<p>P.S. I have my 2nd health class today, which is tied to a book called “Dr. A’s Habits of Health” … I pre-read a few more chapters of the book we have and don’t like the tie-in to Medifast products to kick start weight loss, so may tune that part out until we start talking again about optimal health. Since I only need to lose 5 pounds and get more physically active, I don’t think I need to do the rapid weight loss to kick start myself.</p>
<p>Just reporting in that I did 15 minutes of my aerobic Wii fit routine this morning and weight creeped down a tiny tad this week. So starting to get back on routine. I will not miss going out to therapy three times a week!</p>
<p>And she’s back! Go, Marilyn!</p>
<p>Yay Marilyn! You should be so proud of yourself. It would have been easy to take months to get back into good habits once you were healed-- that is what I would have done, no doubt. You sound like you are right on track!</p>
<p>Nothing like a little bout of food poisoning to get me to within 2.5 lbs of my goal. Yes, I realize that weight loss is probably temporary, but I am trying to make lemonade out of this awful lemon.</p>
<p>General question re: food diary. Do they also suggest tracking everything one drinks? It’s not just what you eat - it’s what you eat and drink.</p>
<p>Yes, classof2015. All items consumed should be tracked.</p>
<p>I’m going to reiterate that for D, who is seeing a holistic health care center and they told her to keep a detailed food log. I don’t think she realizes she also has to include the iced coffee and vodka. Part of a balanced diet, huh?</p>
<p>Ema – so sorry for your continued struggle. My sister gained a lot of weight once she was diagnosed with lupus and now she’s diabetic and she said she’s tired of hearing people give her little snippets of advice.</p>
<p>Tell your daughter calories are calories. Many surely wish this wasn’t so. :)</p>
<p>Ema, I’m so sorry that you’re going through this at age 24. It doesn’t seem fair - many of us didn’t really develop weight problems until we were much older. I have only one suggestion for you, and I hope this is not just one more piece of unneeded advice. Several members of my family have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and they have told me that the most commonly used thyroid test can miss problems, that there are more specific tests that you should have. I’m glad you don’t have PCOS. If I were you, I would stay on the BC for now, at least until you’re back from your honeymoon.</p>
<p>I’m glad everyone is doing so well. I’ve lost 14 pounds since this thread started. When I’ve tracked my food and exercise, I’ve lost at pretty much the exact rate that I entered on myplate - 1 lb/week. But most weeks I haven’t been tracking. The good thing is that once I’ve lost weight, it tends to stay off. Then when I start tracking again, I go down from there. I have also lost very, very slowly when I haven’t been tracking - like 1/4 pound per month!</p>
<p>The changes in my diet that I’ve made from advice on this thread have become permanent. This hasn’t been hard, because I feel much better when I eat this way. The biggest change has been a reduction in carbs, particularly white carbs. I do eat potatoes and brown rice in moderate amounts. I eat oatmeal (real oatmeal, made from steel-cut or rolled oats) most mornings. And my favorite dinner is a huge salad with some high-quality protein on the side (shrimp, chicken, beef). </p>
<p>What I need most is exercise. I have not been able to maintain an exercise program for long periods of time. For the last week or so, though, I’ve started walking and going to the gym to use the treadmill and the weight machines. </p>
<p>This is the recipe for my favorite salad:</p>
<p>[Winter</a> Citrus, Escarole, and Endive Salad Recipe | MyRecipes.com](<a href=“http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/citrus-escarole-endive-salad-50400000124434/]Winter”>http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/citrus-escarole-endive-salad-50400000124434/)</p>
<p>I make it at least once a week in the winter. I usually don’t have the three kinds of citrus fruit, so I make it with whatever I have, sometimes just navel oranges. And I usually don’t have pomegranate seeds. The escarole holds up well and it is good for a couple of days. But in this house, it doesn’t last that long. My older son loves it and gobbles it up.</p>
<p>I really appreciate the support. You have no idea how much I need it.</p>
<p>Posting to report that I did lose almost a pound this past week, the first time I can say that in what feels like FOREVER! I still have not gotten past my plateau weight, but if this sticks I’ll have lost what I gained when I switched birth control pills and this is MOMENTUM-- so I’ll take it! (My weight was fluctuating between 1-5lbs higher than my normal high weight after the switch, today I hit my “normal” high weight again.)</p>
<p>I am not sure if what I did this week was good things, though. Weight watchers advises me to eat a minimum of 28 points a day, with 49 flex points throughout the week, and I earn about 27 activity points per week that I can swap for food if I need to. If I ate all those points I’d gain major weight, and I’m not really sure what to do with so much flexibility, so for the first week I stuck fairly close to the 28 a day… I didn’t use any of my activity points and had 11 flex points left over. This equated to eating, at most, 1300-1400 calories a day and some days only 1100-1200. Knowing that I burn anywhere from 150-300 calories when I work out I am not sure if this is advisable, I was constantly hungry this week. I was shooting for 1400-1500 to net around 1200-1300 before but I suppose that wasn’t getting me results. I am trying to figure out ways to eat more in the same point range, most fruits and veggies are 0 points foods but the issue isnt satiating hunger, it’s number of calories and fruits and veggies don’t provide the calories-- and I want to stay at 30-35% carbs for now. So I need to come up with more nutritionally efficient foods that are low point value and preferably low carb and high protein. It’s all very tricky to figure out. </p>
<p>When I hear people say “it’s as simple as calories in, calories out” I literally laugh out loud. I feel like I’ve had to become a food scientist to lose weight. We are totally stumped on my ratios right now… this week I ate around an average of 35% carbs, 40% (healthy) fats, and 25% protein and for the life of me I can’t figure out how to raise the protein and decrease the fat without bumping the carbs up-- either because whatever I ate that was higher in protein or lower in fat also had carbs, or because it was so low calorie that it knocked the ratios out of whack.</p>
<p>I will say I am glad we have this forum to chat about all this with. My first day I must have been eating some of the worst foods in terms of efficiency, or I was tracking incorrectly, and I only ate 1200 calories and it came out to a sky high point value. I tried to get help in the WW forums and they jumped on me like starving dogs for “questioning” the program. It’s like jeez, I just want to make sure I don’t accidentally deprive my body of nourishment because I am tracking wrong-- which I was. I came up with over 30 points for a cup of soup that was really only 6 points. I vowed not to set “foot” in that forum again, I don’t need anymore catty mean girls in my life. I must say I feel a little like I’ve joined a cult.</p>
<p>Ema, Congratulations on losing a pound! I have to say that I don’t understand why you’re not losing continuously on so few calories/points, with so much exercise. I know that it is supposed to be a bad idea to eat too little, and I think WW advises against going under the point allowance. I have seen, maybe on this thread, posts on a diet plan that varies calories dramatically during the week; the idea is to prevent your body from getting used to a certain (low) calorie intake and compensating (using fewer calories). </p>
<p>I don’t have any advice about the protein/carb/fat distribution. I know that when I am tracking, and eating “low carb”, it is very hard for me to get under 50% carbs. You might ask the people on the other weight loss thread. They are very knowledgeable and generous with advice.</p>
<p>Good luck! I used to participate in the WW forums, but stuck to a particular thread devoted to a certain age range (50’s). It was a wonderful, warm, supportive group. I did not venture into any of the other threads, because I knew that most of them were not supportive.</p>
<p>Congrats Ema on the missing pound!</p>
<p>Ema, just making sure you know that you do not have to use those flex points unless you want to. </p>
<p>I joined WW towards the end of August and have lost 25 pounds. And I have a ton more to go, not even halfway there yet. But it is working.</p>
<p>I hope to lose 5 more by Thanksgiving. Already thinking about the meal and what foods are important to me (and worth the points) and which ones are not. I am also thinking of getting a group of Weight Watchers together about 7am Thanksgiving morning for a walk. </p>
<p>Keep up the good work everyone! With winter coming and the darkness settling in earlier, we need to make sure we get our activity in.</p>
<p>I am in San Francisco. Need I say more. Walking a ton but eating out.
Tuesday I will be back home. I hope I am not to up on the scale.</p>
<p>NYMomof2 that was a great salad. I ended up making some substitutions since I went off to the grocery store without a list, but almonds were fine, I just used more endive, blood oranges aren’t in season yet, and I threw in a few dried cranberries to make up for the lack of pomegranate seeds.</p>
<p>Well I have been avoiding this thread since I failed the five pound challenge a couple of months ago! My weight is up a bit and I am down.</p>
<p>I am just having a really hard time getting into the groove and getting motivated to be back on track. I know I would feel better but I jut can’t get going.</p>
<p>This school year has been tremendously stressful for me. Combine that with a lower back injury in September and I was set up for weight gain.</p>
<p>The back is getting better but i am just so tired all the time. I know I am overdue for a check up and have been putting that off. Maybe that’s where I should start…</p>
<p>Congrats to those of you who are still losing and Ema…good new on that pound!!! Look at a box of butter and feel good about that being gone from your body!</p>
<p>Eptr, we have all been there. Make a checklist, and add getting a doctor appointment to the list. Since it is getting darker, make sure to ask them about your Vitamin D levels. If they are low, that could explain your lackluster enthusiasm and weariness beyond the back injury.</p>
<p>I am doing okay. Working hard at getting 5-6 smaller “fuelings” into my body and slowly using the treadmill more often. No noticeable shift in the scale, but I feel tidbits of health in my body. If I can keep this up I will look forward to next Monday’s weigh in. Reminder to all … I also did not make the 5 lb goal last month, but I also wasn’t thinking it would be so hard, so this month I am officially trying to follow a stricter routine.</p>
<p>Congrats to NYMom! way to go on the slow and steady. Nice work - especially because it sounds like you can keep the weight off and the program on:).</p>