Weight loss 2 (or 3)

[Radu]

Last yr i made 1-2 threads about losing weight and it had some traction.

 

Well, my weight loss didn't last long, so in December, having ballooned up to what i once was, i decided to make some more permanent changes.

 

I started eating much healthier by cooking often, dropped the fast foods (good purveyor of fats, and salts of all kinds).

I stopped smoking in January, and i dropped Cola on the 4th of May.

 

I decided to start before the hollidays in order to diminish or negate the inevitable gain in weight that follows it.

 

I've lost somewhere between 20 and 25 kg's so far, my clothes are large on me, i am a different person and i gained 1-2hs of energy extra a day.

I no longer sweat like crazy, and i fit in a seat (bus/subway/tram/car) like a regular person.

 

I'm still 15-20kg's overweight and i want to lose another 10kg to be able to get a good bike (bikes to support 120+ kg's are very expensive, for below they are not so expensive ... i don't want to pay 50$ / kg .... really).

 

I'm at the point where i can do yard work (counts as exercise), and i am looking at other ways to lose weight.

One issue for instance is that i'm drinking less water than i should, quite often.

So i've started drinking far more water to lower my water retention.

 

I'm keeping my clothes so far, as i'm proud of them, and i want to go shopping with even baggier clothes on me.

[Emilia]

Very good! I'm careful before holidays too, I prepare up to about 2 weeks in advance so that I can enjoy them fully, in fact look forward to all the food

 

Now, if you could start weight training a little, it would be even better. The additional muscles would help you keep the weight off.

[Radu]

Weighed myself, i have 135kg's atm.

 

I also drank Cola yesterday, after 6 weeks of none. But instead of drinking a glass, i drank 4-5 glasses. Which confirms that the dependency is still there, as i literally could feel the dopamine fill me up.

 

Measured for pants, i dropped 10 sizes in pants, went from 68 to 58 (diameter of waist in centimeters divided by 2) .... so that means from 53.54 inches to 45.67.

So i probably had 155-160kg's last November.

Before the weight loss, 5XL shirts barely fit me. Now i can do 3XL well.

 

I've still got 30kg's to drop by the end of the summer.

So i decided to switch things a bit considering what i learned :

1 - found some trekking bikes that are guaranteed for 130kg's, i'm looking into getting one

2 - fix my vitamine defficiency, i think that's what is slowing down my weight loss

3 - going to measure myself each morning and put it all on a graph (weight + waist)

4 - to prove myself that mind over stuff and all that, i will stay another at least 4 weeks without touching cola

5 - going to drop more of the sugar from tea (used it as a substitute to make transition to cola free live easier)

6 - will continue with yard work

7 - will start walking the dog in the morning, she will undoubtedly make me lose weight ..... would also not hurt reigning her in.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Radu

[spiffyfox]

I think this sounds like a good plan. Be careful not to go back to soda though. Every time I quit soda and start drinking it again - it's exactly as you describe. Huge rush of dopamine. Don't get it in your mind that just because you drank soda today, you will go back to drinking it every day. The stuff will kill you - way too much sugar. It's probably one of the largest, if not the largest reason I'm obese.

[AMJ]

You should be so proud of the progress you've made so far! That's amazing!

 

Soda is the worst. I haven't drank that regularly since I was a child and didn't know any better. Every once in a blue moon I may drink a diet soda or a sprite but those drinks should not be a regular part of anyone's diet. The same goes for those stupid Starbucks drinks. I know sugar addiction is a real thing, but if you can find any other substitute- fresh fruit, honey, maple syrup- you will be much better off.

 

Drink more water! Whenever you crave soda just force yourself to drink water. Flavor it with lemon, mint, cucumber, anything if you have to. You're supposed to drink half your weight in ounces in water each day.

 

I know someone who lost a lot of weight on the keto diet. It's a rough one to keep because it's a low-carb one, BUT you snack on avocados all the time, and that's not too shabby. I really like the paleo diet, and everyone I know who's on that is healthy. There's plenty of substitutes for the foods you're missing if you just get creative (cauliflower mashed potatoes or rice, spaghetti squash for pasta).

 

Walking the dog is great, but it's not the best exercise. Depending on your dog

Mine likes to stop every two minutes to smell a million things so my heart rate never gets up. It's definitely better than nothing but you might want to add more selfish exercise to your routine. Walks without the dog where you can go longer and faster, or uphill. I really like to swim laps. It's the only type of exercise that I never get injured from!

[Art_Critic]

You should be so proud of the progress you've made so far! That's amazing!

 

Yeah, I think it's amazing too... good for you Radu...

 

Just keep doing what works and if you get down come back to this thread and vent about it.

[Alamo657]

Keep on working !

 

I've never had real weight problems (just some belly fat), but dropping soda, sugar, fat, snacks, cookies and all otherwise "bad food" made my body healthier without even forcing myself on the physical activies side.

 

My point is, if you drop the bad food, you'll keep loosing weight naturally, you just need to be patient.

 

Keep it up!

[fitnessfan365]

I feel bad for people who kill themselves with strict overly healthy diets 7 days per week. In the end, they eventually crack and always wind up binging/gaining back.

 

The key to weight/fat loss is CALORIE DEFICIT. Let's say that it took 2000 calories to maintain your weight. If you had 1500 calories per day, you'd drop 1lb per week. With that said, the key to long term success is finding the most enjoyable way to meet that deficit. Now obviously moderation is key. Just because you could lose 1lb per week eating 1500 cals of junk every day, doesn't mean you should. You'd feel like crap and it'd be bad for your health. But let's say you ate clean/whole foods Mon-Thurs. You could have a cheat meal Fri, Sat, and Sun as long as you factor in the calories.

 

You know what 1/2 my calories were the other day? Half an extra large cheese pizza and dark chocolate. Then on Sun, you know what 1/2 my calories will be? A trip to In/Out for a few double doubles, fries, and a chocolate shake. Life doesn't have to be the miserable strict existence that some people think. Just focus on training hard/regularly, eating clean 80% of the time, and getting plenty of water. The calorie deficit will take care of the rest.

[Mr. Lucky]

Measured for pants, i dropped 10 sizes in pants, went from 68 to 58 (diameter of waist in centimeters divided by 2) .... so that means from 53.54 inches to 45.67.

So i probably had 155-160kg's last November.

Before the weight loss, 5XL shirts barely fit me. Now i can do 3XL well.

 

Congratulations, quite an accomplishment. My wife has struggled with her weight most of our marriage, I've seen how hard it is.

 

Is there a reason you're limiting your exercise to yardwork? Low impact cardio would accelerate the process. Regardless, keep up the good work ...

 

Mr. Lucky

[Radu]

Last time i posted i had around 134kg body weight (guesstimation, it was 135 with some clothes on).

Tonight i have 131.8, 132 probably after drinking some water an yougurt.

I'm gonna think '131kg ... happy thoughts'. Can't wait to read 129.x

 

I feel bad for people who kill themselves with strict overly healthy diets 7 days per week. In the end, they eventually crack and always wind up binging/gaining back.

 

The key to weight/fat loss is CALORIE DEFICIT. Let's say that it took 2000 calories to maintain your weight. If you had 1500 calories per day, you'd drop 1lb per week. With that said, the key to long term success is finding the most enjoyable way to meet that deficit. Now obviously moderation is key. Just because you could lose 1lb per week eating 1500 cals of junk every day, doesn't mean you should. You'd feel like crap and it'd be bad for your health. But let's say you ate clean/whole foods Mon-Thurs. You could have a cheat meal Fri, Sat, and Sun as long as you factor in the calories.

I wouldn't say calorie deficit is the absolute way to go, but it is by far the biggest component of weightloss.

 

One of the reasons those types of diet don't tend to work is that they are too strict.

 

When you comfort eat for long periods, and you are used to not have any schedule to eating, or any principle in eating, it is very hard to break those patterns.

Even if a harda*s diet works, the questions remains what happens afterwards.

 

I lost a lot of weight on diets, and they do work, but the lifestyle, eating habits and so on are what dragged my weight up over time.

Yo-Yo dieting is actually incredibly hurtfull to the body because as it ages, and as you do this, you will end up being unable to lose weight when you are 45-50. Your body simply will respond much harder to this.

 

So this time around, i tried to change those things first, to not revert in the future to my patterns.

And for me what worked is to reduce the 'pressure' of 'loss', of losing access to things i loved to eat.

I stopped eating fast food, and i told myself it was temporary, i told myself in the future when i'm done with this, i will eat fast-food again .... there is plenty of time and fast-food is here to stay.

I did the same with smoking.

I started cooking both healthy but also tasty, in fact i had very fatty pork nape for lunch today, with some sheep meat sausages (with vegetables obviously instead of mashed).

[Radu]

You should be so proud of the progress you've made so far! That's amazing!

Thanks, to you and the others who said this .... it's surprisingly nice to hear this (the others can vouch for my cynical and misanthropic personality).

 

Soda is the worst. I haven't drank that regularly since I was a child and didn't know any better. Every once in a blue moon I may drink a diet soda or a sprite but those drinks should not be a regular part of anyone's diet. The same goes for those stupid Starbucks drinks. I know sugar addiction is a real thing, but if you can find any other substitute- fresh fruit, honey, maple syrup- you will be much better off.

Diet Soda's are actually far worse, it's preferable to drink a regular one.

The reason lies in the sweetener. Soda's need one to mask the taste of phosphoric acid (i haven't drank it for close to 2 month, i think this was the acid).

Regular sugar is processed by the body.

Cola regular sugar, is worse than processed sugar, but not as bad as sugar derived from corn melases (which Cola/Pepsi tried to introduce ..... all the rats drinking that during tests got very very VERY fat).

When sugars enter the bloodstream, insuline is produced, to the point where insuline is produced even when you taste sweet.

You eat artificial sweetener, the system produces insuline for .... nothing, it produces it in empty, it attaches to nothing.

 

I'm also not a big fan of beverages that come in aluminum cans, there are some links between free aluminum (ok, tiny quantities are released) and Alzheimer.

 

Drink more water! Whenever you crave soda just force yourself to drink water. Flavor it with lemon, mint, cucumber, anything if you have to. You're supposed to drink half your weight in ounces in water each day.

I'm EU, so not sure how to translate that.

The advice here is to drink between 1.5 and 2.5l of water / day, depending on body weight.

I try to drink 3l.

 

Water is a funny thing, if the body thinks it will not get much of it, it starts securing it ... hello water retention and weight gain.

Water retention is also helped a lot by eating a lot of salts, monosodium glutamate especially is notorious for this effect on some ppl. (that's why i don't cook with it).

 

I know someone who lost a lot of weight on the keto diet. It's a rough one to keep because it's a low-carb one, BUT you snack on avocados all the time, and that's not too shabby. I really like the paleo diet, and everyone I know who's on that is healthy. There's plenty of substitutes for the foods you're missing if you just get creative (cauliflower mashed potatoes or rice, spaghetti squash for pasta).

I basically decided to just empty up the frozen stuff.

So i've got tons of frozen green peas (froze them myself), eggplants, and regular mixes of vegetables bought from store.

 

The big principle is to avoid red meat with carbs (pretty much anything with lots of starch in it, which is processed as sugar in the body), as they have a nasty fattening effect.

If eating carbs, slow release carbs (oat flakes in yougurt ftw).

Eat in moderation, get used to feel some empty in the stomach, no sugar in tea.

Meat with cheese (any protein in milk related products) is a no-no as well.

[amaysngrace]

Soda is terrible. I remember when I was a kid the neighbor across the street parked his baby blue Cadillac in his driveway and his house was on a hill. Some vandals poured soda on his car and the soda ate the paint off and it dripped down the hill.

 

Imagine what it's doing to your stomach lining.

 

But congratulations on the weight loss Radu!!

[Radu]

Like i said, Soda has phosphoric acid, which is much tougher as acids go, then carbonic acid.

http://blog.fooducate.com/2009/06/30/11-quick-facts-about-phosphoric-acid-yes-that-chemical-in-coca-cola/

 

The problem is that phosphoric acid in those quantities (i'll check it to make sure i identified the right acid) has a few nasty side-effects :

- ruins teeth enamel

- decalcifies the body (removes calcium, look up Ca channel and see what it does ) .... this is why heavy soda drinkers sometimes wake up in the morning with muscle cramps.

- affects vitamines and mineral intake

 

The stomach lining bit is .... far less than this, plus the stomach is a naturally acidic medium.

 

Now, to drink a glass of cola from time to time (or any soda) i don't think it does you any serious harm .... there is a huge difference in order of magnitude between 2.5l / day and a cold 0.25l bottle at lunch every couple of days.

Like with all things, the problem lies in abuse.

 

The addiction of soda's does not come just from sugar though.

Most have caffeine, which is addictive by itself.

The combo of caffeine + sugar is far more potent than the addictive effect of either of these 2 taken separately and added.

That's why when you give it up it feels like you just gave up hard drugs.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Radu

[Radu]

129.7kg this morning.

I haven't kept up the diet, tbh, i was not in the mood to eat the last 3-4d.

I did however completely give up sugars, and focused a lot on yougurt with oatflakes.

4d to lose roughly 2kg's.

At current progression it means ~15kg / month.

I was hoping for better.

 

I'll post again when i break 125kg.

[Mrs.Delicate]

Congratulations, your hard work is paying off!

[mrs rubble]

129.7kg this morning.

I haven't kept up the diet, tbh, i was not in the mood to eat the last 3-4d.

I did however completely give up sugars, and focused a lot on yougurt with oatflakes.

4d to lose roughly 2kg's.

At current progression it means ~15kg / month.

I was hoping for better.

 

I'll post again when i break 125kg.

 

Try not to weigh yourself too often, it sounds like too regular weighing in is making you feel discouraged. Instead focus on how much better it feels, like you did in your opening post.

I've given up a bourbon and cola habit recently, I'm hoping there'll be waistline changes to go along with it, but I'm focusing on how much healthier I feel for now in order to stay off it.