[Tiffie]

Hi everyone,

I posted on the "Introductions" board a little while ago. I am bothered by something, though I have been consistently losing weight for the last year and a half: It's coming off VERY SLOWLY. By VERY SLOWLY, I mean 32 pounds in a year and a half.

I don't count calories. I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to, if I'm cooking all my own meals. I just try and cook healthier meals, use more veggies and less meats, use all whole-grains, no sugar, no HFCS, starchy foods in moderation.

I exercise a very little. I have always had short achilles tendons, and I am taking it slowly to avoid injury. I'm at about 65 minutes of walking each week (broken up into 10-15 minute stints). I do work up a little bit of a sweat when I walk and I breathe harder. I am hoping to get up to 75 or 80 minutes next week, and stay there for a little bit.

I have looked into bariatric surgery, but I am not fond of the idea. I would rather do this myself, through diet and exercise and hard work.

I also have diabetes (type 2).

I want some options. I WILL NOT do Atkins or raw foods or anything that is impossible to live with for the rest of my natural life. But I am willing to try anything that won't interfere with my ability to enjoy a moderate amount of good food in a responsible way. (Ie, I like to have sushi once every 3-4 months. Sometimes, I like a steak. Once in a while, I want pasta, and the whole wheat stuff tastes funny.)

So, could you guys share anything that's worked and is sustainable, in your own lives? I'd really appreciate it!

[sept15lija]

Well, I count calories. I also am working on doing more cooking, and therefore, I am using a lot of my own recipes (I generally just throw things together, and hope for a good outcome). Because I am a VERY strict calorie counter, I use this website to tell me calorie counts for serving sizes:

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

I would think that probably if you are able to keep at a certain range of calories, you will see more consistent losses. Calorie counting has allowed me to enjoy all the things I love, just in moderation. I am currently playing with the idea of calorie cycling, so I could have more one day and then go less on the next - that way I can plan for special dinners out and such. Anyhow good luck!!

[bargoo]

I have found for me that calorie counting works best. I plan all my meals ahead of time, this really only takes a few minutes for the days meals. I use The Calorie King Fat and Carbohydrate Counter in book form you can get it in pharmacies , I got mine at my HMO for about $7.00 it has loads of information besides calorie counts. Others prefer to use online calorie counters , there are several to choose from. It sounds like you have the basics down, maybe your portions are too large. Do you have any idea how many calories you are eating in a day ? Congratulations on the 32 pounds you have lost , that is a great start.

[seagirl]

Count calories and exercise more.

Sparkpeople.com and DailyPlate.com are a couple of the sites where you can track your calories. Get and use a kitchen scale and measuring implements.

Maybe meet with a nutritionist to set up a plan.

I am doing weight watchers and have been able to keep my sushi, pizza, pasta, etc. just in smaller portions and as occasional treats not having them night after night.

Sounds like you have a good plan going, and could tighten it up a bit to get your weight loss moving a little faster.

[fitkristi]

I cook a lot of my own food, and its not too difficult to track calories even if you're cooking your own food. Measure your food while you are cooking and when you sit to eat, and I use Livestrong.com's My Daily Plate to track them - and you can input your recipe and it will calculate the calories for each portion. That helps a lot - I'd be in the dark a lot if I didn't!

[Vladadog]

I'm another calorie counter who uses myplate. I enter in my recipes and it gives me a pretty good calorie count.

You don't need to give up sushi or steak to lose weight. I don't know about sushi but you should be able to have a nice little steak on a regular basis and lose weight. Not a big ol' prime rib the size of a dinner plate but the occassional small steak is not going to kill your calorie count. I have a good homemade burger at least once a month because it is something I really love and don't want to give up. But I make sure it is a really good burger - quality meat with the fixin's just perfect so I get a lot of satisfaction from my burger. It takes care of my cravings and knowing I can have one in a couple weeks makes it easier for me to not binge on some lousy fast food thing.

Tracking your calories only takes a couple minutes a day once you get your regular recipes entered in (which doesn't take long) and gives you a lot of control. Getting a physical wouldn't be a bad idea too, to rule out some thyroid or other problem that is making it hard to lose weight.

Good luck!

[Eliana]

Oh, there are so many of us who follow a diet similar to what you seem to like. Most of us will tell you that you are spot on wanting this to be sustainable!

I understand about the difficulty with counting calories when you cook all your own foods. I can also tell you that NOW, over a year into this, I am able to just sort of put together healthy meals without worrying about the calorie count. However (and this is a big HOWEVER), I think you really need to be strict with your calorie counting until you are comfortable with it. It's extremely eye opening and there are several sites to help you out.

Just as a for instance, did you know a serving size for chicken is HALF a breast. I did not know that. Or that a serving size of ice cream is 1/2 cup? And do you know how small 1/2 cup is?

So for a period of time, I highly suggest being strict. After a while you can let up a bit.

I would try this before surgery! Without question.

[Angie]

I'm doing a combination of a plan that is low carb/low sodium/low fat along with calorie counting. My plan is designed for pre-diabetics and diabetics specifically, and I see a metabolic specialist. On it I've lost 50 lbs since last June...and that is with taking a break (aka back slide) over the holidays.

I rarely eat pasta, but when I do it is the whole wheat kind and I always have more meat sauce or toppings than pasta. If I had to estimate I'd say I eat about a cup of cooked pasta as a serving on those occasions. I do eat steak though, quite often; it just has to be a lean cut and I eat it with just veggies. On the days when I eat steak I adjust my other meals so that I'm still within my calorie budget for the day.

[FitGirlyGirl]

You have gotten a lot of advice about food and mine would be about the same as the rest, so I'm going to skip the food part. It sounds like you could also use some tips on how to burn calories without hurting your tendons. I have a band ankle, better these days since I've lost weight, but still bothers me sometimes. Here is a quote of me describing what I do on those days to another one of the chicks here: "If you sit up straight and put your arms in a jogging position and then twist your upper body back and forth, kinda like you are doing ‘the twist’ only just your upper body that burns nearly as many calories as a brisk walk. You can also do shadow boxing while seated and that burns quite a bit. If I combine the two and twist and shadow box with some light weights in my hands I get nearly the same calorie burn as I do if I jog at 4- 4.5mph." You can also google for seated exercises.

If you can afford it you might consider looking into a body bugg (the double g is intentional). It's about $200 to start with, but it has been the best investment I have made for my weight loss and health.

[lisanovak]

I do Weight Watchers and count my daily points. I like it better than counting calories. I go to the meetings. I find it helpful to hear other people who struggle like me. Don't get me wrong....I LOVE 3FC, but this is a face to face thing. I does come off slow, but really that is the best way. I have been struggling with the same 6 pounds for a while now, but, when I go to my meetings or come on here, I find there is always someone I can relate to. Hang in there!

[Tiffie]

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful.

I never heard of Daily Plate before, this looks like a great tool! I've started to up my walking, and I've been feeling better. I've been tracking my foods more closely, too.

I think I might have some food allergies. I often have had a small snack of nuts later in the evening, but I've been getting these weird rashes, just at night. Which would suck, 'cause I like nuts.

The rash has been around for about three days now, but it's been worst at night, and it doesn't itch so much with benadryl. We'll see, I might have to give up my healthy snack. (Not that I couldn't stand to lose out on a hundred or two calories!)

I've been really busy this week, but I'll be back sooner this time. After the benadryl I'm super tired. See you all later, and thanks for the great tips! I'm gonna try out Daily Plate.

[time2lose]

You sound a lot like me when I first started. I decided that I was better off losing 20 or 30 pounds and keeping it off than I would be if I lost 100 pounds but put them right back on. Like you, I was looking for sustainable changes. I also started with 10 to 15 minutes of walking because my knees and hips hurt so much when I walked.

I did right from the start, weigh and measure my food and count calories. I had too because I realized that I do not have the ability to judge portion size. I used the Daily Plate like some of the others. I am glad that you are giving it a try.

Weight Watchers is a good option for you too. It does cost more than calorie counting but has good support. I just changed to WW because I want in person support.

I am concerned about your food allergies. My daughter has severe food allergies. She started with rashes, but then one day went into anaphylactic shock and could have died. Allergies progress. You should see a doctor if you think that you have food allergies.

Congratulations on your loss. We are all different and have to find what is right for us. Slow weight loss may be exactly what you need.

[AZ Sunrises]

Calorie counting combined with lower carb. If I eat wheat, it's more difficult for me to lose. I know this, but I always have to test the theory...and it sets me back a week on my loss.

Yesterday for lunch, I ordered a carnitas plate. I skipped the tortilla. Pork, refried beans, salsa, guac. Yum. Of course I had salad for dinner last night, but who'd think you were on a diet eating things like that?

[WhitePicketFences]

Well, I have good news and bad news, I guess.

Good news: I honestly think you can stint on exercising-- for now, anyway. You can eat your steak and sushi and white pasta (the first two are often healthy enough; the third is not, but that's okay). The most important thing is portion sizing.

Which leads me to the bad news: At your weight and rate of loss, logic dictates that you are eating too much. It is hard to realize this without counting calories and measuring.

Counting calories is easier than you'd think, once you get rolling. I cooked a lot of big, homemade meals. It involved a lot of math at first but since I made a lot of the same things, later I would just check my long list of calories for things you can't find online -- the list would include what 1/4 pot of 'my' broccoli chowder cost in calories, that kind of thing.

But if you really don't want to count calories, at least measure and have a 'usual' amount of x food and y food that you usually eat. Like the poster who mentioned 1 cup of cooked pasta. Make rules like 1 glass of wine (4-5 oz, not 9!) 1 piece of pizza if it's large, and no more than 2 no matter how small. Eat steak the size of a deck of cards.

[AZ Sunrises]

If you want to know how many calories you're ingesting from something homemade, enter it into a calorie counter ingredient by ingredient.

1/2C flour
3C of whatever
Blah, blah, blah

Add it all up. If you have 3000 calories for the whole dish, and you're dividing it into 6 servings, you're ingesting 500 calories for that particular dish at that meal.