Wanted to add this. Don’t be demoralized, greenbutton. And feel free to “derail” the thread - after all, this IS the diet and healthy living thread! What concerns you is very relevant to the spirit of the thread.
Blankmind made a great point. It is amazing what veggies will do! Try to replace your fruit with berries or watermelon - they have less sugar than apples, pineapple, etc.
greenbutton, I would suggest a larger breakfast that combines protein, carb and fat - keep your energy levels more consistent. What kind of oatmeal and yogurt are you eating? Whole milk Greek yogurt will give you 20 grams of protein a serving - no added sugars, either. Steel cut oats are a terrific option for breakfast as well. I love fruit as well, but only eat it at breakfast - banana, raspberries, blackberries on my Greek yogurt.
Amen!
Maybe substitute the oatmeal with scrambled eggs a few times a week at breakfast? Throw in leftover veggies from last night’s dinner, or add some mushrooms and onions. Very filling and nice protein addition.
Don’t be afraid of healthy fats either. In spite of what we’ve been told for 40 years, low fat diets have been shown to not be the answer.
greenbutton, the questions and issues surrounding appropriate amounts of carbs, fats and proteins can be very befuddling. You can feel like a ball in a pinball machine bouncing around from “low fat” to “low carb” concepts and theories. As a general matter, there is great validity to the concern that as “low fat” was stressed, people moved to excessive consumption of carbs to make up the calories. Our bodies need fats to function properly. We also need carbs in our diets and excessively low carb diets deny our bodies needed energy sources. Determining appropriate ratios of these macro nutrients is a very individual thing. Depending on metabolic process, activity levels and whether certain medical conditions are present, what could be one person’s moderate carbohydrate intake could be excessively low or high for another. In addition, a food plan that radically eschews certain food groups is often not sustainable. What you are looking for is a sustainable lifestyle change to nutrition, not a “diet”.
All of that being said, some general concepts that have worked remarkably well for me are as follows. First, I determined the caloric intake I needed in theory to maintain my desired weight given my activity level. Then I determined the number of grams of protein I needed to maintain and build muscle based on my target weight and what the caloric equivalency was. From there, I divided the remaining calories about equally between fats and carbs (although I have played with these ratios from time to time to experiment with energy levels vs weight maintenance). For food sources, I look to natural unprocessed foods, fish, lower fat cuts of meat but only once or twice a week (unlike some others, I do believe excessive saturated fats do present health risk), lots of chicken and lots of fish. Fresh veggies and some fruit. I avoid processed and packaged foods. I avoid “Non-fat” foods and look for 1-2% fat dairy (mostly because of my taste preferences over whole milk products but also for health reasons). Nuts are part of my daily diet. I do eat bread but generally limit it to sprouted grains like Ezekial bread products and in moderation. I avoid all foods with added sugar, choosing instead to get my sugars from fruit. I don’t consume more than 1 alcoholic beverage a week, saving it for dinner out on Saturdays, because it’s wasted calories and alcohol gets converted to fat. When eating out, I control portion sizes and won’t hesitate to pack up excess portions for consumption at another meal. The key for me has been sustainable moderation making sure my daily nutrition plan hits all the major food groups on the USDA’s new “MyPlate” website but tailored for my particular needs given my level of activity.
This is all really helpful, I thank you so much, and for the PMs as well. I don’t eat red meat, and I don’t drink alcohol; we eat out maybe 2 or 3 times a year. I am learning to not drink diet soda as I think it triggers sugar cravings somehow. I used to have a caffeine free diet coke every Friday as a reward, but I am semi-successfully giving that up. It’s hard to find caffeine-free, which is helping!!
There was a point in my life, in my 20’s, when I was about 45 lbs heavier. My mom successfully lost about 30 lbs in her 70’s and I find that inspiring, but I always see my fat self in the mirror, and often feel it’s all lurking there, waiting to get out. I was treated for PTSD in my 40’s after a series of traumatic illnesses my children endured and it was only then I learned to exercise regularly.
My standup (adjustable) work station is working great. I need to bring in a comfort mat to stand on, since the floor is very hard, even with the carpeting. Everyone is jealous.
I walked 2 miles on the dreadmill after work yesterday and did some inclines and some faster walking, which helped get my heart rate up. This morning I walked 2 miles before work. At least it’s something. My weight is low, which is good- and sort of surprising. I’m afraid I have to admit that the big lunches I tend to eat going out with my work friends during the week aren’t helpful, and being home for a week eliminated that. H would bring us lunch, but then we barely ate dinner since we tended to eat the lunches a little later in the day.
Bunsen- the striped Stuff Your Bra came yesterday and it may be the cutest one yet. Tempting to wear it without a shirt like I used to do before I got old and my running friend wrote a blog entry about how “women of a certain age” should not run in just sports bras…
MOfWC, I hope mine will come today! 'Cause I will be defying the rules tomorrow when I go to the trail. 90 degrees!
Chicken run or bust! 
greenbutton-so much good advice on nutrition already given. A different question - are you getting enough sleep? It really is critical to your metabolism to get enough sleep and most of us don’t. A good friend totally stalled on her weight loss until she forced herself to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night. She got off the plateau and lost the last 5 pounds she had been struggling to lose for months.
I had a good workout last night with the new trainer. I am glad I made the switch. Although I am being a chicken because I only have workouts scheduled for the nights my former trainer (that I didn’t really like) doesn’t work.
Running club in the morning, most likely in the rain.
C3Baker, I am jealous - can we get some of that rain?
Video of yesterday’s hike. Waterfalls and lakes galore… and even a duck. As usual, there’s a high-def full screen option:
[Lonesome Lake Loop hike](Lonesome Lake Loop 2015 - YouTube)
And while I was uploading this, I discovered that one of the geezer hiking groups did most of this loop a couple weeks ago. His video is better at capturing the actual trail terrain. It also reminds me of why I hated the one time I went on one of these “school field trip” conga lines…
[Hiking group - Lonesome Lake Loop](Lonesome Lake Loop Hike - YouTube)
Great videos, iDad. Your hikes are really nice.
Question for you (iDad). I’m sure you are doing well with your weight, but what are you doing? Are you maintaining within a couple of pounds? How often do you weigh? Do you just keep the same eating patterns or do you adjust if you go up a pound or two? Your story is such an amazing and inspiring one. Maybe you should repeat it for our newcomers.
We had an ice cream truck come to our work today and whoever of the 900 of us hadn’t taken the day off got to line up for free ice cream. I had a giant ice cream sandwich- and it was really good. Lunch had been a new low for me. I wound up in the rare situation with no lunch plans and no car, since I haven’t driven yet since my eye surgery. I was stuck with a lasagna Lean Cuisine from our cafe. It tasted OK, but I could have eaten about 3 of them. Knowing that the ice cream truck was coming helped me through it.
It gets worse. My boss came up to our floor with most of 2 dozen gourmet cupcakes that one of the law firms had sent. I gobbled one down (fortunately, not the giant kind with 3 inches of icing). That on top of the ice cream was a true sugar overload. That didn’t stop me from bringing 4 of them home. I hope H eats them. I am sugared out.
My young neighbor wanted to bring us dinner tonight. People think that when I have a medical issue they should bring us food. Of course, it is H that does all the meals in our household, but we appreciated it anyway. Lovely dinner of grilled pork tenderloin, green beans, carrots and French bread. I’m not touching those cupcakes.
I may try to drive tomorrow and walk on the path. This walking in the 'hood is getting old.
Yesterday was super nice day for hiking. Summer in NH can be really, really nice. (Winter in NH can be very, very bad!) This was the perfect hike. Very scenic. Long enough be good and tired at the end. But, not brutal in terms of elevation gain. I hadn’t done it in two years and it was MUCH easier this time around.
I’m actually four pounds over my target and trying to cut back some snacks. Just one apple a day. Lay off the almonds, etc.
The ridiculously harsh winter and the on and off disruption with ice damage demolition and construction put a dent in my workout schedule. I’ve seen my weight creep up seasonally every winter for several years and I have to tighten things up to bring it down.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
Awesome place, idad.
Got my striped bra!! It is so awesome! MOfWC, thanks for alerting me to it!
Played 18 holes of golf, walking,yesterday. My game was pretty much awful – nothing seemed to be working. Very frustrating.
Even more frustrating – got on the scale and had gained over a pound from the day before. I had been s-l-o-w-l-y losing a little weight and then this. I probably need to eat less fruit, but other than that, I’m not sure what the issue is.
To revisit for a moment the recent discussion about weight loss and seeming back sliding or hitting barriers, I’ve commented before that one should not obsess about the scale and should only look for trends by getting weighed once a week at the same time under the same conditions. Well, this morning I violated my own rules. A week ago on Friday at 7:00 am, I weighed 156.2. Yesterday, after a week of clean eating and working out, I weighed 154.2. Didn’t seem entirely plausible that I had lost 2 lbs but what the hell, I’ll take it :). Yesterday, I ate pretty cleanly, worked out etc. This morning, on a whim, I got weighed again (violating my cardinal once a week rule), but at 8:30, and lo and behold, that half a chocolate covered banana I ate last night, at 130 calories (but still keeping my total calories below my cap for the day), caused me to gain 5 whole pounds lol! Do I believe it, nah. Does it mean anything’s amiss, I doubt it. As I think about it, on those occasions in the past when I’ve gotten weighed on both Friday and Saturday, I always weigh more on Saturday. Maybe it’s because I sleep in a bit on Saturdays. Maybe it’s my natural body rhythm. So I won’t eat half a chocolate covered banana today. But I’m certainly not gonna let the fluctuation make me nuts, at least not too nuts. I’ll save that for next Friday ;).
Most likely just fluid shifts, which happen a lot. You most certainly didn’t gain a pound of body fat in one day.
“This morning my DH hid my scale and said I could have it back in a week.”
About a month ago, my daughter the trainer picked me up in her car. When I got in, I noticed 3 bathroom scales in the back seat. When I asked her why they were there, she told me she had confiscated them from clients. Apparently, that’s an advanced level training technique. Your husband is way ahead of the curve :).
I weigh myself daily & record it, which allows me to see long-term trends. I can easily go up or down a pound or even more from one day to the next. I don’t worry about that. What I pay attention to is my weekly low weight - I would like to see that moving steadily downward. But generally it’s two or three weeks down, then one or two weeks up.
I weigh daily when I get up and have for five years now, although I don’t think that is the right approach for everyone. It is clearly the wrong approach in many cases, especially if it becomes a negative motivation. Honestly, day to day changes don’t tell you anything and aren’t related to the calories you ate yesterday or the exercise you did yesterday (unless you dehydrated yourself).
It’s clear from that experience that swings of 1 to 2 pounds day to day are perfectly normal and almost entirely due to water. Some foods just trigger fluid retention.
Feeling like a slug because I’m out of my exercise routine. My D and her boyfriend are visiting along with two of their friends and we’ve all been going to the local film festival and watching films all day and eating out every night. Yikes! Only exercise is walking to town and back and between movie venues. I signed up for spinning at 7 am yesterday, but missed it because I overslept, which made me feel even worse. Only good thing is that I’ve seem some great movies.
I’m in the don’t-weigh-myself-everyday camp. When I weigh every day, any change in the wrong direction made me crazy. I do much better if I just weigh myself once a week.