<p>I gained 40 pounds with each pregancy. But after I was home from the hospital after having one of the kids I lost 13 lbs in one day! LOL, it was all water, but that’s quite a record, huh?</p>
<p>I love donuts and eat them too, and chocolate is my every day breakfast. The weight is much more important factor in desease control than healthy diet, which is also important. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that nursing facilitates loosing weight also. If you do not go crazy like I did and eat like a pig and make your baby look like piglett (which I did), you will loose, and I gained whole tons while nursing, eating and eating and making myself sick. When I stopped my horsy type of portions and still continue nursing, I realized that all that crazy consumption was not needed at all.</p>
<p>*The weight is much more important factor in desease control than healthy diet, which is also important. *</p>
<p>I can’t say I agree with that statement.</p>
<p>Speaking of nutrition, I found this article that discusses depletion of nutrients caused by medications and what we can do about them.
[Best</a> Supplements for Nutrient-Depleting Drugs - Page 1 - MSN Health & Fitness - Health Topics](<a href=“http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100220332]Best”>http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100220332)</p>
<p>Obesity related health risks seem to be long term, while nutritional deficiencies can show up quickly.</p>
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<p>Anything more than 1-2 lbs loss a week and its guaranteed to be significant lean mass loss, unless you’re at least fifty to a hundred pounds fatter than you should be. </p>
<p>If its in the house, you’ll eat it. If someone claims to be eating clean and has no cookies or cake in their cupboards, check under their beds ;)</p>
<p>Honestly, its incredibly simple to lose fat. Clean up your diet, get a caloric deficit, and supplement with some resistance excercise to prevent lean tissue loss. Really.</p>
<p>I have really noticed the top thing among people who give excuses…genetics, busy lifestyle, whatever, etc. Their problem is that they don’t want to change anything. They want to hear that they can eat whatever and lose fat. They’ll pretend to hang on to every word that refers to eating cleaner or not being sedentary, but the looks pretty much indicate that you might as well be speaking in Hungarian.</p>
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<p>Simple, yes, easy, not necessarily. But I agree with the gist of your comments. It’s essential to prevent muscle tissue loss if you want your “weight loss” to be permanent loss of body fat. Resistance training plus moderate caloric reduction is the key, imo.</p>
<p>sigh… if it were so simple and easy there would be very little obesity in the world. ;)</p>
<p>iloveagoodbrew,
Yep, but I wanted to win $50, and I did. In terms of being physically fit, I am significantly better now than I was when I was 3 (yes, three) times younger. I can do 2 miles swim without stop, I can walk miles and my daily walk is 4 miles every day (1 hour), except for summer and I can do this walk easily after rollerblading 7 miles. I was so sick all the time while overweight, I did not care much how I lost it, I needed to get rid of it. I do not understand people who live with this condition, it is misery, 50 pounds over and 20 pounds over is misery (although not even worth mentionning, since it is very easy to get rid of), more than 50 pounds over, I cannot even imagine, I have never been there.</p>
<p>In terms of being physically fit, I am significantly better now than I was when I was 3 (yes, three) times younger. I can do 2 miles swim without stop, I can walk miles and my daily walk is 4 miles every day (1 hour), except for summer and I can do this walk easily after rollerblading 7 miles. I was so sick all the time while overweight, I did not care much how I lost it, I needed to get rid of it.</p>
<p>Interesting- I was in much better shape when I was three times younger- and why shouldn’t I have been? My knees, my back and my legs were all ready to go!
Much more difficult now- gravity and wear and tear really take a toll on you after a lifetime of being active.</p>
<p>Yes, I meant exactly that “My knees, my back and my legs” ARE in much better condition to go now than back then when I was much younger. In addition, I stopped having colds few times a year.</p>
<p>yes that is one plus of getting older- we have been exposed to so many viruses over the years that there are few that make us sick- that is why H1N1 is so much more dangerous to youth and children, than the elderly.</p>
<p>Well, I still was continuosly sick being overweight in my 40s and ended up with pnemonia. It all stopped after losing weight.</p>
<p>Miami, 150 lb for an average height woman (5’-6") is not considered overweight; BMI is 24.5 or so.</p>
<p>I find BMI to be a poor method of determining whether one is overweight or not. It does not take into account lean body mass. I read once that based on his BMI, Troy Aikman at his peak would have been considered to be obese. The reality was that he was muscular and probably had very dense bone mass due to his years of being an elite athlete. It’s also possible to have a normal BMI, yet be considerably overfat.</p>
<p>The important number is not the weight on the scale or the BMI, but the % of body fat, as well as the hip to waist ratio, as those numbers seem to correlate more closely with actual health.</p>
<p>^^BMI works OK as a general guideline for the average people. Elite athletes are a class of their own.</p>
<p>BMI can be misleading for even the average person. It’s just my opinion, but I find that percentage of body fat (when measured correctly) and hip to waist ratio are much more telling. But I’m a cardiology nurse, so that’s my particular bias.</p>
<p>I don’t get BMI either, it’s just a ratio, right? So, what if one person has tiny bones, another average and another large bones or those same size differences but for muscle mass.</p>
<p>A tiny boned person at 5’6" 150 could look flubbery and soft, a larger boned person or muscular person at 5’6" 150# could look athletic and toned. I have a friend who would look fat at 150# 5’6" even though she is very athletic and toned, she is small, 120-130 is good for her. Another friend would begin to look quite lean at 150#.</p>
<p>BMI is nothing but a generic rule of thumb easy math ratio that does not address the realities of each persons real health and it could give a false sense of good health to a person with an innately small build.</p>
<p>Elite swimmers are known to have higher than average body fat content (helps with buoyancy). None of the measurements taken alone are perfect, I agree.</p>
<p>Physical fitness aside, would you define a 150-lb 5’-6" tall woman overweight?</p>
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<p>Somemom, I completely agree. I am 5’6" tall. A year ago, was 150 lbs. I have small bone structure and was never athletic, so I’m sure my bones are less dense than other women my size who played sports in their youth when they were laying down their bone tissue. At that weight, I had a distressing amount of body fat, especially in my abdominal area, which is “toxic” fat as it is associated with cardiovascular problems (vs. fat which is found on the hips and thighs of “pear-shaped” women). My blood pressure was high, I was showing signs of metabolic syndrome and systemic inflammation, and was also showing signs of “pre-diabetes.” I was definitely overweight for my height and bone structure in spite of having a “healthy” BMI. My best friend from high school is the same height as I am. She weighs 148 lbs., but she played sports all her life, has larger bone structure, and is quite muscular. She wears the same size jeans as I do now (4), though her waist is smaller than mine. When I was 150 lbs. I wore a size 10 jeans. Same BMI and weight, but our bodies were incredibly different in appearance and in general health.</p>
<p>Happily, a year later I’ve lost 24 lbs. and all my symptoms have resolved. I’m down to 18% body fat, have gained muscle tissue, and feel 100% better.</p>
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<p>It depends on the person’s body structure, as my story above clearly illustrates. I was definitely overweight in that my body fat % was too high. My body could not tolerate that weight and my health and quality of life were definitely deteriorating. Doctors call this “iceberg obesity” when BMI does not properly reflect excess body fat and resulting ill health.</p>
<p>BunsenBurner,
My high limit is 133 for 5’4". However, when I was around 135, my cholesterol was slightly elevated. I accidently lost 5 pounds without trying, just happened, and cholesterol went down 17 points to normal 188. This is just observation, I was not doing anything purposely. 151 pounds make me feel very uncomfortable with a lot of instances of lower back problem, definately higher sugar and pressure - I measure both very frequently. I cannot be there, maybe somebody else is OK with 151 pounds, it is not OK with my body.</p>