Greetings from Michigan....
 

Hello fellow chickies.........and greetings from Michigan....

Well I actually got to speak with a lady at our church tonight who had
Lapband surgery one year ago...Janurary 2005...she has lost 103 pounds...and looks and feels terrific......
but what was really interesting in our conversation was when I asked her
what she learned about herself from this surgery and year long process of losing this amount of weight....

Interesting enough she said she has learned "portion control"

Now I find this very interesting to me.......as this is something that I work on for myself........cutting my food intake......right now I've gotten to cut down my size portions in half........and I'm doing well with it........

but when I asked her how much she has cut back......she has cut back to 3/4 and is doing great........

so what do you think? Or how much do you cut back?

it was a very enlightening thing for me to ponder and pray about......ummmmmmm

hugs to you all:grouphug:

hey everyone! my name is jen and i also have about 100 pounds to lose... ive got it down to 99 and im 5'4 :( we all can do it if we stick together!!!!

Lois - glad you got a giggle I figure if I cant control myself any better than that, I might as well turn it into a joke...

Glad to hear you did your exercises anyway!

mama4dmkd - Happy to help I wish I could rid this house of all the evil that lurks about tempting me...but it belongs to my dad and brother so I just have to control myself better and not listen when the candy starts talking to me with their siren song....luring me to their resting places like dracula the candybar....instead of wanting to suck my blood they vant to make me fat...
Jokes on them, Im already fat..ha ha ha "But the times they are a'changing" - bob dylan

I think when we have a target calorie amount like with fitday and we eat less than that amount that it becomes a calorie deficit and that is how you lose weight. But you dont want it to go too low because it will affect your metabolism. Also adding exercise will increase the calorie deficit.
does that make any sense?

Dragontush - I would have loved to see you dancing with your daughter. She sounds so cute, I wonder where she picked up that move...ha ha ha

Hurray Cheryl - you are doing great!! the pants fit right, you are exercising you are doing your points...stupid scale obviously has a thing against you and is in cahoots with your scale at home...I wouldnt be surprised if they werent planning to run off with each other....You will lose, it will come...if you dont eat it, it will come..off..that is.

Thanks for the well wishes for my sicko family and myself!

Lori - I bet that was interesting...did you ask about skin shrinking back?? That is one of my big worries that my skin wont shrink back when I am thru losing weight.

My portions are smaller on some things larger on others. Because I can have a cup and a half of strawberries for few calories I eat more of them. If I want a hamburger I just eat the meat patty by itself so that is a reduction. I go by calories on the portion sizes more than anything else. Although I check the serving size of whatever has it listed and base my portion on that when it is applicable. I hope that helps.

Hey Jen - Welcome to the thread! I like your positive attitude!! Keep it coming!!

A calorie deficit isn't the difference between your target calories and calories, eaten, it is the difference between calories burned (used up) and calories eaten.

Now calories burned is always only an estimate - no website can tell exactly how many calories YOU have burned on any day, it can only extrapolate from the information you give it and how many calories an average person your size and height would burn on those activities. And then there's water retention, which adds weight, although nto fat, and there's gaining muscle, which also adds weight.

But, the more muscle you have on your body, the higher your metabolism will go and the more fat you will burn.

To lose a pound of fat, you need to have a deficit of approx 3,500 calories, so if your deficit was 500 every day, you would lose a pound a week.

I was told that if you go lower than 1250 then weight loss will stop or decrease, as your body switches to famine mode and your metabolism drops in an effort to stop you starving. Eventually you would lose weight, but you'll lose weight quicker if you keep it over 1250.

Portion Size according to WW
 

Lori....Portion size according to WW are the following...1 cup is the size of a tennis ball or you fist. Small bagel, hamburger bun or muffin is 3 inches. A large bagel, slice of bread or large muffin is 4 inches or the size of a CD. A small piece of fruit is about the size of a tennis ball, your fist, or a light bulb. A large (5") baked potato is about the same length as a light bulb. When it comes to side dishes, a scoop or 1/2 cup is roughly equivalent to a small computer mouse.
A portion of salmon or halibut is about the length and width of an audio cassette. For a portion of meat, keep the image of the palm of your hand, a deck of cards, or an audio cassette in your mind. 1 oz cubed cheese in equivalent to six small dice. 1/4 cup shredded cheese resembles a golf ball. An appropriate cheese slice is the standard slice available in the dairy case of your local grocery. Snack foods..One way to control protions is to buy snack foods in single-serve size. However, if you prefer to buy the big bags, a portion would be about a handful. Hope this helps.:)

Darn... someone is at my door. :( Be back later.

Cheryl

Happy Groundhog Day . . .

What's happening with your local rodent? My bet is we're getting six more weeks of winter no matter what.

Our blizzard didn't really leave a lot of snow . . . at least not by our usual standards. We only got about 14/15 inches and it's supposed to be raining and 50 degrees again on the weekend. Really strange winter.

A lot of good advice floating around here already this morning. I certainly agree that what (i.e., quality of food) is just as important as how much (i.e., quantity of food). You need to eat nutrient-dense, but calorie-light as much as possible -- fruits and vegetables, lean protein, naturally complete grains.

One of the main problem with too few calories is ensuring that your body is getting the nutrients it needs. A diet poor in nutrients is probably OK (although not recommended) for those who only need to lose a few pounds and can do it in a short perod of time. For those of us who are going to be at it for a long while, we definitely need to make sure we eat healthy.

Here's a general rule of thumb for balancing your diet that works well for me . . . Try to envision everything as being spread out on a plate. Cover 1/2 of the plate with vegetables (the lighter, lower carb, type as much as possible). Divide the other half of your imaginary plate just about equally between starch (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread) and lean protein. Oh yeah, the only thing you can pile high is salad :D

Anyway, gang, have a great day. We'll talk to you soon. :carrot:

oops robsia, you caught me...my bad.

Cheryl - was that a masked man at the door bearing roses? Thanks for the visuals on the portion sizes. I stink at portion sizes. I got a small plate and a small oriental style bowl and I use those. I figure the bowl is about 1.25 cups and the plate is a salad size plate so it holds much less food and I dont fill it up all the way and there is not seconds.

Fortunately the benefit of the flu is everything tastes terrible and i dont much care if I eat. Although I must be getting better because I was craving bran flakes this afternoon. oh boy, what a craving!

meowee - I like the idea of dividing up the plate visually...I will start using that except no starch on South Beach. Except I've added back green peas because I love them. ha ha

I figure it is okay as long as I am still losing weight. My two big no-nos on South Beach: bran flakes and green peas....boy is this living or what?

Great ideas from everyone on here!
 

thanks for the info Lori. I too have an "apron" overhang and I have very large dangling upper arms. So I worry about it. I am low income on SSD so I doubt I will be able to have any surgery which is why I am concerned. I guess it is not worth staying fat for though might as well just do as you say and concentrate on diet and exercise and let the chips fall as they may.

:welcome: Jen. Looking forward to getting to know you. Just hop in any old time. :D

Garnetfairy...Loved what you said about the scales! Actually, I had a good laugh over it. :goodscale No, I didn't get roses. Darn!! It was UPS with a package for Jim.

Not much going on. :dizzy: I had a really good day today, stayed within my points and got my exercising in. I also drank tons of water.
Hope you all have a great evening.

Cheryl

I only have a minute, but wanted to share my successes for today. My son had skating for kindergarten and afterwards he and a friend were begging to go to McDonalds. We took them and decided to let myself have a cheeseburger. Had about 5 fries as well-- but much better than the QuarterPOunder with cheese meal supersized!
Also, it was a crazy morning and was a treadmill day which I wasn't able to get done before we went to skating. So it was 2 pm after we got home and a couple phone calls made and that's the time of day I just want to sit and veg with a diet coke! But I got my workout clothes on and got on that treadmill and did a half hour. I did my walk/run and even made it running for 5 minutes without stopping! YAY!
And one more...dinner was tacos tonight, but I added ff refried beans and brown rice, loads of tomato and spinach leaves and only about a tsp. of cheese. Tasted great! Anyway- patting myself on the back for a great day.
Hope everyone else is doing great too!
I'll check in tomorrow... :wave:

Happy Thursday1
 

Hey gals! Just taking a moment to pop in and check up on you all. Moms busy with my little one doing one of her games.

I've been staying on target so far this week, but I've only budged 1/2lb. I thought that I would lose faster this week cuz last week was so slow. But I do have a non-scale victory! Today I bought two pairs of pants, size 18! I can button them up and sit down! But I still want to give it a few more lbs. before I would feel totally comfortable wearing them out.

Then my sister phones and asks if I had lost anymore, I said only a pound since I last told her. Then she says, she's wondering if her scales were right, cause it said she was down 17lbs.!! (since late Dec.) This is the girl eating KFC, icecream, kraftdinner, fries, pepsi, basically whatever she wants but gets on the gazelle every other night. I was soOOOOOooo discouraged, I'm walking my legs off, counting every calorie, and she drops it like that. Basically no effort!! She says that she's had a bad flu this week and hasn't been drinking like she's used to, maybe lost water weight. Dear God I hope so, cause if it's that easy for her, I would be so discouraged!! After all of that, I still managed to scrape up enough UMPH to take my evening walk on the mill. I'm not giving up that easily, after all I have to look at this as MY JOURNEY, not anyone elses. Besides I did buy size 18 today!

Robsia, as strange as this may sound, I like reading that someone feels the same as I do today. And the more I read your post the more I agree with the old fat/new fat theory! I guess we both knew it was going to slow down sooner or later, but it still sucks when it does.

Linda, I saw the storm you and the more eastern prov. had on the news yesterday. Yikes! I'm greatful for the beautiful sunshine we had these past two days. I enjoyed the tidbit about cold water also. I've been having a little more ice in my glass today!

Garnetfairy, I recall asking my mom today, why is chocolate, cake and cookies so fatty? Of course it would all have to be my favorite! I enjoy a little low-fat icecream after dinner every evening, that seems to satisfy my chocolate craving for the day. I wouldn't want to deprive myself of everything I love! Make chocolate a friend not an enemy. Congrats on another 2lbs. lost!

Lois, seems like AF is visiting a lot of us here at the same time. It sure drains a gal (pun intended!) I have no umph for nothing this week. I'm glad to see you're still sticking with your exercise, and had a better day today.

Dragontush, hang in there! You still got the powerful drive in you somewhere. Just somedays, it's a little harder to find and put into use. Seems a few of us are feeling a little lagged these past couple of days too.

cheryl, you are doing great! Seeing that you're not letting the scale slow you down is very motivating. Thank you for that!

Lori, I think cutting your portions in half is very reasonable. Comparing that to someone whose stomach can't fit as much anymore compared to ours. I think we'd feel starved! That's a huge reason why most ppl give up on losing weight.

Jen, welcome!! Looks like you have made an awesome start! Looking forward to getting to know you better and sharing this journey with you.

Well, I shall get back to my mother and settle in for survivor. I'm glad I got my walk done earlier tonight so I can sit down and relax. I feel so tired these past couple of days. Have a great evening girls. May we all wake to a happy, healthier and Hopefully a lighter us!

~Tina

You'll are not going to believe this!!!!
 

You'll are not going to believe this!!!!! I just couldn't stand it anymore! So I stepped on the scales I had beaten my 3/1/06 goal by 3 pounds!!!! :goodscale I don't expect to keep losing weight this fast. But, It is a wonderful incentive to keep going! Yeah me!!! :cheer:

It was looking like rain so I went to Wal-mart to walk! So I bought grocery's while I was there Yuck! :stress: I have found one thing out I do not like being on a diet and grocery shopping at the same time! I read the labels of every can, box, or package I picked up! Oh well that is done for a few days anyway!

Our rodent saw his shadow, but (knock on wood) we haven't had much cold weather anyway! This is MS! I can only remember a hand full of times that is has actually snowed! My little boy ask Santa for snow this year! I told him that was just not possible!

I also wanted to say :wel3fc: to all the new losers!!!

Talk to everyone Later! Hugs :grouphug: to all!


ONE KISS PER 5lb LOST- :chockiss: :chockiss:

YES YES YES!!!

It's gone, it's gone, it's gone!!

*Does happy dance*

I was 198.8 this morning so I lost that last stubborn 0.5 lb I've been trying to shfit since last Saturday and 0.2 lb as well.

Valentine's Day goal well and truly demolished!!!

So my next goal now is 12 pounds by St Patrick's Day - that's down to 187 by 17/3/6. That's exactly 2 pounds a week.

Tina - congrats on getting into size 18 pants!! I'm not sure what feels better - seeing the scales drop or getting into a new size! Scales can deceive, i.e. water weight, muscle weight, but clothes don't!!! Well done you!

mama4 - wow - that's fantastic!! Congrats on getting past your goal - way to go!!!!