Need advice on losing weight

[KrazyMofo24]

I decided last week that I finally need to make a change for good this time and lose weight, and stay skinny this time. I am currenty 5'9 and weigh 267. My ideal weight would be 155, and I want to be close to that in a year. I have been doing research on what to eat when I do eat out. Two days ago I bought some Campbell's soup, and fruit cups to keep at work. I've given up hamburgers, fries, sour cream, ranch, mayo, and my biggest weakness soda.

I don't think i'm ready to quit caffeine yet so I take one caffeine pill 200mg in the morning which has been working fine. I'm not a fan of coffee.

Well I have been reading on how many pounds I should lose a week and how much calories I should limit myself. Most sites say 1-2 pounds a week, and one site recommended cutting down 500 calories and burning 500 calories more a day. That site also recommends only working high intensity for one hour max, and only losing 1 pound per week.

So this is where I get confused, because giving up soda alone will cut down almost 1,000 calories a day. On top of that I'm only eating things that are low in grams of fat, like the Chargrilled chicken sandwich, and medium fruit cup at Chick Fila is only 350 calories and 3 grams of fat. Breakfest I just eat a bowl of frosted flakes with low fat milk. Dinner will be usually a grilled chicken sandwich or panda express steam rice, with mandarin and black pepper chicken. I'm also drinking a lot of water throughout the day 64oz or so.

So I would say my calorie intake on average this past week has been 1500-2000 a day. I've only worked out twice in the past 7 days for one hour, but my goal is to do 3-5 days a week, one hour mininum, and on the weekend try to get two hours in.

Is this a good plan? If I start losing more than 2 pounds a week should I be concerned? The site said if I lose more than 1 pound a week, then i'll slow my metoblism down and when I start eating more i'll gain weight faster. The way I look at it is even if that happenned when I get below 190 I can start lifting more weights, and as I get in better shape I can do harder workouts plus eat more, and I think that would get my metoblism back up. So right now my goal in the next few months is to lose a lot of weight fast, then work on building muscle, eating more again once I am lighter and in better shape.

[tcrossma]

Sounds like a decent plan, but don't get overly ambitious with the working out. Great if you can, but many people (myself included) start out overly aggressive on working out and then after a month or two, stop. Cutting back on the soda, mayo, ranch dressings, and other high fat items will make a big difference.

Eat better food, increase your fiber intake (which makes feel less hungry), and eat more times throughout the day.

Every person is going to have a different recipe for success when it comes to losing weight. For me, eating a good breakfast, a sensible (but filling) lunch, a mid-afternoon snack of fruit, app before dinner, dinner, and an evening snack works. I have all but removed white flour from my diet and instead use whole wheat.

Breakfast is usually raisin bran cereal or oatmeal; lunch is usually a small turkey sub (without mayo) and a garden salad; afternoon snack is usually an apple; appetizer is usually some hummus and whole wheat crackers; dinner varies but my favorite is fish, brown rice and beans (red kidney). For desert maybe some low-fat yogurt, or maybe a granola bar.

The key for me is never being hungry. If I get hungry, I eat too much and tend to eat unhealthy things. So I eat multiple times during the day and try to eat good, healthy things.

If you happen to be diabetic, you'll want to adjust this further and, even better, consult a nutritionist to help with your meal plan.

For me, I just like to see myself going in the right direction - losing weight and not gaining. Whether I lose a pound a week or five, I don't care, just so long as I'm not gaining.

Good luck!

[woodsman10b]

I lost 50 pounds in 3 months in 08', calorie watching helps alot but another important thing to watch is salt intake. Salt helps the body retain water and calories from fat. Stay away from canned soups, they are loaded with salt! If you do the math I lost over 4 pounds a week, and I felt better and better everyday. I was 285 when I started my own personal diet. Find a good salsa and some unsalted tortilla chips(like you get at a mexican rest.), you gotta have something to snack on.

[ben62670]

stay away from fats and carbs. Eat lots of veggies and have a smoothie with protien mix. It is that simple.
Ben

[danz1906]

Sounds like a decent plan, but don't get overly ambitious with the working out. Great if you can, but many people (myself included) start out overly aggressive on working out and then after a month or two, stop. Cutting back on the soda, mayo, ranch dressings, and other high fat items will make a big difference.

Eat better food, increase your fiber intake (which makes feel less hungry), and eat more times throughout the day.

Every person is going to have a different recipe for success when it comes to losing weight. For me, eating a good breakfast, a sensible (but filling) lunch, a mid-afternoon snack of fruit, app before dinner, dinner, and an evening snack works. I have all but removed white flour from my diet and instead use whole wheat.

Breakfast is usually raisin bran cereal or oatmeal; lunch is usually a small turkey sub (without mayo) and a garden salad; afternoon snack is usually an apple; appetizer is usually some hummus and whole wheat crackers; dinner varies but my favorite is fish, brown rice and beans (red kidney). For desert maybe some low-fat yogurt, or maybe a granola bar.

The key for me is never being hungry. If I get hungry, I eat too much and tend to eat unhealthy things. So I eat multiple times during the day and try to eat good, healthy things.

If you happen to be diabetic, you'll want to adjust this further and, even better, consult a nutritionist to help with your meal plan.

For me, I just like to see myself going in the right direction - losing weight and not gaining. Whether I lose a pound a week or five, I don't care, just so long as I'm not gaining.

Good luck!

Great advice, several small meals are much better than 3 large meals
a day. Try not to eat after 7p.m.

Good luck!

[cnh]

Sound advice above...but the 1 pound a week thing is not entirely true....I've lost a bit over 2 pounds a week in China only working out some 2 days a week and eating lots of rice for dinner. The secret....'portions' and low fat, NO SUGAR!!! You can eat some carbs no problems as long as you're not eating tons of them....even so I eat quite a bit of rice for dinner and the pounds keep dropping.

The Chinese diet...when properly done...less oil, sugar and salt--that you see in U.S. restaurants will take those pounds off slowly if you adhere to it. I've been to China several times and have NEVER GAINED ONE POUND HERE...and always lost at least 20 lbs or more....during my stays.

You've got the right idea. And if you're heavy to begin with it is NOT UNUSUAL TO LOSE 2, 3 or even 4 pounds a week in the first few weeks of the diet. That's pretty normal because your body takes time to make that adjustment the article you're talking about mentions...and by the time it figures things out....you're appetite has 'decreased' and you're naturally eating LESS! So you're good to lose.

cnh

[PSOVLSK]

Buy Larry North's GET FIT book. If your schedule allows you to follow his plan, it's awesome. It's not really a diet, but just a healthy eating plan with exercise. Even if you can't follow his plan 100%, it's a great source of information on the subject. At the very least, go to a bookstore and check it out.

+1 on the advice from tcrossma, especially the first paragraph. With exercise you want to leave yourself looking forward to the next workout, not dreading it.

I just noticed you're from Dallas. Larry North is also from Dallas and has a gym in Highland Park I believe. He also used to have a radio show, but I'm not sure if it's still on the air.

[KrazyMofo24]

Thanks, a lot of great advice I worked out today for an hour. Doing the incline at 9.0 and the speed at 3.5 gets my heart rate up to 160, and says I burn over 1000 calories. So going to do that until I get better shape. I'm going to check out that Get Fit book. I go to Panda express, and always eat the steam rice I stay away from Orange Chicken, I usually would get Kung Pao but switch to Black Pepper and Mandarin they have less fat.

Well I have a better feeling about making it work this time, the past 7 years I've lost 30-50lbs each time something got in the way and I would stop. First time was in high school went from 195 to 145 lost it all in the summer, and then kept it off for 2 years but as soon I started working ate out more, and no longer exercise I went all the way up to 235 I worked out again but this time I figured I could just work out a lot and not eat better so at 212 I eventually got stuck at that weight and stopped working out again. I got up to 255 lost weight again this time giving up soda and working out got down to 235 after 6 weeks, I ended up getting a bad toothache, and got sick that lasted about two weeks I stopped again, and a year later here I am.

I feel like I'm going to really stay on it this time, because I'm not just going to gym everyday. I'm making sure I eat healthy now, I'm not going to be scared to enjoy an unhealthy meal every now and then. I'm made a spreadsheet on a list of foods that are low in fat at most of the restaurants I think will help me.

[Lasareath]

Medifast, I've lost 30LBS in 3 weeks

http://www.medifast1.com/5and1mealplan/index.aspx

[BlueFox]

Eat less, exercise more.

[Toxis]

Work off more calories than calories you intake. Simple concept but hard to grasp for most. Myself included! I would love to lose 50lbs but I know it's a lifestyle change I'll need to make and it's hard for me to get started. Then keep it going after my goal too. I just love chipotle and Chinese too much.

[concealer404]

What's your natural frame like? I'm 5'9" as well, currently weigh about 150lbs, and i still look like a scarecrow. I would suggest shooting for 170, and near the last 30lbs or so, really hit the gym for a few months, and convert the rest over to muscle.

155 just seems a little excessive to me.

But you're definitely on the right track. :)

[KASR]

Congrats on the life change (and losing that much weight...or aspiring to, IS a life change).
Diet is a huge factor into the success, there's no doubt, but the exercising properly will also kickstart your bodys ability to burn the energy stores that you do have and get your metabolism working in the right direction.

Do some research on the various diets you can engage in and find one that will make sense for you - don't try to jump into some crazy diet that isn't practical for your current lifestyle and level - you have to ease into it, or else after a few weeks of struggle and frustration you may end up giving up. I recommend you take a look at your protein to carb ratio - this will become very important when you begin your exercising. A good rule of thumb is a 3:2 protein to carb ratio and then eventually you can bump it to 3:1 (for example during the course of the day you'd consume 270g of protein and 90g of carbs)

If you don't have a gym membership then get one. If you can't afford one, then buy some used equipment ... it's just a matter of re-arranging priorities. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. And definitely make sure you have a support system in place - friends, family, an forum group online (I like bodyspace.bodybuilding.com - while you will immediately see all the chiseled bodies and greek goddess on the homepage, once you dig in deeper you'll actually see all the inspirational stories of people who have turned their lives around - I highly recommend it.) If you join, hit me up and I'll add you as a friend: http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/KASR5277

Again, congrats and good luck!!!

[muncybob]

Toxis is right...consumer less claories than you burn off, no matter what your activity level is and this will of course prevent you from gaining weight. Eating several smaller meals rather than a big one or two is also the way to go. If you like to cook and use fresh ingredients you can control the salt and carb intake...and enjoy Chinese. I have many recipies for Chinese dishes that are low fat and yummy. Also agree with not setting too ambitious a goal or you will set yourself up for failure. Ease into the transition of exercising...walk A LOT! and eat sensibly. Also watch what alchohol drinks you enjoy(if any)...some are loaded with carbs that just turn into fat unless you burn them off. A buddy of mine is about 48 and 6'3" ... dropped around 50 lbs or so doing the above. He's now in better shape than when he was 25. Blood pressure is now normal and no need for diabetic drugs anymore. Good luck!!

[bobman1235]

I wouldn't necessarily be WORRIED if you lose more than a pound or two a week, it's just that it's tougher for your body to adjust to that kind of weight loss so it's less likely to "stick."

As for what you eat, don't become TOO focused on fats - SOME fat isn't bad (and is in fact healthy), and like fiber helps you stay full (as opposed to carbs, which end up as fat but make you hungrier).

For me watching how MUCH I eat has always been more effective in weight loss than WHAT I eat (within reason).

[Jstas]

For me watching how MUCH I eat has always been more effective in weight loss than WHAT I eat (within reason).

DING!

If you gotta trick yourself, use smaller dinner plates so the same amount of food doesn't fit and you have to eat less.

When you're done with your plate at a meal, don't fill it back up, put down the fork and walk away. Just walk away, man, just walk away.

Don't eat out. Go to the store and buy your food and prepare it yourself. You can control what goes in to your meals much better than if you went out to eat and you'll save a ton of money. You can also control portion size.

Lastly, exercise at least 20 minutes a day. I'm not talking wandering down the sidewalk for a half hour. I mean serious exercise where you break a sweat and get your heart rate up for 20 minutes.

The point of the exercise is to burn calories. The point of cutting back on the calories you take in is so you take in less than you burn which forces your body to use stored energy (i.e.: fat). Do that often and long enough and you'll drop the weight.

Cut calories, eat balanced meals and exercise daily. Dieting doesn't work, you need to change your lifestyle and it's gonna suck but if you want it to work, you have to do it and there is no more effective way than to eat right and exercise.

[jdwmap]

I have heard excercising before you eat (mornings) is better than after you eat. You have no food so the body turns to itself for nourishment.

I have started limiting portions and using a treadmill/weights each evening for 30-40 minutes. The best advice i got was, you didn't get fat overnight, your not going the other way overnight either. Slow and steady and keep on it.

[KrazyMofo24]

What's your natural frame like? I'm 5'9" as well, currently weigh about 150lbs, and i still look like a scarecrow. I would suggest shooting for 170, and near the last 30lbs or so, really hit the gym for a few months, and convert the rest over to muscle.

155 just seems a little excessive to me.

But you're definitely on the right track. :)

I would say I have a large frame, at 155 I think that's a good weight for me when I use to be that weight I wasn't too skinny, I felt it was just right. However I agree if I can build 20lbs of muscle to get my weight up to 170 that would be optimal.

Congrats on the life change (and losing that much weight...or aspiring to, IS a life change).
Diet is a huge factor into the success, there's no doubt, but the exercising properly will also kickstart your bodys ability to burn the energy stores that you do have and get your metabolism working in the right direction.

Do some research on the various diets you can engage in and find one that will make sense for you - don't try to jump into some crazy diet that isn't practical for your current lifestyle and level - you have to ease into it, or else after a few weeks of struggle and frustration you may end up giving up. I recommend you take a look at your protein to carb ratio - this will become very important when you begin your exercising. A good rule of thumb is a 3:2 protein to carb ratio and then eventually you can bump it to 3:1 (for example during the course of the day you'd consume 270g of protein and 90g of carbs)

If you don't have a gym membership then get one. If you can't afford one, then buy some used equipment ... it's just a matter of re-arranging priorities. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. And definitely make sure you have a support system in place - friends, family, an forum group online (I like bodyspace.bodybuilding.com - while you will immediately see all the chiseled bodies and greek goddess on the homepage, once you dig in deeper you'll actually see all the inspirational stories of people who have turned their lives around - I highly recommend it.) If you join, hit me up and I'll add you as a friend: http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/KASR5277

Again, congrats and good luck!!!

Thanks, I'll continue to do research on my diet. Right now I would say I'm getting more protein than carbs. I have a membership at 24 hour fitness which I've had for awhile now, finally starting to to use it. The diet isn't bothering me, because I always preferred grilled chicken over fried chicken, and steam rice over fried rice. Those two things I'm eating the most a long with a fruit cup, and cereal. I'll definitely check out more healthy options so I can have more a variety. Thanks for that site I'll look into that too.

[Jstas]

I have heard excercising before you eat (mornings) is better than after you eat. You have no food so the body turns to itself for nourishment.

I have started limiting portions and using a treadmill/weights each evening for 30-40 minutes. The best advice i got was, you didn't get fat overnight, your not going the other way overnight either. Slow and steady and keep on it.

Yeah I've seen that about morning exercise too. But then again, I'd rather sleep.

Oh, I've seen that too. If you want to lose weight drink water and lots of it. I mean LOTS of it. Like 1.5 to 2 gallons a day. Also, sleep. Get lots of sleep. For two reasons. Your body repairs itself during sleep. It shuts the big parts of your brain down so it doesn't use so much energy and it can put more energy towards fixing you. So if you are asleep for 8-10 hours, you're not eating so your body has use energy reserves to do the repair work. In addition, you are not eating for 8+ plus hours. Means 0 calorie intake for 8+ hours.


As far as exercise, if I can't get out and do something outside, I ride the exercise bike while I watch the news or a favorite TV show and I don't get off until the credits are done rolling. 20-60 minutes depending on the show. 5 days a week like that and you'll drop weight like it's going out of style.

Also, don't discount manual labor like yard work or even just washing your car. It's strenuous physical activity over a sustained period. That's exercise. Go walk the mall. Rent a lane at the bowling alley and just run sets for an hour or so. Go to a batting cage, that's great exercise and a great stress reliever. Go get a bucket of balls at the driving range and swing away for an hour or so. Hell, clean the house! There's lots of ways to get exercise without it being just mind-numbing repetitive boredom.

[KrazyMofo24]

DING!

If you gotta trick yourself, use smaller dinner plates so the same amount of food doesn't fit and you have to eat less.

When you're done with your plate at a meal, don't fill it back up, put down the fork and walk away. Just walk away, man, just walk away.

Don't eat out. Go to the store and buy your food and prepare it yourself. You can control what goes in to your meals much better than if you went out to eat and you'll save a ton of money. You can also control portion size.

Lastly, exercise at least 20 minutes a day. I'm not talking wandering down the sidewalk for a half hour. I mean serious exercise where you break a sweat and get your heart rate up for 20 minutes.

The point of the exercise is to burn calories. The point of cutting back on the calories you take in is so you take in less than you burn which forces your body to use stored energy (i.e.: fat). Do that often and long enough and you'll drop the weight.

Cut calories, eat balanced meals and exercise daily. Dieting doesn't work, you need to change your lifestyle and it's gonna suck but if you want it to work, you have to do it and there is no more effective way than to eat right and exercise.

Thanks, I agree with the workouts I love playing basketball, but I realize when I go by myself and just shoot around I generally don't get a good enough of workout in, basketball even just 1 on1 is a good workout so I'll still play when I get a chance. Right now I'm focusing on the treadmill I'm doing the incline at 9-10 and just walking at 3.5mph. That right there is burning 1000 calories per hour, and getting my heart rate up to 160-170. As I get in better shape I'll up go faster as needed to keep my heart rate at that level. I've been doing mininum one hour at the gym I'll spend about 15 minutes on weights which I know I need to research that, just going to a few machines to work out my arms. I need to get a workout plan for that.

As far as portion control definitely something I need to keep an eye on, because there will be times when I'm eating a meal that will have a lot of fat I'll stop finishing the plate like I used to do.

I don't feel this is a diet, as I can see myself doing this for a long time, and feel like it's going to be a permanent change. Ofcourse I say that now, only time will tell.

[ohskigod]

I'll give it to you from a different angle. I recently had a bit of a medical hiccup that made me deeply reevaluate my lifestyle. luckily, excersize and activity were never my biggest issues, but my diet was atrocious. (low to 0 fiber, high sugar. bowls of cake batter in a clip. raw cookie dough.....bad dude. BAD)

after my medical incident (pan my previous posts if your curious, I have a thread on it), I decided to do what I could call a moderate lifestyle change. I basically listened to my GI doc, increased my fiber intake, cut down sugar. avoided HUGE meals.

Soda's out, I still drink juice, but in moderation (I would normally drink a **** ton of OJ and grape juice) Drastic increase in vegatables and fruit (3 servings a day of each per the GI doc.

When I buy food, I eyeball the sugar count, fiber count, protien (per my bone doc for healing)

long and short of it, you have to achieve the results you will achieve because of an overall lifestyle change, not full force dieting. it';s hard man. It took me a medical "kick in the nuts" and a month in the hospital to figure it out.

I have thus far lost about 60-70 lbs (35 or so against my will in the hospital, the rest from lifestyle change)

I know you mentioned soda, youre right, you will DRASTICALLY cut back your sugar intake by hacking that out. Diet soda can replace in apinch, but not alot. overall it aint to great for you, but again in lack of other options, go diet.

2 litres of water a day too (aids in digestion if your ramping up fiber intake)

speaking of fiber, 7-10 grams in the AM about 30 overall mg per day. if your going to err, err on the high side. if you err very high, you REALLY need to drink that water.

In this endeavor, I found vegatables I really like. I always loved tomatoes. I am oddly into salads now (polkies that have met me are laughing there ass off at this I am sure). I am an absolute whore for raw red peppers. eff green and yellow, RED baby.....for the win!!!

change the lifestyle overall and take whatever weight losses come from it. I have done other diets. low fat, low sugar. weight watchers, atkins (40 lbs in a month. a year later I was heavier than ever before)

take my word for it bro. try to do this without the health scare I endured. I was lucky as sh*t to have this oppurtunity to do things different and I thank god for every day now.

[Jstas]

Thanks, I'll continue to do research on my diet. Right now I would say I'm getting more protein than carbs. I have a membership at 24 hour fitness which I've had for awhile now, finally starting to to use it. The diet isn't bothering me, because I always preferred grilled chicken over fried chicken, and steam rice over fried rice. Those two things I'm eating the most a long with a fruit cup, and cereal. I'll definitely check out more healthy options so I can have more a variety. Thanks for that site I'll look into that too.

Cool. Also, for cereals, go for whole grain stuff. It has the fiber discussed earlier plus many more nutritional benefits like fatty acids and vitamins and minerals you don't get from processed stuff.

Add vegetables in to your diet. If you do that you can cut back on the chicken because the vegetables, especially beans, have the protein you need and none of the fats you don't.

If you feel hungry, potatoes are better than other carbs because they are a starch and your body breaks them down immediately and uses them. It doesn't store them. Starches are made up of glucose compounds so unlike other complex carbs, once a starch is cooked, it's easy to break down and provides long lasting, raw energy to your system. Plus, potatoes are filling. A single baked potato is very good for you and very filling at the same time.

Raw foods are nice but your body doesn't break them down as easily and therefore they end up being empty calories 'cause your body cannot get all the nutrients out of the raw foods.

Lastly, the rice. White rice is very processed and lacks many of the benefits that brown and/or wild rice has. There's nothing wrong with the white rice but if you are going to cut calories, you are going to reduce the amount of food you eat. So essentially, you want the food you do eat to give you the most benefit you can get from it. So make it count.

[Jstas]

Thanks, I agree with the workouts I love playing basketball, but I realize when I go by myself and just shoot around I generally don't get a good enough of workout in, basketball even just 1 on1 is a good workout so I'll still play when I get a chance. Right now I'm focusing on the treadmill I'm doing the incline at 9-10 and just walking at 3.5mph. That right there is burning 1000 calories per hour, and getting my heart rate up to 160-170. As I get in better shape I'll up go faster as needed to keep my heart rate at that level. I've been doing mininum one hour at the gym I'll spend about 15 minutes on weights which I know I need to research that, just going to a few machines to work out my arms. I need to get a workout plan for that.

As far as portion control definitely something I need to keep an eye on, because there will be times when I'm eating a meal that will have a lot of fat I'll stop finishing the plate like I used to do.

I don't feel this is a diet, as I can see myself doing this for a long time, and feel like it's going to be a permanent change. Ofcourse I say that now, only time will tell.

All that sounds awesome and is most definitely the correct path to be going down.

But you're using a gym and they have more resources than just weights and machines. Talk to them about a trainer or a buddy program. A trainer can help you get a weight program straightened out. They can also be motivation. My friend left his cell number with his trainer and he gets a call or text message everyday reminding him to go. He said that was the best thing he did 'cause that small bit of prodding gets him motivated to at least go and when he gets there, he just gets in to it 'cause the first person he sees is his overly positive trainer.

Also, many gyms have a buddy system and they can hook you up with a workout buddy. That's extra motivation because it makes it personal. You're going to meet someone at the gym and you feel more obligated to go because another person is counting on you to be there. You're not just going for you. It removes your opportunity to make excuses to yourself because you can rationalize away your own excuses to yourself. Not so much to another person.

If your gym doesn't have a buddy program, talk to them about starting one.

[ohskigod]

cereal wise I roll with Raisin Bran (suger is a little higher than I like but my GI doc is a huge fan of it. his theory is, FIBER!!!!!! and it's tasty = win). Keen polkies will remember me munching on it at polkfest.

I also discovered special K protien plus....high in Protien, high fiber (not raisin bran high, but 5g a serving is pretty darn good) and it's oddly tasty.

other honerable mentions = multi grain cheerios. Kix (the honey one too, suger count not bad at all as tasty as all hell)

[tx_polkhead]

I am on the path with you. I am a BIG dude, 6'4" and as fat as 320lbs in the last few years. This summer (right around 4th of July) I had to see the Dr. for a bad case of poison oak. At the time I was 309 (or 307 either way FAT!) and my BP was on the high end of normal. He said if I couldn't take care of the BP on my own he was going to prescribe meds. You know the meds that have that small side effect (lack of sex type side effects!) that's when I decided to ramp up the workout routine and make small changes to my daily diet. This week I weighed in at 271, I have not seen 271 since HS, that was 20 years ago BTW. Wow I just did the math and that's 36lbs, pardon me while I pat myself on the back. At 320lbs. I was an athletic fat person, the kind of fat you didn't want to see on the other side of the line of scrimage, but fat nonetheless. I had been working out, doing cardio and yoga both of which were good for me but without changing eating patterns they were not enough to lose much weight. My changes have been small. My belly craved lots of food, years of stretching it out with big meals means smaller meals only left me craving more food. Research slow foods, you want stuff that takes a while to process. My rule is if my grandmother would not recognize it as food don't buy it. That means stay away from prepackaged processed stuff. Oatmeal and Whole Grains are your friend, make sure you are eating some kind of whole grains with each meal. And lastly buy a heart rate monitor! I have a polar f11, it cost about $120 but it was money well spent, it keeps track of my workouts. I know if I am working out hard enough, but keeps me from wotrking out too hard. Find small challenges and challenge yourself. My past challenges have been make it trough a spin class without nausia, yep that class is that hard! Another challenge has been to bench press my body weight, at 320 that was a serious challenge but as I lower my body weight I bet I am getting really close to that goal. Small things like have bigger biceps than my neck. Big things like finish a biathalon this December. That one is comming up really quick, I'll need for you guys to say a prayer for me the 28 miles on the bike should be tough but do-able, it's the mile swim that's going to kill! I've recently gotten back in the pool after 20 years and it was a killer last week, but this week it's less painfull! I am also in Dallas and workout at the downtown YMCA, if that is in your neighborhood send me a PM maybe we can workout together sometime. Good luck and keep at it!

[Jstas]

Yeah, as far as sweeteners go, Honey is where's at! It's like 3 times sweeter than regular table sugar. That means you don't need nearly as much to get the same effect. But, honey is seriously good for you. It's loaded with antioxidants and other good stuff as well as being tasty and sweet!

Plus, graham crackers have all the wonderful soluble fiber everybody's been talking about and they are awesome with honey!

[ozzy21236]

I lost 60# simply reading labels and eating multiple smaller meals throughout the day.

Try this , read a food label . If the amount of calories from fat exceeds 20% per serving ,don't eat it. If the sugar per serving is more than 10 grams don't eat it .
Get your fiber in somehow and green veggies .
Good luck. It is hard at first but you get motivated when you see results.

Russ

[xj4094dg]

I'll give it to you from a different angle. I recently had a bit of a medical hiccup that made me deeply reevaluate my lifestyle. luckily, excersize and activity were never my biggest issues, but my diet was atrocious. (low to 0 fiber, high sugar. bowls of cake batter in a clip. raw cookie dough.....bad dude. BAD)

after my medical incident (pan my previous posts if your curious, I have a thread on it), I decided to do what I could call a moderate lifestyle change. I basically listened to my GI doc, increased my fiber intake, cut down sugar. avoided HUGE meals.

Soda's out, I still drink juice, but in moderation (I would normally drink a **** ton of OJ and grape juice) Drastic increase in vegatables and fruit (3 servings a day of each per the GI doc.

When I buy food, I eyeball the sugar count, fiber count, protien (per my bone doc for healing)

long and short of it, you have to achieve the results you will achieve because of an overall lifestyle change, not full force dieting. it';s hard man. It took me a medical "kick in the nuts" and a month in the hospital to figure it out.

I have thus far lost about 60-70 lbs (35 or so against my will in the hospital, the rest from lifestyle change)

I know you mentioned soda, youre right, you will DRASTICALLY cut back your sugar intake by hacking that out. Diet soda can replace in apinch, but not alot. overall it aint to great for you, but again in lack of other options, go diet.

2 litres of water a day too (aids in digestion if your ramping up fiber intake)

speaking of fiber, 7-10 grams in the AM about 30 overall mg per day. if your going to err, err on the high side. if you err very high, you REALLY need to drink that water.

In this endeavor, I found vegatables I really like. I always loved tomatoes. I am oddly into salads now (polkies that have met me are laughing there ass off at this I am sure). I am an absolute whore for raw red peppers. eff green and yellow, RED baby.....for the win!!!

change the lifestyle overall and take whatever weight losses come from it. I have done other diets. low fat, low sugar. weight watchers, atkins (40 lbs in a month. a year later I was heavier than ever before)

take my word for it bro. try to do this without the health scare I endured. I was lucky as sh*t to have this oppurtunity to do things different and I thank god for every day now.

Excellent post. I lost 90 lbs. last year. It all comes down to diet. I removed alcohol, soda, sugar, french fries completely. The weight just fell off. I exercise about 3-4 times a week now, but that is only recently. Exercise makes you look and feel better but doesn't really pull the pounds off like a good diet.

A recent study showed that when two groups of people were given the same weight loss diet, one group was assigned a vigorous exercise program while the other group was asked not to work out at all. Both groups lost about the same amount of body-fat/weight by the end of the study. The conclusion was that exercise, while making you feel and look better, does not make you lose any more weight than someone on the same diet who is not exercising.

Some people even believe they can have an extra slice of pie or whatever because they ran an extra five miles this week. Wrong.

Its all about diet. You can do it! I did. Good luck.

[bobman1235]

A recent study showed that when two groups of people were given the same weight loss diet, one group was assigned a vigorous exercise program while the other group was asked not to work out at all. Both groups lost about the same amount of body-fat/weight by the end of the study. The conclusion was that exercise, while making you feel and look better, does not make you lose any more weight than someone on the same diet who is not exercising.

I brought up that study in a recent thread and got ****ing crucified for it. Fair warning.

[tom t]

i lost about 23 pounds since november 1st. how?? exercising about 45 minutes a day and eating less and better foods. no snacks. works well