What is your plan?
 

I am sure there is a thread on here somewhere that is like this, but I got sick of going through pages of trying to find one, haha.

So, I hope no one minds that I am posting a new one!

I would like to know what peoples "plans" are to lose 100lbs, what diets are you on, how many times do you exercise a week, etc.

If you don't want to share, I understand, just thought i'd ask. I am looking to try new things to lose my 100lbs, as a lot has never worked for me, so just thought i'd ask to see what others have had progress in!!

I am looking to lose 115lbs by September 2012, if possible [that's when my husband will be home and I want to surprise him].

Thanks =)

I don't have a set plan. I've worked on making permanent lifestyle changes and I'm constantly tweaking what I'm doing as I go alone but here's basically what I did/am doing:

- I gave up sugar cold turkey for 6months, now I only eat 1 serving/week of something sweet (doesn't necessarily have sugar in it).

- I only eat whole grains, no what flour

- I lift heavy (see the amazing book New Rules of Lifting for Women) about 2x-3x a week. I try to do cardio about 3x a week.

- Little to no pop

- I make sure to eat a lot of protein and if I do eat fruit combine it with some sort of protein.

- lots of fruits and veggies

- portion size awareness. I don't calorie count but I look at the amount of calories on packages and try to determine how much I should eat.

- little to no fried foods/chips etc

My plans:

1) My most important rule: I am building permanent, healthy habits. That means there is no end date. There is no giving up. There may be times of frustration. There may be times when I don't choose the healthiest things on the planet. There may be times when I need to re-evaluate my goals, or tweak my plans, but this #1 will always stay the same.

2) Have support. I speak to my mother and husband regularly about food/health issues. I rely heavily on 3FC for ideas, advice, accountability and a shoulder to lean on.

3) Keep track of my food intake. I'm a Weight Watchers member, and I use their website to journal my food with PointsPlus. I track every single thing I eat, even if I don't want to, even if I have to face a poor decision.

4) Daily movement. I have a minimum of 10 minutes a day, but I've been consistently taking treadmill walks for 25+ minutes a day for many months now. Movement includes parking further from stores, taking the stairs instead of elevators, and adding in extra steps to my day in any little way that I can manage.

5) Choose healthier foods most of the time. Fruits. Vegetables. Whole grains. Making sure to get in healthy fats. Lean proteins. Aim to choose brands of foods that don't use HFCS. Water, water, water.

6) Use the steps from the Beck Diet Solution to remind myself of my goals, resist urges, listen to true hunger, and to avoid personal pitfalls.

7) Daily weighing. No judgment. Just feedback and curiosity. I keep a chart so that I can get used to the various fluctuations in my weight.

8) I make time-based commitments, not weight-based goals. I like to say "I commit to staying on plan for xx number of days." Rather than "I will lose xx pounds in xx days." For me, it keeps my mind on my number 1... which is that I'm here forever, no matter how much I lose each month.

And... that's all I can think of at the moment.

I recognized early on that I could only use a plan that I could use for the rest of my life. God bless all of the carbers but I couldn't maintain it long term because of my eating preferences so I am calorie counting. (I have a friend of mine who isn't a carb fan and a low carb diet has worked wonders for her...she looks amazing).

I exercise 5 times a week (I'm a huge Walk Away The Pounds fan and just started Pilates). I usually do the Walk Away 3 mile video (45 minutes). I recently started Tae Bo cardio (one of my challenges).

I am doing the Dukan Diet. It's low fat and very low carb. There is a list of 100 permitted foods (lean protein, no fat dairy and veggies plus 2 tbs of oat bran daily) and you eat ONLY the foods on that list. It's very restrictive but somehow it's been the easiest plan to stick with that I have ever tried - I've been on plan every day since I started on May 22.

For exercise, you are supposed to walk 30 minutes every day. I wasn't 100% on plan with that to start with, but I kind of went into it that way in purpose - I knew that once I had the food part really under control, I'd add the activity. And that's worked great for me now that I've started. I do the Wii or other exercise videos rather than just walking, that's a bit more of a calorie burn and I lost 14 lbs this month!

The Dukan Diet has phases, so it will not remain as strict as this forever, this is just the part for actively losing weight. But the thing I love is that once I lose the weight, there is a phase in between that and maintenance where you start to gradually add back in foods that are currently not allowed. I am really hoping that this middle phase is what gets me to be a successful maintainer for the first time in my life.

And I'm already a more successful loser on Dukan than I have ever been - I've lost 50 lbs in 4 months (for comparison, when I did calorie counting a couple of years ago, I lost 42 lbs in 6 months). I have to admit that I love threads like these because I am so thrilled with Dukan that I love a chance to tell people about it. I know it's not the right fit for everyone, but it's good for people to hear about it so they can put it on the list of plans to consider trying.

That is great, that you've lost 50lbs in 4 months, that'd be awesome, haha. I have tried diets after diets and nothing has worked for me. I would love to hear more about the Dukan diet if you have the time and wouldn't mind telling me more? I am sure I could research it and stuff it not, but it's always nice to talk to someone who is ACTUALLY ON the diet and what their experience is!!! I am determined to lose a LARGE portion of my weight before my husband returns home!!! :-)

My plan is math, fate, and the laws of thermodynamics.

The math is calories. I have twelve-hundred calories a day. I have one cheat day a month. I count everything that I eat without exception. I plan like a planning fiend. Nothing goes in my mouth until I've added everything up in my head. I don't track anything other than calories, though I note my satisfaction with various foods, and adjust future meals accordingly.

The fate is commitment without choice. I put everything on the line to do this when I said, "I want to quit my job, live off my savings, and focus on losing weight." I stripped away my excuses until I had nothing left but myself, and the sick realization that I could not fail. As a result, everything I do isn't really a choice, exactly--or, rather, I'm not making the choice every single day to stay on plan. The plan exists, and by virtue of its existing I must follow it. There's no choice involved, and consequently no willpower, which is good, 'cause I don't really have any.

The laws of thermodynamics are my reassurance. The first law states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Hence, if I'm not going to be getting my daily energy from my food, it's going to come from somewhere. That somewhere is my body. As long as I do that, I will lose. I can't afford to have any mystery in my weight loss methods--give me science, or I am outta here.

There are additional things that I do that aren't exactly part of the plan. I exercise, but that's not really a weight loss thing so much as a health thing. I have a Geek yogurt and a banana every morning, but that's because it's brainless, not because it holds some mystical weight-loss properties.

I'm a calorie counter. I've tried Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, etc. I never stuck with them for long. I started in May and was on plan for about a month before I took a break for the summer. From May to June I lost 15 lbs. I gained back about 5 over the summer. I started back on plan September 4th and this month I've lost another 15ish lbs for a total of 25. I love it. I can eat whatever I want as long as I stay in my calorie range for the day. I'm not restricted at all, I don't cut out any food groups, and if I want a treat I can have one. It's all about finding something that you can live with indefinitely. I'll probably count calories for the rest of my life but it's becoming like second nature to me so it's not a big deal.

Oh and while I was on vacation I did not bother counting anything. I wanted to enjoy the time I had with my husband before he deployed in August. He hasn't seen me at all (no pictures, Skype, etc) since he left. I want to surprise him when he gets home!

My plan is 3-0-1.
3 meals a day
0 food in between
1 day at a time.

I am also in Overeaters Anonymous and that is helping me so much! working on day 9 of being abstinent (no eating other than the 3 meals period!)

Other than that... I exercise daily. Usually I do Walk It Out on the wii for 30 or so minutes or I walk with my friend for around 2-3 miles. This is daily. Only skipped 2 days in the last month.

This is for the rest of my life. I am a compulsive overeater and it IS a disease so I can't allow myself one bite that isn't a meal or I may binge. I'm totally fine with that. . . you would treat any other disease so why not this? :)

Hi, Determined. Welcome to the 100 pound club. You've been given a lot of good advice already. I want to say that I'm 100% sure you can lose 100 pounds by next September if you work at it. I'm probably twice your age and I've lost 88 pounds since January 13th. My original goal was to lose 100 pounds by Christmas - that would be just about 11 months. I just recently decided to adjust the end time because I want to slow things down a bit since I'm starting to get a little bit of baggy skin. At my age, it doesn't snap back as quickly! Besides, I was 250 pounds for over 20 years. That's a lot of stretched skin. I still intend to lose 100 pounds (because it sounds cool and 152 is really good for me, at any age) but it may not be for quite a while. We'll see.

I've been loosely counting calories and working out. You can't out exercise bad eating, but it does help me stay on plan if I go to the gym.

In January I almost completely cut sugar, pasta, rice, potatoes, and bread from my diet. Now I have the carbs once in a while - maybe once a week. No pop to speak of, no packaged food, no fast food, no junk in the house. I try to stay at about 1400 calories but I don't count strictly and I don't write them down. I want to be able to eat like this without real effort for the rest of my life, so for me it was very important to learn how to eat like a thin person. That's my new "mantra." Eat like a thin person. Even thin people go off the deep end once in a while. The difference is they get right back into healthy habits immediately. I use my 28 year old daughter as my example. She goes nuts once in a while at a Chinese buffet or a party, but then it's back to what is "normal" for her. That's what I want, so that's how I'm trying to think and eat now. Just starting out you may want to just jump in with both feet, find a plan that works for you and that you can live with forever, and JUST DO IT. There's a big difference between "can't" and "won't." I know you CAN. You know you CAN. So you will!

Good luck. This is a great group for support. Glad you found us.

Lin

I think once we allow ourselves to really get hold of the knowledge that we can accomplish any goal we set out for, it gets easier. It's also easier when you realize the food will still be there if you chose this one time to pass it up. Read the "stupid summer with stupid ice cream" thread. Lots of good advice for avoiding the things that tempt us on a daily basis.

Ooh, I love threads like this...it's so interesting seeing what's working for other people!

As for me...I'm a calorie counter. I usually eat between 1200-1300 a day, and every bite counts! I invested in a food scale pretty recently, because it turns out by estimating how much I was eating I was UNDEReating by way too much! The scale is nice 'cause it takes away the guess work- and suddenly I can eat a lot more food. :dizzy:

I also make sure that a LOT of my calories come from protein (Greek yogurt, lean meats, nuts, cottage cheese, etc.) and don't really eat carbs (although, for the record, I don't count grams of carbs/proteins the way I count calories). When I do eat carbs, it's stuff like sweet potatoes or quinoa--definitely never anything superprocessed, like white bread. I also haven't been eating sugar, although this is mostly just for sanity's sake. I've struggled a LOT with binge eating in the past, and my trigger always seems to be sweets--cutting them out entirely is "safer" for me than assuming I'll be able to stop after just one.

With regards to exercise, I do HIIT for half an hour 6x a week, an hour of yoga 4x per week, and then the occasional run with my puppy. :)

So far so good! Tomorrow is my official weigh-in for the week, and I'm thinking I may have hit the 20 pound (loss) mark. Considering I've only been here for a little over a month, I'm super happy about that.

Whatever plan you do end up choosing, good luck! You can do it :carrot:

Great thread! I am enjoying reading what everyone else does. As you can see, we are a varied lot. That's what I love about this place you can figure out what works for you and do it. Everyone is so very motivational and helpful.
This is what I do:
I do one of Leslie Sansone's walk away the pounds 3 miles every day when I come home from work. Even when I don't want to, I do it. It starts slow but then it is over sooner than I think it will be. When I am really motivated, I do the 5 miles but that doesn't happen very often.
I count calories. I don't really have a set amount of calories but counting keeps me honest I usually eat about 1300-1500 per day.
I track my miles every day and come on here and check out what's going on or post if I need support.
All of this works for me and helps keep me on track and motivated.

Hi Determined - as you've seen, everyone is different and there are absolutely different paths to success. But I really like the way this plan keeps me completely focused on staying on plan - there are not really and judgement calls and no "it will be ok if I just have a small portion and not eat much the rest of the day" and all that. It's either on the plan and you eat it or it's not on the plan and you don't eat it. Very simple, very black and white.

ask away with whatever questions you've got - here is fine or you can come to the 3fc Dukan thread, and get input from others besides me who are happy Dukaners! http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/othe...t-support.html

I exercise and try to eat more fruits and vegetables... I still eat junk food from time to time and have diet soda (when I go to the movies) but that is probably the reason it's taking longer for me to finish the weight loss.

My Plan
 

To give up sweet tea for one.:dizzy:

I am doing WW On-Line. Weight loss is slow, but it is helping me adjust to eating habits. I have calorie count in the past with great success, along with walking 30 minutes of brisk walking each day. Counting calories is work, but very effective. I decided to let WW do the work this time and I get to use the tools on line and get the feed back from WW.

Also, with my weight loss, it is very important to be accountable. I used on-line support with lots..........of success. This is my first time with 3FL, and this is going to work for my weight
loss journey.

And......knowing in your heart you must change your life style of eating for the rest of your life or you WILLregain the weight.

I try to eat lean protein and veggies and minimize the sugar I eat. I also try to replace whites with browns-- no more white bread or white rice!
I exercise at least three times a week.
I drink a ton of water.
I allow myself to eat whatever I want, but I watch portion sizing. For example, yesterday there was pizza at work and I wanted it!!! I took only one piece, ate a few bites, then scraped the toppings off and left most of the crust. Sometimes when I'm craving sweets I will eat half of a cookie, or a few bites of cake. I don't feel deprived in any way!
Good luck to you!

I've tried many different diets and found out that restriction isn't for me, lol. I calorie cycle, but I am not super strict with myself. I'd rather not deprive myself, which for me leads to giving up. I've made small changes like using tofu pasta substitute rather than pasta, or eating a piece of fruit when I want something sweet instead of cookies.

I eat my lower amount of calories M-W, my base amount of 1,200 Th & F, and on Saturday and Sunday I don't count at all. Not to say that I go hog wild and eat a big mac and large fries for every meal, I still eat the healthier foods I eat during the week, I just allow myself maybe half a serving more. Or, if I want a piece of cake I have it...just a smaller size than I use to have, and only one.

I don't exercise. I've tried and it's just not my thing. I'm sure I'd notice bigger changes if I did.

Weight Watchers and exercising 45 minutes a day 7 days a week. I say 6-7 days a week, but I usually end up exercising the 7th day. I can't do a diet where I cut out anything. Nothing can be off limits for me, or I will think about it all the time and binge on it. By eating small portions of anything I want, it stops me obsessing about certain foods.

I've lost 16.6 pounds in 9 weeks.

I started by easing in substitutions for bad food I ate, such as swapping fried chicken for grilled chicken and french fries for a baked sweet potato. I also eased into exercise with aerobics videos at home, just doing as much as I could until I managed to finish an entire hour-long tape after a couple months.

I don't have a magic plan but everyday I take a multivitamin and try to drink a cup of hot tea (green usually, with lemon and honey), have a small salad at lunch and/or dinner, limit sugar and junk food, and walk 3+ miles. If I don't walk due to weather, etc then I try to do my aerobics video. :)

I don't deny myself anything but honestly, after easing into a healthy diet and exercise I enjoy I don't crave junk food anymore. I feel so good eating healthy food! I do have a sweet tooth though, so occasionally (usually during TOM :P) I'll have a bit of candy, chocolate, or cookies. I've learned to be satisfied with moderation and don't gorge on anything though.

I haven't spent any money on diet pills, exercise equipment, or gym membership... which is good, because buying new clothes while losing weight really stinks (though fitting into smaller sizes is fun)! :)

One more addition to my plan...once I was counting points. I found out pretty quick that my Mountain Dews had points! I would rather have food and pick my own treat with points.

So....There sits my 3 cases of Mountain Dews!

I stopped drinking sodas and quit eating junk food and I got rid of my sugar addiction....now, I do not crave sugar when it is around me nor do I want to buy it!

My plan is this:

1. I track everything I eat, and try to stay to 1500 calories and 40-70 grams of carb.

2. I take Metformin 2x/day, which has made me regain my sense of fullness while eating....

3. I exercise at least 5x/week, and 2 of those times are strength training with a personal trainer

4. If anything in my life threatens to send me to the M&M's, I avoid or eliminate it to the extent I am able (this includes people, commitments, etc)

That's sort of it...

I originally got the idea for my plan from a Readers Digest article years ago. It had a picture of an Oreo cookie and the title said something like "Eat One 250 cal treat a Day and Still Lose Weight". Well, now I just had to read further! Basically, it said to figure the calories you should be eating in a day to lose (it gave web suggestions to figure this out) and then figure in ONE treat a day. Any treat, but it has to fit within 250 calories (or so). This treat can be anything for anyone I happen to like chocolate. Tall or Grande Starbucks Mocha Frappucino (no whip) 190-290 calories, 5 Oreos (250 cal), etc. And because I made room for that snack, the rest of the day I ate in moderation. Healthier foods have fewer calories, so I naturally ate more salads, apples, oranges, nuts, chicken, fish, etc. I didn't care. As long as I got my treat. Kinda sad now that I read this, but it works. :)

So, I calculated that I should be eating 1400 calories or so and started planning a treat into those calories every day. At the time, I lost 80 pnds in 6 months (and walked just about every day). Of course, we then moved to another state and all planning of meals came to a halt.

I'm back on it and even though it's a slower process this time, this works for ME! I can live with this. Moderation. Love it!

Lot's of great ideas in this thread. Heck in this whole forum. I love 3FC!

I am counting calories with livestrong.com/myplate. It tells me how many calories I can have a day & the caloric amount changes when I add my weight loss.

I don't have any forbidden foods, as I am doing this for the rest of my life. I obviously can't eat like I always have, that's how I got so overweight.

Oh, and I am also 'exercising' for 15 minutes a day Sat-Mon, and 40 minutes a day Tues-Fri. I used quotations on exercise, because I count any kind of sweaty activity as my exercise, be it housecleaning, child care, anything that makes me sweat.

I think that my plan is a little bit more exercise-oriented than most. I don't know exactly how I went from someone who had a hard time finding 30 minutes a day to work out to someone who does something active 90 minutes to 2 hours every day, but I did. Part of what motivated me is that I have a one-year-old shepherd/husky puppy that I rescued in the spring and if he doesn't get 5-6 miles of walking/running a day, he'll eat my house. That gets me out on the rainy days!

I use weight watchers online, but mostly as a record-keeping tool and not as a limitation. I have 36 points to spend and go over nearly every day, but I usually end up with 80 or so activity points by the end of the week and I rarely dip into them, just use the flex points. I am guessing that I am eating about 2000 calories per day and working out for about 600 calories' worth. When I get smaller I might have to eat less but for right now that's worth about a half-pound a week on average, which I'm actually happy with. I feel strong and healthy and not deprived. I feel like I could eat this way for the rest of my life. When I have tried to lose weight faster, I have failed. I have been over 230 lbs for twenty years. This week I'll probably get below that number, which feels great.

One of the things that ww has helped me with is seeing the impact of carb-heavy meals on my diet. Before ww I might have thought of my old standard breakfast of bagel, cream cheese, smoked salmon or turkey as being equivalent to my new breakfast, two scrambled eggs (one without the yolk), black beans, salsa. But the first has twice as many points and a lot more fat and carb than the second. I also can motivate myself and look back and see that the weeks where I worked out more or ate closer to plan, I lost more weight. It's really helpful to me to correlate the work with the results, you know?

I lost 160 (HOLY FKKN **** that still shocks me LOL) by boring calorie counting! I tried low-carb once, lost 40 and ate a cookie and gained 50 LOL It's all about what WORKS for you right?

I decided that I wasn't a person who could live with "I'm NEVER eating chocolate again" hahahah not even close! SO calorie counting let me still have some control over everything, yes I can chocolate however I have to COUNT it and no cheating !!! I can have pizza, but I have to count it!

Common sense dictates to cut out the white fake junk and eat healthier grains and fibre etc., so that was easy as I already did it! Always ate lots of fruit and veg, so that was easy. Cutting out the junk food, McDonald's, ice cream, that was harder LOL But again, once you get it into your head it's NOT off limits, it takes the insanity out of it. You quickly learn it's just not worth the bang for the buck, so to speak, and usually I made better choices.

It's do-able, that's for sure!

I'm not on any particular plan. I stick to around 1,500 calories per day -- sometimes 1,250, sometimes right at 1,500. Usually around 1,400 at least. I didn't work exercise into my plan yet, but I joined a gym and started going yesterday. The plan for that is to work out there three times per week and continue doing Wii exercise at home or walking around the neighborhood.

As far as diet, I cut out soda, diet soda, iced tea, fried foods, ice cream, baked goods, chips, pretzels and most processed foods. My snacks are things like 1/2 a bell pepper with hummus or a little salad of cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes. For supper, I switched from eating red meat 4 or 5 times per week to making chicken (baked, broiled or roasted without skin) and doing two to three vegetarian meals per week. I'm focusing on a low-sodium diet (I have kidney disease), so I'm also experimenting with tweaking my old recipes to reduce the sodium content.

I follow a LOW GI plan - different again to most here!!! It's a life plan of whole foods, no processed food is the bottom line.
Works for me, I've lost 29 kilos or 64 pounds!

I don't think I saw the same thing twice in this thread. =)

Thanks for sharing everyone.

Good luck to all of you!!!

I'm very new here and just started reading through some of the topics, but I just wanted to say I really liked everything you said in 'your plan' its a really solid, realistic and healthy approach and quite motivating as well. Good luck in your journey too!