As someone who 'dieted' around age 16-19 and lost 60 pounds, only to gain it and then some back within a few years let me warn you of one thing. To get to your goal weight, you have to dedicate yourself and make a deal with yourself to change your habits forever.
My first round of weight loss I weighed 240. I cut my calorie intake to anywhere from 1200-1500 a day. After 9 months I weighed 180. Real life stresses, lax food tracking practices, going to college. All of these factors caused me to fall back. Around 4-5 months ago I hit my breaking point. My last doctor's visit I weighed in at 315 pounds. I was having trouble sleeping at night, my knees were hurting when I would climb stairs, my clothes grew more and more uncomfortable. I couldn't look at myself in a mirror. I didn't recognize that person. I still felt like I was low 200's at best, but the mirror was very unkind. I asked my doctor what I could do to possibly lose weight and he told me that a lot of his patients had had the most success with Weight Watchers, which is the first time I looked into it.
I did some research on several different diets and made a decision based on my previous experience. When I lost 60 pounds, I did it because I tracked my food intake. I cut back, too far back in all honesty as it wasn't a diet I could maintain the rest of my life. We can't slip back into our old habits and expect to stay at a healthy BMI. We got ourselves there and we can easily get ourselves back much easier then losing the weight.
With the way I had lost weight before, Weight Watchers heavily appealed to me. The reason I stopped tracking was that I stopped feeling accountable. When I got into size 14-16 jeans at 180, I got careless. I had the feeling of 'I got this' and when a pile of stress fell on my head I had no support. College, relationship troubles, money. It all piled on and with it came the weight.
I'm definitely not plugging Weight Watchers. My reasoning for choosing it is as follows though. I've tried in the past to maintain my accountability with websites, blogs, journals, forums. I had two composition notebooks full of my daily food intake, calories, weights and measurements when I lost 60 pounds. Weight Watchers requires you to track, so for me, it worked out well. I have a nice little spiral notebook and I track every single bite I take in a day. The meetings are HUGE for me. Every week I know I have to weigh in, and I don't want to be on weight watchers, pay the money for it, and gain every week. It keeps me focused. If you think that a website, blog, journal, friend or otherwise can keep you on track - save your money! As I said before - this isn't a Weight Watchers plug - just a few things to get your mind rolling.
For us, no matter the choice of diet we pick for ourselves it will involve an inevitable lifestyle change. If we eat 1200 calories for 6 months and then just burn ourselves out on it, what have we gained? More weight because we've been depriving ourselves!
When I dieted in high school it was due to my health teacher. She told me 1 pound equals 3500 calories. If you can cut out 3500 calories in a week, in theory you will lose a pound. This theory worked out for me. I figured before that I was eating 2200+ calories a day. So my weight loss plan was to cut my caloric intake severely, but not too far as to be unhealthy. 1200 was my minimum. This diet for me however was extremely depriving, and at the time I was ONLY monitoring calories. I would snack on dill pickles a ton cause they were very low in calories. Only eat half slices of cheese. I did all I could to only reduce the number of calories.
There are so many factors that will help you lose. If you want to start slowly, switch a few items in your pantry. Buy whole grain wheat bread, anything you can get in whole grain that you eat regularly - do it! Egg beaters are an amazing egg substitute with a lot less cholesterol. They taste just like scrambled eggs cooked up as well. Personally - the only fat-free dairy item I maintain is skim milk. I've tried cottage cheese, sour cream, ricotta... and I've opted to cut the fat in mine rather then go fat free. I buy 1-2% products where the taste is still not completely off putting. Do all you can to reduce sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oils and sodium on the items you eat. Progresso puts out soups that are 2 servings a can with really low calories in comparison to other soups - but its PACKED with sodium. Nice occasionally but its probably a bad idea for an every day lunch filler.
If you do have to eat out - ask for butters, gravies, dressings on the side so you can control the amount you put on it.
Well after the wall of text from me heres some main points:
1. Start slowly. Change up a few of your eating habits, go whole grain, go lowfat/nonfat, eat more vegetables - heck make a goal to make half your plate vegetables when you make dinner! Vegetables are very low in calories for the most part (starchy ones tend to be discluded, though sweet potatoes are actually VERY healthy for you!) Avocados are another sneaky one. They have a ton of fat in them but its healthy fat
2. If you are intimdated by 'exercising' start off by setting a goal and expand it. The first day tell yourself you're going to go on a 5-10 minute walk, or you're going to clean the house from top to bottom. Just get moving! Even if it means marching in place during commercials or stretching out just to limber yourself up. Do more then you have been doing before. Every little bit counts!
3. Ask yourself where will you draw your support from. This forum is a great community and I know several threads that have links to a spreadsheet that monitors your progress. While I attend WW meetings for my accountability there are much cheaper ways to do so!
4. Realize that you need a lifestyle change, not a diet. A diet will end eventually. Don't think of your weightloss journey as a diet, because its something that will pretty much never end. Find a way to make healthy meals that you ENJOY. The worst thing you can do is deprive yourself. My boyfriend LOVES cheesecake and we found a recipe for Thanksgiving that was only 6 points plus a slice (I get 43 points a day at 276 pounds if you want to get an idea of what the significance of 6 points is) It had mini chocolate chips in it, a graham cracker crust, reduced fat cream cheese and cottage cheese in it. It had the exact same texture of a regular cheesecake. There are options to almost everything you enjoy. I make nachos, chili, steak sandwiches, mac and cheese, all while losing. In 4 months I've lost 30 pounds and have not once felt deprived or starving. The week of Thanksgiving I ended up losing 4.5 pounds. All I did was make my usual recipes healthier. I made a skinny-mashed potatoes I got from a WW-friendly recipe blog. I honestly used stove top stuffing because I knew exactly the points/measurements to go by for it. No guesswork on the calories. I made a skinny pumpkin pie as well from the same site. Do all you can to not deprive yourself of the things you love - unless of course its something that will sabotage you. My weight watchers leader tried bringing in mini-reese's peanut butter cups and leaving them in her freezer. Her husband is a diabetic and when she found out that she found herself craving them more then she thought she would - she threw out the bag. My weakness is pringles. I could pound out a can of those in 30 minutes. I'm forbidden from having them. But I find other things to satiate the salt craving. The small portion packs SOMEDAY may be an option, but for now - no pringles!
5. Tracking what you eat works. It makes what went in your mouth for the day tangible, and you can keep a numeric value as to what your goal is and what you did wrong or right the previous day. Personally I highly recommend it. You'd be amazed what you put in your mouth when you don't actively consider it. It helps no matter the diet plan you pick up!
6. If you find out you messed up one day, it's fine, just get back on the wagon the next day. Don't let one mistake discourage your entire journey. We're human and we do the best we can. If you set a goal of 1500 calories and end up eating 1800 one day, its fine. Just ask yourself why it happened, own it, and vow to work harder because of it.
Don't be afraid to dig around for options as to what program you want to pick up if any. I looked into things like South Beach, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, Curves. Weight Watchers just fit my past trend and gives me the 'force-myself-to-go' factor that I personally need. I didn't need it in high school, and back then there probably wasn't a forum like this one to help me track myself!
Minor suggestion too on the side - I watched my first season of The Biggest Loser on NBC recently (was season 12). There is a new one coming on January 3rd. Its an extreme version of weight loss with heavy dependence on the exercise factor, but it pushed me and my boyfriend to get to the gym alot when it was on. They also touch on the diet issues a bit (while doing a pretty obvious bit of product placement
). It overall is a really motivating show to watch if you can take the time to do it.
Either way welcome! Hope that my elaborate 1:30AM ramblings help you get on your way to losing!
19 & 234lbs. I don't know where to begin.
