Weight "Toss" Tips

I am a moderator in another group.  I had posted this under the topic of "My Weight Loss Tips" in the forum "Chewing the Fat.....".  Norma Jean saw this and asked that I share it with this group also.

There is a top priority "Tip" that I must add to the list.  It is to have God in the Center of your Weight Loss program.  It is only through HIM that I am able stay on this diet.  It is HIM who gives me the wisdom to listen to my body and make the proper choices for this body that HE gave me for HIS service.

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I am not claiming to be an expert.  I am going to share what is working for me.

1. Drink Water.  Lots of water.  Water helps flush the system and helps with digestion.
2. Limit Colas / Sodas.  Limit or Cut out the colas that you consume daily.  We all love our Cokes and Pepsis, but lets face it, they are not healthy for us.
3. Increase your Protein. 
4. Watch your Sodium.
5. Include more vegetables in your diet.  When I choose to eat a Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine, I still include a small salad or a vegetable in addition to the vegetables included in the meal.
6. Get a well balanced diet.
7. Get ACTIVE!!!!  When I started this journey, I was winded when I walked across the room.  I had lower back pain, hip and knee joint pain.  I would sit at the edge of my chair and do arm circles or sitting leg lifts.  Anything to get my heart rate up.  Now I am able to walk around my subdivision.
8. Eat the Recommended Calories.  If this site recommends that you eat 1800 calories, then eat 1700 to 1800.  Eating less than the recommended amount of calories will send a message to your brain to set your metabolism into preservation mode.  Or better yet, stick to the amount of calories that your doctor has prescribed to you.  Personally, my doctor put me on a 1800 calorie diet, which is what is recommended on this site.  I find that I lose weight when I stay around 1700 - 1800.  When I eat around 1500 or less, I tend to "plateau". 
9. Increase your Fiber.
10. Set up Mini-Goals.  
11. Most important tip:  If you should slip or have a really bad cheat day, DO NOT give up.  Just keep going fresh and new the next day.

I am not claiming that I know all the answers.  I am just sharing what is working for me at the moment. 

What is working for you?

Denna

Set up MINI Goals:

When I started this life changing journey on July14, 2008, the total of weight that need to be lost was 196.4 lbs to meet the goal of 140 lbs.  This site gave me the weight of 140 lbs to shoot for.   

Basically, I was carrying the weight of two 168 lb adult women. 

I saw the hugh number of 196.4 and knew that I would set myself up for failure if I continued to see the whole number.  So I made it my goal to be under 300 lbs by my birthday (October 20).  I met that goal on October 10, weighing in at 299.4.  That inspired me to set up other MINI goals.  Check my bio page for the weight loss chart.  

As of this morning, I weigh 296.6. 

Thanks - Denna 

WAY TO GO!!! That is a 39.8 pound weight loss!! I started on July 24 ten days after you,I wish I lost that much,lol! I have lost 19.2 pounds.

Thank you for the tips they are very helpful and encouraging,thank you for sharing!-Candi

On October 14th I had posted the following in a similar section:  Make one change at a time.  For example, if you usually drink three sodas a day, try cutting back to two.

My husband cut out drinking sodas even though he went to raspberry ice tea (140 calories - a little too high in sugar for me) he has lost 8 pounds. He does not like anything "diet".

Denna has shared some great tips - and look at her results - Wow!

Lets keep going - the more we can learn from each other the better the success!

Let's make it a great day!

Denna, you are melting away!  Awesome!

Are You Drinking Enough Water?

About a month ago, I came across a link for a hydration calculator.  I thought that I was getting enough water.... Until I checked out this link.  There are about 10 easy questions.

Here is the Water Hydration Link.

\o/  Denna

Thanks Deena - these all look like sensible things to do! My main draw-back has been getting active.  It seems something keeps hurting - but I guess that's all part of it. As of late - my foot has felt broken and has kept me from walking - but I like what you said about doing arm exercises to get your heart rate up. 

thanks for leading me to your post! 

Original Post by gatorlorraine:

Thanks Deena - these all look like sensible things to do! My main draw-back has been getting active.  It seems something keeps hurting - but I guess that's all part of it. As of late - my foot has felt broken and has kept me from walking - but I like what you said about doing arm exercises to get your heart rate up. 

thanks for leading me to your post! 

Speaking of arm exercises - there are some great ones I found in the book "You on a Diet" by Dr. Oz.

The chest cross (try to do these 25x each):

• stretch your arms as forward as possible at shoulder height, and twirl your hands back and forth like you have a tennis ball in your hands
• cross your straight arms in front of your chest in a series of quick horizontal motions with your palms facing each other
• next move your hands rapidly up and down with your palms facing the floor.

 - if you can get your foot checked out if the pain persist in your foot.  One time I had a hairline fracture which was very painful.

I found for me it is motivating myself to get out that door to actually walk. I have always said the hardest part of walking is getting myself out the door. I statred by only walking 2.5 minutes away from my house and turning around and coming home and that was pushing myself, now I can walk 40 minutes all at once. So do what you can break it up to twice or three times a day if you have to and keep adding to it as your stamina builds, that has worked for me. By the way it has helped me lose 100 pounds in the past 14 months. So it works, never give up and keep pushing your self with in your limits and with time you will succeed.God bless.

I got to walk again this morning.  I walked for 30 minutes.  Started Thursday 04/16/09 with a 10 minute walk.  Friday 04/17/09 - 30 minutes.  Did not get to walk over the weekend.    I am going to try to walk 30 minutes a day.  That is my short term goal.  I know that I will probably increase the walking time (later).  But right now, let me get into the habit of finding the time for the 30 minutes.

I found a website that will let me calculate the distances for my walks.  I really didn't know how far that I was walking.  I just started out the door and timed it.  But according to http://www.geodistance.com, I walked for about a mile today and on Friday.  I took different routes for both days.

Up in the corner of the page, there is a box for you to type in your address.  You can use the arrow on the left of the page to zoom in or zoom out.  From there you can click on the roads or intersections that you walked.  The site will track your distance.  The point and click reminds me of MS Paint program or MS Word where you draw a shape.  I don't know how accurate it is.

If there is another website where I can find this type of information, please let me know.  I could not get mapquest to locate and calculate two of the roads that are in my neighborhood.  I live in the historical area of the city.  There are a lot of older houses on my block.  So this is not a NEW subdivision or road that mapquest would need an update for.  I can see the two streets on their area map.  But they did not recognize the street name when I tried to map it out and get "driving" distances.

Everything I have read about exercise, thirty mineutes a day is excellent place to be and if that is your starting point then kudos to you. Keep it up and watch the weight come off. Just be careful not to compensate by eating more but usually when you exercis you feel good and don't. I have never cared about the distance I have gone just time walked to find out how many calories I am burning. One way to do it would be to drive exactly .5 miles away from your house and time your return to calculate your approximate walking speed miles per hour. Take 60 and divide it by time walked for mile and get miles per hour, as you get stronger you'll have to do it again as you'll get faster. Then you can use time walked to get an estimate of how far you are walking. God bless.

Being "Day II" I can't say what is working for me. All I know is that I can't give up on me, and I must say, after reading all of the posts, I'm getting a lot of good and positive ideas not to mention encouraging words.

Hello Everyone I just wanted to share with you all some of the tips that I have been using since I started this journey.  It may not be good for some, but hopefully it will be of use to others.

Here are some tips I have sent to others who have asked me.   This is not for everyone, but take what will work for you and get rid of the rest.

1.   I do not eat anything any longer that has any type of sweetener
2. added.  If I want something sweet, I will eat some fruit.
3. I have changed from adding salt to my foods, but use other things for seasoning.
4. I do not eat anything where the fat content is half the protein or carbs.
5. I try to eat low fat or fat free foods 98% of the time.
6. I drink plenty of water, If I want something other than water, I use the crytal light flavor packets, which are only 5 calories each with no fat content added, so if I drink 5 of those a day it is still only 25 calories of a 16 oz drink.  (They are great also because there are many flavors to choose from).
7. I personally have basically stopped eating any meat.  If I do it will be a taste of something my wife is eating, but no more.
8. I get creative with salads and use fat free or low fat dressings. You'd be amazed at what you could do with and add to lettuce.
9. I don't recommend this, but I do give myself enough or a calorie deficit each day that I eat when I want, but then it may be a piece of celery with fat free vege dip or raw broccoli with fat free ranch dressing, or I have become accustomed to rice cakes.
10. I (and this may sound strange) add water now to my cherrios with splenda which is no calories and it does not taste all that different.
11. If I have a pancake for breakfast, instead of using syrup or jelly, I will add a little cinnamon to the mix and it tastes just as good.
12. For what I have missed in nutrients from the calorie deficit I give my self, I take mulitvitamins each day to be sure I get the proper nutrients for my day.
13. I have never used the word diet or weight loss, (which is more pyschological then anything) but I am making a change of life for my health.  Before when I said was going to loose weight or on a diet it never worked.
14. You may want to change your calorie target to your goal weight.  This way your body becomes accustomed to the calorie intake of where you want to be instead of from where you are at now.
15. No more snacks or fast food period.  I have not had any Mcdonalds since I got out of the hospital in April. 
16. These are just a few of the things I have been doing

The changes are drastic but if I wanted a change it had to be a change.  I preached a sermon once titled "Nothing Changed Means Nothing Changes" 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things become new."

These are just a some things I have changed since April and have lost 72 lbs.

Hopefully it will work for others

Thanks Mark for posting your "tips" .  You are right that if nothing changes, then nothing changes.  that's amazing that you were able to make so many changes so quickly.  Mine have come a little slower, but they have all been deliberate choices.  I used to eat without thinking much about it, not what I was eating or how much, so I find myself planning ahead more and thinking first about the consequences - mostly in how I will feel afterward. At one point I knew it would make me feel bad afterward but still wanted it, so it took getting real honest with myself about what it was doing to me.

So, I buy a bag of apples to keep at work and snack on those when I need a snack or pick me up.  It works so much better than chips or chocolate an hour later.  I've also been drinking a lot more water than I ever used to before.  I had read an article on water that showed that headaches, and even fatigue was cured by getting plenty of water.

I've stopped the fast food as well, and have made sure to eat breakfast before leaving the house.  The other morning we didn't give ourselves enough time to eat so I stopped at a convenient store and bought a banana and nuts.  You can imagine what I would have done in the past.

So, Mark, I do have a question - do you avoid butter or use a substitute? 

I like your idea for getting your calories needed for your ideal weight - that makes a lot of sense. And I have found too, that lettuce goes with  A LOT of things!   Thanks again for sharing and allowing God to use you here!  We're thankful He led you to us!   

Thank you Mark for posting your list. You have so many good ideas but the one that really reached out to me was #14. ....change your calorie target to your goal weight. This way your body becomes accustomed to the calorie intake of where you want to be instead of from where you are at now.
I thought, "Why didn't I think of that before?!" hehehe....

~Maggie