<p>cpt, are you saying that Livestrong says you can only eat 400 calories a day? No one can eat that little. I think you may have to adjust your idea about how fast you want to lose weight. It seems to me your plan is a recipe for yoyo dieting.</p>
<p>cpt–Living on 400 calories of sugary punch for even 2 days is bad for your metabolism. I don’t know the science behind it but I think I’m right. Something about your body learning to store fat for the lean days it thinks are coming.</p>
<p>400 calories / day is a recipe for disaster, this would lead to major immune defficiency and muscular degeneration.</p>
<p>What is your BMI cpt? If livestrong says you can only eat 400 cal/day you are either a perfectly healthy, normal weight, or you are trying to lose too much too fast.</p>
<p>Woohoo! I seem to be breaking through the plateau I’ve been stuck at for the past two months. Down 72! Best of all, I am now down to a BMI in the “overweight” zone. (I started at slightly over 40.) :eek:</p>
<p>There has been a big transition for me between eating to lose weight (where I would eat some of my comfort foods periodically so as not to feel totally deprived and to make this a livable routine) vs. a very strict heart-healthy diet. I can deal with low fat and cholesterol, and there are a lot of good alternatives out there, but it’s the sodium that is in EVERYTHING that limits my food choices. I read heart-healthy recipes that have 400-500 mg of sodium per serving and I just can’t go there on 1400 mg sodium/day.</p>
<p>DH loves his food and it has always been a big bonding thing in our family. He enjoys cooking for all of us. (But OMG, the salt and the butter…) Between my new limits and not wanting to eat dinner at 10 pm when he gets home, I now eat alone, and he clearly misses the rituals we had. Kinda stinks.</p>
<p>CD, you may need to teach your dh some new habits. One secret is that lemon and vinegar often brighten the flavor of foods so you don’t feel the need for as much salt. The biggest issue is processed food. I don’t use much of it, but I know even cans of beans or tomatoes are apt to have salt.</p>
<p>“I now eat alone, and he clearly misses the rituals we had. Kinda stinks.”
- We each eat whenever. however, we go for a walk together. Would this would be a good substitution for eating together. Certainly, talking is much easier, no mouthfull situation. And we go for the whole hour. OUr dinner together (only Sundays) does not take even half that much.<br>
Tricks to flavor foods in our house: pepper into most foods, wasabi is practically in everything, including salad and the big one is Italian seasonning, which has a bit of salt, but not much and olive oil. I do not like salt and butter (cannot stand the smell). but we consume fair amount of feta, smoked salmon, pickles and sour krout (not every day though). Fresh Ginger is another staple that we love and I bet I put way too much into our salad. No canned food at all.</p>
<p>I’ve found low-salt canned tomatoes (which was one of the substitutions I made for the WW recipe I cooked last week). Mathmom, DH does not want to change his habits. He has Type II diabetes and his big concession was to stop drinking sugared sodas. Otherwise, he told his doc he’d work “to be less noncompliant.”</p>
<p>Would LOVE for DH to some home so we could walk. Used to do it every night when we were first married and lived within two mile of Valley Forge Nat’l Park. I have asked repeatedly if he could come home a couple nights a week to do this. (Heaven knows he could also stand to lose a good amount of weight. He’s the one who everyone thought was a walking heart attack, not me.) No dice. He is clearly married to his job, not me. 
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<p>I have been experimenting with other spices, but he will still take what I made and dose it liberally with salt and/or butter. I have quit the fast food think altogether and am a real hawk if we go out anywhere else. I know it’s not much fun for him to go out with me when I am so limited.</p>
<p>I miss smoked salmon – the sodium content is way up there.</p>
<p>I buy very little processed foods now because of all the sodium. I buy canned beans and diced tomatoes/tomato sauce. I check every brand of whatever I need. There is sometimes a marked difference in sodium level among the different brands. I look for the low sodium kind. Even those have a lot of Sodium. I dump them in a colander and rinse them really well before adding them to the meal. </p>
<p>I’ve put our saltshaker away. We don’t add salt to anything anymore. I don’t eat pasta,potatoes or any white flour products or corn meal…no cookies,cakes,pies,juices, no bread w/ meals, any sandwichs are on light whole wheat bread (50 cals,10 carbs per slice). Some of the thick fancy wheat bread has a lot of sugar in it, no deli meats…no popcorn,pizza,chips,ice cream (eat frozen yogurt instead),very little corn, nothing containing hydrogenated corn oil,no red meat except for the occasional pork…a southern girl has got to have her chopped BBQ with vinegar sauce now and then:)</p>
<p>DH was resistant at first to the diet changes but then had a high BP reading at his annual check-up and jumped on the bandwagon.
Eight months later, he’s almost 30 lbs. lighter with normal BP and the raucous snoring that was about to drive me to the spare bedroom has abated…bonus!</p>
<p>“He is clearly married to his job, not me.”
-Mine to both, thank goodness. He does not take weekends off, goes to work every day and work during Holidays and vacations. And about 10 hrs on a weekdays. But you can still find time, all it takes a disere on his part…or complience with your requests. You can do it before work, after, when we work close by (I have changed many jobs), we walked at luch time during work. it could be arranged, but it takes commitment and if both of you, not one, are looking forward to this walk.</p>
<p>Countingdown, I can commiserate. My H had a mind of his own and even with encouragement, setting example, having better choices for him to take for lunch, etc. he just isn’t willing to change his eating habits. He has put off going on high cholesterol meds with the doc claiming he will try on his own or take fish oil pills (?), but none the less I k ow he stops for a Quickie something at the drive thru most days and sits down with a full bag of chips or a half gallon of ice cream (that I don’t buy , he gets himself) and its gone in 2 evenings. He Does go exercise a couple tomes a week, but mostly so he can get a rebate of sorts from the wellness program of his insurance. My biggest complaint? he gets up and goes to exercise sat. mornings and afterwards stops at McD for a sausage sandwich and hash browns! Argh!!!What’s a wife to do? </p>
<p>Well one thing is , don’t let it hold you back!!! Be your own cheerleader and you will gain a lot of self satisfaction for YOURSELF!</p>
<p>PackMom–good for you and your H!</p>
<p>abasket–you make me feel better about my DH! He eats too much, and has for most of his life, thus the gradual weight gain, but he doesn’t do junky fast food or vast quantities of chips & ice cream. Just a little too much of the good stuff, plus some brandy or scotch every evening. It all adds up.</p>
<p>For some people, it takes a life-changing health scare and a hospital stay to make them decide to change their ways. I see people who are grossly overweight and still piling it on at the Country Crock buffet…what are they thinking???</p>
<p>Is it possible that there is an overweight, under-exercised bigamist out there because I think we are all married to the same man.</p>
<p>EPTR–I just about choked laughing! :D</p>
<p>EPTR, you just made my day!!!</p>
<p>Miami, his commute is 1.25 hours each way, so no lunchtime visits, unfortunately. That would assume he gets to do anything other than wolf down food at his desk. He has been working from 6-7 am til 10 pm six days a week, plus is on the road a good 25% of the time these days. Zero exercise.</p>
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<p>Yup. That sounds what I’ve cut out, too. Plus my two liter a day Diet Pepsi addiction. I drink water, and occasionally Crystal Light or unsweetened decaf iced tea. I eat Barilla Plus pasta, which is high protein and has Omega-3. Sweet potatoes are loaded with fiber, so I’ve been eating more of those. I miss cheese. Cabot has a cheddar that comes in 50% and 75% reduced fat. It’s OK for shredding, but not so much for munching. I was in KY this weekend and my dad made awesome BBQ. I don’t even want to know the fat or salt content, but it’s the first non-turkey/chicken/fish I’ve had in months. I eat tons of fruits and fresh veggies. Have been working with a nutritionist at the cardiac rehab to find things that will work. I have not tried to seriously reduce carbs at this point. Gotta have some joy somewhere here, and I need to eat this way the rest of my life, so I am trying not to deprive myself of everything…</p>
<p>Trust me, folks, you don’t want to have a massive heart attack to get you into taking better care of yourselves. BTDT, kinda sucks. I’m just thankful I lost 45 before this happened, or I suspect I would not be here to tell the tale.</p>
<p>Counting Down,I gave up the Diet Pepsi too. I drink water and have skim milk on my bowl of Kashi cereal every morning. </p>
<p>I do feel really blessed that DH has gone along with “the plan”.<br>
Sometimes he eats things that I won’t eat but mostly he goes along with “the plan”. He works long hours too. He likes to walk, hike and kayak. We do long walks every weekend when he’s not working… He refuses to jog w/ me but I can live with that.</p>
<p>Lol EPTR!!! :)</p>
<p>CountingDown, I’m so glad you are here to share your success!</p>
<p>Packmom, I have been having my Kashi (or Costco Ancient Grains) with Chobani nonfat yogurt. Mega doses of protein and fiber to start the day, and it keeps me from getting hungry for a good while. If I have cereal with milk, I tend to have more than one serving of cereal, so this is a good control for me. </p>
<p>abasket, I should post before, during and after pics. I was at a mini-family reunion this weekend and one of my cousins took a picture that convinces me the weight loss is real. Of course, I also saw some horrendous ones from two years ago. :eek:</p>
<p>I know what you mean,CD. That one cup serving size is hard to stick to. I keep a measuring cup near the cereal bowls but I confess that I often go a little over one cup, especially on days that I run. I eat my 80 cal. light yogurt at lunchtime with a small handful of Quaker Oat Squares cereal (love it…my version of dessert). A serving of those provides 90% of daily iron.</p>
<p>CountingDown,
“Miami, his commute is 1.25 hours each way” - it is a big bummer! You H. needs to realize that his life style unfortunately is dangerous. We are not robots, our bodies need out attention, we need to cherish what we have, take care of ourselves and find time to do so. This time will actually add to our productive hours and productive years. Lecture time!! Done many myself, it also takes time, patience, persistance and sometime backing off, sometime very delicate balance, sometime straight forward into face. Taking care of the family is first and foremost taking care of yourself.</p>