Alo (:

[H0ney]

Hello! I'm currently working on losing about 80 lbs (90 total, but I've lost 10 so far). I'm 20 years old and according to statistics I'm obese.
I'm looking for ways that are most effective for weight loss.
Currently, I do 1mi-1.5mi on the elliptical and 1mi - 2mi on the treadmill a day. Occasionally, I do Jillian Michaels workouts with a coworker (when she's willing). The Jillian Michaels workouts I do are "30 day shred" and "No More Trouble Zones".
After losing the first ten pounds all I've been doing is fluctuating my weight.
I started out 226lbs. I'm now 211-215. And for the past week and a half I haven't seen much of a difference there.
I started with friends who were willing to go above and beyond with me in our weight loss / toning goals but after two and a half weeks they quit on me. I've got my ipod to keep me company but the motivation is beginning to wear.
Any who, I've decided to join this community to touch base with people who are going through/have been through what I'm trying to achieve.
I'm open to all suggestions and hoping this experience will be amazing!

 

[amy1985]

Hi, and welcome to the forum Congratulations on the weight loss so far, that's a great start

Are you altering your diet in order to help you lose weight? It's said a lot that weight loss is 80% diet, and I'm finding that to be very much the case. (I'm a calorie counter, but I know I can err on the evangelical side about it, so I won't give you my spiel on how it's done and why I like it unless you want it)

I'd recommend starting a diary in the diary section to help you with motivation, as well as reading other people's and looking at the before/ after section here. For really useful information, check out the "stickies" throughout the forum.

 

[amygaspard]

Amy1985, I never have much left to say after you post! I agree with everything you've said. I'm also a calorie counter, plus I keep track of each food group. My goal is to have 4 servings of protein, 3 of vegetables, 2 fruits, and 2 grains per day. I try to keep all of my meals and snacks under 5g of sugar (not including sugars found in whole fruit).

I recommend keeping a food diary and writing down EVERYTHING you eat. One of my rules is "If I don't know how many calories are in it, I don't eat it", which keeps me from munching on cookies and things and not writing it down.

For exercise, I find that it's not important how far you go (unless you're working towards a 10K or something). I recommend doing interval training. For me, I do 2 minutes of moderately intense, 2 minutes of super intense, 1 minute of low intensity. Four sets of that= 20 minutes and I'm done!

I've started posting a "journal" here, and I have enjoyed it so far.

Keep trying! You'll get there!

 

[H0ney]

Thank you both for the warm welcome! I'm excited to be amongst people who are interested in becoming healthier!

For the first week and a half I did a salad only diet. Lost 7 pounds in that week alone ( also doing the 30 day shred from jillian michaels 6 days of that week and a half ) . From then I've only lost a bit but I've been watching the calories ( under 1500 ) I eat but I haven't been particular with the foods I chose. I'm thinking about going back to that diet since that is when I saw the best results.
@amy1985 I'm very interested in your "evanangelical side" of calorie counting. Every bit of advice helps!

@ amygaspard- I've heard of keeping a food diary before and I always thought it was a good idea... I just always forget to bring it around with me and/or write it down. Any advice on how I can keep track with it?

and also-- writing a journal seems like a fantastic idea!
Thank you so much for the advice and I'm looking forward to an amazing journey through losing weight and become a better me!

Also- many good luck for your weight loss!!

 

[amy1985]

Be very very careful with a salad diet or anything like that that involves huge restrictions of food- to me it sounds unhealthy because it probably leaves you without essential nutrients (and possibly insufficient calories). And most people I've read about, once they've stopped that sort of diet, have had trouble keeping it off. Also, it's unfortunately the case that consistent big weight loss is unhealthy- 1-2lb a week is normal recommended weight loss (maybe a little more in your case, as recommended safe weight loss is something like 1-2% of bodyweight). Calorie counting can lead to a much more balanced diet, and thus more sustainable (if potentially slower) results, although it's also important to work out the calories that are right for you (as eating too few calories can slow your metabolism, which means that weight loss will become progressively harder). You also need to keep in mind that this needs to be something that you can do, more or less, for the long term, because if you diet, get down to weight, then return to the habits that got you overweight in the first place, the weight will come back on.

On calorie counting (oh hell, someone bring me my pulpit ). I've tried all sorts of diets before- mostly some variation of "eat less, eat less of stuff you like". They've left me hungry, feeling ill, and not losing weight (or worse, gaining weight). With calorie counting, I've lost 7kg (about 15.4lb) in 7 weeks- the absolute safe maximum my doctor will tolerate (when I said before that 1-2lb a week is normal recommended safe weight loss, for those of us who work in metric it's "no more than 1kg a week unless you're over 100kg"- which I'm not). I've got good reasons to struggle with my weight- both my parents are obese and have been all my life (the weight of ones' parents is a fair indicator of your own life chances), plus I have two medical conditions which are strongly correlated with obesity (one definitely causes weight gain, I'm not sure of the relationship between the other and weight, but then I'm not a doctor). I also have a gigantic appetite (I look at the dieters on here and think "how can you possibly eat so little?!") and feel ill if I don't snack fairly regularly (as in, I start to feel like passing out). So this diet has been something of a miracle for me. But it hasn't been hard, there's nothing I feel deprived of (I have cut a few things from my diet, but none of them were things I love), I probably eat more than I used to, and I get to incorporate chocolate and ice cream into my diet. I have absolutely no doubt that I can do a variant of this (I'll probably keep close-ish tabs rather than calculate exactly as I am now) for the rest of my life.

How it works- you've already worked out that a calorie deficit is at least a way to lose weight. From everything I've read it's the way. But you need to work out the numbers that are appropriate for you- our bodies resist our attempts to lose weight and so we need to keep enough food in our systems to keep them as happy as possible (they're geared to think about life in a world where food isn't readily available- if you stop eating what it's expecting by a long way, it'll slow down to try to hang on to things because it expects you're entering a famine, and will go to some lengths to hang on to that fat for as long as possible). Use this website to work out your requirements-http://www.body-improvements.com/Nutrition.html#anchor_32 Look to the number under weight loss, and set it no higher than 1kg (if you work the system in metric) or 2.2lb. This should give you a deficit of a bit over 1000 calories a day, which is about as high as is usually recommended. (Never let that number or what you eat drop below 1200 calories- or at least don't plan it that way, mistakes happen). I personally pitch in the 500 calorie range from my "lose 1kg a week" number, as it'll show steady but noticeable weight loss but it won't be too fast.

For how to record, I recommend a calorie counting program- fitday, myfitnesspal, etc (I use one called cron-o-meter, which is software rather than online)- all three are free (cron-o-meter only free as software). You need to start measuring your food if you haven't done already- ideally weighing (I have a set of digital scales- they were cheap- and they've made this all so much easier). I weigh everything that goes into my mouth unless there are good reasons I can't (unless it's prepackaged and thus a predictable size or will average out to be a predictable size). For while you're out, jot it down on a bit of paper (and anything you can about the product- name, how much you ate, what size it was, e.g. "small apple", so you can look it up and estimate as closely as you can when you get home). I have a complete record of everything I've eaten since April 1 this way (except one day I went out and deliberately decided not to worry about writing down the calories- but even then I have a marker to indicate how many approximate calories I think I ate).

For the types of foods to choose- I'm a big advocate of "do what works for you". I try to stress nutrition in my own diet (at least 5, usually much more than that, serves of fruit and veg a day, a serve of starch with most meals, 3 serves of dairy a day, keeping my protein levels up but not relying too much on meat) and when talking to others, but apart from that (and keeping within that 500 calorie range), do what you like. I've got no "eat x meals a day" or "this is a belly busting food" doctrine. I make fruit and vegetables the basis of my diet because they're very low calorie (zucchini, for example, is 77.6 calories for about a pound- estimated to the nearest gram as I work in grams/ kilograms- so you can eat a lot of that) and I really like the taste of them. Unless things don't go to plan (for example, last night I'd completely run out of vegetables so needed to go shopping, and by the time I got back I didn't feel great) I don't go hungry- not even a little bit, and some days I nibble all through the day. If you can, try to make your own food, as that's the only way to be sure what's gone into it (not only important from a calorie perspective, but also nutritionally- added salt and sugar takes its toll).

I'm also an advocate of "keep your food interesting"- I make lots of different low cal recipes for my dinner (my breakfast and lunch are similar most days- because I like them and they work). Tonight I'll be having a fruity beef casserole, last night I had pork with spiced apple, the night before I had a soy marinade chicken that I made up (and my boyfriend, who eats low cal where I can make him, had a curry which he said was comparable to buying it from a curryhouse- for about 500 calories, including the chips he wanted me to make it with).

Check out my diary to see the kinds of things I'm doing (and others to see what they're doing)- I suspect you need to eat more calories than me, but the principles still remain. (Don't be scared by the numbers- cron-o-meter does all that for me, I just tell it what and how much I've eaten, and when I want to report it, I literally copy it off the screen)

Hope this helps

 

[amygaspard]

I carry around a mini journal. The cover measures 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches. It fits nicely in my purse and is pretty easy to keep track of.

I thought I'd mention an online resource that I find helpful for calorie counters. nutritiondata.com has complete nutrition information for fruits and veggies and pretty much everything, so that you can easily find out how many calories are in an avocado if you need to.

 

[K-lee]

I also have a workout mix on my iPod. I find that mixing it up every so often with new songs helps. I use my iPod without the earbuds plugged in when I workout. I also had friends who had started on my weight loss journey with me, but they eventually tired of it.

I wish you luck!