Going on a Diet

[kmwrestle]

After browsing the forum here for about a month now I realized im learning all this stuff about how to dress better to look better, but im missing the obvious. I am extremley overweight, to the point no clothes is going to help me. I have vowed tonight to start the journey in loosing a substantial amount of weight. I was planning on waiting till new years, but today i realized how gross i had become. Idealy Id want to lose almost 1/2 of my body weight. I have gained almost 140lbs in about 4 years. I will use this thread to periodically monitor my progress. Wish me luck. I am about 6' tall.

Starting weight as of 12/5/06: 416.5lbs
Goal weight: 250lbs
Amount needed to hit target: 166.5

 

[contactme_11]

Thats an excellent goal, I wish you the best in achieving it!

 

[texas_jack]

Right on. Good for you. Remember to be healthy about it because a realistic diet should be something you can maintain in the long run.

 

[masqueofhastur]

Don't just try to starve yourself, you want to figure out a diet that jumpstarts your metabolism. Do some research on the topic and maybe find a nutritionist to set you up with a good diet.

 

[Dragon]

Don`t concentrate so much on eating less...just change what you eat and you will lose half your weight in no time. Good luck!

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Dragon

Don`t concentrate so much on eating less...just change what you eat and you will lose half your weight in no time. Good luck!
+1 on what Dragon said
Some years ago I undertook a similar, albeit smaller, endeavor. Just replacing the crap I ate with healthier made a huge difference. And if you find "replacement foods" you enjoy it feels a lot less like deprivation. (E.g., frozen strawberries in lieu of ice cream for dessert, to give one small example..) From there you can move on to portion control if necessary, etc. But I think you'll also find that as you work healthier but still enjoyable foods into the rotation, you'll also retrain your palate to have healthier preferences as well. (I'm making some assumptions about your eating habits here; should they be mistaken, you obviously should disregard my comments.)

 

[Mr. Checks]

Some thoughts for your consideration or to be ignored:

Don't go on any fad diets.

Don't describe what you're doing as "dieting." Dieting presumes some kind of limitation that you don't need to introduce into your psyche.

Get the crappy food out of your house - just don't buy it. No need to go crazy by only eating virgin-made sprouted wheat germ/soy product, just start to introduce quality, natural foods. Think of it as buying topnotch shoes instead of Zips... Shop on the margins of the grocery store. Avoid the inner aisles.

As LD notes: A weird thing happens when you eat better food - the ****** food starts to taste worse (the lucious donut now tastes like bread and lard, while an exquisite fresh strawberry tastes, well, exquisite). Recognize that, despite this rule, you will crave a Big Mac now and then. One won't kill you, and won't knock you off the diet wagon (because you're not on a "diet," see how that works?) but don't make fast food a regular thing.

Work in some kind of physical activity after checking with a doctor.

Don't set the goal that you need to look like Brad Pitt by this fall. Right now just focus on the fact that every pound off means you're healthier. Let's say you "only" get down to 316 lbs - that's a huge difference for your health, your heart, your lungs, etc. from where you are now.

Best of luck to you.

 

[kmwrestle]

thanks for all the suggestions guys.

my biggest problem is when i eat i eat. i do need portion control. i need to order a small or even a medium sandwhich instead of the large sub bag of chips and a coke. im not a big desert eater, its more meals for me. and when i see food i eat. when im bored i eat. 4 years ago i was wrestling in college......just to think,

 

[acidboy]

You probably have just made the best decision in your life. Good luck, and I hope you achieve your goals.

 

[Max]

I've dropped 29 pounds since april (188 down from 217). I feel great, and I didn't starve.

Like you, I eat when I'm bored and will just keep eating if I've got more food.

Here's what worked for me:

-You don't have to flip your life upside down and only eat green salads with grilled chicken strips. Just make better food choices.

-Not drinking my calories. A pound of fat has 3500 calories. A can of coke has 190. If you normally drink 2 a day, that's 380 calories. If you cut that out of your diet and keep your activity level the same, you'll lose a pound in 10 days. Awesome. Pass the Fiji water.

-Not eating between meals. I used to pour myself a bowl of cereal (and refill it once or twice) every afternoon around 3 (I'm a college student, this habit is left over from high school). Skip that and you've saved a good 400 calories/day. Bang. Weight loss. SO EASY.

-Avoid calorie-dense food. Let's say you want a candy bar. Chocolate is high in fat, which has a lot more calories/gram than sugar. Hit up some twizzlers instead of a snickers and you've skipped a good 100 calories. A big mac has like 1200 calories and isn't that filling. A burrito from chipotle has roughly the same amount (just leave out the guac, cheese, and sour cream), but is enormous and gut-bustingly delicious without needing 600 calories of fries to go with it. Small changes, big long-term effects.

-Portion control and moderation. Order the small soda. Get two pieces of pizza instead of 3. Eat thin-crust instead of deep dish. You can still hit burger king, just do it like once a month and don't biggie size everything. Eat pasta, but skip the alfredo or cream sauce in favor of pesto or tomato sauce. All of these are small changes that save you a lot of calories.

-Just being aware of what you're eating in general. Thinking about having a snack? Ask yourself if you're really physically hungry or just bored. Only eat when your stomach is telling you you're hungry.

You should check out the hacker's diet (google it). It's weight loss for lazy people. Yes, you could exercise more, but skipping a candy bar is much easier than spending an hour on an exercise bike.

Also, don't think of it as "going on a diet." Diets end, and people gain all their weight back. Think of it as "making better food decisions for the rest of my life." You'll be healthier and keep the weight off.

Don't be tempted by gastric bypass. Fully half the people who have them get all their weight back within a couple years, and a lot of people die from them.

If you're super serious, you can go to a place called Structure House for a week or two, they'll teach you how to shop for and cook low-fat food for yourself, eat healthily in restaurants, and help you get control of your weight.

 

[vanity]

I was about 215lbs when I was a sophomore in high school. I started working out and did The Zone diet.

I lost around 55lbs in 1 year and 10 years later, I'm still around 165-170lbs. Find a diet that suits your lifestyle and works. You'll be on it the rest of your life.

 

[chronoaug]

Once you start eating smaller portions and less snacks, you'll notice you're not as hungry as often. It happened to me. I used to be able to eat a bunch, but it's as if my stomach as shrunk, now. I usually get full off a small amount of food now.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Max

.

-Not drinking my calories. A pound of fat has 3500 calories. A can of coke has 190. If you normally drink 2 a day, that's 380 calories. If you cut that out of your diet and keep your activity level the same, you'll lose a pound in 10 days. Awesome. Pass the Fiji water.
+1 as a way to jump start your effort. Obviously water is much better than diet soda, but even if you make the transition gradually by first switching from regular to diet soda, for example, you'll find you're cutting out a significant number of calories.
As Max points out and you have observed, things like portion control and not eating between meals can be part of it, too. But those things take significant willpower and long-term dedication. By changing the types of foods you eat, you'll make great progress even if you're less than perfect -- and of course you'll be less than perfect -- in the other areas. I'm sure you can easily cut 500 calories a day out of your diet through simple food substitutions that won't even leave you feeling like you're "dieting". 500 calories a day is 3500 a week, which is about a pound a week. Add in some moderate exercise and whatever portion control, etc. you're able to maintain, and you'll start seeing tangible results before you know it. And in my experience seeing those tangible results gives you real encouragement that makes continuing and stepping up your efforts easier.
Besides, as others have noted, it's less about dieting than about changing your eating habits for the rest of your life. Diets -- and usually their results -- are temporary. Changes in habit and can be permanent and highly rewarding.
Congrats on your initial commitment, and good luck with the process.

 

[Houndstooth]

Good luck.

Also check out these two sites.

http://www.cbass.com/success_stories9.htm

http://www.cbass.com/

Read and learn my Friend.

 

[smw356]

As someone who's lost quite a bit in the past I can offer some advice if you're serious about it

- Cut out all transfats (hydrogenated oils) and high fructose corn syrup. & Severly cut back on refined flours/sugars.

- No white bread / white pasta/ enriched flour etc. Convert to whole grain everything. Low glycemic carbs are key.

- gradually build up to 3 days weight lifting / 2-3 days a week cardio. ( The lifting is essential, as it ensures that the weight lost is fat no muscle)

- eat smaller meals every 3 hours at a minumum. Eat more often speeds up your metabolism. A faster metabolism burns more fat.

- take a good iron free multivitimin and supplement fishoil tablets.

- do not starve yourself. someone of your weight should be eating around 2500 calories a day (once you start doing regular physical activity) to shed the lbs.

- make sure that your protein / carb / fat ratio hovers around 40/30/30 daily, and try to consume most of your carbs earlier in the day and fewer later in the day.