Posts by reneemichellestein

If you are 185 pounds, the calories needed to sustain that weight, in a sedentary state, is 1850 calories (185 x 10cals).  To begin losing, you must go 500 calories under a maintenance weight, so for you at 185lbs, that would be 1350 calories.  If you do no exercising, but count all ingested calories only, you will begin to lose 1 to 2 lbs per week taking in 1350 cals per day.  If you want to eat more than that, you need to move to earn more food.  Based on your weight/sex, you can earn anywhere from 4-10 calories per minute of movement, depending on it's intensity.

Besides limiting calories, you need to empower your body and give it what it craves..nutrients.  Eat nutrient dense, low calorie foods, as much as you can with each meal, and you will eat less "junk", which can play tricks on your metabolism/glycemic index.  All calories are not equal.  Eating a 200 calorie HUGE salad of baby spinach, arugula, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, grilled chicken, honey-mustard dressing and a cup of fruit, compared to half a candy bar, it will not only supply your body and mind with the things it needs to fight off disease, but also empower your body to kick into fat burning mode.  Your body's response to the candy bar is "damnit, I need nutrients, eat some nutrients, and alas you crave more food, but the body's response to the salad is "aaaah, thank you for all of those amazing micro-nutrients, now I can kick into gear and start burning fat and making your mind feel good".  All calories are not equal.

I know you're looking for one WITH a crust, but this forms a nice caramely crust on it's on, if you're willing to try it, it's super easy and AMAZINGLY low calorie.  I actually don't like graham cracker crusts, but if ya wanted to cut a piece and place it on a low-fat graham cracker, you would get that same taste going.

• 2 (8 ounce) packages reduced-fat cream cheese/Neufchatel, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, coat an 8 inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and 1/2 C sugar; beat well, beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/4 tsp lemon juice until well combined.
3. Spoon mixture into the baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden; remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, do not turn off the oven.
4. Let the cheesecake cool, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Original Post by cptbunny:

I hate exercising. I don't know if it's because it's hard cause of my weight or if I'm just so out of shape. It's not fun, I don't like sweating and I don't like my heart racing (anxiety trigger, blah).

The only exercise I enjoy is swimming, but I don't have a pool and there is no way I am going to public one at this weight. :P

I used to like riding my bike, but I was like ~180lbs then. When I ride my exercise bike, about 5-8 mins in my legs get so tired and my knees ache. If I tough it out, sometimes my crotch gets hit funny and that hurts like hell (I have nerve damage). I'm afraid that will happen on a real bike except I can't just stop cause I'll be away from home. =/

I like to dance. I dislike racing heart, but I can tolerate it while dancing. Here's the fun, I have pretty severe plantar's faciitis in my left foot... because of my weight! So standing and moving on my feet hurts like hell. =/

It's like I have an excuse for everything, but I still try to do something everyday anyway. I usually use my exercise bike for 8-10 mins (my knees cannot take much more) twice a day (morning when I get up and near bed time so they get a rest in between).

If your weight  is causing your feet pain,  your best bet would be to eat as many low cal greens as possible every day to fill you up, along with the smaller portions of grains/starches and proteins.  Think kale, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, etc as the main portion of your meal, and the weight really starts to fall of and all the while, you feel full not to mention supplying your body with disease fighting power.

It's important to move for numerous reasons...your heart, your lymphatic system, your brain, your psyche.... Short walks around the block, at a comfortable pace, enjoying the outdoors.  Believe it or not, you do use up calories especially if you are carrying around extra weight.  Your muscles will strengthen and gradually you find you can move more quickly.  If you know you are moving very slowly and it's not taking much energy, then deduct the absolute lowest calories per minute, which for me is 4...but it adds up!  If I walk slowly for 20 minutes, that's 80 cals, which could make a nice little smart snack like 80 cals of peanut butter spread across a celery stick.  It's worth it to me!

I HATED having to move in the beginning.  Joints hurt, I wasn't as flexible so tendons were straining with every step and I felt it in my feet. I avoided hills, walking only on level streets.... Now, after 6 months of making myself do it GENTLY at first, I am walking an hour a day, puffing up the huge hills in my neighborhood, my legs are strong, and I earn that extra food if I'm hungry, otherwise I just chalk it up to weight lost that much faster.

Also, you said you like swimming.  Did you know that there are classes at many Y's for overweight women to exercise in pools?  You won't get any judgement there.  And really, any time in my life that I've ever seen a large person exercising I just think of them as brave, motivated and strong for not cowering away from the eyes of strangers.  I would be much more embarrassed being large and walking out of a McDonald's with a big white bag in full dress than all but naked swimming in a pool working on my health.

Original Post by landislee:

What bread do you eat?  And what's the calories?

 

I love bread ... I miss bread :(

Don't forgo the bread, just eat less of it.  A little goes a long way.  I cut one piece in half, then LOAD the sandwich up with crisp cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions...whatever you like.  Also, if I use cheese, I don't use meat and vise versa.  It's either a meat sandwich or a cheese sandwich, and even some times just a vege sandwich.  But gotta have that bread!  And, it's gotta be whole grain...:-)

Whoever said you are "fat", is no friend.  You are not overweight, but in a healthy range. Even if you were overweight, calling someone "fat" is a sign of self-loathing and they want to transfer their feelings onto you.  Clearly this person has a limited vocabulary and lacks self-esteem.  I hope you won't continue to consider this person a friend as their tendency to want to cause hurt, disappointment and fear is sure to be continue.

Another piece of advice since you are a young girl, remember don't compare your body to anything that has been subjected to "camera tricks".  Any body part an advertiser/photographer can manipulate these days, they will...erasing hips, waistlines and arms and even lengthening necks.  Don't let those who are out to make money with distortions of reality set your standard of beauty.

My "magic number" is around 1400 calories.  If I regularly eat less, I don't lose!  If I go for a brisk walk, I eat more than that, and I lose at a healthy normal rate of half a pound to one pound per week.  If it comes off quicker than 2 lbs per week, you're more apt to put it back on!(Books like Calorie King have little tables to tell you how many calories to deduct for different activities, based on your gender and current weight.)

 A few tips!

Drink Water all day long...lots of it. If it's hard, put in a slice of orange, lemon or sprig of mint.

Spread your eating out to 5-8 sittings, eating every 2-3 hours.

Eat whole grains, only...no white flour junk

Keep "junk" out of your house, or you'll be tempted to reach for it. Even if you count the calories,  it affects your metabolism negatively because of the high sugar and other scary ingredients.

soothe your sweet tooth with fruits or a little drizzle of honey on plain yogurt.  Sugar/cor syrup freaks your metabolism out, telling your body to cling to fat.

Eat just a small portion of bread/pasta/potato (anything starchy) with your meals/snacks (no grazing on crackers/chips)

Always include protein with every thing you eat...Boiled egg, egg whites, turkey, chicken, organic tofu, tuna, salmon, cottage cheese.

Always include a smidgen of healthy fat...1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbls almonds, 1 tsp peanut butter....this helps your body correctly metabolize your intake correctly!

have filling delicious vegetables that have minimal calories.  So healthy for numerous reasons (FIBER!! Vitamins and minerals) Think of the colors of the rainbow, and try to include them all.

craving chocolate? Put one tbls of unsweetened cocoa powder in with your fat-free vanilla yogurt....almost no calories added!

Put that cute baby in a stroller and bring those energetic toddlers to the playground every day and climb around on the jungle gym with them while holding the baby :-)

Congratulations!  wow.  Compared to my loss, losing all that weight in 3 months is awesome.  I started eating less cals, eating healthier and walking briskly on Nov. 1---5 months later, I'm down 24 lbs.   A bit slow for me.  If I could be losing at your rate, I'd be down almost 50 lbs by now.  I'm going to pump up my water intake.  It's one of those things I'm slack at doing.

I like your title, "you can do anything you put your MIND to"....It's definitely all in the mind.  Thanks for the inspiration!  And wow, you lost weight and a deadly nasty habit :-)

If by "binge" you mean excessive eating of a very large volume of food at one time, then I agree that you need help, but if you are like me, you mean occassionally  eating more than you should and not making healthy choices, so you keep gaining, then you just need to take many steps to change the way you approach eating and exercise.

1)You need to first look at a chart to figure out your BMI and what weight range you should be in based on your height and activity level.   For you, anywhere between 121 and 153 is considered a healthy weight range.  Obviously, if you feel better at 130, that should be your goal, but being at 153 gets you out of the "overweight" category.

2)You need to be ingesting less calories than what you need to maintain your current weight. The math: One pound of body fat represents 3500 calories.  If you eat or exercise off 3500 calories less per week, you lose one lb per week, is the basic jist of it.  That averages out to 500 calories less per day.  For women, it's recommended we consume 1200 per day, men 1500.  But if you MOVE/walk, you can subtract those calories as well, so you can eat more!  I strive to walk up to 400 calories worth of energy per day, so I can enjoy more food and reap the benefits that a good walk brings to my overall health.  At your current weight, you burn 4 calories per minute of LIGHT walking, 6 cals per minute if walking briskly, and 10 calories per minute if power walking or lightly jogging.

I find that getting a digital food scale and weighing everything down to the gram is the BEST way to total up foods, though others are content with measuring by the volume (cup, tablespoon, etc)

I also find that if you eat the bulk of your foods in vegetables, you get MUCH fuller then if you were to try to make a meal out of say a couple twinkies, not to mention all of the benefits/downfalls those options bring to the health of our skin, organs, etc.

As you stick to it, you get more creative with meal ideas.  They should become smaller in portion on the fattier/higher calorie items such as sugary or flour-filled items, and larger in portion on the vegetables.  I still eat potato chips, but I only allow one serving, eat it slowly and "consciously" (not while watching TV) to fully enjoy it.  Let movies and TV be a different kind of entertainment all their own.

As a suggestion, buy lower carb wraps/bread and you will find you can eat more by volume!  And as a rule, I never drink my calories!  It's not worth it and it doesn't fill me up.  I'd much prefer a tall glass of cold water with a lime wedge if it means I can have more of my tailor made pizza :-)

Hope these ideas help!

When using the recipe analyzer, you still have to weigh your food, obviously.  So, yes, I weigh everything (my scale calculates calories for most food items).  So, all of those calorie measured items end up in the pot.  When finished cooking, you then have to equally divide up everything into equal servings.  If it yeilds 6 equal bowl sizes, you divide your total calories by 6 and that's your "per serving" calories.  It's more difficult than guessing, but I feel better dividing it up equally and knowing what the precise total is.  Of course, you also have to make sure that each "bowl" has APPROXIMATELY the same amount of meat, potato, carrot, sauce, etc.  If you aren't serving 6 people at one time, then I take out gladware and divide it up that way.  You can freeze it for a later meal, with cals all pre-figured!  If you leave it sitting in fridge, you could be tempted by getting seconds ( I would be, at least)