The Two-Teens: I want to make 200! - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

sandyfanny · 08-17-2010, 11:56 AM

I'm beginning this thread for those of us who are in the Two-Teens or Two-and-some-Change, working our way down to 200 pounds. I haven't found an active thread in this range, and I'd like some buddies! Thanks.

Sherrie568 · 08-17-2010, 12:54 PM

I'll join you.
Are you following a specific plan?

I'm doing a combination of a couple plans, and counting calories.
Can't exercise much yet due to a knee/leg injury, but I'm working out in the pool as much as I can.

I've been averaging 1-1.5 lbs per week, and so far I'm keeping it off.

sandyfanny · 08-17-2010, 01:16 PM

I'm on Atkins' 2002 plan - protein, fat, veggies, carbs? Not so much. I'm basically on Induction as much as possible...I have lots to lose.

I face a particularly hard challenge this week: I'm starting school Thursday. I'm a high school English teacher...up between 5:30 and 6:00, not much of a lunch break, no real break until 1:30. Surrounded by totally horrible food choices and lots of stress.

Summer break has been great. Staying on plan is easy - I have plenty of time and energy to plan, shop, cook, and take a walk every day. The school year is a whole different story!

So, I'm looking for support in making the transition and losing 15 pounds in the next two months. (Of course, tomorrow would be awesome!) I'm going to identify my challenges specifically and come up with some solutions, so I won't be freaked out.

Sherrie, I'm so glad you'll be my buddy. I'm sure there are more of us out there. What programs or plans are you using? What particular challenges are you working on?

lolcat · 08-17-2010, 04:10 PM

I'm so excited, if I keep it up, I should be out of the two-teens in two weeks, will be great to have buddies to do it with!

After that, I can really start counting down to my next mini-goal: 203.. would take me out of obesity class II into obesity class I and will be just over 10% of my initial weight lost.... then ONEderland!!

I stopped almost all dining out... introduced a lot more veggies, fish, and chicken. I'm already seeing a difference in reflux because I'm not using my deep-fryer anymore.

I've also gotten a new-to-me Gazelle, and have started using that. Low impact for my severe back issues, and it's something to get me moving. I can't do it for any extended period of time yet, but at least I get on it every day.

sandyfanny, those are some definite challenge. I'm sure you'll be able to come up with a solution. I don't know if it's feasible for you, but I take a very large lunch box to work with me every day. I keep all my waters (living in a city, I can't stand the way tap water tastes), healthy snacks, and complete healthy lunch in there, everything I will need for my 10-hour shift. I keep it at my desk so I can grab my snacks or waters whenever I want. Taking everything each day, I'm not tempted to run somewhere to get fast food or get something bad from the vending machine. To be honest, since I've stopped going through the drive thru for lunch, I've been saving money... good side effect of packing every day!

sandyfanny · 08-17-2010, 08:53 PM

lolcat, thanks for the suggestions. I will need lots of lunch - school lunches are out of the question, fast food is unacceptable and largely unavailable (25 min. lunch period). My plan is to buy a small refrigerator for my classroom and stock it once a week with things that are Atkins induction foods and be done with it for the week.

I can't face packing a lunch every day. I'm not a morning person, and I hate thinking about lunch every day or the night before. So...chicken salad, cheese sticks, tuna salad, dill pickles, black olives, deli ham, lots of bottled water in the frig should take care of me for the school week. Maybe a few diet sodas or flavored waters for treats...Give me strength!

I'm afraid to weigh this week. Thursday is my weigh-in day. I was out of town for the weekend and had a few treats I shouldn't have, didn't walk every day, etc...I just hope I don't gain.

I've been seriously on Atkins for three or four weeks, lost 11 pounds, and I'm getting a little bored...a lot worried about handling the stress of school without food as comfort and a stress reliever...yikes!

Deena52 · 08-17-2010, 09:28 PM

OK now, Sandy. Don't start anticipating/planning your relapse here. You sound like you're making a reservation to fall off the wagon. You CAN do this, trust me. If you do NOT cheat...ever....you will lose that need to eat for stress...I'm serious. You are setting yourself up to fail because of the week-end cheat, I think.

That's why I never cheated....not once...until I got to goal. And it works SO much better in terms of the mental challenge of it.....that it makes it totally worth it. Cheating is not worth falling off plan. I stayed on strict induction, no cheating, for the duration until I got to goal. The better the results, the more positive reinforcement it will give you to make you want to stick with it even more.

How much time do you get for lunch? When I used to work at this nursing home and I was on Atkins the first time...I would treat myself several evenings per week and go to McDonalds and get 2-3 cheeseburgers, take them off the buns......McDonalds cheeseburgers just have this taste you can't duplicate at home. Why fast food is so addicting. So it was a nice treat for dinner when I worked.
We have WaWa convenience stores here too...all over the place. And they have already-made giant hotdogs that I'd get and take it off the bun (with a little mustard)....or 2 regular hotdogs. They also have various salads, many with meat, eggs, etc. included (in packets....so you can pick and choose what you can add, omit the croutons, etc.)
I would also keep blocks of farmer cheese at work. It's like a block of cottage cheese without the liquid and it is much lower in calories than cream cheese or cottage cheese but you can add some Splenda and cinnamon and make a dessert-type thing in case you have a day where you want something sweet for work.

If you're getting bored with the food you're making...eat out a few times. You can do this. I'm telling you....don't cheat at all and it will be much, much easier and you won't feel the need to eat for solace and stress. You have to get those forbidden cheat foods completely off your radar...or they will keep calling to you.

deena

sandyfanny · 08-18-2010, 08:20 AM

Deena, girl, you so have my number...this kind of thinking is setting me up to fling myself off the wagon! I think I'm feeling afraid of handling my day (teaching high school English isn't for sissies) without the familiar food-coping actions I've relied on for the past five or six years. I also may be looking for an "out" to learning and practicing new strategies - change can be very uncomfortable...as well as empowering and healthy and wonderful. I don't like the uncomfortable part.

As to my cheating, you're absolutely right. I didn't cheat enough to take myself out of ketosis - I use the ketostix several times a day for reassurance, but it was the glass of wine here, the macadamia nuts there, the sugar I'm sure was in the collards in a restaurant to balance the vinegar that made me feel like a failure...and makes me think I can fool around with induction. NOT. So, I have some little cravings that have come back I'm fighting this week.

I'm taking your suggestion and eating lunch out today - my last day of real freedom before teacher workdays tomorrow - at a favorite restaurant on the water. It's delicious and has a menu that's perfect for Atkins induction...and even better, I have a gift certificate to take me and my friend to lunch.

Okay. Time to double down and get it on...I appreciate your understanding - you're one smart lady - and your concern. I'm going to work on getting my head right again. Thanks so much.

Deena52 · 08-18-2010, 11:20 AM

Aww...I'm so glad I didn't upset you with what I posted. I was a bit worried about that...even as I pushed the "submit reply" button.

But oh boy...the stress on the job thing I can totally relate to. This happens a LOT with people with drug addictions...a LOT. And to boot, the drugs usually give them more energy that they begin to think they cannot work at a job without. Just goes to show you how addictive food is, especially carbs...due to the dopamine rush, which helps us deal with stress. As soon as I read what you wrote regarding that, I could totally relate and feel it. I mean sure, most of us have loved our jobs but let's face it...a job is a job and if we had a choice, I'm sure most of us would rather be doing something much less stressful.

I mean, seriously....I take care of my dad now (and for the past 5 years) and the thought of going back to work certainly does NOT thrill me. And the related stress is probably the biggest reason. Maybe if I was much younger....but for me, it became more and more stressful to work a job as I got much older. Bored, we can work with, in terms of Atkins...but the job stress thing is much more difficult....especially due to the whole getting tired more easily as we age...making dealing with problems and stress on the job even much more difficult....at least for me. And then...just the whole getting tired OF the job issue...from having done it for so many years and the honeymoon period long, long gone....and then to boot, having to go by someone else's much more rigid schedule instead of being able to control our own schedule.
How many more years do you need to work? Before you can retire?

I'm not totally sure of your age but I'm 58 and graduated from the U of D in 1974....with a double major in history and education....but at that time there were NO teaching jobs to be found.....it was a recession and there was a glut of teachers.....so I went back to school for nursing, because that's where the jobs were. In fact, quite a few years later, there was a shortage of teachers and there began to be a bit of an oversupply of nurses...though it's still fairly easy to find nursing jobs. When there's a glut, people go into other fields...which then causes a shortage down the road....just like with house-building/real estate. But I'd really wanted to be a high-school history teacher....can you believe that? I'm sure I wouldn't be so thrilled with it anymore if I was doing that now...esp. at my age.

Hehe....one thing that has always helped me regarding the dopamine rush/stress management at work thing....was if I became attracted to some guy I worked with. But unfortunately both nursing and teaching does not include working with a lot of men....you work with mostly students and I worked with mostly patients....geriatric ones at that.

Man, I don't even know what I can even advise to help you with this stress on the job/needing carbs for it issue. When can you retire? I'd much rather see you in a non-stressful environment where you could stick to the diet much easier. But I can SO totally relate....I feel exactly the same now at this time in my life. When does your school go back in session? I am now anxious to see if you will be able to see that whew, you CAN work while eating on the Atkins plan...and then be much less worried about it....and hope that happens SOON.

deena

sandyfanny · 08-20-2010, 06:30 PM

I'm really upset and freaked out. I weigh on Thursdays...last week, so happy to be in the Two-Teens. Yesterday, I got on the same scales I always use at my doctor's office and had GAINED five pounds.

Are you kidding me? I couldn't believe it. I don't think I did anything very different from the week before. I went out of town for the weekend and drank a glass of wine, had one rum and diet gingerale Sunday night, ate a small handful of macadamia nuts once or twice while on the road. I know I didn't walk every day...I skipped Friday and Saturday evenings. And I didn't drink as much water as I had been. I literally forced the water down and counted the ounces in 20 oz. bottles. I'm pretty sure the collards in the restaurant Friday night had sugar in them...So there're all my sins and shortcomings.

But FIVE POUNDS! Mother Mary! I really didn't believe it. So I went back to his office this afternoon and weighed again...yep, 220, up five pounds. I thought I might not lose or maybe lose a little. I totally didn't expect the gain.

And I had to go back to school yesterday and today. So this week SUCKS!!!

It's killing me to have to move my ticker up. It's really hard not to let that thought, "I'm never going to be able to do this" creep into my head." I'm very unhappy with myself.

sandyfanny · 08-20-2010, 06:33 PM

Sorry, I forgot to complain about this: Not one single day have I failed to register ketosis on ketostix...some days deep purple. I was NOT prepared to GAIN FIVE POUNDS. How can I be in ketosis and gain five pounds? I can't take this.

SilverLife · 08-20-2010, 07:58 PM

Sandyfanny, I don't know if this explanation would be of any help:

http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2...-into-fat.html

I am reading and reading about how proteins, fats, and carbs are metabolized and what they do after we swallow them, and all the different things that go on.

Until I was really keto-adapted, I ate more than I needed, and gained two pounds during those first weeks of my body adjusting to using fat instead of ingested carbs. (First, I lost two pounds, and then gained two.) It took me three weeks to get keto-adapted. I wasn't doing Atkins, but a similar plan.

Dr. Harris' blog explains many things. It can take some good use of the search function, but I have found many answers to my questions.

I don't know if this will be of use to you, but in case it would, I thought I'd post it.

Am sending you lots of good thoughts!

ghost girl · 08-21-2010, 02:45 AM

Hang in there Sandy Fanny. Next week I am sure you will have a nice big loss.

sandyfanny · 08-21-2010, 05:51 AM

Thank you, Ghost Girl and Silverlife, for the encouragement. This is the place where I can get into real trouble and give up..."What the ****? If I'm going to gain weight, I may as well eat what I really want..." Dangerous thoughts, but I'm trying hard not to go there. I'm going to read your Paleo information; I've heard of it and my doctor thinks the Paleo diet is great. And I'm going to quit fussing, forget it, and do what I'm supposed to do one day at a time, one hour at a time if I need to. I appreciate your support more than you know.

sandyfanny · 08-21-2010, 07:00 AM

Silverlife, I did some reading on Dr. Harris' site with some interesting results. I'm eating too much...surprise, surprise. He makes a recommendation to a very heavy woman to eat no more than 130 g. of protein per day and de-caf coffee with cream to stave off hunger. I'm definitely eating more protein than 130 g. daily; it can be stored as fat and create water retention...Hmmm....could that be me?

Now, before JerseyGyrl and the Atkins' vets jump all over me, I'm just saying I read his material and am checking his blog. I'm not advocating anyone do anything except what Atkins recommends. Atkins works; it's satisfying, offers variety and yummy taste. I'm just saying I'm freaked out by a five pound in one week weight gain and looking for reassurance that I can maintain a reasonable weight loss through high-protein, low carb eating. I'm not in a real good place this week, and I don't need anyone to fuss at me about anything. I'm hard enough on myself.

I appreciate everyone's help and support.

LTs girl · 08-21-2010, 10:20 AM

Don't forget to consider what time of month it is, if you ate out at all-how much sodium is in the food. Hang in there and I am sure next week you will lose that 5 and more.