hoosier436's Journal, 05 May 2014

Focus on 5 or 10 pounds at a time. When you hit that goal, reward yourself with a non food item. A new exercise outfit or workout etc. whatever motivates you. A pound a week is great and mostly doable. Sometimes we do everything right and we stay the same or see a gain. Our bodies are made up of 60% water so many things cause it to fluctuate and sometimes hide our loss for the week (ex: sodium, sore muscles from exercise, hormones, stress, sickness, lack of sleep, inflammation, and other factors). As long as you stick with it you will be fine. If something stops working, change it up. Good luck! 

Wish we have a "Like" button.. thanks Suzi.. 

LOTS of luck. You can do it. 2 lbs a week from time to time ...  

I too have a long ways to go but we shall get there one day. Day by day and those days urn into months and your weight loss will be more, less, etc...You will do great. Go by what I call decades or loses of 10 and then think how long it will take me to get into the next lower decade and I focus on that. Plus I do not compare me or my loss with others as we are all different. Good luck.... :)  

I'm not saying go against anything your doctor tells you. However I would think that with that much weight to lose it wouldn't be unreasonable to drop more that a pound a week in the beginning. 

The calorie counting is time consuming at first. But after a couple of weeks, you'll discover the food combinations and quantities that work for you. It will become second nature and have very little impact on your time. I don't know your specifics, and would verify anything you intend to do with your doctor. But, I would think if you set your calorie count appropriately, and stick to it - you should be able to do 2-3 lbs a week no problem - maybe even more. As you get close to your goal weigh, things will slow up a little. You just have to stick with it. Get your arms around the fact that you are making a change for life, and it will take some time to reach your goal. It will be hard at first, but once you start seeing results, you'll WANT to stick with it.  

My approach to diets is that it is a simple matter of calories in and calories out - unless of course there is some underlying medical issue. Do a google search for "MIT Carson Chow". He created a mathematical model of the human body in this regard. You want to find his body weight simulator. Using it, you can play around with calorie counts, etc and get a pretty good idea of much you can eat or what period of time to achieve any goal you set. I am not sure if links work on this forum, but here is one: http://www.niddk.nih.gov/research-funding/at-niddk/labs-branches/LBM/integrative-physiology-section/body-weight-simulator/Pages/body-weight-simulator.aspx 

One other thing I just noticed in your food diary for today. The numbers look wrong for Orville Redenbacher pop corn. I have noticed that some foods are incorrectly listed in the database. Its good to verify the numbers that come up from the database with the actual product packaging. 

Instead of concentrating on my weight in numbers while dieting I turned to Pinterest and their healthy recipe ideas. I found that if I could make it into a goal of finding healthy alternatives rather than focusing on the numbers it almost became like a game. Eventually I started losing weight naturally via a "how yummy can I make this" type of game. Working out was the other half of the battle. Start small, work your way up. You're not alone - good luck.  

Hoosier, ask yourself this -- if you DON"T do this, where will you be in August 2016? Personally I've set pretty conservative goals for myself. Different levels of aggressiveness work for different people. I TOTALLY agree with Leahskii about finding ways to make what we're eating taste really good. If I'm not enjoying what I'm eating, I know I won't stick with a plan that will eventually get me to where I want to be.  

Thanks for all of the advice.. the popcorn.. well I have decided that I will be eating more salads (more than what I am doing now-- and it is alot) when I get the munchies (ok salads are the only thing I do not keep track of, including the dressing.. my cheating food)... Thanks Vickie for the advice, well to all of you really. That is a motivation for me, due to my April blood work that was done, and all of the danger signs that were not there before (at my wife's work on a yearly bases they have free blood work that we can have done).. I thought, before I started "lifestyle eating habit change", I knew what that meant-- but now, even after a month and a half into it, I am beginning to understand. I am seeing calories as money-- the more that I eating unhealthy, the more money that I am spending... it is really that important to spend that money? I see myself after thirty minutes of walking 3 miles an hour and seeing I burned only 130 some odd calories, and then seeing a Granola bar covered with chocolate having 140 calories, is that really worth the 30 min on a treadmill? As Al, on Home Improvement, said "I don't think so Tim!" But I would be willing to be on the treadmill that is healthier.. Ok folks sorry I got a lot on my mind.. Thanks for the advice, and for the input.. 

Hoosier - you really can do this. If you watch your calories, you are going to achieve your goals - period. As far as weight loss is concerned (weight loss, not overall health), your biggest impact will come from what you eat. Low to moderate exercise will have an impact, but as you pointed out, it will be small in comparison to watching what you eat. HOWEVER, even low to moderate exercise will have other healthy impacts to your overall cardiac wellness, resting heartrate, blood pressure, chloresterol, etc.