Weight Loss

[random_thought]

Thanks everyone It is so hard some mornings to get up and do it but I keep on chugging along lol

 

[Jambalaya]

How is everyone doing? Last year was completely crazy at work, really long shifts, and last fall I kept coming down with bugs. But now, we have more staff and finally, my routine is normal. I really hope it stays that way. Now I can go to the gym.

This month I started afresh with weight loss. I was 199 at the beginning of January and am now 193.

If anyone has tips on how to maintain muscle and lose only fat, I'd love to know. I realize that you have to lift a lot of weights and eat protein, but I also like cardio because it strengthens your heart. However, I've heard trainers say that you need to do mostly weights to lose fat not muscle. This seems very weird. Surely you need to do both for optimum health.

I'm also confused about how many calories to cut. Online fitness articles keep saying approx 10 kcals per pound of body weight per day, but if I eat 1930 cals per day, I would never lose weight. I'm thinking it should be more like 1500 for a woman.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well!

 

[jordyonbass]

So last year I started off at around 210-215lb and am now down to 175lb. I didn't really do anything to lose all that weight, just a bit more physically active but not conscientiously trying to be. And due to work etc I was eating more meals but smaller portions.

My body is very sensitive to input changes, I could potentially put it all back on in a couple months

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Hey Jambalaya,

Have you tried the My Fitness Pal app? That would give you a good idea on what to eat calorie wise, I used it a few years ago but I got frustrated with it because when I would go to put in fresh food that I made I would have to put in every ingredient. It was very helpful for establishing a calorie range.

From my own experience the best way to lose fat is to eat low carb and make sure you get plenty of healthy fats, protein, and vegetables they will help keep you full and your body will start using the fat stores for energy rather than the food you are eating. Also if you aren't eating sugar then you will switch from being a sugar burner to a fat burner and that is when the weight really comes off. I am very fond of the treadmill myself so I hear you about the cardio but you don't need a ton of weight lifting to shed fat. I found doing three sets of five exercises at the highest weight I could manage gave me the best results. Did that every other day and would take me half an hour, you could do it watching tv!

Your progress is great btw. I've put on quite a bit of weight since the summer and I just gave up coffee and am trying to get back on track. It's not easy though!

 

[jordyonbass]

How is everyone doing? Last year was completely crazy at work, really long shifts, and last fall I kept coming down with bugs. But now, we have more staff and finally, my routine is normal. I really hope it stays that way. Now I can go to the gym.

This month I started afresh with weight loss. I was 199 at the beginning of January and am now 193.

If anyone has tips on how to maintain muscle and lose only fat, I'd love to know. I realize that you have to lift a lot of weights and eat protein, but I also like cardio because it strengthens your heart. However, I've heard trainers say that you need to do mostly weights to lose fat not muscle. This seems very weird. Surely you need to do both for optimum health.

I'm also confused about how many calories to cut. Online fitness articles keep saying approx 10 kcals per pound of body weight per day, but if I eat 1930 cals per day, I would never lose weight. I'm thinking it should be more like 1500 for a woman.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well!

This is how weights work as it was explained to me:

For size/bulking up, high weights with low repetitions.
For weight loss/definition, low weight with high reps.
For strength, somewhere in between.

And I also think you're right regarding calories, my wife went on one a little while ago and she was having trouble getting 3/4 of her daily calories. She was still losing weight so I am more inclined to say listen to your body than try make that number

 

[violet3]

I would like to join this group! I have struggled with my weight most of my life - I'm 5 feet 5 inches, and I weigh about 165 lbs right now. I'm generally at war with about 30-40 lbs, with my ideal weight being around 145 and my heaviest being 185.

For about 2 years, I kept off 30 lbs with diet and exercise, but then this fall my schedule became insane at work, and I didn't have much time to exercise or plan meals. I gained around 10 lbs since summer, and tried to be kind to myself while it was happening. Usually when that starts happening, I just let it go and gain most of the weight back (30 lbs), because it's SO DARN HARD to get back to the gym and healthy dieting.

Last week I went back to exercising and Yoga, and I try for at least 3 yoga sessions a week, in both strength and flexibility areas. I hate cardio at the gym, but I'm going back to that next week too. It feels so crappy to start back to exercising, because while it takes me almost a year to really get in shape, it only takes a couple of months to get back out of shape.

Today I started back to my diet - when I'm really dieting, I start every morning with two eggs, and some additional egg whites. The protein keeps me full for the morning, and the calories are low. For the rest of the day, I try to eat lean protein and vegetables/fruits. I try mainly to avoid carbs, because I tend to gain weight really easily when I indulge in them. I've also had good success with doing a 30 day salad challenge to drop weight, where every day for 30 days I eat a large salad with a lean protein for either lunch or dinner.

I'm so not looking forward to going back to this routine, but I'm eager to feel healthy again - last January I was in fantastic shape and practicing yoga every single day, so I was in great shape mentally too. I know the road back to healthy living is a struggle, but I'm looking forward to feeling better!

I look forward to hearing your strategies

 

[missy]

Hi everyone working towards better health.

My strategy is to always put working out first if possible and I do it first thing every single morning. I never skip a workout unless I have a broken leg (and please let that never happen again ) or if I'm running a fever. Otherwise I workout every single morning. No excuses no matter how early I have to wake up. I do it for myself and if I don't take good care of my mind and my body no one else will.

My workout includes cardio (usually my Cybex Arc trainer) and strength training (Pilates reformer mainly and free weights) and I'm working towards meditation too. Working out helps my mind as well as body and it helps me achieve peace from anxiety and worries. So it's a must for me. My workouts are my drug of choice.


As for eating I try to eat every few hours and my favorite to go snack are unsalted almonds, cashews and pistachios. They pack a punch and even though they are relatively high in calories they are nutritious and filling and satiating.
I don't eat processed foods or foods with added sugar. All in moderation of course and I always enjoy a treat or 2 during special occasions and holidays especially if my dh bakes.

If your eating/exercise routine feels like torture you won't continue with it so that defeats the purpose. Find a way of life you can enjoy and live with in harmony. For me, I don't deprive myself of calories as that sets you up for failure IMO. Eat lean, eat healthfully and enjoy things you really have a craving for but only in small amounts and move every single day and you can do it!!! The key is making it a way of life and not a punishment. Make sure you have food/meals you enjoy and activities you like doing.


And 2 more thoughts. if you think you're hungry make sure you are not just thirsty. Have a glass of water and see if you're still hungry. And if you're bored you might be looking to eat so make sure you're not just bored. Take a walk, phone a friend, read a book and/or put on your favorite music to enjoy.


Lastly, make sure you eat enough calories because your body will go into starvation mode if you don't consume enough calories and that will sabotage your efforts to lose weight and be healthy.

Good luck all!!! You can do it!!!!

 

[PintoBean]

Happy new year! I'm loving this quickie 1 mile walking video lately. 15 minutes No equipment just a little space to walk.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=njeZ29umqVE

 

[junebug17]

Pintobean, I just did the video and I really like it!! I did a little low jogging and hopping in place of the walking when I felt up to it - thank you for posting it! One of my problems right now is I'm not that active - I do a 30 minute exercise video every day but other than that I don't move around that much - this is a great way to get myself up off my butt and moving. Not as boring as walking on a treadmill either lol.

Excellent advice and tips Missy!

I struggle with healthy eating, I was doing pretty well but the holidays threw me off! I find having some cashews, cheese, or yogurt helps with the sugar cravings. Like Missy, I try to have a snack every few hours because if I get too hungry I reach for the bad carbs. I love pasta, potatoes, and pizza but they don't love me so I am trying to just enjoy them in moderation occasionally so I don't feel deprived. Other than than, I'm just trying to stick to lean proteins and vegetables. I've been experimenting with recipes to jazz those foods up a little, there are many good recipes available online.

I admire everyone in this thread and I am so glad jambalaya started it, it's great to have a place to go for support and encouragement!

 

[Scandinavian]

Hello

My best tips are to eat tons of protein and vegetables! And no fast carbs... Lean meat and fish are great. Myfitnesspal is a good tool if you want to track nutrients / kcal and make sure that your food is giving you enough of what you need! And lift weights! If I want to slim down a little without losing muscles, eating protein (about 2 gram per kg of me) and lifting weights (as heavy as I'm able to) gets me there every time And it really helped me get back to "me" after having child number two! Re calorie deficit, I think I have read that it is recommended to do about 500 kcal in deficit per day. Combined with loosing another 500 from exercise, that should result in about 1 kg weight reduction per week I think

 

[Scandinavian]

So last year I started off at around 210-215lb and am now down to 175lb. I didn't really do anything to lose all that weight, just a bit more physically active but not conscientiously trying to be. And due to work etc I was eating more meals but smaller portions.

My body is very sensitive to input changes, I could potentially put it all back on in a couple months

I'm like this too! Ate whatever during Christmas, and gained about 7 pounds.. But almost gone again now, thankfully the fast changes works both ways! I love to barbeque during summer though, so many healthy options that tastes so much better of the grill

 

[PierreBear]

Hi friends! Good luck and great work on all the healthy goals and plans! Ya'll are inspiring! I thought I would just chime in with my ownexperiences. I haven't read all the great insight on here but gleamed through a bit. I know for many, cutting out carbs and eating lean meats helps with weight maintenance. As I've aged and my metabolism has changed, I learned for me personally (not sure if it's specific to me) that eating meat, though lean and healthy, just takes my body awhile to digest. If I eat a dinner sized portion of red meat several times a week, I'll see the scale increase. This surprisingly doesn't happen when I eat carbs like pasta but of course also in moderation. I suspect that even if the same amount of calories are consumed, it's easier for my body to break down carbs and other faster burning energy/sugars quicker than protein.

Anyhow, after a year of monitoring what I've been eating and tracking my weight on a scale in a journal (yes, crazy! but it helped in the end), if I eat small portion red meats only once in awhile, I don't have to watch that scale as often. Generally, if I eat a salad for lunch every work day then I can relax and let go for other meals. I'm not a vegetarian but it's really difficult to "overeat" unnecessary calories. Just wanted to share how I've changed my diet to avoid watching my weight on a scale and seeing the fluctuations. Generally it's eat more veggies and eat less meat! I still love a great steak though! Yum!

 

[PierreBear]

How is everyone doing? Last year was completely crazy at work, really long shifts, and last fall I kept coming down with bugs. But now, we have more staff and finally, my routine is normal. I really hope it stays that way. Now I can go to the gym.

This month I started afresh with weight loss. I was 199 at the beginning of January and am now 193.

If anyone has tips on how to maintain muscle and lose only fat, I'd love to know. I realize that you have to lift a lot of weights and eat protein, but I also like cardio because it strengthens your heart. However, I've heard trainers say that you need to do mostly weights to lose fat not muscle. This seems very weird. Surely you need to do both for optimum health.

I'm also confused about how many calories to cut. Online fitness articles keep saying approx 10 kcals per pound of body weight per day, but if I eat 1930 cals per day, I would never lose weight. I'm thinking it should be more like 1500 for a woman.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well!

Hey Jambalaya! Glad that work is slowing down for you. I'm not a nutritionist/trainer by any means but I find it interesting and feel like I've learned a few things through my own experience. In my younger days, I could eat what I would want and assumed that if I worked out hard enough, I could continue that trend. However, as my metabolism slowed down, I realized that I need to watch what I eat and work out daily. From my experience, I think a combination of both is important. Doing strictly cardio can make your body look leaner. Look at runners who don't really do anything but cardio. Thin as a stick. Doing weights can bulk you up. I think a combination makes for a beautiful physique. There are plenty of "strong" people who lift a lot of weight but sometimes you can't really see it. There might be layers of fat on top that unless you do cardio, your abs/biceps etc... won't show through. Aside from the physical benefits of doing both, I think there are health benefits as well. You mentioned cardio for a healthy heart. Lifting weights is important for women to keep up with our bone density. Working your core is also important for stability purposes and injury prevention.

For me, it's more fun to do workout classes and it's much harder to count calories and cut things out. For me, I try to eat as many salads as I can stand and then it allows me to enjoy the meals that I really do want to eat. I made a post below but it's pretty darn hard to "overeat" veggies. I love a good steak but it will sit in your body and you have to work out a lot longer etc to burn it off. I hope this helps but if you want something tailored to you, I would recommend meeting with a nutritionist and personal trainer. At my local gym there are both and perhaps they can partner up together to help you meet a goal? Good luck and I know you can do it! If you can pick out beautiful jewelry, you can do anything! haha

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Hey Everyone,

Hope you are all having a good start to your week. Thought I would share something I tried in case someone else is thinking about giving it a try. I had read pretty extensively about intermittent fasting recently and although there weren't many articles I could find about outcomes in women, I still had to give it a shot. So, my plan was to fast for most of the day and eat dinner at night, that may sound totally crazy but I actually enjoyed not having to think about (and making and cleaning up from) three meals a day. I would drink tea during the day and lots of water, my eating window was 3:00-7:00 and I would eat a healthy dinner with berries for dessert. Also incorporated walking into this routine daily. End of the week comes and I am so interested to see what the scale would say. My starting weight was 180 and a week later.......179.



Most of the reading I did on this did say that intermittent fasting did not produce favorable outcomes in women and I can see why. Granted I wasn't looking to lose 10lbs in a week but one pound? I mean I could do that just with strict Paleo and daily exercise without much effort. Anyways, I thought I would share this for anyone considering it, from what I have read the hormones play a great role in this and so men actually benefit from fasting but with women it has the opposite effect.


This is one of the few thorough articles I found that really looked at women and fasting:


https://blog.bulletproof.com/a-bad-combination-for-women-intermittent-fasting-and-paleo/

 

[PintoBean]

Dude - I just started invisalign. I think that I will lose weight with these suckers in, especially if I follow all the rules to a "T". What's going to really get me is the whole removing the invisalign when you eat or drink anything other than water. Then you should brush and floss and clean the invisalign trays before putting them back in your mouth. That's too flipping tedious, even for a work from home gal like me. LOLOLOL! i guess no more chai lattes, hot ciders, tropa-rocka snapples, cookie breaks... water it is!

 

[star sparkle]

Dude - I just started invisalign. I think that I will lose weight with these suckers in, especially if I follow all the rules to a "T". What's going to really get me is the whole removing the invisalign when you eat or drink anything other than water. Then you should brush and floss and clean the invisalign trays before putting them back in your mouth. That's too flipping tedious, even for a work from home gal like me. LOLOLOL! i guess no more chai lattes, hot ciders, tropa-rocka snapples, cookie breaks... water it is!

You sound like me a little over a year ago when I got braces!

I think I lost 5 pounds almost immediately from what I called the "braces diet." It was way too much work to worry about brushing and cleaning up the mess in my mouth after every meal, so I just stopped eating unless I absolutely had to.

Alas, that only lasted for the first few months. Now I'm back to regular bad habits and I've somehow managed to put a bit of extra weight on. Ooops! Time to get back to it...

 

[Jambalaya]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

 

[missy]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

Woohoo!!!! Good going Jambalaya!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

That is awesome progress, congrats and keep up the good work!

 

[Jambalaya]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

Woohoo!!!! Good going Jambalaya!

Missy, thank you so much for coming over to offer me/us some encouragement! I do envy you your discipline and the way you've always looked after your health. It's not easy, especially when life and stress gets in the way, so huge kudos to you!

 

[Jambalaya]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

That is awesome progress, congrats and keep up the good work!

Thank you so much, Stephanie!

 

[Scandinavian]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

That is fantastic news! Congratulations! Keep us posted

 

[telephone89]

Amazing job Jambalaya!

I was doing well during January, lost like 7 lbs over the month. Then feb I had to travel for work and completely de-railed So I gained back 5 of that lol.

I see a lot of you doing low carb - do you do atkins/keto low carb, or just general low carb? Do you aim to keep your carbs under a certain level each day? One of my husbands friends (bigger guy) is doing keto and lost 15lbs in one month doing it. He was eating chicken wings and blue cheese dip when we last saw him too, so its not a salad only diet! I was reading some recipes, and not sure how you're supposed to lose weight eating bacon & eggs for breakfast and frying your spinach in butter (actual recipe), but it seems to be working for people (im sure there's some science involved).

 

[canuk-gal]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

Woohoo!!!! Good going Jambalaya!

Yipee!! Keep up the good work...Best gift to yourself--health!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Jambalaya]

Thank you so much Canuk Gal!

 

[House Cat]

Ok, I started a whole 30 on Monday.

I will start Yoga as soon as I am over this virus that never seems to want to go away.

 

[House Cat]

I'm down to 187!! Do you guys know how long it's been since I've been in the 180's??

That's 17 pounds down from my top weight ever, sometime last year (204 pounds) and 12 pounds lost this year - so that's 2 pounds a week, every week.

I know 187 is still really big but man, it feels good compared to what I've been. Yay!!

Woohoo!!!! Good going Jambalaya!

Yipee!! Keep up the good work...Best gift to yourself--health!

cheers--Sharon

Good job J!!!

 

[Jambalaya]

Thanks, House Cat! I've been struggling during February, though. Have been feeling a tiny bit down about not having kids (silly V Day) and although I haven't put any on, I haven't lost any more, either. Must stop obsessing about things I can't change!

 

[PintoBean]

I am having nerves about the Gtg in Chicago bc of my weight.

 

[Jambalaya]

Oh no, Pinto! Don't feel like that! Everyone will love and accept you for who you are, and if they don't, they're not worth it. You don't want to waste even five minutes talking to shallow people who might judge you for your weight. I was reading a thread on a different forum that said being overweight was a great ******* filter!