weekend like this might have broken my weight loss permanently, but now I am confident that I can get through it and get back to loosing weight again.

The last week has gone great for me!

I started the Dukan diet - one of those low-carb gimmicks - and it’s gone really well!

My original goals (as of 6-25):

Current weight: 160

Goal #1: 150 by July 25th

Goal #2: 140 by September 15

Goal #3: 135 by October 31

My plan:

Dukan diet, Tabata interval training, lifting weights.
What I’ve achieved:

Current weight (as of 7-2): 153.6

Yup… really. I started Monday at 158.4, and I also started the Dukan diet that day. It’s been great. The only time I’ve been hungry was yesterday, when due to work craziness I ended up taking my lunch three hours late. And then I skipped dinner, since “dinnertime” was only an hour an a half after that.

I had picked the July 25th goal because I’m going on a boating trip… I think I’m going to revise to 145 for that trip.

I have not been keeping up with my Tabata or my weight training over the last week - I’ve been working 11:45-9:45, so I get home after my husband and roommate do their weight training. I’m moving to 6:30-3:00 next week, though, which should give me a lot more usable time during the day to keep up with working out. I’m also pretty tired of this diet after only five days - I get to go into phase two tomorrow, although I’m quite worried about how I’m going to fare over the weekend - alcohol is on the “no” list for this diet, but I’ve got a good friend’s wedding, and wedding after-party to attend, and I’m planning on having a few drinks. I figure Saturday will be an “off” day, but I’ll get back on the boat Sunday.

That’s an interesting diet, sehmket. It will be interesting to see if you can keep it up, and if you can keep the weight off. Not to discourage you, but gimmicky diets have almost universally been found to be failures.

My body’s still rebelling. I’ve been boucing up and down the same 3-5 pounds over the last month. I haven’t really cared much, though-- I step on the scale every Wednesday now and look at the numbers and think, “Oh, you’re still being silly, eh?” and carry on with life.

I’ve been focusing on ridding myself of the bad habit of pushing my late-night snack calories to the next day’s intake. I have no intention of not snacking, I just need to snack smarter. Otherwise, my habits have been excellent.

The BF and I have a date night planned, with Japanese fried chicken, rice balls, and a cream puff for dessert on the menu. To adjust for that calorie bomb, I will probably have a decent breakfast but just fruit for lunch.

Yeah, I know that. I’m encouraged by the fact that, 1) I was at a stable weight before I started the diet- I haven’t been yo-yoing. I suspect that if I loose weight, and don’t just start eating the volumes I was before, I’ll be at a stable weight again - hopefully the stable weight I was BEFORE I started grad school. I just need (ok, want) a gimmick to get me started.

and… 2) this diet tapers into a more normal diet - the last phase is unlimited low-fat protein, unlimited veggies, one fruit per day, two slices of whole-grain bread per day (or equivalent in pancakes, waffles, muffins, etc.), one serving of carb-bomb per week (Pasta, rice, or potatoes), and one or two celebration meals per weeks. That actually is a fairly obtainable diet.

However, I have had some problems - this all-protein thing has been hell on my digestion, even with my two tablespoons of oat bran per day. This week, I’m supposed to be starting alternating protein-and-veg days with pure-protein days, but I think I’m going to be adding more veg than that. I need more fiber!

Also, weekends, at least the way I live my life, are very difficult on this diet - especially fourth-of-July (that also has a wedding) with no drinking! (no drinking did not happen, not even a little). However, I did manage to avoid bread, pizza, chips, and pasta salad, which normally I wouldn’t. I thought about the empty calories I saved in those alone - over the course of the weekend, it was probably a good 2,000.

I think the most important thing from the past week has been really, really paying attention to how hungry I am and not overeating. Any diet that can get someone to do that has some value, right?

That makes sense.

I read something on Three Fat Chicks that made a lot of sense to me; instead of getting bummed out by my weight on the scale plateauing for months at a time, I can set behaviour-specific goals instead of weight goals. For example, I can make one of my goals to exercise every day - I am actually being very successful with that. Or another goal could be to try to fit more fruits and vegetables in my diet (and less chips and chocolate).

Can I play?

Have always wanted to join the thread, but just as getting started was always the next day/week/month away, so was posting here. Mrs. Devil and I actually began way back in January (I think we made the right choice between starting to post and starting to shape up), but we’re hitting a bit of the seventh-month doldrums. Not completely off track, but faltering a bit for various reasons. Oh, I should apologize ahead of time if this runs too long.

Backing up a bit …

Things went awry for us several years ago for two main reasons. First, we quit smoking (yay us!). Though it’s been about a year and a half now and we’re mostly past the cessation-related munchies and associated bad eating habits (how do you know you’re done with dinner if you’re not lighting up? Besides, there’s more food!), it took us FOUR YEARS (grrr!) to finally make it from “trying to quit” to “quit.”

Second, we moved out of the city about five or six years ago. That meant—just as we were approaching our late thirties—we went from daily baseline movement to almost nothing. I went from walking (at a quick, I’m late! I’m Late! pace) about four miles a day with a heavily-laden backpack to nothing. We work from home, so there isn’t even the walk from the parking lot to the office.

There are other factors, but those are the two main ones. I’d always been a bit roly-poly and completely unathletic, and this was disastrous. Over the past seven years I put on about 70–80 pounds. I know that everything is relative, but that was a drastic change for us.

Enter January …
So the Dudeling was several months old (Mrs. Devil gets MAJOR props for doing all this as a new mom) and we figured that if we can manage to quit smoking and get our act together enough to keep him alive, there was nothing we couldn’t do. We’d tried many times before so, like quitting smoking, were experts at what not to do. I think the key difference in our approach this time ‘round was in motivation and commitment. I’m sure the Dudeling had something to do with it.

Anyway, we approached it with three things in mind: diet, cardio, and heavy objects. We started each about a month after each other so as not to get overwhelmed. We also moved up in intensity very slowly (er, the ‘right’ amount) rather than getting gung ho and going all out.

Diet was first. Actually, this was surprisingly the easiest. It took several months to relearn portion control and trust that one bowl of pasta would satisfy or that we could split a chicken breast and still feel full. No real dieting per se, we just cut way back on pizza and other takeout and took advantage of our love of cooking to make great dinners that were low calorie but in no way diet food. Something else that helped is that we focused on dropping calories and eating wisely but not to an absurd level. Three to five hundred calories below (average) maintenance level isn’t all that hard to find.

Cardio was next. Not much to say about that except we assembled Netflix, Hulu, cable, and a DVD player in front of the treadmill so that it never got crushingly boring. We’ve been on it an hour a day every other day. Mostly. I took a month off in May for surgery and we’ve been on it in fits and starts as work heated up, but it’s still mostly there. To supplement it we’ve started playing with a hula-hoop. If that keeps up we’ll probably get a weighted one if the reviews pan out.

Lastly, there’s moving heavy objects around. In the sticks and without other reason to leave the house, joining a gym was not an agreeable option. We have some basic equipment (a curl bar with weights, a set of those dial-a-weight dumb-bells, etc.) that work great. Since we’re starting out we splurged for a personal trainer to come out to the house twice a week to put us through a routine and watch our form (we do it on our own a third day a week). She’s great and the effects have been amazing. We’ve only been doing it for about five or six months, but there has been a dramatic difference. It’s moved from the oh-my-god-this-is-ridiculous to us actually looking forward to it. It’s fun to look back on our first struggles with squats and ab exercises and see how far we’ve come.

We’re only about half way to our goal, give or take. Like I said we’ve recently had a tight time with work and a few other things, so staying motivated and on track is becoming a bit more background-ish.

Oh, stats (mine; I’m smarter than to just post her’s—but they’re proportionate):
January: ~235
July: ~188
So… so that’s it, isn’t it?

Hi everyone!

Anyone have an opinion on those weighted hoop things?

I don’t normally play here but:

285lb on 24/09/09
203lb today at the gym

I do have a lap band, but I count calories anyway. Mine’s pretty lose, to be honest - I should get it tightened but I see it more as plan B, and more as a tool than an answer. It mostly stops me from eating things I don’t need like bread and rice anyway.

Goal: 165lbs or so, see how I go from there, possibly 145lbs. Am happy to coast the last 20 on good eating habits and good exercise habits.

Mostly I just wanted to see if anybody else is on Livestrong.com? I just got my 100 day badge but I hatehatehate the forums there, so I have no buddies…

Start: January 4th: 258.2
Recent Goal: July 4th: 208.2
Current weight: 207.6
Current goal: 203.2 by August 13th.

I had a bit of a scare when I started taking creatine after hitting my goal weight. I’ve been wanting to start weight lifting and creatine is good for water retention. In a couple days, my weight shot up and surpassed my goal weight and got up to 214.8. So, I decided to stop taking it and I watched my weight deflate back down to where I am currently (and luckily under my goal weight yesterday).

A friend who is into body building has me on a six week program where I’m going to increase mass and burn some fat too. I started yesterday and it ends on August 13th.

Just popping in to report my official tomatohood: I made Lifetime membership in WW today! :D:D:D I made goal 6 weeks ago and have maintained that level. Now to (1) drop those last few pounds and get my 75-pound trinket and (2) stay this way for the rest of my life!

I’m really looking forward to my 20th wedding anniversary party next Saturday. My wonderful hubby finally has his slinky wife back. :cool:

Way to go Scarlett67! That’s a great achievement.

Starting Weight - June 23 218
Initial Goal by Dec 31 163
Last Week 211
This Week 208
It’s now the end of our second week on Atkins Induction and I’m going to do at least one more week before moving on to OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss).

I’ve been tracking what I’m eating this time using Fat Secret and I think that a big part of the smaller loss this week was a serious drop in appetite and my actual calorie intake was very very low. I’ve never found myself hungry on Atkins but this was excessive. I wasn’t eating more than 4 or 5 oz of meat at dinner and very small protien servings with breakfast and lunch. This week I’m going back to oil and vinegar on my salads even though I prefer just vinegar most of the time. Between that and making sure my snacks have some protein included I’m hoping to up my calorie intake somewhere over 1500 calories a day. Right now I’m averaging 1000 and I believe that it’s just too low.

As far as carbs go I’m doing very well at sticking to 20 net grams and varying the vegetables I’m eating to get them. I’ve actally managed two weeks without forgetting my vitamins as well and Og knows that is a major miracle.

Tomorrow I start on the HRM medically-supervised diet. Shakes, soup, hot cereal, packaged entrees. Mostly shakes, though. I’m to have at least 5 100-calorie shakes daily and I’m to do at least 2000 Calories worth of physical activity weekly.

Physical tomorrow to confirm I’m medically fit for this and to get my starting prescription. Should be interesting.

I’m starting out at around 295 lb. Hoping to get down to 160. Wish me luck, y’all.

Good luck! If all goes well are you going to change to Tiny Plastic Ninja? Or go for the ironic Mega Plastic Ninja?

Best of luck to you! Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.

:stuck_out_tongue:

I had actually considered changing myself to Laziest Ninja, but I figured that would be self-defeating.

Well, I have started my first day of this stuff.

Sigh. It’s survivable but I’m starting to get queasy with these frothy shakes. I think I’m going to stop shaking them like margaritas and stir them with long spoons instead. And use less water.

The meals are pretty good: apparently even on the super-rough diet you still get to eat the entrees. I had a mushroom risotto for dinner. It was actually pretty decent for packaged food.

Their hot cereal is actually very tasty. It’s a multigrain thing, not just oatmeal, and has apples and cranberries and currants in it. One packet counts as a shake but it has double the calories, so I can’t exactly just eat these all day instead. :frowning:

Apparently there are some clever recipes with these things, but most of them use the lactose-free shakes and I got the other kind.

What’s special about the shakes?

They’re the “prescription”. Hundred calories each, extra-enriched, kind of sweet. Frankly I’d be happier if they weren’t as sweet as they are. Regardless of what else we eat (though it all has to be these packaged foods) we MUST drink five shakes.

This morning I woke up with my digestive system essentially saying “Look, woman, what are you playing at?” Also the online reports of this diet giving you gas are not exaggerated. But I feel okay. At least I don’t crave things in the morning, mostly. :slight_smile:

Start: January 4th: 258.2
Recent Goal: 203.2
Current weight: 203.2
Next goal 198.2 by August 13th.

Well, I made my goal much earlier than expected. I had an eventful and stressful past week where I ended a 5 year relationship but I didn’t turn to food and ate my standard portions. I even hit my goal a month earlier than expected so it’s been good.

A friend took me to NYC for the weekend and we did some shopping at Saks. It was such a pick-me-up as clothes I wouldn’t have even bothered trying on before were so loose I had to look for the next size down. I squeezed into a pair of 34" waist jeans and while they were tight, it was awesome to know that I’m getting closer to the next size down.

And what is so awesome about dining in New York is that many restaurants have the calorie info on the menu. This made eating sooooooo much easier. We ate at the Europa Cafe and had salads made for us and I knew what my calorie count was going to be. A friend said that part of the health care omnibus bill will make that a law nationwide.