Hi,

I'm a 36 year old who decided to make a change when he hit 300 pounds. I'm working on dropping 100 and have a two segment scheme to get there.

I'm hoping to use this forum to find some tips, tricks, hints, etc.

I know my method won't be well-received by many here (at least not the first segment of it), but I'm sure I'll find some great info here.

Best of luck to everyone!

Steve Shrinkarino!

Hi Steve,
Welcome and good luck on your weight loss, but, lol, you knew it was coming.
I don't think deprivation is a good way to go, you can eat a good amount of calories without depriving yourself. I hope you find what works for you and are able to take off the excess weight in a healthy and safe way.
cheryl

Hello Steve and

This is a great site for tips and hints.

I was at 308 and lost down to 193 using poor methods that didnt "stick", by that, i mean, i gained nearly all of it back, got right back up to 294. I was just sick that i gained it all back, but that is what everybody told me, "once you get off that plan you will gain it all back"...i knew *I* would be different. Well, here i am losing it all over again. So far i am doing really well and here are some tips that are working for me this time around.

I make sure to start my day with lots of protien and fiber (Special K protien plus cereal or any Kashi product). If i start with carbs i am hungry in an hour. The protien cereals keep me well full until lunch.

Then there is the obvious, exercise. I really really loathe exercise. So for now, i am just telling myself to eat less and move more. (i get creative with exercise, i do gardening or hiking instead if i can, anything to get out of traditional exercising). So far this has worked well.

New to me this time around, i have switched from Lean Cuisine at lunch and stuff like that to whole foods. It just seems like with the lean cuisine type stuff, i am starving in an hour. With whole foods i feel better and fuller longer. I get in more healthy food that way too.

I dont eat late at night. Once we eat dinner, i dont eat ANYTHING.

So those are some of my weight loss keys. Hope that helps.

Hi Steve,

Welcome to 3FC , and congrats on your weightloss so far! This website has a ton of useful information, diet tips, exercise tips & wonderful success stories. It will help you in ways you've never imagined. It will keep you going when you feel down, and motivate you to stick with your weight loss goal. You may want to check out the 300lb club and and 100lb club boards for people who have similar stories and tips to share.

I wish you well in your endeavors and applaud you for your committment. However, I have to join the chorus of others in cautioning that deprivation/starvation diets simply do not work. I know, because I've tried them ALL in different variations - straight starvation, diet pills (Dexatrim), 900 calories a day, "eat once a day" and "exercise until I collapse" diets. None of them have resulted in permanent, healthy weightloss. The only thing that's come close is the program I'm currently on (Southbeach + exercise) Exercise is good for you. So is eating healthily. Deprivation diets just lead to slower metabolism, yo-yo dieting, and sadly MORE weight gain. I hope you will be able to avoid that.

In any event, good luck to you.

Thanks for the support.

I can understand the incredulity about my plans, but I really am convinced it will work out for me. The more severe aspect of my approach is only a 60-day jumpstart, after which I'll be shifting into a more forward-looking approach.

Steve

60 days is enough to ruin your metabolism....I did it a few years back when I was doing deprevation, and now it's 10 times harder for me to lose weight. Yeah...I had lost 80 lbs in less than two months.....BUT...it takes a lot for me to lose weight now because I ruined my metabolism.

Oh well...good luck, not trying to change your mind just telling you the cold, hard facts.

Hola, Steve! I checked out your blog and have to admit that it's interesting. I'm not going to tell you that phase 1 is stupid because I'm pretty sure most of the people on this site (myself included) have tried it, and we all knew at the time it was stupid but tried it anyway! At least I'm glad to read that it's short-lived and you're not trying to make it a way of life.

Good luck!

Hey Steve (yay, another guy!)

50 pounds in 60 days is a lot extreme (almost a pound a day!), more so considering that you're not taking measures like gastric bypass. As others noted, it's most likely not healthy but I can certainly understand your desire to jumpstart the program. Regardless, I hope you're seeing a doctor regularly throughout the jumpstart just to make sure nothing in your body is going abnormal during this period.

In any case, you'll find the overwhelming majority of 3FCers here are for fairly steady progress in weight-loss with sound regimens (check out the goal section for some inpsiring stories on that), when you decide that's the route you wanna go (no matter what happens with your jumpstart) we all got your back

Steve --

Welcome to 3fc! This is a great place for support, ideas, and inspiration!

Losing weight is hard and involves changing up everything you do. But you know that already.

I'm not going to tell you your plan won't work. In fact, after reading your blog I really do firmly believe you have what it takes to lose the weight. Honestly, I do. You know it's hard and you are willing to make the sacrifices needed. You've done the research. You know the math. You have the motivation AND the commitment (and I believe the 2nd is as important, if not more so).

But I will say this. Losing weight is not just a physical game. It is highly psychological. And that psychology is really helping you now -- it's all over your blog!! Your game about the cupcake on your desk, for instance. Having it taunt you and knowing you can not eat it, even though you really want to. You're in that stage right now where every sacrifice is worth it. The deprivation keeps you going.

But there will come a time when the shininess of the new lifestyle wears off. Probably not in two months. Maybe not even in two years. But what I have learned in my two years of my new lifestyle is that, frankly, it is a slog day in and day out to keep doing the things to KEEP the weight off. The motivation wears off. The commitment wanes. After a while, that cupcake just jumps into your mouth!

I know you have a plan to make things more sustainable after the two months are up. I am not writing about extreme dieting here.

But it is still a slog. You have to wrap your mind around the fact that the lifestyle changes you are making will need to be permanent to keep the weight off.

I know, I know, right now you feel invincible. You're Superman and can do anything! Hold onto that feeling as long as it lasts. Because it just might be exactly what you need to lose a lot of the weight!

But if you are like most of us humans, at some point you will falter and start to slip. No matter what plan you are on.

If that happens, please remember us here at 3fc. In fact, my biggest piece of advice to you is to check out our maintainers' forum! There we have people dealing not with LOSING the weight but KEEPING it off. Isn't that the ultimate goal?

Again, WELCOME. I really did mean every word. I think you can LOSE the weight... I just know that KEEPING it off is the real battle.

Great point re: maintenance. I'm hoping that the investment in effort I'm making now will remind me not to backslide too much after I meet/approach my goal.

Steve Shrinkarino

I chose to respond to this, but I think its totally cool we got another rooster aboard, and I REALLY like your name!

Steven
aka FresnoBeeDude