Weightloss Checkin Group: Weighin for 3/31/11

[ShrinkKaren]

Hi Everyone. Today is a beautiful day which is good for lifting the old spirits. I had to go to a doctor’s appointment this morning and it was a pleasure to get out and about. I even managed to get my walker in and out of my car by myself which also made me feel good. I hope you all are enjoying a hint of Spring. Having one’s spirits up helps weight loss efforts. Feeling positive can spur one on to accomplishing goals. I just know you will all do well this Spring. I am off to a neutral start having stayed the same this week. Like I tell everyone else, it is better than gaining. I am still at 118 pounds.

Sparky, so sorry about the one pound gain but you are still ahead of the game. I just know you can get back on track. Good luck.

Poohb3ar, three pounds is outstanding. Congratulations. You are definitely heading toward your goal. Good for you.

MamaBug, you are right, .4 is still progress. It is good that you keep track of your total so that you know you have made good progress over time. That makes small losses easier. Keep up the good work.

Agate, it is really positive that you aren’t gaining. Keep plugging away and that scale will eventually go down. Actually, your comment about looking at your smaller clothes is right on. That can help you strive for the goal of getting into them. Keep plugging away.

CCOP, Congratulations on your loss. You certainly are doing something right. Whatever you are doing is obviously working. Good for you.

Cvbeach, I hope you will join us. As you can see below we each have our own weight loss methods. Try to find the method that is right for you. Early on I found Atkins to be very helpful when all else failed. Now I just concentrate on portion control and eliminating things that are especially high in calories, like avocados which I love in salad. Try writing down everything you eat so that you can see what may be stumbling blocks. Best wishes.

For those who may have an interest in joining our dedicated group, our members each have their own personal methods of weight loss. Some are on Weight Watchers, some on Atkins for example and some just cut calories. I personally lost quite a lot of weight in the beginning using Atkins and then just cut portions while eating everything. The method is not the most important thing, it is staying focused and following the plan.

We post weight loss, gain, stayed the same, from Thursday to Thursday and have been doing so for over seven years. We are truly dedicated to get rid of those pesky pounds and keep them off. You don’t have to state your actual weight. It’s a matter of choice.

Tip for the Week:

Beware of too much salt. Not only is it unhealthy in general but if you increase your salt intake you can add a pound or two from storing fluid. We need salt to live but Americans eat way over the amount needed for health. Salt can raise blood pressure which is not a good thing for most people. If you are used to eating a lot of salt it will take some adjusting to if you lower the amount. Some people find it helpful to gradually decrease the usual quantity of salt while others can sharply decrease it cold turkey. If anyone had told me I would ever eat salad without salt I would have said that was impossible. But now, I find salad with vinegar and oil and no salt to be delicious. There is something to be said for appreciating natural flavors.

Weight loss Results for 3/24/11:

Total Loss:

4.4 pounds by three members. Great show. Keep up the good work. Losing is its own reward. Remember that small increments are valuable and add up faster than you may realize. You are that much closer to your goal.

Total Gain:

2.5 pounds by two members. Reporting gains is an important part of the process. Admitting the painful truth is a step toward changing things for the future. Good for you for reporting. Next week will be better.

Stayed the same:

1 member. Remember, staying the same truly is success. Just keep remembering it is the time before the next loss. Thanks for letting us know.

3054.58 is the total weight loss for the past 8 years. Now that we have hit 1.5 tons we are on our way to losing two tons.

[Mamabug]

3/23 - 3/30 Lost 2.0 lbs

3/23 - 3/30 Lost 2.0 lbs

28 weeks: Total weight loss since September -- 36.8 lbs. Getting closer to my goal of a 50 lb weight loss.

Moved my belt one notch (inch) tighter this week. Have lost 6" in my waist. My waist is currently smaller than my bust and my hips. Which, with the combination of my "apple" shape and my extra pounds, had not been true for years.

And, ... I bought a V-neck sweater with horizontal stripes this week. I ... looked ... GOOD. I haven't had the courage to wear horizontal stripes for years!

~ Faith

[poohb3ar]

Wow mamabug! you're still my hero! love to see those inches come off!
minus .3 lbs. i'll take even the smallest loss since last wk was so big. afraid i'd yoyo up. keep forgetting to put wght in here. it helps me keep up. 171.7. if i keep this momentum up (4lbs a mo.) i'll be happy!

dr. ok'd my diet, DH was getting worried. have had some squeezing under breast bone wrapped around me bad a few times, think it's MS hug.

did i mention i was on the fat free Y. yogurt diet? i like it. replace 2 meals with 1 yogurt, granola bar and fruit, a meal protein/ veges, plus 2 glasses of milk. 3 wks. and 5 lbs. off. i won't argue with it.
God bless ya'll!

[Mamabug]

Thanks, Pooh. My March has kind of been up and down, sort of like your last two weeks have. This week, a big loss. (At least, I think 2 lbs is big.) Last week, a small loss. And, the two previous weeks like that too, small one week, big the next.

March ended up averaging out OK, overall, though.

• 6.0 lbs down since March 1. Higher than my 1.3 lb per week average. But, February was lower; only 3.6 lbs down all month.

My BMI is inching closer to 25 (which is considered healthy, and no longer overweight). It started at 31.9 (obese); it is now 25.3. I remember being excited when I was no longer "obese", and only "overweight", and now I'm just about out of that category, too, for my BMI.

My waist/height and waist/hip ratios, unfortunately, remain in the "obese" category, even though they have improved. My dumb old "apple" waist line problem, again. My mom, all of her 7 sisters, and both of my dad's 2 sisters are all apples. My genetics really didn't have any other choice.

~ Faith

[Mamabug]

Not on Atkins, but ...

Sparky --

Nice job on losing a pound this week.

I've mostly given up bread and potatoes, and, even corn. Not altogether. I occasionally eat just the top half of a 6" oatmeal bread at Subway. (Or, I order the Sunrise Subway Melt from their breadfast menu.) I do still eat popcorn, popped in coconut oil, in an old-fashioned oil-popper. I limit my consumption of baked goods and sugar too. (Except for my 1 or 2 pieces of dark chocolate daily.)

When in restaurants, I always ask for subsitutions. Sometimes, I can get steamed broccoli, or another vegetable. Sometimes, I can get a bowl of fresh fruit. Sometimes, I can get a small bowl of cottage cheese. Etc. Waitresses are generally fairly accommodating to my requests.

If I can't get a substitute, I might eat part of the potato, and save the rest for smaller portions at home. I don't eat white flour products hardly at all, so, it I can't substitute for a dinner roll, we'll take it home and my husband will eat it.

I order burgers at a local diner without the bread. They are so awesome. They have an incredible mushroom Swiss burger, and a great Railer burger (with barbecue sauce). I splurge on their Philly cheesesteak, too, sometimes. If we go to a fast food place, I look for other things to order, instead of burgers. Their burgers, without the bun, aren't very good. I like the grilled chicken barbecue wraps at McDonald's, and a fruit and yogurt parfait (without the sugar-laden oatmeal topping). And, although I rarely buy Diet Dr. Pepper from the grocery store anymore, if a restaurant carries it, I usually can't resist ordering it. If they just have Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke, I prefer to order an iced tea with lemon.

I don't serve bread, or cook potatoes, at all, at home anymore. At home, I'm fortunate that my husband puts up with my moderate-carb/low simple carbs diet.

When eating wraps, he uses regular flour tortillas. I've found an Ole Low Carb High Fiber tortilla that I like. My 20 y.o. son will be moving back home in June, so he'll need to adjust to my new way of cooking. He isn't very picky either, though. He currently lives in a household where one of the members is a vegetarian. The household members take turns cooking, and meals are solely vegetarian about 75% of the time. The rest of the time, they cook vegetarian, with meat on the side. And, he doesn't miss the meat much.

I don't consider the way that I eat low-carb. I start most mornings with a bowl of oatmeal, for example. And, the meal substitutes that I supplement my "real" food with includes quite a few carbs. And, I don't skimp on fruits or vegetables, which, are also full of carbs.

I've never cared for dressings. So, I don't eat either the full-fat, or the lite versions. Maybe, because of that, I've never cared for tossed salads or iceberg lettuce either (unless it's in a taco salad). But, I've learned to enjoy just eating a plateful of raw veggies, plain, from a salad bar. (ie: carrot sticks, pickles, green peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc)

~ Faith

[Mamabug]

Sparky --

I agree that, just because I'm eating differently, I don't have to make my husband make too many changes, as well. If your husband doesn't want to give up bread or potatoes, I sometimes cook a meat and vegetable meal for me (ie: chicken breast and frozen or fresh vegetables -- sometimes I add a 1/4c of frozen blueberries to my meal; yum!) and add a bread and/or potato for him. Not really any more work. You're still just cooking "his" whole meal, and leaving a few things off your own plate.

If you look for the Ole tortillas, they have more than one kind. I prefer the Low carb, high fiber. But, you can get what you like best. Walmart carries them here, but, the local Krogers (Dillons) does not. I still buy the regular tortillas for my husband.

At Subway, actually, the oatmeal bread is a few more carbs (49g) than white bread, or flat bread (both 38g). But, 5g fiber, instead of only 1g. And, I like the oatmeal topping.

• 9-Grain Wheat bread is a good choice, too. 42g carbs, and 4g fiber.

I throw away the bottom half of the bun from the oatmeal bread, and turn it over and eat it upside down, as an open-faced 6" sandwich, so I only get 1/2 the carbs (but, unfortuantely, only 1/2 the fiber, too). If I'm getting high fiber/complex carbs, I can justify a higher carb intake. In fact, I'd rather have the higher carb intake than the white flour/simple carbs, if I have to choose.

I couldn't find nutrition information for just the English muffin on the Subway Sunrise Egg Muffin Melt, but, the whole sandwich is only 20g carbs, and 6g of fiber, so I like to do that even more often. (as compared to 25g carbs and 2.5g fiber, if I do half of the oatmeal bread) Our local Subway serves their breakfast menu all the time, but, when traveling, I've been to some that don't.

• The Sunrise Melt is not low-fat (9g), but, I believe that you have to "eat fat to lose fat" (if you choose "good fats"). If you're watching fat grams, however, you can order it with just egg whites, instead of whole eggs, and do black forest ham, instead of bacon, and get it down to 4g fat.
• http://www.subway.com/applications/N...x?id=breakfast

~ Faith

[agate]

Still at 116--no gain, no pain. I'm plugging away as Karen recommends.

I won't buy any bread or breakfast cereal that doesn't have at least 5g of fiber. It's surprising (or maybe it isn't) that there aren't very many breads and cereals that have that much fiber per serving.

[ShrinkKaren]

It's that time again. Karen