PoA Weight loss support.

steingar said:
I have the advantage that I can work my exercise regimen into my daily routine. I'm certain I've said I walk to work nearly every day. Don't have a parking pass for my car (big $$$$ for nonexistent spots) but I can bring in a motorcycle. Most days I don't, I just walk. I don't much like walking in the dark of the morning or night, but I have a reflective jacket and I just do it.

I think that's the thing about an exercise program. You've got to "just do it" for it to really work.
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Given the way I eat, I'd hate to see what I would look like if I wasn't active at work.
 
jesse said:
I'm at 161.2 lbs right now which is probably about right. I've stabilized at this for a few weeks now without any weight gain. Eating limited whole grain carbs, practicing portion control, and still eating lots of steak. I avoid sweets.
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jesse said:
Update. That was Jan 2013. I ended up getting back up to about 173 lbs. I made some changes about a month ago and am at 166 as of this morning. Looking to get down to that 160.

The mistake I made was eating work provided lunch. Our company pays a portion of lunch for those who want it. Basically, I could eat REALLY good food for $4/day that was brought into our office. The problem was most of the food was carb heavy. Once I started on the carbs it reached into other parts of my life and things started to fall apart.

Dropped the work lunch, switched to minimal carb lunches, and the weight is coming off easily.
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jesse said:
Actually, that pic is a bit puffy, and I'm down since then.

When I decide to lose weight I have a lot of self control. I absolutely do not eat anything whatsoever no exceptions that is not part of my plan. I verify the ingredients of whatever I'm eating and make sure it's correct. If I have any doubt I simply don't eat until I can do it.
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Back down to 161 lbs as of this morning. I've ate nothing but either meat or select vegetables the last few weeks - about as much as I want really and never hungry.
 
- 4.5 kg since I got serious and started with weight watchers online (along with the spouse).

Signed up at the gym here at work - all I need to do know is actually go there.

Only 18-20 kg left to go.

(Weight loss doesn't look as good in kg compared to pounds, but the distance to my goal appears a lot shorter, eh?)
 
12 sodas a day.....I stopped drinking sodas or sweat-en drinks even low cal sweeteners which I believe are worse for us than sugar/fructose. I started by just saying no to $1.79 sodas during dine outs and drink water instead. This helped my health greatly. After a few months I stopped buying soda fountain drinks at quick-trip when out and about. This got me from 10-12 cokes a day to about 1 a day as i would still have it in the refrigerator as a refreshment evenings. Last stage I cut in half the amount of soda I bought for the house and cut it agin until we seldom have sodas in the house, I don't buy them at restaurants and do not get them at quick-trip convenience stores.

Over 30 years I realized that I could never lose weight no matter what the diet so long as i was still using diet sodas as a crutch so when i stopped drinking diet sodas my cravings for sweats dissipated about 80-90%.

After considering my families back ground and genetics I decided to do a low carb meal plan. I did not do the Atkins induction but what I did worked as well. I stopped buying bread, bagels, potatoes, rice and popped corn and bringing it in to my house. I bought more nuts, meats, fish, cheese, whole milk, cream, butter, eggs, olive oil, fresh vegetables, reduce my 2 fruits a day to mostly berries and occasional half banana/half apple/half grapefruit.

to my amazement according to my weight ins at my doctor I lost 50 lbs in 50 days. The biggest change is mood. I had not realized how sugar/carb rush and crash effected my moods and behaviors.

I expect to be able to knock out another 40 lbs and I am feeling great.

We did not go cold turkey we just agreed not to buy any more white carbs and sugars for the house. We finished the popped corn, rice, wheat, breads, and bagels from the house and we replemished them with veggies, nuts, berries, dairy, meat, fish, poltry, eggs and everything is great.

From someone who would rather die than give up garlic bread, pasta, bagels, sweats and popped corn i can tell you that you really do lose the cravings. You remember something is good but it is not the same as a craving that you have to itch every time you get it which is always as one carb makes you crave the next so it is a cycle just like drugs, smoking or what have you.

Once you do this your body feels the difference when you have a cheat meal or cheat day...you get slightly sick from donuts, or taco bell or mac donalds anything.
 
I ran my first road race today. The Boulevard Bolt 5 mile run in Nashville. I committed to do this one year ago as a goal to help me keep at it. Many miles on the treadmill over the last year and while I haven't taken off as much weight as I would have liked I have dropped about 30. Temp at race start was only 19 degrees so many layers, but stayed comfortable. Finished right at an hour. While a 12 min/mile pace isn't that impressive I certainly exceeded my expectations.

Very happy and look forward to continued improvement next year!!!
 
As of today my BMI is 22.7. (149 lbs; 5'8")

My target was originally 150 lbs, so since I seem to be on a roll I have set a new target of 145 lbs (BMI of 22.) I've been losing weight the last 3 months at a modest 3 lbs/month. Prior to that I had plateaued for several months around 158 lbs. For the record, I started about two years ago at 173 lbs. The heaviest I think I ever was in my life was 180 (BMI 27.4)

The only change I made that seemed to trigger leaving the plateau was going to a half sandwich at lunch (coincidentally I started losing weight again the day after I did a long cross-country flight to a couple grass fields I wanted to claim for Operation Fly.) Obviously I had been controlling my diet up to that time. I have also been increasing the resistance on the elliptical that I've been using 6 days a week for half an hour each day. That probably helped a little too. To motivate myself to get on the elliptical on a regular basis, I've tried listening to music and tried to read or study. None of those seemed to really motivate me - just made it bearable.

What I found worked to motivate me to exercise regularly was when I downloaded Stargate SG-1 episodes to my iPad. I allow myself to watch them only when I exercise. I had only seen the last couple years of Stargate SG-1 (and enjoyed it) so that left probably over 170 earlier episodes I'd never seen. (I'm now up to season 7.) I may watch "Have Gun, Will Travel" episodes next - I've seen a few bootlegged episodes on Youtube and the shows seem to stand the test of time. Other than the famous closing theme song I barely remember reruns from my youth - the series started the year after I was born. It also helps that there are over two hundred episodes, most of which I've never seen. But getting those onto an iPad would not be as simple as buying from iTunes since they appear to be only available on CD.
 
Jim Logajan said:
As of today my BMI is 22.7. (149 lbs; 5'8")
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Way to go!!

As of this morning my BMI is 20.7 (133 lbs, 5'7.25"). Over the last few years I've noticed a tendency to lose without trying, unless I made an effort to eat. Then I quit drinking milk in early October. I still have some dairy, but I don't drink milk, even Lactaid milk or milk that's been treated with Lacteeze drops (a Toronto company still sells the stuff). The first thing I noticed was an overall increase in energy -- a good thing, because this semester has been grueling. But the second thing I noticed is that I can now gain weight - easily, if I don't watch myself. So now I carefully titrate what I eat, weighing myself every morning and watching for trends. If I go below 133 lbs I will eat a little more than usual (a little, not a lot), if I go above 136 I cut back immediately. Of course my weight goes up and down a little and I don't sweat small changes. But if I go outside those three pounds, I do something about it, and right away without making excuses or putting it off till tomorrow.

So far it's worked. At the moment I have a pumpkin pie baking in the oven, the first one I've made since my parents died in 2007. I'm going to have some tonight and then see what happens over the next few days. Rest assured that if I start gaining, the rest of it is either going to friends, or in the trash if I have to lay off for too long...
 
jesse said:
Back down to 161 lbs as of this morning. I've ate nothing but either meat or select vegetables the last few weeks - about as much as I want really and never hungry.
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I've been holding steady at 163 for a month or so now. I could probably use to drop another 5 lbs or so -- going to take increased exercise to accomplish that I think.

My diet has been 90% paleo except when I slip up and have a margarita.
 
John, I think the BWI Calculator is broken. It says a 6' 1" 150 pound person is over weight!!!!!!!!! I have not been that weight since Jr. High School!!!

John Baker said:
I have mild COPD, it is a ***** walking up the hill, I sound like an old steam engine on it's last legs, huffing and puffing, swearing and cursing, but I still walk up that Fn hill.

BMI is 25.1 now, just a little more way to go to get to the top.

Here is a BMI calculator. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm

-John
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Scott@KTYR said:
John, I think the BWI Calculator is broken. It says a 6' 1" 150 pound person is over weight!!!!!!!!! I have not been that weight since Jr. High School!!!
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You might have made an error with the input. I just entered 6' 1" and 150 lbs, and the calc spit out 19.8, which is the low end of normal.

But 5' 1" and 150 would be about 28 or overweight.

I wish the calculator also estimated body fat and provided a fudge factor for muscle mass. As it is right now, that calculator is kind of useless.
 
jesse said:
I've been holding steady at 163 for a month or so now. I could probably use to drop another 5 lbs or so -- going to take increased exercise to accomplish that I think.

My diet has been 90% paleo except when I slip up and have a margarita.
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Margaritas make up 10% of your diet? :D I've done full blown paleo and did really well on it. Kind of ticking along with mostly paleo but not worrying about the occasional pizza. Going to go back to full paleo again after the holidays. Heavy weight lifting does me the most good no matter what I eat
 
Thanks Bob, Yep I made an input mistake. Yep To much input - I am still FAT!!!:D

Bob Noel said:
You might have made an error with the input. I just entered 6' 1" and 150 lbs, and the calc spit out 19.8, which is the low end of normal.

But 5' 1" and 150 would be about 28 or overweight.

I wish the calculator also estimated body fat and provided a fudge factor for muscle mass. As it is right now, that calculator is kind of useless.
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The BMI calculator needs a cheat factor for the holidays,less carbs more bourbon,increase exercise for the holidays.
 
Bob Noel said:
You might have made an error with the input. I just entered 6' 1" and 150 lbs, and the calc spit out 19.8, which is the low end of normal.

But 5' 1" and 150 would be about 28 or overweight.

I wish the calculator also estimated body fat and provided a fudge factor for muscle mass. As it is right now, that calculator is kind of useless.
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This web page provides results using several other alternate formulas that people have devised:

http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm
 
Again, diets will not work if your lifestyle doesn't change. If you don't change your normal eating habits the diet won't take off the weight. And if you don't maintain he exercise program the weight won't stay off.
 
jesse said:
I've been holding steady at 163 for a month or so now. I could probably use to drop another 5 lbs or so -- going to take increased exercise to accomplish that I think.

My diet has been 90% paleo except when I slip up and have a margarita.
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Checking in again -- I'm down to 155 lbs now and have been doing nothing other than maintaing a paleo diet. I haven't been this weight since I was 18, (26 now).

I used to be all "just watch your calories" stupid! But at this point I'm quite convinced there is a lot gained by dropping the carbs. I don't worry about the calories, I'm not always hungry, I eat when I am hungry and my weight just trends towards a healthier and healthier weight.
 
JimNtexas said:
About a month ago the CEO of the small company I work for gave us all Fitbits. I was a little disappointed at first, a couple of years ago she gave us all iPads!

I have to say that the Fitbit has been much more helpful than I first imagined.

For example, because I get get 'points' for going up and down stairs I've just about quit using the elevator to get to my third floor office.

Just last week our company health insurance provider set up a company fitness plan for us. It's voluntary, and is about the only way we can get a discount on our company medical policy under Obamacare rules. That's very important to us, because commerical insurance rates are going to skyrocket under Obamacare.

One way we can get the discount is for individual employees to connect their Fitbit's to the company's fitness monitoring application. Supposedly the company won't know any information about individual employees, but will get more of a discount the more employees document exercise using Fitbit and a number of similar fitness monitoring devices.

As a computer nerd I find all this monitoring to be very helpful in breaking ties when choosing between spending time in my Lazyboy or going out to exercise instead.
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Anyone else here use the Fitbit, or Fitbit like devices?
 
woodstock said:
Anyone else here use the Fitbit, or Fitbit like devices?
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I have been using a FitBit for 1.5 years. I have it linked to myfitnesspal. Works great. Allows me to determine a better calorie count for the day.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Marauder said:
I have been using a FitBit for 1.5 years. I have it linked to myfitnesspal. Works great. Allows me to determine a better calorie count for the day.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I use myFitnessPal and have an iPhone 5s. An update to myFitnessPal actually uses the accelerometers and (possibly) GPS in the phone to do a FitBit like calculation on steps taken. Based on other calculations I've done, it's fairly accurate.


John
 
I use FitBit. I love it. I've lost 2, so I'm using my third. This one has survived the washing machine.
 
Fitbit also. I have the One. I wear it on dogtag chain around my neck with my sons tags. I have lost 60 pounds in the last year and a half. Its great motivation.
 
woodstock said:
Anyone else here use the Fitbit, or Fitbit like devices?
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I just got a fitbit flex for my birthday.

Marauder said:
I have been using a FitBit for 1.5 years. I have it linked to myfitnesspal. Works great. Allows me to determine a better calorie count for the day.

Why link it to myfitnesspal? Doesn't fit bit do the same on their site?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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6PC and I each have a Fitbit. We started strong with it and were challenging each other, work got crazy and the weather got hot, so I haven't been pushing myself as hard to get my steps. Gotta get going again though!
 
Looks like I need to jump on the thread here too!

I was a pretty natural 200lb (6"3') before I left home in California. After moving out, I realized that I didn't have the yoke of parental tyranny over me, so I started eating whatever I wanted. And then worked at a fast food place and I ate there almost daily on 30 min lunch breaks (no time to get home). After that I worked at a sedentary sales job an hour and 10 from home so I couldn't stop at home and ended up eating out with the guys at work a lot. And then umemployment and driving to and from my graduation in California from Oklahoma and all the fast food on the way... At my pre-employment screening for this airport ops job I clocked in at just over 300. It shocked me for sure, since then I've cut all soda put of my diet and cut back on bread and meat. I'm also exercising quite a bit running around at work and I feel better even though I'm tired when I get home. I'd like to be around 200 or 210 again, I felt so much better then. What has worked for you guys?

jsstevens said:
I use myFitnessPal and have an iPhone 5s. An update to myFitnessPal actually uses the accelerometers and (possibly) GPS in the phone to do a FitBit like calculation on steps taken. Based on other calculations I've done, it's fairly accurate.


John
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I use myfitnesspal too, clocked 9 miles of walking at an event this last weekend. It seems pretty great for accuracy!

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overdrive148 said:
I'd like to be around 200 or 210 again, I felt so much better then. What has worked for you guys?
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15 years ago I weighed 245. I'm under 190 now, but packed on some 10-12 pounds in the last 2 years (was 176 2 years ago). Goal is to get below 175, perhaps 165 if I can get there.

Motivation was ensuring healthy blood pressure for FAA medical.

What works is simple: eat less, exercise more. I did South Beach and it worked (though stayed in Phase 1 longer than the initial 2 weeks). An hour to 1.5 hours of hard cardio exercise every day (probably need to bump that up as weight loss is slowing), either fast walking/jogging or stationary bike (the machines are more controllable, and really the only way to exercise on steamy hot days). Pay attention to glycemic index & calorie consumption. Get both soda and alcohol out of your diet. Likewise refined carbs. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. And do exercise more than once a day to keep metabolism up.

Like almost everything in life, it's not easy, but it can be done.
 
wsuffa said:
15 years ago I weighed 245. I'm under 190 now, but packed on some 10-12 pounds in the last 2 years (was 176 2 years ago). Goal is to get below 175, perhaps 165 if I can get there.

Motivation was ensuring healthy blood pressure for FAA medical.

What works is simple: eat less, exercise more. I did South Beach and it worked (though stayed in Phase 1 longer than the initial 2 weeks). An hour to 1.5 hours of hard cardio exercise every day (probably need to bump that up as weight loss is slowing), either fast walking/jogging or stationary bike (the machines are more controllable, and really the only way to exercise on steamy hot days). Pay attention to glycemic index & calorie consumption. Get both soda and alcohol out of your diet. Likewise refined carbs. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. And do exercise more than once a day to keep metabolism up.

Like almost everything in life, it's not easy, but it can be done.
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The blood pressure thing is a big motivation as well, I'm still within passing limits but it's slightly elevated. My sister is well into the 300's and it definitely isn't healthy. I told myself I wouldn't hit 300 and I'm really disappointed in myself for doing so, but I'm going to fix it. I'm a pretty tall guy already and fitting in places is already hard enough without being heavy on top of it either. Plus from what I'm told it's way easier to lose it now instead of when you're older, and health problems...the list goes on of course.

Soda and alcohol (the little alcohol I had anyway) are gone. I've heard a huge amount of diet tips from just eating less of everything to eating no meat and bread and milk and cheese completely cold-turkey. I'ev been watching calories, but what's the glycemic index (and refined carbs)? I'm not as diet-savvy as I need to be (obviously!). I donated blood a few months ago and they told me that my cholesterol was good as well as my iron levels, which is nice.

As for exercise, I've been trying to do more and walk more during the day at work (friend of mine says don't start running off the bat when you're overweight like me because you'll destroy your joints and to start with low-impact exercise), walking instead of taking the golf cart, being active through the day if at all possible. The gym is out of reach at the moment due to finances but once I get established I'll find one close by and try to hit it up after work. I used to go for an hour or so and come home (a long time ago and sparingly) but I didn't really know what to do there to burn fat except get the heart rate up for a while and some interval stuff. What's south beach btw? (thanks for the insight btw, I get laughed at by some people I know for not knowing all this stuff). Or working out when overweight and looking like a mess :dunno:
 
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