We are a group of individuals who weigh or have weighed 300+, or near there. This group was formed to provide a place for others like us to find support, inspiration, and hope. We are aware of the distinct problems that come with weighing over 300 lbs.
We want to invite everyone (roosters as well as chicks!) to join us in our journey. We share laughter and tears, heartaches and fears ... joys and celebrations. We also share what works for us and what doesn't.
We know the thread can move very quickly, and that people often make "personal" remarks and keep a number of conversations going. Please feel free to contribute even if you can't make personal comments all the time.
Finally, we also have several extra threads going on simutaneously such as Monthly Challenges, Weekly Weigh-ins, Recipes, Bios, Photos, Exercise, Info for Getting Started and more. Many of these threads are stickied at the top of the page. Please feel free to check them all out.
We have found this thread to be more than just a support group... we have found it to become a home. We invite you to join us.
I am so looking forward to being out of the 300's. I am 20 pounds away!
I have started seeing a nutritionist at school (an actual nutritionist, RD with a master's degree) and she advised me against zig zaging calories. She said that consistency is best, that fueling your body regularly is healthiest and the best thing for creating an efficiently burning machine (thus, weight loss). So, that's what I'm gonna try and see how it works!
I'm interested in hearing your results. I do zigzag my calories by quite a bit. My high days are sometimes more than double my low days. My understanding was that would keep your metabolism from adjusting to the lower caloric intake allowing it to stay high and you could burn more calories.
Did the RD say anything about how to avoid starvation mode? I'd be concerned about plateauing as well. Now I admit I only know what I've read online and may be misinformed.
dnathan, your stats are admirable! You've done so well losing and I admire that!!!
I was really interested to hear what she had to say and was even more interested after she said it!
Here's why: after reading my food logs and taking my weight, she told me I was eating too few calories and that I needed to look at more exercise and upping my caloric intake, specifically to bust through a plateau. People like us who are tall and heavy need to make sure we're getting enough calories.
She was the FIRST medical professional who did not espouse the "1,200 a day, regardless of who you are, your activity level or current weight" way of life and I am so grateful for that!
I am lucky enough to be seeing her as often as every week (YES!!! ) and I will post what she shares with me along the way.
Due to scheduling conflicts, I won't see her until the 17th. I am logging my food and will give her everything. She says she wants to be my "cheerleader" and I feel so blessed to have this support; it's like an answered prayer as I can't afford WW at this time and wanted the support and accountability of a weekly weigh in etc. Looks like I got it, only better, a 1 on 1 with an RD!!!
So, she says that to help my metabolism work properly, I need to give it the same amount of fuel for a consistent period of time, to keep it burning on course. We'll see how it goes!
Last edited by Passionista; 02-08-2010 at 11:07 AM.
Reason: to be more specific!
Great work in finding someone so helpful. Those cheerleaders are just so important. At some point here if I begin to plateau I'll go see a nutritionist and get checked out. I think for me eating the same number of calories every day would be very problematic. I like to go out with friends on weekend nights and that usually involves some adult beverages, which naturally drives up that day's caloric intake. Not doing that any more is just not something that I would look forward to. But, if it's what's needed down the road for my weight loss to continue, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. But I'm hoping not
Sharon: Woo hoo for your new computer. I'm glad that you were able to relax. Happy Birthday. I'm sorry that I missed wishing you a Happy Birthday before it was your day! Hugs.
Cyn: Congrats to your son's job.
Sasil: Great news on the good weigh in. Keep up the great work.
Peggy: Hi there!
Rat: I am so happy to hear that you are doing well. The only vitamin that I seem to be low on at every blood test is Vitamin D3. Last time I was just on the verge. It is my fault as I stopped taking it not thinking it was very important. Duh. Wrong and my bad. Just follow your nut's advice and you will do wonderfully well. I'm so happy for you. Stay warm and safe with all that snow. I think you are getting our snow from last year.
Cheeky: Welcome. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.
Val: Oh honey, I am so sorry about Bill and even sorrier about the possibility of loosing Gabe. I will be praying for you to have strength. Hugs and more hugs.
Kristi: I want to check out the arm band thingy. I think they are pretty cool on the Biggest Looser.
Catherine: Glad that your computer is fixed. Sorry it was so much. That stinks.
Debi: Hi there friend.
Passionista: Woo hoo to only having 20 more to get out of the 300's. Fantastic.
The past few months have really honestly sucked for me with health problems. I woke up this morning making a decision to do my best to live my life like I was before the health problems started as best as I can. I have been letting life get me down and I am tired of it. I am such a positive person and I have stayed away from here for so long for fear of bumming people out but I want to be back and focus again on health.
I had my gastro scope on Friday and I have no ulcers. That is excellent news as a bleeding ulcer would be bad for me because I am on so much plavix and aspirin for my heart. So, I think the next step is to check for gall bladder issues. If it is bad I want to get off these blood thinners and get the darn thing taken out and back on the blood thinners.
In all this I have decided to move forward with my weight lifting and cardio and hopefully I will start to lose weight again and feel better. I love to exercise and I have missed it dearly.
I'm at work so I don't have a lot of time post, but wanted to say I am so thrilled to say I am finally out of the 300's. I weighed in this morning to 299.5 and I am so excited. This was my second mini-goal met. Now I just have to keep things moving along.
Annie-Hang in there. Have you ever read Dean Ornish's book on his heart reversal diet? Not for the diet so much, but I loved the part where he took on a group of people deemed to be too sick to have bypass surgery, so he could experiment. They ended up with better prognoses than the group that had the surgery. I think there are lots of things that doctors don't understand, or they do, but take the easiest path. If it is gallbladder, you can sometimes make it feel better if you eat artichokes and beets. They help balance bile in the body.
I've gotten the house cleaned up from the party, and all the leftovers have been weighed and portioned into ziplocks, and into the freezer. I'm so not interested in eating it anyway. I've got a paper due tomorrow, so I'd better get after it.
Nathan and Passion, cool info about the zigzag calories. The people I've talked to who are on a stall say doing one day of a drastic up in calories rattles the body and restarts weight loss. This might be more antedotal, however.
Annie, glad to see you! D3 is a pita to get back up once it goes low. There's a great source of dry D3 (vitalady.com) that will get you up to normal rates in about 6 months. I was reading about VitD and it has a tremendous affect on depression and stress (reducing both). It shouldn't interfere with your other meds either, but always verify. The doses are for WLS folks, not normies. Hugs to you for doing the next "right" thing in front of you.
Cool that the party is over and stuff cleaned up, Catherine. I can't study when things are in chaos around me.
Nice to see you Toni!
I'm doing very well. Mom, Dad and I did our first grocery store shopping by going to the local co-op. They have the best refill water machine in the area and I have 3 gallon jugs to fill. Right now I can't lift them, so I needed my parents' help with getting them out of the car to the house. The roads here are bumpy.. half clear pavement and half 6-8" of solid ice! I drove my little 4x4 Rav4 and it did fabulous. The bumping made me a bit sore, but I did great on the trip. Tired when I got home, but happy to have gotten out of the house since leaving the hospital and being inside since the Blizzard of 2010. Of course, they are predicting more snow. ugh. 10 more inches?!? geesh. My 77 yr old dad did the shoveling in 15 min intervals. He is a godsend, ya know (lub my daddy). Mom has been doing laundry and asking WLS surgery questions. She's been very supportive. Mom and I did Wii bowling and table tennis last night. I stayed seated and she was standing up sweating. It was ticking off BikerMa cuz I kept beating her hehehehe. Good time was had by all and she is yelling for a rematch.
Toni: So good to see you. Whenever I look at my journal/weight loss scrap book and see our photo I think to myself, Gosh it would be good to see her again. Way to go on the weight loss!
Kristi: Woo hoo for getting out of the 300's
Catherine: Thanks for the info on the book and artichokes and beets. Good to know. Good luck on the paper, (like you'd need it).
Rat: So glad that your folks are there with you and you are enjoying their company. After my heart attack my folks came here to help out and stuff and my Dad did lots of little chores for me.It was so sweet. Glad that you are feeling good too.
I lifted weights today with my newphew Chris who is living with us right now. We also went for a 1 mile walk with the doggies.Puppy (Moose) did great but old gal Pepper got so tired. Poor baby. I think it was just too far for her when it is this cold. I need to remember that. Puppy is tuckered too.
Hope everyone has a wonderful evening,
Blessings,
Annie
Okay, I got back on the horse today. I was cranky, and at times actually shaky. You'd think I was coming off heroin. I got 1800 calories in today with only 20 grams of fat. That's probably less than half what I was eating the last week, and maybe a tenth as much fat. I spent half the day in the bathroom. Better today than tomorrow in the middle of class.
We went to the fabric store today to get some fabric so I can make us matching bowling shirts. When it comes to learning a new sport, or a new musical instrument, it helps to have decent equipment. If we look cool, and feel cool, it will make us want to go even when we truly suck at it. Eventually we hope to get better, and will want to go because we enjoy it. Now all we have to do is get less busy.
For everyone getting that record breaking snow, hang in there. We got it last year and it was starting to feel like it would never end. Hugs and stay warm.
Catherine: When you finish your matching bowling shirts you have to get a photo taken so we can see. I just love your sewing tales and I imagine how wonderful you are at it. Good job getting back on the wagon. It is so hard after you have been off it for a while.
I am very happy with my exercise yesterday. I feel like I used my muscles for the first time in months! My tummy is super upset this am. I am thinking of trying to do only protein shakes today along with my carafate to see if that helps the tummy out.
well after 2 days of diarrea..I am hoping it has passed. I go to the GI dr tomorrow. My hubby thinks this is all the sideeffects of having my galbladder taken out. Maybe it is. Either way it just sucks. I talked to my cousin who had hers out a month after em and she is going through the same thing. Her Dr told her that is part of life afterwards. He also said that it will get better over time. How much time though? Years??? I am so thankful I have co-workers that understand when I leave my desk 5 times a day I am not just jacking off. The "fungal" on my arms seem to be getting better BUT I am still getting new ones. Could this really be from eating yeast???
I hope I get some answers tomorrow with the GI dr..but I am not expecting alot.
A year ago...I remember thinking if I lose weight that will solve all my problems. NOT TRUE. There will always be something I think
Catherine: PLEASE post pics of your sewing!!
Annie: Glad you are able to exercise some.
Rat: I am so glad you are doing good!
Organized: OMG! WHOOHOOHOO!! Isnt being out of the 300's great!!!
300+ Weekly Thread #1249
) and I will post what she shares with me along the way. 
This was my second mini-goal met. Now I just have to keep things moving along. 
Could this really be from eating yeast??? 
