Weight loss and weight management catch-all!

jdzappa wrote:

Could use a little pep talk as I lost about 12 pounds over the summer and after taking a few weeks off in December I weighed in with my trainer to find I've gained 5 of them back. I know I hadn't been that good during the holidays but I didn't totally pig out either. Just turned 40 and have this sinking feeling that I can't do this, especially if it takes me months to lose and weeks to gain a whole bunch back.

You hear that little voice in your head telling you that you can't do it?

It lies. It lies like a rug. It looks for the first sign of a slowdown in progress, and siezes on that as incontravertible proof that the jig is up, and that success is impossible.

That is a lie.

Don't believe it, because it is flat wrong.

You can totally do this, as evidenced by the fact that you did it last summer. That little voice is in your head, as well as being a lier, has a chronically short memory, and wouldn't know the big picture if it got hit in it's stupid imaginary face with it.

The truth is that virtually no-one loses weight continuously on the way to their goal. There's nearly always fluctuations, and there's often backsliding. Neither are signs of failure, rather both are signs of reality existing and modern life being complicated.

I wrote up a big post last week that apparently got lost.

Starting Weight (12/28/13): 295 lbs
Previous Weight (01/06/15): 222.2 lbs
Current Weight (01/13/15): 223.4 lbs
Change: +1.2 lbs
Overall Progress: -71.6 lbs

My birthday was last week, and my wife had her company holiday party Friday night. I gave myself a mostly free pass. I ate and drank what I wanted, fully expecting to see that reflected in the scale. I did pretty well the rest of the week and am pleased to only gain one pound.

I'm hoping to get back on track this week, though after a hectic morning at work, I got lunch a couple hours late and didn't protest when they added fries to my lunch. That was a bad call. I should know better than to eat fries.

What's done is done. The next decision just has to be better.

I basically gained back any weight I lost last year. No real long paragraphs from me about how this time I'm really going to do it, as it's been what, two times, three now that I've said I'd never be over 300 lbs. again? Best I can compare it to is getting the car stuck in the snow. Everything's going great until you stop, and suddenly you have to push and push in order to get going again. Too often I find myself slumping against the bumper panting, and just going nowhere while the car sinks deeper in.

Well, I'm working on getting myself into a habit before I start my new job. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings I use the pair of free weights I got some time ago to exercise my arms and upper body. Tuesday and Thursday morning I will be doing sit-ups. Monday through Friday I will be doing the treadmill. This is my plan, and I'll tell you what, Monday after lifting weights in the morning, I felt fantastic. I sat down and just f*cking wrote, and I've been struggling with motivation since coming back home from my family's for the holidays.

I doubt I'll have time to treadmill before work, so that will likely be an after work activity.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and prepare to change my diet once more. I need to get groceries so I can prepare proper meals for the week, but I might not be able to afford eating healthy until my first paycheck. I'll see what I can manage. The strategy is to minimize carbs and frozen food so I can keep sodium content low.

I don't actually know my weight. One of the things that has been troublesome is that my former roommate broke my scale, and this was after he kept hoarding it. So I can no longer weigh myself until I can get a new scale, and the inability for me to weigh myself essentially meant I was able to more easily ignore the problem of adding weight back on.

So basically, going to get myself a schedule. Make it a habit. Then the struggle will be continuing the habit even when I have to go home and visit family.

NSMike, I haven't been on there in a long while, but following you on fitocracy was always one of my biggest inspirations to keep motivated. You're the reason that I started going to the gym and lifting weights. It was you that I was always hoping to make improvements like.

I hope you get things sorted. My journey starts over a week from today, maybe yours should as well.

Checking in and doing well! Down 3 lbs this week heading into the weekend which is tougher for me. Just reminding myself not to blow it.

Mike did you get a "focus" buddy yet?

Was at 311 this morning... I know that it is normal to not continually loose, but I have been there since my last report in... (I know only a week) It is frustrating as I was hoping to get below 300 before travelling to PAX South.

DiscoDriveby wrote:

Checking in and doing well! Down 3 lbs this week heading into the weekend which is tougher for me. Just reminding myself not to blow it.

Mike did you get a "focus" buddy yet?

We've got a group of four at the moment, always room for more if you need some support!

NSMike wrote:
DiscoDriveby wrote:

Checking in and doing well! Down 3 lbs this week heading into the weekend which is tougher for me. Just reminding myself not to blow it.

Mike did you get a "focus" buddy yet?

We've got a group of four at the moment, always room for more if you need some support!

I may chime in there soon...right now at the beginning I'm into it, but in about a month I'll probably be in trouble. I think my dieting Seven Year Itch is about at 7 weeks

I'm just gonna re-chime in that doing it on my own was terrible, but seeing a nutritionist regularly is working really well most of the time. Like a food therapist...but mostly a food cheerleader in my case, and someone who can directly tell me what to do if I'm eating out and *want* something (mostly involves how much of the something I get to eat, and how much of other food I'm already eating I might have to trade for it).

Pre-nutritionist, I felt guilty for all carbs of all kinds. Now I have an amount I get to eat and enjoy with 2 of my meals (1 cup of rice/spaghetti/boiled potatoes or 2 slices of normal bread at lunch, 3 cups at dinner - which is like 6 slices of bread, or 3 Greek pita breads - actual in Greece pita breads). Pre-nutritionist, I wouldn't have thought twice, however, about having the equivalent of 9 cups of carbs at dinner. When I started trying to lose on my own, I felt guilty as hell for having 2 cups at dinner.

So...having a person giving me a plan has helped a huge amount. I'm counting/measuring portions (in cups), measuring meat weight, and that's it. Not counting every single calorie nor do i have 3 apps (which probably works awesome for some of you, but i'd keep that up for about 2 weeks and stop...).

This has changed over time, but right now I'm eating like this (at 234 lbs, down from 264 lbs):

breakfast
1 cup musli
1 cup soya milk (my choice, i dropped dairy for allergies)
2 fruit (or one huge-ass banana...)

3 snacks throughout the day of:
2 fruit + 6 nuts
or 200 calories of whatever (though often oat+honey bars, or two small soya puddings)

lunch:
1 cup carbs
3 cups veggies (salads or boiled, grilled, friend in the olive oil)
1 tbs olive oil
150 grams of meat

dinner:
3 cups of carbs
1 cup of veggies
150 grams of meat
1/2 tbs of olive oil

I eat every 2-4 hours, trying for 3 hours. I switch the meals or snacks around whenever I want (so i could have 2 snacks in a row, or two meals) and when I lift weights, I always have the dinner portions right after (cause she's trying to keep me gaining muscle, and that's doing it)

There's substitutions I can make, things like, instead of 2 fruits, 1 small bottle of beer or one big glass of wine (or 2 shots of whatever, but i don't do shots). So on Fridays when my wife and I have a date, I usually sub some wine or beer for my last snack of the day.

When I started at 264 lbs I had more food (snacks were bigger and I had more carbs at lunch). Part of her formula for all of this is also, of course, how much I'm exercising, how often I'm mobile (like standing up teaching, rather than sitting playing PC games), and how much sleep I get. The more sleep...the more calories I get.

The only frustration is the time period I'm in now. My total weight is pretty constant, but I'm gaining muscle and changing shape. The trainers at the gym, AND the nutritionist keep telling me that at some point in the next few months my body will decide it's make enough muscle, and I'll start losing (and maybe losing big) again.

So far so good.

The weight gain. I can feel it in (on) my bones.

Gonna try again.

Starting Weight: 270 lbs (08/25/2012)
Current Weight: 193.5 lbs (01/09/2015)
Short Term Goal: 192 lbs by (02/01/2015)

Starting Weight: 270 lbs (08/25/2012)
Current Weight: 191.5 lbs (01/17/2015)
Short Term Goal: 191 lbs by (02/01/2015)

Bumped so I can guilt myself into actually posting here tomorrow.

Things have gone mostly well for me this past week, I've actually been sticking to logging everything in myfitnesspal since friday. A few days is longer than I usually make it. I weighed myself this morning and my weight is down. My class begins tomorrow, I'll use that weigh in as my "official" number. I may or may not post it on here, depends on how self conscious I feel about it.

fleabagmatt wrote:

Things have gone mostly well for me this past week, I've actually been sticking to logging everything in myfitnesspal since friday. A few days is longer than I usually make it. I weighed myself this morning and my weight is down. My class begins tomorrow, I'll use that weigh in as my "official" number. I may or may not post it on here, depends on how self conscious I feel about it.

That's awesome You can go into the class feeling like you're on the right track and ready. Good luck!

Starting Weight (12/28/13): 295 lbs
Previous Weight (01/13/15): 223.4 lbs
Current Weight (01/20/15): 220.4 lbs
Change: -3.0 lbs
Overall Progress: -74.6 lbs

This past week was pretty good. I ate a little more than I should have on Sunday - we went over to the in-laws for breakfast then ended up staying all day, eating some finger food during the playoff games and eventually dinner. I could have made better choices that day, but made decent choices the rest of the week, so not a big deal.

I'm glad to be feeling back on track. Over the holidays I was all over the place with food and really felt bad about it. If it was just the holidays themselves, that would be fine, but I was ordering french fries and getting chips & salsa with my Chipotle. It was bad. I'm glad that I've been able to turn it back on fairly easily. It took a week or so to readjust, but I'm feeling back in my groove.

On Saturday, my wife and I looked at a local fitness center. I don't think it makes a ton of sense to pay $30/each/month for access to some treadmills and weight machines. I just don't see either of us actively using it. I would like us to, but I'm being realistic. I've paid lots of money for gym memberships that have done little but collect dust.

kaostheory wrote:

Starting Weight (12/28/13): 295 lbs
Previous Weight (01/13/15): 223.4 lbs
Current Weight (01/20/15): 220.4 lbs
Change: -3.0 lbs
Overall Progress: -74.6 lbs

This past week was pretty good. I ate a little more than I should have on Sunday - we went over to the in-laws for breakfast then ended up staying all day, eating some finger food during the playoff games and eventually dinner. I could have made better choices that day, but made decent choices the rest of the week, so not a big deal.

I'm glad to be feeling back on track. Over the holidays I was all over the place with food and really felt bad about it. If it was just the holidays themselves, that would be fine, but I was ordering french fries and getting chips & salsa with my Chipotle. It was bad. I'm glad that I've been able to turn it back on fairly easily. It took a week or so to readjust, but I'm feeling back in my groove.

On Saturday, my wife and I looked at a local fitness center. I don't think it makes a ton of sense to pay $30/each/month for access to some treadmills and weight machines. I just don't see either of us actively using it. I would like us to, but I'm being realistic. I've paid lots of money for gym memberships that have done little but collect dust.

Man, that is some awesome progress. Congratulations!

For most people gym memberships are not a good investment. You should only join a gym if you particularly enjoy going there, or if you have a specific fitness goal that really requires it.

I think most people would be better off starting with body weight. You can try something like the seven minute workout which is great for fitness.

The secret is that you really don't need any equipment at all to get in shape. This is especially true for cardio. To me the machines just get in the way and add another barrier.

For more help though and to get other opinions on it, check out the fitness thread.

gore wrote:

For more help though and to get other opinions on it, check out the fitness thread.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I've been lurking in the fitness (and biking) thread(s) for a while. Most of the conversation is above my level of expertise, but there are certainly some good nuggets.

The fitness thread recently had some good yoga suggestions. I've been thinking that might be a good way to build some flexibility and re-center before or after work.

I may have to give the 7-minute workout a try.

Yeah those threads are kind of the deep end of the pool

I'm not in any way a professional but if you have a bike question feel free to PM me. I've ridden a long time and I recently got my wife into it.

For some reason, I am horrible with body weight exercises. I think used to be due to my being more top-heavy than the average... person, but now I just have too much body weight. I joined Weight Watchers on Thursday, but fell off track due to a stomach bug that started Sunday night. I'm still afraid to eat regular food, so I haven't been focusing on the tracking for the past few days.

sometimesdee wrote:

For some reason, I am horrible with body weight exercises. I think used to be due to my being more top-heavy than the average... person, but now I just have too much body weight. I joined Weight Watchers on Thursday, but fell off track due to a stomach bug that started Sunday night. I'm still afraid to eat regular food, so I haven't been focusing on the tracking for the past few days.

My wife had a lot of success with Weight Watchers. Their process felt better to her than tracking simple calories. Best of luck!

Ok. So, travel and laziness made me gain back much of the 30lbs I lost last year. Checking in here to keep accountable hopefully.

Starting Weight: 198lbs (Feb/2014)
Current Weight: 186.8 lbs (01/21/2015)
Short Term Goal: 178 lbs by (02/28/2015)
Long Term Goal: 138 lbs

Today was good and bad. I've been walking 3 miles almost every day at work during lunch for almost 2 months now, and just yesterday started interval training to alternate power walking or light jogging with regular casual walking. I can already feel my legs adjusting in a good way. So that is the good part.

The bad? I ate a whole box of girl scout cookies. I blame my niece. She's evil.

Good luck with Weight Watchers, Dee! I really enjoyed it in the past. I did the in-person meetings and the accountability of having to step on the scale in front of another person...that did the trick.

Welcome too, Yellek! You're already successful (in making me want Girl Scout Cookies)!

sometimesdee wrote:

For some reason, I am horrible with body weight exercises. I think used to be due to my being more top-heavy than the average... person, but now I just have too much body weight.

I was in the same boat (in my case not due to being top-heavy, just due to being heavy generally). One thing I learned is that common body weight exercises have easier variations that you can use to build up strength to doing the full version.

For example with push-ups, you can do "stair push-ups" or "wall push-ups" to work your way up to the full version. It's important to do them correctly though (you can find examples on youtube). If trying to do pull-ups, you can buy assist bands that you step onto that take off some of the weight. Things like that.

Personally it took me about 2 months of progression, from wall -> counter -> stair push-ups to build up to doing a proper push-up, and I still can't do many of them. It was slow going but the results were really visible! I still can't do a pull-up though...

Good luck with Weight Watchers! I think any program that encourages discipline and mindfulness can help. The key to most diets is being persistent, and not getting discouraged by short term results.

gore wrote:

Personally it took me about 2 months of progression, from wall -> counter -> stair push-ups to build up to doing a proper push-up, and I still can't do many of them. It was slow going but the results were really visible! I still can't do a pull-up though...

There's progression exercises to get you to that pull up too

On January 13, I wrote wrote:

Starting Weight: 312 lbs

Current Weight: 259 lbs

Goals:
Under 200 by 2016
185 as a major milestone
175 as the magic number

So between now and then, I had a bad weekend diet-wise and went up four pounds, but after a single week of observing diet & exercise more diligently, thanks to the accountability group, I am down to 255, for a total loss of 8 pounds. I imagine this burst will slow down, but for now, I'll take it.

Anyone else is welcome to join our accountability group. We're using a Google Hangout to stay in touch. If you're interested, PM me your email address and I can get you on the train ASAP.

I knew last week was a weird swing, but I was desperate for any positive change. This week is more realistic.

Starting Weight: 270 lbs (08/25/2012)
Current Weight: 193 lbs (01/23/2015)
Short Term Goal: 192 lbs by (02/01/2015)

For two weeks I've been on an exercise regimen designed to work with my new job. Last week I managed to stick to it, and also began my new diet. Though it's mostly the old diet of low-carbs, whole-grain only. I've made a modification to try and avoid carbs for dinner on weeknights since my breakfast cereal has carbs in it and my lunch is often sandwiches of a sort. Thinner breads, sure, but I want to try and minimize my intake on that. So what I often have is some chicken and corn.

I decided the weekends I'd take a break from exercise, but I'm not really liking it so far. Once I have proper health care and can afford to take asthma medication again, it won't be a problem because I'll be doing recreational exercise. Roller blading on Sunday evenings with my roommate, and the occasional swing dancing on Saturday with a friend of mine. But for now, I'm sitting here, struggling to do the most basic of errands after having given in and gotten take out on Friday night and today for lunch. I told myself I'd allow take out once a week, not just for health but so I could also save money, and yet I disastrously fell for some cravings.

So I decided I need to figure out a Sunday work-out that will get me energized for the day and willing to tackle anything, be it laundry, cooking, writing, or coding, rather than feeling like laying against the couch and half-sleeping all day.

Still don't have a functional scale, so no clue what my weight is.

(Corn is a grain, so if you're being selective about dinner carbs it doesn't track like a vegetable.)

The primary focus is to avoid most processed forms of wheat. I just figure it's better to get a bit more variety than finishing the day with rice on the plate, which tends to be a better form of grain as well since it's more like it's natural state (I tend to go with whole grain brown rice).

I'm sure there are whole books and novels about proper eating, but I'm not going crazy with it. I just want to minimize the bread intake because it doesn't digest as easily as other forms of food and is filling for longer, but in a very groggy way, if that makes sense. I'm open to trying to figure out additional vegetables, but sadly there's very little I enjoy and I'm trying to avoid potato if I can.

How about carrots? I got a recipe for lumpia with significant amounts of carrots and potatoes in it. It's how I like my lumpia.