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Old 07-16-2002, 05:31 PM   #1  
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Talking New Kid On The Block

Hello Everyone!
I'm totally new this whole site and it seems really great. I've never had any on-line support before and was hopeing to make some new friends to help me with weight loss. Like everyone else, I think I know what I need to do, it's just doing it is the hard part, not to mention making it a habit in your daily life...Anyways, I'm 28 years old, Birthday March 27th, I live in Riverside, CA and I remember first thinking I was fat when I was 11. Now looking back, I'm sure I was wrong, probably just a little pudgy. But now I am at the worst I've ever been in my life. Before I would always go up and down about 135 being my best (I'm 5'6 & 1/2") and 185 being my worst. But, for the last 2 & 1/2 years, I've been stuck at about 225. It's been horrible and I hate the way I feel this way. And I've felt soooo stuck for some reason. Today, I'm at 215 but that's after about 4 months trying to lose weight, but no trying hard enough. I decided not to go on another diet, and to just eat healthier and less, count my calories, and workout. But I always mess up on the weekends so I don't end up loosing as much as I should. One of my big problems is vegtables-hate it, junk food, -love it, pizza -really love it. And Beer. So I can't pretend I'm gonna eat all these healthy vegtables when I know they'll make me gag! That's why I dont want to diet, I hate feeling deprived of anything so I just figure I should make changes I can live with for a permanent solution. I swear I'm gonna do it and once I do, I never want to go thru this again. Not one more time. I know I'll always have to watch it and work out and I can live with that. But how can I lose weight faster? I read about this girl here who lost 70 pounds in 4 months? How? I would love to know that secret? Anyways, I've blabed long enough...Is there anyone out there who can help me? I think I need motivation to be stricter and stick to it!!! -Thanks
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Old 07-16-2002, 09:46 PM   #2  
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Default Do not lose hope

Ardis,

Hey. Welcome to the site. I think you will find alot of people in a very very similar situation to yours. I always thought of myself as a heavy person.. or rather "big-boned." I have never been happy with my body and have always struggled with the guilt of loving all those "bad" foods for you. Then I also went through the cycle of trying to eat better and starting to work out. Then I'd hit one bad day and decide that I was never going to lose weight and give up. That cycle would continue.
So.. I think that maybe you should cut yourself some slack. Every now and then.. everyone eats the "bad" food. Its all about control and moderation. Whether you go low-carb or low-fat, its all about doing the best you can most of the time, and doing bad some of the time. Sure, you wont lose weight as fast as you could if you were "good" all of the time.. but thats not really being realistic. So do not be so hard on yourself!!!!

Now as for losing 70 pounds in 4 months.. wow.. that is fast. I would guess that person just stopped eating for 4 months
Actually it might be possible for someone with alot of weight to lose.... so who knows. The only stories I have read sorta like that is from people that are on low-carb.

I think what you might want to do is start by researching ways to lose weight. Read some of the boards on here (WW, SugarBusters, BodyforLife, Low-carb, etc). Then figure out which route is going to work best for your life style. Once you have decided that.. then make a workout schedule and STICK TO IT.

Also feel free to participate in the challenges to keep you motivated. Sometimes if you feel someone is watching over you.. you are less likely to "cheat".

It seems like you have hit a point in life where you really want to lose the weight and are determined to do so. So you are halfway there!

Lemme know if you want to talk about eating plans.. I've tried low-fat and now I am trying low-carb to compare.

-Tanya
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Old 07-17-2002, 01:34 PM   #3  
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Tanya,
Thanks so much for your reply, it helps a lot . Yes, I would love if you could share some of your eating plans with me. Do you think counting calories is enough? And what do you suggest as far as exercise? I hear some people who really lose weight would exercise at least 1-2 hours....By the way, what is your ultimate goal? When I think of me having to loose over 80 pounds it gets depressing...But I would Like to set a short term goal...Maybe loose 10 pounds in a month?
What have you enjoyed better so far...the low fat diet or low carb? And which have given you better results? I do have to stick to SOMETHING....I do believe my eating is somewhat ruled by my emotions....I've been going thru some rough times this past week, and I've been eating more :-( I would love to get to the bottom of that! Thanks again
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Old 07-17-2002, 03:08 PM   #4  
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Anyone wanting a diet buddy via e-mail...e-mail me at: [email protected]
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Old 07-18-2002, 11:42 AM   #5  
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Default Exerising first!

Quote:
Originally posted by Ardis
Tanya,
Thanks so much for your reply, it helps a lot . Yes, I would love if you could share some of your eating plans with me. Do you think counting calories is enough? And what do you suggest as far as exercise? I hear some people who really lose weight would exercise at least 1-2 hours....By the way, what is your ultimate goal? When I think of me having to loose over 80 pounds it gets depressing...But I would Like to set a short term goal...Maybe loose 10 pounds in a month?
What have you enjoyed better so far...the low fat diet or low carb? And which have given you better results? I do have to stick to SOMETHING....I do believe my eating is somewhat ruled by my emotions....I've been going thru some rough times this past week, and I've been eating more :-( I would love to get to the bottom of that! Thanks again
My ultimate ultimate goal.. is probably 135. I am not really sure what I will look like at that weight.. so I am keeping my options open. But.. I would really be happy with 145.. thats soooo much better than what I was! I just want to feel better about myself.

Ok.. so lets start with a somewhat easy question. Exercise. Please keep in mind that I am not an expert and I am speaking from personal experience and what I have read. I guess the key to exercise is keeping your heart rate above the 50-80% of your maximum heart rate. Check out this page for more information:
http://www.dummies.com/Health/Fitnes...67-1_0001.html

You can pick any exercise that you want. I use the treadmill and ride my bike, and occasionaly go for a walk. Walking and biking are easy on the joints, the treadmill is not as nice (if you are jogging). I prefer to jog/walk because it gets my heart rate up higher and I dont have to exercise as long. So I jog/walk for 40 minutes which is about 2.89 miles. Thats with changing incline. So you would only be exercising 1-2 hours a day if you were going for 5+ mile walks. I actually have a pedometer which was really cheap (14 bucks) that measures how far I walk. You might want to think about that if you dont have access to a treadmill. I am not sure what sporting good stores you have.. but check around. You do not need the fancy ones.

So just pick something and then stick with it. If possible.. aim for 4-5 times a week. make it a priority and if you can do it for 21 days you have formed a habit. But start off slow and then work your way up. I started at 20 minutes.. and worked up to 45. So.. it takes a bit of time. But keep increasing the time! I would also suggest lifting weights and crunches. But I am not sure what equipment you have.. so do the best you can.

Ok.. I am gonna start a new post for the eating plans.

-Tanya
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Old 07-18-2002, 11:57 AM   #6  
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Default Eating plans

So I do agree with you.. looking at it from the angle of losing 10 pounds at a time.. is the BEST way to do it. I have/had to lose 43 pounds and it scared the crap outta me. When I was losing such a small amount of weight per week.. I did the math and it was something like 7 months!! Yikes.. talk about being patient. But thats what you have to be. If you get impatient you are just going to give up the whole thing. Losing 10 pounds in a month could be a stretch.. but its possible.. at least for the first couple months. I would stride for 5-8 pounds. Thats about 1-2 pounds a week.

So as far as eating plans. I havent done WW. I refuse to pay people money for something that isnt that hard to do. Counting calories and fat.. isnt too hard to do. Its the same as counting points or whatever they call it. But the advantage of WW is that you have a support group, weigh-ins, etc. Then you are sorta held accountable to someone.

So I tried low-fat. I tried it somewhat... I didnt count calories or fat grams. I mentally picked low fat items and tried to eat more good stuff. So instead of chips, I had fat-free pretzels with my lunch. Or I had carrots. I used low fat mayo, put less cheese on my sandwiches, had low fat bread, etc etc. It worked alright. I was looking about 1 pound a week or so. I also exercised 5 days a week. But I also went out to eat and stuff.. so it was really really low fat. I would imagine you could lose more if you cut out more fat.. but not sure. Oh and also keep in mind that I drank 1-2 cokes a day.. a bad habit I didnt want to break.

So because of the whole buzz about low carb lately, I decided to read Dr. Atkins book. It got me very curious. So I decided to try it. Now I dont eat bread, pasta, sugar, etc etc. I only can have 20 carbs during induction which last 2 or more weeks. You increase the carbs as you progress. Let me just say that induction sucks! It sucks in the sense that your food choices are very restricted and you can not have bread or sugar. I miss bread.. and my coke. Oh how I miss it. I am only on day 5 of my Induction. BUT I have lost 5 pounds. The thing about Induction is that your body will lose the weight very quickly because of the change to running in ketosis. So I have read people losing up to 20 pounds in 2 weeks. It isnt realistic to keep doing Induction for more than 2 weeks.. cause the food gets boring.. but its a jump start into ketosis and low-carb eating. Then you slowly increase the carbs while still losing weight. You can eat as many carbs as you want until you stop losing weight. Its a bit more complicated than that.. I suggest you check out the book at the library or buy it (its like 7.50 at Borders or B&N).

One more thing. There are tons of other low-carb plans (Protein Power, CAD, etc). So some arent as strict as atkins. So you could do something else and get similar results.. but none that I know of have the quick loss induction period.

As for which diet I like better. I like no diet personally hehe.. well I like the low-fat better. I prefer eating carbs to meat and more meat. But, I can not complain with the weight loss I have been having this week. I love it. It makes me feel great!!! Long term.. I could never do induction.. not sure how low-carb I could be. But for now.. I am giving it a shot to see if it really works. I think I would have been successful on low-fat too, just woulda took longer. So for now its low-carb, but at the end of the 2 weeks.. I am definetly putting some carbs back into my diet.. but I am going to try to find a balance I can live with.

So just pick something and stick to it. If you do induction.. dont go off it or it wont work. If you do low-fat.. dont give up if you have one bad day!!

-Tanya

Last edited by tonic; 07-18-2002 at 12:02 PM.
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Old 07-18-2002, 02:09 PM   #7  
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Tanya & Monique-

Thank you guys soooo much for your information. You guys are very nice and very helpful. That was all great information and I thank you for your support & help! You chicks are great! I thought about all the advice I received and thought about my situation and why I have not lost more weight. I think it's the consistency that I am lacking to stick with it. Tanya, I love carbs too much to try Atkins, but good luck to you and congratulations, your doing great so far! I know it will work for you because I've heard of tons of people loosing tons of weight with that plan, it does work. Just be careful on the getting "off" the diet part, right? (At least that's when I tend to go crazy...) Monique, I think I did need some feed back to see if counting calories does work for people, and I'm glad to hear you've had success with it. I think I'm gonna do that because It's the least restrictive thing I can think of, I just have to be patient. The reason I think I'll do it this way is because I think I can live that way forever, and that's what I need. Too many times I go on a diet and then obsess about food and cant wait to get off my diet to eat what I'm missing. About 4 months ago I told myself I was never going on a diet again, I was just gonna try and eat healthier, eat less, and exercise. Later I decided to start counting calories. I only lost 10 pounds since then but it was TOTALLY painless, and I TOTALLY messed up all the time. The wierd thing is once I told myself to never diet again, I stopped thinking about food all the time, it was like it wasn't as big a deal anymore. I guess I no longer felt like I had to eat all my favorite food one last time before I went on the next diet. I wasn't in such a hurry to eat everything I craved, I finally realized food wasn't going anywhere, so to just chill out. I almost felt free. I just decided to accept myself and improve myself. I've been putting myself down for a long time, so it's kinda hard. But anyway, it's been a tough week and I've been doing bad, I do not want to go backwards...I am gonna work on veggies, I do like corn, green beans, peas, carrotts, lima beans, lettuce, and that's about it, I hate everything else. Is that enough if I just eat those? From now on I'm just gonna write everything I eat down & count the calories I eat, wether it's a good day or bad, and no matter what, I AM gonna work out 5-6 days a week, even if I've pigged out, I'm gonna think of exercise totally differently, it's just gonna be something I do, like brushing my teeth, first thing in the morning no matter how fat I feel I think I'll start with 30 minutes on the treadmill a day and weight training. I just got these new weight training videos and they are the best I've ever seen! I love them and I honestly believe I could get the body of my dreams doing them (I've never thought that before, but that how much I believe they'll work!) They're by Joyce Vedral, she's like 58 but her body is the bomb! Her body is wayyy better than mine, and I'm 30 years younger! Just in case anyone wants to check it out her website is: www.joycevedral.com I hope one day to be in her before & after section!
Anyways, I better get back to work...thanks again you guys for your help! I love you already!
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Old 07-18-2002, 03:22 PM   #8  
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Default Good luck!

Monique is definitly an inspiration. I look at how much she has lost and kept it off and it just inspires me to do my best. Hats off to her.

Sounds like you have any awesome plan Ardis. I wish you nothing but success. I'm sure we will have other challenges on here as the months pass by.. so feel free to join in. And keep us updated!

We are here if you ever need to talk.

-Tanya
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Old 07-19-2002, 12:53 PM   #9  
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Tanya,
Thanks so much, and you are an inspiration to me too! You all are because you have great information and a great drive and that helps to keep me motivated. Were all fighting the fight and in the end, were gonna win cuz we dont give up! Let me know how your doing on your plan!
Monique,
I agree, I like counting calories because you can eat anything if your really want to. A good idea for something your really want to eat that's really bad is to just eat half! That way you only get 1/2 the calories in that meal. So even if that meal is 1000 calories, if you really want it eat only half and it's only 500 calories. It's true that every calorie counts, but you're right, a banana and apple are both healthy so eat what you'd rather have. That's one of the reasons for counting calories, right? I will check out calorieking.com, it sounds great! Yes, that website is good and her work outs are great, they are like 45min to 1 hr and they work you HARD, but you get results! I know about the muscle thing so what I'm gonna do is weigh myself once a week but also, measure myself once a month That way I wont get too discouraged with the scale.

Anyway, thanks again to you both! Drop me an e-mail if you guys can! You guys have great info and have been a great help. Good Luck to you all!
-Ardis
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