brand new,some questions

  • hi
    we are both 33 and DH needs to lose about 60lbs and i need to lose about 20
    [h:6'4 280 me:5"4 150]

    started this week-really commited to changing our whole lifestyle
    im a food enabler ive always shown my family love with food

    ok
    we are doing the water water water thing
    NO fast food
    loads of veggies
    loads of fruits
    no pasta
    no rice
    no white bread
    using fitday to track faithfully

    my questions are

    1.DH according to the online calculators can have over 2000 cals a day-since he is eating so much healthier its like hes eating all day
    this week [m-s] he averaged 1830 calories
    can i cut it more?
    he hasnt lost anything yet and i was sure he would just from cutting out the approx 6 coca-colas he used to drink a day

    2.are fruit/vegtable carbs bad?
    we seem to have a real high carb intake daily but about 75% [at least] are from fresh fruits and veggies

    any help anyone could give us would be so appreciated
    i want to live another 60 years with my family and we need a change NOW

    thanks!
  • My suggestion: carbs are NOT evil--processed, refined carbs are the bad ones. You can still have rice, just choose brown rice or wild rice because they are whole-grain. You can still have pasta if you choose a whole-wheat (or other whole-grain) pasta instead of plain white pasta. You said no white bread, so are you buying other types of bread instead? If so, be sure to choose breads where the first ingredient listed is "whole-grain" flour..."enriched" wheat flour will give you wheat bread, but it's whole-wheat bread you need in order to get the whole grains.

    My next suggestion: give it more than a week Maybe your husband ate something yesterday higher in sodium than usual, and it is causing him to retain water, which will show a higher weight on the scale even though he hasn't really gained any fat. Have you guys been exercising more? Any strength training? Those types of exercise could also cause a bit of water retention in the muscles.

    Give it more than a week...he hasn't gained any weight, right? So waiting another week won't hurt anything. How did you do this week with all these changes?
  • thanks so much for the response

    we have been eating wheat bread with extra fiber added and low carb wheat tortilla wraps

    just bought some wheat pasta and brown rice yesterday

    and using our morning cereal as an added source of fiber also.

    i have actually lost about 4lbs this week [also that TOM so im sure most of that was just water weight]

    weve gone out walking every other night for about 1/2 hr[not nearly enough i know]

    DH is going to start going to the gym next week.

    wish us luck!

    im sure ill have more questions and i would love to support everyone in their sucesses and hard work.
  • Quote: weve gone out walking every other night for about 1/2 hr[not nearly enough i know]
    That's plenty to start with--better than nothing, right? And you guys can increase the intensity, frequency, or time as you become more fit. Sounds like you're off to a great start, and congrats on the -4 (no matter what it's from, even, water--it always feels good to see the scale go down ).
  • I also get a lot of my carbs from fruit and veggies. I'm allergic to whole grains so I don't have any of that stuff. But it's the calories that really count and fruits/veggies are low in calories compared to what you could be eating.

    Even 30 minutes of moderate exercise has health benefits for your body. You don't want to jump in heavy and overdo it -- you'd either end up hurting yourself or making yourself so sore you'll quit. Add 5 minutes a day or even 5 minutes a week if you can't do more.