Im new here but not to trying to lose weight.

Patttience

Note the videos on you tube i mention below will help you with motivation. So look them up asap.

If you have high blood pressure, i'm afraid you are going to have to commit to giving up bought food. All bought food is high in added salt whether you buy it from a supermarket or a restaurant. If you care about your health at all, you will make the choice.

You say you do not have time to cook. This is a big problem for people with very busy lives but you do have to become more organised. If your job is well paid you can pay someone to cook healthy meals for you. But if you have weekends off, you need to make this time, cooking time.

Do a big shop. Cook up vegetable soups, lentil and beans soups and casseroles, meat casseroles, baked veg dishes and stick them in the freezer. You need your fridge and freezer to be stocked with foods that only need reheating and throwing together in a few minutes during the week.

Grilled fish is a good alternative to chicken - choose a fish you like not a cheap one. You can also still eat chops and steak and roast meats. Avoid sausages, bacon and all processed meats. These should only be eaten on rare occasions from now on.

Learn how to cook bean dishes. These are cheap and bulking and are easy to cook in bulk and reheat. Serve with rice but not too much.

Maybe you can afford to start by still eating one bought meal a day for a while. So maybe buy your lunch if you are used to doing that but cook your night time meal at home. And take all your snacks to work.

In the morning make salad for snacks or simple sandwiches of whole grain bread and a little butter and eggs or salad or canned fish. But do not put on the usual gooey stuff like bottled sauces. You need to learn to eat whole foods all the time.

Also concentrate on eating high fibre foods. These are fruit and vegetables, nuts, lentils beans and chickpeas as well as whole grain bread and nuts and seeds.

The thing is given your weight and probable metabolic syndrome, you need to reduce your carbs so i would recommend not eating too much bread, pasta and rice. Instead eat as much lentils beans and chickpeas and vegies and fruit as you need.

Also eat full fat milk, and unsweetened yoghurt. Do not eat low fat foods at all. In order to cut your carbs, you need to increase your fat. Overall you should still eat less food and less calories but the fat should become your main energy source. Fat bypasses your insulin system.

As you lose weight, you can cut out the bought lunches as well. But probably some time after you reach 300 pounds. Although so long as you eating bought lunches, you are bound to be eating high salt so look for the healthiest bought lunches you can find.

I would mention that when you eat chickpeas etc, you do have to add a good dose of salt to make the food taste edible, but its nothing like what you have been eating in processed foods. Instead of eating macdonalds and the like for lunch, look for a proper restaurant. Try indian and choose the vegetarian options. Try french or italian but don't go for pasta. Probably avoid most asian restaurants because they use a lot of salt. Stay away from cheese as much as possible because its very high salt. Eat raw nuts and seeds because these are high fat and low salt. In fact nuts and seeds should become one of your most important foods for a while. You will need to measure and count all along the way.

A favourite comfort food of mine is fresh fruit with natural yoghurt and mixed seeds. This would be a good food for you because the seeds and nuts are low in carbs but high in calories and nutrition and don't require cooking. Nuts and seeds make any salad fantastic. Make your salad dressing with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar 50/50. Its so easy and so good.

Get your energy from high fat foods like nuts, seeds, cream, sour cream, olive oil rather than the carbs you have traditionally eaten.

Keep your protein intake fairly high. Again it doesn't have to be only meat. chickpeas beans etc are good.

Look at this program: Catalyst-gut reaction parts 1 and 2. On you tube. Absorb the lessons therein. And look up Gut Flora on wikipedia for more information. You might even want to send your own sample to the lab mentioned in the show for analysis. I think its sounds like a fascinating project. Presumably since you are working so hard, you can afford to do this.

Also you might like to try the 5:2 fasting diet. Its not as hard as it sounds and it will be great for you on busy work days. This diet works on you eating only 500 calories on fast days. Other days you eat at or below your TDEE. When you do the fast its important to eat mainly vegetables and protein foods only because carb foods will trigger your appetite. Its also important to drink more water because you will get dehydration headaches if you don't. And a little salt because your electrolytes may get out of balance. The 5:2 diet should be great for your blood pressure. check it out more on the FAST Diet website. there's a youtube video for this too. the best thread on the forum is the southern hemisphere one. Read it and learn. There are some people there who've been doing this diet for a long time and have lost a lot of weight and healed their health problems. You can do it too.

you just have to be dedicated and serious, organised and stay focussed. You can't afford to give up. Trust me losing weight is a very rewarding process. I know its going to be a long process for you but if you make it rewarding with good food and enough of it to avoid hunger you will love it and never look back.

Also given how much weight you need to lose, there is one other thing i would suggest you do right from the start but you will be very happy about this strategy if you do it. You will have skin issues by the time you reach your goal. So start saving for corrective surgery from the beginning. It is not covered by private health insurance. Stick the money in an account that you can't go dipping into.

I wish you all the best and am happy to offer you any other advice or support you need.

Just a little about me. I did not have as much weight to lose as you. But i have been dieting all year. And i am loving my food so much. I also love learning to cook new things. I had to quit sweets because i can't control my intake of sweets. But i do not miss them. I replaced sweets with good healthy nutritious food. and a lot of fruit. Also i haven't bothered much with exercise. You don't need to in order to lose weight. So forget about the exercise until you get slim. You haven't got time.


Get yourself a pressure cooker. It will save time in the kitchen!

ChristineS_51

Hi, well done on making a start, and losing 40 lbs - well done. Can I suggest you go into the forums, check out Ed Davenport - he also made his own website to tell his story http://www.gettingfit4life.com/ like you he was very very overweight - but he turned his life around. Like you I worry about salt - so no added salt, try and avoid processed foods, eat fresh. Take it one day at a time, putting in better habits as far as food and getting some movement if that is possible

nuvimi

larrynlight wrote: »

I am 34 years old and I have been obese most of my life since 11 years old. Recently in the last year I finally topped 550+ pounds. I freaked add to this that I ended up in the hospital with high blood pressure and I am having a hard time staying motivated. It seems like there is so little that I can eat that doesn't also have a lot of salt. I know salt occurs naturally in some foods but I am constantly on the go for my job and rarely have time to cook. lately I have lost almost 40lbs in the last 5 months. I am truly happy that I have done this but I have soo much more to lose. I don't want to stop till I hit 300lbs then I can reassess and make a new goal. I am really tall so my body can handle some weight but I am not trying to go out because of a big mac. Any help you can provide even if its just an word would be appreciated. Im getting tired of just eating tuna and backed chicken. I want to join the real world again.

Stop obsessing over salt. There are some people who have salt-sensitive hypertension, but most people do not. At 500+ pounds, your hypertension isn't likely to be salt-sensitive, or it would have shown up a long, long time ago. You have to start making time to take care of yourself. Cook your food on the weekends and package it to take with you. Weigh everything so you can track your calories and know what you're consuming. If you do that, then you can consume whatever you want within your caloric budget, which means you don't have to live apart from the "real world" during this journey of yours (which will be long). Good luck, hang in there, and keep pushing towards your goal!