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Who wants to lose some weight?

heathpack

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Me! I know how to do it, what works for me, but I’ve been having trouble implementing it. So I’m thinking a little public commitment might help.

My idea with this thread is for people to discuss their own attempts to lose weight, what works for them, tips, healthy recipes, nutrition ideas, exercise conversation. I really don’t want it to devolve into people telling others what they should do, when the person hasn’t asked. Ie this is not intended to be the place for proselytizing about a vegan diet, or ketosis, or to insist that what works for someone else (exercise, counting calories, banning sugar from their diet, whatever) has been scientifically “proven” not to work.

Which is to say: this thread is intended to be about moral support and sharing the process.

I’ll start.

Me: Woman, age 52, post menopausal
My basic approach: calorie counting/restriction plus exercise, using Lose It app
The big picture goal: age gracefully, keep my health and well being as I age
The reason I want to lose weight: Will make a lot of what I want to do on the bike easier
My main exercise: Cycling, which necessitates also working in strength/core workouts and stretching
My history: overweight most of my life. When BMI was approaching 30 and I saw my obese mother starting to realize the consequences of a lifetime of obesity, I decide to make a change. I lost 45 pounds over a few years starting around 8 years ago. Have mostly been able to keep it off, although weight does fluctuate. My lowest adult weight was 128 pounds, so my first goal is to get back to that weight. Beyond that, if I could whittle my weight down to 120pounds eventually I’d be happy.

Current weight: 137
Today I had a cycling workout on my schedule (I work with a cycling coach) but I didn’t feel up to it (I’ve been under the weather). This is rare for me, I probably only miss 2-3 workouts per year. Did 40 min of stretching and then took the dog for a 35 min walk.

The challenge today is a going away dinner at work. But I’ve looked at the menu for the place and if I’m smart and stick to one glass of wine, I should be able to come in at my daily calorie budget.
 

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Good for you. Motivating for me.

For me...when I'm really trying....these work well:
Psyllium fiber: helps keep me moving with reduced intake and increased protein diet
Water: Hard for me to keep my water intake up on low-cal diet; I use graduated container (1 gal) and drink all day on schedule till its done)
Dry red/white wine...limited amount. A little red wine does make life easier...for me
For me, I'm pretty sure that one 'splurge' meal every 10 days or so helps. Not splurge as in dessert etc... just quantity or variety of meats or some starch.

Anyway, those are what help me. Now I need to get started again....
Thanks for sharing.
 

"Roger"

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I found this article by Jane Brody (long time nutrition columnist for the NYT) pretty much captures what I do. (I was shocked to learn that a long time ago she was 40 lbs overweight.)

Basically, rather than trying some special diet, concentrate on eating three meals with little to no processed foods. Eat a diet that you feel you can live with and like, not something to specifically lose weight. (I eat something akin to the Mediterranean diet as a long term affair.) Secondly, even though I am at a weight that I am comfortable with, I step on the scale every morning. No weight sneaking up on me so that I suddenly feel like I need to lose five pounds. (I started doing this on my own. I was surprised to see that Jane Brody has also been doing this.)
 

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Everyone swears by a gimmick they tried. To me they are all a waste. Just eat healthy and regularly with a variety of foods. Lots of water and make sure to use more calories then you consume. Lets call it the no gimmick gimmick diet.
 

Panina

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For me, there is no end game, this is a continuing lifestyle.

If I don’t understand what the ingredient is on a label I do not eat it. I only eat real food.

I am kind to myself, if I experience a slip, I say it is ok, no more all or nothing mentality.

I journal everyday what I eat, even if it is a slip for a day or a week or longer. I weigh myself everyday.

I move as much as I can. Even if I can only exercise, walk, stretch, etc. a few minutes I do it. Something is better then nothing.

And I expose myself, like I did here on tug A few weeks ago with my before and after picture. Sharing holds me accountable and lets me show others it is possible.
 

klpca

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What works for one doesn't work for all but here goes with what I did. Two years ago I weighed 205. Today I weigh 150. First thing I did was give up ice cream and alcohol. Then it was drinks with sugar and all fast food except Subway. After this I pretty much gave up meat and concentrated on fish (every now and then chicken or turkey) and vegetables.

If I get hungry I eat a small bowl of granola with skim milk. I drink a lot of sugar free lemonade and mix a small amount of psyllium fiber with my lemonade twice a day. I have never counted calories. One thing that has definitely helped is that I don't buy the things I don't want to eat like chips. That way if I get a craving for them, they aren't there. Every now and then for a treat I will eat a baked potato (mostly the skin) with bacon, chives, sour cream, etc. I can honestly say I feel 100% better absent the weight.

I exercise just by walking around and climbing stairs rather than taking the elevator. My only forced exercise is 40 minutes on the tradmill first thing in the morning.

George
 

vacationhopeful

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When my knees started to hurt me when walking and after I helped a male friend for several months AFTER his double knee replacement surgery ... I decided I did NOT want replacement knees and NEEDED to at least, delay that surgery.

I started to lose 50+ pounds via a QVC purchase of NutriSystem food for a month. I knew I needed help to CHANGE .. brought the QVC Today Special Value deal .. announced to all friends and co-workers, "I am going on a DIET ... and I will be miserable else I will have to get my knees replaced in a couple of years." That was YEARS ago ... still have my 'real' knees and am still working (I work in construction related field full time and employed a full time guy plus parttime licensed construction contractors ... and my local Home Depot employees KNOW me).

AND I have no issues with either of my original (surgery & procedure FREE) knees
.

PS Figure out if you 'over walk your heels' ... my outside heal edges of my shoes wear out FASTER than the inside heal edge. Sneakers are WAY cheaper than replacement knees or knee 'repair' procedures. I think it is call 'pronation' on the outside of the heal.
 
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melissy123

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The "no gimmick, real food" diet should be what works. But it doesn't because I still eat too much of it. I exercise pretty regularly, with mixture of weights and cardio. Blood levels are good, but I'm definitely in the overweight category and I know that extra weight is not good for my heart, blood pressure, knees, etc.
One weight loss quiz asked well, what have you been doing in the past? and has it worked? So my answers are I've been eating healthy, balanced real food meals, with exercise. I drink a glass of wine only once a month or so, I don't have a sweet tooth, I don't keep or eat junk food in the house. Has it been working? NO! And then if the answer is no, why do you think that doing the same thing will work in the future?
So next step for me may be to start measuring and weighing my food.
 

vacationhopeful

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....
So next step for me may be to start measuring and weighing my food.

When I got that 30 day supply of QVC food in the UPS box ... some looked decent or good and some was not my cup of tea. I decided part of my weight issue was, I ate WHAT I wanted to eat .. not what I needed to eat.

Salads not high on my food list nor meatless meals. I did like soups ... so all vegetable soups where better for HEALTH & FAT content than chicken or pasta added soups. And so were vegatain meals .. MEATLESS dinners.

And a overweight friend of mine .. was a BIG vegan eating only person (he loved sweets) ... went out with him every 7-10 days to places he ate at .. to expand my range of food type.
 

Panina

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Adding to what I originally said
I only eat what I like. I have learned to ask when something is in front if me

Is is really worth it?
 

pittle

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PS Figure out if you 'over walk your heels' ... my outside heal edges of my shoes wear out FASTER than the inside heal edge. Sneakers are WAY cheaper than replacement knees or knee 'repair' procedures. I think it is call 'pronation' on the outside of the heal.

Interesting - even when I was significantly thinner at 53 (22.5 BMI) than I am now at 71 (26.1 BMI) my heels wore out on the outside faster than the inside heel edge. I thought it had to do with how I walked, fast, with my feet pointing out.
 
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VacationForever

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My turn - I am 55 yo, and I was thin until i reached about 30. I am 5 ft 7 inches, I used to weigh 100 pounds until about 18, then I was at 110 lbs for many years. My weight has yoyo'ed between 140 and 120 for the past 25 years, and the difference has always been due to diet. I exercise almost everyday on a treadmill or an eliptical for an hour for as long as I remember. On days that I don't go the gym, I am either playing a round of golf, I am sick or I am out and about all day.

What works for me is when I count calories, and I have to always feel a little hungry. What gets complicated is that I have severe gastro issues and must not go hungry for very long otherwise I will be in pain for weeks. I am also on a medication that makes me hungry alot and cause weight gain. When I am on vacation, whether timesharing or cruising, I usually lose a couple of pounds. I am alot more disciplined in not eating extra food when I travel. I tend to snack when I am home. Today I am at 137 lbs and only a month ago I was at 133 lbs when we got back from our cruise. I want to be at about 125 lbs and I need to count calories again - 1450 per day is my goal.
 

easyrider

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My diet is actually what I now eat regularly. Before the diet changes my bmi was 29.5 but I wasn't fat and I felt very powerful. I could lift heavy weights. At 57, while lifting a snowmobile, I had a heath emergency that meant I needed to change my diet.

Pre-57, I was eating pretty healthy items. I was eating dairy, meats and some processed foods. Occasional binge drinking but not too much drinking for the most part.

Post heart attack I started a pescatarian diet. The fish I eat the most is salmon. The way I usually cook it is to steam it for 6 -7 minutes. Steaming is just too easy and the water that makes the steam is good for cooking soba noodles. I have tried many seasonings and now use table tasty or dash for the most part.

The steamed salmon also gets wrapped in seaweed with rice.

We eat veggies but have it down to peas, carrot, onion, garlic, celery, sweet potato, potato , green beans , peppers, corn, beans and a few others. These end up roasted, stir fried, steamed, pressure cooked and occasionally microwaved. I have tried many seasonings but mostly use dash and table tasty and olive oil.

We did add chicken breast to the menu occasionally. I like to pressure cook this in broth. The pressure cooking removes much of the fat.

The results are I lost about 50 pounds and have a bmi of 21. I also lost a good deal of physical power and feel a bit scrawny. I am limited to lifting 170 pounds because anything more makes my chest feel funny. Often times lifting anything over 140 pounds can trigger the feeling. I do feel pretty good.

Other things I noticed about my diet changes is that all of my drinking buddies that I occasionally binged with still enjoy me being around even though the most I usually drink anymore is three beers. All of my friends have no problem with me bringing my own food over to a bbq or what ever. Same goes for family.

One thing I would share is that pre-57 me did misuse Alieve for aches and pain. I would often take Alieve before doing a strenuous activity such as snowmobiling. I think the Aleive and the exertion of lifting a 700 pound snowmobile for 10 minutes caused the plaque to break loose in my right artery. On all of the scans looking for plaque in my heart there really isn't any narrowing.

The main exercise I do is walking fast at about 4 mph to get my heart rate up to 145 - 155 bpm for at least 15 minutes during my hour walk. I use a Polar chest strap and wrist monitor combo to keep track. I do this three times a week.

Bill
 

pittle

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My turn - I am 55 yo, and I was thin until i reached about 30. I am 5 ft 7 inches, I used to weigh 100 pounds until about 18, then I was at 110 lbs for many years. My weight has yoyo'ed between 140 and 120 for the past 25 years, and the difference has always been due to diet. I exercise almost everyday on a treadmill or an eliptical for an hour for as long as I remember. On days that I don't go the gym, I am either playing a round of golf, I am sick or I am out and about all day.

What works for me is when I count calories, and I have to always feel a little hungry. What gets complicated is that I have severe gastro issues and must not go hungry for very long otherwise I will be in pain for weeks. I am also on a medication that makes me hungry alot and cause weight gain. When I am on vacation, whether timesharing or cruising, I usually lose a couple of pounds. I am alot more disciplined in not eating extra food when I travel. I tend to snack when I am home. Today I am at 137 lbs and only a month ago I was at 133 lbs when we got back from our cruise. I want to be at about 125 lbs and I need to count calories again - 1450 per day is my goal.

I once read that you start at 100 pounds for 5ft and then add 5 pounds for every inch. When I tried that at 5'4", it was 120, and I can only live on lettuce and keep that weight! When I was 132, I looked great - not so much at 152, but feel good and am healthy and active, At 71, I do not want to look a skinny old woman as my husband says they do not look healthy. While I know that clothing sizes are not what they used to be, as long as I can still wear a size 10, I am OK.
 
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WinniWoman

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I do, but I would have to eat practically nothing and give up my weekend wine. I exercise 5 days per week and eat mostly very good food, like salad every weekday for lunch and fish for dinner with veggies. Whole grains, etc. heck- I am an expert on good food. But my metabolism is just about dead.

Maybe if I could sleep....I need a new, more balanced lifestyle...work and the schedule of work wipes me out.
 
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heathpack

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So next step for me may be to start measuring and weighing my food.

I do this all the time. Its become second nature to such an extent that my husband can't even feed the dogs without weighing each dog's food first. Lol, they get so impatient that they start stamping their feet whenever he is feeding them.

My husband is a little OCD so this weighing of things is right up his alley. He packs my lunch for me and weighs everything out. For example, my lunch salad is 5 oz romaine lettuce, 1 ounce swiss cheese, 2 ounces chicken breast, one date chopped, one Persian cucumber. He weighs my oil and vinegar- its supposed to be a teaspoon each of balsamic and olive oil, but he has it worked out to X number of grams. I asked him the other day, "hey exactly how many peanuts in the shell are you giving me?" His answer was 40 grams. Solid. This week I got some killer Cotton Candy Grapes for my lunch- one serving is 150 grams and that's what I got in my lunch today. :)
 

heathpack

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1450 per day is my goal.

When I am counting calories, I give myself 1550 cal/day. I find if I go too low, its counterproductive and I get hungry and just eat more than I should.

But on top of that, I add back in calories from exercise. For me, this is a pretty accurate number because cycling is my primary exercise and I have power meters on most of my bikes. That means that I can pretty accurately measure calories burned. The my bike computer connects via Bluetooth to my phone when I tell it to save the data from a ride/workout, my phone automatically uploads every ride to a website called Garmin Connect (Garmin is the company who makes my bike computer), Garmin Connect automatically uploads my data to Strava (a social media-like site for cyclists and runners) and I have Strava set up to automatically upload my calorie count to Lose It! Lose It! is my calorie and nutrition counting app. Whew, I didn't realize there were so many steps until I wrote it out. For me, its just push STOP and then SAVE RIDE on my bike computer. The rest of the stuff is automatic.

Anyway, I burn about 4000 cal/week in my normal training. So in any given week, I try to eat 1550 cal/day x 7days, plus 4000ish cal (or whatever I did for exercise). There are some calories that I have to consume associated with the training itself- some workouts or rides cannot be completed without eating and I try to take in a specific amount of protein and carbs within a short window post-workout.

When you work all that math out, in a typical training week, I can eat an average of 2100 cal per day and still lose fat. Pretty generous for a woman my size. But if I don't eat enough, I can't do the workouts and it becomes a downward spiral for me.

I put a lot of effort into fasted training, or eating minimally when riding. It helps in races when you can't eat. The huge bang for my buck in when I'm in an endurance riding phase of training because then I can commonly create a 1300-1500 cal deficit in a single ride. For me that's just major- it means I can eat some very normal meals, have a drink with dinner, go out for froyo, etc. Not all the time be regularly.
 

heathpack

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The main exercise I do is walking fast at about 4 mph to get my heart rate up to 145 - 155 bpm for at least 15 minutes during my hour walk. I use a Polar chest strap and wrist monitor combo to keep track. I do this three times a week.

Bill

OMG data! I love it. I was going to write more about training with HR but decided it would be boring. Suffice it to say, I spend a lot of mental energy on training data...
 
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