I’m tired of being fat. I can’t afford Jenny Craig, but that kind of setup is what I’d ideally prefer. If I have to think too hard and count calories for every bite I take, I’m just going to say fuckit and eat all the twinkies.
So what (reputable) resources are available to make this easier? Is there some kind of meal guide for people who aren’t particularly good at self-discipline? Snacks that I could eat a bunch of without gaining a bunch of weight? (carrots, celery, cannolis or whatever) I *can *go shopping for my own food. I just need a pre-made shopping list and meal plan. Because I know myself, and I won’t be as likely to deviate from a written plan versus having to wing it.
I would appreciate any tips you can provide regarding avoiding fast food and how to get motivated for the gym. So far, I’ve been able to cut soda out of my diet, and replaced it with one coffee, one iced tea, and water every day. That in itself is a pretty big deal, because I grew up drinking mostly soda as far back as I can remember.
I need to write a much longer answer for you, but I got MyFitnessPal for my smartphone. It made it easy for me to track my food intake. It’s highly rated, and free. I also got a FitBit for tracking my exercise, although there are smartphone pedometers as well. MyFitnessPal has one now, but that came after I got the FitBit. A home digital scale was very helpful to me in portion control.
Biggest success factor for me was attitude. I had early success with my diet since I was so strict to start with. That helped me stick with it later. That, and not wanting to be diabetic like my Dad. Normally negative motivations don’t work well in the long run, but this one happend to work for me.
Your Mileage Will Vary, as you are not me. My point is weight can be lost - I’ve lost 50 pounds between January 2013 and now. That was 25% of my pre-loss body weight. If I can keep at my current weight for the next 20 years, I won’t have diabetes and subsequent kidney problems like my Dad. I may be able to avoid his heart problems. And my BP went from normal to low - reducing my risk of stroke.
I second MyFitnessPal for tracking. If you have a particular meal that you are likely to repeat, you can put it in “My Meals” and enter it as one thing whenever you have it, rather than entering each dish separately. You can also scan UPC codes with the phone app.
A couple of my easy meals that I have all the time:
For breakfast, 16 oz coffee with 1 tbsp heavy cream, and a large handful (30g- I buy in bulk and pre-measure into sandwich bags) of raw almonds. That’s 225 calories.
For lunch, one chopped avocado (on average, 150g without the pit and peel) mixed with one can of tuna and a tablespoon or two of ranch dressing. That runs around 500 calories and is very easy.
I eat a lot of eggs, either boiled or scrambled. They are nice because they are naturally pre-measured. I measure most things on a kitchen scale.
Another vote for MyFitnessPal. Best food tracking application I’ve ever used, and you can use it on your smartphone. You really need to be totally honest with your portion sizes though. I’d occasionally catch myself underestimating on purpose because I wanted to stay below my calorie limit. Not a good idea.
I also recommend a Fitbit if you can afford it.
The Fresh 20 is a website where you can buy meal plans and corresponding grocery lists based on your preferences. I’ve not tried it, but they have good reviews.
Yep, my fitness pal is great. I’ve actually been thinking about starting a thread where we dieters share our complete meal plan from the day before, if it resulted in weight loss.
That’s where I get into trouble. I start to get bored with my choices, but just can’t come up with anything else to try.
So for instance, I stick to 1200 calories a day, so here’s what I ate yesterday and I lost a whole pound from the previous day.
Breakfast: PB&J sandwich made with 40 calorie bread and only a thin layer of PB&J.
Morning snack: Banana
Lunch: Ham sandwich made with 40 calorie bread and real mayo.
Afternoon snack: Fiber one chocolate chip cookie
Dinner: Sauteed shrimp and a lot of roasted cabbage
Dessert: Skinny cow Ice cream cone.
I weigh every day and although I had a tough time getting started, (it gets harder every year to remove my winter fat) I’m finally seeing good results.
Does anyone think a thread like that would help us?
I don’t want to post all of that in a thread, but did you know you can have "friends’ on MyFitnessPal and see each others food diaries and progress? PM me if you want to be MFP friends.
Installed Myfitnesspal, thanks for all the positive recommendations! My username on there is the same as it is on here, if anyone wants to friend me. Putting peer pressure to good use!
Fortunately, since I’m so short and wide, when I input the highest amount of weight loss (2 lbs/week), my daily goal is still 1640 calories. So that’s plenty of room for snackies. Hopefully I won’t have to battle hunger much.
I went to the doctor last week and found out that my A1C is 6.4. 6.5 is diabetes.
I’m on MyFitnessPal now, as well, based on a recommendation from the other weight-loss advice thread, and on a 1220 calorie plan. I’d love to be friends with all of you on it but I can’t see how to do that other than through Facebook or email. Is there a way to just use your username on there to friend you?
No, it’s a phrase that contains my real last name. I only have it on my computer- I haven’t put it on my phone yet- and I still only see the two options.
I will try to connect with those whose SDMB profiles have their emails.
Provider here- I’m seeing a lot of women with success on MFP. It really seems to help,because…drum roll…it’s a lifestyle change. I like the online WW too.
I have NO investment in this program, but today I saw a most impressive young couple. She has lost 15 lb since beginning to listen to male partner, down 200 lb in three years. He showed me pictures. This is without bariatric surgery. His claim to be half the man he was made me giggle, especially since the young woman was smirking about that. That’s (MFP) what they are using, in addition to her diabetic specialists. I see the A1 c going down. I did gentle lecturing, telling her I was grandma wanting to see her graduate from law school;) with her type 1 DM in control.
You can’t out-diet inactivity. You can’t out exercise bad food. There’s the rub, said Hamlet. Or maybe mis mother.
I also chose the 2 lbs-a-week goal, and my calorie allowance is paltry, but I am finding it surprisingly easy to stick to. Today I went way over my fat but that’s ok- I had to make a cream sauce for my turkey cutlets or they would have been incredibly dry! I have been on Metformin for a week now and I find it wonderful. I don’t know how it makes you lose weight, but I haven’t been very hungry so I’m thinking that’s how.
Good luck to everyone with their goals- including me!
BTW, my doctor says not to exercise until I get my heart checked (family history of early heart disease)- does it change your tallies, allowing you to eat more or anything? Or just a way to keep track of what you’re doing?
I still get hungry every hour or so. So hungry I can’t focus. I bring snacks to work: pre-weighed bags of baby carrots (weight written on the zip lip bag with a sharpie), celery (ditto), pre-portioned pretzel nuggets, pickles (my grocery has no-sugar-added bread 'n butter pickles that are great AND zero calories!), small boxes of raisins, apples, weighed baggies of orange sections. I’ve been making salads for lunch topped with a protein (usually lunch meat turkey), and sometimes I’ll bring a second salad for a snack. My trick there is to use the lowest calorie salad dressing I can stand. It’s too easy to add 150 calories of dressing to a 100 calorie salad. If I have low cal and portion controlled snacks I do much better than hitting the vending machines.
It does add some calories to your daily total if you exercise. I find that it overestimates my calorie burn, though.
You can customize the breakdown of protein/carbs/fat by going into “goals” and playing with it. I found the preset levels of protein to be too low for me and the carbs to be too high.
This thread makes me sad. Severe calorie restriction works in the short term, but it’s unsustainable and eventually triggers reactive eating binges. Eat enough calories and move your body. There’s no magic diet.
IME it’s balancing calories and activity. But after a lifetime of over eating if I ate as much as I wanted I would gain weight. When I started on 01/01/12 at 210# and I told MFP I wanted to lose 20# in a year, it put me on a 1900-ish calorie allotment a day. I’d guesstimate I was eating over 2500 calories a day before that on normal days. Then there were days when I was extra hungry, or celebrating or whatever. YMMV, but without limiting intake I would never has lost weight. Because I’d have never run a marathon every day. The walking I do now (and track with my FitBit) only earns me 400-700 calories a day. Lets me end the day with a beer or a small ice cream and keep under my limit, but would not have taken off 50# in 18 months.