Hi.


I am a compulsive overeater and binge eater. I am also doing OA so I shouldnt really even be focused on my weight but I can't help it.
I used to go to drive thrus every single day. I would go to 2 in a row and sometimes 3. and this was secret eating, I would also eat other meals at home.
I calculated one time on a breakfast run in my car i ate 1500 calories in the span of 20 minutes. since then I have been eating much fewer calories..I am not counting but intuitively its a lot less. mostly protein stuff(eggs,ground turkey,beef,chicken,sausage),veggies with some rice and fats..I avoid wheat for the most part except on occasion. I am not active or exercise. I have had some loss which I am grateful for but wow I expected a much bigger loss since about mid february than 20 pounds. If this is healthy and will continue then fine, but I feel like it is stalling for days at a time even.
One thing I use a lot of is hot sauce..like literally in everything, stir fries, eggs(which I eat alot of) and its fairly high in sodium....i dont add any salt when I use the hot sauce but does anyone think this could be a culprit? Or is the loss ok for where I started, around mid Feb?

thanks for any input.

I think 20 lbs since mid-Feb is great! You should aim for losing 1-2 lbs per week. It is so much healthier to lose slowly. I do suggest you track your eating for a while, just to get an idea exactly how much you're really eating. Sign up for Fitday or MyFitnessPal or one of the many other free sites online. It will tell your total calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber. Once you see what you're actually consuming, it won't be necessary to continue to track as long as you're still losing.

You can lose weight without exercise, but exercise will improve your over-all health. Even if you don't do formal exercise, try to move as much as you can during the day, especially a walk after meals.

I have heard that hot sauce can help with weight loss, but I have a hard time eating hot things. I don't think it's hurting you. Is there such a thing as reduced sodium hot sauce?

Everything that Wannabehealthy said is exactly what I was thinking as I read your post. You may be surprised at how many calories you are consuming, if you keep track. Even though the food is healthier, you need to weigh and track to see where you really are.

Nice loss already, though!!

I'm a former OA member, too. I agree with what everyone has said: write it down! There are lots of free sites (My Fitness Pal, Spark People, etc.) where you can log in your daily calories. Try not to let slow loss derail you (speaking as someone who has become derailed by this in the past!). 20 pounds since February is amazing. I've lost 9 pounds since JANUARY and I work out 1 - 2 hours a day and count calories (but lots of travel = time off my plan). Just keep doing the right thing and the weight WILL come off!

honestly im like hungry most the day so I cant really eat any less :/

Thank you for the compliments!

there are not many reduced sodium hot sauces that i have found..except for tabasco which is much lower but the bottles are like tiny and I go through a big bottle in like 2 weeks ...But yea I guess I will have to just buy more bottles.

I don't really want to count calories as part of my recovery plan, it is too diet mentality for me and I am trying to get over that...But even with weight loss in the past I never counted calories and lost at least 10 pounds a month..this seems to be less at this rate.

I guess I will have to accept it however slow as long as it keeps going down.
thank you guys

Your weight loss is awesome. The people who can have steady losses of more than 2 lbs a week are rare.

Sodium and exercise (and a bunch of other things) can temporarily hide fat loss with water retention, but the fat loss is still occuring and will show up on the scale as soon as the extra water is shed.

You can speed up the water shedding if you're drinking 2-3 liters of sodium-free fluids (including, but not limited to water) per day. Personally, I wouldn't recommend more than that without talking to your doctor, especially if you're on any meds (blood pressure medications/diuretics especially) which can increase the risk of water intoxication (water overdose).

Or you can just drink when you're thirst and be patient. Need for speed is probably the biggest obstacle to permanent weight loss, because people get frustrated and give up.

Hang in there.

20 pounds since February is awesome! Keep it up! I know it might not seem like much when you start comparing to other people who have 5+ pound losses in a week, but a consistent loss like what you're having is enviable.

I totally understand the hot sauce obsession. In my mind, even if it can be high sodium, I add hot sauce instead of using other high calorie/high fat/high sugar flavors to my food. But it couldn't hurt to up your water intake a bit to see if that helps.

That's is a lot in 11 weeks -- a solid 2 ish lbs a week. Maybe it would help if you measure it in calories since your food is in calories?

1 lb = 3500 calories.

20 lb = 70,000 calories that you have burned off.

I hate to see people getting discouraged over results because they are comparing apples (lb) to oranges (calories.)

Remember to take measure in inches too. Eventually the lbs stop changing but the inches still do. And it's the INCHES, not the lbs that change the dress size.

HTH!
A.