It's Wednesday weigh ins! 2007-2022

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Never fear, Leathernecker, I'm falling off the wagon all the time. You need to chase those chickens around some more now that you are retired! 156 right now but I know it is the beer. I'm not kidding anybody at this point. I gotta drop at least 10 lbs -- I am going to buy a full length mirror tonight based on advice I got here and I'm hoping that will keep me out of the refrigerator at night.

You could put the mirror on or next to the refrigerator door.

[LeatherneckPA]

Sarah, buy one of the cheap ones at W$$-Mart and take it out of the frame. Then use carpet tape to stick it to the front door of the fridge. THAT should do it!!

[simple girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by simple girl Holding steady at 125#. I don't expect a good weigh-in next week. We are going away to Gulf Shores, AL for a long weekend with friends for the National Shrimp Festival. I plan to fully indulge in food and drink I promise to stay away from the balcony. We're beachfront on the 14th floor.

129#

Yikes! I gained 4# in 5 days!

Do you think it could have been the drinking or the food? (see attached pics)

How about both? We did have a blast, though! Thank goodness I actually worked out 2 of the 5 days, or it would have been much worse!

[Alan]

6' 1" Target range 170 - 175

07/31 - 174.5 10/15 - 176.5
08/06 - 177
08/13 - 176.5
08/20 - 177
08/27 - n/a
09/03 - 176
09/10 - 179
09/17 - 175.5
09/24 - 177
10/01 - 174.5
10/08 - 176

Still floating around the top of my target range.

Welcome Leatherneck, good to have you posting here. I look forward to seeing your progress.

Looking at photos I can see how SG fell off the rails. Just remember that it is not falling that counts, it's what you do when you pick yourself up.

[Sarah in SC]

What a fun trip, SG! That bar top is impressive--I love rum as well and it looks like you were well represented in that department.

That is a great idea about putting it on the front of the fridge, since putting my weight chart on there didn't deter me at all! Maybe I need to put up a mirror in our favorite booth at the Mexican restaurant as well!

[Khan]

If a moderator wants to move this, feel free.

I have mentioned that after retiring I slowly lost weight: 1/2 pound per week for 3 years = 80#.

I recall reading something (MS Magazine?) many years ago, that part of the reason women (don't know if this applies to men) are fat is that on some level your emotions want you to be fat. That 'set point' is emotional. That fat is a barrier against something.

In my case, my 'set point' went from 215 to 135 with little conscious effort after retirement and after withdrawal from all those people and all their stimulus and interactions.

In my case, it seems the fat went away simply because I didn't 'need' it any more.

YMMV

[Sarah in SC]

What an interesting way to describe your experience, Khan. I remembered you mentioning this before now, and I fervently hoped that the same thing would happen to some of the rest of us weary dieters!

But this is the first time I've seen you articulate why you think the weight went away--that you didn't need it to cope with all that human interaction anymore. I can see that very clearly with all the stress at work right now, we are all reaching for comfort foods because we are talking 8 hours a day to dreadfully unhappy people and it is exhausting. Being introverted, I can manage talking to folks, but it takes all of my energy reserves to do so. I could totally see that once I don't have to talk to people, that my need for food that makes me fat would melt away as yours did.

Thank you very much for sharing this--and this is a perfect place to put such comments!

[Alan]

Very interesting Khan, excellent perspective. Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts on this.

[harley]

All time high - 262 (2005)
Recent high - 242 (last April)
07/08/08 - 238.4
07/15/08 - 237.2
07/22/08 - 237.4
07/29/08 - 234.4
08/06/08 - 234.4
08/13/08 - 233.0
08/20/08 - skipped
08/27/08 - 234.4
09/03/08 - 232.2
09/10/08 - 231.0
09/17/08 - 229.2
09/25/08 - 10/1/08 - skipped due to travel
10/08/08 - 229.8
10/15/08 - 229.2

First goal - 220
Ultimate goal - 200

Hmm, seem to be plateaued. We've been on the road a lot, eating out. At least I'm maintaining. But I am looking forward to dropping those last two lbs. to move from obese to overweight. It's a relatively meaningless goal, but I take what I can get.

I won't lose it this week. Going camping. Lots of hiking, but lots of sitting around the fire drinking beer too. It will be well worth it. Then 2 weeks of monastic dieting to get ready to see the executioner doctor. Have a great weekend, all.

[Rambler]

Harley - I think you are doing great...you've actually lost. I'm stuck on 231, and the darn scale won't budge...seems the needle got superglued in place or something. Someone, I think it was Alan, suggested I check my caloric intake...I haven't done that yet by journaling, but I have been watching what I eat even closer, as well as how much I exercise.

Yesterday, for example, I ran on the treadmill for 4.5 miles...I had to break it up a bit because I still can't run that far without a breather, but 1-2 miles at a whack anyway. Then I walked nearly 3 more miles. Total exercise expenditure was over 1100 cal. Breakfast was an Atkins bar (170 cal), lunch was a couple small pieces of boneless chicken, didn't have time to make lunch and buying it around here means no veggies. No rice. Dinner was a small piece of leftover roast, about a cup of cooked spinach, and about 1/2 cup of rice. Thats it.

Today was endurance day for me at the gym, ran 3.5 miles at about a 10:30 pace (slow, I know...but faster and further than I could have gone two months ago). Walked another three miles...900 cal tallied to the exercise column. Breakfast was about 300 cal worth of fiber crackers, lunch was fat free ham and a slice of Kraft cheese on part-wheat bread with a thin scrape of mayo and mustard. We'll see what dinner brings, but usually its a small piece of chicken or meat, a nice pile of veggies, usually 1/2 cup of some kind of legume and sugar-free punch.

These are more or less normal exercise days, and I am trying to push faster and further (want to get up to 6 miles running at about a 9-9:30 pace...doing it by alternating higher speed/shorter consecutive miles and repeat, then a day of slower/longer distance. I do this usually five days a week, sometimes four, sometimes six...try to keep it to five though because I have found that I need the rest/recovery to be able to perform to my most recent standard.

Anyway, I'm just going to keep plugging away at it. I may go on Nazi Atkins for a couple weeks (in about 2 weeks after a trip I have to take) to see if I can jump start the loss part. With all the pain in the market lately, the exercise has helped me keep my mind focused on losing something other than money.

And, I'm trying to: Find Joy in the Journey!

R

[harley]

Rambler, I think you might be overdoing it. I'm far from an expert, but I've heard that if you reduce calories and increase exercise too far your body goes into shutdown or starvation mode, where it quits burning calories or maybe goes anaerobic or something. I assume you can force our way through it, but I'm not sure if it's healthy or not.

I'm not sure how fast you're trying to lose, but I read that if you calculate your maintenance calories, and then decrease them and increase your exercise burn by a total of 500 calories/day you'll lose 1 lb/week. That's all I'm shooting for. Good luck.

[Rambler]

Thanks Harley, I usually know if I'm undereating...my body lets me know pretty quickly when that happens, both in the stomach as well as in my ability to function. I think I might have a bit of a high resistance to losing weight...maybe its like Khan explained earlier...I dunno. I would really like to lose the weight, but more than that, I really like how I feel most of the time with a good dose of exercise in the morning. I can get thru the little physical exertions now that used to cause me to get out of breath very quickly. A friend who is diabetic explained that when his doc put him on a diet and exercise plan, he ate less, exercised vigourously, but didn't lose much for weeks, then it began melting off. Scientifically I understand what you are saying, but I guess things work a little different for everyone. When I did Atkins 5-6 years ago, it really did melt off. Trying what I believed to be a more balanced approach this time, but perhaps I just haven't reached my own "melting point" just yet.

As far as the weight goes, I'm not so self conscious that I feel like I need to lose weight to be attractive...DW seems to like me the way I am, but would like a skinnier me if she could have one. On the weight front, what concerns me most is being able to get health insurance when I FIRE. I'm about 2 BMI points into obese, and would like to get down to "marginally overweight", at least...but don't mind taking my time getting there, since FIRE keeps getting pushed back by the markets anyway.

Thanks, R

[Alan]

Rambler,

It sounds like you are doing all the rights things and I would stick with what you are doing and eating now for a few more weeks yet as you may well start seeing the benefits on the weight front eventually as well as continuing to feel much better in your overall health.

Interestingly enough, 7 years ago, it was a medical I did for life insurance that got me determined to lose weight. I'm 6'1" and at the time I weighed in at 215 but for the first time my blood pressure was elevated and borderline. The nurse took it 3 times and on both arms to get the lowest result so she did try to help. I remember that the high figure was 139. My first target was to improve my health and started measuring my bp on the machine at work every week. Within 3 months it was right back down to normal and the weight came down at no more than a pound or 2 per week but fortunately continued at that rate of loss for 9 months.

Your concerns about cost of health insurance are probably justified so that is a really good incentive. Everyone is different so do keep us posted on how you get on.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley Rambler, I think you might be overdoing it. I'm far from an expert, but I've heard that if you reduce calories and increase exercise too far your body goes into shutdown or starvation mode, where it quits burning calories or maybe goes anaerobic or something. I assume you can force our way through it, but I'm not sure if it's healthy or not.

I believe Harley is correct here. When I write everything down during the periods I need to lose weight there is a minimum at which you should not go below as your body thinks it is entering a period of starvation and starts storing up fat for the long "winter" ahead.

[simple girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan I believe Harley is correct here. When I write everything down during the periods I need to lose weight there is a minimum at which you should not go below as your body thinks it is entering a period of starvation and starts storing up fat for the long "winter" ahead.

I really believe this is true. I had a really hard time losing weight and keeping it off when I went on a 1200 cal diet. When I switched to 1400 cal (and exercised more since I had more energy), I was able to lose weight a little easier.

Now of course if you go too far in the other direction you will gain weight, LOL!

There are calculators on line that will give you an idea of how many calories you should be at to lose weight (for your height and exercise level).

[LeatherneckPA]

I've probably read every significant diet book/scheme for the last 25 years. I also have 12 s.h. of college level dietetics and nutrition. Now, I'm not claiming that this makes me an expert, but whoever said don't go below 1200 calories a day is pretty much correct. Or at least that's what all my previous education tells me. Below that level your metabolism basically shuts down and does go into the aforementioned "starvation/survival" mode. It will begin to digest it's own muscle to preserve it's survival stock of fat. And as many of you have pointed out, muscle weighs more than fat.

The rule of thumb is that a moderately active individual (30 mins of exercise at least 3 times per week) requires an average of 15 kcal per pound of maintenance weight. So a lady who wants to weigh 120 would need an average of 1530 kcal per day. A guy like me who wants to hit a goal of 225 would need 3375 per day, at moderately average activity levels.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by simple girl I really believe this is true. I had a really hard time losing weight and keeping it off when I went on a 1200 cal diet. When I switched to 1400 cal (and exercised more since I had more energy), I was able to lose weight a little easier.

That sounds about right. It is the Weight Watchers program that I used and still do on the odd occaision. (they came to our work and were subsidized by the company, and it works great for me as it emphasizes a life style change in eating and exercise habits).

For my weight (175lb) the minimum recommended is 24 pts which is translated into 1200 calories if you ate no fiber or fat and did no exercise. (eating fat, fiber and exercising are factored into the points calculation, but it is essentially a calorie counting program)

[DangerMouse]

I have to finally admit I can not do this on my own. I have signed up with a personal trainer and starting Monday will be having 3 X 1 hr sessions weekly. This will also require me to keep a food diary. I was feeling so frustrated at being on the road to nowhere that I decided I needed to take this step.

BTW Khan after you lost all that weight, did your body bounce back into shape or did you have lots of loose hanging fat?

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DangerMouse I have to finally admit I can not do this on my own. I have signed up with a personal trainer and starting Monday will be having 3 X 1 hr sessions weekly. This will also require me to keep a food diary. I was feeling so frustrated at being on the road to nowhere that I decided I needed to take this step. BTW Khan after you lost all that weight, did your body bounce back into shape or did you have lots of loose hanging fat?

Remember, I am 58; but it's not too bad. There are no large folds or flaps, but there is definitely some extra skin. I assume it will slowly go away, but who knows?

I was exercising, but got thrown off schedule by that six day power outage. After giving blood tomorrow, I will get back to the exercise schedule on Sunday.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DangerMouse I have to finally admit I can not do this on my own. I have signed up with a personal trainer and starting Monday will be having 3 X 1 hr sessions weekly. This will also require me to keep a food diary. I was feeling so frustrated at being on the road to nowhere that I decided I needed to take this step.

Using a personal trainer and keeping a food diary could work really well for you and it will be money well spent if it leads to a much healthier DangerMouse

btw, my kids and I used to love the Danger Mouse cartoons and in fact recently at my son's place earlier this year I confess to watching some old episodes that he still has on tape.