Weight Loss

[PSU Smoker]

[size=2]ok done messing around with the menu planner and I find it very helpful. It was pretty simple to use except it kept having errors, but as long as you register and account it saves your data for you so if it crashes you start where you left off... Here is my menu from today. As you can see I had too much protein and too many discretionary calories, so maybe tomorrow Ill sub in something healthier for a snack and eat less meat. Also you will see I was within the acceptable amount of calories to head to a healthier weight.
[/size]

[Stuie]

So last week I did something I never thought I would do. I have started the process to get Lap Band Surgery. Took everything I had to allow myself to consider this.... deathly afraid of surgery.

After a few hours of consultation and couple hour drive to Fort Worth and back. I am in the process.

Got 6 months of physician guided diet, essentially to acclimate me to a new eating style. Few tests to get done. Come September or October. I will have surgery.

Although, I am not sure I will have it though. Just following their diet guidelines for less than a week I have dropped a couple pounds, and I haven't even started the exercise portion of the program yet.

If i keep this up, may just skip the surgery.

[A13lackFish]

Good Activities to do to loose weight quickly and effectively:

Swimming
Running

Things to Cut:

**DR.PEPPER (one can may not seem like much, but i cut soda completely for the fact that the shit is horrible for you) There are much better tasting juices.
**Any fried food product at all
**Fast food consumption
**Junk Food splurging (aka when you go grocery shopping dont buy 10 bags of chips cause you know they will be good, buy 1-2 small snacks you can eat over the course of the next couple weeks only thus it limits the consumption)

Things to Eat:

Salad (spinach based, that iceberg shit has no nutritional value)
Fruits
Vegetables
Lots of water
Grilled chicken (meat is good, grilled chicken is healthy if done in a healthy manner, and do not overeat on it 1-2 pieces mabye during a meal)
Fish (very good for you) and no NOT FRIED FISH


AND,
When you eat, slow down your eating. One of the big issues with America is that we dont take the time to allow our body's to consume the food, instead we scarf it down before our body realizes how much has actually been consumed.
When you eat slowly vs. quickly you tend to eat less due to your actually being full and realizing it, thus take your time so you dont overeat.

Hope this helps and goodluck

[Stuie]

The thing is i Cut out fast food and DP months ago and gained weight but switching to eating protein first, then fiber, and if i have room grains and starches. Depending if my scale matched the doctors office I have droped about 5 pounds in a week.

[Venger]

I had gastric bypass surgery going on six years ago. Went from 600 lbs down to 320 lbs. I am still a big boy but that was half my body weight and I still lose a little every year never gain. I would do it again in a New York minute. I can walk and swim and see my junk again. I also had a lot of the loose skin removed. Kinda weird being 300+ and still have a flatish (no muffin top) stomach. Good Luck with which ever path you choose.
Ray

[PSU Smoker]

Thats awesome Stuie hopefully this diet and exercise program will work out for you and you can keep up the weight loss and skip the surgery. If you do end up getting the surgery best of luck to you!!

[Allstar]

This is what we use at my command. Any combo will work. www.crossfit.com, gymjones.com, or fatalfitness.com. They are all based around the same idea. Short workouts with full body montions. This is very dynamic. I was doing a 3 month program and lost 25 lbs. Starting again because I just got over my injuries. Have to get 35lbs off this time. Eating will play a big part in it. It is a numbers game. Get up in the morning, eat something small and healthy like an apple. Then for lunch try a salad with lots of color in it. Toss everything you can on it. Drink more water and V8 fusion. Dinner, be smart and eat a smaller portion. The last thing is find out when is best for you to work out. I do better after lunch or after dinner. Try before dinner or something. best of luck. Let me know if you need more ideas.

[PSU Smoker]

V8 fusion is heavenly...also i think i mentioned before but whole grains for breakfast will suppress hunger in the morning until about lunch time. Only really need about 5g (slice of bread or a bowl of whole grain cereal)

[Allstar]

You don't want to suppress hunger, you want to be hungry every time you eat. That tells you that you are burning the calories. This is what our Human Performance Department tells us. You should be wanting to eat because you are hungry not because it is time. That is how getting overweight starts. Also if you have a problem of small portions not filling you up, drink a glass of water before you eat that will help you fill full.

[Stuie]

Okay so it's been 7 days. And I have been following This new eating habit to prep for the possibility of lap band.

3/12 - 348lbs
3/19 - 339lbs

I haven't exercised, I have cut out breads and grains out of the main portion of my meal, Eat my protein first, fiber then whatever. I have stopped eating after dinner. I am forcing myself to at least eat one pear for breakfast. Not protien but I can at least get it down around 10, when I can actually eat breakfast.

I am currently wearing a polo shirt given to me at work to where whenever, I haven't yet cause even the 3X, my belly was too big. I am wearing it this morning.

SO FREAKING STOKED!!!!!!!!!!

I know this amount of weight loss won't continue, in fact I would be seriously worried if it did, but the fact I actually see progress is amazing!

[PSU Smoker]

Awesome Stuie!!!!

[Rani]

I've never been a proponent of surgical intervention for weight control. Though I know several people who've done it successfully. My instincts just tell me that when you walk through the door and they tell you your hair will fall out, something isn't quite right. My feelings about the subject got a lot firmer when my niece had stomach stapling. Something went wrong. She nearly died more than once through it all and as of over the last three years has had 29 corrective surgeries. She's thin, but there's a very good chance she will never have children because her body won't be able to handle the stress. And she's only 30 years old. The cost ended up being well over a half million dollars, only a small portion of which was picked up by the insurance company because they don't cover complications from elective surgery. My sister was bitching about the cost and I reminded her she could have gotten her daughter a gym membership with a personal trainer and nutritionist for about $12,000 a year.

Surgery, is well, surgery. Even lap band requires general anesthesia and counts as invasive surgery. We all know how to lose weight. Really we do. Less calories, the right calories, more exercise. Michael Phelps reported that he consumes between 9,000 and 14,000 calories during training and competition. And he had issues keeping weight on. So I'm thinking deprivation, even when caused by surgical reduction of the stomach probably isn't the answer. For anyone who's done it successfully, more power to you, but I'm still not a fan. And never going to be. I just don't think it's necessary and doing anything the easy way never works in the long run. Ruby (if you watch the Style channel), has gone from 716 pounds to just over 300 as of this season. Not a lap band or surgical intervention in sight. Yeah, it's harder, but so is anything worth doing right.

'Rani

[bellydancerakn]

Really weight watchers is doing wonders for me . I'm 5'5" and *takes a deep breath and flinches* 230lbs, I usead to be 244lbs. But weight watchers DOES work as long as you are extremely strict about recording all your food and points value and journaling. Also, going to meetings help A LOT!!! If you don't like a particular leader, go to a different meeting and test them out.
And of course, the hardest part is the plateu. You just have to eat all your points, which can be hard. It's hard to eat 33 points everyday sometimes. And sometimes it's hard to NOT eat 60 points.
Another thing, if you wanna excersise. Walk the dog. Try to trick yourself into thinking that your not exersicing your just doing a chore.

Maybe have a reward for yourself, Like walk for 30 minutes and you get to smoke a small bowl of your favorite flavor. Like buy 250grams of a favored flavor you love, but it's just so expensive you don't get it often. That way you won't waste it. And after a 30 minute walk to can smoke a small bowl of it as your reward, but you can't smoke it any othertime. You only get it after you have walked. Maybe that will help?

[duckah]

Stuie, I'm glad to hear you've been making progress. My opinion however is that a lot of your dietary concerns could be simplified just by reducing your Carborhydrate intake and avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup. HFCS has been used to sweeten nearly everything and it's killing us.

I've been dieting successfully since December 09 without completely abolishing anything. My most notable dietary changes are that I: (1) rarely drink any soda whatsoever, (2) reduced my portions of rice and pasta, (3) avoid HFCS-even in grains, (4) never force myself to finish the food in front of me.

Good luck with your continuing progress, personally I hope that you can do without the surgery!

[i]Reference (March 22, 2010; 10:00 a.m.):[/i]
[url="http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/"]A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain[/url]

[virtua]

[quote name='Rani' date='20 March 2010 - 03:43 PM' timestamp='1269125034' post='458458']
I've never been a proponent of surgical intervention for weight control. Though I know several people who've done it successfully. My instincts just tell me that when you walk through the door and they tell you your hair will fall out, something isn't quite right. My feelings about the subject got a lot firmer when my niece had stomach stapling. Something went wrong. She nearly died more than once through it all and as of over the last three years has had 29 corrective surgeries. She's thin, but there's a very good chance she will never have children because her body won't be able to handle the stress. And she's only 30 years old. The cost ended up being well over a half million dollars, only a small portion of which was picked up by the insurance company because they don't cover complications from elective surgery. My sister was bitching about the cost and I reminded her she could have gotten her daughter a gym membership with a personal trainer and nutritionist for about $12,000 a year.

Surgery, is well, surgery. Even lap band requires general anesthesia and counts as invasive surgery. We all know how to lose weight. Really we do. Less calories, the right calories, more exercise. Michael Phelps reported that he consumes between 9,000 and 14,000 calories during training and competition. And he had issues keeping weight on. So I'm thinking deprivation, even when caused by surgical reduction of the stomach probably isn't the answer. For anyone who's done it successfully, more power to you, but I'm still not a fan. And never going to be. I just don't think it's necessary and doing anything the easy way never works in the long run. Ruby (if you watch the Style channel), has gone from 716 pounds to just over 300 as of this season. Not a lap band or surgical intervention in sight. Yeah, it's harder, but so is anything worth doing right.

'Rani
[/quote]

Well said, I'd second that surgery is expensive, permanent and possibly dangerous.

As an alternative work with a bariatric dietitian and do the diet without the surgery. This is what I've done and so far so good.

Also if you're a reader, check out Mindless Eating, pretty good book about the psychology relating to food. Its not preachy and its pretty interesting stuff about how we make decisions about food.

No matter your decision, I truly hope it works out for you.

[Zeaken]

good to see this new exercise program is working for you stuie. I tend to get back onto my personal plan of cutting out the fast food and doing sporadic exercise as much as possible to boost my metabolism but i am young and not very over weight at 5'10 and 185.

[Stuie]

Last night I did something awesome. I wear size 48 pants... last night i slipped on my old size 44 jeans!!!!!!


HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PSU Smoker]

[quote name='Stuie' date='30 March 2010 - 05:56 PM' timestamp='1269986187' post='460861']
Last night I did something awesome. I wear size 48 pants... last night i slipped on my old size 44 jeans!!!!!!


HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[/quote]


fuckin right! congratz stuie!

[ngraz617]

I never ate much junk food, fried food, just a lot of food and drank. About 2+ years ago eliminated alcohol which was about 2-3 drinks a day and gave up all white starches and got into grains and low fat foods and gave up sugar as best as I could. I eat 2-3 times a day and never take seconds and work out 3-4 x a week and just eat sensibly. I also drink a protein shake 1-2x a day. If I eat pizza I get one slice I used to eat 2-4 no problem and I don't touch much sweets. Eat some fruits and veg's. and I'm not a pig in general. I'm 6' and went from 250 to 180. I would have to say what I do is Weight Watchers but my own. I have tried fad diets all my life, this time I said no rush and just did it slowly. I still drink a few times a month and I still have those big Italian meals on Sunday but not nearly as much food. I can move after I eat and don't care if food gets thrown away. I don't feel I have to be the one to not let things go to waste. Now I'm a 33 waist and I don't think about it. I weigh myself maybe once a month if that and I can't gain weight anymore. My body over 2 years has adjusted to this and I actually find myself losing if I don't eat a lot. I take the protein shakes to add calories to my diet now. Regardless if you exercise or not try this SYNTHA-6, If you want to lose weight take one scoop which comes with it and use water and drink that in lieu of 1-2 meals and eat one or two healthy meals and I have told at least 10 people to do this and they all lost weight and you can make this part of your life, it's healthy. I drink two a day when I can with 0-1% milk at 200 calories a scoop and I use 2 scoops each time and I feel amazing. This isn't slim fast crap, it's a protein powder. If you are the type that misses meals have this instead of nothing. If you keep eating or drinking stuff like this your body will keep going and wont shut off and store food. Also my wife has used Full bars and she swears by them and I don't see where she has to loose but she says she takes them and in a few weeks lost 10 pounds. That doesn't sound like it will last, it takes a complete overhaul of your eating habits. I started using this powder after like 8 months into it and I felt better using it. I have a lot of people I know that lost with this stuff and they all are doing well and if they see they are going up take more shakes and less meals. This works best if you're the type that misses meals, you take this and you are better than with nothing. I also take some vitamins but if you do what many others I have told to do with this you will lose and can keep it off by making it a part of your life, you go up 5 puds start the shakes and it comes off but in general watch what you eat and stop before you're full. I pay about $30.00 for this but it's 30 meals so it's very cheap, depending how fast you want to lose thats 30-60 a month depending on how many shakes I think you need two shakes and two meals to lose fast and never be hungry.

[liquidglass]

Going on the last post with shakes.

[size="3"]*First let me state, this might sound a bit like a sales pitch (tried to type it so it wouldn't) But I'm just tryin to lay everything out clearly*[/size]

Now guys I'm not FAT by any means 6' 185lbs. But I dont' look like I used to when I played soccer or worked out constantly at all. I've tried a lot of the fad diets over the last few years and nothing worked great, they all worked a little in their own respect. I recently found a new diet craze that's starting to spread called ViSalus. Now let me go ahead and get this out of the way they do have people that sell it and market it (think Mary Kay). But you can also just sign up as a consumer and get your shakes and supplies. It's primarily for people who want to lose weight but also has boosting vitamins for people looking to get lean or bulk up some.

* the reason I started was because a lady I know in her mid 30's or so has lost about 23lbs in a month and a half. I'm sure mine wont' be that quick but holy shit lol

Here's the best perks that I like about it so far

- if you get three people to become customers (or distributors, whichever) then you basically get yours for free (plus about 10 in shipping)
(and don't worry guys I've already got my three so I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you guys, you're like family, so I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't like it)

- you can sign up for free so you can browse around and see what you think

- If you ever want to distribute later (assuming it works for you) you can and make some money on the side. Not really my thing because I've got a good job right now, but I have a lot of friends that just can't wait to do it for cash


- BEST ONE: You can enter your height, weight, fitness goals, and even food preferences, as well as things you want to stay away from [font="Lucida Sans Unicode"][size="3"]([/size][/font][font="Lucida Sans Unicode"][size="3"][color="#800080"]Gluten free option included RANI[/color][/size][/font][font="Lucida Sans Unicode"][size="3"])[/size][/font]


The only thing is you do have to have someone refer you to it (don't worry I don't make anything off refering people)
So in case any of you just want to check it out here are a few of the sites set up that give you basic info

[url="http://myvi.net/?page=8329&user-id=45753"]liquidhealth.bodybyvi.com/[/url]

[url="http://liquidhealth.myvi.net"]liquidhealth.myvi.net[/url]

[liquidglass]

Damn it missed the edit window.

Left out another important thing that got me interested

- Each shake is about 170 calories and takes care of your appetite so it eliminates a whole meal (it's meant to) and if you break down the cost it's about $1.50 per meal or so
(When I eat out I spend about 8 bucks at lower end places and 25 at mid level and don't get me started on when I go for sushi lol)

- And as I mentioned below, for my dad who has diabetes, guillian-barre syndrome, and fibromyaliga. I'm always on the look out for stuff to help him so I figured why not give it a shot, worse that could happen is he loses just a couple lbs. I started doing it for myself so we can hold each other to our goals, so far I'm keeping up with meeting goals lol.


[quote name='Stuie' date='19 March 2010 - 12:18 PM' timestamp='1269015482' post='458216']
Okay so it's been 7 days. And I have been following This new eating habit to prep for the possibility of lap band.

3/12 - 348lbs
3/19 - 339lbs

I haven't exercised, I have cut out breads and grains out of the main portion of my meal, Eat my protein first, fiber then whatever. I have stopped eating after dinner. I am forcing myself to at least eat one pear for breakfast. Not protien but I can at least get it down around 10, when I can actually eat breakfast.

I am currently wearing a polo shirt given to me at work to where whenever, I haven't yet cause even the 3X, my belly was too big. I am wearing it this morning.

SO FREAKING STOKED!!!!!!!!!!

I know this amount of weight loss won't continue, in fact I would be seriously worried if it did, but the fact I actually see progress is amazing!
[/quote]

That's AWESOME Stuie. And actually the more overweight you are the faster you'll lose it with just small changes. It'll slow when you get down in the 200's but won't slow drastically until the lower to mid 200's.

If you're thinking about surgery, try other stuff first. My dad had to lose weight about 5 years ago and was about 350. Exercise and diet pushed him down into the mid 200's So keep up the hard work. I've got him doing the shake thing I was talking about about (but he's got guillian barrae syndrome and fibromyalgia) so it's a littler slower for him since work outs are very limited.

As far as drinks, if you don't want water or soda I would personally recommend the lipton green tea (DIET version ONLY) it's an easier transition from soda to water. And the diet version packs 0 calories per serving (doesn't mean it's completely healthy, but the reg version packs 80 per)

[Click]

I'm not looking to lose weight, but I have a question regarding when to stop eating at night.

I usually don't go to bed till late, 3 A.M. usually.  And wake up around 10:30-11:00.  If I stop eating at 9 P.M. then that means I wouldn't have eaten for over 14 hours.  Now surely that doesn't sound like a good idea, but I always hear you shouldn't eat late at night.  What would you guys suggest to do with that?

[PSU Smoker]

well you just dont want to eat like 3-4 hours before bed. I'd say if you want a midnight snack go for the gold. Not that you need much energy while you sleep but your brain can only run off of glucose which your body gets from its glycogen stores. These stores only last a few hours which is why you eat multiple times a day. The only reason you dont want to eat before bed is so you have a chance to digest your food and so your body can work on other things while asleep. If you are digesting food you wont be as rested in the morning. Edited April 21, 2010 by PSU Smoker

[liquidglass]

[quote name='PSU Smoker' date='20 April 2010 - 09:57 PM' timestamp='1271815057' post='464483']
well you just dont want to eat like 3-4 hours before bed. I'd say if you want a midnight snack go for the gold. Not that you need much energy while you sleep but your brain can only run off of glucose which your body gets from its glycogen stores. These stores only last a few hours which is why you eat multiple times a day. The only reason you dont want to eat before bed is so you have a chance to digest your food and so your body can work on other things while asleep. If you are digesting food you wont be as rested in the morning.
[/quote]

agreed.


Honestly i would say something healthy with just natural sugars would be best rather than personal fav. snacks of mine (ice cream, cheese its, etc) lol

[russianwizard]

Ride a Bike to places within 8 miles of your house. I have always found that exercising is easier if there is a destination. I bike to work now (4 mile ride) and I log 35-60 miles a week. Plot a bike path with google maps, and start off with 1.5x the time it says it will take. Go slow at first, then pick up speed once it starts getting easier. Since the start of summer, I have lost about 3-4 inches off of my waistline.

Also if you do need to change your diet, transition into a leaner diet. Don't change your diet too quickly or you will go back to the way things were before in no time. Edited April 25, 2010 by russianwizard