in it to loose it

flabaway

New member
the time has come - I am 48 yrs old medical professional, mom and wife who is always taking care of others first and aways on the obesity side of my Dr.'s scale. Yesterday my eye Dr could see the effects of my poor health in the arteries in my eyes. Today is day one of the the rest of my life 170 and counting down. I have never joined a weight loss community before - thought sharing my goals with others may keep it real when I go to the lunch at work. thought for the week - " The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places." ( author unknown) So hang in there with me as I need some people to help hold on to this change.
 
Hi, and welcome. Congratulations on taking that first step :)

What are your weight loss goals, and how are you going about making changes in your life? Do you have strategies (and/ or are you open to suggestions)?
 
thank you for you comments. I am getting back to nature and am using the Ifnh.org Food Plan. Am sort of restrictied in what I can eat now. I plan on eating 5-6 times a day 2-3 oz of protein with every small meal and lots of veggies for 1st 2 weeks, lots of water, fruits added later and no simple carbs. Also have to add exercize every day 30 min for low HDL (good cholesterol) . yes suggestions are welcome -
 
I don't know about that plan, but my blanket suggestion for anyone is to get a handle on calories- to calculate your calorie needs (by using a BMR calculator and then using a tool such as the Harris Benedict formula to calculate your daily maintenance calorie allowance, then reducing for weight loss- 500-100 to lose 1-2 pounds a week, but never under 1200 for women. This sort of thing can be found readily through a search engine). Even if you don't count, an awareness of high and low calorie foods can help you alter your diet so you're more likely to lose weight (because, if my understanding is correct, the science of weight loss is eating less calories than you burn).
 
week two begins with hope

to Amy : thank you for the information I will check it out and see how much I sould be eating.

Week 2 begins - I did ok on my first week did better with the food than the exercize. I lost 3 lbs and feel optomistic. I know I should not let the weight loss dictate this feeling but I cannot help it.

I only exercised 3 days if you count mowing the lawn ( it was a manual push mower 1/2 acre - not a rider) regarding the exercize issue - I have not the will power to get up earlier than 6am yet. I started an audio book that I will only listen to while exercizing - will see if this helps this week. My sugar cravings have decreased this week but i was a real crab to the kids on day 3 and 4 - have appoligize to them already . any suggestions for exercize motivation?

Quote for the week : The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the ( Thomas Jefferson )
 
Hi Madam (i'm not going to call you flabaway lol)

Welcome to the diary section.

I haven't heard about this eating plan either. Have you got time to share the details of what you eat day by day or on the occasional day.

I am in agreement with the importance of understanding the essence of calories and how they relate to your own situation. I am also an enthusiast for people getting a sound knowledge of good nutrition. A lot of people think they know enough about it but although i had done a term on it at school when i was teenager, i found I still learnt a great deal more a few years ago when i start the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet which is a diet by book. I am not saying you don't know much. If you are a nurse or similar, I would expect you to have a pretty good grasp of it.

People often lose a lot in the first few weeks and a lot of it is water loss which happens because suddenly you are consuming a lot less salt. I only learnt this recently and i find it a great little insight. I don't think you can help not being excited by the scale going down. I think we all are. The challenge is not to get disillusioned when it bounces around as it will do day by day. You just want the general trend to be downwards. So don't put too much emphasis on a single reading.

If you are busy, it can be hard to fit in exercise. Why force yourself to get up at 6am if you are so pushed for time. Its good if you can do exercise a few times a week. How active is your work life? Sometimes you can squeeze in some walking by getting off the bus a few stops earlier and things like that. Make your weekends prime exercise time and maybe take up a new sporting activity which you can get excited about. There are so many types of great activities to do if you have the money and a weekend. You can then supplement the main event by 30 minutes of some other thing on the side.

To get up earlier, if that's what you would prefer to do, you will have to go to bed earlier but it may be difficult to successfully make the switch in the long haul.
 
The International Foundation for Nutrition and Health (IFNH). IFNH is a non-profit educational organization reaching out to health care professionals. The focus of IFNH is on whole food nutritional research spanning over 140 years from many renowned leaders in the fields of medicine, biochemistry and dentistry.

the food plan is outlined at this web site.



It essentially notes that it is not just what and how much you eat but also the quality of the food consumed that matters in health. They state it is not a diet but a food plan. My family has been in the process of limiting fast foods / processed foods/ sodas / sweets etc over the past few years. This web site was recommended by a physician in my CSA - community supported agriculture group and he knows several patients/people who were able to change eating habits as recommended by IFNH with the outcome of significant weight loss.

I just looked at the csiro diet you mentioned - it is a bit higher in protein that the plan i am using and I am limited in milk intake. also I strive for 8-10 servings of veggies per day . I have to tell you all this concentrated thinking on food can be exhausting.

Your comment on salt is very true. I am sure some of the loss is from water- I need to try to drink more per day. The IFNH food plan has the first 2 weeks as sort of a detox - to help people like me get off all the sugar in our diets.

I have exercised both days this weekend and hope to move it into the week. Although having mother's day with its traditions did not help me. with exercise and me i find if I do not do it in the morning other priorities take over

I know of others who are like minded and led me to this site.

thank you for your comments - off to the gym
( you can call me KT)
 
I'm gonna have a look at that plan in a moment but on the surface it sounds like a good route to take. I hope though that they've suggested a way to get the calcium you need. Or do you just take calcium tabs. I always like to get my vitamins through my food. But that's me.

You sound pretty committed so i am sure the exercise thing will work out. Generally i think we all get into a better groove as we go along.

Yeah, the CSIRO diet is a "high protein diet" but not very high compared to most. It was tricky for me being a pescetarian at the time. I'm a bit more casual at the moment but still don't eat a lot of meat so i try to get my protein from lentils and beans and such, as well as dairy. This site in particular has given me a deeper awareness of the need for a bit more protein than i usually eat - ie maintaining our muscles mass helps in weight loss. I "knew" that before from the CSIRO diet but i sort of "got it" better lately.
 
I had a look at the plan. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't want to but that's ok. I hope it works for you.

I like what they say about low fat foods though. It's the second time i've come across saying that sort of thing. But what's new is what he says about the actual role of fat in these foods. Its quite interesting.
 
hi KT

that plan seems to be a pretty sound choice! nice going

I highly recommend taking objective pictures of your body and measure yourself, because there will be days when the scale won't budge, and when that happens it's nice to see where the loss is coming from, also they'll motivate you exercise because you can trick the scale with water, but the only way to start looking toned is to start getting toned. You probably already know that muscle weighs more than fat so when you get to the point where it's going to make a difference, it will be better to see it.

I really struggle with the getting to the gym thing, I'm incredible sedentry and work from home, basically I'm a cave hermit. Something which helped me was using a pedometer with the goal of reaching 10,000 steps in a day, I started parking further from the stores, taking the stairs and all that other stuff to make it happen, averaging around 7000. a couple of weeks in and I started using gym to crook the pedometer, 3000 steps can go much quicker on a treadmill or crosstrainer than if plan your shopping to cover all the aisles twice :p
 
OK the exercise worked better this week 4 days of good exercise and took the stairs at work often. liked the idea about the pedometer.

had a problem this week. I had a couple late late nights w/ work and lost my control after midnight. not good. Chocolate involved which is no where on my food plan. note to self - go to bed earlier and brush teeth right after dinner. any other ideas?

Regarding calcium - have been eating lost of greens/kale/broccoli ( almost daily) - This is where i am getting my calcium, this is not a big change for me as I did not have much milk in my diet - although I did have a bit of cheese.

I will weigh tomorrow and see how it affected me.

I liked the pedometer idea -i will try that.

KT
 
okay, gained 1/2 pound I am ok with this as on mothers day and 2 days during the week i fell into near old eating habits. will keep up the exercise and food plan through the week - and hope for better numbers next Saturday - thanks for any good advise KT
 
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