Anyone else trying to lose weight?

[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.

[Iolanthe]

Weekly weigh 71.2 kg, 11st 5lb, 159lbs. About a 2lb loss since last week.

[Iolanthe]

This morning I weighed in at 71.1 kg, 156lbs. I've lost 10 lbs since I started the diet at the beginning of March. Despondency was creeping in as that doesn't seem very much, but this evening I tried on a pair of brown cords that I had real trouble getting into a few weeks ago and they slipped on easily. I've definitely lost something around the hips, and my daughter said today (I only see her about once a month) that I'd lost weight in my neck and face. Looking in the mirror I'm inclined to agree with her. On Thursday I'm going to treat myself to a couple of dresses as my favourite clothes shop has a 20% off everything day. I've only had one dress for years, and didn't wear it at all last year.

[MsMary]

Nice going!

[aliantha]

Congrats, Io!

Next weigh-in for me is tomorrow. Last week's results: 20.6 lbs. lost. Still chasing that first 10%. Won't nail it this week, but maybe next week...

Here is a thing I've noticed, and it's probably just me: If I buy something sweet, like a package of cookies, I find myself itching to eat the whole thing all at once. If I have to eat them one serving at a time, I'm pretty much not interested. So it's not the cookies (or candy or ice cream or whatever) that I'm after -- it's the mindless eating. It's the comfort of the hand-to-mouth motion (which I think smokers experience, too). Is that just a habit, do you think? Or is there something else (and preferably something deeply, psychologically wrong ) at work here?

And also, if I can't have sweet stuff, then I kind of don't care what I eat (as long as it's not revolting). It's like once I take the sugar out of it, then all the pleasure of eating is gone, and food has become nothing more than fuel.

Does any of that make sense, or am I just going through the stages of grief for my old way of eating?

[Iolanthe]

I agree about the hand to mouth thing, although as I smoke I don't want to eat the wrong stuff! If I stopped smoking at the same time as dieting then I would be stuck. Er, try not to buy the cookies in the first place? I haven't had any sugar in my tea for 5 weeks now, and it still tastes disgusting. Perhaps the fact that I'm still having trouble eating with these new teeth is helping me too.

I bought a dress, but I don't think I will wear it at the weekend (conference with dinner on Saturday night) - not ready to bare all yet, so to speak.

You've lost twice as much as me, Ali. Well done!

[lorin]

I am of that belief that all sugars / carbs are physically, not just emotionally addictive. I am also unable 'to eat just one' of anything sweet or salty. But I am not convinced it is simple hand to mouth comfort. I think those carbs trigger something in your brain that sets you off. For me, and I speak only for me, I cannot have that stuff in the house. If I want something like that I buy a single serving. But even that is difficult for me. Once I get the taste for it I'm off to the races. I want more and more and more. So I avoid it all together. That is contrary to the WW philosophy not to deprive yourself. But I think all those 'diet' snacks are designed to trigger you. If I go out to a restaurant I might order a dessert or a starch, but at home I confine it to things like brown rice, quinoa and fruit.

[MsMary]

I have no idea how much I lost. My scale broke. But people keep telling me I look like I lost weight.

[aliantha]

Good for you, MsMary!

21 lbs. even, as of today.

Io, I have a much longer way to go than you do. You're doing great.

lorin, I pretty much agree with you. I wish I could keep the stuff out of the house entirely, and when I was living by myself, that's what I did. I just didn't buy it and bring it home. But now I end up buying stuff for Batty (who doesn't need it, either...) or she gets some cash and buys her own. And then it's here. Ugh.

[MsMary]

Thanks, ali. I expect to lose some ground over Passover. That's always a tough time, food-wise.

Glad you are managing to lose some weight. Keep up the good work!

[Iolanthe]

Weekly weigh: 70.6KG, 11st 1lb, 155 lbs. Was hoping to get down to 69kg but with going away for the weekend I wasn't able to control the calories as well as I can at home. Oh well, 11lbs lost since I started.

[StevieG]

Io, you and I officially weigh exactly the same - I weighed myself this evening and was 70.6kg

I expect that I may be a little more after the Easter break...

[Iolanthe]

You must be thin! I hope to lose another stone. No Easter eggs for me.

[Zarathustra]

When we pan fry, we use coconut oil or olive oil. Still no breading.. ever.

Your post has lots of good advice. However, coconut oil is one of the worst oils. Any oil that's a solid at room temperature is going to be loaded with saturated fat. With that said, I still cook with it. It's essential for Tai curries. And tempura is a way to have breading without overdoing it.

I count calories, cook almost everything I eat myself, and exercise regularly. I eat lots of meat, lots of protein (protein shakes, Greek yogurt, eggs, etc.) and plenty of vegetables. As little processed food as possible, and very few sweets.

Beer is my one vice. With hundreds of bottles of delicious homebrew sitting around, it's quite tempting. Also, getting out of your routine (e.g. vacation) can set you back several weeks.

I recommend Men's Health magazine for guys, and Women's Health for gals. Not only does it have great advice on exercise and diet, but it's a monthly reminder to stay healthy, monthly motivation. Keeping yourself in a healthy frame of mind very important. It's a cliche, but you really have to make it a lifestyle. Taking two weeks off from exercise is enough to start losing your strength gains.

Also, invest in quality workout clothes (e.g. synthetic fabrics that breathe and absorb sweat--cotton is horrible for this, it just gets soggy). Wear them even when you're not working out. Make it your life.

The absolute best exercise trend right now is high intensity interval training. This combines strength training with cardio and yoga in short bursts of intense effort. You are constantly mixing it up with different moves that target different muscles, so that no muscle gets overworked and you can sustain a higher level of effort than you would be able to achieve if you were (say) jogging. You also train your entire body for balance, flexibility, strength, endurance. We bought Jillian Michael's 12 week DVD set (over $100) that get progressively harder every two weeks, building on the moves from each disc. I've never had a better workout, or toned my entire body this evenly. People tend to overlook the importance of back-of-the-body muscles, probably because you can't see them in the mirror. But it's absolutely essential to train both front (push muscles) and back (pull muscles) because it all works together.

[SoulBiter]

When we pan fry, we use coconut oil or olive oil. Still no breading.. ever.

Your post has lots of good advice. However, coconut oil is one of the worst oils. Any oil that's a solid at room temperature is going to be loaded with saturated fat. With that said, I still cook with it. It's essential for Tai curries. And tempura is a way to have breading without overdoing it.

Yep we know. Funny enough saturate fats have gotten a bad rap over the years. Trans fats are the worst.... But more evidence if piling up that shows that saturated fats (except for the calories) are not the devil that they were made out to be. However for weight loss, limit saturated fats.. I agree. We needed a oil that could tolerate heat without burning better than olive oil.

Beer is my one vice. With hundreds of bottles of delicious homebrew sitting around, it's quite tempting. Also, getting out of your routine (e.g. vacation) can set you back several weeks.

There are some beers that I love so I try to not have lots of them around the house. Football season is beer season for me.. LOL

Getting out of your routine. Man I hear ya. I just got over a bout of the flu and was a not able to go work out for a week and a couple of days. We are going hiking in the mountains today, then back to running this week. I will start with a mile or two and work my way during the week back to 3 miles every other day again. Then its back to the gym. I am not looking forward to what my muscles are going to tell me this week. It amazes me how fast your muscles deteriorate on you... and its worse the older you are. At 50+ it seems like just a couple of days not working out and I can almost watch the muscle tone go away.

Keeping yourself in a healthy frame of mind very important. It's a cliche, but you really have to make it a lifestyle. Taking two weeks off from exercise is enough to start losing your strength gains.

Agree 100%

Also, invest in quality workout clothes (e.g. synthetic fabrics that breathe and absorb sweat--cotton is horrible for this, it just gets soggy). Wear them even when you're not working out.

I love cotton workout clothes and cotton underclothes. Synthetics tend to give me a rash...no idea why.

[Iolanthe]

Weekly weigh 69.5 kg, 10 stone 13lbs, 153 lbs. Almost a stone gone.

[aliantha]

Nice!

Forgot to post last Friday. Made my 10% -- 24.2 lbs. gone.

The thing is, I have been here before. *Lots* of times. And so when the WW leader asked us (another woman also made her 10% last week) whether we thought now we could do it, I let the other woman answer. I'm not even cautiously optimistic this time. I'm just sticking to the points I'm given and will see how long the ride lasts.

Here's an interesting thing: I discovered a few weeks ago that if I don't eat desserts, snack on fresh fruit and veggies, and watch the portion sizes, my daily food intake totes up to 25 points -- which is one less, apparently, than the bottom number WW gives anybody. Right now, I've got 28 daily points. So I'm pretty confident that I can do 26 points a day. It just won't be any fun.

Another interesting thing is that I had one of my pre-plan typical breakfasts over the weekend -- 2 eggs and 2 pieces of toast with plenty of butter and lime marmalade. *Then* I toted up the points -- it was something like 19.

[MsMary]

I managed to get through Passover without putting weight back on. Which is a feat, considering the amount of matzah and butter I ate. Not to mention desserts.

[Iolanthe]

Excellent Ali and Menolly. This morning's weigh 10 stone 12 lbs (152 lbs). Exactly a stone gone. I have converted my scales to stones and pounds - it's easier for me.

I doubt that I shall have lost another stone by the time I come to ABQ, but I shan't feel so bad about wearing the dress, or the swimming costume! Its 7 weeks I think.

[Morning]

To put it shortly, in 2001 I weighed 122kg (I'm 177cm tall) then "just" by cutting booze, carbs and fat and adopting a spartan exercise doctrine, I scaled myself down to 74kg by the end of 2003. Since then ,my body weight oscillates between 72 (summer) and 86 (Christmas) with a median leaning toward 77. Problem: my fatty content is still around 22%, and I have been trying to slam it toward a high single digit number. That's it...