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TromboneAl · 07-22-2011, 09:32 PM

Seven pounds in one day, wow. Congrats! I don't know if this is true, but many say that as fat is dumped out of the fat cells it is replaced with water. Then one day all the water is released in one whoosh.

harley · 07-22-2011, 09:51 PM

Yeah, I was up every couple hours that night. Not usual for me. Actually had me worried as frequent urination is a diabetic symptom, but it was a one time thing. Whoosh is a good description.

**Alan** · 07-23-2011, 02:04 AM

Wow Harley, I don't know what to say, except, "well done Harley's wife".

One positive for you is that you are enjoying the new foods you are eating so that the new regime is sustainable in the long run. Do you and your DW eat about the same quantities of food? I know that shortly after MIL retired she and FIL ate together all the time and whenever we were visiting seemed to eat the same quantities yet FIL was really slim and MIL was way overweight (~280lbs).

In our view they were still eating way too many calories, but the fact was that even eating the same or less than her husband he never ever had a weight problem and she always had despite loads of dieting all her life. He pottered around his garden and used to walk to the local shops but you could not say he was doing a lot of exercise. However, MIL was always frustrated that he never put on weight and she couldn't lose it.

I think all you can do for now is stick with it and try to reduce portion sizes. I know that when I try to lose weight, the weight doesn't start to come off unless I finish the day feeling hungry - I then wake up in the morning not feeling at all hungry

. During the period I lost 40lbs I was eating loads of vegetable soup and drinking water, and the like, in the evenings to stop me feeling hungry. But it worked and eventually my appetite abated and became accustomed to the smaller portions, however if I had not been losing a lb or 2 most weeks, I would have really struggled to stay motivated.

The fact that this is a joint effort with your wife is great and with her continued support maybe you can eventually make some progress.

**simple girl** · 07-23-2011, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan

I think all you can do for now is stick with it and try to reduce portion sizes. I know that when I try to lose weight, the weight doesn't start to come off unless I finish the day feeling hungry - I then wake up in the morning not feeling at all hungry

.

Same thing for me. Feeling hungry makes it tough to fall asleep! However the next morning I almost always see weight loss (or at least no gain). After several days of this I start to "enjoy" that hungry feeling, b/c of starting to see results. DH feels the same way. It's just really hard to get yourself back into that "let myself get real hungry" mode which results in weight loss...it's not a pleasant feeling!

Months.in.Wyoming · 07-23-2011, 08:58 AM

So i've lost 20 pounds in the last two months... 15 more to go. my doctor asked my how long a line it would make if you took all the blood carrying vessels out of ONE POUND of human tissue and lined them up end to end. I guessed.... 10 feet. Answer: TEN MILES!

So if you're 30 pounds overweight he explained... that's 300 miles of extra blood pumping work your heart is doing... And that will wear your heart out. It will simply stop working sooner...

Anyone else hear this before? It served as a great motivator for me...

**Alan** · 07-23-2011, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Months.in.Wyoming

So i've lost 20 pounds in the last two months... 15 more to go. my doctor asked my how long a line it would make if you took all the blood carrying vessels out of ONE POUND of human tissue and lined them up end to end. I guessed.... 10 feet. Answer: TEN MILES!

So if you're 30 pounds overweight he explained... that's 300 miles of extra blood pumping work your heart is doing... And that will wear your heart out. It will simply stop working sooner...

Anyone else hear this before? It served as a great motivator for me...

Welcome to the thread, and the forum

I've not heard that little factiod before, but I can believe it. Back in 2002 when I lost 40lbs in 9 months my vital stats improved a lot, including my resting heart rate, which came down into the 50's for the first time in many years. (I used to get an annual works physical that included an ekg)

**braumeister** · 07-23-2011, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley

I'm beginning to think I'm a genetic freak. Cause and effect just don't work with me. I can't figure out how things work, even with close weight and blood sugar monitoring.

One suggestion is to keep really accurate track of your carbohydrate intake. I have a neat app on my iPhone (it's called Carb Manager) that makes it easy. You would probably be surprised at the carbs and calories you're actually ingesting, compared to your mental estimates.

Quote:

So 4 days ago I weighed myself - 240. Then I weighed myself the next day (no change in eating) - 233. Then yesterday - 231. Today, 231 again.

Steve Phinney, in his new book The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living explains this well. The gist of it is that for most people there is a normal variance of about four pounds of water weight in your body. When you weigh yourself, even if you do it at the same time every day, it can be anywhere within that four pound window. That pretty well explains those weird results we all see.

Quote:

I can't get my fasting levels down to normal no matter what, but my A1c numbers are always normal.

Maybe your fasting level isn't "normal" for the general population but is normal for you.

TromboneAl · 07-23-2011, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Months.in.Wyoming

...

Anyone else hear this before? It served as a great motivator for me...

I've heard that if you took out a man's intestines and stretched them into a straight line, that man would die.

**Alan** · 07-24-2011, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Months.in.Wyoming

So i've lost 20 pounds in the last two months... 15 more to go. my doctor asked my how long a line it would make if you took all the blood carrying vessels out of ONE POUND of human tissue and lined them up end to end. I guessed.... 10 feet. Answer: TEN MILES!

So if you're 30 pounds overweight he explained... that's 300 miles of extra blood pumping work your heart is doing... And that will wear your heart out. It will simply stop working sooner...

Anyone else hear this before? It served as a great motivator for me...

This article reckons 0.3 miles / pound of fat or 9 miles / 30lb.
This article reckons 3.5 miles / pound of fat or 105 miles / 30lb.
This article reckons 7 miles / pound of fat or210 miles / 30lb

Whatever the real answer is, it is quite impressive.

While I was losing my 40lbs a collegue was also going through the same program at work. At one point he had his annual works physical and he mentioned to the Doc that as part of the program he had been walking 3 miles a day and he'd noticed that the effectiveness of the walking seemed to be fading, and he was nowhere as tired, so he reckoned he must be getting fitter. The Doc said that was certainly true and what he could be doing now to increase the effectiveness of the walk is to carry a bag with 30lbs of weight in it. After all, when he started the program he was carrying that weight as fat.

**Alan** · 07-27-2011, 02:59 AM

25-May-11 177
01-Jun-11 178
08-Jun-11 178
15-Jun-11 179
22-Jun-11 179
<vacation>
06-Jul-11 177.5
13-Jul-11 178
20-Jul-11 180
27-Jul-11 180

no comment.

Target Range 170 -175
Highest 210lbs (2002)[/QUOTE]

**simple girl** · 07-27-2011, 06:16 AM

5/27/09: 132 (post cruise)
.....

5/26/10: 123 (1 yr mark of diet)

...
5/25/2011: 122 (2 yr mark of diet)
6/1/2011: 122
Alaska Vacation and Open Buffet for 2 weeks....
6/22/2011: 125
6/29/2011: 125
7/6/2011: 125
7/13/2011: 125
7/20/2011: 126
7/27/2011: 125

Highest was 139# (2007)
5'4" Target range 116 - 121#

Ronstar · 07-27-2011, 06:49 AM

03/02/2011 206.6
03/09/2011 208.4
03/16/2011 203.4
03/30/2011 202.0
05/11/2011 198.6
06/01/2011 196.2
07/06/2011 193.2
07/13/2011 191.2
07/20/2011 189.8
07/27/2011 188.8

Goal - 185 by 08/14/2011 and maintain

Helen · 07-27-2011, 09:51 PM

12/10/10 - 141 pounds
07/27/11 - 113 pounds

Yea me! I'm 54 years old and 5'3". I quit eating wheat products (except for a very few times) in December, in January I moved residences and instead of driving an hour each way to work I now live 3 miles from work. As soon as I moved I started walking to the train (1.5 miles). After a couple of weeks I started walking the 3 miles each way to work and back.

The pounds melted off. When I had dropped 20 pounds (around the end of March) I started jogging and lifting weights at the gym. I then cut back the walking to 1.5 miles each way.

Around April, I started hiking (I now live very close to the Columbia Gorge in Oregon - great hiking trails) and each hike was progressively more difficult (the last hike was 12 miles with 5,000 ft elevation gain). Two weekends ago I did a 3 day backpacking trip with 27 pounds and probably a total of 20 miles and 5,000 ft of elevation gain (I packed in to Aneroid lake in the Wallowa mountains, I've attached a photo that was taken in front of my tent.)

I'm loving my new life.

I have been keeping a log of every thing I eat and what exercise I do each day. I feel much better. I thought my slowing down was due to age, but I found out it was due to excess weight and lack of exercise.

-helen

Katsmeow · 07-27-2011, 11:23 PM

That's impressive results, Helen!

Using prior week's WW weigh in. Started WW at 205.4 in mid-August, 2010

1/12 190.4
....
5/18 179.6
5/25 178.8
6/1 177.6
6/8 177.2
6/15 176.4
6/29 175.2
7/14 174.4
7/21 173.2

haha · 07-27-2011, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley

I'm beginning to think I'm a genetic freak. Cause and effect just don't work with me. I can't figure out how things work, even with close weight and blood sugar monitoring.

DW and I started doing "single source" eating, where we aren't eating much (if any) processed foods. Mostly we're eating seafood, with some chicken and a little beef occasionally, and eggs. We're eating a lot of slow carb veggies (broccoli, squash, green beans, avocado, salad with minimal dressing, things like that). We snack on cheese, nuts and some berries and cherries. She's eating greek yogurt and cottage cheese. We're actually loving the food, it's very satisfying and fun to cook. We're eating very little in fast carbs, and no bread, potatoes, rice or grains at all. We've even discovered how to eat at McDonalds when we're out. We get the Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken, and the Southwest dressing, which we split one packet between the two of us. Pretty tasty.

She's lost 17 lbs over the past 50 days, two or three per week. I, on the other hand, hadn't lost a single lb over a 6 week period. And I wasn't cheating, or drinking alcohol, which has screwed up other diets. As a matter of fact, about a week ago I put on 4 lbs (from 236 up to 240). I did feel off during that time, not really sick but lots of muscle pain and generally sluggish. But I got past that a few days ago. So 4 days ago I weighed myself - 240. Then I weighed myself the next day (no change in eating) - 233. Then yesterday - 231. Today, 231 again. I'm really happy to have finally made progess, but as an analytical anal-retentive I'd really like this to make some kind of logical sense.

It would be so much easier to lose weight if I could see a logical response to my actions. Same with my blood sugar. I can monitor the heck out of it, but my eating habits don't seem to have much impact on the numbers. I can't get my fasting levels down to normal no matter what, but my A1c numbers are always normal. It really makes it hard to keep doing what I need to do, when the actions don't reflect the results. But I'm really enjoying the way we're eating now, so hopefully over the long run the results will come.

I have a son who struggles to lose weight like you do, in spite of close adherance to a very good diet.

It must be very frustrating.

Ha

DangerMouse · 07-27-2011, 11:59 PM

Helen, that is an amazing feat you have accomplished. Well done on the weight loss. It's great to hear of these success stories which can be put done to sensible eating and an exercise plan.

**Alan** · 07-28-2011, 12:58 AM

Great story Helen.

Welcome to the thread

Ronstar · 07-28-2011, 04:07 AM

Great job Helen. Those are some great hiking trails you have there. Your story reminds me of my friend's wife. She gained 30 or so pounds while when she had kids. She then got a job delivering mail, walking 5 miles or so 6 days a week. She lost all of the weight that she had gained. I can't think of a more enjoyable way to maintain fitness than by hiking.