Since April 15th, I’ve lost 20 pounds doing Atkins. Not too strictly; I’ll have a glass of wine most days, and I drink coffee and tea. My fasting blood sugar levels have gone down from “borderline” readings to “totally normal”, or from 99-108 levels, to 80-90 levels.
The wonderful thing is the lack of cravings. I don’t feel hungry, and I have way more energy. Though I have loved potatoes in all forms, I realize now that they are a drug for me, and life is better without them.
That’s a mind trip, isn’t it? It works both ways – people will still see you as fat when you’re not, and you will still see yourself as fat when you’re not. Doing laundry is interesting because I’ll hold up my pants and think, I can’t believe I can fit into these things. And I still have weight to lose – I imagine when I’m even smaller, I’ll still think of myself as a very large person.
An odd thing on the opposite side of this is that, even though I’m about 20 lbs heavier than the “normal” BMI for my height, some people tell me: Oh, you don’t want to lose too much more, you’ll get too skinny. My Mom is one of them. Now, my doc said that BMI isn’t the only consideration and that my build is muscular enough that she would be happy with only 10 lbs more. I think though, objectively, that 20 would not make me unhealthy. I will reevaluate after I lose 10, because 190 has always been my firm goal, and 180 the soft one. If at 190 I think I’m thin enough, I’ll stop.
It is possible to go out to eat and lose weight. It’s just a matter of making good choices and being assertive in asking for what you want. For example, when we go to Red Robin for burgers, I ask for the Natural Burger with no bun and no cheese. (Right there, I’m saving around 10 points!) I get a salad beforehand with dressing on the side. Instead of the French fries (at 11 points for a whole order), I ask for melon slices. The entire meal went from being around 32 points to maybe 10 to 12, and I’m still eating a lot of food, volume-wise. (I’m doing Weight Watchers, so it’s “points” instead of calories or fat/carb grams or whatever.)
I’ve also learned to be assertive when I go to people’s houses, which I do a lot of during the summer, what with it being cookout season and all. I bring my own low-fat hot dogs and fat-free cheese (enough to share, of course!) and depending on what else is being served, I’ll bring fresh fruit or veggies. My mother-in-law is a disciple of the Paula Deen School of Butter, so I’ll go in her fridge to get some raw veggies. I’ve also stopped feeling bad about not eating a little of everything to avoid hurt feelings. Food looks better in the serving dish than it does on my ass, thankyouverymuch!
My partner was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and so we are both doing reduced carb meals, and generally eating healthier. I’ve been exercising a bit, and I have high blood pressure and apparently a slightly enlarged heart and fatty liver. I am down about 16 lbs from my high of 265. My partner lost 20 pounds very quickly before going on the diet(and being put on medication) due to symptoms of diabetes. He’s lost some weight since then, but it is more controlled.
Good for you. I have one friend who loves to cook and give dinner parties, who feels very strongly that people should eat what they are given. I talked with her about medical conditions that people might not want to talk about, which demand different dietary choices., and she finally conceded that she would not want someone to endanger their health to feed her ego as cook.
I find summer, casual picnics easier than sit down dinners. At a sit-down dinner, it’s harder to disguise that you aren’t eating much. At a stand-up, roaming around meal, no one knows.
Good for the both of you. I just read an article yesterday about non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, due to too much fat. So, as your partner gets healthier, you will, too. Win-win.
My husband has issues with BMI, too… he was 180 for a while and everyone thought he was too skinny, but the highest healthy BMI for his height is 177, so ???
Anyway: I gained 56 pounds when I was pregnant. 31 came off effortlessly in the first two weeks after I had the baby. I have, through moderate effort, lost 6 more. Only 19 to go to get back to where I was. Not that that wasn’t already 25 pounds overweight, but, at least I’ll be able to wear my old clothes.
I’m getting frustrated. I’m eating a healthy diet. Virtually no sugar & dairy, lots of fruits and vegetables, fish, chicken and my weight went up a couple pounds which I chalked up to PMS bloating, but now it’s staying the same. I know it’s not a plateau. I think I’m eating too much. ~sigh~ I refuse to count calories, because I’m looking to change my eating habits for life and I know I’d never be able to keep that up for long.
With past diets and experimenting, I know that 1500 calories a day is the right amount for me to lose weight at a slow healthy pace. How do I know when I’ve past that point each day?
I’ve heard of easy calorie counter apps for I-phone, but I don’t have one. I found one online called MyPlate, but it seemed complicated and time consuming. How does everyone here know when they’ve eaten enough each day?
It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in one of these threads, but then again it’s been a long time since I was focusing on my weight. I came back from my Christmas vacation with a new-found commitment to packing my lunch to work every day instead of my increasingly common habit of rushing out the door in the morning and then buying something at the cafeteria. I actually did this due to money concerns - it really wasn’t a habit I could afford to continue - but it sort of jump-started me into better grocery shopping and eating, and I slowly noticed some weight loss. Around March I stepped up my gym attendance and started taking classes there instead of working out alone, and that contributed too. Overall I’ve lost about 15 pounds since February or so. I’d like to lose another 10-15 probably, but we’ll see what happens. I have no plans to get really intense about it because I know I can’t keep that up.
I’m not doing any actual ‘diet’ - I’ve just trying to limit quantity. I’m trying to keep my calorie count at around 1500-1800 per day - MissSwitac, I tend to agree with you about the difficulty of keeping up the calorie counting, but I have yet to find a better way. I don’t see a diet with tons of rules (eg.Atkins) as any more sustainable for me. I use FitDay, but I have no idea if it’s the best or not, I mostly like that it’s simple. At first it’s a bit of a hassle but it holds a list of what you’ve eaten recently so it’s easier once you’ve used it for a bit, assuming you eat the same things. I tried more popular ones, like MyPlate and Spark People, but I really didn’t like the rah-rah ‘inspirational’ stories and the feeling of ‘you don’t want to be a fat worthless loser, do you’ that I felt came with those sites. I don’t feel the need to hate myself for being overweight, and I don’t want to define my life by my weight or my diet. That way lies madness, IMHO. I tried a mobile app (LoseIt), but I found it more time consuming. Of course, I spend much of my day in front of the computer anyways, so a quick update is easy. I’m assuming it all depends on your lifestyle - it needs to be easy or you won’t do it.
MissSwitac, have you tried packing your lunch in a bento box? The Japanese ones are small, so they automatically limit portion sizes to something more realistic than current standard American portion sizes. There are some beautiful ones, and some humorous ones, all kinds, available on Amazon and other sites for reasonable prices, so your aesthetic pleasure in your good will go up, too.
Thought I’d check in one last time this month to share that I have now lost 12 inches just from my waist. Two and a half months of eating some of the best damned food I’ve ever had and the weight is just melting off of me. My eating plan is really simple. Avoid carbs. And it’s so easy now. I’m never very hungry. I haven’t craved or binged since three days in, and I have more energy than I have in years.
I have an Atkins peanut butter bar for breakfast almost every day with coffee. Lunch is usually a leftover if we have any. Today we didn’t so I had tuna and egg salad. Tonight I’m broiling some chicken thighs and mixing up a batch of cole slaw. Creamed spinach on the side. That and a tablespoon size chunk of coconut bark will keep me more than satisfied until breakfast. Yesterday I made a flax muffin and couldn’t even eat dinner. I just never feel that mad driving hunger I felt before. And all I have to do is avoid sugar and other high carb foods.
Because she sometimes adds a lot of butter to otherwise healthy vegetables. I don’t need the extra fat and relatively empty calories, so I go for raw veggies that don’t have butter. She almost always has baby carrots and celery in the fridge, so it’s easy enough to do. (I’m not doing Atkins, so I avoid extra fat.)
Try adding a couple of servings of nonfat dairy each day. I’ve noticed that I lose more weight when I’m good about that than when I skip it. I’ll have a cup of nonfat milk for breakfast and either some fat free cottage cheese (mixed with fruit or no-sugar-added applesauce) or fat free, sugar free yogurt later in the day.
