posted on June 15, 2002 08:46:09 PM new
IMO, there IS no secret. There's nothing magical about it, despite all those gimmicks and pills and electric gizmos and "name brand" diet stuff you see on TV. Forget all that.
It's simple. You burn more calories than you take in. Your body will being using up its stored supply of energy, and the pounds start coming off.
I've lost approximately 50 pounds in 5 months just by cutting down on the calories. I eat 1100-1300 calories a day. No special diet -- just watching the calories. I've still got a long way to go (I'd love to be 130 pounds again!), but I'm getting there.
The closest thing I've got to having a "secret" is that you've GOT to have the desire to do it for YOURSELF. Not because somebody else wants you to. What matters is how YOU feel about yourself -- not what everyone else thinks.
By the way, even though I'm eating very few calories a day, I'm still eating a lot of my favorite foods ... just in low-calorie versions. Healthy Choice, Weight Watchers, and Lean Cuisine all make surprisingly good frozen meals. I don't feel like I'm depriving myself at all; I've even found that I don't crave junk food anymore. In fact, I ate a tiny piece of my husband's chocolate birthday cake awhile back, and it tasted so greasy and overly rich that I didn't even finish it. The first 2 weeks or so were pretty tough, getting used to eating smaller amounts of food, but after that, it's a breeze.
posted on June 15, 2002 09:47:32 PM new
Not that I have "won" the battle but things I have found help-
Any activity is better than just sitting still. That even includes rocking in a chair instead of sitting. Chopping food up to cook instead of a processor. It all adds up.
Don't cook more than you are going to eat. It won't end up as leftovers except on your hips.
Eat slow - drink lots WITH the food.
Lemon fresh squeezed on salad and cooked vegies instead of gummy lo-cal dressing.
I mix dried milk instead of skim from the store with good spring water and add a dash of dried butter flavor like molly mcbutter.
It tastes better and stays fresh longer.
Asperteme makes me sick - I wake up with morning headaches but the new Splenda does not.
posted on June 16, 2002 08:18:20 AM new
Eat an apple before every meal. Start writing in a notebook every single thing you eat during the day (including gum, mints, etc.) and get a fat/calorie content book and write that beside the item. This really helped me to see where the fat/calories were coming from so I could find a better alternative. I switched from regular soda to diet soda and lost several pounds immediately. I also was used to going to fast food driveup and if two sandwiches were cheaper than getting a combo meal, that's what I would eat. The fat content was off the scale! Take the time to get a deli type sandwhich instead with baked chips. (low fat mayo and no cheese). Don't get discouraged if it all doesn't fall off at once. If you develop good new habits then just be satisfied that you are taking better care of your body and trying to be a healthier eater, and then any weight you lose is just a bonus.
posted on June 16, 2002 12:23:50 PM new
FIBER!!! Take Metamucil 3 or 4 times a day. Without sounding like a know-it all, fiber attaches to lipids (fat), making the molecule too big to be absorbed. Try it for a month. You'll feel better and you'll lose weight. I think kids should even take fiber. There are pills out if you don't like the taste of Metamucil. You can't overdose on fiber.
posted on June 16, 2002 12:32:44 PM new
Being madly in love or seriously depressed has always worked for me.
An alternate method that works is diet and exercise. And yes, lots of water.
posted on June 17, 2002 12:08:31 AM new
I'm not sure that Metamusil 4 times a day sounds very healthy. Yeah they claim It's all natural,but what isn't all natural Hydroflorocarbons are all natural, heck they exsist in nature. but natural doesn't natuaraly mean good for you.
Here is my totally unscientific weight control method I have used all my 49 years.
It involves my theory that the stomach is very elastic and the more it is streached the more food it needs to send the signal to the brain that you have eaten enough.
When I find myself ten or more pounds heavier than I want to be( and it's always a surprise (holy cow when'd I get fat?).
I will fast for one day, but it's not a fast that I don't eat or drink. Of course I drink all the water I want, but I also drink kerr's apricot nectar. You can find it at walmart and kroger in individual servings in the koolaid aisle. Very tasty.
If I find that you feel weak from lack of food eat bread. Rye bread, Wheat bread, anything but plain white.
Just grab a hunk out of the loaf and wolf it down.
This is totally unscientific, but the plan is to shrink the stomach muscle, and it's just a one day diet. If you go back to streching the stomach the day after, well you wasted your time. But since it's a one day diet, you can try again text Tuesday. No pressure!
Try to think about shrinking just that one muscle so it will be happy with what it needs.
This stomach muscle reminds me so much of the wild birds we feed. At first they were just pleased to see we fed them, and then they began to waste food by being so greedy that they were throwing food around to get thw best morsels for themselves.
I think the stomack is throwing the extra calories around to the hips and the belly
This really does work. I'm 50 years old and have been bigger and am at my small 112 weight.
Eat fruit
Drink water
Don't clean your plate (even if it insults yourhost) screw them! (they like you big because they can feel superior)]
I hope this is of some help. I'm not a doctor or nutricianist.
Eat Fruit!
If you are in a grocery store and see some nicly ripe nectarines or apricots, take them to the deli and ask the clerk to wash them for you so you can eat them right away(of course pay for them). I've always been helped very couteously.
Although I've dropped my weight, I really empathize with my sisters going tbrough the struggle
posted on June 17, 2002 10:58:41 PM new
Hi every one,
In 1982, after quitting smoking, I gained 7 pounds. This brought me up to 240 pounds. I knew I needed to loose weight but I really knew, when I was driving my Volkswagen Beetle, and I smelled gas. I couldn't even make it to safe place to check it out the smell. POOOOFFFF! The engine hood, in the back of the car blew open. I was out in the country and tried to run to a nearby house, and found it very diffucult. Even the house was only about 1 1/2 block away, I was terribly out of breath. Out of shape too. After that, I knew it was time for me to loose weight.
What I did to loose 69 pounds in 9 months was this.
WALK. I started walking slowly around the block in the township where I lived. It was a 1.2 miles. It took 20 minutes. I was tired, but after one month of this, I started a larger route and finally ended up walking 4.5 miles in 1 hour. I would suggest don't push yourself ever. If you feel comfortable walking 1 or 2 mhp then do that. If you can walk 4 or 5 then go for it!
WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING YOU EAT. Make a sheet with space for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three snacks. Record the food name, portion, calories and fat content. I, as a male, would limit myself to 1500 carolies and about 30 grams of fat. After doing this, you will know how much you really eat and won't say, "Yeah but, I really don't eat that much".
PORTION CONTROL OF FOODS. When I would serve my self, I would ask myself "do I really need that much?"
WEIGH YOURSELF ONCE A WEEK I thought that if I weighed every day or so, then I would see only limited progress and lose interest.
BECOME A LABEL READER. Some of the foods you like may be leeser in fat and calories, some may be more. Knowledge is power.
YOUR DIET SENIORITY. This is what I called the time I spent in everything I did trying to loose weight. It might have been 3 months or 6 months. I would sometime get a craving for a Big Mac, or Whopper especially if they had them on sale. I would ask myself, "do lyou want to waste or loose my diet seniority." Note, that fast food always goes on sale in January. The start of the "Diet Season."
These things worked for me!
Here are a coulple of very helpful links. The first one is called How Dieting Works. Both have loads of information.
posted on June 18, 2002 02:13:19 AM new
All that fiber may be natural but I like what one old farmer told me.
He said - "That manure pile over there is 100% natural but that doesn't mean I want it on a sandwitch for lunch."
posted on June 18, 2002 12:11:20 PM new
I once lost 60 lbs by limiting my fat intake to 10 grams of fat a day.
I had to read every label, you would be amazed at the hidden fat in foods.
I ate lots of baked tortilla chips and salsa. Fat free baked brownies. All the fruits and vegetables I wanted. Meat portions about the size of a deck of cards = 3 grams of fat. Absolutely no butter, cheese, or mayonnaise. Used non stick cookware, and for flavor on toast, I used jelly (no fat). I spritzed spray butter on food that I absolutely had to have a butter flavor like scrambled eggs.
I bought a pocket sized book that listed the fat grams of common foods, and fast food salad bars (fruits and vegetables - no salad dressing) became my best friend.
