Weight Loss

[KathyPsu19]

First a little background before I ask my questions. I am currently 23, 24 in February. I've been overweight since around age 13 or so. Quite frankly, I am tired of being fat. I am 5ft6 and weigh 285lbs :frown3: I decided this year, I am changing that, even if I only lose 2 pant sizes by the end of the year. At least id be thinner than I am now. Ive been reading up on various diets such as atkins. I love the idea of atkins but too many heath risks for me. Kidney disease already is in my family. I am a carb freak, frequently eating bread, crackers, cereals and pasta. I went to some website who told me to only eat 1200-1300 calories per day and exersize for 45 minutes 5X times per week. Now call me crazy, but I felt this was a little out of my league, being so heavy to start. I have to watch how much I work out due to an old knee injury and asthma(not severe), so 45 min is a little too long to start with. Plus ive NEVER worked out in my life. Anyone have any insight for me? Ive started what i feel is an okay diet but need help with how many calories(roughly) i should be eating daily or any possible diets that may work. Also if anyone has any diet meal plans they could send via email, that would be appreciated. Only conditions are that i cannot drink skim milk, no meals that have many ingredients/spices, and ones that are relatively easy to prepare. I wish i could go buy a ton of low carb items at the store but my pocket cannot afford that right now.

Currently, I am eating raisin bran(serving size) with 2% milk with a banana for breakfast.
A turkey breast(or similar) sandwich on wheat bread with little mayo with carrot sticks and fresh fruit.
Dinner varies but always with a large salad and veggies. Sugar free Jello for dessert if desired.

Basically, i am lowering carbs(not as extreme as atkins) from normal, adding tons of water with no sodas or sugary drinks, went from white to wheat bread, salad with dinner EVERY night, no sugary desserts or cookies only sugar free jello, adding in veggies which i never ate before, and working out 10 minutes on the treadmill each day until i can work up to more. With all being drastic changes for me believe it or not. I never realized how much crap, calories and carbs i was eating until i started looking. Thought to myself "no wonder im fat"

If i sound a little depressed about this, i am. All i want is to be able to walk into a normal clothing store and buy a shirt or jeans. Instead i have to buy jeans at lane bryant and if i dont do something now, i wont even fit into their clothes. Im a size 24 and its embarassing. My fiance loves me for me but i cant help but feel people stare at us and wonder how can a gorgeous guy like that be with her.

Okay, enough of my babbling, if anyone can help in any way, let me know..and PLEASE no bashing or making fun of me. It was a huge step posting this as i feel ashamed and embarassed.

~Kathy

[dawn474]

Hi hon, its great that you want to make a change in your life. A suggestion that I have is to try CAD it stands for Carbohydrate Addicts Diet. It is a little different than Adkins in that you eat a low- carb meal twice a day for breakfast and lunch and then you are able to have a Reward Meal for dinner which can be anything you want including bread and pasta. I did CAD for a year and lost 60lbs I still had about 30lbs to lose but than I got pregnant and gained about 40 of it back. I am currently getting back into it and want to lose at least 20lbs before my 30th birthday in April. I tried Adkins but it was to strick for me, I like CAD because you can still curb your carb cravinging with your reward meal. Look uo some info on the web and see if you think it might work for you.

And as far as the bashing or making fun of you about your post. I don't believe their is a person here who do that to you. This is a great bunch of people who are always available for support and fun

Good luck and keep us updated on how it is going

[karenj]

hey, I am in the same boat as you. I have decided this is the year I lose 6 years of pregnancy fat. If you want we can be diet buddies. I ordered a program (diet and exercise) that Tony Horton designed. I don't have it yet just ordered it yesterday, but if you want to PM your email I can get you the link to the site where I got it. It has dozens and dozens of people like us. It has success stories and pictures, it has a chat room and message board and they have coaches. The fitness adviors often give chats. Let me know if you want info. If not...Just know that you will do the best you can.

[KathyPsu19]

Thank you for the information about the CAD diet. I think something like that would probably be my best bet for right now. Its not realistic for me to have no carbs or very little as i would one day just lose control and eat a ton of carbs and give up all together. Its rather interesting how changing my portion sizes doesnt even matter to me. I thought that id be starving but i am just as full as normal. Would i be able to buy any books at a bookstore about the CAD diet that would include meal plans etc? I really need realistic meal plans. Ive seen a few online and they are not realistic for me. Things like wheat germ with yogurt and pita bread etc. Let me know and ill probably check out barnes and nobles tomorrow.

Thank you so much!!

[dawn474]

I know you can find their books on the internet. I have also seen them at the library and at bookstores. Try doing a search on the web, I'm sure you could find some sites that have meal plans. One site that I visit is http//dietlowcarb.com (http://dietlowcarb.com) they have a great receipe database and a forum for all kinds of low-carb dieters. They also have a weight section that you can keep track of your loses

[skpaw]

I lost 30 lbs last year and kept if all off by eating oatmeal for breakfast, eating less junk and trying to move my butt a little more. I do not follow any special diet. I am eating the same food as my family, but less than before. You know when you pick up chips or candy that these things will not help you lose weight. So I would try to have fruit or yogurt or something that has "good" calories. I think when you make your plate just put about 1/4 of what you are used to eating right back in the bowl (or serve yourself less to start).

As for exercise you need to check with the doctor before you get going with this. Since you have not been doing a lot, walking and water aerobics are a great place to start. (Many city pools or schools have classes) Water exercise you can do as much as you can start out by not kicking as high in the water or waving your arms as long. You will gain strength and be able to keep up after a while. It does not stress the joints like other things do. Make sure you check with the doctor before you begin to make sure you heart is up to doing this. If the water thing is not available for you, just dance a little in your house--at least you are moving!

If you have a day that you eat more than you should, don't stop trying. The next meal is the time to go back to smaller portions. If you eat out, set aside 1/2 of the meal or share with a family member. Resturaunts give you WAY too much since people demand it.

Good luck with efforts to become healthier.

[Ravzie]

Congratulations on deciding to make positive changes in your life! It sounds like you have a lot going for you, and you will feel so much better as you start to improve your health and appearance!!! Have you had a recent checkup? It might be a good idea for you to see a doc, get a once-over and discuss your diet options.

I urge you to read the South Beach book. This diet is safe, healthy, and easy! It was designed by a cardiologist for heart patients, but works well for others also. It can help you avoid diabetes. You don't have to count calories nor carbs. You don't have to buy those expensive packaged foods. The basic premise is that you replace bad carbs with better ones. You get whole grain bread, not plain white or wheat. Toss the white rice for brown rice. Give up potatoes, but learn how to make really tasty substitutes. Little changes like that and you will see weight start to fall off!! The hard part for me was and remains the cookies, cakes and stuff like that, but no good plan is going to include donuts, unfortunately.... You are provided with recipes for pretty yummy meals and even sweet snacks. I have to really control myself at work when there are tasty treats everywhere. The first two weeks are a little strict, but after that, it's not bad at all.

You don't have to run marathons to get good results on the plan. Any little bits of exercise you can tolerate will help, of course. It's a very good idea to continue to do some exercise at any time to help improve your overall health, so I encourage you to do what you can with any diet you choose. The more you exercise and the more you lose, the more you might be able to tolerate.

I hope you can get yourself a diet friend to help with motivation. It's always more fun to have someone else to talk about different ideas with, share recipes, to walk with - just support each other!

Best of luck to you. Keep us informed of your progress!! :cheer7: :toot: :gvibes:

[Karen_246]

First Kathy congrats on your decision and much luck in reaching your goal!!! Don't feel ashamed or embarrassed about this posting - you are making a positive lifestyle change and you shouldn't be embarrassed about that.

:grouphug:



Karen

[ouroboro]

My best advice is watch your portion sizes and eat fruits and veggies over the crackers, cookies, cake, etc. Drink water over pop and sugary drinks--read the labels on everything.

Dh and I are both trying to become healthier this year as well, I say healthier because I'm not sure that we'll lose any weight, just become more aware of what we are eating. We got an exercise bike and I do a mile on it everyday (about 60 calories) in addition to anything else I normally do. I like to walk but on cold days I won't go out, somedays I walk a mile or more, somedays nothing at all depends on the weather. Dh got me a pedometer to measure how far I walk and the calories burned but I haven't figured it out completely yet.
I've set the exercise bike on calorie count I do 30 at a time, its not alot, but on that setting I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something.

We try to check out the fat calories in everything we eat. Yesterday I ate a cup of M&Ms, it had 400 fat calories in it, I think that was the most I've seen in foods I eat so far, it really suprised me that it had that many in it! Fortunately I don't buy candy that often and I'm really trying to cut back on the little that I do buy.

Hopefully that helps you out. Salad is a good thing for you, a diabetic friend of ours had the doctor tell him he could have as much salad as he wanted, it didn't count against him.

Good luck!

[ignoramoose]

Good luck to you!! I think you will be amazed at what a difference just cutting out the crap will make. After you detox from all that stuff, your cravings for it will be gone and healthy stuff (carrots and such) will start tasting good (better, even) in place of. And water, water, water! Buy some sparkling water to mimic the feeling of drinking carbonated sodas. I can't even tell you how many Calistogas I drink in one day! Not quite as good as plain ol' H2O but much better than soda.

[Fidget]

Im heading to the library to check out the carb addicts diet and see what i can do.. i know i can not fully throw myself into a diet as i am nursing but i need to start working on the sweets addiction now! Hopefully in the next few months we will be able to afford to join the YMCA. The Y is great because they offer scholarships on a sliding fee scale so they look at your budget and see what you can afford. Everyone has to pay something per month even if its only 5 or 10 dollars. I dont think anyone here will laugh at you or poke fun. This is one of the kindest most generous places on the web and i think youll find nothing but support here! Congrats on taking the first steps. Eating less is definatly a big accomplishment, one im working on. :cheer7:

[Mary Beth]

Karenj, is that the Provida site? I have that and hope to start it on Monday. My daughter got it and lost 70 pounds in 6 months! She looks wonderful!

[karenj]

Karenj, is that the Provida site? I have that and hope to start it on Monday. My daughter got it and lost 70 pounds in 6 months! She looks wonderful!

No..its beachbody. I have not heard of provida. Good job to your daughter!

[Defenderofthefaith]

Probably the best way to lose and maintain the loss is to watch portion sizes, eat a healthy breakfast(oatmeal, yogurt, hard boiled eggs with multigrain toast easy on the butter) 8 8 oz glasses of water daily, lowfat dairy products and moderate exercise for 30 minutes 3 x a week. You need some healthy protein and fats(olive oil, fish oil) Slow but steady is the key--you might aim for 1-2 lbs weekly. Watch your sodium intake(1000 mg daily or less) God Bless!

[renegade]

It sounds like you have made a good start. To help you lose weight you need to raise your metabolism. You can do this several different ways. Lifting weights increases muscle mass, which burns more calories than fat, even while sitting around. Drinking ice water lowers your core temperature which forces your body to raise its metabolism to warm up. Your body actually burns calories by digesting food, so breaking your meals down from three a day to five or six a day keeps your metabolism at a higher rate for longer. You have to be careful that you don't increase your calories doing this, however. Food supplements may also work. I've found Choline and CLA(Conjugated Linoleic Acid) to be helpful. This can get to be expensive, though. If you can, check with a dietician to see how many calories you should be consuming to lose one pound a week. If you consume too few calories a day, your body goes into starvation mode and stores fat to compensate. Too many people want to lose the weight in a hurry and think one pound a week isn't good enough, but remember, one pound a week is 52 pounds a year. Good luck. :cheer7:

[skpaw]

Kathy, I hope you will check in with us and give us a progress report. I am sure that you are doing great!! Even it if does not happen quickly, if you keep at it, you will start to see changes. Post us a note and let us know how you are doing.

[lilmadness]

I have two family members that lost a lot of weight doing the slimfast plan. They have a good website with lot of info.

[denise1070]

I've seen a lot of people fail on "this diet" or "that diet". The simple fact is to lose weight, you have to eat less and exercise, and so many people don't want to do that, they want some miracle cure or miracle diet to help them be instantly thin. It's not going to happen, and Rarely do they stick with those two simple things, the only real things that will help them lose weight (less food and more activity). THey diet for a week or a month, lose a couple lbs then go back to binging. Or they say they are on a diet, in front of others, then pig-out behind closed doors. It will take a lot of honesty with yourself, a lot of hard work, and a lot of will power (the most important) to lose weight. I wish you the best.