Weight Loss Whine.....

[Dreeza]

Sally, I think your own original post should be your motivation to lose weight!!! You have provided many reasons as to why you NEED to. I hope I don't say anything *too* harsh, but sometimes that is what it takes. You are currently jeopardizing the rest of your life. You are so young & have sooo much ahead of you, but only if you commit yourself NOW to a healthy life

First off, please understand that anyone who says anything to you about "oh, just have some self control" is full of crap. Yes, it plays a role, but your battle is against your own brain chemicals now...similar to a smoker's battle. You have hardwired yourself to crave crappy foods, to eat when you are stressed, etc. Now, it is up to you to re-wire yourself, which is a hard process, but completely do-able.

If you are easily discouraged by setbacks, then make baby-steps. By trying to change every aspect of your lifestyle, you may be setting yourself up to fail.

First & foremost, you need to change your eating habits. Simply put, every time you eat fried, greasy, fatty, sugary foods, you are enforcing your brain to crave those foods even more. This will be one of the hardest things to turn around, but it needs to change ASAP.

Before worrying about portion control & all that...just cut out foods that are filled with unhealthy fats, lots of sugars, grease & lots of artificial flavorings (including MSG). Try to instead stuff yourself with healthy foods. Eat TONS of veggies to fill yourself up to avoid the empty feeling in your stomach, make sure you drink lots of water too or other CALORIE-free drinks if you need flavor....even if it is diet soda.

Cutting calories right now is most important to losing weight, so focus on straightening out your eating first.

It really is weird how your cravings will change...I do have to admit that I have never been overweight (don't smack me, but I was one of those teenagers who could eat ANYTHING & not gain a pound), however, I have struggled with eating right. Halfway through college, I developed a passion for health, so I realized how incredibly unhealthy I was due to my horrid eating habits...my BP, cholesterol were all much higher than anyone would have guessed by looking at me.

Anyways, I was the person that would order fried anything, any chance I would get. I still struggle with portion size...I overstuff the heck out of myself. Buffets are a killer for me.

So getting to my point...I got rid of all the unhealthy crap & forced myself to not eat any of it for a few weeks. Miraculously, I stopped really caring (it was HARD as heck at first, don't get me wrong)....Also just reading about how bad fried, fatty, sugary foods are for the body helped a lot. It just got to the point where I would look at a menu & couldn't even begin to justify spending money to harm my body.

You will also start liking veggies & healthy food more...your taste buds just have to adjust, lol.

Once you get to that point, you can start worrying about portion control more.

Also, I saw someone suggest drinking wine & eating fruit...while both "healthy" both are full of calories. Nothing is wrong with having 1 glass of wine, but know that that glass you pour yourself could be 200 calories, if not more. Is it worth it? Same with fruit...be careful about your choices. Grapes, for instance are chock full of calories & sugar. Apples are a better choice, so are bananas. Either way, just don't load up like crazy on them cause they are quite a few calories.


While you are working on your eating habits, start incorporating bits of exercise into your day. Take the dogs for a walk, walk up a flight of stairs you normally wouldn't have, park further away, etc, etc. You will want to get more exercise in, but start slow.

I'll stop for now Hopefully that helps some?

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!

 

[joce]

I am just gonna kind of ramble here so bear with me!

I have been going through this for years. In high school I stayed skinny by not eating. I know that was brilliant on my part and I think I killed my metabolism for life I know I will never be that skinny unless I slip back into that. Up until a month or so ago I really only ate one big meal a day and nothing else.

So my bp has been ok but lately I get stressed and it shoots up. I have horrible balance riding my horses and am not that comfortable doing it anymore. I love food though so its so hard! We don't go out to a bar,we all go to dinner.

So our new years resolution was to stop eating out and eat healthier. Much easier said than done. We allow ourselves to eat out twice a month otherwise we would likely just sneak it anyway.

It sucked at first. I had headaches and was hungry all of the time. I kept carrots and low fat yogurt to eat all the time and if I was getting shakey(I am fat with low blood sugar-go figure!) I would eat some peanut butter.

I think the biggest change was actually going and grocery shopping for real meals. It is more expensive to eat healthier but its worth it. I have actually been counting calories and I look at everything before I put it in the cart. It is nuts what serving size and calories can be with some stuff! If you know you would eat three servings and its to many calories anyway,don't even put it in the cart.

I have started shopping at the krogers by my grandmas(only an hour drive!) because I love their yogurt! And their spinach leaf salad stuff is only like 2$ a bag. I love love love the white chocolate peanut butter and the chocolate kind from peanut butter and co. Those are my deserts now and while it is not low calorie I can snack a bit throughout the day on it and not go overboard.

Clean out the fridge and fill it with yogurt,cottage cheese,and salad stuff. My spinach leaf salads have carrots in it and I might crumble up a cracker or two in it. I have found that I can go with less dressing if I use honey mustard, I use to seem to have to drown it in ranch.

We switched from white rice and pasta to brown rice. We cook chicken or meat for dinner and stir fry it all up together.

I am ever so slowly noticing some weight coming off. Frustrating for it to be so slow when I have so many skinnies around me who can shovel anything in their face or those who can diet for two weeks before swim suit season. As soon as it warms up I am going to start walking/jogging around the block again.

Another thing that helped me is getting a day planner and writing down everything I eat. I do it all by serving size to so if I eat two servings of brown rice I gotta write it twice. Definitely makes me think more about what I am eating.

It was hard to finally say no to going out to eat or stopping to get something after work. You will just finally come to that point where you will want it enough to not pull in. For me its the threat of having to go on something for my blood pressure. And I saw a really bad pic of me riding my poor gelding! You will have set backs and its not horrible to have something occasionally thats not great for you. But at first eating one piece of pizza will make you want another and you almost have to re go through withdraw.

Good luck! There is never any better time to start than now.

 

[tessa_s212]

Sally, I think your own original post should be your motivation to lose weight!!! You have provided many reasons as to why you NEED to. I hope I don't say anything *too* harsh, but sometimes that is what it takes. You are currently jeopardizing the rest of your life. You are so young & have sooo much ahead of you, but only if you commit yourself NOW to a healthy life

First off, please understand that anyone who says anything to you about "oh, just have some self control" is full of crap. Yes, it plays a role, but your battle is against your own brain chemicals now...similar to a smoker's battle. You have hardwired yourself to crave crappy foods, to eat when you are stressed, etc. Now, it is up to you to re-wire yourself, which is a hard process, but completely do-able.

If you are easily discouraged by setbacks, then make baby-steps. By trying to change every aspect of your lifestyle, you may be setting yourself up to fail.

First & foremost, you need to change your eating habits. Simply put, every time you eat fried, greasy, fatty, sugary foods, you are enforcing your brain to crave those foods even more. This will be one of the hardest things to turn around, but it needs to change ASAP.

Before worrying about portion control & all that...just cut out foods that are filled with unhealthy fats, lots of sugars, grease & lots of artificial flavorings (including MSG). Try to instead stuff yourself with healthy foods. Eat TONS of veggies to fill yourself up to avoid the empty feeling in your stomach, make sure you drink lots of water too or other CALORIE-free drinks if you need flavor....even if it is diet soda.

Cutting calories right now is most important to losing weight, so focus on straightening out your eating first.

It really is weird how your cravings will change...I do have to admit that I have never been overweight (don't smack me, but I was one of those teenagers who could eat ANYTHING & not gain a pound), however, I have struggled with eating right. Halfway through college, I developed a passion for health, so I realized how incredibly unhealthy I was due to my horrid eating habits...my BP, cholesterol were all much higher than anyone would have guessed by looking at me.

Anyways, I was the person that would order fried anything, any chance I would get. I still struggle with portion size...I overstuff the heck out of myself. Buffets are a killer for me.

So getting to my point...I got rid of all the unhealthy crap & forced myself to not eat any of it for a few weeks. Miraculously, I stopped really caring (it was HARD as heck at first, don't get me wrong)....Also just reading about how bad fried, fatty, sugary foods are for the body helped a lot. It just got to the point where I would look at a menu & couldn't even begin to justify spending money to harm my body.

You will also start liking veggies & healthy food more...your taste buds just have to adjust, lol.

Once you get to that point, you can start worrying about portion control more.

Also, I saw someone suggest drinking wine & eating fruit...while both "healthy" both are full of calories. Nothing is wrong with having 1 glass of wine, but know that that glass you pour yourself could be 200 calories, if not more. Is it worth it? Same with fruit...be careful about your choices. Grapes, for instance are chock full of calories & sugar. Apples are a better choice, so are bananas. Either way, just don't load up like crazy on them cause they are quite a few calories.


While you are working on your eating habits, start incorporating bits of exercise into your day. Take the dogs for a walk, walk up a flight of stairs you normally wouldn't have, park further away, etc, etc. You will want to get more exercise in, but start slow.

I'll stop for now Hopefully that helps some?

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!

Just want to say, I know this wasn't directed at me, but I found it completely encouraging!!! Especially the bolded part - to know that I'm not silly to want or hope for those that care about me to help me a little by not having junk food constantly around. It's hard because GMIL always wants candy bars, ice cream and all sorts of sweets in the house.

Great advice!! I hope Sally can find it as encouraging and helpful as I did. You rock. :hail:

 

[babymomma]

I hear you.. I am not terribly overweight but with my family history I SHOULD be getting to a healthier weight.. but I have NO will power what-so-ever.. Im 17 and I have hip, back and neck problems.. Not caused by my weight but my weight certainly isnt helping.. I have only lost about 10 lbs. But It took ALOT from me to loose them.

I found this place helpful.. They have alot of very knowledgable people on the forum about nutrition adn excersize and they are VERY supportive

- Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Weight Loss, Diet - Weight Loss Forum

 

[mrose_s]

I think the hardest part is often starting. I find once I get going I WANT to work harder because I'm starting to see results.

I've also found the best thing to keep in my head is "the best way to get things done is to just DO them" it sounds lame but nothing changes until you make it. Its what I keep in my head when reaching for food or avoiding excercise. Nothing will change unless I make it happen.

I have a tendancy to slip into eating lots of junk food and feeling icky constantly because of it. Break the system and have just a few days on healthy foods and you can already feel the difference.
I've struggled with food my entire life, chocolate is my complete downfall and like Dreeza said, I think it gets to a point where its more than just self control.
I remember some days just sitting around the house, not wanting to leave because I'll find my way to a shop and buy chocolate or not having it for a day and not being able to get it out of my head. It was awful. I mentioned it to mum and she mentione that both cocaine and chocolate come from cocoa, maybe theres a link in their addictive properties.

 

[wcladymacbeth]

Healthy, DELICIOUS recipes? Hungry Girl It's free to join and you have access to all these amaaazing yummy healthy recipes that are mostly easy and fun to make. A lot of them are even single serving meals!!! It's not a weight loss plan, but it's helping me and hubby Also, weight watcher's might be good to start with.. at least to get you used to being conscious of what you're eating.

 

[PWCorgi]

Don't know if this will help at all, but I know I eat healthier throughout the day if I exercise in the morning. It makes me want to eat healthier because I don't want to cancel out the fact that I got my butt out of bed at 6am and worked out. And if I don't work out and then slip up during the day I tend to tell myself the whole day is ruined and then I don't work out at all.

Another thing that helps is if I plan out my meals the day before. I write them in my planner so that I won't substitute it for something less healthy at the last minute, cause, you know...it's in writing. :lol-sign:

I wasn't a fan of veggies all that much, but I bought some and dipped everything in light Ranch dressing. Then over time I just used less and less dressing. I still use dressing, but not nearly as much, plus I figure it is worth it since the veggies I am eating are always raw and super nutritious. Now about 1/3-1/2 of my grocery list is veggies. They grow on you once you get used to them. I've even started craving yellow bell peppers and I used to hate them!

I know it's been mentioned before but I make a habit of eating more than 3 times a day. I'll have an orange before I workout, then my actual breakfast (usually eggs), then I split my lunch in between my classes throughout the day (half a sandwich after first class, other half after second and fruit or veggie), then I make a light dinner with some veggies and then I take a snack to my late class.
That's like...6 times a day, lol, but it helps because I never get that hungry feeling.

All I can think of for the moment....

It blows that we don't all live in the same area, then we could work out together and motivate each other and such, oh well.

And a final...

YOU CAN DO IT!!
It may seem impossible now, but once you get in a healthy routine it really does get a lot easier

 

[Buddy'sParents]

I've even started craving yellow bell peppers and I used to hate them!

*joins the club*

I would have scoffed in anyones face had they told me that I'd be eating raw bell peppers and enjoying it. Hmph. But I looooooove them! They are an awesome addition to a veggie sandwich. Mmmm.

 

[PWCorgi]

*joins the club*

I would have scoffed in anyones face had they told me that I'd be eating raw bell peppers and enjoying it. Hmph. But I looooooove them! They are an awesome addition to a veggie sandwich. Mmmm.

I know! I think a lot of the reason I didn't like veggies before is because a lot of the time when I'd try and eat healthy I'd force myself to eat veggies I didn't like. I DON'T like raw carrots, so now I don't buy raw carrots as there are tons of veggies I can eat just fine.

And I'll admit when I saw your veggie sammich post a bunch of sandwichable lol-sign went right on my list and I am super excited to try it. When I was working at Panera I had their mediterranean veggie sandwich every day, I lived off those things and lost 35 pounds (not the only reason, but they were yummy so it was easy), but I hadn't thought of making my own.

Another great thing about learning to eat healthy for me is the learning I love learning about healthy foods and how they actually fuel your body instead of just eating to eat.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Mm, I haven't eaten at Panera in awhile. I'll have to remember they have a veggie sandwich!

I can make a veggie sandwich, with bread, in about 200 calories. Practice makes perfect! lol

 

[PWCorgi]

The Med Veg at Panera is AMAZING! It has the obvious stuff, lettuce, tomato, onion, and then the divine stuff p) cilantro hummus (best hummus evar!), peppedew peppers, cucumbers, feta cheese. I usually get whole grain bread instead of the tomato basil bread. The tomato basil bread is SO much more unhealthy and the sandwich takes on a whole new level of yum on whole grain. I ate this before I even tried to eat healthy.

Their black bean soup is also amazing and like 90 calories for 8oz. The veggie soup is super healthy too but they changed the recipe and I don't like it as much. The rest of their soups? Forget about it!

Now I want one, lol.
I miss Panera food

Even found a pic with the black bean soup in the background

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Guess where I'm going to eat when I'm well enough?!

That sandwich sounds incredibly yummy!

 

[tessa_s212]

I third(?) that! Yummmmmy! I've alwyas loved sandwiches with lots of veggies!!

 

[Dreeza]

Even found a pic with the black bean soup in the background

Yeah, that is a 700 calorie meal, you guys do realize that right?

The Med Veg is 610 cals + 90 cals for the soup....


UNLESS you do what PW does & swap it out for the "white whole grain bread"....then its only 400!

 

[FoxyWench]

people dont often realize how calory heavy some of those "healthy choices" can be.

ive had a frined go to mcdonalds and order the cesar salad because its "healthy" its not till you actually look at the breakdown that you find out theres more calories in the dressing on that salad than there is in a normal cheeseburger!

 

[PWCorgi]

Yeah, that is a 700 calorie meal, you guys do realize that right?

The Med Veg is 610 cals + 90 cals for the soup....

But that's a U Pick Two, so it's only half the sandwich and soup. So it would be 90 + 305 (if you kept the tomato basil bread), not bad for a filling meal. And if you get the whole sandwich, those suckers are huge It's honestly probably enough for two meals. When I was in PA I got a UP2 and made it into lunch and dinner almost every day (of course I could only afford it cause I worked there and got a huge discount ) and would be fine to work a 10 hour shift on just that.

On a non-healthy note, because of people complaining about only getting 2 choices Panera is rolling out a U Pick Three.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Yeah, that is a 700 calorie meal, you guys do realize that right?

The Med Veg is 610 cals + 90 cals for the soup....


UNLESS you do what PW does & swap it out for the "white whole grain bread"....then its only 400!

I'm not going to go out and eat a 600 calorie sandwich everyday.

Not sure what your meals are like, but I can have one 500-700 calorie meal a day and still come in UNDER my calorie goals for the entire day. It's all about moderation and knowing what you have had and will eat the whole day. I'd say 70% of my diet every day is FRESH ingredients- fruits and veggies, with the remaining percent being yogurt, a cheese stick and whatever protein is for dinner and the occasional cracker or bread.

And completely off topic of this specific post: our grocery bills have gone up because buying fresh food can be pretty pricey. (I don't remember if I mentioned this or not.) But it is completely worth every penny!

Avoid the typical middle aisles at the grocery store (unless your grocery store is like mine and the fruit and veggies are in the middle ) because most of the stuff in the middle is highly processed = really bad for you. If we don't make our own bread at home, we buy whole grain whole wheat bread and I am also a devotee of ak-mak. But anyway, my point is if you avoid those aisles, you can buy more of the fresh stuff that is really good for you!

 

[Dreeza]

I'm not going to go out and eat a 600 calorie sandwich everyday.

Not sure what your meals are like, but I can have one 500-700 calorie meal a day and still come in UNDER my calorie goals for the entire day. It's all about moderation and knowing what you have had and will eat the whole day. I'd say 70% of my diet every day is FRESH ingredients- fruits and veggies, with the remaining percent being yogurt, a cheese stick and whatever protein is for dinner and the occasional cracker or bread.

And completely off topic of this specific post: our grocery bills have gone up because buying fresh food can be pretty pricey. (I don't remember if I mentioned this or not.) But it is completely worth every penny!

Avoid the typical middle aisles at the grocery store (unless your grocery store is like mine and the fruit and veggies are in the middle ) because most of the stuff in the middle is highly processed = really bad for you. If we don't make our own bread at home, we buy whole grain whole wheat bread and I am also a devotee of ak-mak. But anyway, my point is if you avoid those aisles, you can buy more of the fresh stuff that is really good for you!

hehe, sorry, you are so completely right...

I did just want to point that out though cause the topic of this thread is weight loss. There are in fact people who do eat out every day (I don't get this, lol) so I just wanted to make sure people knew how important it was to check what you are eating, as many foods seem very healthy, but are in fact loaded with cals!