Weight Loss

Hi everyone

I'm looking for weightloss buddies - I'm 30 years old, 5'9" and I'd like to lose between 30 and 40 lbs (depending on what I weigh - am going to check the scales today!)

I'm quite shy in real life (i.e. not online) about wanting to lose weight, and I haven't told my family, friends or colleagues about it (although I think my husband has guessed), so it would be really help to have people to talk about it with here. 

M xx 

Kroth,

I haven't returned to MO since we left for CA when I was five.  I guess it's been a really long time since I didn't even spell it right.  :o)

For lunch I'm having:

1 whole wheat English muffin, 3 oz. tuna canned in water, 2 tbsp. light mayo, 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1 cup watermelon chunks.

My workout today will be HIIT running on the treadmill (intervals begin at 5.0 and peak at 5.4) for 2 miles.  I'll alternate with brisk walking (4.0) for 15 minutes and a warm-up and cool-down for a total of 45 minutes.

PB

Question for you all...what is generally your percentage of fat, protein and carbs per day?  I'm not a huge meat eater so I'm having a ton of carbs and I wanted to know if it was realistic for a girl who basically only eats chicken and hamburger (as meat) to try to get 50% protein per day?!?  Please let me know!

ok clarification...i want to know if it is realistic for my fat and protein to be over 50% compared to my carbs.  ok, basically i'm freaking that i'm eating entirely too many carbs and that will prevent my weight loss!

Eating too many carbs will definetly NOT prevent your weightloss if you are eating the correct amount of calories per day for your height/weight and goals. You could in theory eat a 100% carb diet and still lose weight, I promise!

However, you might find it more difficult to stick to your calories per day if you eat tons of carbs, especially simple carbs (e.g. white bread, sugar, white pasta etc) because I find I find I get hungry quite shortly after eating these foods, even if I've eaten quite a bit.

So I would suggest eating some protein with each meal - for example, instead of 2 slices of bread, have 1 slice with some peanut butter. Also, I would try to eat lots of wholegrains -- wholewheat, kamut or spelt (farro) pasta instead of durum semolina (white) pasta, wholewheat bread instead of white; and not to eat much sugar.

Hope this helps!

Hi, 

I am eating about 50% carbs, 15% fats, and 35% protein.  I eat alot of protein from tofu and legumes and I have been staying away from red meat and eating chicken, turkey and fish and also egg whites.  My carbs are generally whole grain or bran. Gotta get that fiber in.  I pretty much drink no alcohol. 

It am actually feeling better than I have in a long time. I also feel that I am more in control of my eating and more conscious of why I am eating which has been a big problem for me.  The thing that I am having a hard time with is being able to continue with this mindset for pretty much the rest of my life. 

There is a book that I read last year - The Beck Solutoin and it talks about cognitive therapy for weight loss and I started doing the exercises and then just lost focus, but now perhaps I will read it again and work on it. 

What does everyone else grapple with? 

 

Hello!

Well, I've been avoiding logging my weight here today.  I'm still up the two lbs. I reported yesterday.  However, I just realized today that I am within 1-2 days of my cycle.  Soooo, that would explain the gain.  My official weigh-in today is 209.  :o(  I've also increased my protein intake this week so that might explain the gain too.  I will not see that number next week.  I guarantee it! 

My macronutriet ratios are 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat.  I, too, choose whole grain or whole wheat versions of all breads, pastas, rice, etc.  I only eat red meat once per week and chicken, turkey, fish or tofu the rest of the week.   I also try to get at least two servings of a MUFA daily so my fats are coming from healthy unsaturated choices.

I do not drink alcohol either.  I do drink about 110 oz. of plain water per day. 

Kroth, have you tried protein supplements?  You can get protein powder to mix with water or fat-free milk and it adds about 30 grams (depending on the brand) of protein and only about 3-5 grams of carbs per serving.  It's an easy way to get more protein in your diet since you get most of your calories from carbs. 

My biggest roadblock is that I'm an emotional eater.  I've pretty much stopped eating to celebrate anything, but when I'm down, I still want to head for the chocolate.  I do allow myself one cheat meal per week, on Saturday.  My rule though is that I have to exercise.  Allowing for the cheat day keeps me focused during the week because I know that if I want something, I can have it on Saturday.  A lot of the time I find that when Saturday rolls around, I don't want what I was craving earlier in the week. 

Thanks for the help and insight.  I appreciate it!  Here's something that opened my eyes yesterday...I looked up some of the things I get when I go out to eat (read:  got when I went out to eat).

• Chili's Chicken Crispers--1880 calories, 130 g of fat, 23 g of saturated fat, 133g of carbs, 67g of protein (the one good point), 3040 mg of sodium!!!

 

• Panda Express--Chow Mein and 2 helpings of Orange Chicken...Chow Mein--390 calories, 12 g of fat, 1020 mg sodium, 59g carbs, 11 g of protein...Orange Chicken (2 Helpings)--1000 calories, 56 g of fat, 11 g saturated fat, 200mg cholesterol, 1620 mg sodium, 84g carbs, 46 g protien.

 

• Red Robin Cheeseburger, Fries and 1/2 Chocolate Malt--Cheeseburger--699 calories, 37g fat, 47 carbs, 46g protein.  No info on the other two.

Here's one I was pleasantly surprised about:

• McAllister's Deli--Chicken Tortilla Soup with Steamed Vegetables...Soup--150 cal for 8oz, 6g fat, 3g saturated fat, 30mg cholesterol, 1470 mg sodium (ok so it's really high in sodium), 13g carbs, 10 g protein.  Veggies...43 cal, 52mg sodium, 7g carbs, 1g protein.

MAKES YOU THINK!  I probably will never get any of those top 3 again, Panda Express will be the hardest for me to stay away from!

Definitely opened my eyes.  Maybe you'd like to post somethings that you get when you go out to eat and maybe then we can see that what we know "isn't really good for us" is actually terrible for us!  Just a lil motivation goin into the weekend!

Enjoy ladies!

Hi, 

My husband loves PF Chang's. I used to get Moo Shu Chicken thinking that with all the cabbage that it had lots of fiber but it actually is something like 800 calories! YIKES. So now I get the Cantonese Scallops that are about 410.  

My breakfast used to be at Starbucks and it was 1 Venti Non-Fat Latte (170 cals), a Yogurt Parfait (350 cals) and a Multi-Grain Almond Cherry Scone (480 cals) YIKES again! Now I just get the Latte and have a Trader Joe's Fiber Cake (they are like muffins but only 80 cals and packed with fiber - I mean PACKED!!) 

I am also an emotional eater and actually having to write everything down and knowing that I am accountable to me and everything has made me think twice before I down that ice cream cuz my husband on the road and I am bored. 

I really don't have a cheat day. Maybe should consider that...

Take care. 

Hey everyone - hope you all had a good weekend!  Cawilder, I just saw the Beck solution in the bookstore yesterday - is it good?  Maybe I'll buy it.  

So you asked what our biggest problems is - well mine is social situations.  I'm quite an outgoing person, and I definitely don't want to have to cut back on my social life - but I am struggling with how to eat - and how to judge what I've eaten.  many of the restaurants I go to are not chains, so I have no idea how to count the calories of what I'm eating.    I know I am too much and the wrong things at social events, but I can't seem to find away around it.  Any suggestions?

Oh and group lunches at work were also a big problem for me - they have massive buffets full of quite tasty but very high cal food.  And I'm not very good at portion control, so I used to load it on my plate.  Now I'm forcing myself to bring my own (calorie controlled) lunch instead, which is helping.  Although I've gotten lots of comments from colleagues which is a bit of a pain in the ass!

Alright - back to work - but I hope you guys had slightly less gluttonous weekends than me!

 

Hi MiaLondon

at a buffet I divide my plate - 1/2 veggies; 1/4 or less carbs and then protein. If there is a sauce on the protein or anything then I halve it or even more. I scrape it off if I can.  I always head to the salad first. 

At a restaurant I look at appetizers, salads and soups (clear broth ones even though they have alot of sodium they do fill you up.) 

I don't drink alcohol which helps as well. 

There is a web site for the Beck book - google it and you will get an idea of what she talks about in the book. 

Have a nice time at work. I am just starting as I am in Oregon. 

AAARRGGHH!!! I'm completely crushed. I had a rough weekend for calories. I went out with some girlfriends saturday night and had WAAAY too many beers. Then on Sunday i took my kids to see Prince Caspian and did so good ordering only a diet pop but I got one for the kids too and when you buy two the theatre gave us a free (medium) popcorn!!! I ate about 3/4 of the bag myself! Plus I only made it to the gym once during the weekend.

So I weighed myself this morning and I was up to 212!! thats 5 lbs!!!! I'm sure a lot of it has to be water, but still! What a screw up. Well you can bet that my butt will hit the treadmill hard over lunch today! Cross your fingers with me that this water will come off before our next official weigh in on Thurs!

Oh yeah, also I have been adding light weight lifting to my workouts, and my muscles have been telling me its working... so maybe my muscles are swollen right now too???

Don't worry about it Singinfatlady - there is no way on earth you actually could gain five (fat) pounds in one weekend, unless you ate an extra 17,500 calories - which would be very impressive!! 

But I'm with you on the rough weekend.  went to the movies and out to eat on Friday - tried to be good but was only mediocre.  Then on Saturday I went to an all day/evening bbq - ended up eating tons of nachos.  And yesterday I was good pretty much all day, until I made way too much pasta with pesto in the evening and ate most of it - I ate more than my husband, whose 6'5"  - which always makes me feel like a real piglet!

But so far I've been good today -

breakfast:  fat free yogurt  75 cals

Lunch:       lentil soup:  161 cals
       &nb sp;          Spicy Chicken noodles: 265 cals

Snack:      low-cal potato crunchies:  65 cals.

I hope I can keep it up this eve!


By the way - are all of you doing lots of exercise?  Do you think it really helps? 

Morning ladies,

I, too, had a rough calorie weekend.  My husband and I had a rare 2 hours to ourselves Friday night so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out.  It was so dang hot here (and it has been for the past week) that we picked it up and went home to our nice air-conditioned house where we split the order and ate until we were stuffed.  On the menu:  lemon chicken and shrimp foo yung.  I did not even try to figure out the calories. 

I did get up Saturday morning and go to my Step class.  That's where the healthy habits stopped.  I had a sugary but very cold blended drink from Peets for somewhere in the neighborhood of 300+ calories.  Dinner (our weekly cheat meal) was fine since I cooked chicken marsala at home but we did have ice cream for dessert.  It's really hot here right now!  :o)

I started out yesterday good, but we had cake.  So that day was a wash too.

So far today I've been good (and will be for the rest of the day) and will exercise at lunch. 

We are celebrating our daughter's birthday this Memorial Day weekend and I know I will not eat as healthy as I should.  But, I'm looking at it this way, two weekends of indulgence will not derail me for the long term.  I will continue to exercise 5-6 days per week and will make healthy choices when I can.  I am eating healthy during the week so I can indulge on the weekends without feeling all that guilty. 

As always, I will get back on track and continue towards my goal.

Have a great day.

Oh yeah, mia! LOTS of exercise. At least compared to what I used to do. I go to the gym M-F on my lunch break and do cardio. Plus I'm trying to get in 3 days of weight training each week in the evenings or weekends. Its weird cuz I used to exercise very little and now I feel like a complete sludge if I miss a workout. I'm sure I would lose very little weight without the exercise, cuz I'm not willing to eat that little. I love making healthy choices and learning more and more about nutrition all the time... but I feel hungry if I eat less than about 1500 cals minimum and really feel energetic only if I eat at least 1700. So I figure if exercise lets me eat in the 1700s... then thats what I'm a-gonna do baby!

Hi, I'm not sure what I'm doing - I just signed up today. I've been trying to lose weight for the past year or so.  I worked out with a trainer for quite a bit, but never changed my eating habits.  So that's my goal right now.  I'm 5'8" and and last I knew I weighed 180.  I'm trying to become a jogger and get my exercise outside.  I just finished a bootcamp last Friday, so I have to start hitting the gym again - which is going to be hard becuase since I started bootcamp I've had an extreme aversion to the gym - we'll see.  Yesterday I did a ten mile hike which was nice.  Tomorrow I start the gym - wish me luck.  And just tracking what I've eaten so far today - I'm over 1100 calories - a little bit of a wake up call to say the least!!  I would like to lose 20 lbs by August if that is feasible.  I think 160 would be a perfect weight for me.  Also if anyone has suggestion for lower abdominal work that'd be great.  Good luck everybody!!

Hi, 

I have this kinda exercise driven husband who is my trainer... So, I exercise most days. I run about 45 to 90 minutes a day. I do really long runs every three weeks and I will run for 2 - 4 hours.  I only run on trails. I am running a half marathon in mid June.  I don't think I will break any records but I will definitely finish. 

I broke my leg in 2006 so I run 3-4 days per week and then I do this funky ellipitical machine the balance of the days. I call it funky because it does not go so much slide front and back but more up and down - so it's like very very low impact running. I also do weight training during my non-running days.  I also do rowing on a machine( would prefer to be out on the water but too much time...)

I love the Bosu ball (flip it over so that it is platform side up) and do squats with hand weights - it's hard but effective. 

But honestly I would be a slug if it were not for my husband. I want to reduce my weight so my running will get better and I will lessen the risk of injury. 

I don't want this to come out a wrong way but my husband has been insistent since we got married a few years ago that I get down to size 8. To the point that I get crap every time I don't exercise or put food that he considers not good into my mouth. However, I stayed true to myself to find something that I could stick to for the long term and basically change my life stye. So far I think I have made the right choices. Has anyone else had this type of pressure? How did you handle it? 

Hi Cawilder...I'm not really sure what to say about the husband thing, really.  On one hand it angers me (for you and in general) that a husband is judging his wife on her weight, rather than her as a person.  But on the other hand, there is no denying that most people look more attractive when they are fit and thinner. 

I don't think I'd be very happy if my husband was insistent on me being a size eight.  But I do know my husband probably would prefer it if was a bit thinner.  I remember a few years ago he saw a picture of me (when I was 136lbs and size 6) and he said "it would be really nice if you looked like this now".  It annoyed me but I can see his point.  And actually the main thing is that I myself want to look like that too. 

So...anyways... I've been very much on track for the last two days:  I ate 1211 calories yesterday, and I've eaten 490 so far today (with only dinner to go). 

My calculator actually says I'm supposed to eat only 1200 cals a day, which doesnt seem entirely fair!    All I need to do is get exercise - but that's a whole other kettle of fish!  I do walk about 1 hr. 15 mins a day (to/from work etc) but I don't think that really counts. 

Hope you guys are all good. 

Mia xx

Hey everyone - hope all is well.  I think today is our weigh-in day (for some of us at least).  Not sure I can do it til tomorrow (I don't have scales, so I have to do it at the store) because I'm going out this evening.

But anyways, I've been very good the last couple of days:  1,211 cals on Monday,  1,126 cals on Tuesday and 590 so far today.  Only problem is that I am going out this evening (work drinks) where there will be free drinks and  a buffet.  Not sure what to do, but I think I am just going to have to *try* to have some self control.... I'll let you guys know how I do tomorrow. 

Happy weigh in day! I weighed in at 152 today. Which is good but also a bummer b/c I weighed in at 151.5 yesterday. But my official weigh in is 152. That's down 3lbs since last Thursday and down 4 lbs since I started. Good luck ladies!

Great job kroth! 3 lb in a week is awesome.

My official weigh in is 207... the same as last week. I guess I should be glad that it didn't go up considering the weekend I had last weekend, but I really worked my butt off after that and kinda had my hopes up. Plus its a little discouraging because I really need to stick to the "at least one pound per week" goal to get to my end goal of 160 by a month before my wedding. But I was lifting weights too, so maybe the tape measure will tell a better tale. I will check that out this weekend and see how I'm doing on inches lost.

Good luck to all of you who haven't weighed in yet!!!