Hi everyone, completely new person to 3fatchicks and this thread too, so I guess I should introduce myself. I'm 24 years old, and I go to the university of Iowa. I have a BS in Anthropology/archaeology but I'm finishing my BA in native studies and my BS in geology, so I have probably 2 more years of undergrad, then I go to grad. :P It never ends!! I have overall very good health, the only problem is my stamina and my weight. This is a significant problem because in order for me to get my BS in geoscience, I need to literally walk a mile hike up a mountain in Utah, doing stratigraphy charts the whole way (read: carrying a backpack with some books) and keeping up with the group. So I really need to be in shape before I do that, and so this is not only a goal for my health, but a goal for my degree! My heighest weight was 270-280, and I'm 5'3".
I did Atkins and a bunch of planned-meal diets, where they give you a list of acceptable foods for each week. Atkins worked for a while, but I couldn't get below 220. I hit that plateau at 220 and stayed there for something like 8 months until I gave up. I hit 260 again, and I decided to get my stomache stapled, because I was desperate. I want to have some kind of college life before I graduate, and I feel that my weight is isolating me from other students and harming my confidence. I didn't get gastric bypass, but it is still an option my doctor recommends if my current dietary changes do not work.
Then my doctor referred me to a nutritionist while I was considering going on the waiting list for gastric bypass. My nutritionist talked to me about portion sizes for a long time, and about calories, starches, and the different types of meats. After realizing how much food is in a normal meal, I used Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, and Smart Ones because those are super easy to make and they are good portion sizes. But I do incorporate "real" foods also, and my personal goal is to have one serving of fruit per day. I don't focus on drinking water as much as other people, because it really turns me off entirely. I hate water. I know, it's stupid, but just give me the freaking diet vanilla coke, it's one calorie and I will actually drink it.
So, I use fitday, and ever since I started eating low-calorie, low-fat frozen dinners, I've had a major decrease in total food eaten.. it's not that I'm not as hungry as before, I think, it's that I am not eating beyond my "satisfied" level now. So, I've gone from 265ish to 238 since March 27th or so. I've cut out all fast food except for low-calorie foods, which as you can imagine, is pretty skimpy. Subway and salads are all I get from fast food places now. Basically, all I do is count calories and fat, use fitday, and exercise at Curves 3 times a week.
I'm going to try this DietPower thing you guys recommended, it looks neat! I hope I can become a regular poster here, it looks like a nice board.
Nice to meet other people doing "old fashioned" moderation and exercise too.
debbiejarrell , 05-04-2004 01:18 PM
VermontMom , 05-05-2004 05:28 AM
lessofsarahtolove , 05-07-2004 03:08 PM
I don't normally post here, but in my 3FC travels I happened upon your discussion of DietPower, and I thought I'd just echo Silence in saying it's an AWESOME program! I love it, and have found it soooooo helpful! I'm absolutely certain that it has been instrumental in my 27 pound weight loss. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in tracking not only their caloric intake, but also all aspects of food's nutritional impact. It stores all of your information, so you can see all the data since you started using the software, and it gives sources for all nutritients, even utilizing your own entries, as in, "Your intake of Potassium is too low. Foods that you like that are good sources of Potassium are......." It's just really great. I love the breakdown of fat into sat, poly and mono, also the carb breakdown, and all the rest of the micro- and macronutrients......and the ability to see an ongoing weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly average for everything, so you can see where you are for the week, for example, rather than freaking out over the splurge of one day. 
And I love also the ability to enter a recipe, the number of servings it yields, and then enter a single serving! (I also do that for my breakfast, supplements, and water -- things I absolutely have every day. Then it's just one item, not multiple.)
Sorry to chat your ears off -- just couldn't help myself! I'll shut up now, but not before I wish you all every success on your journeys.... 
findingmyself , 05-11-2004 01:23 AM
from my own stupidity. I continued to try every diet that existed, made up my own, etc... I usually stayed around size 8. But I was up and down all of the time. Then after my son was born I was horrified to find that I now weighed over 200 pounds. I decided to stop destroying my body and to change my life a become a healthy mom. And I did, I lost down to 135-138 watching my calories and fat and I started to love exercise. So for almost 4 years I ate good, exercised and kept my weight off. 
I am only up 1/2 a pound as of this morning's weighin but I'm still not happy with my lack of control! If I'm good today maybe I'll have no gain to report for the week (Monday is my official weighin day). However, I am so ready to start reporting losses again!! I want to get back into the 160s so bad.... I MUST start showing some self discipline again!
