Losing Weight...One Man's Problem

[Scott Johnston]

OK all,

It has come time for me lose some serious weight...I am talking 70 pounds at least and I need some help. Like many of you, I love to eat...to much in fact. I know the recipe for weight lost is simple, eat less calories then you expend, but the devil is in the details. So my question to you all is what works? Can you still go out and eat in moderation? What are some helpful hints? Don how can you go out several times a day and still fit in last years pants? Are you stead fast in your exercise routines (something I am not), do you turn off the food network? Let me know!

[Heather]

Here's what works for me: one serving of fruit and the same of vegetables with every meal, drink lots of water, eat lean meat and fish (lots of protein), and only drink on the weekends. The gym is great, but only if you actually go. If not try to find something else that works - a rowing machine, treadmill, or just long walks at lunchtime.

If you want a structured program, Weight Watchers works.

Good luck! You might want to get your thyroid checked, and your blood pressure, just to make sure there are no underlying problems.

[DanCole42]

So many diets out there advertise "lose weight AND eat the foods you love!"

Bollocks.

The problem with so many foodies (myself included) is that we have a psychological fixation on food. We look forward to the next meal, we think about food constantly, etc. Eating the foods we love will only get us in trouble.

I keep a full stock of dried fruit in my desk. The taste, smell, and thought of dried food makes me gag. Whenever I get hungry, I just eat a handful (with plenty of water). I quickly lose my appetite, and by eating small quantities of food throughout the day I keep cravings down and metabolism up. Plus, dried fruit is relatively healthy.

For dinner I still enjoy reasonable portions of tasty food, and even gorged myself occasionally on the weekends.

I lost 20 pounds in a month this way and felt fantastic. Now that my knee is better I've started running in the mornings and expect to get even healthier.

[synaesthesia]

Oatmeal with vanilla soy milk every day for breakfast is a big part of my regimen. Filling dietary fiber plus proven cholesterol cleansweeping power. Running regularly plays a big part for me, though I haven't been doing as much lately.

There's also this fellow, Rick Bradley who was at DOT when I was there: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?p...37060-2001Aug20

His philosophy sounds pretty good. Just make sure you do something simple to start and don't go too full speed ahead in the beginning - otherwise it's a little demotivating.

There's also that research study about getting three servings of low-fat dairy products helps with the subcutaneous fat. http://www.obesityresearch.org/cgi/content/full/12/4/582

If you choose yogurt to meet this, stick with non-fat without the fruit that comes in it - tends to be more sugar - and throw in some freeze dried fruit without added sugar; they have sugar free freeze-dried strawberries at TJs.

[Heather]

Oh, and smaller portions. I am not successful at all when I deny myself everything, but it helps to cut back.

[demandalicious]

Cut out snacks and join a gym. Exercise is KEY.

Plus, dried fruit is relatively healthy.

As well as being full of fiber. (it keeps things moving, if you know what I mean).

A diet high in protein and fiber is the best way to go. None of this lowcarb malarky either. Eat 6 small meals a day and you'll shrink considerably. It's more of a lifestyle choice than a strict diet.

[Ferhat Yalcin]

keep eating subway. , just a joke.

in the past years I have no food restrictions (low fat, butter,evoo) I eat everything I want and I eat a lot. People around me are usually impressed with the amount of food I eat.

but for me the reason for is simple : I exercise . I go to the gym , I play soccer or table tennis .

you need to exercise on a regular basis. wake up 40 minutes earlier in the morning and go for jogging or do some push ups , just dont give up.

if you feel alone in this you need to find some friends and make it more entertaining.

good luck.

[bookluvingbabe]

There is a good thread on Egullet about Weight Watchers.

Good luck!

[synaesthesia]

Plus, dried fruit is relatively healthy.

Do try and buy the kind without added sugar, which is the tendency. Otherwise you end up accidently loading up on a lot more carbs and calories than you might think.

[Joshua Grinnell]

As well as being full of fiber. (it keeps things moving, if you know what I mean).

Not only does fiber do... as advertised above... it will also go a ways towards making you feel full, which is one half of the foodie equation. The other half, of course, is "this would be better with cheese." So, work out meals that include the things you crave, but will fill you up with smaller portions as suggested by Heather. I do steel-cut oatmeal with parmesan or BLT salads with lots of leafy greens.

Other than that, start out exercise slowly and you'll be amazed how soon you can ramp it up. Start by going for a good walk at lunch, buy a bike, get one of those huge punching bags, sign up for a 5K, etc. I find an excellent weight management tool is riding my bike 15 - 20 miles round trip out to a special lunch (Dairy Godmother, Vienna Inn, Elevation Burger) and relishing that whatever fantastic goodness I just put in, I burned it and then some.

[Heather]

Not only does fiber do... as advertised above... it will also go a ways towards making you feel full

That's why I strive for the serving of fruit and veggies with every meal. Fiber, and you are sure to get your vitamins.

[pidgey]

I highly recommend Weight Watchers, plus an exercise regimen of at least 3x a week. With Weight Watchers, its all about portion control and learning how to eat right. I still eat out quite a bit (at least once a week), but I can make better choices at the restaurant and at the grocery store during the week to prepare myself for that meal. My husband is doing it too, but he's kind of off the wagon right now. Still, I've lost 50 lbs this year, and he's lost about 30.

[synaesthesia]

Or you can come to the 5K Help the Homeless Walk tomorrow morning. Hint, hint! Registration is closed, but I can get you or anyone set up.

[xcanuck]

Good lord...Heather...no drinking except on weekends????? My religion only allows me to drink on days ending with a 'Y'. I probably need to check into Betty Ford vs Weight Watchers (and would prefer to check into Bettie Paige, but thats another story).

Seriously, Scott...good luck. I think everyone has a different weight loss "trigger". My wife exercises more than just about anyone I know. She works out 5-6 times per week, including twice weekly hockey games. Her workout regiment is strenuous, including both weights and cardio. We eat healthy at home (not so much at restaurants) and she watches her alcohol intake. And yet still she couldn't lose weight.

What ended up working for her was watching her portion sizes. She measures food at home and in restaurants always leaves a porton of food on her plate (or takes it home with her). And now she's losing weight.

She'll probably kill me for talking about this. But we're all friends here, eh? Plus, we owe you one for that awesome collards recipe

[zoramargolis]

People around me are usually impressed with the amount of food I eat.

but for me the reason for is simple : I exercise . I go to the gym , I play soccer or table tennis .

Plus, you walk eight miles a night while you are at work, no?

I lost 20 pounds when I went to work at BlackSalt, without changing my food intake, for the simple reason that I was constantly in motion. I was not allowed to sit down-- except in the restroom

Unfortunately, when I quit the job, I gained much of it back

[yeuxblu]

For everyone its a different battle.

I make a conscience effort to drink at least 64 oz of water a day (8- 8 oz glasses), which is about 2 Nalgene bottles. I confuse hunger with mild dehydration.

Track what you are eating and place it in a category (veggies, fruit, carbs, protein, dairy and fat). Its amazing how skewed a diet can be and what happens when you eat a balanced one. I tend to fall really heavy on the carbs and fats so I try to eat as many of my fruits, veggies & protein early in the day so I can enjoy my plate of pasta in the evening as a reward for the day.

Find an activity that you love, be it kayaking, yoga, climbing, frisbee throwing, hiking or walking. Just something, anything to get you moving. That's usually easier than going straight in to a gym routine that you may or may not like.

The weird advice- I have one friend that asks for half of her meal to be placed in a to-go box prior to it being served. Personally, I find it a little freakish and not something I would do at many non-chain restaurants but it works for her. She uses it as her portion control since she knows she has none.

Best of luck.

[TedE]

If it applies to you a *really* easy way to cut a bunch of completely empty calories is to go cold turkey on soft drinks. I have never been a coffee drinker, so I basically was kept alive by soda during late nights in grad school. When I came to D.C. I was doing 3-4 a day, enabled by the free drink fridge at work. I stopped cold and switched to water (and now tea) and dropped 6 or 7 pounds in a month while changing nothing else. I can't really stomach the stuff anymore. Water is king!

I'm actually getting back into watching what I eat since I've signed on for an Olympic distance triathlon in the spring . I've switched over to the 4-6 small meals a day routine to drop some weight so that my knees stop complaining on long runs (or, more correctly, so that I can get back into enough shape to do long runs). It's hard to break out of the lunch/dinner routine though, especially since I love to cook in the evening and tend to make too much. I haven't gone hard core with the precise portioning yet. That's the real key if you want to be scientific and fastidious like uber-elite endurance athletes, but I've seen what they eat and that's a sacrifice I'm NOT willing to make!

[TedE]

Oh, and if you have the willpower and focus to keep with it (I don't), My Food Diary is a great tool. The cool thing is that it allows you to build and save menus and recipes to reuse so you can precisely track calories; tough if you eat out a lot (it has precompiled items from a lot of national chains I believe, but you'd have to guess for anything else or have detailed inside knowledge of what went into your dish). It adds up everything you do daily (eat and exercise) and gives you a detailed rundown on what you did well that day, down to smiley faces and frowns for hitting/missing your water target, fiber intake, % fat and protein, etc. It's $10/month (?), but I know people who use it and they swear by it.

[clayrae]

Similar but (IMHO) better than My Food Diary. Recipe Calc

Free to try, $24 to own. Developed as a nutritional analyzer for recipes, you can also enter everything you eat in one day and get a complete nutritional breakdown for the whole day. It comes with the USDA food database already installed and lets you edit and add to the database till your heart’s content. (You can enter all the data from the nutritional labels on the foods you buy into the database.)

I have lost 30 pounds with this (and plenty of time in the gym.)

It’s perfect for the foodie who is also an information geek.

[hm212]

I highly recommend Weight Watchers, plus an exercise regimen of at least 3x a week. With Weight Watchers, its all about portion control and learning how to eat right.

Weight watchers works. I am a lifetime member, that means I lost my weight got to my goal and kept it off for at least three months.

Yes. I have since gained it back, but I too need to drop about forty pounds. I keep promising myself I need to get serious. After my doctors warning last month, I need to get real about it too.

[vjones68]

Or you can come to the 5K Help the Homeless Walk tomorrow morning. Hint, hint! Registration is closed, but I can get you or anyone set up.

I would love to do the 5k walk, however by the time I finish the 5k everyone else will be fast asleep at home,lol.

[beezy]

Oh, bless your heart. I think everyone has given you some great advice: no soda, water, exercise, food diary (online ones are the bomb), portion control.

1. Get a nutritionist to help you understand what your body needs. Weight Watchers is a pretty good substitute.

2. Buy the best quality fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat and eggs you can get your hands on.

3. Splurge on grocery delivery. It makes you eat only what you order, and keeps you away from the stuff you might want to order.

4. Exercise. No, really. And get a buddy, a trainer, workout with a group, or join a rec league team if you can tolerate group sports.

5. If you really, really, really think you want something that's outside your eating plan, walk to get it. It's amazing how unattractive some things are when you have to talk to the 7-11 at midnight.

6. Plan what you're going to eat with a flexible set of guidelines- the American Diabetic Association's exchange program is great (WW also uses it), and think about food in clumps of a few days instead of one day at a time.

Finally, if you're going to eat out, plan in advance, and adjust accordingly the day before and after. And eat somewhere nice (or something you really, really like).

[JLK]

Where's Joe H? I understand (from his posts) that he has quite the weight loss and maintenance success story.

Otherwise, what everyone else said. I drink gallons of water, snack on raisins and rarely drink soda. When I feel like I'm gaining a few pounds, I drop my breakfast muffin in favor of cereal or oatmeal with skim milk and fruit, or light yogurt with a sprinkle of granola. Those commercials touting weight loss if you sub cereal for two meals a day are no joke, but it gets old fast.

Depending on your health needs and your metabolism, it may not be necessary to cut out all of your favorites. Portion control is an amazing thing. I am [apparently] a very slow eater in most situations. It helps in that I figure out when I start getting that full feeling before I end up stuffed. I end up with lots of leftovers so a side benefit is saving money, not having to buy lunch at work the next day.

Take the stairs. Join the Y and swim laps. Watch "The Biggest Loser" to get inspired by the before and after photos, and images of people going past what they think are their physical limitations. Watch out for sugar and salt. Switch to whole grain or multi-grain everything.

Post a photo of your progress here every two weeks. That should be motivating. Good luck!

[DonRocks]

Never take financial advice from someone who isn't a millionaire.

I think it may be about time for a dr.com group New-Years weight loss and fitness regimen...

[legant]

...only drink on the weekends.

According to the latest medical literature, females should only have one drink a day. Under your system, if I abstain during the week does that mean I can get totally blasted on the weekend?

[blakegwinn]

Well here is what has wordked for me. A lot of people who have met me don't believe this but I do have a slow metabolism and was a "chunky kid" until high school when I dragged myself to cross country (but then back again when I started chugging natty ice and eating whole pizzas at 2 in the morning in college). But here is what has worked for me the last few years. Repitition. A lot of people talk about having diets that allow for variety bit it doesn't work for me. I have a strict regimen that I follow every WEEKDAY. That is the key. I still do what I want on the weekend. Go out to nice meals and gorge but during the week I am a monk. I think the psychology behind it for me was that I was taking the choice out of what I ate which kept my loack of willpower out of it. When I know that everyday I have a large bowl of cereal in the morning, a banana and almonds at 11, a V8 juice and a yogurt at 12, more almonds at 1, a protein bar at 2, an apple at 3 and an orange at 4, I stop thinking about "what can I eat right now?" Because if given that choice eventually my stomach will always lead me back to the dark side. All that has become habit and I hardly even think about it anymore. Throw in SOME activity (I actually go to the gym during my 1 hour lunch break so as not to be tempted by the quiznos or cafe deluxe right by my office) and you will definitely start to notice a difference.

Also I think most americans are very surprised on the amount of calories you actually need (expend) in a day. When I tell people what I eat on weekdays the reaction is "Wow that isn't enough you need to eat more! But I found out I really don't. That is the amount of calories I am using a day and like you said that is really the key. A couple of quick hits that will help a lot are drop daily lattes/cappucino's etc. those will KILL you. Same goes for sports drinks sodas etc. People always think beverages are harmless but those are some of the highest calorie items most people use daily. Switch to grande coffee, black or with a bit of skim milk and splenda from a grande caramel macchiato and you have just cut 300 calories and 7 grams of saturated fat from your daily routine. That is 1500 calories and 35 grams of sat. fat a week if you get one monday thru friday. Also drop sodas sports drinks etc. for water. It helps you feel full and fuels your exercise later. Start to think about whether it is hunger or taste deprivation driving your urge for something to eat. During the day if you feel real hunger eat a small handful of raw almonds or eat an apple. Both fill you up quite a bit and fuel the metabolism. Lastly drink LOTS of water. I usually drink 2 liters at the office everyday and some more at work in the evening.

The last thing is don't ever completely cut yourself off from anything. That will cause your diet to fail eventually I think. That is why I cut loose on the weekends (still with a small bit of portion conscience I suppose) If you completely deny yourself fried sweetbreads or tres leches cake or any of your favorite guilty pleasures completely, you will fail. A month, a year eventually you will fall off the horse. So just do a mini falling off every weekend and get back on on monday. That allowed me to change my lifestyle after college and I have been going strong for a few years now without any lapses and I feel great.

[Stretch]

Never take financial advice from someone who isn't a millionaire.

Or wine pointers from anyone who doesn't drink it for breakfast.

[Heather]

According to the latest medical literature, females should only have one drink a day. Under your system, if I abstain during the week does that mean I can get totally blasted on the weekend?

I wouldn't know anything about that.

Seriously, I've lost about 25 pounds in the last few months doing exactly what I described. Complete self-denial doesn't work so well. Just make a few changes at first and see how it goes.

[JimRice]

Never take financial advice from someone who isn't a millionaire.

What happened to those who can't do, teach? And those who can't teach, teach gym!

(apologies to all the gym teachers out there)

[ScotteeM]

Beware the pitfall of the salad! Salad dressings, in particular commercial dressings, have an amazing amount of fat in them, often from processed vegetable oils. If you're ordering a salad in a restaurant, ask for the dressing on the side. Instead of pouring it over the salad, dip your fork in it before spearing each bite. You'll get the flavor of the dressing, but leave about half the fat and calories in the little cup (that's a tip I learned in Weight Watchers, BTW, and it works for me). If the restaurant offers oil and vinegar as an option, just sprinkle a little of each on the salad yourself. At home, make your own vinaigrette with olive oil, and use sparingly. Substitute spices and fresh herbs in the salad to enhance the flavor.

ETA: This does not apply to the wonderful salads in Restaurant Eve's Bistro. They have a light hand with dressing, and the dressings are house-made and healthy-tasting, IMO.

[bonaire]

I'll echo the Weight Watchers comments -- it's great for portion control, which I'm miserable at.

I also hate hate hate going to the gym. So I'm better with a workout partner, and I love classes (and same goes for running). I belong to both Vida and WSC. Sometimes having someone to go with you forces you to show up. If any DR.com members ever want to join up, just PM me!

[RaisaB]

Never take financial advice from someone who isn't a millionaire.

I think it may be about time for a dr.com group New-Years weight loss and fitness regimen...

Good advice from Don.

I would venture that anyone who eats out almost every night and still stays in shape, also works out more vigourously than he eats.

As for JoeH, he is out of town, but I know that he walks at least 4-5 miles everyday, rain or shine, heat or freeze. I am sure he will expand more on this when he reads this thread.

As for me, if I want to eat, I have to work out at least 90 minutes everyday. The older I get, the harder it gets. This past year I have let myself go, and now I am paying for it....but even though it is hell at times, the saying that nothing tastes as good as thin feels, has some merit to it.

[Heather]

Thin feels great but tastes terrible. Improve your diet, get some exercise and try to be as healthy as you can. If you're over 40 that might be the best you can do, so don't beat yourself up.

[rkduggins]

Like so many in this thread, I struggle with maintaining my fitness as it relates to my desire for great food. Yes, I have to work out 4-5 times a week, and eat wisely even when I'm out. I also had to come to terms with my phisiology... I will always have curves, even when I'm in shape. I think that a lot of our struggle with food comes from a lack of acceptance for ourselves as we are.

I'm not saying that being overweight or unhealthy is what we should resign ourselves to, but a hyper idealized version of physical image is not realistic, either.

[Principia]

I'm going to add to those suggesting Weight Watchers, if you feel you need either some structure or a support network. Many of the non-WW suggestions have aligned with some of what WW would tell you anyway (e.g., eat plenty of vegetables, drink enough water).

I'm doing Weight Watchers without the meetings (the +1 attends meetings at his place of employ); he and I are each down about 40 pounds so far, and that's with us being really slack about the exercise component. We're doing Flex Points rather than Core.

A heads-up on the WW Flex Points plan: they are rejiggering how point requirements are calculated in order to better account for gender, age, and general levels of physical activity. The new matrix is going to come out at the start of December.

If you've got any specific questions, feel free to PM me or just post 'em here.

[demandalicious]

I've never had to struggle with significant weightloss, so maybe I am speaking off the cuff here...but I have seen a very a close friend of mine have great success with Body for Life and more recently, participating in a marathon through Team in Training. He did Weight Watchers for years and lost roughly 100 pounds, but his body didn't really change until he adopted a regular fitness routine. It's all about exercise. You might hate it at first, but chances are strong that you will see results and the good things (smaller waist) will start to outweigh the bad (treadmill-haterading), and vanity will take over.

Good luck.

[DonRocks]

Here's your magic bullet for weight loss: a large, starchy baked Russet potato. The bigger, the better. Cut it in half and give it about five squirts of soy sauce (doesn't matter if it's low sodium or not). Then add a couple heaping tablespoons of low-fat (not non-fat) cottage cheese. Pepper to taste. Have this every single day with your primary meal. Eat as much as you need of whatever else you're being served, but make sure you completely finish your potato, including the skin. It weighs about two pounds and has only a few hundred calories. The soy sauce makes it interesting, and the starch in the potato and the creaminess of the cottage cheese satisfy cravings for richness without a lot of fat or calories. Trust me, this will work. Cheers, Rocks.

[DameEdna]

3500 calories = 1 pound

[Scott Johnston]

This is a great idea, when i was a low-fat vegan, this was my fav meal. I also used BBQ sause, steak sauce, worsdichire sauce, as well as anything else that was there. Steak sauce was my favorite.

Here's your magic bullet for weight loss: a large, starchy baked Russet potato. The bigger, the better. Cut it in half and give it about five squirts of soy sauce (doesn't matter if it's low sodium or not). Then add a couple heaping tablespoons of low-fat (not non-fat) cottage cheese. Pepper to taste. Have this every single day with your primary meal. Eat as much as you need of whatever else you're being served, but make sure you completely finish your potato, including the skin. It weighs about two pounds and has only a few hundred calories. The soy sauce makes it interesting, and the starch in the potato and the creaminess of the cottage cheese satisfy cravings for richness without a lot of fat or calories. Trust me, this will work. Cheers, Rocks.

[Scott Johnston]

Everyone:

I am totally blown away by the quality of responses and PMs I have received with not only great ideas, but also encouraging thoughts about weight lost. With this in mind, I will compile these responses into a single document for the board and start to think about forming a DR online support group (or thread) to start in January. Please continue to add thoughts and suggestions. If anyone wants to start a on line group, a exercise group, please PM me and let me know. My initial thoughts include a balance diet, emphasizing veggies, low fat, complex cards, lots of water, routine exercise form walking and weight lifting, and encouragement from others. I will also be using a food journal and weighing/ measuring portions for the first couple of weeks to make sure that the portions I am estimating are right. I hope that some threads will focus on healthy meal planning (with kids), eating out, and strategies to cope with emotional overeating.

[phcooks]

2 words: Fruit and Fiber (OK three). Replace weekday lunch with 3-5 fresh fruits: Banana, apple, pear,grapes, orange, melon, grapefruit etc and one serving of dietary fiber (about 2 Tspns dissolved in an 8 oz glasss of water). Drink the fiber first then eat the fruit for the obvious reason that fruit tastes so much better. When you must eat lunch out, drink the fiber before.

Rules:

Never drink calories unless they have alcohol in them and are thus comsidered therapy, not food.

Never drink your fruit unless as above somebody has spent a lot of time, science and art turning it into wine.

Never skip a healthy breakfast, cereal, eggs, fruit, no meat, no refined sugar, no donuts, coffe cake, muffins etc

No snacking between meals (fruit is OK)

Make sure that dinner is everything you want it to be, every night, as long as you want red meat no more than once a week and vegetables and salad are included!

Make Fish twice a week, make a vegetarian meal twice a week (should not be too hard for an enterprising foodie) and round it out with poultry and pork.

Finally, enjoy some form of exercise every other day of which 3 out of 4 are cardio.

You will lose weight, your bad colesterol will go down, the good will come up, you will feel great and you will still look forward to a great dinner every night!

[synaesthesia]

This is a great idea, when i was a low-fat vegan, this was my fav meal. I also used BBQ sause, steak sauce, worsdichire sauce, as well as anything else that was there. Steak sauce was my favorite.

I would be careful about white potatoes since they have the problem of breaking down into triglycerides. See here: http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/docs/uwhealth_trigly_361.pdf

Its sad to me, because I LOVE potatoes, and could subsist on them.

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but consider going to a registered dietician. It will help you to create a balanced and nutritious diet. I think they can help you work out an actual menu plan that works for you and your preferences and habits. Starting the food diary beforehand will probably help when you meet with the dietician.

I know that Hopkins has a weight management center: http://www.hopkinsbayview.org/weight/index.html

[DonRocks]

I would be careful about white potatoes since they have the problem of breaking down into triglycerides. See here: http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/docs/uwhealth_trigly_361.pdf

Here's your weight-loss plan: You can eat anything you want each day, but you have to wait until the above .pdf file downloads into Adobe Acrobat first.

Damn_The_Triglycerides_Full_Speed_Ahead.pdf

[ktmoomau]

I don't know if I am posting here to vent missing all the good food I normally eat, or what, but thought the info may at some time be useful to somebody.  So I am trying the Isagenix cleanse.  My stomach got on a real bad rift of late, my thyroid was also acting up, and consequently I gained weight quickly and had no energy.  I know someone who sells the products and have seen a couple people on them who had good results.  I am on day 7 out of 11 of the cleanse.  I have had a lot more energy and focus, no idea if it's all the vitamins and minerals, the protein or what, and that isn't just placebo because of my thyroid, when I have no energy, I have NO energy.

I have lost 4 pounds so far, no idea if it will come back on quickly later, will let you know.  My goal wasn't to lose a huge amount of weight, but just to get me back on track to a good point that then I could build on with diet and exercise (mainly exercise).  I don't want to go back to crossfit, so I am joining crunch when it opens in Reston in Nov.  I like their classes.  Until then I have golf lessons that I start.

The shakes don't taste awesome, but they don't taste bad, and I am normally so busy during the day and sometimes don't get lunch that this is pretty easy and I don't mind that part too much.  They have gf and lf ones.  If you can get the vanilla over the berry they taste better (the whey protein doesn't bother my stomach on these). I also am cutting out alcohol and caffeine and eating a really healthy dinner (your supposed to do lunch, but I do dinner so I can still eat with MK and its easier for me to give up lunch to a shake).  But darn I had wild food craving right after the two cleanse days (this is supposed to be normal) and would really like a normal lunch today.  It didn't help that Hubby ordered delivery pizza one of my cleanse nights.  I make really tasty low glycemic meals that are really satisfying.  I normally cook pretty healthy anyway, so that isn't a huge deal.  But for instance was going to walk up to Clarendon with the dog the other day and couldn't think of anywhere that would probably fit my food needs, without calling ahead.  Maybe Northside Social.  So I am just pouting to those of you who have done things like this before.  I like the benefits, I think it's good for me.  Anyway almost there, then just more healthy eating going forward.  Yours truly, happy and whining at the same time.

[bettyjoan]

I don't know if I am posting here to vent missing all the good food I normally eat, or what, but thought the info may at some time be useful to somebody.  So I am trying the Isagenix cleanse.  My stomach got on a real bad rift of late, my thyroid was also acting up, and consequently I gained weight quickly and had no energy.  I know someone who sells the products and have seen a couple people on them who had good results.  I am on day 7 out of 11 of the cleanse.  I have had a lot more energy and focus, no idea if it's all the vitamins and minerals, the protein or what, and that isn't just placebo because of my thyroid, when I have no energy, I have NO energy.

I have lost 4 pounds so far, no idea if it will come back on quickly later, will let you know.  My goal wasn't to lose a huge amount of weight, but just to get me back on track to a good point that then I could build on with diet and exercise (mainly exercise).  I don't want to go back to crossfit, so I am joining crunch when it opens in Reston in Nov.  I like their classes.  Until then I have golf lessons that I start.

The shakes don't taste awesome, but they don't taste bad, and I am normally so busy during the day and sometimes don't get lunch that this is pretty easy and I don't mind that part too much.  They have gf and lf ones.  If you can get the vanilla over the berry they taste better (the whey protein doesn't bother my stomach on these). I also am cutting out alcohol and caffeine and eating a really healthy dinner (your supposed to do lunch, but I do dinner so I can still eat with MK and its easier for me to give up lunch to a shake).  But darn I had wild food craving right after the two cleanse days (this is supposed to be normal) and would really like a normal lunch today.  It didn't help that Hubby ordered delivery pizza one of my cleanse nights.  I make really tasty low glycemic meals that are really satisfying.  I normally cook pretty healthy anyway, so that isn't a huge deal.  But for instance was going to walk up to Clarendon with the dog the other day and couldn't think of anywhere that would probably fit my food needs, without calling ahead.  Maybe Northside Social.  So I am just pouting to those of you who have done things like this before.  I like the benefits, I think it's good for me.  Anyway almost there, then just more healthy eating going forward.  Yours truly, happy and whining at the same time.

I just attempted a juice cleanse, to get my system back on track and kind of shock it into healthier habits.  I went with Suja, since it got pretty good reviews online for its taste/texture, but I couldn't even make it one day.  There were six juices I was supposed to drink, and by the time I got to #4, I just could not take any more celery/kale flavor (the only juice I really liked was a carrot/orange-type blend, where the "green" flavor wasn't quite so pronounced).  The funny thing was, I wasn't really hungry - that volume of liquid does make you feel full - but I was desperately wanting to CHEW something.

So, back to the only thing that has worked for me, ever - keeping a food and exercise diary and writing EVERYTHING down.  I am using the My Fitness Pal app, which makes it easier.  I also went grocery shopping for ingredients for healthy meals (mostly main-course salads).  Between eating healthier, cycling to/from work, and training for the Army 10-Miler, I hope to drop a good 15-20 pounds by the time the holidays roll around.

[ktmoomau]

So I am done the 11 cleanse days and lost 6 pounds.  Feel a lot better.  Now I am till subbing lunch for shakes most days and bought more of the cleanse because I really liked it.  Have had a bit more energy too.  Will keep you updated, but so far have liked it.  Def helped reset my stomach a bit.  I am down to the normal weight I normally sustain when my thyroid isn't out of control.  Also have an appt with a new doctor who is more whole health based to help because my current doctor just doesn't have the time to pay and doesn't focus on the big picture and is more one problem, right now focused.  Even on the days I had my golf lessons, I had enough energy.