I calorie count, I don't at all feel like I CAN'T have anything this way, I just have to make sure I have room in my budget for it. I need to implement excercise into my routine as well and it's sad I don't since I have a treadmill and eliptical in my basement right infront of a big screen tv and I have a wii fit. I just need to make it a priority. My daughter is almost three and she's at a babysitter for 10 hours a day, when I get home from work I just want to hang out with her after dinner until she goes to bed at 9. I just need to get off my butt and go work out at 9.

Lori - Thanks for posting that article. I have printed it and put it with the other documents I have found helpful on this journey.


Angie

Your welcome Angie ~It was very helpful to me also.
I am assuming Thats your daughter in the avatar picture she is SOOOOOOOOO CUTE!I have 3 kids Ages 15,10, & 8 THEY ARE ALL SO PRECIOUS!

Yep, that's my daughter in all her glory. She's right behind me in the people I need to be healthy for list.

Congrats - you've lost over 30 pounds!!!!! Good for you!

Angie

I am on Atkins. Started at the begining of the year. I have lost 13 lbs so far. It is working really well for me.

I do Weight Watchers, even though I have tried many other things WW just works best for me. I go to the meetings too which helps.

I count calories too. I started out not worrying so much about what I ate as long as it fit into my calorie limits. Now I am much more careful what I eat. I try to make the calories whole foods as much as possible. I get more volume of food that way and I feel so much better. I am careful with carb's because I am sensitive to them. I try to stick with whole grains and stay away from the processed stuff.
I mostly walk or jog for exercise, five days a week at least 30 minutes sometimes 45 minutes. I have a treadmill and I keep raising the incline. I started with it flat and am on a 9% incline now and I go as fast as I can. I like to jog/walk outside. We have some beautiful walking trails here which make that fun.

I started eating low-carb at the beginning of November. My average daily composition is 20 to 25g of carbs, protein (20-25%) and fat (around 70%). My carbs all come from nuts, seeds, dairy, and veggies, so there really isn't anything much to count up. (Although I pay no attention to kcals, my tracking software shows I average around 1900 kcals a day.)

I previously lost 70 pounds on 1600 kcals a day, but found that I couldn't sustain the low-cal WOE. Once the initial enthusiasm and "high" of losing weight wore off, I felt deprived and hungry, and gained it all back again.

I'm finding that replacing carbs with healthy fats keeps me feeling satisfied. Apart from one episode of overeating almonds (and that was only having three ounces instead of just one), I've been totally on plan with no binges. That's a big thing for me, and the same couldn't be said when I was restricting calories.

The thing is, finding a plan that fits is a personal thing. There isn't a universal formula that will work for everyone.

Hope you find the one that'll bring you success, hpnodat.

I am a firm believer in calorie counting and never cutting out a particular food group, our bodies really do need them. Limited processed foods, try to have 90% real/whole foods (brown rice, not white minute rice etc)

I like sparkspeople.com for my calorie counting source. It is a free site and will set up a plan specific to your weight, age, height, and activity level. It will give you guidlines to how much calories, carbs, fat, protiens etc you should have in a day......and you can look at your past week or month and see how you are doing, at any time. It also has meal suggestions, according to your personalized plan, when you need help coming up with new menu ideas. Once you start using it you will find it is very easy to use.

I also like Alli, but I cannot take it in the winter because the cold, dry air effects my skin so much I have to up my fat intake in the winter, so I just make sure I have healthy fats, like almonds, avacados, olive oil, etc. With Alli it works great! BUT you have to be a dedicated planner and calorie/fat counter or you will have the gross stories you hear happen to you. You have NO side effects if you use it according to their plan---no brainer you would think, but I know people who use it, have peperoni pizza and milk shakes and then wonder why they have treatment effects---or worse yet deal with the treatment effects thinking they are doing something great for thier body---anyway.......

Assuming you're referring to carbohydrate, pardon me if you were not, why do you believe our bodies require that we eat it?

I ask because I used to think the same thing until I started researching how our bodies metabolise the food we ingest. The evidence is very firmly in the corner of fats and proteins being the essential macronutrients, not carbohydrates. I'm always willing to read any reports that argue the contrary though.

Wow thats amazing! I'm trying to figure out how to count calories, but I'm having a hard time figureing out how many calories I should eat everyday... How do you do this???

Ok, I'm usually pretty long-winded and I'm sorry about that, but I have to share my story.

I'm nearly 52. I feel like I've been trying to figure out how to lose weight since I was 27 and my thyroid went on the fritz. I've done WW, calorie counting, Jenny Craig... I've had limited success with all of them, some of them even helping me to keep weight off for a couple of years. But always, in the end, my cravings would win out. I was ALWAYS hungry.

I was fairly slim when I married the love of my life in early 2002. But my husband loved to eat, and he loved to eat things that packed the pounds on me. I gained, oh, 90 or so pounds during our marriage. They were also the worst things for him. In late 2007, he suffered an unexpected fatal heart attack while he was out of town on business. My world got knocked out from underneath me in an instant and I turned to food as comfort. I love my glass of wine each night after the work day is done, too.

The last 15 months were pretty rough, but with respect to my weight, I stuck between 250-260 lbs. I was left with a large property and a lot of animals... between shoveling poo, keeping a large vegetable garden, stacking wood, mowing lawns, digging weeds, bucking hay bales, doing housework, etc., I seem to fit in a bit of exercise.

Anyway... fast forward to the beginning of 2009. The haze is clearing, and what is reflected in the mirror is rather horrifying. Time to give it another try.

I'd noticed over the past year that when I turned to food for comfort, I always grabbed up the simple carbs: The white bread, the cake, the cookie, the soothing mashed potatoes and gravy, the pasta. There had to be something to this carb addiction stuff. I started looking around on 3FC for a diet that would severely limit the bad stuff. I found South Beach.

Now, I need to tell you, I didn't expect it to work. I hadn't read the book; I really didn't understand the principles. I figured this would just be another half-hearted stab at weight loss that I'd conveniently give up within a couple of weeks. But I wanted to find out about this connection between simple carbs and cravings, and heck, Phase I was only for 2 weeks.

Within 2 days, I was down with the South Beach Flu: A little headache, a general feeling of malaise. But by Day 5, the cravings were gone. Disappeared. Finit-o. It's as if someone handed me a golden key to a door I'd never seen before. And gone they stay. I can do this forever!!!!

I finally read the book at the end of the first week, and like someone else here calls it, SB is the "Duh Diet." (I'm sorry I can't recall who said this; had I remembered, I would have given credit!) It makes total sense to me, and it's working great. It's not low carb, but it's complex-healthy carb. After the first 2 weeks, you start adding in things, going at your own pace, and find the balance that works for you.

I work from home, and there is no real structure to my day. The Snack Room is only steps away. All my life, I was practically thinking about the next thing I could eat as I was swallowing the last thing I ate. That compulsion is gone. GONE. I have my breakfast, start work and often work for 6-7 hours before I realize I'd better go have a snack. And the whole day is like this. Food no longer controls me. That is such a new feeling, I can't even convey my sense of wonder over it!

I'm in my second week of Phase II, have lost 15 pounds and I know... KNOW I am going to succeed this time.

Good luck in finding what works best for you! I encourage you to give South Beach a hard look.

Rae

I have been on weight watchers since April 08, and i have lost 47 lbs. I love it, its easy for me to stick to and I can truly have whatever I want. However, I make the choice in how I want to spend my points, and some things now are just not worth it to eat.

Add me to the WW list! Since I started doing it seriously (writing down what I ate, not snacking constantly, counting EVERYTHING) I have lost almost 90lbs in a little over 6 months. I don't go to meetings though, I'm not even an official member, I just use my mom's stuff. (I hope the paying members don't hate me for that!)

But, I like it because it's easier for me to figure out than calorie counting..I don't know why, it just is, lol. But, like Bee said, I can have whatever I want, as long as I count it and I've come to find that somethings just aren't worth using points for.

If you'd of told me a year ago that I'd be eating salads now (simple ones with spinach, tomatoes, carrots, and FF dressing) because they're low on points, I would have laughed in your face and told you salads were for rabbits. Now, I eat one almost everyday! Funny how tastes and ideas change...lol

I'm also a calorie counter. I eat 1900 cals per day. I figured this out by going to a website and entering my information. It recommended how many calories I should eat per day. I started 01.04.09 and so far have lost 11 pounds. I also do cardio 3x week for 30 min and strength training 3x week.