Weight loss

[Ryan Pultz]

Ok everyone as some of you know I am a big boy well I went to the doctor and well I have gained another 20lb so it is about time to get serous about loosing some weight I was looking into weight watchers I have lost before on it and it is not to expensive as long as you don’t go to the weekly meetings and do the online plan another one I have looked at is L.A. weight loss but I have herd some things about them just wanting you to buy there vitamins and nutrition bars. So what have you all used to loose weight? I do get exercise as much as my chubby little but can take I walk about a mile every other day and on my days off I am out tromping around the river fishing. I do have a family so I do not want to inconvenience them with my diet so the weight watchers point system looks really good. Well anyone with ideas feel free to speech up hey if there are enough Fat Ifishers maybe we can get some kind of Ifatties support group ha-ha thanks

[Cool Texan]

Exercise is key. Good for the metabolism, good for the heart.

Some general rules which will help:

1) Exercise regularly...especially first thing in the morning when your blood sugar is low.

2) Dont eat past 7pm.

3) Snack in-between meals with healthy stuff. Celery is great...eat a bunch of it. Takes energy to process it, and has 0 calories.

4) More veggies, less meat, starches, etc. However, keep it balanced. If you try to binge diet or swing too much the other way, you will snap back at some point. Slowly make the change over.

5) Count the calories and cut back on serving sizes. Still hungry? Eat an apple.

6) Diet Coke instead of Coke.

7) Exercise, exercise, exercise. Keep your heart rate up for at least 25-30 minutes at a time. If you work a desk job, fidget your feet...bounce a toe all the time...anything. Keep moving. Even small movements take energy.

Good luck!!

[Radke]

I hafta agree with that fella from Texas. Exercise on a regular basis is exceptionally beneficial to weight loss, plus extra's. The extra's I'm thinking about is how you feel about yourself after a good session, whether it be running, floor exercises or weight room. It's almost like a drug addicition in that the more you do it, the better it feels, the more you do it. Well, at least until you end up hurting yourself because none of us are as young as we used to be. It is really hard to get started, but in the end, you will never regret the pain and effort.

[Thumper]

Atkins .... 62 pounds off now for 5 years .... and I spend one hour each early morning on the treadmill at a gentle 4 MPH while I read 2 newspapers.

The value of exercise cannot be overestimated. I burn about 500 calories over the hour. In 6 days per week that is 3,000 calories per week, or 150,000 calories in the year (taking 2 weeks off for vacation). Burning 150,000 calories is the equivalent of more than 42 pounds a year at 3,500 calories per pound.

Think about it. I am 42 pounds ahead each year before I even start. It is impossible for me to gain weight under the high protein regimen.

Nobody needs to be fat. Nobody. It is so simple. Of course it helps if you start off with a heart attack to kinda get your attention.

[ 05-16-2003, 05:41 PM: Message edited by: Thumper ]

[Mad Mikey]

Good post Thumper. Ryan, check out my thread "broken toes and no cardio". I did that with a low carb diet and a reasonable exercise program. Atkins worked for me until I got close to my ideal weight but with my exercise I had to bump my carbs up early in the day to keep from getting weak on my runs.
Curently I am on a reasonable diet and try to keep up the cardio on a regular basis. I cannot stress the importance of exercise, it will be the biggest factor no matter what you eat.

[Lucky Bamboo]

I am married to a Big Boy! When he got up to 235 lbs, HE decided (all by himself) it was time to do something. Our daughter was on the Atkins Diet, and suggested he try it. He like it....very, very much! He started losing right off the bat, so I decided I could stand to lose a few pounds, and joined him in the effort. I found recipes for low carb bread for my bread machine, and recipes for cheesecake, cookies, pies, and other 'sweet' goodies, and I think that has been the key to him staying faithful to the diet. I lost my desired amount within less than 6 weeks, and now just watch what I eat and am able to maintain my lowered weight with no problem. He has been on the diet for a total of 3 months, and has lost a total of 53 pounds!!! He has set a goal of getting down to 200 lbs, and I think he will make it....not real soon, but within the next year! I refuse to 'recommend' any diet to anyone....this is just an example of how Beirbelly Fisher is losing weight! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
www.atkinscenter.com

[pdxkevin]

There were some great points listed.

Avoid sodas and candy. Diet doesn't help you since most artifical sweeteners act as appitite stimulants too.

I have swithed over to flavored water. Talking Rain seems to have the most flavor. As a family, we cut our juice in half with Talking Rain.

Keep a small note pad and pen with you at all times. Just like filling out a check and recording it, any time you eat, drink, or sample something - write it, the amount and the time down. After a couple weeks look over your notes. It is amazing how much we eat with out remembering it.

Do not eat in front of the TV. You focus on whats on the tube and not how much you just eat.

Get a good nights sleep.

Don't just walk the same route around the block. It gets boring and you will lose interest. Check out the nearby trails. Go to the museums. Drive to a differnent neighborhood to walk around.

Here is a great site for Oregon and Washington Walking Events. Including year round walking maps. There are clubs of walkers all over. Being in one of the clubs is a great way to keep inspired to get out and walk as well as the miles and time fly by when you are out chatting along the route.

[Digifish]

All of the above is right on the mark. I know because I lost 40 pounds a couple of years ago and the critical componant is exercise and the critical componant to exercise is getting the heart rate up to your target zone (Your age subtracted from 200 is your 100% target, take 80%of that). Get to your target and keep it there and the pounds will start to drop. Of course, have some discipline with your diet.
After the weight came off I felt like I did 20 years ago :smile: and started to enjoy those activities that I stopped doing because I'd let my body take too much time off.
Like today, I'm leaving right now to go skiing at Hood. Couldn't have done it just a few years ago....

[Firedog]

Everyone above has given you some great advice. Exercise and watch your diet. Pick up a magazine like Mens Fitness and there are a lot of tips in there and stories about Guys in your exact situation every month. Another great way to cut calories is to only have one average helping at each meal and don't go back for seconds, also eliminate Dessert. Watch the carb intake. Good luck.

[The Fishing Geek]

Another vote for Atkins.

[Newbie McNewberson]

I know a lot of personal trainers. Some swear by the Atkins diet, some swear at it. I have seen guys lose 35lbs in a month and gain 50 back in 3 weeks.(exaggeration, but you know what Im getting at) The best thing to go is exercise. First thing in the morning, and any time you have to sit and snack. High protein intake is good, but cutting off carbs doesnt work for everyone. Watch the fats in your meats, dont eat right before bed, and no matter what, stick to your exercise regimen, even if you have to do 300 pushups at 1am. If you miss one day, I guarantee you'll miss more. Good luck, from all us "losers. "

[ 05-17-2003, 09:24 AM: Message edited by: Newbie McNewberson ]

[Thumper]

A lot of people report that they lose tremendous amounts of weight on the Atkins diet, only to gain it back within months or years of losing it. It's all true, unless you do one of two things (preferably both).

First, make a less strenuous form of the Atkins diet your "forever" lifestyle. Instead of ingesting only 20 grams of carbs a day, ease off to about 50-80 grams daily. I will never go back to a high carb diet. I am on Atkins for life. The benefits are just too great. All my life my cholesterol was 240 (now 160) and triglycerides were 700+ (now 70!). Blood pressure was always about 145/90 (now 110/60). Who on earth would want to change?

Second, make daily exercise your lifetime habit. It doesn't make any difference what form of exercise. Pick anything. I walk while reading newspapers. I figured that I read them every day, so why not get some exercise while reading. Make your exercise totally painless so that it can be part of your "forever" life.

You will never regret losing all that weight.

[ORrinker]

I am another vote for Atkins. I started two months ago and so far have lost 36lbs. Believe it or not I do not ever feel hungry either. I am a diabetic so I consulted my doctor first and she said that many of her patients have lost significant amounts of weight on Atkins. I was taking 80 units a day of insulin when I started and now have had to cut that back to only 15 units. Go to Costco and for $25 or so you can get his book that also comes packaged with carb counting book and a recipe book. I would say give it a shot. $25 is a very inexpensive way to lose weight. BTW, I discovered a chocolate bar that is called Pure Delite that is pure Belgian chocolate and has only 1-4 carbs depending on which variety you choose. It taste as good if not better than Hersheys. I have found them at both Thriftway and Fred Meyer in the Nutrition Center.

GOOD LUCK :smile:
Randy

[Wright Angle]

People are afraid of the Atkins lifestyle because it goes against what they have been taught the last 70 years. I think someday we will find out that part of what we were taught is wrong...there is an epidemic of childhood diabetes in the USA right now because of how we eat. And part of it is how we are told to eat (NOT All) never before in the history of the world have we had this problem. hmmm? Our diet has changed so much in the last 100 years.

When I was a kid in the 1950s and 60s out of a class of 25 kids there might be 1 or 2 heavy kids, today there might be 1 or 2 skinny kids. hmmm again? 1000 years ago Im pretty sure peoples diet was more like Atkins and not at all like our modern diet is today, even just 40 or 50 years ago our diet was more like Atkins then it is today. when we sat down to the dinner table 40 years ago it was very much like how I eat on Atkins now.

Our blood sugar goes up and down like a yo-yo, because of all the sugar and carbs we eat in our modern diet. 100 years ago it was very hard to find a candy bar or chips, Pretzels, donuts, what we call bread is nothing like bread before the 1900s there is just so much stuff that we have now that is new the last 100 years, before all the carb stuff when you were hungry you ate protein, fat , a few vegies, even fruit was a treat. so when I eat a diet high in carb and then get hungry one hour later my body really is telling me Im hungry Im not just a weak willed person (blood sugar slamming up and down) when I eat Atkins my blood sugar stays in the normal range, I don't get that spike in blood sugar that my panaceas over compensates for and causes my blood sugar to crash and then along comes the uncontrollable hunger. I also love all the thing that I do get to eat, it's almost decadent, they satisfy me very well I don't get hungry for hours ,every bit of it agrees with my system..I feel like a million dollars...Im not kidding....

I feel great my body started leaning out, ( lost 40 lb so far 40 to go) Next week Im going to start exercising again (running) Im full of energy, blood pressure went from 145/ 95 to 116/ 61 in two weeks... my doctor just kept checking it because he could not believe it. My cholesterol never was real high but it was elevated now it's low normal, I have energy like I did when I was 20 years old. Im sleeping better then I have in 25 years, Im waking up ready to go, No wanting to take a nap during the day, no blood sugar crash after lunch. I've been tired for 25 years no mater how much rest I get, people go to the Dr. all the time for this, I think they even have a name for it? I thought I had it, well I guess I did but I know what caused it now and its gone. My whole life even when I was a kid I've had bad headaches on a weekly basis, not one headache in 120 days and counting.(thank you Dr. Atkins) I feel like I must of been poisoning myself the way I use to eat . Im not kidding the way I use to eat must of been toxic to me .

People have a hard time under standing how on Atkins we can eat all of the fatty things we are told not to eat by those that are suppose to know and are cholesterol and blood pressure come down, why does it come down? the things Im eating is suppose to make it go up. what is up with that? Maybe it's the carbs and not the fat that makes it (cholesterol) go up?

My brother inlaw had very high cholesterol over 400, he is also diabetic, he did the high carb low fat diet for six months and took drugs to get his cholesterol under control and it would not come down, 7 months on Atkins and his cholesterol is near normal, And his Dr. took him off his insulin also , he has lost 60lb. Maybe there is something to the Atkins thing? maybe it is the fuel our body is designed to run on.? I know my car does not run well on the wrong fuel, it might run but not well.


I've lost 40 lb. three times in my life on high carb low fat diets and working out, (I ran 3 miles everyday for over 3 years the last time, never missed one day) I love the exercise part but hate the diet part I was hungry all the time, miserable day and night, starving, so I finely just resolve myself to the fact that I was going to be fat for the rest of my life. has anyone else said that to them self?

Well not now, I feel like I have been put in detoxification and cleaned out and have a new shot at life and it's easy. It so agrees with my body, my system, the old way of eating was a curse , Atkins is a blessing! every thing that we eat on Atkins is all fresh, meat, fish, vegies, none of it is full of junk..

For those that say you will gain the weight back plus more on Atkins well thats true about any weight loss program, trust me I know. If you go back to doing what you did in the first place to get fat, guess what you are going to get fat again.. it's just that easy. My problem was on low fat high carb diets I could not control the cravings so I could do it for awhile with shear willpower but I could not do it for the rest of my life. so eventually I would just give up. Atkins satisfy me, the cravings are gone my body chemistry seems to be in balance, my mind is clearer, memory is better, it all works for me, it may not be right for everyone but I know it is right for me.

It's like somebody has told me the biggest secret that there is, I can do this...if fact it seems natural..maybe it is?

Please forgive the lack of grammar and long sentences, Im not very good at this but I do have a passion for this subject..we all keep trying to do what all the experts tell us and keep failing and think it is just us being weak willed or we are just a weak person but I think it's much more then just being weak, I think we are fighting our body chemistry by trying to eat low fat high carbs.

The current diet industry brings in billions of dollars each year and would have to change or maybe go away if they admitted that Atkins might be the natural way to eat..The food industry also. Hmmmmm one more time?

O.K. this is way to long Im sorry Wright Angle

[ 05-18-2003, 01:18 AM: Message edited by: Wright Angle ]

[Thumper]

Well said Wright Angle! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[Silver Hilton]

Another vote for Low Carb. There is another book that doesn't get the same press as Atkins, but has a similar, but I think better thought out approach. It's called Protein Power, by Dr Eades. I recommend you check it out.

I've never been huge, but I was bigger than I should be. I lost 18 lbs earlier this year on Atkins, and it was nearly painless. I do miss fruit, and have quit the diet now. But I'm holding steady at 182, which is a good weight for me.

I also run and do weights, which is key to maintaining.