I was on Depo for 9 years and gained a total of 50 lbs. I stopped the shots Nov 2007 and after the holidays, I began to head to the gym and do what I can (I have major eating issues—putting fruits/veggies in my mouth cause me to physically gag, so I can’t deal with that right now). I would go to the Y gym on my lunch break for 20 min on the elliptical or treadmill, then eat lunch at my desk. Lunch consisted of leftovers or wraps.
From the beginning of the year until May, I dropped 6 lbs, but lost more inches than lbs (I don’t have the numbers right now). I was happy with the changes going on—hubby said that he finally saw GUNS (aka biceps).
Well, at our job we tried something new for all of the admin staff—we had to work 4 nine hour days with a half-hour lunch break so that on Friday we could leave at noon. It was great, except for the fact that I lost my gym time. I tried going after work, but this Y is HECTIC! (no offense to anyone but…) It’s wall to wall soccer moms picking up or dropping off kids and hogging machines while talking on their cell phones. Arg. Not conducive to a real workout and not worth the hassle. So I skipped it. I tried a class or two, but one made me so dizzy I thought I was going to vomit and the other made me so sore the next day I couldn’t get off the couch! So I skipped the gym totally. For 3 months. I watched my 6 pound weight loss disappear… so sad.
So, when our school year started up again, my hubby had to change his work schedule, so he now goes in at 7, rather than 8. Since we have only the 1 car, my morning consists of taking hubby to work, daughter to school, then spending 20m at the Y in the morning before work. I go 3 days a week in the a.m., then I also go on my lunch break 3 days a week. I do the treadmill at 3 – 3.5mph at a 2-3 incline. As of now, I have lost THREE pounds (since Mid-August), but I have noticed that I’ve dropped 1.5” in my waist since the beginning of September.
Okay, so what am I eating, in numbers? Fitday.com says that I ‘burn’ 2425 cal per day (I chose 'sedentary' lifestyle b/c I'm a secretary). I set a small goal for myself to be at 209 by Thanksgiving (That is 8.5lb from where I am). To reach this, Fit Day says I need to restrict an extra 350 calories per day, meaning that I should not eat more than 2075 calories per day. Okay, I can handle that. My average cal intake (I chart at fitday) is 2025—50 calories under what I should be. So, even without GOING to the gym, I should be doing okay! Granted my numbers aren’t spectacular, but I would think that averaging 175 calories burned per day is nothing to sneeze at! When you add that 175 average to the 350 cals I’m already not eating, there should be some movement on the scale (other than my stomping foot that goes along with my screaming “CRAP!”).
So, thank you for reading this huge back story—can anyone suggest anything to get this ball rolling a bit quicker or am I doing fine and just buying into the stereotype that you aren’t doing well until Biggest Loser-esque numbers are lost?
Last edited by amykay9377; 10-06-2008 at 04:11 PM.
Fitday will definitely give you an estimate but that is all it is.
I'd suggest cutting your calories back to 1800. I'd also look at what you are doing at the gym. I'd look into HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) to help maximize your workouts. I'd also look into weights. Your body can get very efficient at doing something if you keep doing it. Meaning, you could burn 200 calories on a workout, 3 months from now, that same workout may burn a lot less because your body got efficient at doing it.
I agree with nelie. Don't go by what FitDay tells you if it's not working--most of us have to adjust once we see how we do with a calorie level.
What you describe about your work schedule, etc., is just LIFE, and your challenge is to figure out how to do what you have to do anyway. Sad to say, the fact that your schedule is hard doesn't make any difference to whether you lose weight--we all still have to do the same things.
Those things...? Oh, restrict food intake in some way, and become more physically active. So boring, but so true!
First of all- I'm not a doctor! These are just things that stuck out to me.
IMO, I think 20 minutes of cardio 3x a week really isn't enough. ( I dont know how long you go for during your lunch break) From all I've read and from talking to my doctor, you want to do 30 minutes a day 5x a week for weight loss as well as health. Also, just using a treadmill won't be super effective. If you do the same exercise for awhile your body becomes used to it. Try maybe a stationary bike or stair climber.
And 2075 calories a day seems a little high to me. But I'm not a doctor, I don't know. You didn't say what you are eating - If your eating a lot of high fat foods and empty calories (even if your staying below 2075) weight loss will still be very slow.
If I were you, I would talk to a doctor about how many calories you want to be eating and how often you exercise a day. They'll be able to tell you for sure what you need to be doing.
Drop the cals a little, ramp up the exercise a little. You're better off doing exercises with a higher intensity for a shorter length of time, anyway.
And with your hectic schedule, you might look into body resistance and weight work you can do at home. Things like 20 mins of pushups, crunches, tips, squats, lunges, burpees ... that's a *serious* workout that you can do at home. Add a swiss ball and some resistance bands and you won't have to fit going to the gym into your schedule for a while.
Good luck to you. It sounds like you really want to do this and are willing to do what it takes!
First of all- I'm not a doctor! These are just things that stuck out to me.
IMO, I think 20 minutes of cardio 3x a week really isn't enough. ( I dont know how long you go for during your lunch break) From all I've read and from talking to my doctor, you want to do 30 minutes a day 5x a week for weight loss as well as health. Also, just using a treadmill won't be super effective. If you do the same exercise for awhile your body becomes used to it. Try maybe a stationary bike or stair climber.
And 2075 calories a day seems a little high to me. But I'm not a doctor, I don't know. You didn't say what you are eating - If your eating a lot of high fat foods and empty calories (even if your staying below 2075) weight loss will still be very slow.
If I were you, I would talk to a doctor about how many calories you want to be eating and how often you exercise a day. They'll be able to tell you for sure what you need to be doing.
Update--
On average, I get 40m of cardio 3x a week (3x a.m. at 20m each and 3x lunchbreak at 20m each). Also, I walk after dinner, but this is more of a pleasure stroll, and while it adds to physical activity, I don't count it--I think of it as Bonus Points.
And yeah, I thought 2075 was too high too, but I searched out lots of other "How many calories per day" websites and this was pretty close, so I kinda went with it. I'll try to stick around 1900-2000 with my added 175 deficit. We'll see what that does.
Because of my food issues, I am the first to admit that I am not eating NEARLY as healthily as I could:
Breakfast--1 serving Lucky Charms, 1 oz milk, 16 oz orange juice (I won't give up my juice!).
Lunch--a flour tortilla wrap with 4oz protein (usually chicken), 1 or 2 oz cheese and 2tbs of a sauce or dressing (lunch is usually 500-600 cal).
Dinner--Sometimes I watch it, sometimes I don't--it can run the gamut of grilled chicken and baked tater wedges to what I had last night, a bacon cheeseburger and fries (at least they were made at home with quality beef, quality bacon and real cheese, instead of some fast food abomination!).
Snacks--at work, I'm not that bad--I portion out what I have at work. Currently in my snack drawer? Goldfish pretzels, jelly beans, Slim Jims (not as bad as I thought! only 45cal), Baked Lays and Quaker Quakes. At home, it can be worse--both hubby and daghter don't care about weight loss, so ther are chips, cookies, etc... I have a weakness for baked goods .
So yes, as you can see, there are no veggies or fruits in there anywere. I am taking a huge step for me and drinking V8 V-Fusion (not the splash, but the 100% juice Fusion!). The Acai Berry Flavor, which I get at Sam's, is not bad. It just tastes like All Berry Juicy Juice with a weird 'thick' feeling as you swallow.
I will take everyone's advice (so far) and see what I can do to whittle down the calories!
For breakfast, I'd nix the Lucky charms and look for something like oatmeal instead. also, 16 oz of juice is a lot. If you won't give up your juice, could you cut it in half and also maybe mix it with a little water?
For lunch, how about adding some veggies, cutting out the cheese and the dressing and putting something like mustard instead?
For dinner, again, I'd add some veggies and although potatoes are good... they shouldn't be the only veggie you eat. And I don't mean replacing them for a fried veggie
You are eating a lot of junk for your snacks. How about fruit or veggies instead? They are a bit more filling.
Honestly, you don't have to change everything at once but I'd work on modifying your diet to make it a bit healthier. Also, just because your family doesn't care about weight loss, doesn't mean you can't help them make healthier decisions.
I would suggest seeing an occupational therapist to get over your tactile sensitivities to food textures. Seriously, I don't think you'll ever lose substantial weight until you can force some roughage, (not ruffles) into your body. My oldest son would gag on veggies until OT. He is now the salad king. He still gags on onions...but hey, lots of people don't like onions.
Last edited by Lori Bell; 10-06-2008 at 05:21 PM.
Reason: good grief...spelling!
Hey Amykay!
It's good that you are open minded about what you might try. I would agree with the others that fruits and veggies are the ticket that will work, but aside from that you could get rid of your snack drawer all together. Or empty it just to see if you can make it through a day. Maybe you could try other juices?
I would also recommend seeing someone about your aversion to food textures....
In the meantime, if juice is the only way that you can get fruits down, then it is what it is, and it's better than nothing.
I also recommend taking your calories down to 1800 per day. My starting weight after baby #3 was 233.9 pounds, and I had to START then at 1800 calories a day to lose any weight. At around 210 pounds, I had to take it down to about 1700 per day.
The online calculators telling you how much you should eat are GUESTIMATES. You can have two people of the same height and weight and age...and one person needs 1500 to lose, and the other can lose on 1700. Genetics and personal metabolism play a huge part here...and you can't enter those things into the calculators like you can your height and weight. The guestimates need tweaking for most people.
I guarantee that dropping down to 1800, like nelie suggested, will get things moving faster for you.
In the meantime, I recommend trying to slowly get out of your texture aversion to foods...and eating more foods with nutritional value, and less junk.
Do you eat applesauce? The Healthy Harvest ones have no sugar added, and come in different flavors...
Breakfast--1 serving Lucky Charms, 1 oz milk, 16 oz orange juice (I won't give up my juice!).
Lucky Charms? Egads I love them. But seriously . . . Lucky Charms? Switch them out for a healthier cereal. Total, Shredded Wheat, Cherrios, etc. Add (or drink) 8 oz. of milk (low or reduced-fat. I find 2% sticks w/me longer so I use this even though the cals are more.) OJ is ok but maybe 8 oz instead of 16 oz? Maybe try oatmeal (don't know if that w/be a textural issue for you or not).
Quote:
Lunch--a flour tortilla wrap with 4oz protein (usually chicken), 1 or 2 oz cheese and 2tbs of a sauce or dressing (lunch is usually 500-600 cal).
This is good but try changing out the flour tortilla for a multi-grain one. LaTortilla Factory makes a great multi-grain, low carb one. Its BIG, has about 100 cals, 8 grams protein, 12 grams fiber. Also, switch out your lunches. Tuna w/low fat mayo on whole wheat or turkey and cheese on multigrain bread, etc. Maybe you could try sneaking in a piece of lettuce or tomato on the sandwich or wrap and it may not bother you as much?
Quote:
Dinner--Sometimes I watch it, sometimes I don't--it can run the gamut of grilled chicken and baked tater wedges to what I had last night, a bacon cheeseburger and fries (at least they were made at home with quality beef, quality bacon and real cheese, instead of some fast food abomination!).
Could you eat a baked spud w/some light sour cream and chives (or sprinkle on onion powder)? Better than tater wedges. Only eating the bottom half of the roll w/the burger (again, I'd make it whole wheat/grain to get the extra fiber) and nixing the bacon will give you a 100 cal deficit right there. Little changes can make a big difference.
Quote:
Snacks--at work, I'm not that bad--I portion out what I have at work. Currently in my snack drawer? Goldfish pretzels, jelly beans, Slim Jims (not as bad as I thought! only 45cal), Baked Lays and Quaker Quakes. At home, it can be worse--both hubby and daghter don't care about weight loss, so ther are chips, cookies, etc... I have a weakness for baked goods .
Um, these snacks read as empty cals to me, no offense! Where's the protein? Cheesesticks, turkey, tuna, cottage cheese, nuts, etc. Add a good portion of protein for your snacks and ONE serving of goldfish or baked chips. The jellybeans? May have to shelf them for awhile.
Even if fruits and veggies are a no-go, you can bump up the nutrition on what you are eating. Eat protein with every meal/snack and your blood sugar will stay even and you will avoid that 'dip' that eating just carbs can cause. I find it takes constant tweaking (on food and exercise) to keep ahead of things and to keep the scale moving down. Good luck!
Even if you aren't doing low-carb, you should watch your refined carb intake. 100 calories of simple sugar (lucky charms) will impact your weight much more than 100 calories of complex carbs (oatmeal). Simple sugars more or less hit your body as instant energy. Then your body has to figure out what to do with it - either it will expend it, or it will store it. When your body stores them, it's immediate {into energy reserves}. Complex carbs require some kind of "long term" breakdown, so they aren't stored immediately.
One other thing...what is it about fruits/veggies that makes you gag? Could you, for example, eat apple sauce? You can make very healthy, homemade apple sauce with very little effort. Can you eat desserts that include fruits (like strawberry cheesecake or cherry pie)? Which fruits/veggies in particular are give you the biggest issues?
Ooooh!! I just thought of something!!
How about smoothies??
This way you're getting calcium and tonnes of other nutrients.
Start with one and build onto what you would put into it.
Don't be fooled by smoothies you can get at like some fast food place either. They put tonnes of sugar into them. Make them yourself and that way you know what you're getting!
I have to agree on seeing someone about your food sensitivities- you're missing out on a lot of good stuff!
There are also ways to get veggies in that aren't as obvious- shredding something like zucchini into muffins or small chopped veggies into pasta sauce or lasagna. Smoothies are great- if you like yogurt start with a light yogurt base and add ice and fruits. Things like finely shredded carrots are easy to hide in there as well.
At home, try switching around the snacks that DH and dd have, maybe find ones that don't tempt you as much? Or put a mortatorium on store bought junk food- from here on out you make all the cookies and chips, etc. that are consumed in your household. Then you have control over what goes into them.
Sad, slow little loss...Please Help or Encourage!
Okay, here is my story:
(no offense to anyone but…) It’s wall to wall soccer moms picking up or dropping off kids and hogging machines while talking on their cell phones. Arg. Not conducive to a real workout and not worth the hassle. So I skipped it. I tried a class or two, but one made me so dizzy I thought I was going to vomit and the other made me so sore the next day I couldn’t get off the couch! So I skipped the gym totally. For 3 months. I watched my 6 pound weight loss disappear… so sad.
I go 3 days a week in the a.m., then I also go on my lunch break 3 days a week. I do the treadmill at 3 – 3.5mph at a 2-3 incline. As of now, I have lost THREE pounds (since Mid-August), but I have noticed that I’ve dropped 1.5” in my waist since the beginning of September. 
