Packaged Meals and Clinics - Nutrisystem, Medifast, Jenny Craig, EtcFor support and questions about diet meal delivery programs, or weight loss clinics that offer prepackaged meals and products.
I will try your calorie adjustment suggestions. I will also try not taking my days off in a row. I hope these things will get my motor running.
Sue,
Congratulations on the weight loss. You are doing so well. I'm so jealous. Happy birthday to you!
Aimee,
Welcome. Just be patient and give yourself time to adjust.
Lori, has given you all the additional advice you need. Keep asking questions when you need to.
What is your definition of calorie cycling? I really do cycle by being on NS with weekends off. On Saturday and Sunday, I eat about 1,800 to 2,200 calories. Then during the week I average about 1,300 calories.
Thanks for not suggesting more exercise. I can't muster the energy for anymore.
Thanks for trying to help. I'm open to any and all suggestions. I've been on the plateau for 15 months now. I sometimes wonder if this is all the weight that my body will loss but I'm still at 180 pounds. Hardly where I should be. I'm not even at a healthy BMI and am still considered obese.
Annie
Maybe your problem is not how many calories you are consuming but rather your exercising. When I was reading your post it sounded very "scheduled" and the same. You know your body gets used to a certain type of exercise if you are doing it exactly the same all the time. For example if you ever have a trainer...they start you out at a certain level...once you get used to that level then you go up a little bit more by adding more weight more repetition, etc so that you are always challenging your body. But you are already at the top of the list....you can 't really one up your self and thus your body is getting used to it....to where it is not beneficial. My opinion is that you shake things up and try exercises that you don't normally do. Buy a new exercise tape or something else. Just shake things up. See if that helps get off your plateau.
it is so funny. I just measured myself--the last time was 2/1--and I am down an inch in my waist and .5 inch in arms but nothing on my hips thighs or calves! I am glad for the loss of inches but I wanted to lose more on the lower body--I have such a saggitarius body type. And most of the exercise I have done has focused on the hips and legs. And I was thinking last night I should do more on my abs. Who knows what the body is up to?
Well according to the YMCA test which only uses the waist measurment I went from 26 BMI to 22 BMI. According to the covert baily test I am still at 32%--it uses wrist waist hips thighs and calves. I tend to think the 2nd one is more accurate because it takes my fatter areas in the mix. Well I have made progress anyway.
Shopping report:
I bought five pairs of sweat pants at nordstroms. The cheap ones I bought before xmas got trashed really quickly. So I decided to buy some that are actually going to last a while. Plus they were having a really good sale. So now I am banned from any kind of shopping except grocery for 4 weeks. I need to get caught up on my finances! So I got a green pair with little brass rivets, a red and white pair with a baroque pattern down the leg. A
classic pair of black drawstrings, a mauve brown pair that are unbelievably soft and a dark fuschia pair with aqua trim. Yum! and the fabrics are so nice!
Take care all--I am going to have a relaxing sunday.
I will try your calorie adjustment suggestions. I will also try not taking my days off in a row. I hope these things will get my motor running.
Annie
Hi Annie: good for you for hanging in there. I think your sons are right--you have been on lo-cal for so long that your body thinks there is a famine and you are hanging on to every gram of weight you can! You have shown such amazing will power to keep going like you have!
I think ATL's advice is really good. You are doing fantastic with all the working out but it sounds like your body has been getting used to your routine.
I was just reading about interval training and it is really good for losing fat. Basically you alter the intensity day by day and also during the workout.
For example when you are walking alternate walking super fast with short intervals of slower walking. And change the workout day to day--try doing three high intensity days a week--shorter more intense workouts with 3 longer lower intensity workouts a week for example:
High intensity day: 30 minutes of super intense walking and carry handweights, do spinning with your bike instead of just a regular pace and again keep it a shorter more intense workout--you can get spinning dvds. Make these higher intensity days the days you eat higher calories.
Low intensity day--a longer slower walk--enjoy a hike and really stretch your legs, skip biking and do a pilates class or yoga, or an exercise video.
I read somewhere that as women get older you have to kinda fool the body to lose weight because it is geared to maintain weight as a survival technique.
And WATER WATER WATER!!! How much water are you drinking a day?
[QUOTE=Irishgal88;2057080]Well I'm almost through day 1 of NS. I have GAS! I think it's from the malitol that I saw in the cranberry orange scone I had for breakfast. My stomach has been churning and gurgling all day. I'm not hungry though, I've been eating. But I'm a bit confused about the cheeses and so forth.
Now, the woman's program is supposed to be at 1200 calories right? And that includes the add-in foods like cheeses, dairy, salads, fruits, etc?
So if that is the case, this morning I made a huge blunder. With my breakfast scone I had a cup of lowfat vanilla yogurt, but it was something like 260 calories per cup but the protein was 9 g. 1 cup = 8 oz, so that is what I had. But in the Serving Guide in my package it states it needs to be 120 cal. or less for the 8 oz portion. What did I do wrong? And do string cheese sticks count for the protein serving? Does all cheese I eat have to be low-fat?? I thought today would go a lot smoother but it looks like all the intake for my add-ins has to be "low-fat" and this is what is throwing me off. I really want to loose all this weight, but I just about gasped when looking at the boxes and packages of food last nite how high the carb intake is on everything, and for someone like me who did Atkins a long time ago and had great results, it's hard for me to accept that eating carbs will help me lose weight. So today I have the deer-in-the-headlights-look and I'm a bit thrown off. Food tastes good so far though, no complaints yet, and it's been easy so far. Just very time consuming trying to figure out if I can eat regular cheese or not, because I love cheese (for my protein requirement) but I can't stand the taste of no-fat cheese, yuck. Another thing I can't figure out is in the Serving Guide, whole-wheat bread is listed as 1 slice.... 1 slice for what? Can we have bread? That doesn't fall under any of the menu options in my diary? Are we supposed to watch fat and keep our add-ins low-fat, or do we worry about keeping the calories down??? This is all of a sudden confusing to me about all of these add-ins. My meal planner guide doesn't do a very good job of explaining this diet.
Thanks for letting me vent everyone.
~Aimee
Aaaarrrrggghhhhhh.
~Aimee[/QUOTE
Hi Aimee: you are doing great--any new program will take some adjusting to. I was a total atkins dieter before nutrisystem--I had lost 40lbs and then gained it back. On nutrisystem I lost more weight more quickly than atkins or any other plan in my life. They do a great job of balancing the nutrients so that not only does your blood sugar stay level but it results in more weight loss. It is truly amazing and really does work!! Just go with it and try it out for a few weeks and you will see a difference. I have learned that carbs help with weight loss!! Also, I got hooked on very high fat foods while on atkins and it took me a little time to get adjusted to lower fat foods.
I love cheese too! After you get used to it you will be surprised at how satisfying lowfat milk, yogurt and cheese are. I eat unflavored yogurt because it has no sugar--sugar plays havoc with the blood sugar and calories. Sometimes I put stevia or splenda in it and vanilla. Or one of my fruits. I drink 1% milk, the lowfat string cheese works great, I like babybel lowfat cheese or trader joes reduced fat smoked gouda.
Dont worry about counting calories--just concentrate on making the right choices of foods measuring the portions and eating regularly through the day. Dont skip any food!! Fruit and veggies are critical--I always keep lettuce washed and chopped up in my salad spinner in the fridge.
Yah--the meal planner can be a bit confusing when you first see it but you will get used to it and figure out the add-ins that are right for you.
Bread only goes with the hamburgers. You need to find a low-cal bread to use with it and only have one slice. I use Orowheat lite. And still use it.
It can be helpful to post your plan for food online and get critique from us old timers. below is a sample menus from a typical day for me on nutrisystem.
One liter/quart of water before eating breakfast lunch and dinner
Breakfast: Nutrisystem granola with .5 cup 1% milk and half of my serving of fruit--usually raisins.
Tea or coffee black.
Snack: About an hour later I have a cup of lofat yogurt with the rest of my breakfast fruit.
Lunch: beans and ham, salad with lofat dressing, string cheese or hardboiled egg on the salad
Snack: sugar free applesauce (trader joes has a fantastic gravenstein applesauce) and .25 cup cottage cheese.
Dinner: Nutrisystem beef stew with my frozen green beans heated and added to it for my veggies. Large salad with five olives for my fat.
Dessert: (after I do my exercises) peanut butter cookie and tea.
Happy Monday everyone!
Got through the weekend pretty much on plan, with my planned meals out.
Have any of you tried thedailyplate.com to track foods? All of the NS foods are in there, so you don't have to input anything. Pretty cool!
Hello all. I started NS on 1/3 - 6 1/2 weeks ago - and have lost 23.5 pounds. I couldn't be happier! I like having my meals be "idiot proof."
Like some of you, I had myself convinced that the food wouldn't be very good. I just told myself that it was fuel, not entertainment or comfort. Well, it turns out most of the food is good to great, while only a few things are inedible (veggie fajitas, I'm looking in your direction).
I still struggle with getting in enough exercise, and my water intake is always too low. But considering this is a diet - not a vacation - I couldn't be happier. I have committed to 10 weeks, but will probably continue if things keep going so well.
LADIES!
I finally grew the courage to order... Thank you Lori for the coupon again!!!!
Im gonna need your support. I know how I am..
What do I do on weekends when all my friends are drinking!?!? Lol. HELP!?!?
Oh college life.
HelloKitty - you still go out with your friends! Just don't drink. I know it might not sound fun, but you really are going out to be with them, right?
Try a diet soda with a twist of lime or lemon. It will look like you are drinking a 'real' drink to the others. You don't have to tell them that you aren't drinking!
Or, club soda with a twist. That's what I order all the time. People think you are drinking a gin and tonic and don't even know it.
Also - how about organizing some non drinking activities? Start a new trend.
Not Sure...but I think Vodka is tolerable to drink on a diet. I know when I was low carbing it Vodka was something that was ok to drink on occasion as it was low carb and didn't do much to sugar levels. I used to keep those bottles of crystal light with me to flavor it. Again, not sure if this is ok to do on occasion with this diet though, but just a suggestion. Someone else can chime in.
Had a good day exercise and diet wise. Otherwise quiet around here!
to Ravisa and HelloKitty! Glad to have you join us.
As for alcohol--I think the thing to keep in mind is that this is a plan that is finely crafted to provide the optimum nutrition for maximum weight loss. The more you stick closely to the plan the more you lose.
Alcohol is not great for health reasons--water weight gain, dehydration as well as lowering of inhibitions which could lead to eating lotsa salty snacks. I'd say the more you can stay away from alcohol the better. If you do drink, make sure to drink tons of water the next day to wash out the toxins and rehydrate the body.
Wow Snow you look great!!!! Motivation!!!
I hope you guys don't think i'm a drunk! I'm not.. lol my friends and I just play beer pong. It's fun. But.. even though it's ONE night a week, i'm sure it'll affect my weight loss. Is alcohol really THAT bad in terms of weight gain? I have no idea. Well.. I guess this calls for some research.
I'll let you guys know when my package arrives. I'm SO excited!!!
Last edited by xHelloKittyx; 02-20-2008 at 12:27 PM.
to Ravisa and HelloKitty! Glad to have you join us.
