I'm ready now more than ever. 165 lbs. here I come! (1 Viewer)

[Bill Catherall]

Maybe you aren't eating the right kinds of food then. If you eat the right foods you can eat more and still lose weight. Lots of lean proteins, complex carbs, and a good balance of good fats. The problem with eating too little is you are starving yourself and your body automatically slows your metabolism to compensate.

You say you have a slow metabolism, but your metabolism is what you make it. By eating more and exercising (including weight training, even if you're a girl you should be weight training) will increase your metabolism. Of course you want a calorie deficit, but 1200 is way too low.

The best way to eat more is to eat more frequently, not bigger meals. You should eat 5 to 6 times per day.

Julian, using this BMR calculator I calculated your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) as 1534. Using that number in the Harris Benedict Equation you can eat 1840 calories/day and never exercise just to maintain your weight. If you are moderately active then you can take in 2377 cal/day just to maintain. If you want to lose weight then you should eat about 500 less than that, so you should be eating around 1800 cal/day if you are moderately active.

 

[Julian Reville]

To paraphrase a former President:"That depends on what your definition of a calorie is." Actually I know the scientific definition of a calorie, but maybe my calculations are off and maybe I'm eating more calories than I thought. Maybe I'm sleepwalking to KFC as well.

"Good proteins": I don't eat anything that lactates, so that leaves chicken, turkey, fish, shrimp, beans....

"Complex carbs": I have to admit that I usually eat some kind of "protein bar" for breakfast, and they are just over-hyped candy bars. I have cut way down on bread. Eat a lot of salads and vegetables excluding potatoes.

My job usually does not require great physical exertion, although I do have to lift dogs. My exercise program at night is the only real exercise I get. Last night as the classic tones of Pure Prairie League blasted through the stereo I did 3 sets each of bench press, lat pulls, curls, leg ext, leg curls, and whatever you call that deltoid exercise where you raise dumbells straight out to the sides. Took about 30 minutes, so I figure I burned about 200 calories.

My gut has definitely shrunk, waist from about a 38" to 34", but I still have a layer of fat around my middle that has to go. I just did that Body Fat Guestimate and it came up 21.5%, so I've got more work to do.

 

[Philip_G]

My dog will pee all over you if you try
she nipped the vet last time around, didn't like his hands in her mouth. Don't blame her.

I've been following this thread for awhile now, I lost about 65 pounds a year ago, and much of it has come back, so it's time to make some changes, or go back on the diet I was on and yo-yo back and forth like an idiot.

 

[Julian Reville]

Hey Philip

I remember when I went to greet a rather hyper female Lab: she squatted and filled up one of my brand new Reeboks. I guess I scared the pee out of her. I had to stop and wash out my shoe. Rather funny in hindsight and it wasn't near as bad as the Chow who got so scared she s**t, pissed, and squirted her anal sacs, then swished her tail, spraying this odiferous mess all over me, the client, my assistant, and all 4 walls of the exam room.

Back to the diet: I'm giving it until the end of the year; then I'm going to eat PASTA!!. God, I miss spaghetti.

 

[Philip_G]

My dad's springer (long passed on) had a bad case of the runs at the groomers, and did something similar all over their walls.

My pup is really timid, she'll sqat and pee if I raise my voice at her sometimes, or sometimes if she thinks I'm mad at her, a few weeks ago we were wrestling around and I picked her up really quickly, only to get pee all down my side :frowning:

Any plans to move to CO I need a new vet.

K. I'm gonna go now before I further derail things.

 

[Bill Catherall]

That's a really good start. Do you mind if I make a few suggestions?

Cottage cheese is another good source of protein. Especially before bed. You can get the low fat kind if you want, but it's really unnecessary. I prefer the taste of the 4% fat. If you're counting calories though it might make a small difference to get the low fat. Also peanut butter (100% natural) provides good proteins and fats. You can also snack on other nuts, but watch the portions. You can over-eat on nuts without even thinking about it.

If you want pasta get a brand that is high in fiber and low in net carbs. I've found whole wheat pastas that taste really good and are high in fiber. They take a little longer to cook, but that's a good sign. You know they aren't over processed and refined, making for good complex carbs. I've also found that they don't get sticky after cooking.

If you're going to eat potatoes I suggest avoiding white potatoes. Go for the red potatoes or even better, yams or sweet pototoes.

Brown rice is another good source of complex carbs as well as oatmeal (100% whole grain...not that packaged instant stuff). If you don't like plain oatmeal you can add a little fresh fruit for flavor. It's important to eat a "big breakfast" and oatmeal can really help with that. If you're in a rush in the mornings you can microwave it for 2 minutes and it's done.

For fats, you can suppliment your diet with flax seed oil, or even ground flax seed. It's very cheap and is a great source of fiber, omega 3 fatty acid, and lignan. You can read more about flax seed here or here. You can use either the oil, the ground seed, or both. I just blend 3 Tbsp of ground flax seed into my morning protein shake and I've noticed a huge benefit.

 

[Leila Dougan]

I jumped back on the bandwagon a few days ago after noticing the scale rise 5 pounds and my clothes feeling tighter. I don't want to undo all the hard work it took to lose the 35 pounds I did (took me nearly a year to do it, too).

I know what happened. . I just started getting lax and lazy regarding what I was eating. What started with "a few carbs with each meal and protien snacks" slowly escalated into "a lot of carbs at every meal and carby snacks". I'm moderately insulin resistant so my goal, first and foremost, is to get my insulin levels stabalized again.

When I started my weight loss journey a year ago, I started logging my food into Fitday.com. Yesterday I purchased their computer software so I don't have to be online all the time to use it. I find it very helpful to keep on track. I'm not so great at estimation. I *thought* I was eating rougly 100g of carbs a day, turns out I was eating more like 150-200g! Yowzers! No wonder I was gaining weight, particularly when a lot of it was simple carbs and sugar.

I find food logging cubmersome in the long term but very beneficial in the short term. I have discovered that once I hit my goal weight (another 30-35 pounds), I will need to keep logging every once in a while to keep me honest. Another big hurdle of mine is "special occasions". Every once in a while I'll give myself a break to celebrate a special occasion. Problem is, my definition of "special occasion" becomes so relaxed that I'm having one every other day! Oops!

I read something a while back that was very helpful, since regaining weight is my biggest fear. It said that as soon as you notice a 5 pound gain, you've got to buckle down because if you don't, the 5 turns to 10 turns to 20 and you're back where you started, if not more. I never had thought about it that way before but I can see how nipping it in the bud is easier than starting from square one.

 

[Julian Reville]

Thanks for mentioning that. I eat a good bit of the 1% fat type; matter of fact, that and some Wasa crackers was what I had for lunch.

For snacks I like the Publix non-fat yogurts: peach, vanilla, capucino, pina colada, banana. Put then in the freezer for about an hour and a half, then add 1/4 cup Grape Nuts. Yummy.

The scale finally moved; today I'm down to 184, but it took over a week to lose 1 pound.

 

[Jason Kirkpatri]

In response to Cary_H, the fact that I am 29, eat a good mix of protein and carbs, eat four meals per day, have a natural physique for endurance activities (< 10% bf), and have had rheumatiod arthritis for 10 years on top of juvenille for 7 years, qualifies me as a hard gainer. Note that I did not say impossible, only hard. Hard is a subjective qualification, granted.

Does this apply to this thread? Yes as all respondants are quantifying and stating their desire to be the best they can be (insert ex-smokers' replies here).

Same topic, different perspective. Sorry if that offended you.

Sincerest,

Jason

 

[Cary_H]

Jason...I saw nothing from you that I would deem offensive, in fact what I posted was far more extreme.

I will attempt to clarify what I was trying to get across to anyone trying to shed fat and get in shape.
Using this thread as an example, the vast majority of folks set their goals using some figure pulled out of thin air, and proceed to qauge their progress from what their scales tell them. They cut junk from their diet, reduce portion sizes, and a few make some sort of effort to increase their activity levels.
This is what common knowledge out there has us believing is what works....and it does for awhile. Hell, if all you want is to put up some big weight loss numbers, it's easy. Stop eating.
The problem with this is that when you cut calories and pump up your activity levels, a set of scales doesn't tell you what you need to know. The bodyweight you're shedding is part water, part fat, and part lean mass. You don't want to lose any lean muscle tissue that you have 'cause this is what's going to rid you of your bodyfat.
It's not enough to simply pull some number from the air, and run with it. You need to start by knowing what lean tissue you now have and use this to gauge what the bodyweight you're losing is comprised of. You need to eat and gear your training to maintain and add to your levels of lean mass. Using your scales in conjunction with a simple set of calipers will tell you if you're going in the right or wrong direction. Calipers aren't all that accurate, but if you use them in a consistant manner they'll give you consistant readings.
Contrary to what everybody thinks, you need to cut the junk from your diet and pump up your intake of calories to satisfy your body's maintenance needs, fuel your training, and meet the requirements for building additional lean tissue.
You will be astonished at just what you'll need to eat and how tough a chore it is to stuff all of it in over the course of a day. Especially so when you stick to getting it from clean sources.
And Jason....I have $20 that says you eat nowhere near what you need in a day to see any results, and you make it worse by training incorrectly and overtraining at that.