hi! I'm a noob! :-)

  • hi everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself here! I've been lurking/reading this forum for awhile trying to get a feel for the place, and looking for motivation, inspiration, and ideas. you are all such an awesome bunch, so I'm ready to jump on in! ;-)

    a little about me - I'm 35 years old and have been between 240 and 250 lbs for the past year. my highest weight was about 280 and I used medifast to lose that first chunk of 35-ish pounds. I LOVED the medifast plan but I had been off and on it (ok, mostly off) over this last year, but every time I'd stray it would be THAT MUCH HARDER to get back on plan. so I needed to find something new. I tried atkins but failed miserably. lol. I'm sure I was doing it wrong because I never lost weight. I never really cared for eating that way anyway.

    so fast forward to the here and now. last week we had dept meetings (our yearly big deal 2 day whoopdie do dealio) and we had SO MUCH food and alcohol provided. greasy, junky, pastry, evil-ness. unlimited. on thursday night, I was literally laying in my bed, moaning, rocking back and forth, and holding my stomach. I felt so big and bloated and sick after so much indulgence. and yes, I indulged in all of it. and went for seconds and thirds. lol.

    so that night I was online researching detox plans, no joke. I just wanted to clean myself out! in my searches various weight loss plans came up, and one of them stuck out. jared's subway diet. there had been a time about 7 years ago that I had eaten mostly only subway sandwiches (out of convenience) and I HAD dropped quite a bit of weight. so I read more about it and then read some of the critics. one of those crirics posts totally struck me with his common sense and simplicity, and I swear, I think a lightbulb actually went off over my head. he said that all the subway diet is is just a controlled version of calorie counting. calorie counting. of all the diets I've been on, I never looked at them on such a basic premise. I've been counting calories - well, having them counted for me, while eliminating whole groups of food.

    so. I decided to try counting calories using foods that I like (which yes, does include fruits and veggies) and not eliminate whole groups of foods. so I got up and went to the grocery store, all the while still moaning and groaning in bloat and pain. lol.

    I started this new, amazingly common sensical plan of calorie counting, last friday, 1/23. unfortunately, my weight that day was...258! I knew that was mostly bloat though, and I was right. by sunday I was back at 250, so that's what I'm using as my true starting weight. oh oh oh! and the daily plate! what an awesome website and tracking tool! it is keeping me SO accountable, tracking everything I eat there. I love it!

    ok, that was kinda long winded (and all I meant to do was say hi. lol) so I think I'll wrap this up now! I'm looking forward to reading and sharing more with you guys. :-)
  • Hi eringirl. I think calorie counting is a great option. Essentially that is what I do, although I mostly estimate. I can't be bothered to record everything. I know lots of people do, and it works really well for them. Knowing you can have anything you want as long as you build it into your diet can be really freeing, and calorie counting also encourages us to see that we can eat a lot more if we choose lighter options more often. I think you'll be very successful if you stick to this plan!
  • Hi Eringirl -

    I caloie count as well, and I have found I MUST log everything. Maybe after awhile of doing this I will know better what I am eating and how many calories are in it. But for now, I must log. It's very enlightening. I also use the daily plate and LOVE it.

    Good luck to you, it's nice when things click and you figure out it's not a diet, its a life change. Plain and simple, I can't eat like I used to. It's sad, I've mourned it and I have moved on!!


    Welcome -

    Angie
  • Welcome! So glad you posted.
  • Hi eringirl, I have tryed calorie counting, but I am not that diciplined to stick to it. I have also found motivation and a lot of encouragement from this site. I look forward to hearing about ur progress as well as posting (fingers crossed) my own progress here. Good luck and u can do it!
  • thanks for the warm welcome, ladies. :-)

    yeah, the calorie counting and the logging everything I eat has almost become fun. I love playing around with different options within the calorie range I've set for myself (1300 to 1400 - still experimenting here) and finding what foods and meals fit in and keep me satisfied. each day feels like an accomplishment and goal acheived when I see that I haven't gone over my numbers.

    I'm trying now to set goals for fiber intake. what would be a good range? around 40 grams a day? so far I'm averaging about 35. I think I'll start incorporating beans into my diet so that I can get more in.

    as for exercise, I'll be officially starting next week. :-) I'm travelling to NY this week for a funeral so I won't have regular routine until I get back home. I'm going to stay very conscious and aware of my food intake while I'm gone though and just do my best to track what I can.

  • Sorry about the funeral. I look forward to seeing "achieved" on all your goals.

    Angie
  • Welcome - and you are doing well with the fiber!
  • Welcome it is so great to have you here! It sounds like you have a good plan, good luck to you! you will love it here, everyone is so great and supportive!
  • to the forum!
  • Welcome to the kindest, most supportive message board on the internet.

    Julie
  • Awesome start!

    40 grams of fiber is great, the average person gets 10-15, which is not good at all. 40 is right where you should be.

    Glad you did some web surfing, my DH always brings up the Subway diet, and I do not encourage it, you need variety and selection to be able to stay on it. you can get pretty burned out with subway! and it does not meet all the food groups you need. I have heard alot about fitday, I use sparkspeople.com myself, it tracks everything for me too.

    As for those who cannot be bothered with tracking everything I found out that I HAVE TO be bothered with my health enough to know everything that is going into my mouth is within my budgeted counts for the day. Guess work does not make it....if you guess it for a week, and then track everything you ate on a counter you could easily go 500 calories over you target daily---guess what that means??? A pound GAINED!
  • Welcome


  • Glad you found us!
  • Welcome Eringirl,

    The calorie counting diets have always worked best for me (I currently do weight watchers).

    Funny thing about Jared and the Subway diet, I work in the media and advertising world and I have heard that every time Subway hires a new advertising firm they try to take Subway away from the whole Jared angle and their sales dip, so Subway forces them to bring him back and every time they do (there has been something like 10 campaigns ) their sales double..

    P