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So, not sure if anyone else knew, but I am fat. And now, I'm tired of being fat. It is uncomfortable, I crash from my eating habits often, and nothing fits to make me feel good; I'm potato shaped in everything. About 4 years ago, I tried out that Whole Foods diet and lost several pounds, got down to 184; had a tiny bit of belly still but I could wear skinny jeans and my face looked awesome! ^.^ Well, I've been not caring about it since then and I have a real problem with food, particularly sweets. I stress eat and chase flavors even after I am full.

Now I'm moved to Rexburg, I not only want to change my life as far as schooling and career but also physically as well. As I said, I'm tired of it. So far, I haven't suffered any extreme health problems - digestive is fine, knees and joints are fine, back is fine, pancreas is fine, blood pressure is fine, etc. But I am going to be 30 in August and I know it's time to stop messin' around; the machinery will start falling apart soon if I don't make changes and the wear and tear I've already done might make those sorts of issues inevitable anyway.

So, I've only been here a week and my aunt and I are on that 7-day rescue meal plan and she has many more recipes for us to try once we're finished with that. Plus we've been walking in the mornings every day for a mile each day. Drinking water, no more snacking, etc. I've even been walking way more than just a mile a day; one day I walked to campus from where I live and got lost before walking all the way home again; another day I went canvasing for job applications on main street and 2nd East, walking basically nonstop for 2 hours. Plus, once I start school, I'll be walking a whole lot more as well.

I weigh myself once a week on Sunday, so, I don't know my progress yet. But I'm 5'9" and weighed 275 lbs. last Sunday. My goal is 180 lbs. because I got to 184 before but I could have been just a little tighter around the middle and it would have been golden.

Anyway, this is just a place to record my progress and hopefully get some encouragement. I'll also post my favorite recipes that we do with this meal plan. This is where I'm at right now.

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Good luck! You will be buying new garments soon! My sister is very overweight and is losing with a diet for diabetics which allows fats and restricts carbs. She is nurse and worked in cardiac care where all the cardiologists suddenly became very thin! Must have been a research result! The drs went on Atkins. I would like to lose a few so I am writing down what I eat. Best of luck!

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3 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Good luck! You will be buying new garments soon! My sister is very overweight and is losing with a diet for diabetics which allows fats and restricts carbs. She is nurse and worked in cardiac care where all the cardiologists suddenly became very thin! Must have been a research result! The drs went on Atkins. I would like to lose a few so I am writing down what I eat. Best of luck!

Thank you, Sunday! ^_^ Good luck to you too! I want to make this a complete lifestyle change, which is why I didn't want to do something like Atkins or the Whole Foods diet again(it's basically vegan with the premise of "cooking vegetables and fruits 'kills' them, so, they need to be raw in order for you to get their nutrients; here's some cold veggie soups and fruit smoothies!"). I hear Atkins is great as well for losing the weight but I can't give up the meat to do the whole foods thing and I love bread and pasta which isn't atkins just meat and low carbs? And I ultimately cannot give up the sweets, not entirely. My desire is to treat food in a more healthy manner and to have balance so that I can sustain this for the rest of my life. Writing it down is a good idea.

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@mustardseed. I think if you find something that works for you, this is the big thing! If you have a plan that you like, go for it! Some vegeatables are better cooked eg carrots release more nutrients cooked. If you are eating lots of raw food, your stomach may not be happy. If your stomach is okay with raw food, don't worry. Any plan is better than no plan. The advantage of a diet is that you change your eating habits and plan your meals. You have started your new life! Yeah!

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I've been trying to lose weight and exercise this year, with some success. My observation is as follows:

  • If you want to get stronger, then exercise.
  • If you want to lose weight, then eat less.

Seems obvious, but so many people think that by walking an extra half hour or doing some pushups, they can go ahead and have that hamburger and milkshake. That is generally not how it works, though. You actually have to do a lot of work to "burn off" calories. A couple of extra miles walked or a half hour workout just won't do much for the weight concerns.

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2 minutes ago, Vort said:

I've been trying to lose weight and exercise this year, with some success. My observation is as follows:

  • If you want to get stronger, then exercise.
  • If you want to lose weight, then eat less.

Seems obvious, but so many people think that by walking an extra half hour or doing some pushups, they can go ahead and have that hamburger and milkshake. That is generally not how it works, though. You actually have to do a lot of work to "burn off" calories. A couple of extra miles walked or a half hour workout just won't do much for the weight concerns.

Good points to remember. Thank you, @Vort and good on you for your success as well. :D

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SPOILER ALERT ~ ~ LONG POST

 

I am 65 yo., was diagnosed in 2007 w/ Type II diabetes. In the winter of 2010 Hubby & I moved back to the Oregon Coast and that is when my diabetes went off the charts. Very long story there so I won't go into that. Last Nov Hubby and I went to a new care provider when my old one refused to work with my *Diabetic Team* that I had been trying to get together to see for nearly a year.

My team consists of: Endocrinologist, her Nurse Practitioner, Diabetic Nutritionist (who is a member of the church btw), Diabetic Nurse Counselor. All are part of the Samaritan Health Services. What Hubby and I love is that they are all connected via the internet/computer. Within 15 minutes of our visits we can go on-line to our own personal MyChart and there is a summary of what occurred during our visits. Within three to five days days of blood tests, pelvic exams, mammograms, x-rays, etc. - those results are posted to MyChart.

To get my diabetes under control and get my A1c's down, I have been going to the Nutritionist every two weeks, and the Endo NP every month. At first they had me chart my numbers in the morning at waking, before each meal, 1 hour after each meal and then just before I went to bed. I injected fast acting insulin a maximum of 15 minutes before each meal according to a sliding scale based on my sugar levels, then 1 doze of slow acting at bedtime.

Back in Oct of 2013 - I ended up in the Hospital with an Acute Pancreatitis attack. At that time they thought it was the result of two new HB pressue meds I had only been on for a month. Once I was able to be discharged (9 days later), I was put on yet another new med and within 3 days was back in the ER - water around my heart. 12 hours later was released and the Dr put me on my old HB pressure med. Then in Nov 2016 had another attack of the pancreatitis. This time it was the amount of fats I had been eating.

The three day Diabetic Management class I had gone to in 2015 taught us that we needed to count our carbs, and that we could have all the fats we wanted. Cheesy, buttery sauces, etc. So I drastically reduced the carbs: potatoes, flour gravys, cereals, cakes. Increased the raw to nearly cooked vegetables swimming in high fat dips, & sauces plus ice cream.

So, after the last attack I set up an appointment with the Endocrinologist and she set me up with the nutritionist and the counselor. They all got together as *my team* and that is when I was put on a Low Fat, total carbs divided by 3 = # of units of insulin as a base plus 2 units more per sliding scale of sugar levels taken maximum of 15 minutes before I eat each meal AND snack. Unless the snack has NO carbs at all. Low fat equals out to 30 grams per day divided by carbed meals each day. At 3 meals, then that is maximum of 10 grams per meal. The total grams can NOT be used at only one meal. My poor pancreas cannot handle more than the 10 grams per meal.

So since starting this Low Fat (it is way easier to just do NO fat) diet I have lost a grand total of 40 pounds! From the middle of Nov 2016 to the end of May 2017 that is about 6.66 pounds a month. I have dropped 1.5 sizes.

Oh, my last visit to the nutritionist she had me reduce my salt intake. I really don't cook with a lot of salt. BUT I do use processed foods. No more with the hot dogs, pizzas, sausage, etc. Yet the canned vegetables I still eat, V8 juice, spaghetti sauce in a jar, etc. So now along with reading the labels for total per serving fat, carbs and dietary fiber amounts - I also have to count the sodium amounts. No more than 2300 grams total per day.

One thing Hubby never told me was his Dr told him to reduce his salt intake to 2500 grams total per day. That sure would have been nice to know at the time. Since I have reduced the salt my blood pressure has dropped from dangerously high to Pre-High.

I have known most of my life, that ones diet needs to be a life time deal, not just until you lose 10-25 pounds to get into that dress you just bought that is one to two sizes too small. My Mom and two older sisters have been on nearly every fad diet there has been. At least the ones that don't cost 1,000's of dollars. BUT we were raised on what my little sister calls Poor Foods. Lots of flour gravy's, home made bread, butter, jams/jellies, pasta casseroles, potatoes and more potatoes. In other words: Carb laden starches smothered in cheesy, buttery sauces.

Your walking is great - but also try cutting back on the amount of fats. 10 grams per meal is a drastic amount and probably way low for you. Talk with a nutritionist if you can. Also cut back on your sodium amounts. Eat more raw vegetables or slightly cooked. Decrease your consumption of processed foods. Read the labels. Shocked Hubby when he read the fat amount per hot dog! And the carbs per serving. On a bottle of Root Beer, he first saw 62 or 67 carbs. Then I asked him how many servings. 2.5 servings!! For a 12 oz bottle of soda pop!

My nutritionist wants me to quit eating rice. It is all carbs. Well yes white, enriched rice is. I also hate that stuff. I make my own blend of rice. Equal parts of Forbidden Black rice, Lundberg Wild Blend, Lotus Madagascar Pink, Lotus Volcano, Organics Wild Blend, Mahatma Basmati. Mix all of these together, then for 1/3 cup dry = 1 serving, the average totals of carbs 44; fat 1.5; dietary fiber 2.5. Each and every time I eat rice, I don't have any other carb with the meal. I take the correct amount of insulin and one hour after I eat my sugar levels have not stayed the same, they have decreased!

 

 

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My Team want me to exercise. Cardio exercises. I hurt and don't want to. I have neuropathy and my legs, feet and hands HURT. They tell me that once I get into an exercise regime, then the hurt will lessen.

On the 4th Thursday of the month I do my major grocery shopping. Takes nearly 8 hours. I consider that my exercise. Also when I do laundry, vacuum and clean the bathroom, I consider that exercise. They don't! So, here I sit in front of my computer while the stationary bike is at the foot of the King Bed in the bedroom gathering clothes & dust!! One reason I don't do the bike is the seat is up too high (originally this was Hubby's and he is 6'2", I am 5'3.5") & it just won't loosen to be shortened. The therepist told me to sit in a straight backed chair behind the seat and operate the pedals that way, and to work out my arms, hold two cans of vegetables and 'flap' etc. with my arms as my legs do the pedals.

 

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@a mustard seed,

No matter what method you use to lose weight, everyone must face the scientific reality indicated in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIlsN32WaE

To me this means that any diet program is only one side of the equation.  The other half MUST include some cardio.  Walking a lot is going to pay lots of dividends.

I spent over a month cutting my food. I only lost a couple of pounds.  One reason was that I didn't really alter my activity level.  I needed to combine the reduced food intake with some additional exercise.  And I simply wasn't doing that.  Now that I know better, I find that I simply don't have time.

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I theorize people are overweight for different reasons, so the same approach won't work for everyone.

Last year I lost 60 pounds over 6 months by constraining my calories between 1200 and 1500 per day, so that worked for me.  I needed to lose some weight because my father had a heart attack at 44, ten years older than I currently am (granted, he smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and drank booze all the time and was considerably more obese than I ever have been).  I would skip breakfast, have a dosa for lunch, and have a healthy dinner.  I would not go below 1200 calories a day, though - that dips into anorexic levels.  (Sad to say, wildly excessive intake of diet coke helped me maintain my sanity during this time).

That worked for me.  I had done the South Beach Diet a couple of times in the past, but I stopped doing that when I read that a 16 year old girl had sudden cardiac failure on the Atkins diet (which utilizes basically the same principles).

Edited by DoctorLemon
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Well, let's see; every miracle diet, superfood, and magic easy workout plan has morbidly obese people shilling for it on Facebook.  Look back through their photos for a couple years, and then ask yourself if it's done anything at all for them.

I bike 5-30 miles a day for the last year and a half. I'm in a jiujitsu class 4 hours a week, and Modern Arnis 2 hours a week, plus occasionally visiting the kenpo dojo across town for an extra hour workout.  I've only lost 12 pounds, and 4" off my gut, but I'm still far from having a six pack even after 18 months.  I doubt I'll hit that point if I keep up this level for another year, so I'm now adding in the weekly dances at the local senior citizens center.  (They're open to the public, $5, and include free food, plus I'm only about 10-15 years from being a part of that crowd anyway.  The little old ladies are happy to get someone who can stand upright to two-step or swing, and sometimes bring their divorced daughters that are in my age range.)  Walking a mile or two a couple times a week isn't a long term fitness plan.  It's something you do for a few weeks at most until your body is used to moving around for an hour daily, and then you need to up the intensity.  If you can chat on the phone during your "workout," you need to at least double the intensity.

Short version; if it's easy, it's not going to work.  Dedicate the effort to get your body used to a much higher activity level, then look for fun ways to keep it there.

Edited by NightSG
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5 hours ago, Vort said:

I've been trying to lose weight and exercise this year, with some success. My observation is as follows:

  • If you want to get stronger, then exercise.
  • If you want to lose weight, then eat less.

Seems obvious, but so many people think that by walking an extra half hour or doing some pushups, they can go ahead and have that hamburger and milkshake. That is generally not how it works, though. You actually have to do a lot of work to "burn off" calories. A couple of extra miles walked or a half hour workout just won't do much for the weight concerns.

I seem to recall a foods teacher in high school saying it would take a full run around the football field to burn off an M&M.

My sister is having an interesting experience this summer. She is overweight and is on a fitness plan. She is also single-handedly clearing out the bushes in our parents' backyard and putting in a patio and firepit. She observed to me yesterday she has not lost too many pounds at all from this, but feels incredibly strong and toned despite no real changes in her diet.

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Omg! I get home and so many people in my thread! :D Thank you so much everyone for your advice and suggestions, they're really helpful as I start this journey in trying to get healthy. And I do want to emphasize that; this isn't a diet as in, "a goal achieved". I want to be able to enjoy sweets and pasta and things without feeling chained to it; my eating habits before made it so that I desired a whole pot of fettucine alfredo and would only stop once I started feeling sick; or a whole tub of swedish fish because it's in the cupboard and I can't just let it be in there. And then it's in my butt or in my thighs or makes it so that I dont have energy to do anything; it's ridiculous! Enough! I just want to be at a reasonable body size and be able to eat a small plate of pasta every once in a while without literally losing my identity like some weird pasta fiend. And I know this ideal will take a lot of work. To clarify, my history with weight loss:

I got fed up before and tried the whole foods fad diet to lose weight. It consisted of soups and smoothies because none of the veggies were cooked. No dairy, no meat, some whole grains, and do it yourself softening of hard legumes for protein.

I lost a ton of weight in a short amount of time because most of my diet was liquid. I did no exercise so I plateaud at 184 lbs. Kept eating the same way and sitting on my butt, could not lose a pound more for a whole month before giving up and eating whatever I wanted.

Fast forward to now, I'm on the 7-Day Meal Rescue plan by some woman, not sure who, with a full packet for meals that you can do for a whole year. Veggies, fruits, some meat, some fish, and morning smoothies, with smaller portions, less salt, and limited fats.

I know that exercise needs to come with it, especially if I want to make this a regular thing and a total lifestyle change. I still haven't gotten my track yet but I've already walked all over campus; it will be a nightmare if I don't start practicing now and work up to a consistent method of movement. So, yes, I know a mile a day won't cut it. Thats all I can do right now; I started at "couch potato/'what were these boots made for? Huh?'" level so walking a mile is still a bit of a challenge for me. Pretty soon though, in a day or two, we'll be able to extend the route to about 2 miles. I'm hoping eventually to go to a local gym and participate in cycling and other exercise classes. I'm just at the point still, where if I try now, I'll not be able to keep up and I'll likely feel discouraged by that. My goal is to continue to walk daily, on top of whatever walking I do to go to classes, and a couple times a week, going to a class at the gym.

Again, thank you so much everyone for your suggestions and any other helpful advice you can give me, some pointers and such, I would very much appreciate it.

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Just remember that the best weight loss plan is a life style change, not a diet :) and the best life style change is found in the D+C (D.C. 89) :) and a healthy body is not always a skinny body 

Edited by Fether
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It sounds like you're off to a great start!  A couple ideas to consider:

- One thing that helped me was looking at pounds as well as % and 'new dividend (if that's the right word).  For instance, if I was hoping to see a 4 pound change and didn't reach it, maybe I was now in the 150's or lost another 2% or whatever.  That way I wouldn't be as disappointed.  {hope that made sense}

- One other thing that may help - pick a clothing item to try on *every once in a while*.  This can also be motivating.

- Don't be surprised if 2 weeks out of the month, the numbers don't reflect your effort (women's cycle) so just keep at it.

- Words are powerful and your spirit/body will follow what you tell it so don't be saying 'you're fat' because that's not what you want to be.

- Unless you want to find the weight again, release it instead of lose it.

- You need to address the emotions that got you to this place.  We are physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beings and they're all connected.  If you only address one side of things, your success will be limited.

I'll chime back in if I think of anything else.  You can do this!  Take one day and...step...at a time.

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18 hours ago, my two cents said:

It sounds like you're off to a great start!  A couple ideas to consider:

- One thing that helped me was looking at pounds as well as % and 'new dividend (if that's the right word).  For instance, if I was hoping to see a 4 pound change and didn't reach it, maybe I was now in the 150's or lost another 2% or whatever.  That way I wouldn't be as disappointed.  {hope that made sense}

- One other thing that may help - pick a clothing item to try on *every once in a while*.  This can also be motivating.

- Don't be surprised if 2 weeks out of the month, the numbers don't reflect your effort (women's cycle) so just keep at it.

- Words are powerful and your spirit/body will follow what you tell it so don't be saying 'you're fat' because that's not what you want to be.

- Unless you want to find the weight again, release it instead of lose it.

- You need to address the emotions that got you to this place.  We are physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beings and they're all connected.  If you only address one side of things, your success will be limited.

I'll chime back in if I think of anything else.  You can do this!  Take one day and...step...at a time.

Thank you so much for bringing this up, @my two cents! I used to put more stock in "rooting out the deeper meaning" behind how I feel about things and even now, I acknowledge when my judgements are based on actual actions by other people or just me reacting to my own projections. Things have changed drastically for me emotionally, not just from my return to church 8 months ago but moving across the country. I know that my eating has to do with an insecurity about myself, a lack of self-worth, and a way to "cushion/armor" myself against the world with a layer of fat. I try to focus my weight loss on less a denigration of the fatness but more trying to own being a child of God; I am fulfilling my potential, digging out the girl underneath this layer, who doesn't need wide hips and to take up more space in order to feel confident or noticed. I'm also focusing it a bit upon self-control and trying to challenge those times when I tell myself "Oh, I really need to eat this!" by asking "why?" My mother would often substitute treats and snacks as ways of showing approval, so, I try to challenge that way of comforting myself by replacing it with the satisfaction I feel when accomplishing a long walk or making a dinner with just a few ingredients and yet it tastes so good and is good for me as well.

That's important that you bring that up because it is a big part of why some folks get overweight, because we aren't using food for its nourishment but rather its "emotional" payoff.

Good news! Update! After the first week here, I have lost 4 lbs.! Now, that's after the 4th, which, I kind of went off the rails; still small portions but there was nothing on that day that was good for me at all, lol. So, I'm very proud of myself for losing that much. This morning, my aunt and I extended our walk from a mile to about 3(we walked our normal route and then we walked around the Rexburg temple and I am pretty sure it is a mile from our house, so, that'd be three). It's a pretty big challenge, my feet feeling like unfeeling clubs on the ends of my legs by the time we get home so I'm hoping to keep this up for the rest of the month. I forgot to this morning but I'd like to start timing myself and see if each time I get faster. Once it starts taking me like 15 minutes(what the one mile took me yesterday) then I'll probably start taking those exercise classes at the gym in addition to the morning walk.

Also the diet we're doing is the Beyond Diet by Isabel De Los Rios. We finished the 7-Day meal rescue and are now on the 14 day meal plan, which in those 14 days includes 2 "free days(one a week)" where you can eat whatever you want for just one of the meals, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It helps you stay committed to the plan long term and the meals are great, involving a great mix of veggies and proteins. Like last night, we had chicken fajitas which was just chicken, peppers, and onion, cooked and seasoned. My cousins brought over homemade tortillas so we were able to add a little bit to it. I had 2 and ate fruits and veggies to pad it. And this morning was eggs with tomatoes and spinach, seasoned with salt and pepper. My goal for this next week is to lose another 4 lbs at the least or lose 6 lbs at the most.

One thing I have always struggled with that I need to be better at is drinking more water. I have a 16 oz. bottle that I drink about 2 helpings of each day, sometimes 3. So, that's on my goal list as well, to drink more bottles.

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I recommend purchasing a fitbit.  I love watching how many steps I've taken a day.  And I love that every so often it will tell me, "Okay get out and walk 243 steps."  Just to keep me moving during the day if I've been sedentary too long.  It also lets you know how many calories you have burned in a day.  I love it.  Syncs with my phone and computer.  

My goal of course is always 10K steps a day.  Most days I don't quite make it but close.  Last Saturday I got in 13K steps.  Yayyyy.  

While I may not do a full on workout, walking is also good. :)

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1 minute ago, pam said:

I recommend purchasing a fitbit.  I love watching how many steps I've taken a day.  And I love that every so often it will tell me, "Okay get out and walk 243 steps."  Just to keep me moving during the day if I've been sedentary too long.  It also lets you know how many calories you have burned in a day.  I love it.  Syncs with my phone and computer.  

My goal of course is always 10K steps a day.  Most days I don't quite make it but close.  Last Saturday I got in 13K steps.  Yayyyy.  

While I may not do a full on workout, walking is also good. :)

I'm considering it! My aunt has one and I really like the idea of it and the way you can connect it to everything. Maybe once I get some work and money, I'll get one.

I love walking. It's just easy enough and hard enough. I can't run very good and walking is something I can get out and do with little "extra"(like equipment, clothing, prep, etc.). I can just do a couple stretches and then go.

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1 minute ago, a mustard seed said:

I'm considering it! My aunt has one and I really like the idea of it and the way you can connect it to everything. Maybe once I get some work and money, I'll get one.

I love walking. It's just easy enough and hard enough. I can't run very good and walking is something I can get out and do with little "extra"(like equipment, clothing, prep, etc.). I can just do a couple stretches and then go.

The idea is to move.  Not necessarily get out and walk 3 miles all in one stretch but to move.

That 13K steps I did on Saturday was due to an 8 hour shift working at Hobby Lobby.  You get a lot of steps in doing that. :)

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On 7/8/2017 at 4:58 PM, Carborendum said:

No matter what method you use to lose weight, everyone must face the scientific reality indicated in the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIlsN32WaE

That is the most amazing thing I've seen this year.  Blowing up a balloon, then freezing it to turn the oxygen and the carbon dioxide into a solid.  You are literally exhaling breakfast.  If you lose 10 lbs of fat, you are exhaling 8.4 lbs of CO2, and the rest is water. 

Thank you, Ted talk dude, for making chemistry easy enough for me to understand.

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Mustard Seed,

What's been working for me, I (not totally) stopped eating carbs. well, mostly, you still need carbs to survive. I stopped drinking milk and eating bread. I avoid sugary anything. I count my carbs, eat more meat, fish, bird (Often game hens) and green veggies. It takes a little getting used to. I fill up on salads as snacks along with sugar free jello (Still has Sugar alcohols or substitutes - caution). Then, I walk a lot, I love to walk everywhere, just go walk and see something, anything. I walk around the lake quite a bit, it's nice and cool and there are things to see to keep my mind occupied.  The wife's tolerant of a chubby me, so, I just figure I am looking more attractive for the ducks, I think they're cheering me on, maybe...

Edited by Bad Karma
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8 hours ago, Bad Karma said:

Mustard Seed,

What's been working for me, I (not totally) stopped eating carbs. well, mostly, you still need carbs to survive. I stopped drinking milk and eating bread. I avoid sugary anything. I count my carbs, eat more meat, fish, bird (Often game hens) and green veggies. It takes a little getting used to. I fill up on salads as snacks along with sugar free jello (Still has Sugar alcohols or substitutes - caution). Then, I walk a lot, I love to walk everywhere, just go walk and see something, anything. I walk around the lake quite a bit, it's nice and cool and there are things to see to keep my mind occupied.  The wife's tolerant of a chubby me, so, I just figure I am looking more attractive for the ducks, I think they're cheering me on, maybe...

Thank you for the suggestions and good luck to you too in achieving your goals! Yeah, the Beyond Diet doesn't have any bread or pasta or rice that I can see. I actually feel better eating this way than I have in a long while. I keep my limit of sugary or fatty things to condiments, like mayo or ranch dressing and even then, I use a tsp just to add flavor. Also based on a suggestion from someone else, I've been trying to be more aware of salt and when we add it to things or how much, trying to keep it down. As snacks I eat nuts and fruit, or veggies and hummus. Even still, I try to "forget" about snacking and just last until meal time. I'm a writer; I can do that "lost track of time" thing, lol.

Walking is my fav too. So far at the 1 mile mark, which I can do in 15 min, I get beat and just basically survive the last 2 miles and it takes me an additional 35-40 min. I try not to stop and just to keep going, even if I'm moving snail's pace, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Not so much pretty scenery around here anymore, not like the countryside I came from. Mostly it's pretty neighborhood houses and the beautiful temple grounds. ^^

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Hi @a mustard seed in my experience working with weight-loss clients it is beneficial to reframe goals into controllable behaviours and not focus on the outcome that is not directly in one's control. This is not to say that one doesn't still have intentions to lose weight, but doesn't use weight-loss as the metric of success on the journey. The reasoning for this is fairly simple - since a person doesn't have direct control over their weight it's a punishing measurement to use for gauging success and ultimately leads to attrition from feelings of failure when plateaus inevitably arise. On the other hand if an individual focuses on behaviours, such as walking a mile a day :D and later adds another such as eating three servings of vegetables with each meal and then another like drinking two to three liters of water daily these are entirely in the persons control and can be checked off daily building feelings of success. In this way there are clear guidelines by which success is dictated, independent of the outcome. As far as making sure that the behaviours are relevant to the desired outcome, it is a good idea to re-assess from time to time using the outcome as a guide-post - with weight-loss this is done by having occasional weigh-ins to see if the behaviours are working to create the desired change. If the behaviours have not been working, but someone has been faithfully doing them, then the plan behind the behaviours could need tweaking which usually involves increasing either the time or intensity of physical activity and consuming either smaller portions of food or changing out to higher volumes of food with less calories (more vegetables, less refined grain and meat, possibly eliminating liquid calories except on very special occasions).

With new weight-loss clients the way I like to word this is that I am responsible for devising a plan that works and they are responsible to follow it. If they follow it to the letter and do not see results, than the fault rests with my plan and I will modify it, but they have not failed - the plan has. If however, they have not followed the plan, the fault is with them and not the plan, so the only reason to change the plan is to make it more accessible - essentially building up to it more gradually, otherwise simply changing things up and saying the plan didn't work for them is inaccurate and leads to going in circles because we never actually determined what's working because it wasn't done. When devising your own plan be sure not to associate a failure of a given plan with your own failure, you only fail if you give up entirely. Everybody has unique biochemistry and metabolic needs as well as personal preferences and belief systems, so while the same principles work for *everyone (eat fewer calories/ move more) the application of those principles can vary from person to person as far as what works.

* In some extreme cases with underlying conditions a case can be made for some rare outliers where these principles alone may not get the job done. You've already lost over four pounds so your not one of them.

Edited by SpiritDragon
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I really like the model for change given in the book "Change Anything" and would highly recommend reading it and making a change plan using the strategies outlined. If I get more free time I'll see if I can post the main points for you. You might also enjoy learning about tiny habits for making a big impact with small and simple things.

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