Eat Right, Stay Fit And Die Anyway

ok. not a totally accurate heading for the thread but it's one of carlin's best bits and i couldn't resist. i'm a bit twisted.

i have seen a lot of posts and threads about body image and weight-loss... most recently the issue of keeping a good self-image when the ol' body isn't quite what it used to be.

many years ago, i went from a 320 pound, lazy-ass behemoth with a littany of health problems to a 170 pound, fit, healthy guy. i just thought that maybe some other ordinary people like myself would be interested in sharing their methods or would want to look for answers to a similar problem.

all i'll say here is that i'm in no way qualified in a training or medical manner to dispense this information... i only know it worked for me and i'm willing to share if you or someone you know is battling a weight issue.

if you don't feel comfortable posting, you can PM me... but if you're willing to share, i think others can feed off our exchanges.

i don't have any faith in the commercial diet plans or prepackaged food plans... and i don't encourage eliminating anything from your diet. but i'll save details for when the questions come up.

post 'em if ya got 'em.

I've never had any great weight problems but the SO did mention I was reaching middle age spread at a ripe old age of 34. I think she called me cuddly or something.

I certainly noticed myself I was getting unfit and the trousers were a squeeze.

Problem though I like my food, no I love my food. I was in no way going to diet.

Both of us decided to simply watch what we eat. So when we go shopping we read the box. If the Fat content is more than say 12-15g per meal then we don't buy it.

My biggest problem was two fold. Crisps (I think you call them Chips in the US) and cereal bars. I used these as snacks. Both high in fat. Buy low fat yoghart and some grapes as snacks instead, if you need something.

Cutting these out and sticking to sensible regular meals was all it took to have my jeans falling off me. Literally. SO walked into the house last night as I walked to meet her she cuddled me then without unbuttoning my jeans pulled them straight down to my ankles. Okay she didn't know I was going commando but hey it never poked her in the eye.

We had our fun of course but thats only been a couple of weeks of sensible eating and we're both looking and feeling better for it.

Weight watchers...
worked for me (25 pounds over 2 years ago and kept it off with v ery little effort) and my husband (50 pounds)
Our sex life has never been better since loosing the weight and feeling so much better about our bodies and minds!

I'll second Weight Watchers! I've lost 40lbs over the last 2 years and have kept it off. It's less of a diet and more of a lifesytle change. It made me SO much more aware of all the things I was eating. I think that one of the reasons that it worked for me is that you can still have some of the "bad" foods, you just have to eat them in a proper portion size and plan your splurge into your points budget.

i've gotten a number of PM's from people saying they're in, or plan on joining, weight watchers. it's one of the best programs available, no doubt. the key to how it works is that they teach you about counting calories and how to portion your food. i think it's worth the investment.

keep the PM's coming... and if you or someone you know is struggling with an issue, there are obviously plenty of people here to support them. come on in and ask... getting help with the willpower is the easiest way to beat it.

My Husband was put on the South Beach Diet by our doctor. After doing TONS of research, talking to other health care professionals, etc. He decided to follow said advice.

As long as He sticks to it, He loses weight. In the first two weeks He lost 14 lbs. In the four months since then (including over the holidays!) he's lost another almost 25 lbs.

When He went in for His last checkup, His bodily functions were better, His vital signs were at a much better level than pre-diet, and there is less stress on His body overall. (He had quite a few health problems due solely to His weight.)

The only thing -i- don't like about it is fixing two separate menus at each meal. He's the only one in the house on the diet, and i see no need to fiddle with the kids' eating habits, or mine, as they're pretty healthy to begin with.

I've been discussing it with EJ over PMs, but I might as well jump in and join the thread, too. My hubby and I have been doing the Weight Watchers Core program for the past three weeks. We missed weigh-in last week because I was sick, and I'm nervous about going this morning. In our first week, I only lost a pound. Now, I know it's better than the gaining I had been steadily doing...but I still let myself believe that making such a monumental change to my eating habits should have produced more results. This week has been a pretty stressful one, and we weren't so strict about the diet...I don't have the highest hopes about stepping on the scale in an hour.

However, regardless of how much weight I have or haven't lost, I do feel healthier overall since going on this plan. The Core program is not WW's usual points system - it restricts the types of foods you can eat, and it's sort of a cross between normal WW and a low-carb plan. It's not really one or the other, but has aspects of both. It definitely has my husband and I eating healthier. Instead of having a house full of foods like pizza, ice cream, and chips, we've found it refreshing to be buying lean meats, veggies and whole grains.

I have a lot of weight to lose...over 100 lbs if I want to get within the recommended range for my height/age. Part of what gets in my way is looking at that big picture. With so much work ahead of me, I keep wishing for faster results. I'm doing my best to take it in baby steps - right now I'm focusing on losing my first 5 lbs. I'm not sure if WW's Core plan is the best one for me (I've been successful on their points plan in the past, but had no luck at all on Atkins or S. Beach), but I've decided to stick it out for another few weeks to see if maybe my metabolism just needs time to adjust to the new food types.

Another blocker for me in the past has been trying to diet for a specific event. First I wanted to lose weight for my high school reunion. Then I wanted to slim down for my wedding. For lots of people, setting time goals for specific reasons works well. For some reason this has never worked for me. In all other areas of my life, I work well under pressure. Just not with dieting. Now, I've got all the time in the world. I'm not losing weight because I feel like I have to, I'm doing it because I want to.

Anywho, sorry for the ridiculously long post. EJ, thank you so much for starting this thread - it's a great place to share success stories, ask questions, and just out and out vent when things don't go as planned.

I too am on Weight Watchers, I think it's a wonderful program. I am using the points system so you can spend them on what you want even if it is an unhealthy choice. I've lost 11 lbs so far and look at it as a lifestyle change.

My weighin's are every wednesday evening and I actually look forward to them. I think some of what helps is having someone else checking on my weight.

Well, for all my nervousness...the scale showed I've lost 4.6 lbs in the last 2 weeks

Congrats, Lynxie! You're making great progress and it sounds like you have the right attitude as well - it's going to take time. My parents started an exercise plan that they did together, and in addition to getting healthier, they've become closer as well.

Having healthier food in the house always helps me. It's just too easy to reach for the chips and cookies when they're right there.

I never did Atkins, but just learning about it really helped me make the connection between food and and fuel for my body. It's pretty amazing when you look at the nutritional content of some foods and realize they have no value in terms of vitamins or minerals. It made me look at a bowl of pasta in a whole new way, for example. Now, when I eat pasta, I make sure there are vegetables in there and some kind of protein, like chicken or seafood.

the point of carbs v. protein and nutrition labels and whatnot made me think of a theory i've had for some time. i don't know if it's accurate but it makes sense to me...

i think the reason why there's an increase in the percentage of the population that's obese is a result of the quality of food we eat. even supposedly "nutritious" foods aren't as nutritious as they once were. much of our produce has lower levels of vitamins and minerals than it did 50 years ago... the soil just isn't as rich as it once was. our bodies tell us it needs to be nourished and we shove some crackers or chips or whatever in there. there's a FEELING of fullness but the body still hasn't been nourished the way it wants/needs to be... the result is more hunger in a short period of time. we then shove more stuff in there to quell the hunger but the result is the same and the cycle continues.

what i've found worked for me is that when i started NOURISHING my body instead of FEEDING it, the hunger was less dramatic and soon it was gone all together and i have to remind myself to eat.

does that make any sense? in other words, it's not the actual junk food that causes the problem, it's the fact that it's not supplying the body with what it needs and that's where the hunger comes from. even when we eat healthy foods, if it doesn't have the stuff in it that we need, we have to eat more of it to get the right amounts of those vitamins and more calories come along for the ride.

EJFan said:

the point of carbs v. protein and nutrition labels and whatnot made me think of a theory i've had for some time. i don't know if it's accurate but it makes sense to me...

i think the reason why there's an increase in the percentage of the population that's obese is a result of the quality of food we eat. even supposedly "nutritious" foods aren't as nutritious as they once were. much of our produce has lower levels of vitamins and minerals than it did 50 years ago... the soil just isn't as rich as it once was. our bodies tell us it needs to be nourished and we shove some crackers or chips or whatever in there. there's a FEELING of fullness but the body still hasn't been nourished the way it wants/needs to be... the result is more hunger in a short period of time. we then shove more stuff in there to quell the hunger but the result is the same and the cycle continues.

what i've found worked for me is that when i started NOURISHING my body instead of FEEDING it, the hunger was less dramatic and soon it was gone all together and i have to remind myself to eat.

does that make any sense? in other words, it's not the actual junk food that causes the problem, it's the fact that it's not supplying the body with what it needs and that's where the hunger comes from. even when we eat healthy foods, if it doesn't have the stuff in it that we need, we have to eat more of it to get the right amounts of those vitamins and more calories come along for the ride.

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This is exactly how my hubby and I are looking at it. It's not a matter of cutting out the bad foods (though we are doing that), but rather bringing healthier, more nutritious foods into our lives.

On a whole we're trying to make our lives better and introduce a number of positive changes. For example, we've dubbed this week Serious Cleaning Overhaul Week in our apartment. We've lived here since September, and there's still junk that hasn't been unpacked since we moved in. We've run out of excuses for it to be such a mess (wedding planning, I had surgery, the holidays, etc), so we just decided to go room by room and give it a good, thorough cleaning. I think keeping our space uncluttered and neat should help us keep a positive attitude towards other challenges in our lives.

Congrats on the weight loss this week Lynxie!
You will soon look foward to your weigh-ins!

I always kept the 10% goal. The firat 10% I reached made me feel so good and kept me so motivated!

Good luck and keep it up!!!!

I never cared about my weight through high school, and into the beginning of college, but after my uncle had a heart attack, my parents started eating heathy and working out, and that made me take a look at myself. I used to weigh 250 pounds when i started my second semester in september and now I weigh 200 pounds, and my goal is to lose 30 more. The harest thing for me was cutting out pop and snack foods, DAMN YOU SUGAR .

taxi64 said:

I never cared about my weight through high school, and into the beginning of college, but after my uncle had a heart attack, my parents started eating heathy and working out, and that made me take a look at myself. I used to weigh 250 pounds when i started my second semester in september and now I weigh 200 pounds, and my goal is to lose 30 more. The harest thing for me was cutting out pop and snack foods, DAMN YOU SUGAR .

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LOL! let's hear it for chemical sweeteners.

family health was part of my reasoning too. all the men on both sides of my family die young... the women live forever but that's probably BECAUSE the men die young.

in any event... all the men have had bad tickers and my father has early stage diabetes, GI issues and a muscle enzyme problem. he's never been overweight in his life so it's clearly a genetic thing and something everyone should consider.

Awesome Job Lynxie! It's always exciting to go and see that scale go down!

The other thing i've noticed is alot of people don't tend to drink water as much as they need too. When I get the hungry feeling alot of times it is because I am thirsty for water. I found simply increasing the amount of water I am drinking in a day has helped a great deal!

Excellent thread!

taxi64 said:

I never cared about my weight through high school, and into the beginning of college, but after my uncle had a heart attack, my parents started eating heathy and working out, and that made me take a look at myself. I used to weigh 250 pounds when i started my second semester in september and now I weigh 200 pounds, and my goal is to lose 30 more. The harest thing for me was cutting out pop and snack foods, DAMN YOU SUGAR .

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Sounds like you're doing a great job so far! I'm in roughly the same situation that you started off in, and I hope I can be as successful. Obesity runs in my family - essentially all the women on both of my parents' sides are large. I let myself get this bad, and I think part of it was that I kept telling myself that I was doomed to be like them. To hell with genetics, I'm going to break the pattern

I'm unemployed, so I can totally sympathize about snacking. Before I started dieting, I was grabbing things from the kitchen constantly. Eating supplemented my boredom nicely. After about a week into the program, however, I've noticed that I only rarely feel the need to get up and hunt for munchies. I mentioned this to my leader at WW yesterday and she said that the food list for the Core program is designed specifically to be made up of foods that don't "trigger" you off. They've been tested and found to not set off cravings for most people. I do still miss some things (ice cream is my kryptonite), but I'm not thinking about them 24/7 like I did on previous diets.

Matienee said:

Awesome Job Lynxie! It's always exciting to go and see that scale go down!

The other thing i've noticed is alot of people don't tend to drink water as much as they need too. When I get the hungry feeling alot of times it is because I am thirsty for water. I found simply increasing the amount of water I am drinking in a day has helped a great deal!

Excellent thread!

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thank you for complimenting the thread! i hope this turns into a huge support forum for those of us keeping our battle with weight under control.

drinking water is important... but it's also important to eat foods with a high water content. things like fresh vegetables and fruits really help in this regard. a lot of times when our body thinks it's hungry, it's really thirsty.

Very easy to compliment a thread that many will find helpful!

And I agree, the thing I've found best with the points system is the "required" amounts of things I need to eat a day. The required calcium which is important for weight loss, the required water and the required fruits and veggies. I was very bad at following those guidelines. I can honestly say I rarely drank water, let alone the 6 glasses they want you to drink a day! That has probably been my biggest struggle with it thus far!

Matienee said:

I can honestly say I rarely drank water, let alone the 6 glasses they want you to drink a day! That has probably been my biggest struggle with it thus far!

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i had a similar problem... started totin' a bottle 'round with me everywhere and that made it much easier.

I've been doing the same thing at work, just need to get into the habit of doing it here at home.

good thread

I joined a gym almost exactly 2 years ago, and have been losing weight for most of that time. I cut out the soda & ice cream & fried chicken & a lot of the crap I was eating.

I went from256+ (I didn't have the nerve to get on the scale at the gym until about the third week there, so god only knows...) down to about 200 right now. I'm pretty frustrated with myself because I was down to about 180 a while back, and it's been creeping back up. I'm still a size 16, hella better than the 24 or 26 I used to be, but I can tell the pudgey-ness is slowly coming back & that just sucks...

My routine has had a lot of flex & I've been down with this cold flu thing for the past couple weeks, so I need to get back into going to the gym.

Lately my sweety & I watched Supersize Me, I TOTALLY recommend that movie to anyone who is looking for an extra push to stay away from fast food. That was like three weeks ago & I haven't been to a fast food joint since, nor wanted to. Good stuff in there.

Re: good thread

watergirl said:

I joined a gym almost exactly 2 years ago, and have been losing weight for most of that time. I cut out the soda & ice cream & fried chicken & a lot of the crap I was eating.

I went from256+ (I didn't have the nerve to get on the scale at the gym until about the third week there, so god only knows...) down to about 200 right now. I'm pretty frustrated with myself because I was down to about 180 a while back, and it's been creeping back up. I'm still a size 16, hella better than the 24 or 26 I used to be, but I can tell the pudgey-ness is slowly coming back & that just sucks...

Lately my sweety & I watched Supersize Me, I TOTALLY recommend that movie to anyone who is looking for an extra push to stay away from fast food. That was like three weeks ago & I haven't been to a fast food joint since, nor wanted to. Good stuff in there.

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this is AWESOME! i'm so happy for you! hopefully some more people will pop in to share some success stories. i know lynxie, matienee, taxi, lady-j and others are going to keep us excited with their stories too.

i've wanted to see "supersize me" and now i'm REALLY interested in it after the good review. you might try the book "fast food nation" too if you want to get turned off of big macs and the like. some of it's a little dated now but i'm sure the industry hasn't gotten much better.

thanks, watergirl!

Re: Re: good thread

EJFan said:

i've wanted to see "supersize me" and now i'm REALLY interested in it after the good review. you might try the book "fast food nation" too if you want to get turned off of big macs and the like. some of it's a little dated now but i'm sure the industry hasn't gotten much better.

thanks, watergirl!

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Yeah... my best friend was reading Fast Food Nation a while back, and it just made me want fries... could have been cause we were out in rural VT like 20 miles from the nearest McDonalds & it was just like, mmmmmmmmmmmm Fries....

But it was a good book from the bits she kept reading aloud in her ranting anger at the fast food companies!

Weekly weigh in @ Weight Watchers... only down 0.4 lbs but that was to be expected, didn't do too well this week. Going to take a whole new outlook on it tomorrow.

In our meeting tonight we talked about "You are what you repeat" basically if you constantly think negative about yourself those negative thoughts will outweigh any good you are trying to do for yourself. That you need to take the time and reward yourself and focus on the good stuff.

Hows everyone else doing??