Weight Loss Support Thread Take 2

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smilez_n_hugs

smilez_n_hugs

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Nov 3, 2008
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Collingwood ON
I think it's time to revive this thread (the original can be found here viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14890&hilit=weight+loss).

Over the past 2 years I have slowly lost just over 30lbs and am much healthier. I used to eat fast food (usually McDonald's) 2-3 times a week along with as much chips, pop, chocolate bars, etc. I wanted. I am grossed out when I think back to those days. I had an awakening when my grandmother got really sick and was diagnosed with CHF and diabetes. That's when I realized things needed to change.

I originally started on the Isagenix program which really isn't good for you but it gave me the jump start I needed. It made me more aware of how many calories I was consuming which helped me to realize how important your diet is. I could exercise all I wanted but without changing my diet I wasn't getting any healthier.

This has been a 2 year process of slowly eliminating unnecessary foods. And it is true that once you go without it for a few weeks you stop craving it. Certain foods that I used to love (Big Macs) don't taste anywhere as good as they used to.

I had a really good routine going over the summer until I hurt my back so now that I am settled into my new life I want to get back on track. Unfortunately I have no gym access and will only be able to do anything outdoors for another 2 weeks (if I'm lucky). When I first moved I attempted the P90X DVDs but I have found them to be too much so I ordered the TurboFire collection and will be starting it today.

Food-wise I am quite lucky because junk is so damned expensive up here ($23 for 12 pop, $7.50 for a bag of chips, $2.50 for 1 chocolate bar) so even when I do crave it I can't justify the cost.

So there's my novel :giggle: so if anyone is interested in sharing tips, tricks, stories and support I look forward to hearing from you!
 
THANK YOU for reviving this one :thumbup:

Congrats on losing 30 lbs, that's no easy feat. It really is absolutely amaaaaazing what you can do by simply cutting out the junk.

I gained about 10 lbs between January and August, and have gotten back to my normal weight recently. My goal is to lose another 10 lbs. I just started running again last night (very painful, it's been way too long). Also need to keep the willpower to stay away from office snacks.
 
I've been struggling with my weight since having my babies... 22 years ago. lol
The only thing that has really worked for me now, which has been the past year is changing my diet to a whole foods plant base diet. I think the key component is whole foods. Processed foods, take out and other junk is the killer really. If I stay on track, I continue to lose weight but if I veer off, then I start putting on the weight. My exercise routine has always been really good...the only thing I do is hike/walk every day but then my work requires a lot of physical activity, and that helps. Now if I can just lay off the damn chips, I'll start to lose even more.
 
Oh office snacks would be a killer. I have a hard time saying no when something is sitting there waiting to be ate :giggle: Our school has a breakfast program and they always put the leftovers in our staff room so that's becoming my daily challenge.

It's only been 3 days but I am enjoying the Turbofire work out DVDs. You get to do a different routine every day so it keeps it interesting. Every now and then I also go on My Fitness Pal and track my calories for a couple days just to make sure I'm not going waaay over.

I am one of those people who gains weight in my face and belly first so you can really see the difference. Here's a couple pics to give you an idea.

This was me at my heaviest (one of the few pics) it was my university graduation and because I was so unhappy with the pics I didn't end up ever ordering any.


This is about a year and a half ago and about 15lbs lighter. It is also a university graduation pic which I was finally happy with so this is the one my family gets to remember.


And this one was taken 2 weeks ago.


At this point I am not as concerned with losing weight. I would still like to lose a bit more just to slim down my stomach but I am just focusing on being healthy and I'm sure that will follow. My main concern is my heart so my goal is to do some sort of cardio 5-6 days a week even if it's only a half hour walk.
 
Hey all,
Maybe I should join too. I could shed a few pounds. I think I generally look "normal", but I'm not as thin as most of my classmates. I weight ~155, and I'm not sure how tall I am. Either way, I know that my BMI is a bit too high and I'd like to lower it. Recently I've joined the soccer team at my school, and after 3 weeks or so, I can already see a slight difference. Only a pound lost, but my legs are looking better, I'm replacing fat for muscles! :)
I too used to be a lot heavier, but a year-long stay in Europe brought me down to "normal" standards. However, it's been a few years since then, and I've gained weight. Trying to lose it now.
 
Thanks :heart:

I have had the most luck finding healthier alternatives to foods I enjoy like:
- air popped popcorn instead of chips
- almond milk instead of cows milk
- and by far the hardest has been replacing calorie filled beverages (juice, pop, tea with milk and sugar) with water and green tea but I do think that one has been the most beneficial.

Any other ones you have had success with?

Also I was bad this morning and had an oatmeal banana muffin left over from the school lunch program :wallbang:
 
I've been making my own lemonade lately. Sometimes you just don't want water but I don't want to get back into the habit of soda pop.

squeeze 4 lemons, add 1/2 cup light agave and a litre of water. It's soooo delicious.
 
I replaced cow milk with almond milk, too. Not just for the weight loss help, but to continue leaning closer to veganism.

With Halloween happening, there is junk food galore around the office. Need more will power.

I have noticed that in the year since starting birth control, I am hungry 24/7. It's really irritating to have lost weight and reached a goal, only to start losing ground because of something like BC. But, the benefits (added protection, disappearance of acne, lighter and painfree periods) outweight the hunger thing. At least if I'm going to munch, I should be snacking on something nutritious. It's taken me 25 years to learn that tomatoes and cucumbers aren't completely awful, but are actually quite delicious :giggle:
 
you look wonderful Amanda!

this is a good idea.
I haven't been trying to lose wt (although I've hoped I would) my focus so far has been on eating healthier.

I cut way way down on sugar, cut out all dairy, eggs and meat (mostly, with a few slips) and cut down on fat.

What helps me stay full and satisfied is that I love beans. I will put them in a salad, eat them straight from the can, make chili or soup with them, have them with rice etc.
so if you like beans, they are nice and dense and filling, and good to add to a lot of other things.

I can't live without oatmeal. I have a big bowl almost every day, sometimes mixing it with Bob's 10 grain cereal, or some quiona. There's so much you can do with oatmeal- add nuts, fruits, berries etc. One day I made it with about a half cup of canned pumpkin, some pumpkin pie spice and walnuts, with a bit of honey drizzled on top. This is also filling and quite tasty. I don't put any kind of milk on it, I just wait for it to cool off a bit.

The hardest thing I've found is snacking. Sometimes I just want something crunchy and bread-y- toast, crackers, etc. I never ate many chips, too greasy. When I started this diet I ate a lot of nuts, probably too many.
Now I dont' crave them as much but I still want something crunchy that's not a vegetable or a fruit.
I don't eat corn (I should say I rarely eat corn, sometimes I get frz mixed veggies for the rats and it has corn in it and I'll eat some of that)
I'm not real crazy about rice cakes.
so that's where I get stuck, if you've got any suggestions.


I find it helps to plan ahead, like if you know you're going to be going somewhere with tempting food, either eat before you go so you're too full to be as tempted, or bring something with you that you really like that's healthier so you don't feel left out.
hardest part has to be eating out, there are so few really healthy choices!

are there any places to eat out there? It does help to have junk food priced so high, sadly around here, only the healthiest foods are expensive.
it's one of the reasons I ate so poorly for so long, crappy food is cheap.
:roll:

OH for a nice drink you can add four Wild Berry Zinger tea bags and some sweetener of your choice (I use truvia) and the juice of a lemon, if you like (I prefer it without the lemon) to 4 cups of water,
let sit in fridge over night- the next day you've got a nice punch that has a lot of antioxidants

hihttp://youtu.be/niL4daPfsx0
 
I definitely feel your pain with the BC something you might want to try is the nuva ring. I have found it to be better when it comes to being hungry all the time and almost as good with the acne (I suffered from terrible acne as a teen and into my 20s now at 24 it finally seems to be clearing).

Petunia, there's nowhere to eat out here. Once a month the community will do a dinner but so far it's been fairly healthy like chili and salad. I'm really hoping having no access to any type of fast food will cut it out of my life once and for all. The only really craving I'm having is for Chinese food and McDonald's french fries so I think my diet must be lacking salt.

Another thing I really think helped with cravings was taking a multivitamin everyday. I only just started it when I moved up here so I think that has something to do with the cravings.

On a good note I was a bad girl last week and bought chips and cottage cheese to put on them and a week later half the bag is still sitting in my cupboard! I will have to see if I can track down that tea it sound delicious and I need to get some good recipes to incorporate more beans into my diet.
 
And that's where my willpower ended. I am a sucker for chocolate and we ended up having waaaay less trick or treaters than planned so I have been snacking on mini chocolate bars all weekend :( It's no wonder my tummy is upset today.
 
I weighed myself for the first time in almost 3 months last night and I was impressed to find that I hadn't gained any weight even though I went over 2 months without exercising. I guess my good eating habits are working!
 
Today is a good day, I finally decided to put away my "fat" clothes. I keep dropping weight, slowly but surely so I don't think I'll be wearing them anytime soon. Last time I wore some of those were over a year ago. Yay!
It's a good feeling. :thumbsup:
 
Congratulations, Jorats! It's great to be able to say goodbye to them. Safe to say that you won't be going back to processed food any time soon.

I started eating candy again at Halloween, when it was everywhere at the office and we were all stressed out. Then I injured a hamstring and glute and got less exercise. Time for a reset, or I might grow out of my "slim" clothes that I've been wearing for three years now.
 

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