I am happy to report that I did, in fact, lose 1.6 lbs. last week. I’m still not eating sugar and have actually been pretty good about it.
Unfortunately, my knee has made it difficult to get good exercise. I have had patellofemoral syndrome forever, thanks to a nasty injury I had about 20 years ago. (Who knew human knees were never meant to make hard contact with a steel ship deck?) I’ve been taking it easy and taking anti-inflammatory drugs to make it feel better. Sadly, I know this flare-up is due to overuse. Airman adjusted the seat on my bike so it’s higher, which in turn, will be easier on the knee.
We’ll see how it goes on Tuesday. I’m still losing because I’m being so anal about my food, but I miss not exercising.
My knee is much better now. I’ve been taking meloxicam daily instead of as needed, and it’s really made a big difference. I was able to do 20 miles today and my knee barely feels sore.
Second, I finally broke the 90 lb. benchmark, with a total loss of 90.8 lbs. Giving up the sugar really really seems to help, and I don’t miss it all that much. I also gave up bacon, at least for the duration, and I miss that a lot more.
Does anyone know if there’s a means to calculate the weight of loose skin after a 150 pound weight loss on a 6’1" male? I’d really like to know if I’m at an appropriate weight.
I had my first meeting with my dietician today to set up my meal plan. I’ve lost 4 pounds since I saw her two weeks ago, despite going out to celebrate my birthday with cake three times last week. 15 pounds to go, and I’ll be in the healthy BMI range.
Plus, I can now eat 1400 calories a day instead of 1300, if I add strength training to my exercise routine. And I can have fruit and starches again, which I had been denying myself for well over a year. I’m so happy about this! On the way back from the appointment, I went to a local produce farm and bought local apricots, strawberries, plums, and cherries. I had a piece of Ezekiel sprouted grain bread at lunch today, and I might have some rice for dinner. Aah, “forbidden” food.
I’m still going to stick to lower-GI starches, like sweet potatoes, and not go nuts with the wheat products like pasta (my downfall). The meal plan also allows me to eat sweets if I count them toward my starch and fat limits, but I’m going to keep avoiding them, too. I went to the dentist yesterday and got a clean bill of health for the third time since I gave up sugar. Before that, I always got lectures about my swollen gums and had an occasional cavity or two. I haven’t changed a thing about my dental hygiene routine, either (still brush twice a day and floss…when I can remember); it was just the change in my diet that has improved the health of my teeth.
Also, I had a blood test done last week and my cholesterol levels are excellent, and I no longer have a vitamin D deficiency.
I am finally losing weight again, after an 11-month (seriously) plateau. I had to give up dairy in order to start losing again, but I am. And now that I have, the weight is just melting off. I may have gotten 200 calories a day in from dairy before–not much at all, I’d imagine, compared to some others, and I always tried to stay within my calorie goal no matter what, so I think the dairy was doing worse things to me than just the calories. In almost two weeks of no dairy, I’ve lost five pounds on the nose, my energy levels are through the roof, and I no longer have chronic constipation. I started this as a 30-day trial of giving up dairy, just to see if I could, but I think that I will continue it as much as I can. I certainly won’t eat as much of it as I used to.
I am officially “overweight” rather than “obese” now. Yay!
In the two days since I posted, I’m having a devil of a time working this new diet plan. It’s become so ingrained in me to see protein as something I can have as much of as I want, and starches as something to avoid at all cost. Now I can only have 6 oz of meat a day?! I was used to eating 4-8 oz of meat at one meal, twice a day! I have to have 6 servings of starches a day now! I…I don’t want to. I’m afraid I’m going to start retaining water and get blood sugar spikes again.
I loved eating low-carb. Loved it. Besides the weight loss, my skin cleared up, my menstrual cycle regulated for the first time in my life, I had consistent energy levels throughout the day, I never felt bloated and tired after a meal, my teeth and gums were healthy…you get the idea. I don’t want to rebel against my dietician and keep doing my own thing, especially since my weight loss was stalled for over a year so something was going awry, but…this is tough.
Also, since I have quotas and limits on all the food groups now, I’ve found it’s actually hard for me to eat up to my calorie limit – e.g., yesterday, I only had 1100 calories instead of the allowed 1400, because I couldn’t think of a way to get those extra 300 calories without going over my fat and protein limits, which were already maxed out. I could have eaten 300 calories of high-fiber cereal or something, but I’m so resistant to turning to carbs. I had already eaten over 100g of carbs yesterday!
This is the other reason I loved the South Beach diet: I get kind of mental (i.e., obsessive and anxious) when I have to count things. On South Beach (at least the way I did it), I didn’t count anything, just ate from the list of approved food. I’m going to have to go slowly with this change.
gallows_fodder, why did you start a new diet plan? Was the old one not working anymore?
If you were feeling good and losing weight, I would just stick with what you were doing.
It seems strange to me to cut down on protein and raise up your carbs. Carbs make me (and many others) feel like crap and protein gives me energy and makes me feel fuller.
Eating too little because you can’t have more protein seems crazy.
Hit 200 on Friday. Hoping to hit 199 in the next few days. Having McDonald’s last night probably didn’t help, but I was exhausted. I had Chipotle the two nights before, but made choices to keep it under 600 calories, and thus within my daily limits (soft corn tortillas, tacos, no cheese or sour cream), so it wasn’t as bad as it could be. My dad’s been in the hospital, so I’ve been hella busy and exhausted. I tend to forget to eat and/or not be hungry in this kind of situation, even when I was much heavier and otherwise ate a ton. Christ, I turned down Lou Malnati’s on Friday for a protein shake and a Cliff bar. Something’s totally wrong with me.
Also, I saw 150 calorie a pint ice cream on Reddit. Bought a couple of them–one Mint Chocolate Cookie, one Cookies & Cream. Ate them both. They were pretty decent for 150 calories, though doing it two days in a row made my stomach a bit ishy. Link here.
Right – I lost weight steadily for about 5 months and then plateaued (and gained some after my mom died) for the next 16 months. I wanted to find out what my BMR genuinely was, rather than go by a calculation formula (that is a little different one every website that offers one), and work from there. That was one of the features this dietician offered, and I signed up for being regularly counseled since my insurance covers it.
Like I said, I’ve lost 4 pounds (probably more like 5-6 pounds without clothes) since I first saw her, so something is working. If I plateau again, I’ll talk to her about upping the protein quota and lowering the carbs. They make me feel like crap, too!
On her list of food groups and their serving sizes, under starches is listed “one 4.5” pancake," “1 oz pretzels,” and “1/2 cup of kidney beans.” I’m going to make the choices I know to be beneficial to me and ignore the junk carb options and stick to the beans.
Also, just a general FYI: adding a tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal to your food is a really easy way to get your Omega 3s and a little extra fiber, and it is surprisingly filling for only 30 extra calories. I added some to my Greek yogurt at lunch.
As of this morning, I’ve lost 76.5 pounds. Half-way towards my own self-stated goal. While I should be elated, I’m looking at the long road ahead and shaking my head sadly. I’m having a moment of doubt as to whether all the self-sacrifice and discipline is actually worth it.
I’m expecting to stay the same this week, following last week’s gain. My eating hasn’t really been under control and I’ve gone over my points.
I had a really weird moment yesterday when I had some crisps for the first time since before starting Weight Watchers in September last year. I measured out 45 grams and was happy to have that, but after eating the crisps, I felt really amazingly grumpy and just wanted food food food. I ended up scrambling a couple of eggs and eating those, then I felt much better.
And I’ve been in the same place- I think it’s just the taste-centers waking up and saying, “Oooh, hey, we used to eat much more back when we had these. Are we doing that again?” I’ve found, oddly, that just finding something else to work my mind on gets me back on track (reading, writing, exercising, what-have-you.)
ZOMG me too! And I’m only 1/3 of the way there, 50 lbs. I actually went a little batty the other night and went out and got some snacks and had a right old snacky time. Then the scale went down instead of stayed the same or up like it had for a week. Talk about negative reinforcement!
Also I take my measurements and they stay the same, or go up. Like wtf? And of course the scale…
But eventually I just shake my head and say “Of course, idiot. Of course it’s worth it.”
Thanks. I’m just honestly not sure I can take 9 more months of this (and that’s if I manage to keep at the same rate).
(And I’m completely there with you about the measurements and scale thing. There are weeks I wonder if I’m delusional about my diet and exercise)
