Howdy and WOO HOOO!
 

I don't imagine my story is much different than a lot of people on this forum. I'm so glad that I found it. It's easier to admit to the anonymous masses that you weight nearly 300 lbs than it is to admit it to people who know you and love you, but don't really have a weight problem.

Five weeks ago today, I went to see my doctor. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes and weighed in at 279 lbs. He insisted that I begin taking Insulin for the diabetes and assured me that if I didn't do something about my weight that I would have a very short and unhappy life to look forward to. He then proceeded to put me on a VERY limited calorie diet (800 calories per day), told me to give up Diet Coke, and start some kind of exercise plan.

As of today, I am down 17 lbs and have managed to kick the Diet Cokes to the curb and stay pretty close to the daily recommended calories. I still need to start exercising. So, that is my goal for this week. I will walk on my treadmill for 30 minutes per night. Now that I've said it, I will have to follow through!

Thanks everyone for sharing my journey with me. I'm looking forward to being a healthier, thinner, me by the end of this year!

Welcome to the site! Just 800 calories a day -- wow -- I don't know how you do it! I'd be crippled by headaches and hunger!

Congratulations on your losses and the positive attitude that is easy to hear in your post! I look forward to hear about more successes from you! :)

Thanks so much, Mrs. Snark. It has definitely been a challenge, but in a very short time, I realized that I was going to have to get used to eating a lot of salad and green beans, or I would starve to death. Now, I've learned that diet foods aren't what they used to be. There are a lot of low calorie options out there that are actually quite flavorful. I need to see if there is a recipe section on this board so that I can share some of the awesome low calorie/high volume meals I've discovered. It's great to meet you, and your progress photos are awesome! I'll have to have a look at some of my old photos and start keeping a photo journal.

Welcome and best wishes on your WOE.

HeeHawHoney -- I eat alot of salad and green beans myself! Quite yummy! There is a Volumetrics thread you might like, too, since they focus on high volume low cal food! I think it is in the General Diet Plans section I think, check it out!

Oh, Mrs. Snark! Thank you so much for enlightening about the Volumetrics thread. I had never heard of such, but that is almost exactly what I am doing!

SatinPumpkin, I have seen your progress photos as well. You are truly amazing.

Congratulations with wegith loss!! Great job!! Yes sport is very important! I also started with long walks. Now i am buying a bicycle;-)) good luck to you!! Keep going and do not forget to post threads here! It helps to follow all of your goals;-))

Best of luck Honey--- I'm in it with you and trying for mini-goals. Keep up your posts and I will read them.

Thanks, Gingerjv and kmruby1! I will definitely keep updating. I also realized that I was mistaken about how long I've been on this diet. It was not 5 weeks on Thursday, it was 4!

I made it!!! Got on the scales this morning, and I have lost 20 lbs!!!

I would look up Dr. Eric Westman. Also Dr. Jeff Volek, and Dr. Phinney.

Dr. Westman in particular has gotten many hundreds of patients off of insulin. Sometimes within days or weeks. I don't know if you would call it reversing diabetes. But for all intents and purposes these people do not have diabetic symptoms the rest of their lives.

I have little doubt your metabolic syndrome/diabetes was most likely caused by too many carb consumption.

My personal advice would not be to restrict calories at all. That is just going to make you less healthy IMO in the long run. Most people regain. But if you think that you can...well go for it. Are you willing to eat 800, 1000, 1200 the rest of your life?

I personally would become fat adapted and keep your insulin steady throughout the day. With reduced carb consumption you would manage diabetes indefinitely with no medicine required. I would shoot for between 50 to 70% of calories from fat and if you are diabetic less than 50 grams of carbs a day and if you can manage in the 25-30 range.

Do that for a month or two and you will be amazed. And no need to count calories on this. Without the carbs your appetite will drop tremendously. But as I said research Eric Westman. Many diabetics are now living insulin free for the rest of their lives. Losing weight, getting everything in check. Eating fat is incredibly healing for bodies that went decades on the fat is bad advice. Especially good quality saturated fats.

Also note the current research is there are two types of LDL. One, large particles are benign. Only the small dense ones which tend to get oxidized are harmful. Carb eating really ups the small dense ones. Fat eating reduces the small dense and ups the large ones. Fat also ups HDL a LOT.

The most predictive marker for heart disease is triglycerides over HDL. High fat consumption reduces tri and ups HDL.

Thanks, diamondgeog. I do plan on asking my doctor about increasing my calories or about going the low carb/Atkins/Paleo route when I go back to him in August. I have been doing pretty well following the 800 calorie diet because I accidently discovered Volumetrics (glad to know it has a name). I do plan a cheat day every other week, and that helps me to stay on my plan the rest of the time. Like you said, I am almost certain that my weight gain and diabetes were caused, in large part, by too many carbs. However, it might also be attributed to my father who was diagnosed with diabetes when he was around my age. He, however, was not overweight, but I most certainly am.

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It's important to understand the connections between genetics and diet. My grandmother got diabetes, my uncle got it, I was well on my way.

Now I never worry about it. I absolutely have the genetics for type 2. BUT whether those genes ever get expressed or not is almost entirely under my control. Especially if I had the knowledge I have now for my entire life.

There is a lot of interesting research on epigenetics. For instance I now am a fat burner. I always had the genes for that but my diet was suppressing that ability. Now through diet those genes are being expressed.

Put it this way. Around 1900 almost nil type 2. Now 1 in 10, one in 10! in America are diabetic. I can assure you that genes do not change that fast in 3 or 4 generations. It's been because of diet primarily then other lifestyle changes.

Interestingly a sizable percent of people not overweight have metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetes. For whatever reason they don't get overweight but the carbs are still having other impacts including in many eventually diabetes.

Diamondgeog, I have some questions about low carb dieting. Almost 2 weeks ago, I decided that I would give low carb a try while also attempting to stay close to my doctor advised 800 calories per day. I did manage to keep it in the 1000 - 1100 calorie per day range, and was consuming the "induction" phase recommended amount of 20 net carbs per day. I am very disappointed to say that I have not lost any more weight on this plan at all. As a matter of fact, I gained weight and my blood sugar numbers were often running higher. Finally, I got such a headache that I missed most of a day at work and, after feeling like I was going to die in my office all day the second day, I just couldn't force myself to come home and cook and eat one more low carb meal. So, I found myself picking up pizza and breadsticks for my boyfriend and myself. 4 breadsticks later, the headache was completely gone and hasn't come back. I am forced to believe that the low carbs were giving me that headache.

So, what am I doing wrong? Is it just that low carb might not sit well with me, or is it something simple that I can change?

Whew! I am back on track. I've lost three of the four pounds I gained on the Atkins diet. Just don't understand how I went wrong on that one. My sister said that she had similar results when she went low carb too. My brother lost about 60 lbs doing that diet, but he's the one in the family that doesn't have blood sugar problems.

I've never done low-carb (no bread?? HAHAHA no thanks), but my husband and some of our friends jumped hard on the Atkins bandwagon when it became popular. My husband and two of his friends were dizzy, tired and nauseous for the entire first two weeks. It's apparently common and called the "Atkins flu" or "induction flu," and it's your body's reaction to the switch to low carbs. It resolved within the first few weeks for our two friends, my husband ended up quitting :)

But hey, you gave it an honest try and if it's not for you, so what? It's so important to find a WOE that works for you, that makes you happy and that's effective. I could never do low-carb - and I totally admire anyone who can - but I've found something else that works great and I'm happy!

Thanks so much for the info, futureformerfisher! Yes, that sounds exactly like what I had. I'm back to low calorie and it seems to be working just fine without the undesirable side effects.

I am setting a new mini goal for myself today. I got on the scales this morning, and I am down 25 lbs since my start date of May 22. I would like to be at 249 by next Sunday. That's 5 lbs in one week. I think it can be done if I stick to my plan and continue to walk on my treadmill. I still haven't made it to the 30 minutes a day that I had planned, but maybe that can be part of my mini goal too.

Good luck everyone, and good luck me!

I just thought of a new benefit to losing weight! I have a motorhome. It's a Class C, which means it's got the van type driver's area. The seats in the front aren't very adjustable, and the last time I had to drive (don't drive often since I live with a professional truck driver), it was a tight squeeze behind that steering wheel. I sat down to crank it up and let it run for a while last week, and noticed that there is space between my stomach and the steering wheel! There was none the last time I drove, and I was quite uncomfortable. Not only will I fit behind the wheel better, I will fit in the dinette better. It was a tight squeeze too. Now that is motivation. I love that motorhome more than most foods....LOL

:bravo: on your 17 Lbs loss!! Great job!! Wishing you much continue efforts.. :)

Thanks, Liliann! I was needing some encouragement right now.

Hi! I just saw that your previous questions weren't answered and thought I'd comment. (I do see though that your new diet is working fine - congrats! I'm just posting bc others may read this and have the same questions.)

I am having great success with low carb eating but I do not track calories and I eat low carb and high fat. I am prediabetic and my blood sugar levels are significantly improved eating this way. I would never suggest going against dr recommendations but if you are doing low carb I suspect those levels of calories may be too low and your body likely held onto everything it could. For the flu like symptoms (which I never had) you are supposed to drink some broth to add the sodium back that is being flushed out.

Low carb is not for everyone but I had a pretty significant addiction to sugar and it has really eliminated that. The first week is hard but once your body starts burning fat instead of the carbs it is used to getting, cravings subside. I don't track carbs either, I just avoid the obvious sources of higher amounts of simple carbs like bread, pasta, rice, sugary beverages/foods.

Congrats! I love this site and feel like I have made some understanding 3fc friends. Even if only online. Much success with the walking :tread: I'm running now and training with an app called c25k. Who knew I could run? :running: I wish you all the success and to kick diabetes/ cholesterol/ high bp's but with weight loss and exercise. Welcome ! :wave:

My Dr. Recommended NOT to run. He said it makes everything sag a lot faster. Also I am of the very large breasted variety of hen. Also I was a catcher for 16 years, so my knees are like a 90 year old's. Dr. said walking will do just fine as long as its AT LEAST 20 min 3 days a week. Of course I walk more than that. I do an hour 4-5 times a week and homemade above ground pool aerobics 2 times a week if the weather permits.

AM I BAD???
I decided to have a (treat) day once a week where I splurge and eat/ drink what I want, WITHOUT going overboard. I am having a very hard time with caffeine withdrawal. Sugar not so much. I was a faithful daily coca cola drinker, consuming up to 7 a day. My problem is that I have a 32oz insulated "Bubba Keg" and it would always be full. Now it's always full of green tea.
I have been doing volumetrics around 1300-1600 cal/day and am already down 8 lbs. and Wednesdays around here are called Weigh-in Wednesdays. My DH is doing it with me. I am curious to see what y'all think of a treat day though.

Hi everybody!

Shannonsnail, I really appreciate you addressing my concerns about low carb. My brother has just started back on low carb. He always does well with that plan, but unfortunately like all of us who have weight issues, he gains it back in the end. I may address the low carb plan with my doctor and discuss raising my caloric intake because I just have zero energy all the time.

Cheddahcat, I know exactly what you mean. I feel like I am among friends here too. I am trying so hard to get on that treadmill every night. I did miss a couple of nights last week, but I'm not going to punish myself over it. The scales are doing that just fine. I set a mini goal for this week of a 5 lb loss, and so far, I haven't lost an ounce. Thanks for the warm welcome, and I'll be keeping an eye out for you around here. Good luck on your journey as well.

Lacy, I plan a cheat day every other weekend, so I don't think you're bad at all. I try to be like you and not just kill myself, sometimes it's only one meal that I will splurge on (last night was my cheat, and I had 2 pieces of pizza and 3 breadsticks), but I think that human beings were given this life to enjoy to a certain degree, and food is something that I enjoy. I've also noticed that I can't eat as much as I used to either, so that helps cut back on the calories I get out of my cheat day.

Good luck to you all, and I hope you all have great results. We're in this together!

OK....time to reset the mini goal that proved how badly I can let myself down. This time last week, I was weighing 254. Now, instead of losing 5 lbs, I gained 3. GRRRR...just a little aggravated with myself. I hope everyone else had better success this week. I can tell by looking at my feet that they are somewhat swollen, so I figure that some of that is water retention due to the carbs from my pizza and breadsticks that I splurged on. Time to start buckling down!