Surprise at the scale today:
Starting Weight: 242
Last Week: 189.2
This Week: 185.4
Not sure where the weight loss came from, I had a few good runs the past week but I would have thought the eating out would have done me in. I guess I’ve made good choices.
I have found that sensible snacking (fruit, yogurt, popcorn, carrots/celery) is essential to keeping me on track for the day.
Getting into smaller and smaller clothes is a great feeling - I look at my pants now and think they look too small to fit, but they do! I have a closet full of too big clothes - I haven’t given them away yet. I think I’m superstitious - if I give them away, I’ll gain all my weight back.
I hit 50.73kg when I went to see the nutritionist, but gained about 1kg in a week because I made this incredible Guinness chocolate cake with buttercream icing and also did one of those monster burger challenges with some friends. I felt a bit sheepish as I looked at the scales, but I know what I have to do to lose the weight. So from a high of 51.8kg I’m back down to 51.5kg. It takes a lot longer to lose the weight than it does to gain it!
I’ve been getting a lot of positive comments from some really fit people whom I admire. Shopping for new clothes is fun, though less fun is that I’ve sized myself out of most of my favourite brands.
I’ve added another recipe to my regular rotation. Fast Asian Fish. It’s easy to mix everything up and chuck it in the oven (though I find I need to bake it for longer than the recipe states) and I serve it with Asian greens and quinoa.
I definitely think that recording food helps me stay accountable. I do it in advance though - it helps me plan out my week, make sure my calories will be on track each day and I get a healthy variety of food.
I am an estimator - I estimate to the nearest 100. I do the best I can and don’t overly angst about food. Of course, I’ve been doing it for 6 years and have a pretty good handle on the foods I regularly eat.
I plan out my meals for the week on Sunday. I pretty much know what I’m going to eat for every meal/snack for the work week. In the morning, when I’m drinking my coffee, I post my daily meal plan/calorie estimate in the Maintainer’s Forum at 3fatchicks.com (where I get a lot of wonderful support). At the end of the day, if something has changed, I post a quick update. I would say total, it takes 2 minutes a day. I like doing it at the beginning of the day, because it helps me manage my daily calorie total better. If I know I’m going to have a big dinner, I plan for a smaller breakfast, or skip a snack or something.
Here is my post for today, for example:
Planning is my weight loss life ring. I make a plan, I stick to it, I lose weight (or maintain weight). I definitely needed something I could do forever, since I know (painfully) that stopping a diet makes me regain weight. I needed something happy, healthy and sustainable. Daily meal planning and calorie estimating works for me. I used to use Fitday and that microscopic level of detail did get on my nerves, I couldn’t stick to it.
Current weight: 146.38
Target: 143.30
Just 3 more pounds, and I can update my mission objectives!
I do use Fitday, but I fudge it a bit - I put most of my day’s food and exercise in daily, and if I have 300 calories left over at the end of the day, I don’t bother putting 200 calories worth of snacks in. The biggest things for me are accountability and sustainability; I have to keep track of things, because it’s really easy to let things get out of control and tell myself that they aren’t the way they really are (“I can eat McDonalds every day - these pants aren’t getting tight - they just shrunk”). Accountability for me also includes exercising more if I want to eat more - and I often do! Food is good! 
I rarely feel deprived with what I’m doing now, so I’m optimistic that it will be sustainable.
Weekly weight in, down 1.4 lbs to an even 185. 15 lbs to my target weight and feeling like it’s a real possibility before the end of the summer.
Oops, an even 184.0. Even closer to my goal. 
My husband just hit his weight goal - using the LoseIt app on his iTouch, it’s taken about a year to lose about 25 pounds, and he hasn’t deprived himself at all - we still go out to eat, he goes out for wings with his buddies, he has his favourite snack, chips - now we’ll see how maintaining goes.
I’m still trying to get down to 83kg - I’ve hit a plateau. It has been a bit frustrating, because I am still working out pretty hard. I’ll go with Winston Churchill and KBO.
Si
I’m dieting for the first time, and have stuck to it for five whole weeks.
Starting weight: 230 (104kg)
Present weight: 220 (100kg)
So, I’m deflating by two lbs. a week. That’s fine, but my friend dropped 23 lbs. in 3 weeks on Atkins…
My technique (on the off-chance anyone finds it motivating) is eating low calorie foods. There’s no strict counting, but I try to average under 200 calories per meal, under 80 calories per snack – and snack as needed, but not compulsively.
Low fat meats: canned crab, tuna, canned skinless salmon and thin deli slices. Plus an occasional egg or two.
Lo-cal vegetables: broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage.
Grains: puffed rice or millet, thin breads or small corn tortillas for deli sandwiches/wraps.
Dairy: Hood Calorie Countdown. At 45 cals. per glass it doesn’t taste like milk, but it’s good in it’s own way. Sorta like Gatorade isn’t lemonade, but is still a fine beverage. I prefer it to skim milk.
Most dishes are seasoned with salsa, mustards, and/or coriander chutney (in the Indian section).
Tiny snacks include a slice of corned beef, or a cup of coffee with a tsp. of sugar, some Equal, and some Hood dairy beverage.
Vegetables provide the bulk for most meals. Don’t forget your vitamin pill. Eat some fat a few times a day… a half slice of cheese, a fish oil pill. Eat slowly. Use small utensils.
Check back in 6 months. You are much more likely to have kept your weight off than your friend. You didn’t gain that weight in 3 weeks, you won’t lose it in 3 weeks.
Is this a sustainable diet for you, Baal? If this is something unusual you’re doing just to drop weight, you know that the chances are good you’ll put it all back on when you go back to your regular eating style, right? And 23 pounds in three weeks on Atkins is too much too fast and completely unsustainable - your two pound a week weight loss is the upper limit for how much you should lose per week. My husband and I were/are both aiming for a half pound per week - this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon - if I hit my goal weight in two years, I’ll be ecstatic.
My friend does Atkins every few years, and yes he does regain the weight. Still it’s the only program he has the motivation for, and gives him a couple of years closer to 225 than 325.
As for myself, I don’t know about sustainability. You can’t lose weight forever :^)
I’m not hungry and don’t feel weak, so if it’s unsustainable it will probably be due to boredom. If I reach 200 on this regime, I’ll re-evaluate and likely start sharing more meals with the family.
Good luck to you and your husband. Van Morrison has a song about spirituality/motivation that advises, “Take it where you find it.”
I’m down under 102 kilos now. The loss has slowed down, but I’m not in a big hurry. I’d like to get under 100 kilos with 4 to 6 weeks, and I think it’s doable. Below that, I’ll probably have to up my exercise a bit.
There is evidence that yo-yoing weight is worse for your health, and that you end up at a higher weight than you started.
Sure you can, there’s no reason why not. I don’t understand this?
Hi Telemark.
It was a joke, but the explanation is that after you reach zero mass you can’t lose any more weight.
Yes, it’s possible to lose a few grams every week from now until you die, but I couldn’t very well sustain a two pound per week weight loss for more than 20 months.
Down 24.6 pounds after 3 weeks of Weight Watchers. The first week doesn’t count - I lost 17.2 that week. Don’t know why - water? But I always, always lose a ton the first week, then even out.
Joe
Boredom is a real issue if you want to keep the weight off (and why wouldn’t you want to? Who wants to do this over and over and over?) Denying yourself foods you love is another pitfall for longterm success - you will eventually fall off that wagon.
Starting weight on Jan 4th 2010: 258.2
Last week’s weight: 209.8
Current weight today: 208.6
Current Goal weight by July 4th: 208.2
I actually got down to 208.6 on June 9th and decided I was going to wait and post when I hit the 50 lbs lost goal. For some reason, I have consistently stayed at 208.6 for the last nine days. This weekend I’m gonna do a bit extra at the gym just to see if I can kick it over the goal.
And last night I did something a bit silly. Our youngest daughter’s birthday is next week so I went out and bought a trampoline. I had looked at 'em before but saw that my weight was a little, or a lot in one case, over the recommended load. So while it’s a birthday gift for her, it’s kind of a present for me too.