Crossstitchforum - A FREE forum for Cross Stitchers

Here I go....
... My name is Helen and I am 41 years old, 5" 3 and I weigh in at 155lbs.
I am relatively active.I walk my dog everyday and also walk the children to school. I did run regularly and in 2007 I did a marathon. I stopped running when Mum got ill and although I haven't put on a lot of weight (I did marathon at 145 lbs), boy do I wobble and hang over my waistbands so 14 lbs will do nicely.
I went out for a short trot earlier this week -only a mile or so - but we live on top of a hill and which ever way you go, back home is up hill. I felt like I'd been knocked over by a bus for two days.
So, my intention is to eat healthy, move more and tone up by Easter.
I will update my tracker on a Monday.

Hi Everyone, Here are a few insights and tips I've learned for myself that might help. For me it was about fat content as well as calories and portion control. The portions I was eating, while in relation to most Americans, weren't too bad but they were still more than I needed. I also learned to read labels and recipes more closely. I love to cook (Mabel I can relate to the cream in cooking comment) and I found that when I really started looking at my recipes, whether from a magazine or book or just from my head, there was a lot of fat, even though I was buying lean meats, etc.

Now I find that I have severely cut back my portions (especially of meats, potatoes, anything with oils) but don't feel deprived, actually feel more satisfied and I rarely have the over fed feeling (but never feel underfed either). I also basically have cut back on the amount of oils and fats I use. And that's how I lost my 20. I did allocate a goodie a day for myself if I wanted it using the WW points to calculate what was reasonable. I also found that as the weight started dropping I would really ask myself if I had to have it and most times I didn't but I knew a reasonable portion if I needed that sweet. (I also gave into the "need" sometimes with the small portion and it kept me from binging later.) I also started using no or low fat versions of things in my cooking when it really didn't impact the taste that much. ...I know everyone is thinking that it had to have impacted the taste.Honest. I started doing all of the above and it was a week before I told my husband I had joined WW. He groaned about eating diet food but shut up pretty quickly when I told him I/we had been doing it for a week and he hadn't noticed the difference in what I was feeding him.

The other thing that I've found shocking is calorie count of going out to eat....even when you think you're being good. Most of the resturantes are HORRIBLE. The calorie count at the chain places over here basically start at 1000, even the "low fat" and the salads. So even when I thought I was being good I was eating more than half my daily intake at one meal. Even my occasional venti latte no-fat from Starbucks is 170 calories! One cup of coffee!!! then add in that muffin or whatever and OWWWW.

i weighed a day early..and in one week using atkins and running 2 miles every other night on treadmill...I've lost 5 lbs!!

WOW! well done

Thats great C_F!

Well Done!

Congratulations, C_F!

Alyson, thanks for the useful tips and insights! (I'll post a yummy and fairly low calorie recipe for Moroccan chicken stew in the recipe thread in a minute)

lacemaker2004 wrote: The other thing that I've found shocking is calorie count of going out to eat....even when you think you're being good. Most of the resturantes are HORRIBLE.

I might be able to help a bit here... one of the many books I might be revising this year is the Collins Gem Calorie Counter. Although it won't hit the bookshops until December 2009 (marketing, doncha love it?), I will be in touch with many, many fast-food places, food distributors and producers. I can supply useful URLs and detailed information (as long as it's not directly from the book, obviously!).

However, can I put in a plea that virtual cakes and drinks are still available at the Stash & Grab and parties?!?

Surely you know that the Stash & Grab is 100% calorie-free and non-fattening? (Nor does anyone get diabetes there)

And I have it on good authority that when you break the cookie in half, all the calories leak out

Mabel Figworthy wrote:Surely you know that the Stash & Grab is 100% calorie-free and non-fattening? (Nor does anyone get diabetes there)

I'll also post some of my substitutes that help.

Hm
I really need to lose some weight (a lot, actually), but somehow I can't seem to find my courage to join. And I don't have scales. (Just a bad excuse - there is one in the pharmacy nearby...) And I don't have the time. Nor the money.

Have you ever heard these excuses?

I am still thinking...

Agi I feel exactly the same as you but I am going to take the plunge why don't you join us

Please can I join in, I really do not want to say what my weight is as I am too
lets just say that I am either very very overweight or should really be about 10 inches taller ( I'm only 4'11 ). I think I have to accept that there is no chance of me getting any taller now, so losing weight it is

I prefer to give myself smaller weight loss goals otherwise it seems never ending, so my first challenge is to lose 12lbs. I usually weigh on a Tuesday but as I havn't started yet it will be a week before I report how much I have lost.

Good luck to everyone

Minji, the smaller weight goals they say are the best approach otherwise it is daunting. WW actually prefers you set your goal at 10% body weight loss. So if you are 200, aim for 20 then when you're 180 aim for 18, etc. And the lady in my group that I did this with discovered that she's still considered beyond overweight by the tables (and she's lost 27 pounds since mid-September) so she just decided she must be 5'6" and we only think she's 5'1"!

Agi, Use your clothes also as a guage if you don't have a scale. I had never been successful at dieting, never weighed myself and didn't look when the doctor did it. I always just used my clothes as the indicator but this time the clothes said "ENOUGH!" and that's when I was shocked to see how much I weighed. Now those clothes that had gotten pushed to the back of the closet because "they must have shrunk" are actually large! And that's a great feeling! So join the fun. We'll all cheer you along!
Alyson

Clothes are a very good way to tell, my scales go up and down every time I stand on them, I stand on them three times, and take the middle reading, but mostly I just tell from my clothes.

My scales have a mind of their own too but my clothes are FAR TO TIGHT
I will try to get my chocolate and nice fattening goodies from the stash and grab from now on

Not such a spectacular result as C_F, but DH and I had both lost a pound when we weighed this morning!

Mabel Figworthy wrote:Not such a spectacular result as C_F, but DH and I had both lost a pound when we weighed this morning!

Every little bit counts!!! It's better to lose it slowly.

I wish I could help every one with advice, but I'm not exactly sure how I lost weight. *shys away from glares* In Nov. 2006 I was having stomach problems that I couldn't explain. I went for a colonoscope (at 29 years old) in Feb. 2007, and luckily everything came back fine. Still no explaination for my problems. I did start eating a little less than normal and had to cut back on sugar a little since it really affected my stomach (probably the reason for the loss). Fortunately, my body started acting right slowly but surely, and when I went to the nurse practitioner for my yearly exam, she mentioned that it sounded more like irritable bowel syndrome. Taking a few steps to help with this possible reason (and maybe my hormones finally regulating after having daughter in 2005), I lost about 40 pounds in about 9 months. I'd still like to lose a little more since I am technically a little overweight for my height (I'm 5'4" and between 140 & 145 pounds). This weight just seems to be where my body naturally levels out on its own.

Did you happen to have the flu (chest type) before? I once got a bad one that resulted in me having trouble for several months afterwards. I was fine chest way but my stomach just didn't like much food and definitely not some. I think the bug just kind of sat there in my tummy and would make me a bit nauseous so I cut back on eatting. I don't remember if sugar bothered me but it just resolved itself after several months.

lacemaker2004 wrote:Did you happen to have the flu (chest type) before? I once got a bad one that resulted in me having trouble for several months afterwards. I was fine chest way but my stomach just didn't like much food and definitely not some. I think the bug just kind of sat there in my tummy and would make me a bit nauseous so I cut back on eatting. I don't remember if sugar bothered me but it just resolved itself after several months.

Nope. My stomach problems didn't include any nauseousness. I had the added problem that anything that got me out of my sleep/eating schedule messed up my stomach as did stress or being hot. Those were all the things that lead the nurse practitioner to think it might be IBS. I was still having minor problems thru the beginning of 2008 until I found the probiotics that are in yogurt and also now there's a supplement that is just probiotics. It is wonderful and has completely taken care of the problem as long as I remember to take it every day and not go too overboard with sugar. I haven't heard of an illness doing something like that before, but I'm sure it wasn't any fun for you!