We don’t seem to have an active thread and I know we’ve had many in the past.
This is meant to be a positive thread and reasonable suggestion are strongly suggested.
So I got pretty sick just after Christmas and had a tooth go south but as a bonus I dropped 10 pounds at a time when I would normally gain 5.
About 2 weeks ago I actively started a diet and the first few days were tough but I got my appetite reduced. My biggest issues are snacking after dinner. So for now hot air popcorn, carrots and hummus have become my snacks. It is helping. No Sugar ice pops and low cal Fudgsicles.
Also with the better weather my walking is back up and a lot of gardening, lawn work, and outside fixing stuff.
So I’ve dropped another 4-5 pounds. Recent high of 261 and now 246.
I hope to keep going, first goal is to get below 220, second goal is under 200 for the first time in way too long of a time.
We recently got a treadmill to get in steps on those miserable days where walking outside doesn’t work.
I had a CT Calcium Scoring done Tuesday. The results appear to be very good. The 6 Calcium scores were 0
0: No evidence of coronary artery disease.
1-10: Minimal evidence of CAD.
11-100: Mild evidence of CAD.
101-400: Moderate evidence of CAD.
>400: Severe evidence of CAD.
There is something about INDICATION: Mixed hyperlipidemia, but that seems to mean I have high cholesterol which I already know and am on a statin for.
I’m told this is very good news and I am not at high risk for heart attack.
For years, I’d been worrying I was prediabetic. My fasting blood sugar count was regularly in the range of 108 or so. (HEB grocery stores here do free blood pinprick tests once a month.) Every time I used my own blood sugar monitor to test it, I’d come out very high too - in the 120-127 range. At the same time, though, my A1Cs were usually normal, which puzzled me.
But then recently I was doing a blood draw (fasting) at a clinic from an arm vein (for non-blood-sugar reasons) and lo and behold, it comes out 91. Which is acceptable/normal.
That has me thinking maybe fingerprick tests are inherently unreliable, especially since the HEB pharmacy technicians were quite careless (such as pricking the finger and taking blood before the alcohol from the sanitizing wipes has even dried, potentially contaminating the sample.)
So maybe the whole “I’m prediabetic” thing was just an illusion and only venous blood draws are accurate. My good medical news for the time being.
I’ve written about this before, but here’s an update. Short recap: I had put on 60 pounds or so after retirement (a lot less walking, a lot of sitting around) exacerbated by Covid and inertia. I had a couple of health scares (brief episode of atrial flutter, having my A1c edge over the line into diabetes) so starting in December 2022 I made a determined effort to make permanent lifestyle changes with a view towards losing weight and being more healthy and active.
Since then I have lost 70 pounds and still losing. So that was my first goal, to get back to less than my pre-retirement weight and to drop one BMI weight category, from extremely obese to “just” obese. Then we took a trip to Hawaii in early March, and 7 days of eating out at restaurants didn’t do me any good. I gained 3 pounds, and although I lost them again pretty quickly when I got back home, I got stuck and couldn’t seem to get back on the losing track. Now, about 5 weeks later, I seem to be moving in the right direction, it looks like I will be able to log a loss of a couple of pounds this week (I weigh every day but only record once a week). My continuing next goal is to lose another forty pounds and to drop another BMI category from obese to overweight. After that, my goal is to continue my same behavior and hopefully either maintain or lose a few more pounds every year. (I don’t expect to ever reach the BMI category of normal, that would take another 40 pounds lost at least.)
Modest amounts of fruit (assured by a nutritionist that around a cup of just about any fruit is fine, more fiber is better; not just juice); soy nut butter on celery sticks (I’m allergic to peanuts; this is high-calorie but very filling); or a very specific protein bar (you have to be careful, protein bars in general can be both full of calories and addictive), Protein One 90 calorie protein bar. You get 10 grams of protein for 90 calories, which is just about the best ratio I’ve found, and keeps me going for quite a while. The other good thing about them is that they are not so delicious that I want to eat another one right away.
I forgot an important one: when I started losing weight I also started taking fiber supplements (I use Fiber Choice chewable tablets, but almost any fiber source can function this way). Fiber being bulky, I time when I take it for one of those times of day when I often feel hungry, and the fiber actually helps me overcome that hunger for a while.
Thanks for the OP @What_Exit; I’m happy to have a place to post about my weight loss journey.
It started out pretty grim in the beginning of 2023. At age 55, I was losing mobility – stairs started to be a daunting ordeal, especially going down them, and due to knee arthritis I had a pronounced limp whenever walking. I felt defeated much of the time.
Around February 2023 a buddy offered to take me to his CrossFit gym, and that got me started. I joined the gym and committed to 3 days a week. Crossfit WODs rarely neglect legs, so my mobility issues started to improve right away. Now I was limping around because I was muscle sore from working out, not because I was fat and sedentary. To me that was progress. I lost around 15 lbs. over the rest of 2023 (250 → 235). Feeling stronger and way better physically and mentally.
The real gains weight-wise started with a 28-day healthy habits challenge my gym offered in January. It kept me focused on diet. You build your body in the kitchen and sculpt it in the gym. The healthy eating habits I was able to keep after the 28 days include:
drink 1 oz water per 2 lb. of body weight every day
write down everything you eat
weigh yourself every day
don’t eat in the evening
cook for yourself
eat whole foods
avoid processed foods and added sugar
Once weather permitted, I added long walks (2-5 miles) in the evening, and I’ve kept with that most days. I need it to close my Move ring on the Apple watch – even on CrossFit days I wasn’t doing quite enough. I work from home, so if left to my own devices my day goes like Bed → Office Chair → Couch. Probably sub-1000 steps. I reckon the intentional walking workouts counterbalance my sedentary life.
Finally, I made the mistake of reading How Not to Die by Dr Greger. So now I’m transitioning to veganism. I tried to do that 18 years ago but couldn’t keep it up: I was newlywed, starting a family, and not much of a chef. During pandemic lockdown I leveled up my cooking skills to the point where now I’m the de facto personal chef for my family (wife and two teenagers). In general, I’m cooking them Hello Fresh meal kits and taking requests, but when I don’t have a request in-queue or a meal kit in-fridge, I’ll cook vegan.
Today I weighed 193 lbs. I dropped over 40 pounds in 3 months. That and my body scan results since January indicate I’m on to something.
I’m putting a tablespoon of ground flax seeds and hemp hearts on everything lately to get extra fiber. Bonus with the seeds is they also have omega fats and protein.
I have been using fibercon tablet for appetite control and this works. I cannot see any huge weight loss but recently am able to wear a dress shirt with a 1/2" smaller size so yay?
I just celebrated today that I can now shop at the Uniqlo store, where the largest men’s size is XL, instead of online, where they go up to 3XL. At this point, the only XLs they have that I can wear (aside from underwear) are the ones that are described as “oversized” but it’s a start.
About 1.5 years ago my employer offered health assessments. I landed solidly in the red zone so was offered nutritional counseling, which I accepted.
I met with the counsellor for about 5 months, and we went into analyzing why I eat. Because I eat when I’m not hungry. She recommended a book about mindful eating, but I think talking to her was more useful. She recommended that when I think I feel hungry I should distract myself and see if I still want something some time later. Distraction can be a short walk, some stretching, or even a cup of herbal tea. I also starting going to the gym again after an absence of 2 years.
I was doing better with my eating and then spent 2 months in the U.S. With my parents. Who really like to eat. So I wasn’t doing that good.
And in November my 60 year-old coworker died in his sleep. He joked his size was small elephant.
In January I upped my gym game. I signed up for sessions with a personal trainer. And we also discussed my goals. She recommended that I weigh myself once a week and that I take some measurements - arm, thigh, bra band and waist. She also recommended that I eat more protein in the evenings, specifically cottage cheese, which I like.
I’m down 5% of my weight since the beginning of the year. I have more energy. My clothes fit better.
Some weeks ago I found Cheetos at the grocery store and bought a bag. I tried to enjoy them, but discovered that they are really not satisfying. It’s not possible to reach a satiation point with them. I probably won’t buy them again. I count this as progress as well.
And home glucose monitors have an allowable accuracy range of 15% either way, e.g. if your blood sugar is really 100, it could read anywhere from 85 to 115 and still be considered an acceptable unit.
Really, unless you have type 1 diabetes, the grocery store / home monitoring tests are good for seing your trends, but the ones done at the doctor’s office should (in theory) be the ones to rely on. If your tests are routinely 120-130 at home, but routinely 95 on a blood draw, likely nothing to worry about.
Me: I’d managed to pull off 90+ pounds, about 20 years ago (inspired by my company being acquired, and not being able to get life insurance until I pulled it off). Yeah, that didn’t last.
In recent years, it’d been creeping slow downward; I was regularly 15+ pounds down from my all-time high, but still obese. I’d developed T2DM in the interim, and my A1Cs were gradually creeping up - never sky high, but 6.5 was not uncommon, even with Metformin.
I looked into bariatric surgery, but only got the initial stages done (online training) before loads of family crap happened. and I just never followed through. Plus it was scary. I was not all that far into the BMI that qualified
Doc suggested Ozempic last fall. I’m still on a relatively low dose, but have lost something like 45 pounds. That’s slowed considerably.
What I need to do is pay more attention to getting sufficient protein, AND get more exercise. I’m sure I’ve lost muscle mass.
To add…your diabetes is your diabetes (or pre-diabetes)
You have to be aware of your lifestyle, activity and food intake. Make decisions with your medical persons that fit for you.
I haven’t gotten to the point, yet, where xxx food is not satisfying - but I do obsess about food somewhat less than before. I still let myself get some kind of candy roughly once a month. I don’t wolf it down as compulsively (munch, munch, hey the bag’s empty!) as I once did but likely I could, if I was not paying attention.
People tell me I look a lot thinner. I really don’t see it, but I can look at my clothing and see that it’s not as snug as it was; in some cases, a top is something where I really need a smaller size. Bras: I need to be remeasured for those; none of them fit that well at the moment.
Jeans: I have several in sizes 18-20 in my drawer. Most of those had been a bit loose to begin with, to the point where I really needed a belt. I bought a new pair in size 16 a couple months ago. It wasn’t “loose” as such, but comfortably roomy. I bought the same pair, in size 14, and aside from a bit of a “muffin-top” effect, they’re pretty comfortable (helps that they are not narrow-leg, so my legs don’t feel constricted). So I bought 2 more of the same jeans.
Most of the older ones are not donatable, due to normal wear and tear, so I need to toss them to make room for the new ones.
Small increments, but happy to report down to 245lbs as of this morning. I hope to sustain 2 pounds per week for maybe 10 weeks before it inevitably slows down to 1 pound per week.
And I know some weeks might be more and some less.
Thus far this week, no progress. I’ve kept up by steps and mixed in other exercise but my meals have been heavier. I’ve done well with evening snacking at least.
Though just barely - my weight has finally dropped to the point where my BMI is below 30. First time I’ve been in this range in about 18 years.
Bought a new bra this weekend; a quick measurement at the shop showed my band size the same (wha???) but cup size lower (boo!). Well, not boo really… down to a size that will be MUCH easier to find in stores in the future. I only bought one, because I’m hoping to pull off a bit more.
