Weight loss plans that actually work

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So the neighbor wants us to go with her to Y and be workout buddies after the New Year and lose weight together. I’m feeling lukewarm about this idea as I’ve never once succeeded with any NY resolution that involved losing weight. At the same time, I recognize my blood sugars have gradually gotten to pre-diabetic levels the last few years and I need to get serious about my health.

But a New Years resolution? It’s so…clichéd.

Anywho, it occurs to me if there’s to be any hope of success this time around I need to have a plan already in place to deal with the almost certain lapse in routine that will occur in 4-8 weeks. Is there some way to increase willpower as it were? Granted, I’ve never done the ‘workout buddy encouragement’ thing, so maybe that will carry the day? In any event, I would appreciate any practical suggestions y’all might have.

2

Over the last year I have watched five of us in my extended family all lose 10-15% of their body mass. Some work out, some don’t. All try to stay active and avoid sedentary activities.

We eat a fair number of meals together usually at our homes but occasionally at restaurants. The one common item is that we all eat smaller portions than we used to and limit snacking.

So, in our experience - move more and eat less.

3

what worked for me was cutout most junk food and instead eat fruits and vegetables. Easy to do and not very expensive .

4

Over the last year, I dropped about 50#. I cut waaaaaaay back on sweets (ice cream, cookies, baked goods, candy), I added more fruits and veggies to my meals, and I stopped eating after supper. I found almonds to be a satisfying snack.

Now that the holiday insanity is all but done, I’m going to make an effort to be more active, tho the weather may thwart me till spring.

5

Ya, the easy answer is to move more and eat less. For me I like to eat about 1,000 calories per day since that gives me a noticable weight loss each week so it feels like I’m accomplishing something with the pain. Apparently, I’m an asshole when I eat that little so my wife has me on a 1,500 calorie minimum. The other thing that helps is having a goal. So there is a reason you’re suffering. When I was younger I planned a beach vacation so I could fantasize about looking good and getting laid while I was working out. Those two combined allowed me to lose 230 pounds over the course of about 3 years.

The last couple of years have been rough and I’m back up 150 pounds from that low point. Things are looking like I’ll be at a point that I’ll be able to constantly diet and workout this year. At 1,500 calories I will get back to my athletic range by October (down 80-100 pounds) which is perfect since my motivation this year is a week long backcountry elk hunt in October. So my plan is to lose about 3 pounds per week and to be able to hike 10 miles with 20% of my bodyweight in a backpack and 3 miles with 50% of my bodyweight by then.

6

After a lifetime of dieting (and not eating when I was hungry) and binging (and eating when I was not hungry), I spent a year doing the following three things:

  1. Eating only when I was hungry (Eating cures hunger. Nothing else)
  2. Eating whatever I wanted (Stop passing judgment on food)
  3. Walking outside for at least an hour every day (Gave me something new to obsess about)

The first two months were hell, but now I wouldn’t change it for the world. And everyone I know who has tried this agrees with me.

7

Does your gym activity have to be about weight loss? It is certainly possible to be more healthy without actually losing weight. You can increase your muscle to fat ratio, you can increase your cardio endurance, even just getting out of the chair and house and into an active mode three or more times a week has a tremendously beneficial effect.

So I encourage you to leave off the weight loss goals and just make “feel better and be healthier” goals that can be achieved mostly or entirely at the gym.

Having a workout buddy I think is a big help, provided that buddy is at least as dedicated as you are, and not likely to slack off. You don’t have to do the same exercise routines, but it helps even if all you do is go together on a reliable schedule and then split up once you’re inside the door.

8

Relatively small proportion of people can exercise their way out of a large daily calorie surplus. Arguably, if you are one of them, you don’t actually suffer from a calorie surplus because whatever physical activity you’re doing demands the caloric fuel to sustain it (see endurance athletes). For the average person wanting to lose weight, diet plays a much larger role than exercise. But exercise has important health benefits that diet alone does not provide. So, do both to maximize results. And therein lies the secret to willpower. Nothing boosts willpower like results. It’s a positive feedback loop. But it does require commitment to consistency of effort and daily routine. If you can maintain it for 4-8 weeks (per OP), I think you’ll find that it will become your new routine and you’ll want to maintain it to continue seeing benefits. Stop for a significant period of time and you’ll be back to square one.

This is what works.

9

I agree with all this. I lost 25 pounds a few years ago (and unfortunately still need to lose nearly 25 more), but what worked best for me was working toward being healthier, not fitting into smaller clothes or looking better.

Other motivations for me are pain management (my hips and knees hurt so much I can’t sleep when I don’t work out more than 2 days in a row), reduction in brain fog/clarity of thought, that powerful feeling I get when I work out and my energy and mood. So maybe keep track of how you feel right now and compare it with how you feel when you work out. It won’t always keep you on track, but it might be enough to pull you out of the valley when you slide into it.

I also used weight watchers’ app on my phone, which helped me understand roughly how much crap I was eating (though it is somewhat expensive; you can use myfitnesspal for free if you want to food journal).

10

Congrats. I was off my feet most of the past year and jumped up 20 pounds in no time, and then pretty much starving myself to keep from gaining more until a couple of months. And lucky me, just as I began to get around with my left knee in a brace my right knee has gone out. I’m out of knees and the future looks bleak. That’s a little pessimistic, the right knee may just need a brace for support while it has some time to heal.

But I do sympathize a lot, if I’m totally inactive I can’t eat hardly anything, I’m focusing on healthier food also, basically more vegetables, less sugar, smaller portions, and the after dinner treats had to go but I still need to eat something before taking meds before I go to bed. Good luck to you on maintaining from here on out.

11

I also agree that you should not worry about your weight right now. Exercise itself will provide many extremely beneficial heath improvements. Even if you don’t lose a single pound (or even gain weight), you will be healthier if you are working out on a regular basis.

You mentioned being concerned about diabetes. Exercise alone will help with that. Your organs and metabolic functions will be more efficient and your diabetes risks will be lower.

You also mentioned motivation, which is actually going to be your greatest challenge. The effort to do the workout is trivial compared to the motivation to go to the gym on a regular basis. Fortunately, the Y is a great place to start. They are more beginner focused and will have many resources to help you out. Here’s what I would suggest for you:

  • Commit to working out 3x per week for at least 6 weeks. Find specific times and always go at that time. Don’t let other things get in the way. If your friend can’t go, go anyway. If something comes up at home, do it later. Consider your workout times like doctor’s appointments.

  • Do some sort of group class rather than a solo activity like a treadmill. It will generally be easier to stay motivated in a class rather than on your own. A group class will have an instructor, who will provide valuable form and technique tips.

  • Pick a class which can be done at a beginner level. Talk to the trainers at the Y to find out which classes those are. They will likely be things Zumba (dance based), BodyPump (weightlifting based), and yoga (slow stretching and strength moves).

Keep your schedule fixed for at least 6 weeks to develop the habit. After that, you can be a little more flexible since you will want to workout and will generally make time for it. But regardless, you need to develop the mindset that exercise must be a normal part of your life. Being fit will mean your quality of life will be much better for the rest of your life.

12

I got a “pre-diabetic” A1C test and that motivated me to cut out sugar and simple carbs (I set a goal of between 30-60gm of net carbs/day) and I ignored carbs that came to me from raw/unprocessed fruit and veg. Cutting out sugar was hard but I have more of a craving for fats than sweets so eventually that balanced out. I unwittingly started following an intermittent fasting regime (16/8) because eating three meals a day is a pain in the ass and doesn’t match up with when I get hungry so I have a big cup of coffee in the morning with a slug of whipping cream in it for a fat boost, eat my big meal around 2-4 in the afternoon then I’ll snack on this and that until bedtime. I didn’t really change my exercise level–I have a fairly physical job although it’s intermittent effort and I have a bad knee and when I started this regimen I also had a frozen shoulder which restricted activity quite a lot.

Anyway, after a few months doing this my pants got loose so I weighed myself and had dropped a goodly number of pounds. Eventually levelled out after losing 25-30# and although I’m less strict about my carb intake I haven’t gone back to the sweets and bread/baked goods intake I had previously so I’ve kept it off for well over a year now. More importantly, I dropped my A1C numbers out of the pre-diabetic range and kept them that way. This is an eating plan I can follow indefinitely and plan on doing so.

13

I certainly understand the ‘eat less move more’ principle…were it only as simple to execute as it is to say. I was always a scrawny kid, but at one point in my 20’s I became super fit. This was largely a byproduct of being in the service. I stopped following a regular exercise regimen when I got out but didn’t really start getting out of shape until a few years after marriage. But something happened to my metabolism when I approached middle age. Over the years I’ve tried going on several ill-fated diets and have managed to lose 10 or 15 lbs here and there, but a month or a year later I lapse and am right back where I started (and then some). Thing is, I guess I dislike most forms of regular exercise, except perhaps walking. And that’s a problem.

Finding some sort of sustaining motivation is a problem as well. I hate that my clothes are tight and that I have a ‘gut’. I hate that I get winded running short distances. I hate that my blood sugars are creeping up, but recognition of these things has proved insufficient to make me change my behaviors in a lasting or permanent way. I need to figure out how to do that. Thank you all for the suggestions thus far.

14

We all understand this. And if it’s easy for anybody then we hate them.

15

Sugar and simple carbs are a huge problem for just about everyone in this country–next time you’re at the supermarket, go up and down the aisles checking carb content and you’ll be shocked at how much of the grocery store is basically off limits to you if you’re following a restricted carb diet. BTW, if you’re not familliar, net carbs are total carbs/serving minus fiber–see how few items for sale come in at, say 10 net carbs or less per serving. It’s eye opening and a little scary–no wonder we have an obesity epidemic in this country! When I go shopping it’s just a lap around the perimeter–produce, meat, dairy, paper products, done. Everything in the middle essentially doesn’t exist as far as I’m concerned with very few exceptions.

16

OP, you asked how to stay motivated so you don’t just quit going to the gym. Here’s what worked for me: make going to the gym automatic: no excuses, like brushing your teeth–or like going to dialysis. Nobody says, “Gee, I’m a little tired/busy/lethargic today. Guess I’ll skip dialysis.” Don’t think of it as a choice.

And while it’s true exercising alone doesn’t burn up enough calories on its own, increasing muscle mass is a huge help. Even at rest, muscle burns more calories than body fat. Incorporate weight training in your gym sessions, or you’ll end up toned from the waist down only. Consider splitting the cost of a personal trainer with your friend for a session or two. I learned so much when I did so.

17

Here’s my plan, I started out in the mid 400’s a year ago, and I’ve shed over 150 lbs so far

here are my caveats;
I am currently recovering from a broken ankle ( I suffered a car accident in January, it healed badly and had to be redone in August) and am on 25% weight bearing, I have to use a knee walker or half-crutches to get around, so mobility is limited
i’m not yet able to drive, so I need to coordinate my schedule around transport (Mom drives me around for appointments)
it’s currently snowing outside, and Maine winters can be nasty.

that said, here’s what’s working for me;
1; drink lots of water
2; no junk food, sugared sodas, avoid as much heavily processed foods as possible, simpler is better
3; no snacking, just breakfast, lunch, dinner
4; a salad with every dinner
6; controlled portion sizes
7; use the knee walker and crutches as much as possible inside the house
8; go to the gym for a half hour every couple of days for around 30 minutes on the weight machines

most importantly, change my mindset to accept being “hungry” (lets be honest, with the amount of fat I still have stored, I can’t technically be physically hungry with all those reserve fat supplies) accept that it’s normal to feel “hungry”, it means you’re burning calories, not storing them

eat enough meals to keep my body from going into “starvation mode”, simply not eating wont work, just burn enough to stay out of starvation mode

when I feel “hungry”, drink more water

now, bear in mind this 150+ lb weight loss was done with limited movility and limited activity, once I get more mobile, I should lose more more rapidly

the biggest hurdle is mindset, ignore your “Lizard Brain” that is urging you to eat constantly and mindlessly, accept hunger as normal, and push through it, it’s hard, really hard, but it is doable

let me just say that if it wasn’t for the car accident that broke my right ankle, I probably wouldn’t be here now, yes, I had let myself get that bad… looking back on it now, it utterly terrifies me how bad off I was, I literally feel I was weeks/months from death…

18

Make your resolution small and achievable like go to the Y twice a week with no further constraints. If you got twice a week for a month and work out for an hour each time, woohoo! If one week you run on the treadmill for 15 minutes and then leave again, that’s fine. Inevitably come February, people don’t want to ‘lose’ that time by working out and so they scrap the whole thing. Make being there regularly as a habit the goal and then you can have low effort days when weeks get busy without feeling like you’ve failed at the resolution.

If you’re changing eating habits, I’m a big fan of thought. I try to avoid saying or thinking that I can’t have sweets or fatty things. Instead, “I am not eating cookies today” or “I won’t be eat fried things this week.” Can’t makes food forbidden and tempting. I also really like the ‘today’. Sure I might say “I am not eating cookies today” for months but the idea that tomorrow perhaps I’ll have a cookie makes today’s plate of snacks easier to pass up, while “I can’t have cookies” makes me feel like I’m looking down the barrel of a cookieless eternity and then I really want one.

19

Here is what I did. My doctor recommended the Zone diet for my wife and me. This isn’t really a diet; it is basically eat what you want, but limit the portions. I lost about 30 lb over a year or two, then gained back 10, so typical. Then my blood sugar finally passed 7 (126 the way it is expressed in the US) and my doctor prescribed metformin. Over the following year or so I lost 20 lb, so was 40 below my max weight (280). That was without any actual dieting, just a side effect of metformin. I stabilized there for about five years. Then I went cold turkey on snacking and lost 20 lb the first year and 20 more the second. That was about 8 years ago and I have hovered above and below 200 since then.

20

MacTech, I’m interested in this matter of changing mindsets. This is, after all, ultimately a mental battle to be fought. What you describe sounds like an incredible feat…accept being ‘hungry’ as a way of life for an extended period of time while constantly skirting the brink of starvation. Yet, you’ve clearly done so given the amount of weight loss you describe. Does it ever get any easier? I know you said you drink water when hungry, but are there certain thoughts you try to program yourself to think when confronting that gnawing hunger sensation? What has worked for you?