My recent travels (and a corresponding lack of self-discipline) put me 5lbs over my acceptable max weight, so I’ve got to work my way down and keep it down–for me, a particularly daunting prospect with the holidays looming. Gulp.
And now 275.5#. I’ve bought a pair of hiking boots and a cheap-ass pedometer. Between lunchtime and this evening I narrowly failed to walk five miles. If I can keep failing as narrowly as that I won’t be doing too badly.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving for me (Canadian ex-pat in the US) along with several other ex-pat friends. There was pie. And an extra pound or two, some of which I’m sure are due to not drinking enough water.
I had a pretty major slip up two nights ago, but I’ve been pretty pleased with my eating this week. I still have 20 points left extra for the week (and I did count my slip up) and my weigh-in is on Thursday. As long as I keep it up, I really can’t expect myself to eat any better than I have. BUT. I still haven’t been exercising. Time just isn’t something I have to spare (or so it feels like).
My solution to this problem in the past has been to bike places - it doesn’t waste my time, and, in some cases, it saves time. However, I’m so out of shape that biking is taking me forever, and on busy mornings I can’t convince myself to do it. I also can’t bike when I’m going to be returning late - the bike path isn’t lit. I know that once I start doing it often enough, it’ll get easy and fast and be really convenient. It’s just hard getting myself to that point!
I’m going to try not to chicken out on biking in today.
I had forgotten that. I had meant to start a thread wishing our northern neighbors a safe and happy holiday.
Next year, I guess.
Another pound gone today!
I started getting serious about losing the blubber toward the end of July, when I was 207 by my scale (my doctor’s scale says add two/three more, sigh). This time I decided to make changes in diet and exercise that I could do easily and enjoy doing forever. Mostly cut out crap food and walk more, even if it’s only parking at the far end of the supermarket lot, stuff like that. Note: I do barn chores every day, so I was already putting in a decent amount of physical exercise.
Here it is mid-October, and today the scale said the weight loss has reached 19 pounds. 
I can see definite changes in my body, have more energy, hardly any pain in my knees any more. No more reflux – I’ve gone from sleeping on a slant pillow to flat. When I suck in the gut now, it GOES.
Some things that helped: Increase the walking. A simple thing like parking farther away from your destination adds small but over time effective increments of calorie-burning, and it’s something you can do even if you’re really heavy. Not to mention, in the hot weather you’ll find the shade trees to keep your car cool are usually way out at the edge of the lot.
Thoughtful treats. You deserve a reward, something to look forward to. Mine is a daily Dunkin Donuts Coffee Coolatta. Wait! Not the made-with-cream, whipped-cream-topping caloric disaster. Nope, a small Coolatta made with skim milk has only 170 calories, is delicious, and can be nursed for an hour. Oh, and I park several hundred yards away from the DD when I stop for one.
Oatmeal is wicked filling at a small caloric cost, with healthy complex carbs, and makes a great keep-you-going-for-hours lunch. Yes, lunch. I use one of those flavored instant packets (maple and brown sugar, YUM!), add some flaxseed meal, dry nonfat milk, and wheat germ, then when it’s cooked stir in some peanut or almond or cashew butter.
Use a smaller plate for your meals. I serve myself supper on a dessert plate rather than dinner plate. It looks full but the portions I eat are smaller, yet I’m satisfied.
Eat several times a day, in small portions. Your blood sugar will stay on an even keel, you won’t be fighting off hunger all the time, and your stomach will happily shrink to meet the new, less expansive regime. And drink lots of water. Fish is good. Salads don’t need dressing to be delicious if you put stuff like avocado and dried cranberries in them.
Toss out anything made with artificial sweeteners. When I want a soda, I have a fruit-flavored seltzer water with no aspartame or other fake sugar. You have to be careful and read the labels; it’s amazing how much of what’s on the grocery shelves has that gunk in it.
In sum, I’ve made adjustments to diet and activities that I actually enjoy more than what I was doing when the blubber kept piling on; what I’m doing I can go on happily doing forever; and the reward is a slow but steady reshaping from fat toward fit.
I’ve lost nearly 10lbs since September 8th (in which I weighed about 201-202 ish). I have been using this website to track my progress. My goal is to lose about 20 more lbs by Mid December. (target 170ish)
That’s some impressive progress ETF and Epimetheus! Congratulations.
Interestingly, after talking about the Wendie plan last week but not really doing anything specific, I had a day of relatively low calories (Monday) followed by a day where I felt like I was overeating (yesterday) and today I’m back down to 170. So, today I’m going for a day of relatively low calories again. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, my step-daughter tells me that drinking one cup of Oolong tea per day is supposed to make you lose weight even if you aren’t making dietary changes (which I know is bullshit). Just so happens I have some Oolong tea and I’ve been drinking 2 cups a day for a couple of days now. All I’ve noticed is a slight laxative effect which I suppose would count for some initial weight loss.
That’s it for me. Have a happy Wednesday everyone.
I’ll try my best. Today is weigh-in day.
I’ve been sick for close to a month now. I haven’t been eating right, and exercise has been sporadic. I haven’t touched weight training in all that time. I can actually feel my muscles atrophying.
Despite that, my weight has continued to go down, until last week. I shot up almost 3 pounds. I hope today will tell a different story.
Weigh-in today. I’m down another 1.5 pounds, for a total of 4.5 pounds so far.
I’m sorry you’re feeling poorly tdn hope you get over whatever ails you very soon. Good luck with the weigh in.
I’m there with you. They are now suggesting I may have Lyme’s, but they are also going to send me to a neurologist.
I’m almost always dizzy and spacey and now add nausea and pins-and-needles to the list.
I haven’t done a lick of exercise for too long.
Here’s hoping you get better soon!
All of you are doing so well! Khadaji, I hope you feel better soon. I know it’s frustrating not losing, but having more important things to focus on (such as your health) happens.
I was down another 1.2 pounds at my weigh in this morning, for a total of 4.6 since the beginning of September. Slow and steady is all right with me, I suppose. I’d be a lot more enthused if I hadn’t put on 8 pounds in one month this summer, so I’m still working at getting back to my pre-summer weight. Still, almost 5 pounds is nothing to sneeze at - as long as I don’t think about how much weight I ought to lose!
I’m beginning to think we need a separate thread for SDMB Weight Loss Club members who are sick! If we get one, I’ll join. 
I was at a DopeFest on Saturday, with (among others) JayJay, SuperVenusFreak and GingerOfTheNorth, all of whom are looking absolutely awesome! Had a great time, got home about 9PM Saturday night, settled into bed around 10:30. Woke up about 11:30, freezing to death! I figured it might be that the air conditioner was on, but then I went to the bathroom. No ac there, not even an open window, and I was still shivering like a wet puppy. Oh, shit, I thought, I’m sick. By the time I got back to the bedroom and took my temp (101.8), the pain had hit. Kidney stone. And infection. Lovely. Woke up the hubby, told him we need to go to the ER. There is a 7mm stone on the left side. :eek: Anything bigger than 4-5mm, they assume you won’t be able to pass it. However, they can’t remove it until the infection is under control, because doing so could push the infection into my blood stream. So, I went into the hospital Tuesday and got a stent put in to prevent a total obstruction. Now I’m on potent pain meds and more potent antibiotics. Hopefully, they’ll be able to go after the stone early next week.
Sigh.
That’s awful, norinew! I hope they can get it out soon. My mother just got diagnosed with (another) kidney stone, and they weren’t able to get her in until Oct 30!
Oh, and I had my weigh-in today as well. Down 1.2 pounds, to 213.8.
Note to all: Just had dinner with tdn today, and he is feeling better. Huzzah!
Sorry to hear your news norinew. Hope it passes quickly.
Thanks. One this size, though, it’s not likely I’ll be able to pass it. They’ll have to go in after it. The good news is that unless something goes wrong, it’s same-day surgery. I have an appt. to see the urologist on Tuesday. I’m guessing he’ll check the infection, and if it’s cleared up, he’ll probably schedule me to have it removed Wednesday or Thursday. After that, a few more days of discomfort from the procedure itself (and the stent; ugh), then I’ll be good as new, and ready to get back on the horse!
I’m still being very careful to get my protein, fluids and supplements, though. As soon as I get the kid on the bus, I’m making myself a cup of high-protein hot chocolate; according to my little weather center, it’s 56 degrees outside, and cloudy, so it’s a good morning for hot chocolate!
Norinew, I am so sorry to hear about this! I hope that everything goes well with the treatment. Please let us know what happens.
Thanks for the good wishes. Of course, looking for the silver lining in this particular cloud, I’m really, really glad it didn’t hit while we were still at GettysDope, which would have necessitated me dragging my family away while mudgirl was still wanting to watch bottles explode and play in mud, plus I’d have either had to go to a hospital I’m not familiar with, or ride the 2+ hours home in extreme pain! At least it had the good grace to wait until we were safe and sound at home!
I’ll let y’all know how things are going.