300 to 250 in 5 months...

sillywilly221

sillywilly221

New member
I'm just going to say, Wow.

I joined this Forum about a year ago and I weighed 270. I took a new job and relocated to a new city. I have a fantastic career and a great life.

Somewhere along the way, I focused too much on my job and not enough on my health. I now weigh 300 lbs. If I don't get control of this, I'll weigh 400 lbs within the next 5 years...

I am here for support. My goal is to lose 50 lbs before Christmas. I know I can do it because I have poor eating habits and I don't exercise often. By changing both and being consistent, I can make this happen.

Thanks for listening!
 
7/16/08

Yesterday was good.

I worked out in two sessions. The first in the afternoon. I did 60 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of upper body lifting. The second was in the early evening. I did 60 more minutes of cardio and 10 more minutes of upper body lifting.

I ate throughout the course of the day (in order): 1 liter of diet coke, 2 apples, 1 cup of whey protien (20 grams of protien), 1 plum, 1/3 of a baked turkey breast with hot sauce, lots of water, 1 cup of whey protien (20 grams of protien), and 2 cups of frozen stawberries.

I feel sore this morning. I'd love to have my diet/exercise dissected. I'm open to any and all feedback. 50 lbs is 5 months is not an easy task.

Thank you in advance!!!
 
You need some carbs on your diet or else you're going to burn out. Brown rice, whole grain/whole wheat bread or pasta, and veggies are all good ideas for carb intake. Carbs are used as a long term source of energy. Try to eat the majority of your carbs at breakfast/lunch... dinner carbs should be a lot lower (you dont need long term energy to sleep :D). It will give you more energy for your workouts and its a healthy balanced diet you can stick to. The fruit is good, you wanna be careful though, too much sugar can be bad for ya too. The key is, everything in moderation. Oh, you should really try to cut out the diet soda, its empty and stacked with sodium. My advice would be something along the Abs Diet or the Zone Diet. Both focus on the same kinda things.

*Lean meats: Turkey, Chicken, Fish
*Low-fat Dairy: Skim/Lowfat milk, Lowfat cheese, nonfat yogurt, etc
*Healthy Fats: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Nuts (almonds are good), reduced fat pb
*Eggs
*whole grain/whole wheat pasta/bread/wraps (careful how much)
*Whey (you're on track there)
*Veggies (Check out the Glycemic Index for good vs bad veggies)
*Fruit
*Stick with lots of water

I usually try to ration my Carbs/Protien/Fats. 45%/35%/20%
You just have to make sure those carbs are smart, and healthy fats like mono.... not saturated.

Another good thing to do is try to eat every 3-4hrs but make your portions small. Keep that metabolism running.
 
nc_bmac08 said:
You need some carbs on your diet or else you're going to burn out. Brown rice, whole grain/whole wheat bread or pasta, and veggies are all good ideas for carb intake. Carbs are used as a long term source of energy. Try to eat the majority of your carbs at breakfast/lunch... dinner carbs should be a lot lower (you dont need long term energy to sleep :D). It will give you more energy for your workouts and its a healthy balanced diet you can stick to. The fruit is good, you wanna be careful though, too much sugar can be bad for ya too. The key is, everything in moderation. Oh, you should really try to cut out the diet soda, its empty and stacked with sodium. My advice would be something along the Abs Diet or the Zone Diet. Both focus on the same kinda things.

*Lean meats: Turkey, Chicken, Fish
*Low-fat Dairy: Skim/Lowfat milk, Lowfat cheese, nonfat yogurt, etc
*Healthy Fats: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Nuts (almonds are good), reduced fat pb
*Eggs
*whole grain/whole wheat pasta/bread/wraps (careful how much)
*Whey (you're on track there)
*Veggies (Check out the Glycemic Index for good vs bad veggies)
*Fruit
*Stick with lots of water

I usually try to ration my Carbs/Protien/Fats. 45%/35%/20%
You just have to make sure those carbs are smart, and healthy fats like mono.... not saturated.

Another good thing to do is try to eat every 3-4hrs but make your portions small. Keep that metabolism running.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I thought fruit had "good carbs." Am I wrong on this?
 
You're right, it does have some. But fruit can't be your only source of carbs. It would be too much sugar.
 
I found my magic bullet!

Homemade, chilled green tea. To clarify, two green tea bags and 1/2 a gallon of water = enough to get me between meals. I need the caffeine to stay energized, but I cringed at the thought of drinking excess amounts of coffee and/or diet soda. Now, I've found an alternative that has no sugar, anti-oxidents, and almost no calories. Score!

Any downfalls I'm not seeing here? I'm still eating plenty of protein and salads as the sources of my energy.
 
Studies have also shown the green tea may increase your metabolism, I'm pretty sure I read about that in Shape magazine, but it could have been fitness. I try and drink a cup or two a day also but I have a green tea white tea blend because sometimes it hurts my tummy.
 
I'm back - 307.

I'm going the wrong way! Travel, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, convenient eating...I know the problems...why can't I resist?

I know what I want.

Today is going to be the day. Something about today...

"You are today, the result of the decisions you made yesterday."
 
What I've discovered about myself over the last 30 days of struggling...

I'm addicted to food. It isn't that I want it...it is that it gives me a reason to take a break.

I need to break this trend. I'm off of soda altogether. Let's see how today goes.
 
sillywilly221 said:
What I've discovered about myself over the last 30 days of struggling...

I'm addicted to food. It isn't that I want it...it is that it gives me a reason to take a break.

I need to break this trend. I'm off of soda altogether. Let's see how today goes.
Click to expand...


I got the same problem.
But eventually you slowly learn that food should be a necessity to keep your body going, and not a comforter to give you something to do, or allow you a break.

I have gone cold turkey on a lot of things these past 17days.
No pop, sugary juices, sweets, white bread or white pasta or rice.
I've fallen down a few times and I made sure I got right back up.

I think it's time for us to crack this habit and get our lives rollin , dont ya think?

U can do it!!! :):party:

Linkin Park :breaking the habit (great song) hehehe
 
Last edited:
Ugotwillugotway said:
I got the same problem.
But eventually you slowly learn that food should be a necessity to keep your body going, and not a comforter to give you something to do, or allow you a break.

I have gone cold turkey on a lot of things these past 17days.
No pop, sugary juices, sweets, white bread or white pasta or rice.
I've fallen down a few times and I made sure I got right back up.

I think it's time for us to crack this habit and get our lives rollin , dont ya think?

U can do it!!! :):party:

Linkin Park :breaking the habit (great song) hehehe
Click to expand...


Thanks for the encouragement! I work from home, which makes it especially tough. All I want to do at the end of the day is get out of dodge.

Good luck on your goals too!
 
Failure to launch...

So two business meetings derailed me yesterday. I went out for Chinese and Italian.

At the Chinese restaurant, I had vegetable lo mien and sesame chicken. I kept my portions in control, but the damage was done.

At the Italian restaurant, I had meaty pasta and breadsticks. Again, kept portions in control, but still...

I'll do better today.
 
Pasta last night and today.

I'm experimenting on how to overcome my hunger. I'm trying fiber.

My thought is that when I feel hungry, if I overload my stomach with fiber it will quell my hunger pangs.

Typically, I'll go out for lunch or dinner if I'm feeling hungry. I'm not the best cook in the world and I despise eating alone if I can avoid it.

I know it isn't the ideal way, but to exchange 250 calories and 15 grams of fiber for the 700+ calories, wasted time going out to eat, and money...well, I think that is a good trade.

Will that much fiber hurt me?

For those concerned about nutrition, I take multivitamins daily, drink copious amounts of water and green tea, and take whey protein before and/or after working out.
 
Stretch marks

I've also had stretch marks around my stomach and in various other places on my upper body since I was 13. They literally formed the first day I was down at the beach with my family. How about that for cruel!

I am looking to lose a great deal of weight. I fear lose skin. I'm betting that if I use cocoa butter multiple time a day in my trouble areas. It'll make a difference.

Thoughts?
 
My pattern...

I've got it down. 45 days of struggling has resulted in:

No breakfast - I've found I don't need it. I roll out of bed and go right to work (home office). Regardless if I ate breakfast or not, I was still painfully hungry at lunch. Breakfast ended up being extra calories.

In lieu of breakfast, I take a multivitamin and 1 gram of CLA. Studies of CLA in human diets show that it tends to reduce body fat, particularly abdominal fat, improves serum lipid profiles, and decreases whole-body glucose uptake. Studies suggest 3 grams daily. I've worked my way up to 3 grams.

Between waking up and lunch, I sip on about 24 ounces of water and 64 ounces of home brewed green tea. The green tea consists of 3 green tea packets from Salada brewed in 64 ounces of water and chilled. I've found this combination to be satisfying and rejuvenating. I've given up all soda and other beverages. Perhaps the lack of the garbage of soda in my diet and influx of positive things in green tea has caused a swing.

Lunch - I have what I want at lunch. This is where I get most of my calories in a day. I limit myself to one plate wherever I go and try to mix good carbs, vegetables, and protien. By not limiting myself, I don't feel deprived throughout the day. I've found this to be quite effective. I've started taking 2 grams of CLA with lunch.

Between lunch and dinner, I drink another 64 ounces of green tea. For those of you counting, that is a gallon a day. I also drink 24 more ounces of water.

Dinner - I usually don't get hungry again until somewhere between 7 PM and 9 PM. In the past, I'd order a pizza, grab fast food, or eat something unhealthy. Now, I pop a bag of popcorn! Sounds simple, but supplanting those high calories binges with a 220 calories substitute devoid of sugar and fat, but packed with fiber has been a godsend.

Exercise - This is one area I need to improve. I'm struggling with finding the right time of day to exercise that will be sustainable. I am not a morning person. If I work out at lunch, I lose up to 3 hours in the middle of a busy workday (when combined with lunch and showering to get clean). The evening seems to be the best option. My only problem is that if I workout after 7 PM, I am up until 1 or 2 in the morning...I can't have that happen.

I look forward to your critiques.
 
Just to start off, I'm no expert in this area and i am going to give you my two cents.

Your motivation to lose weight is great, you know what you want and where you want to be but having trouble getting there. I really think you need to work with your eating habits. No breakfast, whatever for lunch and popcorn for dinner??? How long do you think you can realistically keep this up? You need to change your lifestyle.

Make sure you read the stickied threads in nutrition if you haven't already. You should really figure out how many calories you are required to eat to lose weight. Then make up six meals a day. I did this because i never wanted to be hungry and eating 6 times always kept me full. I used a lot of high volume and low cal foods to make sure i was full. Salads with lunch and dinner, that sort of stuff.

Always make sure you are prepared with healthy snacks. If you ever get hungry and dont have a healthy snack available you will reach for the easiest, which usually is junk.

Measure all your portions so you are as accurate with your calorie counts. People are surprised when they see how small portions are. Journal your food. This helps when you want to see why you had a good or bad week.

Don't be afraid to eat a meal from home when you are at business meetings at work. I'd be sitting in meetings when they are passing around a menu for lunch. I would pass because i brought my own salad. At first they poked fun but after they saw how serious i was they were supportive.

Hope this stuff helps and stay motivated. You can do this.


Matt
 
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