Down 100 lbs: losing my final weight (Help!)

[corter]

I've been reading these threads for a couple weeks, and it seems a lot of people know a ton about weight and nutrition. I"m hoping by making this thread, it will be a fun way to help me loose my final 25 lbs. Heres my story: :

i'm turning 21 in a couple weeks. from about 15-19, I lost a total of 100 lbs. I'm 6'3", and started at 302 lbs (still 6'3" at 15). the lowest weight i hit was 195, but I never maintained it, settled around 201-202 through first 2 years of college. Now, I tend to be a perfectionist, and right now i'm weighing about 210. It's mostly due to winter and not being active, but last summer i didnt get back down to 202, i hit about 206 and stayed there.

Body structure wise, I'm pretty big. I have a 45" chest, almost 19" shoulders, size 14 foot and my head won't fit into any baseball caps besides a size 8-81/4 fitted cap. My thighs are 24" from cycling since I was a kid (BMX, now road/fixed gear). My goal weght has always been 185, and I'd love to hit it this summer, but I don't know f my bodytype is physically capable of maintaining that.

In the past, it's been a lifestyle change. Diet soda here, salad there. Now it's turned into a workout thing, which is my problem. I'm a student, and between working/school theres very little time for the gym. I do, however, ride my bike about 8 miles a day.

As far as eating goes: my portions are out of controll. I live on diet soda (about 2-3 liters/day), I eat probably 1/2 box of mini wheats in a sitting or 1/2 lb of pasta (to give you an example). I eat very low fat, mostly carbs like cereal and pasta. I eat a lot of whole grain and egg noodles, I tend to eat very little meat. For sweets, I stay away from high fat still. I eat mostly fat free fig newtons and weight watchers ice cream bars (130 calories and 4.5g fat), although i'll eat 8-10 fig newtons or 2-3 ice creams.

I know my body pretty well, but I'm obviously aging and my body doesn't work the same as it did 5 or 6 years ago. My plan of attack is to cut the soda down to one can a day, the rest water. Lots of fruits and vegetables, few carbs and when I do eat them, whole grains and high fiber. Protien- 2-3 servings a day. I'm going to try to not skip breafast, either, and not eat anything after 7pm. I also tend to go to bed at...well...6am, which leads me to have a second dinner around 2am. so i'm going to try to get myself into a 2am bedtime, and cut that meal out.

I was reading some other threads like this, and I think what i'm going to do is a food diary of sorts, write down what I take in every day, and how much I work out (will be mostly cycling, with fixed gear it's easier to figure calories burned). maybe some pictures every 2 weeks for progress with a scale reading.

I do need help! I think that's why i'm posting here, to steal everone's encouragement haha. I know I don't really know much about this, so tips and tricks and information are going to be awesome through all this.

I'm going to start tomorrow, see how many calories I take in on a normal day. then I guess we can assess and i'll look up a good amount to try to stick to. phew...this was long. sorry!

 

[gvibes]

Originally Posted by corter

My plan of attack is to cut the soda down to one can a day, the rest water. Lots of fruits and vegetables, few carbs and when I do eat them, whole grains and high fiber. Protien- 2-3 servings a day. I'm going to try to not skip breafast, either, and not eat anything after 7pm. I also tend to go to bed at...well...6am, which leads me to have a second dinner around 2am. so i'm going to try to get myself into a 2am bedtime, and cut that meal out.
This looks pretty good, but it seems that your protein intake may still be low. Edit: fixed grammer

 

[duchessofmalfi]

why not cut out soda totally? one can a day adds up. if you really want to drink soda that bad, consider the "light" variety.

 

[smw356]

Try to get as close to 8 hours a sleep as possible, 4 hours is going to make it really really tough to make any progress.

 

[drizzt3117]

Resistance training will help you lose weight and keep it off if you incorporate it with cardio. Obviously your biggest results are going to be from the kitchen, but if you increase your lean body mass relative to your overall weight, you'll have better results than just plain diet + cardio (as millions of people have found)

 

[corter]

Originally Posted by duchessofmalfi

why not cut out soda totally? one can a day adds up. if you really want to drink soda that bad, consider the "light" variety.

i only drink diet, i just always read it's really bad for you with the chemicals. I'd like to cut it out completely though.

thanks for the advice allready everyone!

 

[emperor3d]

I'm curious. Why did you decide 185lbs as your target?
I'm asking because I've used that number as well but I used that BMI scale as a reference. Unfortunately, the BMI scale is somewhat flawed. I am just as tall as you and when I was at my thinest (193lbs), I looked somewhat anorexic. So if I went down to 185lbs, I'd look even more so, to the point of being rediculous.

Anyway, I'm in the same boat as you.
I'm getting very close to my ideal weight, really fast.
I've heard the last 10 are the hardest. We'll see.

My tips:
Lots of fibre.
Lots of water.
Walk briskly for 30-60 mins when you can.
I'm doing this aerobic DVD for 30 mins a day and it's really amazing, actually.
Avoid diet drinks. They slow down your metabolism.
Either drink Green Tea after every meal or take Green Tea Extract pills (2 after each major meal of the day) <-- I know that sounds like a ruse, but they actually work. They speed up your metabolism.

Anyway, keep us all up to date with your progress.

 

[smw356]

Originally Posted by emperor3d

I'm curious. Why did you decide 185lbs as your target?
I'm asking because I've used that number as well but I used that BMI scale as a reference. Unfortunately, the BMI scale is somewhat flawed. I am just as tall as you and when I was at my thinest (193lbs), I looked somewhat anorexic. So if I went down to 185lbs, I'd look even more so, to the point of being rediculous.


+1
I have a build very similar in height/ measurements as the op (an inch taller, an inch thinner in the chest, and been in the same boat of losing a lot of weight. At my lowest I was around 190 with fairly low bf (I had somewhat visible abs), but it was painfully obvious that I need to gain quite a bit of lean mass. BMI is a terrible scale for anyone above 6 foot.

 

[globetrotter]

I'd be with the group asking

why 185?

give up soft drinks.

try crystal light green tea. no calories, no carbinaiton, tastes great. or, even better, water.


I am 5'4 - and the lightest I have ever been is about 160 - at 160 I pretty much didn't have an ounce of fat on me. at 180 I look thin, that's just the way my body is made.

you should be thinking about fat content, not what the charts tell you.

 

[gvibes]

I agree with everyone in that the mirror is going to be a more accurate measure than a BMI chart.

 

[kever]

if you're really serious about it, which it sounds like you are, why not go make an appointment with a Registered Dietitian? (Registered Dietitians have a higher degree of training then a "nutritionist&quot That way you could get a plan you can follow, that's made specifically for your goals, and based on a solid education. It will more then likely give you better results then the random "eat more protein!" or "Carbs are bad!" comments. You'll also learn a bit about why the foods you eat aren't ideal, and what better choices you can make. It will be something that you can use for the rest of your life too.
If that's not really something you're interested in, maybe you could go to the library and take out a book on nutrition. It won't be gears towards you and your goals like a meeting with an RD, but you will learn a bit about what you're eating.
I've never been in your situation, but I love hearing stories about people losing huge amounts of weight like that. Good work. I'm sure its made a huge difference in your life and health.

 

[emperor3d]

Originally Posted by smw356

+1
I have a build very similar in height/ measurements as the op (an inch taller, an inch thinner in the chest, and been in the same boat of losing a lot of weight. At my lowest I was around 190 with fairly low bf (I had somewhat visible abs), but it was painfully obvious that I need to gain quite a bit of lean mass. BMI is a terrible scale for anyone above 6 foot.

Yeah it appears the BMI scale craps out after 5'11" or thereabouts.
At my thinest, my pelvic bones were protruding and it dictated I was still a little overweight.

 

[corter]

i decided on 185 because my doctor said it was the middle of my weight range, anywhere from 165-195. I would be happy with 195 even, it's just the last 15 that really suck.

on going to a nutritionist: i'm in college, and have very little money. Kinda sucks, I just have to do it on my own. I know enough about nutrition to eat healthy enough, however in the last year my body doesn't respond to the ways i used to eat to loose weight. I"m going to try to drink more green tea, i dont like hot teas at all but I can handle cold ones, and I'd like to ultimately stop drinking diet soda, but i'm going to ease off of it as best i can.

today's update: woke up at 11, had 1/2 bag of baby carrots and some water. around 2:30 I had my 1 diet coke of the day with a bag of pretzels (whole bag = 3 servings). thats 460 calories and 4.5 grams of fat today so far, I plan on a footlong subway club for dinner and 30-45 minutes ride on my fluid trainer tonight. if all goes as planned, I'm looking at about a 1800 calorie day.

 

[smw356]

Your doctor is just using BMI, which as previously stated is marsupialed.

Your are still eating like crap. Its all empty carbs and next to no protein.

 

[corter]

what would you suggest? i do need help with what i'm eating