New Years is upon me. Many years of trying to diet and failing have only lead me into a deep deep dark hole. Unfortunatly the light at the end of the tunnel seems dim if lit at all. I'm 24, been overweight all my life and now I think... fed up and ready. To be honest there is no choice left, I don't care if Im ready or not. It has to be or I'm going to croak at an early age.

I don't know where to begin. This is where I need your help guys. I do not know how many calories I Should be consuming or what type of foods I should be eating. Now you may be wondering why I didn't use the wonderful bank of info you all have put together on this wonderful website. Well ..... I did!, but I was quickly overwhelmed by the many different choices and opinions.

I am leaning towards being a calorie counter. I really feel I would love to up the intake on veggies and fish. I am most likely around 415 - 450 pounds right now. Couldn't tell you the exact number because the last time I brought my father to the doctor the scale would not weigh me /sigh.

I know the basics, lots of water..... which will be good for me. I am such a soda slut its not even funny. If their was a soda bible I would own it. But water is very refreshing to me and I Think that step is just one that would help alot.

Veggies, I love broccoli and string beans, cucumbers, spinach. Im down for any veggies you guys can think of. I love fish, yes yes even when its not fried ;) I can live without red meat, Im not a picky eater. I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my days without eating a piece of red meat as long as I lost this dang weight.

As for excersize, I think I will start walking. Its a bit cold up here but I can give it a try. Also I was looking into some inexpensive weight sets just to work upper body. I know its not exactly cardio, but its not me sitting on my butt right? I feel horrible for letting this get so out of hand. I knew, and I didn't try hard enough. Now I can feel my health suffer, I can feel the effort it takes to do miniscule things. I can feel the depression set in when I am fearing social interation and shutting myself out of life.

It's built up for too long, I'm tired of it. I need some good friends with some good advice to help me along the way. I've been a lurker here for a while and I could not think of anywhere else to go for some sound advice.


Happy Holidays,

Riggs

Welcome Riggs,

You are right, there are many ideas and threads in this wonderful site. You might go over and get invovled in one of the +100 forums. Get to know people, get involved in a challenge. I'm sure there will be many starting next week with it being the first of the year.

My advice, find a program that is healthy and that you can live with the rest of your life. And then start working on the habits, one at a time.

Good Luck

Jo

Welcome Riggs... while your looking for something to do, here is what I do.

1) Calculate what cals your body needs today.. this will give you a good round about number.


a) To determine the amount of calories you need a day, just weight yourself and add a 0 at the end.

I added the following to the equation:

Add to it the total number of calories you are burning during exercise.(this is what I added that seems to work for me..the exercise part)

b) Most individuals can reduce their calorie intake 20% without activating starvation-protection mode. However this isn't true for everyone. It's suggested in the book to start off with 10% reduction.

c) divide #2 by the number of times you eat.. to figure out how many calories you should have at each meal.

If you weigh 150 lbs, it will take 1,500 calories to just to maintain your bodily functions. So you can safely reduce your calorie intake by 10% or (150 cals) before your starvation-protection device is activated... This works out to 1,350 calories you should be eating a day.


2) a portion is about the size of your fist.

3) You should have a total of 3-5 servings of veggies and 2-4 fruits.

4) eat for breakfast a good whole wheat grain cereal with 2 fruits.

5) eat 2 veggies for lunch and dinner and eat lean protein (fish preferable, then chicken and turkey).

6) limit snacks to only veggies and fruits if you can.

7) there are many ways to exercise indoors. I have a weight bench and a treadmill.

Wow Thanks for the quick replies guys. John does that equation relate to everyone up to any weight? That would mean I Would need somewhere around 4500ish calories a day minus 20% = 3900, which seems really high to me. Im just wondering if there is a cap to where that formula no longer works.

I was thinking somewhere around 1800 calories. But it looks like I would be starving myself???

Hi Riggs
Welcome, You just have to day each day as it comes, My advice would be to follow jo's advice. find a programme that fits in with you. I am sure like many of us here. we don't even realise after a while the little changes we make along the way for a healthier lifestyle.
Good luck
Ellie

If you start off your diet with too little cals, then your body will go into starvation mode and you will start craving foods and your body will hold onto all the fuel it can and store it. I would do the 3900 cals and see how it goes for a couple of weeks and then lower it if needed.

Originally posted by Riggs78
Wow Thanks for the quick replies guys. John does that equation relate to everyone up to any weight? That would mean I Would need somewhere around 4500ish calories a day minus 20% = 3900, which seems really high to me. Im just wondering if there is a cap to where that formula no longer works.

I was thinking somewhere around 1800 calories. But it looks like I would be starving myself???

Hi Riggs,

Welcome to our group. John's calculations are great and pretty accurate. It is really a shock to see how many calories it takes to maintain a high body weight, but it's true. I was and still am in the same boat, though I have had a bit of success I still have a long way to go to reach goal, but take it one day at a time.

I too was a soda slut and actually went through a bit of withdrawals when I cut most if not all processed sugars out of my diet. I found it hard to eat enough healthy stuff to keep up with the calories I needed to not go into starvation mode after I stopped taking in the soda and sugars and crap. Now as my weight has dropped so has the calories to maintain a healthy weight loss. I still have to pay close attention to what i eat, but it is easier.

I use a Palm PDA to track my food and exercise. It even calculates how many calories I need to eat to lose at two pounds a week and figures in exercise as well for calorie consumption. There are many programs out there like that and that aren't too expensive.

If you want to talk or need a buddy to help and share tips with feel free to PM me. :)

Hi Riggs,

I started out at 340 pounds. It is quite amazing to realize how many calories we need to maintain our initial weight. However, I ate a 2,000 calories diet when I started and I have only changed it a little, and I've lost 125 pounds. No matter what you do, you need to combine food reduction AND exercise into your weight loss, or your body will not adjust as nicely as you want. You'll have too much skin for too small a body when you lose this weight if you don't help it along with exercise.

For now, walk! Walk walk walk. It's great exercise and is what they suggest for us heavy folk. Once you lose some weight, you will have more energy to perhaps do the stairclimber and elyptical or even jog and run. That's what I did, and it worked for me.

And make sure you get enough protein. If you cut out red meat, make sure you replace that protein with something. I ate a lot of peanut butter. I swear it helps. I don't lose unless I get at least 20 grams of protein a day. :)

Best of luck, and keep asking questions. I love to give advice, and I know, when I need it, you'll be there to help me.

Luke

Welcome Riggs, some of my word,s may be blunt and to the point but hey so is life at over 400 lbs and you have took the biggest leap forward by recognizing that you are risking your life and health, but you know what ? you are in the driving seat, it ain't all rocket science, simply if we fill our tank to often, with to much fuel and don't drive far enough, then continually refill we overflow, but our body is to clever to waste much and instead of letting it go, it save's it for lean time's ahead, and that's the dilemma that you and me and many other's face , either put less in our tank or burn up more fuel.
So you know this already ? and have lived with the fuel dump that nature provide's, But and here is the good bit you tell us that you have been overweight all your life and the light at the tunnels end looks dim and bleak But you can make life real real bright and believe me when I tell you not only will you prolong your life but will give yourself a taste that you wont want to lose, your reward for jumping off the merry go round will be fantastic, and as 20lbs less becomes 50 then 100+ and those lbs disappear you will know why and wonder why you waited.
All the info,, advice and support is here at Dt what you must do is sort out what you believe is the right road and try to find out and unlock your own key to success, I got a taste of life after losing lots many years ago, I found the key to losing and stupidly blew it, gained it all back and had been in the wilderness ever since, Up until last summer, whats different this time I finally recognized that eating to cope with Stress, pressure and boredom, done nothing to help, all it did was pile on the weight and keep me on the vicious merry go round, Also that if I avoided all high sugar food's IE chocolate ,cake's biscuits ice cream and alcohol etc my appetite was controllable and I avoided those dreaded hunger pangs and empty feeling's, So this time my lifestyle change will work and believe me life is changing all for the better and at your age you go for it big style.
Best of luck
Bigacey

Well its been a week! And I'm still on the diet..... woohoo. I'm averaging around 2000ish calories a day. Not feeling hungry and giving an old hobby a workout (cooking).

Some of my days food wise would look like this....

Morning - cereal (non sugary + high in fiber) and fruit

Snack - fruit or yogurt

Lunch - Massive salad with a controlled amount of fat free turkey, soy cheese, grapenuts (crouton replacement) and fat free dressing

Snack - Weight watchers bar or yogurt

Dinner - Skinless turkey cutlet (not fried of course), veggies and rice

Snack - Kettle Corn (awesome stuff, low in cal + fat)


I'm feeling good, I've cut back on my soda 100000%, I had uhhh 4 diet cokes all week. Today I bought lemon flavored seltzer instead, good stuff. I love to cook, culinary school has always been something I've considered so this is just helping me to cook and cook healthy at that.

Tonight I made an awesome stuffed pepper dinner. No oil, only fat was from skinless turkey ground up that I used in the stuffing. Let me know if anyone wants the recipe ;) its not in exact numbers since I made it seat of the pants.... but it was SO good.

Excersize has been minimal due to the double snow storms and bitter cold weather. My sister is on the look out for a treadmill for me but in the meantime I'll find something to keep my body moving.

Thanks for the support and I will chime in again soon =) Happy New Year to all!!

wow riggs, it sounds like you had an AWSOME start!! way to go!! cutting out the sodas is MAJOR!!! it looks like you are making really good choices on your food too..i know people would love it if you post your recipes in the recipe forum..what is your fat free dressing of choice?? i like the kraft fat free italian and also the thousand island..bought some dif ones this time i will try..i love kettle korn !! yum!!! have you tried the new diet pepsi twist? i think it is really good...there are some good exercise videos..i started with richard simmons original Sweatin to the Oldies video..it has people of all ages, sizes and both sexes on it..other people are saying great things about Leslie Sansone's Walking videos..you can find great things on ebay...

great to hear about your progress!!

Keep up the great work! I've lost a couple pounds this week too. :)

Wow, fantastic menu. A man who can cook! You will do great.
You can't go wrong by following the basic food outline John gave you, and with your interest in cooking it won't get boring.
A very good basic exercise video to start with is Richard Simmonds Getting Started. I found the Sweating to the oldies tough if you can't walk and chew gum at the same time,but maybe you don't have a problem with that.
Keep up the good work,you will be a star here!
Pat

Two week mark, and im still doing good. The past 2 or 3 days have been a struggle. Landlord is wanting us to move and I hurt my leg yesterday on a clumsy stair stumble..... stress = cravings for me.

There was two points where I grabbed something I Wanted and stuffed it in my mouth, was so angry about .5 nanoseconds later before swallowign I Spit it out. Weeee close call... Something i've learned though. Don't totally fight your cravings. Be a responsible craver. This week I felt it, I Wanted good food, now right.... now. My aunt made lasagna, I didnt eat much during the day.... I okayed it with myself and had the smaller piece of the two with a nice piece of italian bread.

Tonight, I made some veggie and rice stir fry that didnt come out to hot. My dad left out hamburgers, I cooked one up and had it on rye with cucumbers. It really is better to just responsibly eat something you crave at the moment of super strong cravings. If you deny it eventually it will kick your ass and you'll end up ordering 5 items from a dollar menu somewhere.

So, just as an update. Two weeks, still doing great. A few speedbumps but I didn't stay down. Still fighting..... Keep the Faith all!!

Hi Riggs
Good for you still doing well at two weeks.
I don't think its a good idea to fight cravings, The reason I don't anymore is I end up so guilty about having something , I eat it so fast and don't enjoy it, so I don't satisfy my cravings and I end up wanting more.
It sounds as if you already know this though.