Anyone else trying to lose weight?

[MsMary]

On the right track!

I've also only be losing by small increments the last several weeks.

Been going to yoga and dancing. Had a great yoga class this evening after work.

[Iolanthe]

Weekly weigh: 73.6 kilograms (11 stone 8 lbs or 162.2 lbs) - a loss of 4 lbs! Still looking like the Michelin Man though. Not a pretty sight.

[StevieG]

Good job Io! Moving in the right direction!

[lorin]

Good job. I don't see 162 as so bad but nothing is better for your health than getting those pounds (or stones) off.

I used to tip the scale at 300 !!! No longer, though. I am down to 165. I really only want to go down to 145. No lower. Then I am scheduling a mid life crisis face lift. (though really no longer in midlife, am I? )

[Iolanthe]

I'm aiming at 9 stone, 112 lbs, 57 kilograms, the weight I got to when I was pregnant, 39/37 years ago! Don't suppose I shall manage that, but if I lose the stomach and the midriff I will be happy.

[MsMary]

Sounds like you are heading in the right direction, though.

I fell off the diet wagon the last few days. Back to business tomorrow!

[aliantha]

I'd be ecstatic to see 162 again. (sigh)

I'm back on WW too, and have been since mid-January. Have lost 17.6 pounds as of last Friday, but I started at 240 (aieeeee!) and have a looooong way to go. Again.

[MsMary]

Good going, ali.

People tell me I look like I'm losing weight, but my scale ain't telling me nuthin'! Could be cause I've dropped heavy objects on it one too many times.

I really need a new scale.

[Iolanthe]

Weekly weigh (well, I have to tell someone). 73.4 kilograms, 11st 7lb, 161lbs. Not much loss this week, but at least still downwards. Take into account that this morning I was wearing pyjamas instead of the thin nightie (well, I changed the quilt to a thinner one and then it got cold again!).

[lorin]

I'm back on WW too, and have been since mid-January. Have lost 17.6 pounds as of last Friday, but I started at 240 (aieeeee!) and have a looooong way to go. Again.

17.6 is very very good.

Diets suck but just stop looking at it as a diet and more a lifestyle change. Do it now 'cause it gets harder as the years pass. I am in WW too and it is good for me. Finally got a good leader that stops selling product (can't stand their products) and deals with what causes the gains. I still have 40 to go but doing it very slowly. Of course I only want to be 150, no less.

[aliantha]

Interesting that you should mention WW products, lorin. I wrote a blog post about that (among other things), which y'all can read here:
hearth-myth.blogspot.com/2014/03/curmudgeon-corner-weight-loss-for-fun.html

I am pretty much a pessimist when it comes to whether the "lifestyle change" will stick this time. It seems like as soon as I've established the new paradigm, some real life event comes along and upsets all the progress I've made. Or my weight loss stalls out, and I don't have the wherewithal to make the kinds of additional changes that will get me off the plateau. And as I say in the blog post, I do think the deck is stacked against us to a degree: on the one hand, you've got the commercial food industry pushing us to consume their irresistible crap; and on the other, you've got a weight loss industry that would go out of business if their programs actually worked long-term (and that, like WW, sell their own crap food on the side). Couple that with our modern, mostly sedentary lifestyle, and most of us are screwed.

[Linna Heartbooger]

I am pretty much a pessimist when it comes to whether the "lifestyle change" will stick this time. It seems like as soon as I've established the new paradigm, some real life event comes along and upsets all the progress I've made. Or my weight loss stalls out, and I don't have the wherewithal to make the kinds of additional changes that will get me off the plateau. And as I say in the blog post, I do think the deck is stacked against us to a degree: on the one hand, you've got the commercial food industry pushing us to consume their irresistible crap; and on the other, you've got a weight loss industry that would go out of business if their programs actually worked long-term (and that, like WW, sell their own crap food on the side). Couple that with our modern, mostly sedentary lifestyle, and most of us are screwed.

Hey, Ali... I'm gonna ask for your permission to contradict and/or challenge you three different ways... :blinking innocently:

So, umm, may I have permission to contradict you on stuff to do with these most ridiculously personal of topics... your lifestyle, changing yourself, and how you take care of your own body?
(I'm not gonna speak unless you say I have permission here; seriously, this is personal stuff.)

[aliantha]

I am pretty much a pessimist when it comes to whether the "lifestyle change" will stick this time. It seems like as soon as I've established the new paradigm, some real life event comes along and upsets all the progress I've made. Or my weight loss stalls out, and I don't have the wherewithal to make the kinds of additional changes that will get me off the plateau. And as I say in the blog post, I do think the deck is stacked against us to a degree: on the one hand, you've got the commercial food industry pushing us to consume their irresistible crap; and on the other, you've got a weight loss industry that would go out of business if their programs actually worked long-term (and that, like WW, sell their own crap food on the side). Couple that with our modern, mostly sedentary lifestyle, and most of us are screwed.

Hey, Ali... I'm gonna ask for your permission to contradict and/or challenge you three different ways... :blinking innocently:

So, umm, may I have permission to contradict you on stuff to do with these most ridiculously personal of topics... your lifestyle, changing yourself, and how you take care of your own body?
(I'm not gonna speak unless you say I have permission here; seriously, this is personal stuff.)

I'd prefer not. Sorry, Linna. There are factors involved that I'd rather not share here.

And I appreciate your asking first. Too many of my real-life friends just open their mouths, and then can't understand when I get mad at them.

Edited to add: 19.4 lost, as of today.

[Linna Heartbooger]

I'd prefer not. Sorry, Linna. There are factors involved that I'd rather not share here.

That is SOOOO O-kay!
I read your blog post and it just sounds like this process is always just plain difficult and discouraging for ya.

And I appreciate your asking first. Too many of my real-life friends just open their mouths, and then can't understand when I get mad at them.

Ahh, humans!
A friend hears a story about "so-and-so" having great success working on something that appears similar to what you are working on...
...but maybe "so-and-so" didn't even correctly interpret the factors that truly "made things work" when they told the story in the first place...
...nevertheless your friend goes, "You should just do ______, like so-and-so did!"
(and that's probably not even a worst-case-scenario... am I on the right track here?)

Edited to add: 19.4 lost, as of today.

Woo-hoo!
That number was 17.6 just as of like... March 21, I think you said.

Finally got a good leader that stops selling product (can't stand their products) and deals with what causes the gains.

Also, to you lorin - neat! This sounds good!

[lorin]

Interesting that you should mention WW products, lorin. I wrote a blog post about that (among other things), which y'all can read here:
hearth-myth.blogspot.com/2014/03/curmudgeon-corner-weight-loss-for-fun.html

I am pretty much a pessimist when it comes to whether the "lifestyle change" will stick this time. It seems like as soon as I've established the new paradigm, some real life event comes along and upsets all the progress I've made. Or my weight loss stalls out, and I don't have the wherewithal to make the kinds of additional changes that will get me off the plateau. And as I say in the blog post, I do think the deck is stacked against us to a degree: on the one hand, you've got the commercial food industry pushing us to consume their irresistible crap; and on the other, you've got a weight loss industry that would go out of business if their programs actually worked long-term (and that, like WW, sell their own crap food on the side). Couple that with our modern, mostly sedentary lifestyle, and most of us are screwed.

I just read your blog. Right on point. I think the WW products for the most part are awful disgusting crap. I think they are designed to keep you hungry. One thing that always had me wondering is that there are two approaches to 'dieting'. One is that you can't deprive yourself, that willpower doesn't work. That you have to find peace with your urges. The other is that 'bad' foods trigger you into binges. I tend to believe, for me, that I have to detoxify from all bad foods. That one bite of bad food sends me into urges, like an alcoholic. I believe the WW products, and all these diet foods, are designed to bring on urges and eventually binges. I wish my leader was right, that we have to 'reward' ourselves with little treats. Its hasn't worked for me. If I have crap in the house, any crap it calls me, it whispers to me until it is gone. But the principal and approach seems to be the most workable. The group support works and I think it depends a lot on the leader you get.

I think really the only way to win the battle is movement, lots of movement.

[Iolanthe]

I'm doing this on my own, with the help of my daughter in law and my son (who always likes to get his oar in) and my daughter. I try to keep to somewhere under 1400 calaries a day. My diet has completely changed. Milk is measured out each day (96 calaries) until it has gone - usually breakfast plus 3 cups of tea (tea is 1 calary). I also have fruit teas to fill in the gaps (4 calaries). Instead of a ham roll or sandwich for lunch, with a cake, I have salad - lettuce, cherry tomatoes (5), 1 oz beetroot not in vinegar, with something like 1/3 of a tin of tuna, half a can of mackeral fillets, or chicken breast followed by fruit (grapes, melon, blueberries etc.). The evening meal can be a bit of a problem as hubby likes his pork chops, liver bacon & onions etc., but I now cook myself something different and have the same veg plus 1 small potato with him. I find I can cook myself a chicken breast, plus some other bits of breast that I can use cold the next couple of days with my salad lunch. I am enjoying this new way of eating.

One thing I have noticed: since I started this new way of eating my constant heartburn has disappeared. Today however I was at a day conference and had no choice but the sandwiches (there was no salad included in the buffet!) and I had heartburn all afternoon!! I obviously need to keep away from bread. I've had no sugar in tea for weeks now.

This is working. I'm not tempted to eat chocolate, cakes, ice cream - and lots of other things that I know are high calary or high in fat and sugar. The trousers I wore today definitely felt looser.

[MsMary]

I'm doing WW but I eat my own food, not generally buying theirs.

I used to buy WW whole wheat bread, before I was on WW, not for weight loss, but because I like the size of the slices. Most of the bread I can buy here, the slices are too big. But I can't get WW wheat bread around here anymore.

The only other WW product I like is their chocolate fudge mini ice cream bars. They're only one point and they're pretty filling for me.

I use some South Beach meal bars and snack bars cause the high protein content makes me feel satisfied longer.

But mostly, as I said, I eat real food.

[lorin]

I used to buy WW whole wheat bread, before I was on WW, not for weight loss, but because I like the size of the slices. Most of the bread I can buy here, the slices are too big. But I can't get WW wheat bread around here anymore.

The Fiber One low cal bread is just like the WW.

[MsMary]

I used to buy WW whole wheat bread, before I was on WW, not for weight loss, but because I like the size of the slices. Most of the bread I can buy here, the slices are too big. But I can't get WW wheat bread around here anymore.

The Fiber One low cal bread is just like the WW.

I don't recall ever seeing that brand locally. In order for me to be able to use that type it would need to be:
- kosher
- dairy free ("parve")
- available in my local supermarket

I've looked pretty extensively at what is available in my supermarket and pretty sure that is not. (Or if it is, it's not kosher, so I passed it by.)

And therein lies my problem. I used to use Arnold's 100% stone ground whole wheat bread, which has the size slices I like, no high fructose corn syrup, is kosher parve, and two slices (for a sandwich) is only 3 points (one point more than WW but I can live with that).

My Publix supermarket stopped carrying it a couple of years ago and told us it's not made anymore. (They always tell us that when a product we like disappears from their shelves, and we often find it's not true when we shop in other states.) My husband imported a bunch of loaves of the preferred Arnold bread when he was making frequent trips to NY, but he's not going to be going there regularly anymore.

Now my supermarket only has the Arnold's Dutch Country whole wheat bread: It's good taste and ingredient-wise but the slices are too big and two slices is 5 points. So I'll eat a slice but not a sandwich - too much carbs.

It's quite frustrating. If I had the time I'd bake my own bread to get what I want.

[SoulBiter]

My wife is 2.5lbs from her goal weight on WW and she has been doing WW for about 3 years. It was a long trip. However we have learned a lot in three years.

1. Stay away from the inside of the aisles at the grocery store and stick with the walls. The processed foods are in the aisles.
2. Processed foods are 95% (or more) bad. There is so much crap added to them, it doesn't surprise me that people have a hard time with weight. the other factor with processed foods. They are inexpensive. Double whammy!
3. Eating healthy is more expensive. See above.
4. Quit thinking diet and think eating healthy.
5. You don't have to eat WW. We buy zero WW products.


Some things we did that made HUGE differences.

1. Sugary beverages... never again.
2. Milk, we got rid of it and went to Almond milk. Lower cal, better taste, better for you. Twice the price of regular milk.
3. We took wheat off our menu and added Rice products. Chips/bread/ etc etc.
4. More veggies, less meat. When we eat meat its lean, lean lean.
5. When we pan fry, we use coconut oil or olive oil. Still no breading.. ever.
6. Exercise - Be consistent and get your heart rate up. Challenge yourself and change up what you do.
7. Our steamer is our friend. We steam or grill almost all our veggies. We add nothing but spices or lightly brushed with olive oil to them (no butter, margarine, or fat).
8. The Mexican restaurant is not our friend. We have never successfully ate healthy there. When we go there, its a choice we make and we know its going to cause a rebound in weight loss goals.

When we eat out, that is when it becomes harder to stay in that mode. However its OK to not be 100% within what you normally would eat, as long as you make the best choices and know that you need to burn those calories.