November 2010 Weight Loss Thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yes, I realize it is not November yet :slight_smile: But it seems silly to start an October thread at this point and I want to post - so I am jumping the gun a little on November.

Anyway, I apologize for not being around or posting too much recently. I have not, however, given up. I am continuing to loose weight. Since January, I have lost a little over 35 lbs. That is a weekly weight loss of .78 lbs and a daily deficit of 392 calories.

I continue to have mixed emotions. I am super excited that I have lost over 35 lbs, but at 5’8" and 185, I am still overweight, I still have a long ways to go, I am not happy with my body shape even though it is getting better, and it is taking a frustratingly long time.

It is still difficult for me to tell exactly what my target weight should be. I think I should weigh around 155, but I’ll have to see “how things look” as I approach that weight. It could be anywhere from 145 to 165.

I am happy that I am doing this the right way. When I first started, people would pose the question, “What are you doing to loose weight?” and I would have a whole list of things to tell them. Now, when somebody asks me that question… I don’t really know what to say. And it just dawned on me yesterday that it is because I have completely and hopefully, permanently changed my lifestyle and eating habits! This is the new normal for me! So even though this process is taking for-freaking-ever I am also happy that I did it by making a lifestyle change and not by “dieting”.

Some other interesting updates are that I have started to commute to work on my mountain bike. It is a 30-35 minute trip in each direction, and I try to really move it. It is great exercise twice a day! I am very happy I started doing this, though winter may be challenging. However, I have started getting more exercise in other ways as well. I have also moved from a size 40 waist to a size 34 and have had to drill a new hole in my belt. I have to get rid of my size 40 pants because they look ridiculous when I try to wear them.

So now what? I guess I just keep plugging away at it and making good decisions. I hope I will look like a reasonably average person by mid winter or so, and basically achieve my goal by late spring or so and be comfortable taking my shirt off in public next summer - that will be weird. I need to start working on my muscles too.

2

Congratulations on your progress! I agree that it is all about permanent lifestyle changes. The sucess, to me, is not in how much weight you lose or how quickly, but rather in how you make simple but lasting healthy changes.

My weekly weigh-in’s tonight, but I’m optimistic my six-month-long plateau has FINALLY been busted. I’ve had two weeks of the scale going down, and I’m back below 160. Exercising more did the trick-- I now walk 2 miles in ~35 minutes three times a week, alternated with 40 situps and weightlifting. I now get a minimum of 40 minutes of physical activity almost daily. Hopefully I can get back near my pre-plateau 1.5 pounds per week weight loss rate.

3

You’re doing fine. Remember that slow weight loss is more likely to stay off . . . and you’re doing it the right way, through lifestyle change rather than a “diet.”

I lost 75 pounds from April 2009 to August 2010, and am keeping it off so far. Ran my first half marathon last month (in 2:37) and am keeping up with the running. Keep your eyes on the prize. It’s pretty damned sweet. :slight_smile:

(PS: it’s “lose weight,” not “loose.” I figure if we should get that right in any thread, it’s this one!)

4

Oh my :o

5

I am still at it. My weight loss has been getting slower and slower as I approach my goal. I’m going to be very happy to be in the 130s. I’m at 142 so it may happen before the end of the month but also maybe not. I began seriously trying to lose almost a year ago so it would be great to be there by Oct 31. My original goal was 135 and I’m hoping to be there by the time I go home for Christmas.

6

I’ll be very happy to be in the 160s. :slight_smile: I’ve been stalled at 172 for over a week and it’s killing me.

7

Don’t tell me I killed this thread!
Today was a good day – I went shopping and discovered I now fit into size L shirts at Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, etc. I’ve been XL for so long, I felt like rejoicing out loud in the dressing rooms. :slight_smile:

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I won’t let the thread die. I’ve been successful so far - lost 30 of the 65 pounds I am trying to send to the cornfield - but with the weather getting colder and the holidays on the way, I’m going to need all the support I can get.

Bought new jeans yesterday. It was a good day.

Aiming for gaol by my 20th anniversary in June 2011. Portion control, not eating out and consistent exercise seems to be working so far.

9

94 down, 9 more to go.

4/12/2007:
308 Pounds
Fasting blood sugar 312
A1C 11.7

10/29/2010:
214 Pounds
Fasting sugar is averaging 85
A1C under 6.0

I developed my own program (which turns out to be a slightly modified WW plan):

Whatever your target-weight is add a zero to that number and that is your NET daily calorie intake (my target is 205 pounds so I net 2050 calories a day). I have lowered my calorie intake recently from ~2400 GROSS to ~2300 GROSS daily as I “got stuck” on 218 pounds for a while.

Unclviny

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What does NET vs. GROSS refer to in this context?

Also WOW - good job!

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Gross calories are before exercise, net calories are where you end-up every day (if you need 1900 a day and you eat 2450 you MUST burn-off 550 calories with exercise BEFORE you go to bed!, there is no credit in my world!!).

Thanks for the support.

Unclviny

12

I’ve always missed these threads at the beginning of the month but now I can finally join it!

5’7
169.5 (as of yesterday!)
Target: 159

A bit of background. In this topic, I started doing the P90X program. I started in about late May/early June 2010 and had a target weight of 20lbs for the course of the 90 day program. I didn’t get to it, but I got close, and I’ve also gotten a lot stronger, healthier, and better looking in the meantime :wink:

My goal is still 20lbs, down from my starting weight of 187.5, and after I hit it I plan to change my target to strength building. Unfortunately, at the end of the 90, I was at 16lbs lost and wasn’t able to lose the next 2lbs for the next month. However, I finally achieved that yesterday morning so I’m very happy. I need 2 more lbs! Hopefully I can do that this month!

13

Hello! I am a pretty hardcore lurker but I have been waiting for this thread on this day so that I could post this:
November 1, 2009:
190 pounds
BMI 32.6

November 1, 2010:
129 pounds
BMI 22.1
I post this not to sneak brag but because it was reading the SDMB that inspired the whole deal - I was perusing one of those horrible, 400 page trainwreck obesity threads exactly one year ago today and for some reason it was the last straw for me. A switch flipped somewhere and I completely overhauled my eating habits. I’ve also been following these monthly threads to help keep myself on track.

So, huge thanks to anyone who’s ever posted in one of these threads, with a special shoutout to Glory, whose methods I cribbed from pretty heavily. And I wish everyone the best of luck with their health goals!

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Way to go! (And it’s not bragging, it’s showing people who are just starting out that it can be done!)

Warning: Maintenance can be tough. I’ve been at it since early summer, and lately I’ve been slipping a bit, feeling a little too stressed and therefore snacky. I’m teetering around my WW goal weight, and normally I like to be about 5 pounds below that. So I’m working on getting back on track.

15

The holiday season is almost upon us - in the next couple weeks alone I have 3 special occasion dinners that will definitely not be low calorie and a birthday party to struggle through without losing ground. And then we get to Thanksgiving. I guess this is where I learn how well I will be able to keep the portions under control and not drink too much.

Mrs. Cake - still hoping to lose another 7 pounds by year end, which will put me half-way to may goal weight.

16

After faithfully tracking my calories and exercise for about a year, I’m flying solo now - weighing in weekly, and if I keep going down (no matter how slowly), I don’t have to record everything. If, however, I start going back up again, I’ll start tracking again to figure out what I’m doing wrong (as if I don’t already know - glares meaningfully at leftover Halloween chocolate).

I’ve lost 25 pounds in a year and change, and I don’t feel like I’m dieting, either. One of my new habits is exercise in some form every day. I’m trying to just stay realistic with eating - a bit of chocolate every day, healthy foods for meals and snacks most days, not too much eating out on the weekends. There’s nothing I can’t have; I just try to keep the really high calorie foods down to a dull roar.

17

I was 158.7 pounds on January 2010.

For my last weigh-in on about 3 days back, I was 133.8 pounds. That’s about 20 pounds gone. I am aiming for 130 pounds by end of the year. Once I get to there, I will set another goal for the next year…

And yes, with Christmas coming up, it’s going to be tough.

18

As of today, I’ve lost 15 pounds since September 20. Now I have another 25-30 to go…

I’m doing the South Beach diet, which is simply a formaized way of eating low-glycemic-index foods. I never once have had a craving, and I feel like I could easily eat this way for the rest of my life. I decided to change my diet after realizing that since I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, I’m at an increased risk of having certain cancers, and my mother is currently battling metastatic uterine cancer and it doesn’t look very good for her chances right now. I don’t ever want to put myself or my loved ones through that, so I want to make sure I get down to a healthy weight ASAP. The more fat you have, the more estrogen you trap in your fat, and it’s the increased estrogen that increases your risk for cancer.

Women with PCOS often have a hard time losing weight (I always have), but eating a low-carb or low-GI diet is often the way to do it. If I just restricted my calories, I would lose at a ridiculously slow weight, so this is clearly working for me. (The South Beach diet doesn’t require you to count or track anything, but I make sure I eat around 500 calories less than maintenance and eat less than 70g net carbs a day. I would lose weight even faster if I restricted my carbs more, but I feel that this level is more sustainable in the long run.)

19

I also owe my resolve to lose weight to Glory. I was reading a thread and she mentioned something that made me stop and think - something about an extra 100 calories a day adding up or something like that.

I started thinking about what I was eating and joined Spark People - wow, was I surprised to find out all the bad eating habits I had!

So far I’ve lost about 15 pounds since September 11th, and an inch out of my waist.

At first I wasn’t hungry but the recent cold weather changed that - anyone have any tips for controlling that urge to snack during cold weather? I thought about keeping a pot of green tea at hand.

20

Duh, I meant “rate.”

My go-to snacks are nuts. I usually eat .5 oz of almonds (11 of them) or cashews (7 of them), and that takes the edge off until a meal time. That’s around 80 calories. Or I’ll have a mini-Babybel cheese wheel or a couple of slices of lunch meat. But I’m someone, because of my PCOS-related insulin issues, who has to avoid things like crackers or fruit without accompanying protein because the carbs will make me hungrier.