Weight loss and weight management catch-all!

beanman101283 wrote:

Good luck to everyone and their goals!

I lost 30ish pounds last year, then put on 5-10 again around the holidays. It wasn't unexpected, so I'm not too bummed about it. Really, I'm more happy that I went from having slightly high blood pressure a year ago, to normal blood pressure. It's nice not having doctors tut-tut about that during checkups.

This year, I'm looking to get under 200 for the first time in a dozen years or so. I've also been taking 40-50 minute walks 3 or 4 times a week, which is one of the few exercises I enjoy. I'd probably like to start doing some basic strength training this year, but, uh, I really really don't enjoy doing it.

But generally I can attest to Jonman's thoughts that diet makes a big difference with weight. I cut out a lot of the sugar, grains, and carbs in general. I also cut out just about all pre-packaged or processed foods, and drink a lot more water. I feel a lot better. I used to be skeptical that it would make a difference in how I feel moment-to-moment, but the holidays really illustrated how sensitive to certain types of food I am now. The carbs and sugar over Christmas made me feel awful. I used to eat that stuff all the time?? Truly, the US food industry is out to kill us all. :D

Speaking to this, 1700 is my alloted estimated basic calorie allotment on my usual somewhat active lifestyle. When I'm commuting my usual 16 miles to work and back, that allotment goes way up. Up to about 2600 or so. Weight training doesn't push it up as high apparently.

If I'm not doing any extra, I shoot for about 1700 worth. I don't sweat small variations from day to day so long as they're neutral. No consistent overshoots. If I'm doing cardio stuff for hours, I take extra protein and carbs to make the calorie budget. More carbs than protein, starch-heavy. I avoid sugar as much as I can. For weight training, the diet adjustment is more protein than carbs.

My grain and starch of choice is rice, preferably brown because that's less spiky in terms of blood glucose and keeps me satiated with less.

I do still eat cake or a soda from time to time. I find most too sweet these days, but a nice sweet treat once a week is a nice thing.

Like others, I've tried and fallen off in the past when it comes to calorie-counting. I should probably give it another try, just for the data. It's just tedious enough to be a mild chore that gets put off after a while.

And yeah, I usually once a week have more of a treat or less healthy option. As long as I'm strict with myself as far as keeping it to just that once, I'm good.

I can't overstate how much it helped the past year to have a partner who also had the same food and weight goals. I'd definitely recommend having someone go in on this with you to help reduce temptation and keep you accountable.

Last year, I felt like I couldn't make any headway.

Looking back at the 4.5 months of weight I tracked, I certainly made better progress than I felt like.

I lost 20 pounds in 20 weeks, but was feeling discouraged and gave up in July (partly because friends came to visit and I went off the rails). In the almost 6 months since, I've only gained back 10 of those 20 pounds.

I feel like I need to reframe.

I think a lot of my disappointment last year was due to high variance from week to week. Things like -2.4, +1.2, -3.8. That's still 5 pounds in 3 weeks, but that gain in between feels so much worse than just losing 1.6/week or even losing 1/week.

I think, for me, the key might be not setting such specific targets. I think I should look at like a 4 week running average and make sure that's trending in the right direction. If I'm losing over the past month, I know I'm doing something positive.

Rave wrote:

Jonman really appreciate your input. You're right maybe 180 is unrealistic, this was just kind of an arbitrary weight i picked based on 2lb a week loss. Having never actually worked out in the past with a set goal I have no idea what I should be chasing.

1900 calories a day still seems like a lot to me and i have been going well under that with minimal effort. I've been using the Samsung fitness app to track what I've been eating and I am making all of its daily requirement for intake. Just wondering if i should lower that intake even more. Or if this seems like a decent intake for weight loss. I know less is more ideal but like you said it will also be hurting my fitness levels in the gym.

I don't think 180lbs is unrealistic, I think the point was that 2lbs a week was unrealistic... and I agree, that's an extremely aggressive expectation.

In terms of caloric intake, that takes some experimentation. Online calculators you find are next to useless and you can't really get more than the most basic of guesses out of them. You really just have to track your diet and your weight over time (accurately and honestly) and adjust as necessary. If you're losing, keep eating at the level you're eating at, if you stall or start to gain, cut a few hundred calories and reassess. But keep in mind you need to look at somewhat lengthy trends here, so adjust based on your averages over a week or two, not day to day.

Your attitude and commitment to this sound fantastic, if you just put the effort in to track your numbers you'll get to your goals before you know it and by the time you do, you'll have figured out how to make "healthier" a lifestyle, which will make it a lot easier to stay there than it was to get there.

Thanks for the advice still toying with the trackers available on the phone. I had some success with fitness pal in the past(the barcode scanner is great for ease of use) but recently got a Samsung galaxy phone and really like some of the features in it's health app so thought I'd try it for a change. It has some short comings but the ability to track steps and GPS for running tied right in is pretty convenient.

Anyone use my fitness buddy? I'm not sure I love it and wonder if there are better alternatives. I've used it in the past to track workouts and build routines, this time I am trying out the premade routines to see how they are.

I think my long term goal is around 170lb which would be amazing. I just think 180 by mid April is where I was probably being unrealistic. I essentially need 2lbs shed a week to make that date. And with gaining 4lbs in the first week it wasn't looking to good.

How does everyone track calories/workouts I have always just tried to keep under my calories without subtracting my work outs is that the norm for weight loss or should I be adjusting?

Yesterday for instance I only ate 1300 or so calories, I also spent 90 min in the gym which the app says was about 450 calories burned. Should I be ignoring that or eating more to make up a bit of that difference. I'm finding the calorie intake really easy to make at 1900 a day but I'm sure the weekend will be more problematic since that's when snacking tends to be an issue for me.

Sorry for posting so much don't mean to be hijacking the thread.

Rave wrote:

How does everyone track calories/workouts I have always just tried to keep under my calories without subtracting my work outs is that the norm for weight loss or should I be adjusting?

Yesterday for instance I only ate 1300 or so calories, I also spent 90 min in the gym which the app says was about 450 calories burned. Should I be ignoring that or eating more to make up a bit of that difference. I'm finding the calorie intake really easy to make at 1900 a day but I'm sure the weekend will be more problematic since that's when snacking tends to be an issue for me.

Sorry for posting so much don't mean to be hijacking the thread.

Short answer - depends how you decided on 1900 calories as your daily goal.

If you used a calculator to determine your basal metabolic rate (BMR), and based your calorie goal off of that, then yes, strictly speaking, you should be accounting for workout energy. Because, by definition, BMR is only taking into account the energy spent keeping you alive, not energy spent actually doing sh*t. Note that some BMR calculators ask you to select an activity level, (e.g. from sedentary to athletic), and if so, then that's already baking in an estimate of energy spent working out.

If you picked a number out of the air, then it's really up to you. You could not account for workouts, and treat it as "bonus negative calories", or you could go by the book.

Ultimately, there's a tension between eating for weight-loss, and eating to support athletic performance (particularly when your emphasis is on improving that performance). It's up to you how you manage that tension. Honestly, try one way for a few weeks and see how it goes. Try it the other way for a bit. See how you feel, and adjust behavior accordingly.

"Best available research/analysis" is:

- For weight-loss specifically, reduce your calorie intake
- For "health" (cardiovascular, in particular), you exercise

There is some overlap, but compelling signs point to "exercise is NOT the route to weight-loss". It just doesn't contribute to enough of a calorie-burn, compared to your body's natural burn. I've had a monitored, "swinging for the fences," killer, cardio-workout register a whopping 200-300 calories burned. It would have been easier, and taken less time to just cut 300 calories. I also wouldn't have felt like I wanted to die...

There is a LOT to be said for improving your CV health, though - CV disease is the #1 killer... Worldwide!! Number one!

I don't want to say "only do one," but if the focus is the "number on the scale" (not my favourite metric), then it's your calorie-intake that will make 90% of the difference.

The first benefit I'll give exercise is it impacts your mood in a positive fashion as long as you're doing the right sort of exercise. However, while you don't burn much in the way of calories, doesn't it at least improve metabolism and thus the processing of energy in your system?

Rave wrote:

How does everyone track calories/workouts I have always just tried to keep under my calories without subtracting my work outs is that the norm for weight loss or should I be adjusting?

Yesterday for instance I only ate 1300 or so calories, I also spent 90 min in the gym which the app says was about 450 calories burned. Should I be ignoring that or eating more to make up a bit of that difference. I'm finding the calorie intake really easy to make at 1900 a day but I'm sure the weekend will be more problematic since that's when snacking tends to be an issue for me.

Again... where are you getting that 1900 number? Why do you think it's accurate? An app or a website is going to provide guidelines, but the actual number they give is going to fall apart quickly when applied to your individual body and metabolism. You really have to track your current "pre-diet/lifestyle change" caloric input, then start subtracting from it till you start losing weight. That may happen at 1900 calories, it may happen at 2400 calories, it may happen at 1600 calories... everyone is different.

Your workouts shouldn't really explicitly factor in. If you are consistent about them, and tracking your weight and intake, they just become part of your energy requirements and your calories will naturally adjust accordingly.

If I were you, I'd stick with 1900 calories as a goal, because you need to start somewhere. If you are able to eat less in a day and feel satisfied, awesome. But if you start to feel lethargic or feel like you need some more food, don't be afraid to eat up to that 1900 line. Just track. everything. Once you have a few weeks of this under your belt you'll be able to see a trend on how it's affecting your weight that you can reference back to your intake. If you're not losing, eat less. If you're losing on a decent pace, you're on the right track, if you're losing too fast, consider eating some more so you don't risk harm to your body and overall health.

Also, day-to-day is a useful metric, but what you really care about is weekly, bi-weekly, monthly averages. days of 1300, 1300 and 3100 calories is net equal to 3 days of 1900 calories.

ccesarano wrote:

However, while you don't burn much in the way of calories, doesn't it at least improve metabolism and thus the processing of energy in your system?

Short answer: no, not in any meaningful way.

Long answer: "metabolism" and "processing of energy in your system" are ambiguous to the point of meaninglessness.

Your point about mood is well made though. There's a linkage between mood and diet ("eating your feelings"), though it's complex, and highly variable from person to person.

Rave wrote:

How does everyone track calories/workouts I have always just tried to keep under my calories without subtracting my work outs is that the norm for weight loss or should I be adjusting?

Yesterday for instance I only ate 1300 or so calories, I also spent 90 min in the gym which the app says was about 450 calories burned. Should I be ignoring that or eating more to make up a bit of that difference. I'm finding the calorie intake really easy to make at 1900 a day but I'm sure the weekend will be more problematic since that's when snacking tends to be an issue for me.

You can do it either way.

I'd say, start with accounting for calories burned. If you exercise, you should eat those calories back for recovery, and to make sure you don't become god-awful hungry and become discouraged. If you're only eating 1,300 calories anyway, I think you're gonna have to eat to keep up with your exercise!

That said, tracking the calories you burn through exercise can lead to some poor habits. It may lead you to think you can "burn off" whatever unhealthy food you did eat or plan to eat. And what happens if you don't exercise for awhile, for whatever reason? Suddenly shaving the extra food off your diet can be hard.

So, it may turn out you don't lose weight like you'd expect based on your exercise. If that happens, try not tracking your exercise for awhile. It might put your weight loss back in line with what you're expecting.

The 1900 (1968 to be exact) is the number the Samsung health app is giving me when I set my weight loss goal at 1-1.5lbs a week and my date being Apr 13.

I had to set my activity level to 0 just to allow myself this many calories if I bump that up at all it starts giving me a higher calorie count well over 2000 which I've never eaten while on a work out schedule.

2728 calories a day is what it's setting for me to burn. My daily goal is to consume 750 fewer calories(? App says that?) I'm just not sure how it's arriving at this number I get that it's subtracting the 1968 and arriving at the fewer calories I just don't quiet understand what I'm supposed to be tracking.

I log my food and so far I've been under the 1900 every day, the app then encourages me to eat more telling me I am under. I have largely ignored that prompt and just let it be. The calories burned are always barely over my amount or just shy of it. I don't always have my phone on me so the pedometer isn't tracking all my steps. And since I have my activity set to low (for the sake of a lower daily calorie count) I don't think it's accurately tracking what I actually burn at work. It also doesnt seem to be subracting or adding my work out to that count as the calorie count is what I've eaten.

Tonight for example I ran 8k in 45 minutes
I worked a full day at work, and am still 200 calories shy of what I'm supposed to burn. I've also since finished dinner and still have 600 calories left to eat to reach my 1900 intake (which isn't going to happen). So I'm assuming I'm good for what I ate and worked out today. That said I lifted weights for 90min yesterday and also didn't reach my calorie burned goal. The only thing I can assume is that because I've set the app to basically seditary day to day life style it's barely ticking off any calories through out the day. It's all just very confusing. Im not in awful shape I've always kind of kept up working out, but tracking is totally new and confusing to me.

I think I'm good and will just stick with It, that said I did this last week and had the 4lb increase so I'm hoping this isn't going to be a trend.

Edit* cls33: like you said I guess I just have to start somewhere and see where my number lands. I'll give this a couple of weeks and see how it goes. Really I was just taken aback by the weight gain after putting in 6 days at the gym and eating healthy. I've never gained 4lbs like that before and I don't seem to be shedding it even now.

Rave wrote:

I think I'm good and will just stick with It, that said I did this last week and had the 4lb increase so I'm hoping this isn't going to be a trend.

You're doing a lot of the right things and definitely on the right track. 1500 calories a day (or less) is not a lot of calories for an adult male human of any activity level, so I'm a little surprised your body isn't screaming in hunger, but if it' working for you... sure. My concern there would be that you're not fueling your workouts, but if you have enough energy to exercise and aren't dying of hunger.... Just listen to your body and don't worry about feeding it if it's asking you to. Also very important that you eat a balanced diet of healthy foods. Since you're consuming so few calories you don't really have room for many of them to be "empty", so try to be sure almost all of what you're eating is providing vitamins, minerals or protein (vegetables, meats, dairy) and not empty calories (pretzels)

But there's no way you're actually gaining weight eating that much. That increase is just your body figuring out it's new normal... this is why you need to track over fairly long periods of time, weight trends aren't accurate over a period of a few days, or even a week or two. See where you are at the end of the month and I imagine you'll be headed in the right direction.

EDIT:
Are you positive you're accurately tracking everything you're ingesting? Including liquids? Anything you're randomly popping into your mouth while preparing food? Everything? Are you possible overestimating quantities? You may need to weight and measure for a bit.

I've definitely seen people who were simply not accurate in their calorie tracking and eating hundreds of calories over what they claimed they were and wondering why the weren't losing, or were even gaining weight. I just want to be sure you'e not falling into that particular trap.

Yeah I'm really more of an unhealthy snacker then a big eater, if I just snack on veg, fruits, it's enough to keep me sated. I'm surprised I haven't been struggling on the hunger side which is part of what is making me think my calorie count was to high. On my fitness pal years ago I remember my calories being closer to 1500 I also weighed about 15lbs less the though so I don't know if weight is factoring in.

The app is telling me my recommended is 55% carb, 25% fat, and 20% protein. I know carbs suck and that seems high so i may go for the higher protein and substitute that for carbs (?). The last 7 days I have been nails with those percentages though and under my calorie count. Though Saturday was bad since we had pizza for dinner hmm..

Speaking of dinner anyone try Nu pasta? My wife made it tonight for dinner and it is probably the most disgusting thing I've ever tried to eat lol. Needless to say we ate a smaller portion of whole wheat spaghetti instead.

Cls33: yeah I'm sure I've been tracking my actual food correctly. If anything I always add more then necessary like tonight for example we had that God awful pasta, I've set my single serving to 656 kcal there is not a chance that meal was that much. I really only drink water or coffee with cream, I may start some milk and protein powder but haven't yet.

Just weighing myself now and I am still exactly 206 so who knows lol. I'll just keep at it and see how I am after the weekend. May try weighing myself at the gym tomorrow to see if maybe it's a scale thing but I'm doubtful.

55% carb is definitely old school. You can dial that down significantly if you're used to ketosis, though I'd be a little conservative about that if you're not adjusted to it. Some people simply can't make the glucose and really do need some baseline carbs at least until they readjust. If you're trying to compensate for Estimated Metabolic Rate, fat is a better substitute for carbs, and they're tastier and more satiating.

It's not actually true that exercise won't make you lose weight, it's just that it's badly correlated and there's a bunch of factors that make it even fudgier. For instance, muscle weighs more than fat and your body recruits and takes that down hella fast (building gains is harder). So if you used to lift and start again, you're going to get gains pretty fast and that will translate to more weight - sometimes dramatically more weight.

In addition, your body naturally triggers hunger when you become more active, so most people easily eat much more without realizing it. Compounding this, your body will likely signal a great deal more thirst as you lose water in sweat and breathing and most people don't properly recognize thirst and mistake it for hunger. So you could easily eat way more than you burned without realizing it.

Why is all this relevant?

Well, if you're truly watching what you eat and really make no change whatsoever, even a 10 km bike ride daily will cut into your weight, if you weren't doing that before. Basically, your eating and your exercising are correlated, and that determines your weight and fitness.

But we already knew that, right?

If you're starting to hit the weights or the pedals hard (like going up to 50km daily), then I'd advise seriously upping your calorie intake proportionately on the days that you work out and then budgeting more protein after or even during. Starving yourself while working out will make you lose a lot of weight very fast, but it is a very bad idea. Not only is it unsustainable, you could injure yourself very seriously.

Starting weight: 204
Last Week: 206
Current weight: 198.6

So actually seemed to have dropped an unhealthy amount of weight this week. The flu or something got our family pretty hard last week and we are all still recovering, this killed me for getting to the gym after Wednesday last week. Hoping to get back to it tomorrow or Wednesday this week depending on how I feel. Did manage to stay below my calories but I'm guessing I'll see a bit of an increase when I weigh in again next week.

I'm hoping this is closer to actually losing 4lbs rather then 8 and 4 of these lbs are just me shedding whatever weight i jumped up when I first started working out. I'll be happy if I manage to stay the same next week or at the very least only go back up to 200lb or so.

Most of your body is water and you'd be surprised at just how much water we can squeeze out of you if we keep slightly dehydrating you for a very long time. That much weight loss in that much time without any remarkable ill effects or body changes is likely water weight especially because you were sick. You'll regain it once you're well and hydrating again. This is why even weekly weigh-ins aren't very indicative. A monthly trend is a better metric and you should probably still track it over several months.

Just wanted to throw out a quick "thank you" to whomever recommended riced veggies in this thread. I bought a few different varieties over the past two weeks and the wife and I have really enjoyed them.

You've saved me a whole lot of carbs and calories. My waistline thanks you

Bought myself a scale. The last few weeks I had weighed myself at the gym, and I went from 319 to 317.5 to 317, so gradual downward progression, but I feel like I'd be better off with a new bathroom scale I could use in the morning nekkid without (new) food in my body.

I've been able to maintain the gym, which is a good thing. I have not eaten take-out pizza. I had take-out Chinese once. I have not had any fast food outside of pancakes at McDonald's, which was more of a "I don't have any options available to me" resort. I've been able to avoid take-out on weekdays and don't have so much on weekends as I used to.

Keeping this up for three weeks is nothing new. If I can keep it up until next month, I'll consider it more of an accomplishment. By three, I shouldn't even be thinking about it.

My diet hasn't adjusted as much as I'd like. It's been a while since I felt over-stuffed, which is good, but I'm still learning what it feels like to feel full. This past week I haven't reached that state, but the cravings to snack are starting to diminish. Cravings for sweets like cookies as well, which is nice because that means even though I see them in the house I'm not fighting the urge to grab a packet and chow down. This doesn't mean the craving won't somehow hit me later, but I know if I can resist it that it will subside and I'll be fine without cookies again.

As noted in the Chef's thread, I'm looking to try and increase vegetable intake. Again, I know Chinese isn't exactly good, but we at least went to a more upscale restaurant that didn't prepare the sesame chicken the same way. It was very lightly breaded, though still drowning in sauce meaning plenty of sodium and sugar. That was my second and last meal of the day, but more because I wasn't hungry after that as opposed to "I'm hungry but I ate that take-out so I shouldn't". Two meals is still not good overall since you want calories to balance out, but at this stage my goal on weekends is to stay inside of 2,000 best I can since that's when I'm most likely to do take-out. Anyway, that's when I confirmed I like broccoli better when it's crispier.

Right now a lot of my meals include rice, the slim sandwich breads, or some pasta. I make sure to divvy up into leftovers to keep as close to a fist-full as my doctor recommended, but I'd still like to begin supplementing. I don't want to rely on bread, but get to the point where it is an option. Right now I rely on it too much, and there's no reason I can't use the Perdue Italian Style Chicken with broccoli, or crispy low-fat fish with cauliflower.

Lastly, red meat. I have successfully avoided red meat. I think the best way to avoid red meat, however, is to not focus on similar-substitution. By which I mean, asking for my usual burger in turkey-burger form from the diner is a quick way to be disappointed. Maybe at a new restaurant it would be fine, but at a place where I know what the burger tastes like and it is one of my favorites, I end up thinking of it as an inferior burger. Best to get something different off the menu. Turkey meatballs are also inferior, but in the end I really prefer Italian sausage with pasta and I'm refusing to make or eat that as well due to the high fat content.

Which I should note that avoiding read meat and something like Italian sausage is not a permanent change. It is recommended by my doctor first and foremost for my blood pressure, then my weight. The two are likely linked, so once I've dropped some weight I'll see what she says and see how I feel. Even then, I'd much rather red meat be a "on the weekend" thing. This same goes for eating take-out pizza.

The success I've had these last three weeks is establishing a way to eat a variety of foods I enjoy while reducing total intake to roughly 1800-1900 calories a day, sometimes less. It is definitely less food than it used to be, and now that Christmas is over I can look at my bank account and rejoice at the money I'm saving avoiding take-out so much. There is a notable difference, but I still need to adjust what I am eating. Maybe I'm still in too much of a rush to change things and I should wait a bit longer, but I feel like I want this to be a sort of "checkpoint". It's not the best improvement, but it is improvement, and should this effort to switch to vegetables more often fail, I don't want to go back to take-out everywhere and over-stuffing myself. I want to return to this state of a reasonable calorie intake with some of the greatest offenders removed.

And that's my journal for now. Will update in a few weeks.

I think reaching and establishing a new steady state would be useful for you, ccesarano. There's always this push for ever greater gains and improvements. That's all good. But sometimes it's good to just sit on something and enjoy it for a while.

You have already changed your lifestyle! That's a solid win. It tells you you can do it, definitely. I've found that for me, having a "stepwise" arrangement of eating and activity lifestyles helps with the inevitable backslide. That way, when I fail at a new lifestyle step, I don't go all the way back to the worst habits.

Over the past 3 weeks, I've lost 3.6 pounds. I'll certainly take it.

My short term goal is 225 (7.8 lbs) before my trip to Chicago in April (4/3/18 or 10 weeks from now.

I "only" need to lose .78 lbs/week to get there, so it's very achievable.

If I can keep that pace up for the year, I'll hit my longer term goal of 100 lbs total from where I started (though not my highest weight ever)

Height: 6'4"
Starting weight: 360.0 (02/02/17)
Lowest Weight: 298.3 (11/03/17)
Last weight: 323.3 (01/16/18)
New Weight: 319.9 (1/23/18)

Long term goal: 210

Decent progress for the first week. Just getting back on track with my water intake helps a ton. Weekends and days off I tend to not drink water at all.

[quote="manta173"]

Height: 6'5" Starting Weight: 320.6 1/5/15 Lowest Weight: 257.6 7/17/17 Previous Weight: 259.8 11/22/17 Current Weight: 268.3 1/23/18

Whew... off the wagon too long and I gained back most of my progress from last year. I was at 272 last week so it was worse than it is...

Holidays plus a bunch or trips due to a successful football team and a nerd convention are hard for me to motivate around.

I'm starting to see some pretty solid traction after two weeks of dedicated healthy eating. I weighed in at 253 on 1/10, and am down to 247 this morning. I long ago found that eating a low carb diet is by miles the best approach for me. These days I have a piece of frittata for breakfast (eggs, cream, mushrooms, spinach, bacon, cheddar), and a chunk of a casserole for lunch (chicken breast, riced cauliflower, broccoli, cheese), a family dinner that my wife can also eat (broadly speaking, meat + veggie), and occasionally a Quest Bar as a treat.

One big change I made is I cut out Diet Coke. I didn't think it was necessary, as my diet soda consumption never appeared to affect my dieting before, but my doctor shamed me into it. He gave me some whole spiel about how he thinks diet soda is terrible for you, that your pancreas gets tricked by artificial sweeteners and it screws with insulin production, etc. Even if I'm skeptical, I did feel like my diet soda intake was kind of extreme (at least 4 a day, sometimes more like 8) and worth adjusting. So after the new year, I went cold turkey on Diet Coke for three days. It was tough! I still drank coffee in the morning (but also stopped sweetening it with Splenda), so I didn't have trouble with energy in the morning, but at like 9:30pm every night I was just collapsing into bed. By the fourth day of no Diet Coke, I decided I could allow myself one per night as a treat, and my first one tasted about 10000x sweeter than I remembered. I was sticking to that for a while, but over the last three or four days, when the time in the evening has come where I have been allowing myself a diet coke, I've passed on it. I feel like I have crushed a powerful addiction, even if I'm not sure that addiction ever had any meaningful consequences for me.

Nekkid Monday Weigh-In: 302.6

This number is a bit startling as I actually gave the scale a whirl yesterday evening with clothes on and I came in at 313.2, which seemed accurate given the scale at the gym was estimating me around 317-318. Granted that was an old-fashioned one that it's hard to get a clear read on, but I was wearing a hoodie, a shirt, sweat pants and sneakers, all of which plus daily fluctuations can account for a drop when I'm barefoot wearing a shirt and jeans.

A ten pound drop without t-shirt and jeans just seems pretty drastic.

Regardless, I'm either going to weigh myself once-a-week or every-other-day while taking notes once a week.

As for an actual progress report, if I look back on my January I think there's a lot of successes I ought to be proud of. I've eaten out far less frequently, and each time I've stuck to my "no red meat" conviction. I've only had red meat once, and that was a steak my father cooked with broccoli rabe. While I don't want to create loopholes for myself, I decided it was a healthy enough treat since steak proper is healthier than the more common ground meat or sandwich cuts sold and used in fast-food. I've also finally stopped being a baby and am working on experimenting with vegetables. The grocery store sells them in packs that can be divided into three separate meal servings.

Which is also applicable to my use of rice. Instead of eating a bunch and then dishing out what remains into left-overs – which can often result in over-indulgence and perhaps even no leftovers – I dish out the left-over portions first and then have what remains. I've cooked pasta once this month and the same thing worked. This has allowed me to cut down my intake of carbs considerably without removing it from my diet altogether.

I've also been able to better plan my diet around what I'm eating. The only pizza I've permitted myself is the single-serving crust-sizes you can purchase at the store. I know ideally pizza is one of those "you should cut out completely" foods, but we're talking my favorite food to eat altogether. This is the food I'd eat every day if I could. If I cut it out completely, I don't know if I could last without one day finally caving, eating a whole damn take-out pizza, and then watch as it all falls apart again. This allows me to have my favorite food, control the portion, and I've measured the quantity of ingredients used. It's about 800-900 calories, which is certainly a lot, but between breakfast and lunch it's surprisingly easy to accomodate for. As such, if I want pizza that day, I ensure to eat light the remaining meals.

As a result, I've managed to avoid having take-out pizza all month. This attempt to plan also extends to take-out, where I know the days I'm most likely going to eat out and if I have a surprise evening (such as Thursday when a friend I don't see often wanted to hang out), I ensure that the rest of my week takes this into account.

I'll be honest, my first broccoli experiment was a failure and I'm not looking forward to the leftovers. I might try and shove some of it off on my father and brother so I can move on rather than put me in a negative mental space regarding leftover broccoli. I have cauliflower to make this week as well. While I'm feeling some of the old habits and cravings trying to claw their way back – I was considering getting a haircut Wednesday, which has a phenomenal cheese steak place right next door and thus I was thinking of getting a chicken cheese steak – I'd like to use my successes as inspiration to keep going rather than keep being in fear of falling off the wagon. I'm also trying to consider the entire week in my calculations. Super Bowl is on Sunday and the family will probably be getting take-out. Why not get a chicken cheesesteak then and just eat at home Wednesday so I can feel comfortable eating out Friday or Saturday if my friends wish to socialize and hang-out? It may squeeze the unhealthy eating into two days, but at least I can plan those days for the increased intake of calories.

So that's the plan going forward. Keep experimenting with vegetables, don't feel pressured to quit some things altogether, and plan-plan-plan my meals out.

It's been over a month since I last felt stuffed, and I rarely feel full while getting used to feeling satisfied. It's also one of the best months I've had in a long time mood-wise.

I'm a big fan of roasting vegetables rather than steaming. It's allowed me to finally eat veggies I could never learn to like growing up, like green beans. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and green beans are my go-tos now when it comes to veggies.

I'm back down to my pre-Thanksgiving weight now, so hoping I can meet my goal of under 200 pounds by the end of April. I think it's doable as long as I don't over-indulge in grains or sugary meals.

Height: 6'5" Starting Weight: 320.6 1/5/15 Lowest Weight: 257.6 7/17/17 Previous Weight: 268.3 1/23/18 Current Weight: 267.5 1/29/18

Getting back on track with meals and cutting down on snacks. Baked some keto chow brownies last night to help me have things other than the shakes.

Congrats on the progress ccesarano! The dolling out portions before eating makes a big difference for me. These days I typically eyeball it, but I am 100% sure that putting it into however many containers first makes it a lot more predictable.

This week was a slight gain (.4 lbs), but considering last week was a 2.8 pound loss, I don't feel too bad about it.

My work is sponsoring a 10 week weight loss program called Naturally Slim. They're paying for it, and all I have to do beyond what I'm already doing is watch a 30 minute video every week.

I've heard good things from folks who've done it in the past. Hopefully that works out well.

Knew there was a thread like this.

Hey everybody. Had a physical back at the first of December. Record high weight for me. Which I knew really, as some pants had been tight and other stuff the last few months.

Tried to watch what I ate over the holidays. But didn't really have a plan.

Thankfully some friends at work suggested our work gym. Went to check it out the first week of January and got going. Friend goes with me at lunch most days and we can get in a workout and shower, and quick lunch on the way back.

Work had some special deals going and I had sessions with dietician, wellness coach, and personal trainer. Trainer gave me a good weight routine and suggested 3 days a week of that and a couple hours of cardio. So I do the weights MWF and just elliptical the other two.

My workout buddy has been on me about food and cutting back on the diet soda, etc. The last 5 weeks I've had no more than 1 diet drink a day, some days none. I've had no burgers or steak. Chicken, turkey, and fish only. I've had a lot of wheat turkey wraps, trying to cut down on the bread too. No pizza during the week, that's been my one reward treat on the weekends. No bad snacks, just fruit. Lots of water.

I feel a lot better. From basically no physical activity to 5 days a week and big food changes for me. Don't really miss the caffeine. And grabbing lunch right after workout means I'm not that hungry and don't stuff myself.

Anyway I'm down about 13-15 pounds since the physical 10 weeks back. Wish I had measured the day we started working out but I didn't know I was going to jump all in like this.

So far it feels great and I hope I can keep it up. Thanks for reading this long ass post.

Nice work Stele. Way to get into a new healthy groove.