Hi.. a question..or 2..or 3..ish...

Hello all,

I stumbled onto this site last weekend when i took a long hard look at myself....and decided to look up how many calories I actually eat in a day. 

Far as I knew (or thought I knew) I didn't hardly ever eat, yet my weight has sky_rocketed over the past 2 years. (130LBS TO 197LBS)  Much to my surprise (or shall I say, rude awakening) I eat 1900-3200 cals a day...

This past week, I documented everything... and have come to the conclusion... I can only eat celery and water if Im to ever eat within my "allowance"  (lol)

So... whats a good start here?  I know my biggest prob is, we are a family on the go... so..fast food is 3-6 times a week.. (yea I know..BAD) Im trying to limit that, but everytime I get the gang together, and we're all on board about NOT eating out.. something comes up and  *BAM*..there we go thru the drive thru window... I'll work on that. (yes ive tried salads..Im hungry an hour later and end up getting something else, so why not get what i know satisfies me in the 1st place)

Excersise?? Umm... does having a treadmill that I dust off now and then count???  I work full time, and go to college at night.  I never use the elevator, always walk the 2 flight of stairs (AND DIE AT THE TOP).

So here are my questions:

1.  WHERE DID MY METABOLISM GO?  I was never over weight til I had kids...then I got back dn to 130 and was happy to remain there for the next 10 years..then POOF..Im gaining just by breathing!!

2.  Why can I pack it on in a cpl months, but have to lose at a snails pace???  Last October 2006, I weighed 159. By Feb (my birthday month) weighed in at 197, where I still sit..so in four months I gained 38lbs...  I would like to be 160 by the middle of September (THIS YEAR), but the calculator thing says "Goal date to aggressive"..  it wants  me to wait til NEXT YEAR.. 

3.  Is there an "A" list somewhere of the foods? I noticed that when I input what ive eaten, it a has a "grade"...is there a way to sort the foods by grade? Or do i have to read every little item to find them?

 Ive done the Atkins diet many times..w/ great success in the begining..then ..well here I am.. Zone, yeap... Sugar Busters, been there... sodium restrictive diets...yeap (tried that when it was found i now have high blood press).  Atkins is my fave, but I cant bring myself to do it anymore...I get sick of just meat and veggies... I like bread, i like milk..so forth.

Thanks for your time..and any help...

just stopping by to bump ur question back up on the list. I am indeed unable to help other wise! 

oh one more question... I noticed the threads with "team challenges".. or the "130...160..club" .. Is there a place to join one??? 

yeah just click on the one you want and join in...=)

I hope I don't sound to harsh here, but losing weight is not easy.  It takes a lot of effort and dedication.  My first suggestion is to lose all the excuses for not eating right and exercising.  I know it is hard to avoid fast food and I know t is a challenge to make time for exercise, but ultimately, your success will depend on your ability to do this.

To succeed you will have to make changes that will at times seem like huge sacrifices, but to lose weight you must commit to a lifestyle change.  You don't have to be perfect, but you do have to commit to putting forth your best effort.

I suggest starting here: http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1223 0.html

Welcome, you can do this and this forum is a wonderful place to discuss the challenges and the successes throughout your journey.

I hope this helps, please let me know if there are other questions I can answer.

Hate to say it but chances are the Atkins is what made you balloon after you went off it.

The fast food has got to stop also - Even Mcd's salads can be high in calories / fat if you get some varieties.  One thing I do is make extra food on the weekends and then I have left overs the rest of the week.  I'll cook up a whole bunch of chicken breasts and then heat em up and add teriyaki or barbque sauce I'll also cut them up and have them on a sandwich. 

Make sure to have a good healthy breakfast.  I used to never eat breakfast and then come 3pm I'd start scarfing down everything in site now that I eat breakfast I don't even have to have snacks just my 3 meals and usually a late night snack but that's all. 

Hi and Welcome!

The clubs you can join just by posting.

As for the other questions -

I used to be a fast food hog myself! And like your family, mine was too busy to make food too. Here's how I stopped (4 months without one!):

Imagine I gave you $1200 to go on a shopping spree for clothes.

You go into a store but you're tired and so you grab the clothes and buy them without looking at the labels. They cost $700 You get them home and because you've not looked at the labels you've bought clothes that fit all wrong and make you look *terrible*. So you've wasted $700 dollars just to make you feel terrible.

It's the same with food - you have 1200 cals a day and because it's easy you buy fast food - you don't know how many calories are in it, never mind salt levels, fat levels etc...and your body hates the stuff. Just like the clothes don't fit in my scenario, your body doesn't get the vitamins and things it needs. To top it off on one meal alone you've wasted 700+ calories.

Honestly, you don't have to eat salads to loose weight (I'm not a salad fan myself) and 1200 equals a lot of food if you think outside the box. For example, I've eaten:

A smoothie, a banana, an alpen snack bar, a roll with cream cheese and cucumber, a diet coke chocolate cake (tastes like the real thing, I swear, and only 70 cals a slice), orange juice, Quorn Burgers, Boiled Potatos, peas, dates, walnuts, etc and I'm still under my calorie intake.

I work full time and study at home too...it an be done. Slow and steady, that's the key! Everyone's really nice and supportive here, it makes dieting fun. 

Good luck and feel free to contact me anytime! 

Emmy

Thanks so much, the link was AWESOME!  Never heard of a diet coke cake, but sounds interesting!  The $1200 / 1200 cal. story was very well put, thank you.. Im a number cruncher and thats how I "see" things.

I have tried cooking all weekend for the week before, but my 2 teens inhale the fridge after school and spit out the bones (lol) But may try it again.

Im out to take my daughter out for a walk around the lake. She is another reason Im looking for healthy ways to lose weight.  She is going on 13 and ive noticed her weight gain.  I dont want her on a "diet"... but I also dont want her over weight.. So small steps without her realizing it, is what Im striving for in her.  And the walks are great mother-daughter times. ;-)  I know that simply cutting out the fast food will probably curb her weight before it gets to be a problem.

As for my son, he is a nearly 6ft, 15 year old bean pole...eats any and everything...and never gains an ounce  -.- he stole my metabolism!!! lol j/j

Here are some tips to get you started on the right track

Boosting Metabolism

And here's a website that can help you chose healthy foods

The World's Healthiest Foods

Diet Coke Cake is great - basically you buy a packet of chocolate cake mix, but instead of adding eggs/water, you mix in a can of diet coke (which obviously has zero calories) and then cook as normal. It tastes exactly like real chocolate cake.

I wish you all the luck in the world - especially with improving your families' health.

Emmy

I just made the cake...(I used diet dr pepper berries n cream)..can't wait till it cools to try it!

With fast food.. you just have to learn how many calories are in the fodos you eat at fast food places, and plan what you're going to order based on that, BEFORE you get there.  Aim to make your meal no more than 500 calories.  That may mean you can only get one burger and nothing else, but that's what you get for going to a fast food place!  And I would try sticking with Subway as often as possible.. at least there you can pile on the veggies!

question #3 ~ the overall grade is also calculated i think, on a variety of foods from various food groups.  Even though an individual food might have a b or c... you still might increase your daily overall grade by adding the food....

actually, i also used to do all sorts of fad & crash diets where we had to cut out whole categories of food, and it never lasted long....

counting calories isn't a diet so much as it's just a way to measure overall food so we can eat a little less than we burn and lose weight, and later match what we eat to what we burn so we can maintain our weight.

we are free to choose whatever foods we want... and sometimes might choose old family favorites or it might just be a choklit day!

but most of the time, focus on making the best choices you can each meal and snack...

explore and try eating new foods...  it can be a lot of fun :)  

~ i also try cooking ahead... make enough for dinner for 2 or 3 nights...

maybe if you keep plenty of snack foods availble for the kids ~ fruit, string cheese, sandwhich fixings, cereal, milk, etc...

but have the pre-made dinners off limits? 

It's hard... teenage boys can eat more than an army...  they do tend to leave just the bones, eh?

Sounds to me like your biggest problem is you're seriously time-crunched, what with full-time job, night school, and two teens. You're too tired to hit the grocery store and cook, so you eat fast food instead. BTDT!!

I suggest you get creative and apply Technology to the problem!!

1) Order groceries online and have them delivered once or twice a week or so. This is a huge time-saver. It's worth an extra few bucks. Also I find it greatly discourages impulse buys. Make sure to spend the most time surfing and clicking through the produce aisle!

2) Get yourself a fuzzy logic programmable rice steamer (check ebay for some deals). It makes not just rice, but any sort of whole grain. Without any fat necessary - it steams the grains. What's more, you can program it ahead of time. So set it up at night, and program it to cook oatmeal before you wake up. Or set it up in the morning, and program it to cook rice or quinoa or buckwheat before you get home for dinner. We find the grains stay warm and fresh for more than one day, making it convenient for the teens in the house to help themselves for snacks too.

3) Can you say Crockpot? This is the ultimate time-saver! Throw ingredients together after dinner, refrigerate, then in the morning, take it out of the fridge and plug it in. Dinner will be ready when you get home - no more fast food excuses!!

4) Get an immersion blender. Keep frozen berries in stock at all times. Toss berries, bananas, and yogurt together for smoothies. The kids will love this. The blender is also very handy for making pureed veggie soups - an easy way to "drink" your veggies.

5) Don't forget a food scale: invaluable for proper portion control.

While you are at Target shopping for all these gadgets, pick up a copy of Joy of Cooking and give it to your children. They are not too young to start learning how to cook!

Well, you know that you aren't going to lose weight by dusting your treadmill and eating fast food.  You know that, you are just fighting it.  Fast food is crap, and it may satisfy you, but it satisfys all your fat cells as well.  You don't have to eat salads all the time, and some of those fast food salads are fat city anyway, but you are not going to lose weight eating fast food so much.  Period.  So find healthier choices.  I like Jenmcc's suggestions.  i love my crock pot, and it's such a time saver.  Honestly, even healthy frozen dinners would be better than the fast food, and even quicker because you don't have to drive anywhere.

You seem time crunched, but if you wait until you have time to be healthy, it ain't gonna happen.  You have to make a commitment and make the time to eat healthy and exercise.  There is no magic pill or plan that will have the pounds dropping off without eating healthy and exercising.  And it takes time.  You said you gained 38 lbs in 4 months; that's just over 2 lbs a week.  A sensible weight loss is one to two lbs a week.  Don't expect it to fall off faster than it grew on.

I know exactly what you mean about how the weight seems to go on so fast but takes forever to go off. It's really tough!
Teenage boys and full time work and evening college are a huge part of my weight gain too - sometimes its hard to have time to think, let alone for exercise. Then we had a kitchen remodel and REALLY got in to some bad fast food habits! ANd even though the boys don't gain weight from it, what is all that trans fat and sodium doing for them in the long run?
What I have found helps is shopping on Sunday for most of the week - I can buy tons of veggies and some lean cuts of meat and chicken, then on week days the boys eat more of the meat and I can eat more of the veggies. They can fill up on pasta, brown rice, kashi, quinoa with the meal -  things that are quick to cook and easy to store. In other words, planning ahead to avoid the fast food attack has helped me.  I was 195 at my heaviest (last year) - I've been on CC one month and I'm at 182. Nothing spectacular, but moving in the right direction.
I'm sure you can do it - there's load of great advice and support here to keep you on track.
GOod luck with the studying too - when do you get to graduate/finish?