How did you lose weight?
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Harold14370
New member
I started my diet a little less than a year ago, when I was diagnosed with diabetes. Like you, I didn't know where to start. The doctor didn't give me any advice other than to cut out sweets.
A friend said I should go on a 2000 calorie diet, so I did a google search and found several 2000 calorie diets. I followed those, more or less, for a couple of weeks. Then I just started counting calories and eating whatever the wife was cooking for dinner, but just limiting my portions. I also started eating breakfast and packing a healthy lunch.
I started walking two or three times a day, about 25 or 30 minutes at a time. Nothing too strenuous. Lately, I have been increasing the intensity of my exercises a little bit, jogging instead of walking, and lifting some weights.
I have lost 90 pounds and improved my A1c number from 8 initially to 5.6 in the latest test. A1c is a blood sugar test, and should be under 6.5. I have also improved my HDL from 31 to 47 (above 40 is good for men).
My advice would be as follows:
1. Sign up for a free account on Fitday.com, Mypyramidtracker.gov, or another online diet journal. You will enter your age, height, weight, etc. and it will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your current weight or to lose weight at a healthy rate. You can log your foods eaten and it will calculate your daily consumption of calories, carbs, protein, etc. Eat a balanced diet and make sure you are getting adequate nutrition. The online journal will help with that.
2. Read as much as you can about nutrition. Stick to reputable, scientific sources, such as the USDA mypyramid web site, American Heart Association, etc. Avoid pseudoscience and quackery which are everywhere.
3. Start some sort of exercise program. Don't go crazy. Find something you can stick with for life. It's not something you will just be doing for a while, until the weight comes off.
A friend said I should go on a 2000 calorie diet, so I did a google search and found several 2000 calorie diets. I followed those, more or less, for a couple of weeks. Then I just started counting calories and eating whatever the wife was cooking for dinner, but just limiting my portions. I also started eating breakfast and packing a healthy lunch.
I started walking two or three times a day, about 25 or 30 minutes at a time. Nothing too strenuous. Lately, I have been increasing the intensity of my exercises a little bit, jogging instead of walking, and lifting some weights.
I have lost 90 pounds and improved my A1c number from 8 initially to 5.6 in the latest test. A1c is a blood sugar test, and should be under 6.5. I have also improved my HDL from 31 to 47 (above 40 is good for men).
My advice would be as follows:
1. Sign up for a free account on Fitday.com, Mypyramidtracker.gov, or another online diet journal. You will enter your age, height, weight, etc. and it will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your current weight or to lose weight at a healthy rate. You can log your foods eaten and it will calculate your daily consumption of calories, carbs, protein, etc. Eat a balanced diet and make sure you are getting adequate nutrition. The online journal will help with that.
2. Read as much as you can about nutrition. Stick to reputable, scientific sources, such as the USDA mypyramid web site, American Heart Association, etc. Avoid pseudoscience and quackery which are everywhere.
3. Start some sort of exercise program. Don't go crazy. Find something you can stick with for life. It's not something you will just be doing for a while, until the weight comes off.
JoslynKailey
Banned
if you have lost weight morning walk is the best way and avoid junk foods
Korrie
Moderator
Luke warm water and salads...thats your solution??? Maybe you should check out the stickies and get some nutritional education.
YasminTiara
Banned
Start a regular exercise program and stick with it.
Sneak in extra exercise in addition to your regular program. Park at the far end of the parking lot and walk; take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Sneak in extra exercise in addition to your regular program. Park at the far end of the parking lot and walk; take the stairs instead of the elevator.
You mainly asked for diet info, right? Since you seem to be exercising already, start logging your daily food intake with a food diary (my girlfriend keeps hers on her kitchen counter so every food item she takes she marks it down) or if you're better with the electronic side of things, use any of the online food logs such as the poster above mentioned (fitday.com, mypyramid.gov, etc). Once you start seeing what you're eating in black and white, you'll start to really see your eating patterns and also your nutritional imbalances. From there, you'll most likely find that you'll know exactly what to cut out and where your intake needs improvement. Any one of us could say to "cut out sweets", or "eat salads", but the reality is when you're seeing your own eating patterns laid out in front of you, you'll most likely know EXACTLY what you need to eliminate from your diet.
The only other little tidbits I could add would be when you do find out what foods you need to cut out and also the amount of calories you need to drop daily from your diet, don't deprive yourself of anything in its entirety but rather make changes weekly. For instance: if you find out that you need to drop 500 calories from your daily intake and you see from your food diary that you're fairly consistent with eating 1Tbls butter on 2 slices of toast in the morning, two 16 oz sodas throughout the day, and you enjoy a bowl of ice cream at night with your favorite TV show, you can add up the calories for all of these things and see which of these things you could cut out week 1, and then switch to cutting out the other things for week two, and so on. I don't believe in deprivation unless you're so close to your goal weight or you're super lean already and really need to be strict to lose even .5 lb a week. I'm not advocating junk food at all, I'm just saying that most people have things that they don't want to do without, especially when they are things they are most likely to eat/drink again once they get to their goal weight. For me, it is sugar and cream with my coffee as well as chocolate chip cookies...
So far, I've been successful with just watching my intake of coffee each day to keep my calorie allowance in check and only indulge on CCC's every once in a while (usually once a month). Of course, I must mention that I eat pretty much on point with the food pyramid- all whole foods and I try my best to keep that all balanced.
If you learn to moderate your intake of food/drinks, you'll be better prepared to deal with it later.
The only other little tidbits I could add would be when you do find out what foods you need to cut out and also the amount of calories you need to drop daily from your diet, don't deprive yourself of anything in its entirety but rather make changes weekly. For instance: if you find out that you need to drop 500 calories from your daily intake and you see from your food diary that you're fairly consistent with eating 1Tbls butter on 2 slices of toast in the morning, two 16 oz sodas throughout the day, and you enjoy a bowl of ice cream at night with your favorite TV show, you can add up the calories for all of these things and see which of these things you could cut out week 1, and then switch to cutting out the other things for week two, and so on. I don't believe in deprivation unless you're so close to your goal weight or you're super lean already and really need to be strict to lose even .5 lb a week. I'm not advocating junk food at all, I'm just saying that most people have things that they don't want to do without, especially when they are things they are most likely to eat/drink again once they get to their goal weight. For me, it is sugar and cream with my coffee as well as chocolate chip cookies...
So far, I've been successful with just watching my intake of coffee each day to keep my calorie allowance in check and only indulge on CCC's every once in a while (usually once a month). Of course, I must mention that I eat pretty much on point with the food pyramid- all whole foods and I try my best to keep that all balanced.If you learn to moderate your intake of food/drinks, you'll be better prepared to deal with it later.
MadysonBelinda
New member
i ate fist size meals.
but then i got under the wieght i was suppost to be (39Kg and i was 15 years old)
so they made me put on more wieght now im 43 kg =P
anywaay eat fish! boiled
and LOTS OF WHEAT [pasta, rice, brea]
Porridge in the mornings [disgusting but..]
and DO NOT SNACK
and always have dessert it gives your body a sign that your meal is done . =)
hope it helped
but then i got under the wieght i was suppost to be (39Kg and i was 15 years old)
so they made me put on more wieght now im 43 kg =P
anywaay eat fish! boiled
and LOTS OF WHEAT [pasta, rice, brea]
Porridge in the mornings [disgusting but..]
and DO NOT SNACK
and always have dessert it gives your body a sign that your meal is done . =)
hope it helped
Jacklinger
New member
The OP hasn't posted anything else since DEC 2009. I think he forgot about this site. Or maybe it was an extremely short-lived attempt at changing his lifestyle. Or maybe he just said f#$%-it and got gastric bypass.
First, I calculated my BMR. This is how many calories you lose in a day just to stay alive. . Mine was around 2300 when I started, so I ate 500 calories less than that per day. That means 1 pound of weight loss per week from eating habits.
I also ran on my treadmill until I burned 500 calories each night. That's 1 pound a week from exercise.
I'm a fairly active person, and I estimate that I probably burn around another 500 from normal daily activity. I can't count the calories for that, so I just look at it as a "bonus".
So, basically, as you've heard it everywhere else, eating well and exercising is how I've lost 50 pounds so far, and am going to lose another 20-40.
I also ran on my treadmill until I burned 500 calories each night. That's 1 pound a week from exercise.
I'm a fairly active person, and I estimate that I probably burn around another 500 from normal daily activity. I can't count the calories for that, so I just look at it as a "bonus".
So, basically, as you've heard it everywhere else, eating well and exercising is how I've lost 50 pounds so far, and am going to lose another 20-40.
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