Hello all --
Over the last few months I lost from 212 to 186. But the board I was at before IMHO are not that supportive so I was hoping this board would be better. I am sort of stuck at 186 for the moment and need to shake things up.

My plan has been largely cutting claories upping the exercise and trying to keep busy. I have utilized mindfulness and patience and tried to incorporate exercise into my day so I have to do it.

But I still have about 50 lbs that I want to lose and it is coming off slowly now.

Anyway I hope I can find some support and convo here.

Welcome BooBear!

I am sure that you will absolutly love DT...there are many many friendly, supportive chatty people. I suggest making a journal and jumping in on others threads...you'll find lots of great suggestions.

Congrats on your lbs already lost and keep your head up!

Shannon

Hi :wave: & :welcome:

I agree with littlebeetle suggestions :D

:welcome: BooBear (cute screen name by the way!)!!

I find this site to be extremely supportive and motivating!! Hope you like it too!! :)

Boo Bear,

I second everything said prior :D, especially with Shannon there being awfully chatty. Hee hee hee. Can't wait to get to know you better! Welcome to DT!

MommaD

Thanks for the welcome all. I am 36 and female from Mass. I have been heavy my whole life. I would consider myself a *professional* dieter and get easily disgusted with new plans or doctors who tell me stuff like *oh you should just eat less* oh you know. . . I never thought of that! :)

But seriously this time I think what has made a major difference for me is a few things. In May I had to start taking the train to work (due to the gas prices) and that involved more walking. Furthermore due to a bad train sched. I have to take a 6:00 PM train and don't get home until about 7PM. By then I bearly have an hour to eat and maybe an hour to do things and then I have to get to bed. No time for snacking.

Those things have really helped me keep up with it. I am eating about 1000 cals per day ( and I say my count because I am not sure if that is correct I am guessing if I had a more accurate measure it would be more ) and I walk about 1 hour with all the walks to and from the train. I eat whatever I want as long as I don't exceed 1000. If I get up to 800 with lunch and breakfast I just eat a small dinner. After all I am not hungry anyway.

Also I am applying mindfulness to my life. In sum normally I would run from the fear of cheating or being hungry. I felt like I was hanging from a cliff and if I fell off before the weight came off I was done. But now I accept that I want to hang from the cliff -- the focus is on the cliff hanging -- not how much weight I am losing and I accept that if I fall off the cliff I will just get back up and hang some more. I try not to focus on a goal ( I want to lose this by) too much because my body won't cooperate. So I focus on how much I am losing and I am realistic. After all I have declared war on my body -- if I trick it into a 1lbs loss per week I am happy. The goal so to speak is (1) did I eat my 1000 cals and do my exercise each day this week? and (2) did I lose 1/2 to 1 lb firm? Yes!

Oh and I also have discovered how much salt and hormones can make a difference to the scale so although I weight myself every day I try NOT to let it get to me if the scale shows some nutty jump.

That is me! What about you?

BooBear-- Cute name. The wonders of mass transit. Do you travel around the Boston area. I used to live about 2 blocks away from the Red line. That was some 24 years ago. Back when the subway was only a quarter. I'm sure it costs more then that now! Our mass transit sucks. So I opted to buy a hybred Toyota Camry. Well actually my husband bought it for me.
I sure hope you start a journal, because it would be wonderful to get to know you better. You can visit me at my Journal... NoWheat, NoChips, NoCandy.
Have a super weekend, and welcome!

Pat

BooBear-- Cute name. The wonders of mass transit. Do you travel around the Boston area. I used to live about 2 blocks away from the Red line.

Pat thanks and everyone who liked my name. It was the name of my cat I had to put down this year. One of the motivators in the diet plan.

Yes I work on Fan Pier by the Nothern Ave Bridge and near south station. I walk from South Station over to the Pier. I doubt I will have time to write a journal because I am VERY busy at work and I can hardly post at all but thanks.

I am a bit disappointed. I got my blood tests back today and my cholesterol did go from 259 to 227 (but I wanted more) and my LDL went from 170 to 150. My hdl was 60. But the good news is that my ratio is 3.7 and my triglycerides were 80 and my glucose was 85. But I thought my cholesterol would be lower. Welp I guess I have more to go.

Hey Boo!

This post can be your journal...that would work out fine..Even popping in once a week to keep yourself accountable would help.

I am by NO means a professional but of all the things I have learned through DT is that you should have higher calories. Perhaps you are in the right range for your weight I dont know. There is a tool here that would allow you to check it out.

I was eatting to few calories for a long time thinking that would help cut the weight but it actually leads to the body storing up your fat and such! I dont mean to meddle in your business...just a suggestion to get things running.

Glad to hear that you are a cliff hanger...myself, I bounce along off the back of a wagon and occassionally fall off LOL

Have a great weekend!
Shan

Hey Boo!
I was eatting to few calories for a long time thinking that would help cut the weight but it actually leads to the body storing up your fat and such! I dont mean to meddle in your business...just a suggestion to get things running.

I am not trying to be a doof but um who says? I see this quoted by the best in the business but I have NEVER seen any proof. And I don't understand how this could work -- I mean anorexics don't seem to have ANY trouble losing to very very low weights. They don't get stuck.

And also it just seems to make sense that after I lose 26 lbs my BMR is going to dive a bit so my calories have to go down a bit because my body just doesn't need as much. It only makes sense that if I lost 26 on 1000 cals than my BMR was likely around 1500 and after 26 lbs my BMR is around 1350 and thus the cals will have to get to around 800 or so to have the same loss.

Yeh I don't know what the answer is either so for the moment I am just doing what I can to listen to my own body not the experts and see what it responds to. This week I took a little diet break and sure enough I stayed at the same weight so I am thinking that for me that isn't going to be the right solution.

But my motto is question everything and listen to what your body responds to.

Hiya BooBear!

You know, I like it that you don't just accept conventional wisdom without checking it out for yourself. I have some of the same questions you do - I mean, no one came out of concentration camps fat, did they? And like you said, anorexics don't have any trouble thinning down, right? So I think it's good to question these things.

On the other hand, it seems to agree with nature that if you lower your calories, *one* of the ways your body responds is by lowering your metabolism. And conversely raising your calories raises metabolism.

However, I personally believe that *what* you eat is infinitely more important than how much you eat. An apple is not equivalent to a cup of sugar-free pudding, ya know? And a slice of avacado is not equal to a slice of bacon, even if the fat/calories/carbs etc in these items are identical.

Personally I have days where I want about 2000 calories, and other days when I'm quite content with 1000. I listen to my body and feed it fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds. I'm a huge believer in the power of natural, raw foods!

Anyway, kudos to you for asking questions and not just toeing the conventional line. :) I'm not an expert on these things either, but we'll figure it out as we go, right?

On the other hand, it seems to agree with nature that if you lower your calories, *one* of the ways your body responds is by lowering your metabolism. And conversely raising your calories raises metabolism.


Thanks! I do agree I could have had my metabolism drop but I don't see any choice in the matter! It seems to me that even presuming that eating less calories is bad for me in some way -- it seems that the positive outways the temporary negative. In that I will lose weight dropping the cals and thus the long term health will improve!

Although I do recognize that people that get their stomach stapled do seem to hit this point where they eat almost nothing and do level off on the weight loss. So perhaps there is something to that theory? But I suspect two things (1) it might be a large amout of weight loss thing perhaps losing a large amount of weight 100+ makes your body adjust after eating less for a large period of time and (2) perhaps those who level off are cheating a little -- I say that based on Carnie Wilson who pretty much admitted on Celeb Fit Club that she was cheating.

But I do my best to keep healthy with what I am eating
muffin for breakfast - a tuna wrap for lunch -- and salmon with veggies for dinner each day.

Hi BooBear! I am StarShine, also a newbie. How on earth did you get people to respond? I have written a couple of times and have only gotten about 1 response. I am glad, however, that you are getting responses. I like your little name too, very cute. Best of luck in your endeavors.
StarShine

Hi Starshine. I'm sorry you haven't met with a good reception so far from people here. I remember feeling daunted by the sheer size of this place when I first joined up. So many people, and many of them already knew each other, and why would they bother talking to me? I found the best way to meet people and start making friends was to read through the journals and weigh-ins. Post a short message whenever you can - congratulate people on their weight loss, or make a comment about their journal. Most folks get truly tickled when they know someone's reading their journal! In a short amount of time you'll find you have your own set of friends here and it won't feel so awkward.

:) Boobear--- Hope all is going well with you!!! I've been quite busy myself. I'm in a total remodeling project at my home. I am currently building a closet. So, I can understand why a journal may not work for you. My motto: Take it One Day at a Time! Have a great week!


:) Pat

:) Boobear--- Hope all is going well with you!!! I've been quite busy myself. I'm in a total remodeling project at my home. I am currently building a closet. So, I can understand why a journal may not work for you. My motto: Take it One Day at a Time! Have a great week!


Where did you get the NoWheat name? My kitten's name is buckwheat!

Well I work in a court and for instance I was in a trial from 9AM to 5 PM and maybe 15 mins for lunch. That actually works for me as it gives me no time to cheat! But it makes it hard to have any sort of journal. Although I am going to give it a shot here!

But I am back on track on the diet -- I took a break last week. I am not going to weight myself for a while as I am due for my period but my goal is 184.5 by the end of my period. I have noticed and I don't know if any of you have that right before and right after my period I am at my lowest weight / true weight. My obgyn told me that there is a reason for this. That every month after your period your hormones are at the lowest point ever. Then estrogen starts going up slowly and peaks around the middle of the cycle. Then it starts falling again until right before your period.

She also told me that estrogen can have a slight bloating effect so IMHO this is why in the middle of the month I can have weights that make no sense. I have learned to be patient if it is the middle of the cycle and weight for before and after my period to get my true weight. Outside that you just can't tell what is hormone related.

I also have noted the power of sodium. Last major diet I was on I had a disaster. I got to 177 and then I traveled accross the US. I thought I was good but ate nothing but fast food on the trip (car) what choice did I have? Well when I got to the weigh in (WW's) I was up 8 lbs and I just was devistated -- I couldn't imagine going down 8 lbs again. But now I realise that was likely mostly sodium! Oh gosh -- and sodium is hidden everyplace. Mostly in fast food. The reason to avoid fast food imho isnt so much as it is bad for you -- but the sodium can be out of control.

And I think back during that time and I laugh -- I would have pasta at "papa ginos" once a week as a treat -- um too bad I didn't know it had over 1200 mgs of sodium. OMG! No wonder my weight was all over the place!

So um how are you? :)

Hi BooBear! I am StarShine, also a newbie. How on earth did you get people to respond? I have written a couple of times and have only gotten about 1 response. I am glad, however, that you are getting responses. I like your little name too, very cute. Best of luck in your endeavors.
StarShine

Star, you may find this site not quite as busy as some others but I think it has the most friendly, encouraging and faithful people. Just give them time to find you and go out and find them. It will happen.