Congratulations to ALL losers, maintainers and everyone trying their hardest! Keep up the good work and let's try to beat our team loss of 33.1 next week.
We have a couple of members missing in action. Mountain Mama and maryshady, if you're out there we'd love to have you join us!
This week's theme - what is your nutrition plan? Are you counting calories, following a specific diet plan (i.e., South Beach, Atkins, etc.), a meal replacement plan (Jenny Craig, Medifast, etc.), or something else? What about the plan works for you and what is the most difficult part?
I started Medifast, a meal replacement program, on March 31 of this year. I had amazing success the first 4 months, and then I went on vacation. I went off plan while on vacation and it has been a battle sticking to plan ever since. This week (6.8 pound loss) is obviously an example of an on-plan week. Last week I gained 6 pounds while eating off plan (birthday festivities).
Medifast works for me because it is amazingly simple to follow. I eat 5 MF meal replacements per day (shakes, bars, pretzels, puddings, etc.) and 1 "lean and green" meal per day which consists of 6-9 ounces of lean protein and 1.5-3 cups of low carb vegetables. Only having to prepare one meal per day is super easy and I've had no problems customizing menu items at restaurants to meet my needs. I meet with a nutrition counselor weekly to discuss progress, challenges, plan meals, etc. - oh, and weigh in...
The hard part - I'm a carb addict and miss bread, pasta, chocolate, cake, etc. And sometimes I give in to temptation. I was perfectly on plan for 4 months - no cheats. Now I can't seem to accumulate more than 2 weeks on plan. I'm still losing, but at a significantly slower rate.
Congratulations SuperHeroTeacher, Rated, Iowa Bette and findingfawn!
Lets go Red Team!
I am a calorie counter. I use Lose It to keep track of what I eat. Lose It syncs
to my FitBit account so I can tell if I have eaten more calories than I have burned. It wasn't a great week. My daughter was home from college for a
few days and she wanted some home cooking.
Darcey-I totally understand the carb addiction. I had Shoo-fly pie for dessert tonight.
Wow.. never thought I would be in the top 4 losers! I'm excited! I don't see it this week, I didn't really blow it calorie wise but I have had lots of sodium which sends the scale into crazy mode for a while. I saw a woosh today and should see one over the next 2 days so maybe by the time I weigh in on Weds I will see a good loss for the week.
This week's theme - what is your nutrition plan? Are you counting calories, following a specific diet plan (i.e., South Beach, Atkins, etc.), a meal replacement plan (Jenny Craig, Medifast, etc.), or something else? What about the plan works for you and what is the most difficult part?
I'm a calorie counter. Nothing is really off limits, I just have to keep myself accountable for the calories I eat. I usually log on sparkpeople, but honestly right now I'm just tracking in my head each day. I get burned out entering everything into the computer and I find myself online way more than I want to be. I'm trying to break a computer addiction as much as I am trying to lose weight. I'm not good with a paper and pencil either, so I have divided up my calories into meals and snacks and make sure each meal/snack fits into the calories I have allotted for it.
At the moment, I am calorie counting, tracking it on myfitnesspal and calorie count because I get bored. I do really well on paleo/low carb, and that's the diet my doctor recommends due to my sugar being above normal. It's hard to switch fully over to it while my husband is at home because he is constantly wanting us to go out and eat lunch together. Once he starts back working, which is next month YAY!, it'll be easier. I'm doing well just counting calories though, so may just stick with this. I've cut out sugar and most grains already, save for the occasional subway sandwich.
I'm not really finding anything hard so far. The first week I was hungry all the time. I'm on my third one now and I find I'm not that hungry anymore and I'm eating way less at meals. Last night, I cut my steak in half, ate half, and put the rest away for lunch or dinner today. Prior to this, I would have ate all 12 oz. On Saturday, I had a planned cheat day, but ended up eating half my meal at lunch, got full, and finished off part of the rest for dinner. Even with ice cream at DQ, I didn't go over my calories for the day. Guess it wasn't really a cheat day then LOL I'm re-learning to just stop eating when I am no longer hungry.
I've upped my exercise for the week; I walk 20 minutes in the morning on break and then either go home and walk for 30 more or do my elliptical for 30 min 5 days a week. I eat my calories earned by exercise only if I'm hungry, but lately I'm not.
I can say I feel better, I've dropped a pant size, and I think I'm doing pretty darn good!
Hi Everyone
Congrats to Super hero, Rated and Fawn for being out top losers this week. I just hope I can Keep up my end again next week.
I have used many different eating plans over the years, but I'm currently eating wheat/gluten free. I don't have celiac but I'm sure I have some sensitivity. I was having bloating, heartburn and many other problems that have gone away in the last 2 months since I quit the wheat. It's really not as hard as I thought it would be, but the few times I've eaten too much the results haven't been pleasant so I just weight the side- effects against how much I want something to see if I will eat it. I do need to watch the calories and keep away from the sweets because I can still eat them.
I have thought about Lite for Life, has anyone tried this program?
Kayak girl, I know what it's like when a child comes home, when my son is home I have to cook all his favorite.
Super Hero- I love my carbs too, they just don't love me.
Kudos to all of you big losers this week! That's awesome!
I just got back from a beautiful week in Kauai and am ready to get down to business! I weighed in with my starting weight as a default for 10/13. Much to my suprise, that was my weight this morning (arriving home). Glad it wasn't up and I didn't want to waste a freebie!
I, too, love my carbs. I also know that I have to limit my consumption of them if I want to get to a healthy weight. I would take a bowl of pasta over sweets for desert anyday!
This is kind of my get serious moment. I realized seeing pictures of myself from vacation (one where I didn't even recognize myself!) that I need to make a solid commitment and do the hard work to get healthy. I can't you all how excited I am to be in this team effort!
what is your nutrition plan? Like many of you, I will be counting calories, using MFP and syncing with my BodyMedia Fit. I was considering going to a meal delivery to kick start my loss, but decided I would start counting first. I am interested to see what others who have used meal delivery have to say.
I hope you are all enjoying your Monday, and I look forward to getting to keep up with the thread now that I'm home!
Congrats to everyone who lost weight week 1 and here's to week 2!
My plan is calorie counting using myfitnesspal and my body media armband (which I love!) Nothing is off limits but I am really trying to eat less processed packaged foods and more whole foods.
The hardest part for me is not eating chocolate, especially with Halloween candy currently in my house.
Good evening everyone. Congratulations to SuperHeroTeacher, Rated, Iowa Bette and findingfawn. Great Job.
Basically I low carb AND count calories. I always eat low carb (I’m a type 2 diabetic) and because I watch my carbs I log my food on myfitnesspal.com to makes certain I don’t eat to many and spike my sugar levels. When my weight loss slowed from just low carbing then I added in counting calories to watch my intake and see if I couldn’t get things rolling again. My plan is very similar to South Beach, which is the diet I turned to when I was first diagnosed and was trying to figure out how to eat without the carbs. This has been the best thing I could possibly have done for myself. Once I learned to eat with limited carbs I stopped craving them. Almost all of my overeating was snacking on carbs. I learned that I already created well balanced reasonably proportioned meals, I just got into trouble when I started wanting to snack, it was always a Carb with either sugar or salt added in. Now that I don’t crave the carbs my diet was almost self-correcting. Wish I had figured this out 30 years ago. Now I am rarely hungry, rarely crave anything and weight loss has been relatively easy, right up until these last 30 pounds. Now it has slowed down, so I really need to focus on more exercise because I don’t think I can really cut down any more on the food.
Oh, one other thing I am doing is going to Weight Watcher Meetings. I have a really wonderful group leader and the meetings are within walking distance of my house. I wanted to add in the accountability of weighing in each week. I don’t really follow the weightwatchers plan because low carb has to comes first but it does make me keep true to the calories and making wise choices and I just love the group, we have so darned much fun there.
EofAZ - That is great that you are able to go to Weight Watchers meetings. I am sure the in person support is very helpful.
I weighed myself this morning and after my Thanksgiving dinner last night I have some work to do! I want to start the c25k which I have tried before but never made it past week 3. Has anyone here completed the program and have any advice?
Since I got off Medifast, I've been doing a low carb calorie counting. I rarely eat starch, but I do eat fruit now. I keep track on myfitnesspal, and I have a fitbit.
I aim to exercise every day - run or walk 2-3 times a week, yoga class I can, TRX with a trainer once a week, plus some hula hooping, jumping rope, and yoga videos to fill in.
I'm heading out on vacation this week, and staying with a friend who's a fantastic cook. I already told her I need to keep up on my exercise if I'm going to eat her cooking all week!
Riddy - How long did you do Medifast and did it work well for you? What would you say the pros/cons are?
I'm really looking for a good kick off to weight loss and thinking maybe I should try something like it for a couple of months. Any input you would be willing to share would be great!
Nixmom, I did Medifast for 2 years, and still have a few things on hand I'm using for snacks. It works, but it is intense. I thought I'd be so hungry I'd a want to eat my own arm, but it wasn't that bad. Despite what MF says, though, you WILL be hungry. Fortunately for me it was never for more than about 1/2 hour at a time, and then I could eat something again. I liked that it was simple. I liked that I only had to think about 1 meal a day, and that I only had 1 opportunity a day to screw up. I lost the first 50 pounds in 5 months, it took 11 more months to lose the next 50. I've been stuck for 14 months now, so I'm working on fitness. I like that it's pretty black and white - you're either on plan or off.
Downside - it's expensive. I liked almost all the food, but some people have a big problem with the taste. I did not follow the rules and used lots of herbs and spices to doctor up the food. Sometimes I really wanted to eat 2 real meals in a day, or have some wine "just because", and I had to either decide I was going off plan, or talk myself out of it.
Medifast made me realize how mental losing weight is. By taking away so many food choices, it made me think about why I eat. I realized I had no concept of portion sizes, and I eat out of boredom and habit.
Now 2 1/2 years after I started, I can say I have changed how I eat and think of food. I'm still not where I want to be, and I struggle mightily at any kind of buffet (just this past Saturday, even), but I'm getting there.
This week's theme - what is your nutrition plan? Are you counting calories, following a specific diet plan (i.e., South Beach, Atkins, etc.), a meal replacement plan (Jenny Craig, Medifast, etc.), or something else? What about the plan works for you and what is the most difficult part?
I count calories. I have tried other plans, but I always go back to counting calories, as I find it the least confusing for me. I eat healthy foods, but I eat way too much! Calorie counting helps to keep me in line. I haven't really found anything difficult with CC. I would say the biggest hurdle for me is that I need to hold myself accountable and log my food everyday. I have a tendency to skip days, and those are the days I overeat.
KayakGirl - I recently bought a FitBit and I love it! I also log my food at Lose It. Hope you had a nice visit with your daughter.
FickleHearts - Way to go dropping a pant size
Kris - That's awesome that you were able to maintain your weight while on vacation. I don't think I've ever done that
Riddy - Hope you have a nice visit with your friend.
Just wanted to let you know I am here. I hadn't checked back in a while and didn't realize we needed to weigh in this week. I was thinking next week. But will be here from now on.
I do Wheat Belly which is lo carb, no grain. Been doing it since January but tend to cheat weekly with some sugary things. Planning on going all the way now. Tired of playing around with it. Just need to learn to bake somethings to have if I am going out where there will be sweets.
Starting back to working out this week too. Think I will do Body for Life for my exercise piece. Did it years ago and loved the changes I saw in my body.
Kayakgirl - I've been hemming and hawing around the $100 to get a Fitbit. I'm torn between it and the body media. To be honest, I'm more interested in the sleep tracking LOL. I have terrible insomnia.
Prior to getting married three years ago, I had dropped 30 lbs. I didn't gain a bit back on my honeymoon. I think it was because we were very active...... and not just in that way LOL.. We got married in Jamaica and spent our time there walking everywhere and swimming. It definitely wasn't by not eating..... I lived off jerk chicken and hamburgers.
Our reward for getting to goal is going to be going back! We're already saving up. It'll be nice to go and actually enjoy being in a swimsuit all day and not hiding behind a cover up and towel LOL.
Mary - I understand cheat days. I still lose with them, but I'd probably do better if I just stuck through it or limited them to once a month. Lately, I've just been allowing myself one meal instead of a whole day. It's worked out well as that one meal normally is enough to keep me full until bedtime. Have fun with the work outs!
Red Team Fall into Fitness 2013 CHAT Thread Week 2 (10/14/13 - 10/20/13)
SuperHeroTeacher (-6.8 pounds, -3.15%) 
Rated (-5 pounds, -2.84%) 
Iowa Bette (-5 pounds, 1.96%) 
findingfawn (-4.6 pounds, 1.75%) 
Congratulations to ALL losers, maintainers and everyone trying their hardest! Keep up the good work and let's try to beat our team loss of 33.1 next week. 
On Saturday, I had a planned cheat day, but ended up eating half my meal at lunch, got full, and finished off part of the rest for dinner. Even with ice cream at DQ, I didn't go over my calories for the day. Guess it wasn't really a cheat day then LOL I'm re-learning to just stop eating when I am no longer hungry. 
We got married in Jamaica and spent our time there walking everywhere and swimming. It definitely wasn't by not eating..... I lived off jerk chicken and hamburgers. 
