You haven't noticed it before because I was using my starting weight when I joined this site. Then I decided this morning when I was telling someone else that it is possible to lose 100 lbs that I was going to go back and put the weight I was at when I started losing. I figure I worked hard to lose that 140 lbs and I should talk about it. I also put a couple of before photos out on the gallery -- I need to take a new after and post it too.
I started losing weight in November 2000 when my divorce was final. I got a roommate for a while who was into healthy eating and really kind of did the 3 hour thing without being on the program. We also went to the gym every day. I did Weight Watchers for a while and Atkins as well, but I didn't like counting points and I didn't like not eating fruit. Then I kind of quit - I was actually down to 230 and gained back 50 lbs to 280.
In May, I had knee surgery and was at 280 lbs. My surgeon told me to lose weight or I would not be walking in 10 years without a walker or cane. He was pretty blunt about it and he made me mad. So I started watching what I ate.
I also was diagnosed in May with Celiac disease. I can't eat anything that has wheat, oats, barley or rye in it -- which includes barley malt flavoring. Most prepackaged foods have wheat in them. I lost 30 lbs pretty fast once I cut out a lot of eating out. I have to be super careful in a restaurant and ask a lot of questions. I don't eat fast food because it's too hard. I can't eat french fries if they are fried in the same fryer and oil as any other foods. Stuff like that. So I really have to read food labels and be cautious.
I joined Jorge Cruise in October and have lost another 7 lbs -- but I was really off plan from Thanksgiving to New Year's. I also found that I was exercising too much and not eating enough. I now track my calories and make sure that I eat enough to make up for the exercise and the weight did start coming off.
The Body Metobolic Rate calculator says I need 2730 calories a day to maintain my weight. So I subtract 500 a day from that and eat 2230 calories plus make sure I burn off another 500 a day in exercise to get to my 1730 net. That should make me lose 2 lbs a week. As long as I stick to it, it does work. The sticking to it is the big part. I still eat a Cruise plate and eat every 3 hours, but I count the calories. Any less calories, and I quit losing.
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