Can anyone suggest any proven ways for weight loss?????

JeffH wrote:Eat less

Move more

or ...

Move more

Eat less

Needsdecaf wrote:Me wonders why the original poster

1) Chose to post this as their first post.

2) Never posted back.

Had the same thoughts yesterday but opted not to respond at the time. Thread turned out to be good anyway with several good suggestions.

Thanks for the reminders, ya'll! I already know this stuff, but sometimes you need a little kick in the butt!

I'm inspired.....(for the moment anyway.)

Does anyone know a proven way to reduce the weight?

Please help me…..this is killing me!!![/quote]

For me, Bob Greene said it best! Building a new healthier life for yourself is a lot like building a house. Without a strong emotional foundation, everything you achieve toward making your body over will not withstand the stress, strains, and temptations of daily life. The house – your body - needs a solid base.
It starts with 4 cornerstones: honesty, responsibility, commitment, and inner strength. If you think about it, when someone fails to reach a goal, it’s usually because there’s been a breakdown in one of these 4 areas. They are more than concepts; each represents a goal in itself that can be reached only by doing some soul-searching and self-evaluation. Getting there may or may not be fun, but making the effort is entirely worth it!
Successful people who have made honesty, responsibility, commitment, and inner strength central to their very being found that it changed them in ways they would never have imagined! That’s because while, certainly, these are the keys to making your body over once and for all, they are also the keys to accomplishing anything!
If you’re tired of feeling guilty about your actions, tired about the way you look, and fearful about the state of your health, this is the road you want to be on.
So here’s the deal: Take however long you need to be honest to yourself, assume responsibility for your actions, make a commitment to change your life, and use your inner streght to help you stick to your resolve.
Good luck to us all!

minerva wrote:

minerva wrote:Oh, my dear --

You pose a question that has dogged the best minds of our species for the better part of this century.

I will tell you that, when I finally gave up dieting for good, my weight stabilized, and I began to eat better. The cost? I had to accept my existing weight. I'm not obese, but I'm not at what the insurance charts say I'm 'supposed' to weigh either. I have had to be satisfied with that.

The only thing that diets do is make you fatter. Give them up is my advice, and learn to accept your weight where it is now. Start learning how to eat from body hunger and not according to any sort of external plan, or in response to emotional issues. That's what has worked for me.

I wish you luck, let us know how it goes.

Minerva

I totally, totally disagree with the first part of what you said, in terms of accepting my existing weight.

When I left graduate school, I was 25 and weighed 220 lbs. I had about 8-10% body fat, could run 30-45 minutes at under 8 minutes a mile comfortably, and could bench press 250 lbs and squat close to 400. And I was closing in on a six pack, which given my body type is excellent.

WOrking in the real life has precluded me from exercising to that extent, for sure. But I have also fallen into eating unhealthy foods, and not exercising on anything approaching a regular basis, no matter how light or hard.

I now weigh 270 lbs. I have weighed this since 2003 so my weight has stabilized given my food choices and lack of exercise. I gained 12.5 pounds per year over 4 years. Given that 1 pound is 3,500 calories, this hardly counts as rapid weight gain.

According to what you have said, I should accept my existing weight since it is stable? I dont' think so. I can tell that my body is not functioning the way that it should be. I do not have anything close to a good "wind". My joints suffer from carrying too much weight. There is no way that this weight is acceptable.

I have come to learn that part of the cause of this lifestyle has been my Apnea. Not all of it, and probably not even a majority of it, but when you want to exercise and have no energy, that does't help.

I don't agree that all diets do is make you fatter, but I would agree in principle in saying that they are not a solution that will cause result in a healthy weight for the long run. For me, the CPAP therapy is the first step back toward a much healthier lifestyle. This lifestyle MUST include exercise and a better "diet", meaning better food choices.

Also, to address your point regarding the insurance charts: I'm 6'2" and at 220 lbs, the charts would have me tending toward the obese side of life. As I noted above, my body fat was 10% or below, and I was pretty well "ripped". My grandmother even said I was too skinny and that I had too many muscles.

Now at 270, you'd look at me and say...yeah, he's got a little paunch, but he's certainly not fat. I carry it well. Point being, I have always been much heavier than the "charts" , but that's because of my build and body type. I haven't weighted under 200 lbs since 7th or 8th grade.

The moral being that yes, there is an ideal out there that few of us can, or even should really, reach. But just because my weight is stable given my current lifestyle doesn't mean that it's healthy for me to be this weight.

You can do this, if i could, you can. just remember the first two weeks into a diet is the toughest. your body and mind goes into a little shock!
start slow cut back to 1800 cal a day for the first two weeks
Do not weigh yourself every day. ( once a week )
give yourself a break once a week. (Cheet!)
If you cheet, do it with a fast food style protien burger.
implament your excersize plan after the first month of dieting.
second month cut back to 1500 cal a day
I'm telling you that you could do this. I wish i would have alot sooner in my life.
I weighed 232 and I'm currently 171 (6 months in)
And watch you will get addicted to loosing weight and excersizing.

My story is very similar to decaf needer

And I also agree that the BMI charts are not accurate ... % body fat measurements is much more telling of healthy body weight.

It is easy to find excuses to give up not just on weight loss issues ... but also for CPAP, and education, and relationships, and cutting the yard (dang it! ... gott'a cut mine this afternoon and its hot out there ), and everything that is hard in life.

DreamStalker wrote: It is easy to find excuses to give up not just on weight loss issues ... but also for CPAP, and education, and relationships, and cutting the yard (dang it! ... gott'a cut mine this afternoon and its hot out there ), and everything that is hard in life.

What a coincidence!

My wife, who just signed us up for this diet, has been trying to educate me to have a much more frequent relationship with our lawn mower! That's spooky!

We have used that healthy-eating prepared food service for maybe a couple years now---more often than not. We simply wanted highly-convenient fast food that didn't trash our health. Regardless, we both lost weight eating sensibly in that manner and kept it off. Best of all relinquished restaurant bills went toward the cost. Highly recommended.

[quote="-SWS"]
We have used that healthy-eating prepared food service for maybe a couple years now---more often than not. We simply wanted highly-convenient fast food that didn't trash our health. Regardless, we both lost weight eating sensibly in that manner and kept it off. Best of all relinquished restaurant bills went toward the cost. Highly recommended.

A friend of mine has done Nutrisystem for both he and his wife. Partly to lose weight but also for the convenience. He says that it really isn't much more expensive than what they were spending on groceries (between 10 and 20% and yes, he is the kind of guy who would keep track!).

He says the same thing: that it is convenient, tastes good, has helped them lose weight and also that they feel the need to eat out less because they are not stuck in the same rut they always have been.

I am seriously considering trying this as an alternative, especially since my family and I will be moving and both my wife and myself will have longer commutes and less time home.

I always said that if I had a personal chef who shopped for me and cooked my meals that they could make me eat just about anything that was healthy and in reasonable portions, except broccoli and salmon. . I bet it would be worth it given the amount of food we would stop wasting or buying on impulse at the grocery store![/quote]


That is similer to what i was doing, but i would use frozen Lean Cousine's and Healthy Choices and sometimes you could get them on sell 4 for $10:00 and such

I really can't add much to the discussion....my first thoughts were:

-- eat less (duh!!!)
-- exercise more (duh!!!)

That said -- I dropped 30lbs in about 90 days or so just by portion control. I cook for 4 and used to eat for 3.........now I just eat for me - or was. I've kind of fallen off the wagon, but as a diabetic, I need to ride that wagon religiously!!! I still don't eat like I used to.....I'm really bad in the self discipline arena......Like I used to tell the kids, "Do as I say, not as I do".....

Now the second part.....I also need to get off my fat lazy a** and do more exercise....plain and simple. The easy 30 are gone. The other 30-35 I have to work at.....
I say fat, but I am hardly fat. I carry too much weight and like needsdecaf, I hide it very well.....when I say I'm fat, most people say, "Yeah. Right. I wish I was fat like you"....
If I was to look at the charts for my 5'11" frame I should weigh about 160lbs.......If I weighed 160 I'd look anorexic!!!! I played football at around 190-195 and that was a "perfect" weight for my frame -- another 30-35 gone and I can be back to that (I started this trek at 260).
I'm getting arthritic so my joints are taking a hit with the extra weight, so I have plenty of incentive to drop more......Just gotta do it!!!!!

There's no easy way to do it -- takes time and effort and the above said self discipline (which I reallllllly need to work on)......

Good luck -- let us know how you're doing!!!
take care
cheers
goose

That's it!!

I'm heading out for my brisk 3.3 mile walk right now.... Thanks for reminding me, Goose!


note to self: do not bring beer and caramel corn on daily walks...

You can do this, if i could, you can. just remember the first two weeks into a diet is the toughest. your body and mind goes into a little shock!

I guess you never heard about how difficult the next 10 years are, or 20, or 30 or 50 - depending on your age.


O.

The only thing that works over the long haul is a lifelong change of eating patterns and choices and regular exercise. Going on and off diets will wreak havoc on your metabolism and you'll end up binging and also putting on more weight than you started with. For me, it boiled down to making healthier choices whole grains instead of white flour, rice, lean meats and adding more fruits and veggies in my diet. Regular exercise has helped tremendously and for that I can thank the energy cpap therapy has given me. I've lost 59 lbs in the last year and a half and still headed toward my goal weight. This is a permanent lifestyle change for me.

Also, forgot to mention that I also allow myself to have a forbidden food occasionally, but not often or in large quantities. This has kept me on track and not feeling deprived only to end up binging.