Weight Loss Support Group

It's normal to have a bad day in this.
Then the next day you are motivated to do it better.
Good luck today.

Yesterday, I would have blown it bad had I had junk food in the house.  I wanted something--anything-- so badly.  I felt like a druggie having withdrawals and even got to shaking wishing I had something.  I did eat quite a few cheese cubes, but cheese is naturally low carb.  By supper time, my cravings were gone.

Hit the elliptical machine Tuesday. 2.5 miles almost killed me. Missed yesterday due to my daughter getting hurt at school (see prayer request thread). Will try to go workout today but we have a union meeting this afternoon that I should go too. Plus my wife might need me to leave work early and help w our daughter. As for food, had a piece of deer sausage for breakfast.

I've been eating much smaller portions of meals than I'm used to. I have also restarted my walking routine. I go about 45 minutes a day.Today is the second day of that, and I didn't want to walk because I was already so sore from doing it yesterday. But I went anyway, because that's the only way my body will adjust to it again.

I've got to get back to walking.  Working on guitars in my spare time takes up the time for walking, though.

I've done well until today when I totally blew it.  However, I do not have to stay down.  You are always only one meal away from being back on track.

Let's do this!!!

I really thought that I blew it last week.  I didn't keep track of what I had eaten (strike one), I didn't move much (strike two), but when I hopped on the scale (reluctantly) yesterday, I ended up being down 4 lbs from last week!  Now, truth be told, I think last week's was artificially inflated because of a Papa Johns party at church the day before, but not THAT much. 

That brings me to the first of two questions I wanted to pose to the group.  How do you evaluate your progress?  Do you weigh yourself regularly?  Take measurements?  Go by how your clothes feel?  Something else?

Here's the second question:  How do you feel about "diet" substitutes?  I mean like reduced-fat foods, turkey instead of beef in burgers and sausages, baked chips, etc.  Would you rather just cut back on the "non-diet" versions or have more of the less-caloric versions?  The reason I'm asking is back around Christmas, my wife wanted to do some meatballs in barbecue sauce as an appetizer, so when I went shopping, I got the turkey meatballs instead of the Italian sausage and beef ones because they were lower in fat and calories.  They also have this weird taste.  We also have been getting the Kraft cheese blocks made with 2% milk, and they aren't bad.  Certainly WAAAAY better than reduced fat cheese used to be.  Well, I'm not the most careful shopper, so when I buy cheese, I usually just reach in and pull out whatever happens to be in that section.  So of the four blocks I bought the other day, one of them was regular sharp cheddar.  I opened it last night and it was soooo good.  I'm starting to wonder if I might do better cutting back on "real food" than eating the regular amount of something that doesn't really taste as good.

My 2 cents - Fats in meat and cheese are not that bad for you. It's simple (and some complex) carbs that are bad for you and all the processed junk they put in to make "low-fat" foods taste sort of similar to the normal stuff.

I've been eating much higher (good) fat in my diet than I ever have while trying to stay away from excess carbs and have lost 10 pounds without really trying (and I was only 167 to start) in about a month. Lots of almonds, meat, cheese, eggs, bacon, avocados, etc. while reducing pasta, potatoes, wheat bread, bran flakes, etc.

For your first question, weight and how the waistband fits.

Right now, just eating better is a success!  I weigh and regularly try on shirts that have grown too tight to see how I am doing.  Mostly, though, I can tell by how I feel.  I didn't do as well today as I was home alone due to a snow day from school.  (You Yankees wouldn't understand.  LOL)  I am more tired and groggy feeling today as well.  On days where I have eaten right, I have a lot more energy.

As for eating lower fat foods, don't.  The artificial fats that they add back to foods so they will hold together are poison.  Your body cannot process them, so you store them.....as fat!  You will do better eating smaller portions of foods that you love.  Stay away from prepackaged cheese slices.  Those are made from plastic and only flavored to taste like cheese.  There is very little cheese in them!

alldatndensum wrote:

Right now, just eating better is a success!  I weigh and regularly try on shirts that have grown too tight to see how I am doing.  Mostly, though, I can tell by how I feel.  I didn't do as well today as I was home alone due to a snow day from school.  (You Yankees wouldn't understand.  LOL)  I am more tired and groggy feeling today as well.  On days where I have eaten right, I have a lot more energy.

As for eating lower fat foods, don't.  The artificial fats that they add back to foods so they will hold together are poison.  Your body cannot process them, so you store them.....as fat!  You will do better eating smaller portions of foods that you love.  Stay away from prepackaged cheese slices.  Those are made from plastic and only flavored to taste like cheese.  There is very little cheese in them!

Boy that energy thing is right on!  Funny how that works--our bodies have more energy when they are fueled with the food God made for them, not the ones agri-business makes.

As for snow days, 2-3 inches gets us a 2 hour delay.  Snow plows in Indianapolis don't even go to secondary roads until the snowfall from a single storm reaches 6".

Quote :

As for snow days, 2-3 inches gets us a 2 hour delay.  Snow plows in Indianapolis don't even go to secondary roads until the snowfall from a single storm reaches 6".

There are some winters where 2-3 inches would be our total snowfall for the entire season!  Because of this, we will try to prep roads with a brine spray that does okay on the major highways until it refreezes at night.  Then, instead of snow, we are sliding on a sheet of ice that is too thin to use chains with.  Being a rural county, there are many back roads where they don't salt or plow.  So, running the buses on those roads just doesn't happen.  We've been off for two days now because of two half inch snows that melted off the roads by the afternoon.  As clear as it is right now, it will be back to school for me tomorrow, though!  These three day work weeks are killing me, Smalls! 

Last week I went to a local urgent care clinic with a bad upper respiratory infection.  When I stepped on the scale, I was surprised to learn I had lost ten pounds since starting the new diet around the first of the year.

Thing is that I have not been disciplined as I should in sticking with the diet.  Problem revolves around the URI, which has lasted over a month now and is finally starting to get better.  But I have been so sick I have not had the energy to work out (I like to walk a couple miles in the evening) while also lacking the focus to always stick with the diet as I should.  There are times I have been so out of it that I ate whatever I wanted and did not really care.  But now that I am feeling better look forward to walking more and taking a more disciplined approach to the diet.

Confession time, guys!  I did pretty freakin' good on weeks 1 & 2.  I have been home alone most of this week due to snow and I have done pathetically.  So, instead of celebrating this week, I will be starting a new week.  I will continue my challenge today and tomorrow but add another week.  I owe it to myself and to you guys.

Here's my daily Bible verse from YouVersion yesterday:

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So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up.  Galatians 6:9

I can honestly say that this is what I did.  I just gave up and gave in.  So, today I must kick myself in the pants and pull  myself up by my bootstraps.  How can I encourage you to keep going if I cannot lead the charge?

Some of you may tell me not to kick myself so hard.  I don't feel that I am.  I feel that I need to take the lead.  My daily Bible verse for today says this:

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No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.  John 15:13

Now, I know that this refers to Jesus laying down his life for us, but I think that for now this goes under the Law of Double Reference.  It means one thing in context but can mean something more personal when you feel that God is speaking to you through it.  I feel that this was God's gentle nudge that I am not caring for my friends in this as I should by not laying down the truth, laying down the food, and laying down a new week of this challenge that I started.

I apologize, my brothers.  I failed you, but I will stand strong with you & for you now.

I lost six pounds just by using a new scale!

My wife got some fancy schmancy one that checks everything except your blood type (  ), and we figure it's more accurate than the old one.  It certainly explains why I could weigh myself at home buck nekkid, then go to the doctor and weigh five pounds less fulled clothed.

So on 1/1 I weighed 200, according to the old one, and a couple of days ago I weighed 185 by the new one.  While the 15 lb drop looks great in myfitnesspal, I figure I really only lost 9. Still, not too bad for 1.5 months. I'm back up a couple today, but maybe I hadn't pooped yet! LOL

Way to go BearDad!  1.5lb/week is a good rate.

So I know I'm late to this party but I want to jump in.

I started a plant based diet (for a multitude of reasons) in September and lost 38 pounds by the end of the year. Then in January, I loosened up a bit on the reins and have gained almost all of it back. Starting weight in September was 402 - current weight is 382.

I'm still down 20 pounds but when you weigh this much, that's not much. I restarted my plant based diet  yesterday and we'll see how it goes.

Haven't done a weigh in for over a week, but I was down 3 pounds when I last checked. I ran 4 miles yesterday in about 37 minutes and that's pretty good for a 200 pound guy (and it wasn't on the street, it was actually 4 miles on an elliptical machine and the pavement is actually a harder 4 miles than a machine, but still it felt good). I had the machine set on 40 minutes and finished right around 37 minutes. As for diet, still too much junk but I had a taco salad last night with grilled chicken and fat free refried beans and we grilled out chickens over the weekend and I am still eating on those. Will try to go another 4 miles this afternoon.

I am down two but that is all.  I seem to be better at calling you guys out than sticking to this myself.  I did great my first two weeks of my challenge.  Week 3 went downhill and 4 is not any better.

I need someone to kick me into high gear!

I'm low carbing.  Really paying attention this week.

Hey alldat, what seems to be your biggest issue this week?  I know you said last week it was all the time at home out of your routine, so is there something like that happening this week?  I know for me when my routines get disrupted I have a hard time getting back on track.  Back in August I had been doing a variation on the Daniel Plan and then we went to Chicago for my wife's conference and I got away from it and really haven't gotten back to where I was before that.  Anyway, back to you?  Like you've said, we are always one choice away from being back on course.  How can we best support and pray for you?

I haven't been doing well at all, haven't really been exercising and have been eating pretty bad for the last few weeks. That will all end tomorrow as my wife bought some snake oil medicine from one of her friends and we start a new "lifestyle" tomorrow. She even downloaded some app for my phone that is supposed to tell me when and what to eat.

messiaen77 wrote:

Hey alldat, what seems to be your biggest issue this week?  I know you said last week it was all the time at home out of your routine, so is there something like that happening this week?  I know for me when my routines get disrupted I have a hard time getting back on track.  Back in August I had been doing a variation on the Daniel Plan and then we went to Chicago for my wife's conference and I got away from it and really haven't gotten back to where I was before that.  Anyway, back to you?  Like you've said, we are always one choice away from being back on course.  How can we best support and pray for you?

I don't think it is lack of a routine.  To be honest, its just the addiction that is screaming louder than the desire to be free.  I hate to admit that I am a junkie, but that is what I am when it comes to food.  Its embarrassing.

alldatndensum wrote:

messiaen77 wrote:

Hey alldat, what seems to be your biggest issue this week?  I know you said last week it was all the time at home out of your routine, so is there something like that happening this week?  I know for me when my routines get disrupted I have a hard time getting back on track.  Back in August I had been doing a variation on the Daniel Plan and then we went to Chicago for my wife's conference and I got away from it and really haven't gotten back to where I was before that.  Anyway, back to you?  Like you've said, we are always one choice away from being back on course.  How can we best support and pray for you?

I don't think it is lack of a routine.  To be honest, its just the addiction that is screaming louder than the desire to be free.  I hate to admit that I am a junkie, but that is what I am when it comes to food.  Its embarrassing.

I hear ya!  It is really embarrassing to hold a little tiny Snickers bar in your hand and admit that it is stronger than I am.  Still we fight, for there are dragons to be slain!  Prayin' for ya Brother!  You will conquer this!!

Staybrite wrote:

I haven't been doing well at all, haven't really been exercising and have been eating pretty bad for the last few weeks.  That will all end tomorrow as my wife bought some snake oil medicine from one of her friends and we start a new "lifestyle" tomorrow.  She even downloaded some app for my phone that is supposed to tell me when and what to eat.

Oh cool!!! Where can I get some?!?

MikeInFla wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

I haven't been doing well at all, haven't really been exercising and have been eating pretty bad for the last few weeks.  That will all end tomorrow as my wife bought some snake oil medicine from one of her friends and we start a new "lifestyle" tomorrow.  She even downloaded some app for my phone that is supposed to tell me when and what to eat.

Oh cool!!! Where can I get some?!?

You have to wait for Dr Phineas P Remeus to bring his holistic medcine cart to your town......
Or just have your wife get talked into dropping $150 to an "authorized dealer" to punish yourself with the 24-Day challenge from Advocare (tm).