Not so long ago, I was not a happy person. I had been in denial about my weight for some time. Although I knew I was overweight, I clung to the idea that I was that way genetically and couldn’t do anything about it, or that my weight wasn’t significantly impacting my health. (Being a teenager, I hadn’t experienced many of the negative effects yet.) You see, I had tried dieting before. Many times, actually. I’d weigh and measure and count calories for everything I ate, exercise, drink lots of water, avoid X-Y-Z foods, whatever. Yet I could never lose a pound. The only time in my entire life I could remember losing weight was when I got braces and literally could not eat anything for almost two weeks. (I lost about ten pounds, but regained.) Every other time over the years the best I have done is merely stabilize my weight (at 140, then 160, then 180, then 200…) It was horribly disheartening, and I felt helpless in my slow weight gain over the years.
Five and a half weeks ago, on March 15th, I finally made a change. The night before I had gone to dinner with relatives and a theater production, and ended up eating quite a lot. (I had the avocado honey chicken salad on whole wheat bread, which came with a huge side of sweet potato fries. The fries particularly were great.) So when I woke up the next day, I just wasn’t really hungry. I slept in late and skipped breakfast, then wanted something light for lunch. I don’t recall what I ate – mostly raw veggies, whatever it was – but somehow, a switch flipped in my head. I wised up to the situation with my weight and realized that I was tipping from overweight into obese. At 5’10” and 202 pounds (BMI 29), I vowed that I would never become obese. With this goal in mind, I decided that I really wanted to eat healthy for a while. The next day I asked my mom to take me with her to the grocery store, and I picked out lots of veggies and some fruit.
Without any particular thought on my part, the first week I subsisted off little more than veggies and fruit (raw and cooked), with some other staples like rice milk and peanut butter (no grains, but lots of sweet potatoes.) I felt pretty good physically and was inspired to cook more, which made me look up lots of new healthy recipes. The next week I started trying some new foods (e.g. kale and acorn squashes) and added some grains in (mostly quinoa). Mostly by coincidence, I had not eaten any wheat those two weeks, and only a few bites of meat and dairy. Incidentally, I also only suffered one bad headache that week (since I was a toddler I’ve suffered from severe headaches, which for the past few years have become very frequent, usually every day or every other day.) Near the end of the second week, I was using up some botched spaghetti squash (cooked it wrong) to make some sort of lightly pan-fried patties (squash, shredded kale, an egg, and spices). I didn’t think the ‘dough’ would stick together well enough, so I added in some bread crumbs from the pantry. I cooked and ate the patties (yummy!). About 20-30 minutes later, I was violently ill, my arms broke out in an itchy rash, I had a miserable headache, I was extremely tired, my joints ached, and my brain felt foggy. From this extreme reaction I put two and two together and finally resolved to eliminate wheat. (I also do not eat any dairy but yoghurt and meat only occasionally.)
[Please note: I am NOT saying that eliminating wheat/dairy or going vegetarian will necessarily solve your diet problems. I have known that I have very low tolerance for dairy (yogurt and other cultured products are okay in reasonable quantities) and have suspected for some time that I may have a wheat allergy or gluten intolerance.]
I kept eating healthy and going to the grocery store every week. About three or four weeks in I decided that I needed to exercise more, which I have been gradually implementing. I am very proud to say that today I am 183 pounds (a loss of 19 pounds in 5 1/2 weeks.) The first 15 came off fairly easily, the last 4 have been harder won. I feel so much more confident in myself, and the headaches are disappearing.
I don’t really have a concrete goal…right now, my first concern is getting out of the ‘overweight’ category and into the ‘normal weight’ category. Almost there, only ten pounds to go! Longer-term, I would like to be in a size medium shirt (currently a large) before starting college in late August. Scale-wise, I don’t really know what I want…for now my goal weight is tentatively set at 150.
However, I must admit that although I see the significant change on the scale, it’s harder to actually see in my body. Still, I know it’s coming off; my formerly-tight pants are loose now, particularly in my thighs.
Thanks to anyone who reads my wall of text.
Now, if I may, I’d like to ask for a bit of advice from all of you. The past few days I’ve been dealing with strong cravings for wheat products - pizza, bread, pasta, etc. – which I attribute to the stress of finals week. ): Because of my condition, I can’t simply have a ‘cheat’ day and eat some of it. I’ve been trying to keep the cravings at bay by drinking lots of water, eating regularly, and consuming ‘consolation foods’ when I feel really deprived (e.g. homemade smoothies, a few pieces of black licorice or ginger candy, frozen peach slices). Anyone have any other ideas for avoiding the cravings without spending a lot of time or packing on a lot of calories?
Secondly, I’m trying to work more exercise into my life. Right now I live at home while going to college full-time (I will be transferring to a four-year school and living on-campus this coming fall). My dad drops me off in the morning for my classes and I either walk home (~1.7 miles one-way on hilly terrain with a heavy backpack on my shoulders) or my mom picks me up in the afternoon. I do have a YMCA membership, but limited access to transportation - I don’t yet have the freedom to drive myself anywhere, and unfortunately I don’t have a working bike at the moment either. (Basically, I have to wait until my mom or grandmother is available to take me.) I don’t have much exercise equipment at home besides a jump rope, and only a tiny yoga-mat-sized clear floor space in my room. Ideas for how to incorporate more exercise into my daily life? (I prefer outdoor activities, but recognize that my main need is for more indoor activities.)
There are alternatives to both wheat and dairy products that might help with some of your cravings. I would just do a Google search for wheat free or dairy free _____ whatever it is that you are craving. I know there is glutten free flour you can buy and there are all kinds of glutten free recipes online you can try. You might want to have your doctor do an allergy test though before completely changing all of your eating habits. And if you are cutting out a food group you should research to make sure you aren't missing out on some kind of nutrient your body needs.
Congratulations on the weight loss though, it is much better to get in front of the problem while you are young. I was a little like you at your age, I became really complacent about my weight and it just creeping up...now I'm almost 35 and am in the process of changing nearly 20 years worth of atrocious eating habits.
And this may sound stupid...but when I get bored of doing yoga, cardio, or wandering around the local cemetary, I play Just Dance on my Playstation. I'm terrible at it, but it's something fun to do as exercise.
My dad did buy me some gluten free flour, but I haven't tried it yet. (Kind of worried it will end up tasting like cardboard.) I do make some very good homemade pizza dough and focacia bread from ground flax seed. I substitute rice/almond milk or yoghurt for dairy.
I'm planning to go to an allergist some time this summer, as well as be tested for celiac. However, I will probably have to be eating the foods in order for my blood panel to turn up anything, and I'm not quite willing to give up my weight loss and lack of headaches yet.
I am actually a biochemistry/microbiology major and aspiring medical doctor, so research is definitely my thing. Because of my area, I also happen to know a fair bit about body metabolic systems and food interactions. Still, I did quite a bit of research about my nutritional needs (esp. vitamin and mineral) before I made any drastic change. After researching, I religiously recorded my food intake and totaled my nutrients at the end of the week. Plenty of protein (even without meat) and nearly all vitamins were good. The ones that were a bit low were not low enough to be terribly concerning, and I decided that it wasn't worth taking supplements.
Also, I'm not really a believer in cutting out whole food groups. I prefer to eat mostly vegetarian, but I still eat meat a few times a month (and regularly eat eggs). I have a severe ear-nose-throat allergy to dairy (i.e. will dangerously inflame my respiratory system and give me earaches), but I tolerate yogurt and other cultured dairy products, so I eat those often. Wheat...we shall see.
I'm really glad I'm getting an early start. I understand that it's much easier to do when you're young. Good on you for turning the tide!
Haha, sounds like fun! Good idea, I may have to see about playing my family's Kinect. I've only played two or three times since we got it a year or two ago. I think we have a dance game, a fitness game, and some other ones like Wipeout.
Thanks so much for the response!
Last edited by Chronostasis; 04-23-2013 at 11:07 PM.
Have you tried the cauliflower pizza crust instead? This one has goat cheese in it, but there are a million variations of it!
Sometimes it's not the pizza itself, but the "Italian" flavors that I crave, so I make zucchini noodles and saute them with a little bit of garlic, salt and pepper, then add in homemade sauce. Sometimes I mix in homemade turkey/zucchini meatballs or even just a bit of Neufchatel to make it a "pink" sauce.
Not so long ago, I was not a happy person. I had been in denial about my weight for some time. Although I knew I was overweight, I clung to the idea that I was that way genetically and couldn’t do anything about it, or that my weight wasn’t significantly impacting my health. (Being a teenager, I hadn’t experienced many of the negative effects yet.) You see, I had tried dieting before. Many times, actually. I’d weigh and measure and count calories for everything I ate, exercise, drink lots of water, avoid X-Y-Z foods, whatever. Yet I could never lose a pound. The only time in my entire life I could remember losing weight was when I got braces and literally could not eat anything for almost two weeks. (I lost about ten pounds, but regained.) Every other time over the years the best I have done is merely stabilize my weight (at 140, then 160, then 180, then 200…) It was horribly disheartening, and I felt helpless in my slow weight gain over the years.
Five and a half weeks ago, on March 15th, I finally made a change. The night before I had gone to dinner with relatives and a theater production, and ended up eating quite a lot. (I had the avocado honey chicken salad on whole wheat bread, which came with a huge side of sweet potato fries. The fries particularly were great.) So when I woke up the next day, I just wasn’t really hungry. I slept in late and skipped breakfast, then wanted something light for lunch. I don’t recall what I ate – mostly raw veggies, whatever it was – but somehow, a switch flipped in my head. I wised up to the situation with my weight and realized that I was tipping from overweight into obese. At 5’10” and 202 pounds (BMI 29), I vowed that I would never become obese. With this goal in mind, I decided that I really wanted to eat healthy for a while. The next day I asked my mom to take me with her to the grocery store, and I picked out lots of veggies and some fruit.
Without any particular thought on my part, the first week I subsisted off little more than veggies and fruit (raw and cooked), with some other staples like rice milk and peanut butter (no grains, but lots of sweet potatoes.) I felt pretty good physically and was inspired to cook more, which made me look up lots of new healthy recipes. The next week I started trying some new foods (e.g. kale and acorn squashes) and added some grains in (mostly quinoa). Mostly by coincidence, I had not eaten any wheat those two weeks, and only a few bites of meat and dairy. Incidentally, I also only suffered one bad headache that week (since I was a toddler I’ve suffered from severe headaches, which for the past few years have become very frequent, usually every day or every other day.) Near the end of the second week, I was using up some botched spaghetti squash (cooked it wrong) to make some sort of lightly pan-fried patties (squash, shredded kale, an egg, and spices). I didn’t think the ‘dough’ would stick together well enough, so I added in some bread crumbs from the pantry. I cooked and ate the patties (yummy!). About 20-30 minutes later, I was violently ill, my arms broke out in an itchy rash, I had a miserable headache, I was extremely tired, my joints ached, and my brain felt foggy. From this extreme reaction I put two and two together and finally resolved to eliminate wheat. (I also do not eat any dairy but yoghurt and meat only occasionally.)
[Please note: I am NOT saying that eliminating wheat/dairy or going vegetarian will necessarily solve your diet problems. I have known that I have very low tolerance for dairy (yogurt and other cultured products are okay in reasonable quantities) and have suspected for some time that I may have a wheat allergy or gluten intolerance.]
I kept eating healthy and going to the grocery store every week. About three or four weeks in I decided that I needed to exercise more, which I have been gradually implementing. I am very proud to say that today I am 183 pounds (a loss of 19 pounds in 5 1/2 weeks.) The first 15 came off fairly easily, the last 4 have been harder won. I feel so much more confident in myself, and the headaches are disappearing.
I don’t really have a concrete goal…right now, my first concern is getting out of the ‘overweight’ category and into the ‘normal weight’ category. Almost there, only ten pounds to go! Longer-term, I would like to be in a size medium shirt (currently a large) before starting college in late August. Scale-wise, I don’t really know what I want…for now my goal weight is tentatively set at 150.
However, I must admit that although I see the significant change on the scale, it’s harder to actually see in my body. Still, I know it’s coming off; my formerly-tight pants are loose now, particularly in my thighs.
Thanks to anyone who reads my wall of text.
Now, if I may, I’d like to ask for a bit of advice from all of you. The past few days I’ve been dealing with strong cravings for wheat products - pizza, bread, pasta, etc. – which I attribute to the stress of finals week. ): Because of my condition, I can’t simply have a ‘cheat’ day and eat some of it. I’ve been trying to keep the cravings at bay by drinking lots of water, eating regularly, and consuming ‘consolation foods’ when I feel really deprived (e.g. homemade smoothies, a few pieces of black licorice or ginger candy, frozen peach slices). Anyone have any other ideas for avoiding the cravings without spending a lot of time or packing on a lot of calories?
Secondly, I’m trying to work more exercise into my life. Right now I live at home while going to college full-time (I will be transferring to a four-year school and living on-campus this coming fall). My dad drops me off in the morning for my classes and I either walk home (~1.7 miles one-way on hilly terrain with a heavy backpack on my shoulders) or my mom picks me up in the afternoon. I do have a YMCA membership, but limited access to transportation - I don’t yet have the freedom to drive myself anywhere, and unfortunately I don’t have a working bike at the moment either. (Basically, I have to wait until my mom or grandmother is available to take me.) I don’t have much exercise equipment at home besides a jump rope, and only a tiny yoga-mat-sized clear floor space in my room. Ideas for how to incorporate more exercise into my daily life? (I prefer outdoor activities, but recognize that my main need is for more indoor activities.)
Don't worry about the wall of text and long posts.I have read most of what you've written here as I found your honesty and candor to be awesome in your most recent thread started just a day or two ago.I enjoy reading your thoughts and observations. I'd bet your IQ is very high. You should succeed at anything and medical degree is absolutely achievable.there is no limit on the number of words needed to express your thoughts, I'm rather verbose myself and prone to long posts
Like every woman I've ever known you have a couple of mental issues like depression and so forth, but no big deal.
You tend to overestimate the weight problem, you're actually pretty normal and average since most Americans are overweight or even obese.
Don't worry about the wall of text and long posts.I have read most of what you've written here as I found your honesty and candor to be awesome in your most recent thread started just a day or two ago.I enjoy reading your thoughts and observations. I'd bet your IQ is very high. You should succeed at anything and medical degree is absolutely achievable.there is no limit on the number of words needed to express your thoughts, I'm rather verbose myself and prone to long posts
Like every woman I've ever known you have a couple of mental issues like depression and so forth, but no big deal.
You tend to overestimate the weight problem, you're actually pretty normal and average since most Americans are overweight or even obese.
BMI is not the holy Grail and an a
Sorry not complete I accidently sent it too early. At 5' 10" you are much taller than most women and likely very pretty to add to having brain power. I believe you said you got down to 128 pounds at one point that's not a realistic weight and underweight at 18.4 BMI
I like the way you think and in particular use those numbers which are really just guidelines to motivate yourself to not get into the obese range of 30+, whatever works in your head to get it done is fine.
I guess your peak weight was 202 orso
It must have killed you getting down to 128 which is impossible to maintain. You're not even overweight until you exceed 174 pounds, so at your peak weight still only overweight by only 28 lbs. I believe you stated goal of 150, that's more realistic than 128 which is probably unhealthy, it's better to be a bit fat rather than killing yourself to a achieve some artificial goal, I'd use the entire 174 lbs and aim for like 170 something you'd have a reasonable chance to maintain.
My goal is more subtle, at 305 I'm obese probably even qualify as morbidly obese at a 41.4 BMI score. I've been fat pretty much my entire life and I accept that.I would be elated to just get the BMI a tad under 30 and simply be overweight, that would be 220 for me and 85 pounds to lose to get there, I'm sure my doctors would love that number. I wouldn't even try for 180-190 I'm not in high school anymore, that ain't gonna happen, I'd have a shot at 220, even 260 would be okay, my problem is motivation and dedication to achieve it
Your theory about wheat is interesting, I don't intentionally try to eat it, not like I have a bale of it in the barn, I'm not too sure what foods even contain substantial quantities of it.as to dairy products sorry that is a mainstay for me milk, yogurt,cottage cheese, eggs etc. Do doctor Beth doesn't like my A1C results , I think that is the right term tells me to avoid things like pasta.
At some point I run out of things to eat if I follow everybody's advice. Am I supposed to live on cantaloupe and salads entirely ? That ain't happening in this lifetime
Chronostasis what does your name mean ? Anyhow in closing I'm sorry to hear you've regained weight after a good loss and keeping it off for several years, hopefully not too much weight came back, whatever it is you can overcome it, fighting weight issues is very common,most people are overweight and fail many times attempting to lose weight, I haven't been very supercessly
Don't worry about the wall of text and long posts.I have read most of what you've written here as I found your honesty and candor to be awesome in your most recent thread started just a day or two ago.I enjoy reading your thoughts and observations. I'd bet your IQ is very high. You should succeed at anything and medical degree is absolutely achievable.there is no limit on the number of words needed to express your thoughts, I'm rather verbose myself and prone to long posts
Like every woman I've ever known you have a couple of mental issues like depression and so forth, but no big deal.
You tend to overestimate the weight problem, you're actually pretty normal and average since most Americans are overweight or even obese.
BMI is not the holy Grail and an a
Sorry not complete I accidently sent it too early. At 5' 10" you are much taller than most women and likely very pretty to add to having brain power. I believe you said you got down to 128 pounds at one point that's not a realistic weight and underweight at 18.4 BMI
I like the way you think and in particular use those numbers which are really just guidelines to motivate yourself to not get into the obese range of 30+, whatever works in your head to get it done is fine.
I guess your peak weight was 202 orso
It must have killed you getting down to 128 which is impossible to maintain. You're not even overweight until you exceed 174 pounds, so at your peak weight still only overweight by only 28 lbs. I believe you stated goal of 150, that's more realistic than 128 which is probably unhealthy, it's better to be a bit fat rather than killing yourself to a achieve some artificial goal, I'd use the entire 174 lbs and aim for like 170 something you'd have a reasonable chance to maintain.
My goal is more subtle, at 305 I'm obese probably even qualify as morbidly obese at a 41.4 BMI score. I've been fat pretty much my entire life and I accept that.I would be elated to just get the BMI a tad under 30 and simply be overweight, that would be 220 for me and 85 pounds to lose to get there, I'm sure my doctors would love that number. I wouldn't even try for 180-190 I'm not in high school anymore, that ain't gonna happen, I'd have a shot at 220, even 260 would be okay, my problem is motivation and dedication to achieve it
Your theory about wheat is interesting, I don't intentionally try to eat it, not like I have a bale of it in the barn, I'm not too sure what foods even contain substantial quantities of it.as to dairy products sorry that is a mainstay for me milk, yogurt,cottage cheese, eggs etc. Do doctor Beth doesn't like my A1C results , I think that is the right term tells me to avoid things like pasta.
At some point I run out of things to eat if I follow everybody's advice. Am I supposed to live on cantaloupe and salads entirely ? That ain't happening in this lifetime
Chronostasis what does your name mean ? Anyhow in closing I'm sorry to hear you've regained weight after a good loss and keeping it off for several years, hopefully not too much weight came back, whatever it is you can overcome it, fighting weight issues is very common,most people are overweight and fail many times attempting to lose weight, I haven't been very succcessful on that front and very well know even if I were to get down to 220 or so there always is the possibility of gaining it back and then some bonus lbs to boot, it's never easy, but you know all this anyhow
Feel free to contact me if you need a bit of support emotionally, I'll do whatever is possible for you
My weight loss journey so far - 19 lbs lost!
