Cutting simple carbs like bread, rice and pasta is the answer to losing weight and building lean muscle. For the most part, simple carbs lack nutritional value. OTOH, complex carbs are essential. Research is your friend.
Down about half a pound from yesterday. ANY downward trend is what I’m looking for, so I’m happy!!
We’ll see about this morning’s walk; the weather looks iffy and my daughter has a doctor’s appointment. It may have to wait till after dinner.
I only weigh twice a week. We have a very old scale that isn’t too accurate so its not worth weighing more frequently.
Yesterday was not a good day for the diet. I worked late so didn’t have time to exercise. I had 7164 steps just based on my normal activity and my fitbit says I burned 1927 calories. I’ll admit I’m not sure that those are accurate but if you assume the error is consistent it allows you to compare days. I also estimate that I ate 1780 calories. At this rate it will take me forever. It wasn’t a normal day though. When I got home I found that my H had made macaroni and cheese and bacon for dinner, not exactly diet food. It was also my D’s birthday so we celebrated with cheesecake.
Today should be good. I think I will have time to run and there is nothing special happening to kill the diet.
Tomorrow will be bad. I have an early morning flight to DC, will spend the entire day at a federal agency, and then have a late afternoon flight back. Breakfast will be muffin from Starbucks at the airport and lunch will be in the cafeteria at the agency. And then to continue D’s birthday celebration, we are going out to her favorite restaurant, Margaritas, when I get home. Sigh.
^^ Not trying to be the food police-- if I were, I wouldn’t be looking to lose weight in the first place. But some suggestions if you want them:
Could you make a different breakfast choice at Starbucks? I’m not a Starbucks fan-- I hate coffee-- but I just googled. Here are some choices:
- Oatmeal
-Spinach and Feta Breakfast Wrap
-“The Protein Bistro Box is the most breakfast-friendly box, with a hard-boiled egg, cheese, muesli bread with peanut butter, and fruit. With 13 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, it will keep you satisfied for a while, plus it offers vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron.”
The cafeteria is bound to have some salad choices.
When you go out to dinner, could you ask for a To Go bag as soon as you get your entrée, and put half, or even a third, right in? You won’t miss it if it’s taken off your plate before you start.
@me29034, Starbucks has a new item called “egg bites.” They are filling and far lower in simple carbohydrates than a muffin would be. Not saying they are superfoods, but a better choice than a muffin (as long as you can eat eggs), which is probably loaded with sugar and other simple carbs.
Also, most Mexican restaurants have grilled chicken options and/or fajitas, which you can enjoy without the tortilla.
I’ll have to check out the selection at the Starbucks. I’ve never noticed those things before (its not the first time I’ve done this trip). I’m also wondering if maybe the airport Starbucks doesn’t offer the full menu. I’ll check it out.
There is a salad bar at the cafeteria. Sometimes it looks better than others. That is my plan for lunch unless its really nasty.
I lost a pound, but that’s only because inexplicably seemed to weigh extra yesterday!
I don’t eat a lot of processed foods. Yesterday was pretty typical. The only things that I didn’t make myself from fresh ingredients were 1% milk in my coffee, 1/2 whole grain lite English Muffin, 1 Carr Whole Wheat Cracker, 1 tsp of peanut butter. Yesterday’s excercise was about 15 minutes of throwing around weights (kettle ball, 15 pounders, TRX) and about a mile walk with dh. Oh, and some planks.
I also went back to the Livestrong site and started tracking food again.
hi! I joined Weight Watchers last September and have lost 10% of my body weight so far.
I am so happy to see this thread! You all inspire me. Please keep posting!
I’ve lost 50 pounds from my all-time high, 30 of those in my current My Fitness Pal log-everything-&-minimize-added-sugar/junk-carbs regime. Thrilled to no longer be shopping in the plus size department! Knee issues that required me to bring a cane and limit activities on a long-dreamed-of trip to France motivated me to reduce the excess weight my poor knees had to support - although a cane is good for waving at clueless tourist groups taking photos with their iPads …
Have another 50 pounds to go and feel ready to add the exercise component now that I have a handle on eating better. Signed up for a Peleton demo class next week and will report on that experience - the convenience of a workout at home with the social element of livestreamed spin classes is very appealing.
272 this morning. Not bad. I have my infusion today so I cram in more food the day before as I’ll eat very little today.
It randomly occurred to me that the 2 dozen pills I take a day might add some calories. Never thought about it.
Starting weight: 274.9
goal: 260
A simple Google search can uncover research that reveals that much of the weight loss people have experienced on low carb diets is attributable to reduced calorie intake. Almost any reasonable dietary intervention will result in short-term weight loss.
My concern is for folks embarking on a diet combined with a new active lifestyle that includes cardio (running, cycling, etc). A desk worker who engages in no formal exercise needs very little carbohydrate as any excess is converted to fat for long term storage in adipose tissue (according to research that I’ve read.)
Carbs are necessary to fuel a more ACTIVE lifestyle for cardio activities. Glycogen stores are depleted by low carb diets. Training and performance will suffer with no affect on weight loss. Don’t make the same mistake I made. You can lose weight with a balanced approach WITHOUT a reduction in performance and energy levels.
I’m on Day 4.
Yesterday was full of dangers, including a trip I had to make to a popular chocolatier that offers freebies. (Had to buy a thank you gift.) I actually breathed through my nose so as not to smell the chocolate! Bought the gift and skedaddled.
I rewarded myself with a luscious peach with lunch. Got hungry around 9 pm and had a handful of granola without milk. Then of course felt guilty about it
But this morning, the scale shows another 1/2 pound off. I’ll take it.
I finished the “Restart” sugar detox program yesterday. It has helped me tons. I no longer have cravings for sugar or chocolate!! I am going to continue with the program on a modified basis - I will add back in more fruit, for example. On the plan, you can’t have strawberries and only half a cup of other berries a day, along with greenish bananas. That was challenging at first. But I did l like the program’s emphasis on not eliminating carbs, fats, etc.
I started out around 197 and am now at 186.6. 36.6 more pounds to go! 17.6 pounds more to get to a BMI of 25.
I got back from a 6-day trip to the East Coast to visit my aunt, and I’ve lost 1 pound from the plateau I was at before I left. (10 pounds below the weight that shocked me into this diet.) 20 pounds to go.
I’m trying to be lots better at portion control. The place where my aunt lives has all-you-can-eat meals, but luckily the food was more bland than I’m used to, so I wasn’t all that tempted. Airport food was more tempting, but I found a wrap and some fruit.
I’m also trying to cut back on foods that worsen the acid reflux from my hiatal hernia. The hernia happened all of a sudden about 1.5 years ago, and my weight gain corresponded, because small meals help. But, that just turned into frequent snacking. I’ve gone cold turkey on the Prevacid except for days with a lot of driving, because proton pump inhibitors are not healthy long term. The foods that seem to make it worse include many that I enjoy and was eating anyway because the Prevacid kind of took care of it: chocolate, caffeine, salty foods, salsa, wheat, nuts. So, I’m cutting those out as much as possible. I crave salt and greasy food, but luckily not sugar. Caffeine isn’t always possible to go without, but I try to stick to tea instead of diet coke.
I am using an app to log my food, and my daily calorie budget is 1300.
Just an FYI, since BMI was mentioned. I realize that I may be talking to myself, but BMI and weight scales have limitations and/or shortcomings, which are detailed elsewhere on the Internet. But one limitation is bone density.
Most good gyms/trainers start with measuring your body fat percentage, most commonly done with calipers where they pinch certain parts of your body. A more accurate measurement of body fat percentage is a hydrostatic body composition analysis (water tank). The most accurate body composition and bone density analysis would a DEXA scan, which is an x-ray.
As the saying goes, muscle weighs more than fat. And measuring one’s body fat % while losing weight and building lean muscle would be a more accurate method of determining one’s health.
My apologies for the PSA (Public Service Announcement). 
One other note, while calorie restrictive diets may work in the short term, it’s unlikely that anyone can maintain or would want to maintain that same level of calorie restriction over your entire lifespan. Once the restriction period has ended, the weight will likely come back. The better thing to do would be stick to a healthy diet that can maintained for the rest of your life.
I have no idea how to set my goal weight. Yes I can see the bmi chart, but it’s a wide range. And I don’t want to chase perfect, feeling like wherever I am isn’t good enough. As we all know clothes sizes are all over the place. I’m hoping I’ll know when I get there. I don’t really have access to a fat measure water tank. I’m not sure how accurate my scale is in the fat percentage. But I do weigh myself every day and I measure as well every few weeks. I’m carrying the weight now in my belly, which is the unhealthiest of places to carry extra weight. And I know, you get abs in the kitchen. So I still need to keep on losing the fat.
I’m leaving tomorrow for a trip to Iceland. Heaven knows what on earth they eat there, but I can’t recall anyone ever saying they had the best meal of their life there. As long as I don’t hang out at the hot dog cart across from the hotel I should be okay.
Btw…fingers crossed my passport picture works - it’s from me 50+ lbs ago and I don’t even look like the same person.
Yes, I know about BMI. And my gym did measure me with calipers last month. They will do it again on July 14, my 55th birthday.
That was the other thing I liked about the Restart program. No caloric requirements. They just encouraged us to eat “real” food that would satisfy us and keep us from getting hungry again soon.
" The better thing to do would be stick to a healthy diet that can maintained for the rest of your life. "
Then we wouldn’t need 5 or 6 weight loss threads!
Re: #74, #76, #77 and the limitations of BMI
That is why waist / height may work better than weight or BMI (target 40% to 50%). Waist measurement captures abdominal obesity, which is the kind with the highest health risk (weight or BMI can capture muscle and bone, which you probably want more of). It is also easier to measure consistently than measuring body fat percentage with the pinch, electric resistance, dunk tank, or other methods.