SDMB Weight Loss Thread: May

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So I’ve drastically changed my lifestyle in the last year. I quit smoking in July, then a couple-three months ago, I should have been keeping track, I completely changed the way I eat- from literally anything and everything to pretty much a Mediterranean diet. Lots of fish, chicken, beans, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and good fats. Very little processed food, red meat, white sugar, or refined flour.

The exercise part has been on and off, due to extreme shin splints for a very long time- several weeks- but for a couple of weeks now I have been walking 1 mile every day and also lifting weights every other day. The shin splints got a lot better when I gave up my stubborn desire to start running before getting into shape by walking first, and now they hardly bother me anymore, and I am slowly and carefully adding running to my walking.

It’s amazing how quickly I’m shrinking now- I weigh myself every morning and it’s down almost every morning. I feel much better than I ever have, at 40. I started taking vitamins, calcium, fish oil, chromium picolinate, and magnesium. I was on the verge of diabetes, with fasting blood sugar that’s been slightly over the limit for a number of years, but I was definitely having a lot of the symptoms, like post-prandial sleepiness, belly fat, and thirstiness. Those are gone now. This morning I weighed 150, and when I started I was heading towards 170. That sounds crazy to me, considering that for the first 35 years of my life, I was naturally very thin- that’s my body type and the body type of many people in my family.

I never thought that *I * would ever be fat, and I got used to being able to eat whatever I wanted. And then all of a sudden, I was fat! The quitting smoking added over 10 pounds alone. But now I’m losing it and getting nice hard biceps and everything, and it feels awesome! My goal is 125.

Please celebrate your successes or let us commiserate with your failures for the month!

2

I joined Weight Watchers on April 7. A friend of mine mentioned that she’d been in it for a while, and when I told her I’d been thinking about it, she invited me to join her meeting. Mutual support and all that.

I thought I’d hate the whole “counting points” thing, but it’s actually kind of fun (I use the online tools, natch) and really pretty easy. I lost 3.8 pounds my first week! Then 1.2 and 3.2, for a total of 8.2 so far. That’s about 11% of what I need to lose. I’m also down 1.2 BMI points and am losing inches in my body measurements.

I think I have a lot of advantages in using WW. I already like to eat the healthy things they suggest: lots of veggies, whole grains, very little red meat, fried stuff, junk food, etc. My main problem is portion control, and the WW system just kind of naturally teaches me how, while keeping things balanced. I only had to hunt down a few low-fat/low-calorie items and make a few changes. The first few WW recipes I tried making were very similar to the things we cook already.

Also, I don’t have kids (who might balk at eating “healthy” or whose plates I might be tempted to clean), and my husband likes to eat the same way I do. So except for a few junky habits of his, we can still happily eat the same things. He makes our breakfast almost every morning and will bring me pretty much whatever I want.

And I work at home, so no temptation at work and I don’t have to worry as much about eating out or planning/preparing healthy lunches.

And I’ve been getting out on my bike, something I used to do a lot but has fallen by the wayside.

I’m 5’7", and throughout high school and college I was 135 pretty consistently. Right now (age 42) I’m aiming for 150 to start, and then I can think about whether I want/need to drop down further. But 150 will put me in the healthy BMI range.

Go me!

3

I went back to WW at the end of Feb. I’ve lost about 15 lbs. so far. The last two weeks have been really bad (crazy schedule, no exercise, “oh, why the hell not” food choices), but I went to my meeting this morning (half hour walk each way) and took a “no weigh-in” pass.

I’m ready to get back on track.

One of my goals is to be able to walk to work. It’s about 3.5 miles each way, so I’m working on increasing my a.m. walk from 45 min. to an hour. I figure I have to be able to be in good enough shape that my joints are no longer aching from the morning walk when it’s time for me to walk home!

4

I did Atkins about six years ago, and lost 20 pounds in about a month. I also dropped my blood pressure and cholesterol by twenty points each. My doctor was elated.

Now, at 50, I find that I’ve put those pounds (and more) back on. So I went back to the Atkins regimen. I’m losing 4 pounds a week, and never hungry. I hate to sound like an infomercial, but it really works! As long as you never, never cheat.

The hardest part is giving up the martinis, but at least I can still eat the olives!..TRM

5

My goal this month is to get into next “decade” of weight. I’m currently at around 162 (I weigh in tomorrow) and I want to be at 158 by my birfday at the end of May. Have lost 12 pounds on Weight Watchers since the first of the year…

6

Ditto. I’d like to lose about 15 lbs, down to 120, and while I played around with it a few years ago, I never did Induction properly like my fiance, who lost around 40 lbs. We’re both on it again and pretty much stayed in Induction for five weeks. Dropped 7 lbs during first 2 weeks. Long live steak, cream, and mayo!

7

What is amazing to me is how incredibly easy the diet part of it is for me. I see people struggling with their eating all around me, but it was so easy for me to give up the daily soda, fried foods, and all that. And I’m a foodie, so you’d think it would be even harder for me than most people. Food was entertainment for me, in a big way. But somehow I very quickly and easily switched to looking at food as fuel, and have had no real cravings or problems with food, and find it very easy to stick to 1500 calories a day. I do allow myself one day a week where I can have whatever I want without going too overboard, and that helps.

Guess I’m just lucky in this respect! It’s the exercising regularly that kills me. I like it but I hate it at the same time. It’s [whiny]haaaaard![/whiny]!

8

I’ve started sliding a bit on the eating better part lately. I’ve been keeping my calorie numbers in a good place, but I’m not been eating “well” so much due to work/school/planning for a major move in the summer. I need to start making stir-fry again. I’m actually eating some now, and I’m thrilled because I finally made perfect rice! None stuck to the bottom and none of the grains are half-cooked! :smiley:

I’ve been working at this seriously since the end of February and I’ve lost at least 10 lbs–from 198 to 188. (“At least” because I haven’t been near a scale to weigh myself since Easter.) People at work are noticing the loss and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments which keep me from getting too down about the fact that I still jiggle. 12 lbs more and I’m going to take a break and maintain for a couple of months. My goal is 150, and I may reach that next year.

9

I’m maintaining at 120 lbs, which is great. I’m still working on toning up my tummy for our trip to Key West. If you’d told me a year ago I’d be wearing a bikini I would have laughed in your face. I’ll put in my plug for SparkPeople. We have an SDMB team over there with about 40 Dopers. Sparkpeople is free and has loads of information and resources.

10

After having a baby on January 31st (obligatory picture from when she was 8 weeks old), and establishing breastfeeding, I’m trying to get back into the WW swing of things. It’s harder than I remembered. I am a bottomless pit, possibly due to the breastfeeding…the ridiculous amount of points I get for being an exclusively nursing mom is not doing it for me. It’s not emotional eating or anything–I’m just constantly hungry. Ugh.

11

Aw, lookit da baybee! Such a kooot baybee! Is a fluffy bed baybee withums ittle eyes and mowf!

Ahem. straightens self

Cute kid.

12

What is good weight loss plan for a pescetarian? I am a pescetarian, meaning that i am a “vegitarian” who eats fish. I am looking for a weight loss plan that will help me lose some weight while still not eating any meat other than fish. If anyone has any yummy healthy low-carb recepies that would be great too!

13

One of my favorite salads:

3 cans of chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans, drained
2 cans of tuna, drained
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice or vinegar
parsley or other herb you like
salt and pepper

Plus sometimes I add just a little honey mustard dressing to taste. I love garbanzo beans because they’re very versatile and nutritious.

And very cute baby! Awww!

14

Oops- add 1/2 bunch chopped green onion and possibly some green or red bell pepper, too, to my recipe above.

15

Still around. I haven’t been losing much, but I’ve been maintaining in the high 160s (166 this morning - lower than usual) for months. Which is okay with me. I’d really like to lose more weight, but I haven’t been able to devote my energy to it, so maintaining with not that much effort or insanity is good.

I have started to exercise again, though! I haven’t gone in almost a week because it’s been raining and I’ve only been walking/running outside, but as soon as the weather clears up, I’ll be back at it.

16

Seriously, Drain Bead, you should post a cuteness warning. She’s sweet.

I haven’t lost much yet (a couple of pounds), but I did join SparkPeople (hi, Ivy!) to try to keep myself motivated. If it’s not your thing, there’s also a pretty outstanding calorie tracker/calculator thing at www.livestrong.com/The Daily Plate - it’s got tons of entries.

Hoping to lose 20 lbs by mid-October. We’ll see - it’s definitely not going to go anywhere if I don’t start doing something about it. But it’s my last week at my current place of employment, and I mean to start the new one fresh and motivated.

17

I’m doing the Sparkpeople thing too, and it’s working pretty well. I’m dedicated to the food tracker and rarely miss a day of logging my meals, and I’ve shifted to healthier options as a result. When you see how many of your daily calories are taken up by that bagel, you quickly look for other breakfast options!

Exercise isn’t happening very much because I’m lazy. I look at the 5 pounds I lost last month and I know that adding exercise would probably knock that to 10 or 15 pretty quickly, and yet it’s hard to get motivated and find the time. But I’m happy with my 5 pounds. Clothes fit better and I feel better. And I’m eating healthier and making more food at home. That’s progress. Still aiming for 10 more (fewer!) pounds by the end of the summer.

18

Just had my week 4 weigh-in at WW last night. I’m down 10 pounds and 1.5 BMI points since April 7. Yay! I also walked a 5K this Saturday and am 99% sure I’m going to register to walk a half marathon on June 6.

Oh, and I’m wearing some old jeans. Double yay!

19

Hooray! It’s a great day when you can wear your old skinny clothes again.

20

Good! It seems like a *lot * of people use WW- I’ve never done it but am glad it’s working for you and others!

Today I filmed my new movie, Killer Shin Splints II: Return Of The Killer Shin Splints- This Time, It’s Personal. Look for it! Ouch!