You guys are impressive, all of you.
I bought a scale, and a little kitchen scale, and I’m mulling over something I heard on the Biggest Loser last week. Not there yet, but getting there. 
In the meantime, I’m letting your posts sink in as well. I promised I can be a cheerleader and well, maybe I’m not so good at BOO YAH! but I can say that you are all inspiring. Because you are.
I forgot all about that. At the very beginning in 2004 I weighed about 250 and was having a lot of trouble getting myself going. The problems that had been going on in my life that instigated the huge weight gain were over but I was doing the “I’ll start in just one more day” routine. Since I couldn’t get myself to dive into the deep end I used the one toe at a time method. First I changed breakfast to something healthy and when I was used to that I worked on lunch, then dinner, then portion control, snacking and working out instead of facing it all at once. It worked for me.
I wasn’t starving in two hours. This looks promising.
I may have brough this up before in this or another thread, but I LOVE Special K Vitamin Water. Only 50 calories per bottle, pretty good flavors and it’s somehow “thicker” than Crystal Light or sodas. If my stomach is growling and I feel starved, I’ll have one of these and it usually does the trick.
This! And let me add my plugs for Sargento Light String Cheese (50 calories) and Mott’s Plus Fiber Cranberry Raspberry Applesauce (50 calories)!
I’m still at 197–not moving at all. I lost 43 pound in about 8 months, and for the last 2, I’m just maintaining. I’m exercising with my new heart rate monitor, eating fairly well, and nothing.
My doctor thinks I lost too much weight too fast and he thinks I look great (bless him) but at 5’2", I’d sure like to lose another 40-50 lbs, and at this rate, I don’t know.
I’m trying to be happy that I’m exercising regularly, which is good for my insulin resistance, but the little numbers on the scale really depress me.
Once you go steel-cut you never go back. Tastes sooo much better. 
(I’ve even gone out of my way to make steel-cut oatmeal for use in muffins, instead of quick oats. Took a little more time but still tastes better.)
In my experience, this depends on how much you have to use and how much of a lifestyle change it’ll take to get there.
10 years ago I was a Fat Girl. 200+ pounds, and I was that because I almost never exercised and ate crap all the time. When I decided I’d had enough, the big changes I made were:
1> exercise, at least 20 minutes, every day. This gradually increased in duration and intensity as I became capable of it (though at the beginning I literally could not run half a block).
2> water, at least 8 big (12 or 16 oz.) glasses a day.
3> vegetables – I made a point of having at least 5 servings a day, mainly accomplished by making lunch a giant salad, which is 5 servings by itself.
I didn’t count calories or make a particular effort to watch what I ate other than the above. The main thing was exercise – since I hadn’t been doing any, it was a major shift in how my metabolism was accustomed to functioning. Doing this I lost 65 or so pounds and kept it off for 10 years, with the exception of a few run-ins with lifesaving medications that were also unkind to my waistline. During this time, I didn’t feel weak, hungry, or “empty,” and I think it was mainly because I was making a major shift with the exercise so I didn’t have to reduce food volume all that much.
Since then, in losing post-medication weight, it’s always been a substantially smaller amount of weight, and except for immediately post-chemo, I’d been maintaining exercise the entire time, so wasn’t going to get a particular boost from that. Which, for me, means counting calories. And restricting to levels that are just not going to make me feel completely satisfied, no matter how well I plan. So I do feel a little run-down, especially in regards to exercise, and stress and weather and seasonal cold/darkness can have a negative impact on me as well. I do it via sheer willpower, motivating by watching the scale go down. Unfortunately, while the difference between no exercise and 4 miles a day is quite a lot, the difference between 4 miles and 5 isn’t that much, calorie-wise, so eating to satisfaction just isn’t an option with my metabolism, if I still expect to lose any weight at all. I’ve tried eating at slightly higher levels (1600 to 1800 calories a day) and it doesn’t do a damn thing.
And on that note, I’m shifting a bit. I lost all of half a pound last week, which is small enough that I have no idea if it’s “real” weight or “I was a little dehydrated” weight. I’m going to focus on exercise rather than calories for a while – I’ve added weight training back in, as I’ve been feeling like I look flabby in spite of my size, so maybe after another month or so of that, the additional lean mass will make the weight loss easier.
Also, I remind myself (although it’s not always comforting), that while I’m anywhere from 2-5 pounds heavier than I was before chemo, my jeans are two sizes smaller. I’m kind of wondering how much of that is the outbreak of vanity sizing though. I can sort of buy that I gained enough lean body mass to go down one size, but two? I’m a little skeptical.
Plus I know someone who is my height and build, and is 10 pounds lighter, and I just wonder, sometimes, why I can’t get down to that weight. I’ll never have six-pack abs, but dammit, I’d like a tummy that isn’t squishy. It’s incredibly frustrating, especially since I’ll actually start losing weight from my face without significant impact on my tummy flab, which is really only okay up to a point. After that I start looking emaciated, even while having a gut. Grrr!
Hey Ceejaytee, I’m going to say something else that might sound a little crazy - are you eating enough? I know it sounds weird but I hit a plateau after losing 60 lbs. I was at 140lbs. I tried everything, cutting calories, exercising more frequently, increasing exercise intensity. I was still very carefully calorie counting/food journaling/using FitDay so I’m pretty sure of my calorie intake during that time (I started around 1400-1600 calories and dropped to 1200-1400 to try to break the plateau).
My plateau started in February. My May, I finally decided my body was done with losing and started to move into maintenance. I increased my calories slowly to 1800-2000 a day. In July, I dropped 2 more pounds (after I started eating more!) and I dropped 3 more pounds by October. I eventually reached my final weight of 127 lbs in February (nearly a year from when I started plateauing). I never cut calories below 1600 during that entire year where I lost the last 13 lbs.
I only have my own personal experience to draw from, I just kinda feel like my body got stressed and tired of getting a small number of calories a day and decided to hang on to every bit of fat reserves in case the “famine” didn’t end. When I started eating more, my body said “okay! I don’t need to hang onto these hips anymore, plenty of food around.”
It’s just my own personal pet theory, but eating more definitely worked for me.
I’m currently at 133, trying to drop down to 127 again after maintaining for almost 4 years.
lorene, I’m right there with you. My wife will eat pretty much nothing but junk food, and I am the one who has to go to the grocery store and pick out the pastries, ice cream, etc; or go pick up the Chinese food or pizza. It sucks, and it depresses the hell out of me. Yet it’s unfair for me to complain. A rock, and a hard place, I tells ya.
gonzomax, that was my impetus exactly, with the same outcome…I’ve lost ~135 pounds in almost a year.
How is it unfair for you to complain? It’s not unfair at all. Actually I think it’s unfair for the person who is trying to eat a healthy diet and avoid temptation to be requested to go pick up unhealthy treats that they are not supposed to be eating. Whatsit Jr.'s birthday party was yesterday, and I successfully avoided having any cake. After the party, I asked MrWhatsit to go hide the cake somewhere so it wouldn’t be sitting out looking at me all night. He did so cheerfully and without complaint. He also keeps his stash of Pop Tarts hidden out of sight. He did this voluntarily when I was diagnosed with diabetes, but I hardly think it’s unfair or unreasonable even if I had asked him to do these things. Not to be bitchy about it, but my health is more important than his sweet tooth.
I lost 1.4 pounds in the last week. Not too bad. My biggest challenge is trying to fit in exercise other than activities like walking while shopping and cleaning house. I know those are better than sitting on the couch, but it’s hard to find time to just stop and exercise. I get home from work at 6:30 or 7 every night, and my husband gets home about an hour later. I usually use that time to get dinner ready, and we tend to eat around 8pm. If I try to work out right after work, I’m really hungry and I’m also delaying dinner by an hour or so. Eating at 9pm every night is just too late. Sometimes preparing meals ahead works ok, but that’s not always doable.
I also have issues with exercise because I have MS. It’s not very severe at this point and my mobility is fine most of the time, but I can’t exert myself too much. If I overdo it, I often get really weak all of a sudden and have to stop. I took some yoga classes last year that were helpful, but I even there I kinda have to take it easy. How am I supposed to get good aerobic, fat-burning exercise?
My husband is off his “no sweets/pastries/cookies/cake/pie/desserts and Coke” resolution. There are butter tarts, ding dongs, twinkies, Coke, and chocolate in the kitchen.
It’s not fair.
On the other hand, what he does is his choice and it’s my choice not to eat that stuff. But it really stinks to have temptation right there on the kitchen counters. Luckily (?) I’m more of a fat-tooth than sweet-tooth person, but still…
I wish there was nothing but fruit and veggies to snack on.
I had broccoli with dinner tonight, no sauce, no cheese, no nothing, and it was… quite good.
I hope I’m retraining my taste buds to crave foods that are healthier for me.
I’m down another 2.5 pounds today which has cheered me up some. I’ve been really discouraged and negative about it since I ate so much over the holidays and gained a few pounds back. This helps, but I probably won’t feel excited about it again until I’m back to where I was right before Christmas. I hope that I remember next year that the pigout wasn’t worth it. I have six and a half pounds to go to my goal weight but I may reconsider and keep going once I get there.
I agree with this. My husband may be being insensitive (and, as I said, I know there’s a LOT behind that, which is fodder for a whole 'nother thread), but there’s no way he would ask me to be the one to pick up his chips and cookies, etc. I think there should be an understanding that whoever wants the extras, procures the extras. Of course, you may have other factors at hand, so I don’t know.
Karyn, just be careful. You don’t want to end up in the hospital again!
I think I’m OK because I’m doing it a lot slower now than I did in 2004 and I’m checking with my doctor regularly and my partner will tell me if he thinks that I’m overdoing it again. The biggest difference now is that I have to have willpower not to eat and then I had to force myself to eat. According to my doctor right now I’m fine health-wise and have moved into the vanity stage and she’s OK with 5 or 6 more pounds but wants me to see her again when I get there. I don’t have to be perfect - at my age I’m not aiming for a bikini body and I’m never going to look like I’m 20 again. At some point it’s going to start coming off my face instead of my thighs and then I’ll have to stop losing and just work out for maintenance and not weight loss.
Do you have a doctor that you see specific to the MS, or else your primary care doc? Also, I wonder if there are MS support organizations that might help you figure this out? A message board even, where you could ask people? Have you tried Pilates?
I’m sorry I’m not more help. I feel pretty petty, though, whining about having to get up at 4:40am to exercise, when time is a luxury problem compared to physical illness.
lorene and MsWhatsit, I appreciate your support. It’s somewhat coincidental that cbawlmer posted immediately following, in that the reason I must go to the store and do the shopping is that my wife has MS also and cannot drive, so that’s not her fault; I was just bitching…I’ve been very bitchy since the weekend.
I’ll blame it on PMS…in this case, that stands for Post M&M Scarfing…
OK, we’ll let her by with that one, then.
I admitted to my friends that I actually cried over pizza I could not have, so I understand the PMS. Imagine, a grown woman crying over food. (That really was PMS, the real kind…)
Yes, I’m lucky enough to be treated by some experts on MS, and am enrolled in a drug study sponsored by the NIH. Houston is a great place to live if you’re sick! (Except for the brutal summer heat…) They have told me that any exercise is good, and I just have to be careful and slow down if I start to feel weak or woozy.
I did Pilates once and hated it. Yoga is great, and often recommended for MS patients, but I have to take it easy. I can do poses that challenge my balance and strength, but really active sun salutations get tough pretty quickly. It just makes it tough to maintain my target heart rate for 30 minutes. And in the summer? Forget it. It’s all I can do to slog through the things I have to do, and I couldn’t even do much cooking or housework.