Went from 240 pounds to 195 pounds in 12 weeks:)

HRHJoDee

I am a 63 year old female, and 5'8" tall.
At 240 pounds, I knew I was fat and I didn't care. Until I had some blood tests taken and my HbA1c was at what was deemed a diabetic 6.9 and glucose at 185.
Not being a fan of either pills or insulin shots, I googled 'reversing diabetes naturally' and came up with an eating an exercise plan that made sense to me.

I decided to do intermittent fasting 16:8; (eating only in an 8 hour window daily)
drink only water throughout the day;
and walk 30 - 60 minutes, 6x a week. Sunday was my day of rest.

I ate primarily fresh vegetables, fresh fruits and 2 ounces of salted nuts or 2 tablespoons of skippy creamy peanut butter daily.
NO sugar/desserts or artificial sugar
NO oils of any kind
NO dairy
NO white flour/pasta/rice/bread/potatoes
NO processed meats

For typical protein, I had 4 oz. of chicken breast once a week, 4 oz. of smoked salmon once a week and 4 oz. of filet mignon once every two week.

I didn't watch carbs, but I kept my calories under 1,000 a day and kept my daily fat grams between 30 - 35 grams a day.

I 'cheated' 4 different times in the 12 weeks when I couldn't stand it and had a massive craving: Once for a hamburger & bun with BBQ sauce & fries; another time a bowl of pasta carbonara; another time a caesar salad with croutons and extra dressing; and the 4th time chinese food.

But then I would get myself right back on track. It has worked like a charm.
I've gone from 240 pounds to 195 pounds despite being 'older' and 'after menopause'.
I went from wearing XL sweats to L sweats.

My blood tests at the beginning of November showed my HbA1c had dropped to a non-diabetic 5.5, and glucose dropped to 100- (still some improvement needed there:)

45 pounds down. Another 45 pounds to go.
My goal is to get down to 150 pounds by sometime in May 2022 - and stay there.
If I can do it at my age, then anybody can. It all depends how badly you want it.

Xmingxue

That is so fabulous and an inspiration to me. I just started today and am also in my 69s. Thank you for sharing your story.

HRHJoDee

You are welcome, Xmingxue. You can do it:)

Purplestuff102

Ur right where I want to be i have been eating healthy mindfully eating but I think the key is eating less when I was eating junk food from grocery store and not mindfully eating I was going over calories by at least a 1000 daily but I need to use food scale again with healthy stuff but i need to eat up to my calorie goal or a little under so I don’t under eat right ? Exercise i do is walking for a mile before work and I strength train before I walk in morning I like drinking water but need to drink more. My main problem I think I’m going to have and just need some reassurance with is eating enough and staying a little under my calorie goal I have a food scale in my kitchen on table where I eat.

HRHJoDee

Hi Purplestuff - everyone approaches how they make their food choices differently.
This is only my personal opinion below - you do what makes sense to you and ignore what doesn't.

If a food scale works for you, go ahead and do that.

What B.M.I. percentage do you want to have?
A smart scale can be really helpful. Just weigh yourself once a week first thing in the morning. Record it on your MyFitnessPal weigh-in.

Are you doing intermittent fasting of any kind?
The 16:8 every day will help your digestive system reset and burn fat.

What you mindfully put in your mouth is important.
I wouldn't worry about undereating if what you are eating is healthy.

Healthy is (in my opinion):
Keeping your fat grams at no more than 20% - 25% of what your daily desired calorie intake is for your height and age and desired weight goal)

NO SUGAR, NO ARTIFICIAL SUGAR, NO OILS, NO DAIRY PRODUCTS

Any raw or steamed or frozen vegetables you want (avoid anything frozen in butter sauce or other sauce)
Any fresh fruit or fresh berries you want
2 ounces of salted nuts of your choice a day, or 2 tablespoons of skippy creamy peanut butter a day

once a day have:
4 - 6 ounces of fish or seafood
OR
4 - 6 ounces of white meat chicken without the skin

once a week have 6 ounces of a lean cut of red meat (not processed deli meats)

I am not into protein shakes or protein bars because of all of the processing - but that is up to you. Avoid any of them with more than 3 grams of fat or 3 grams of sugar per portion.

Once a week have ONE cheat item (preferably at breakfast or lunch) so you satisfy your food cravings and can stick with your healthy eating all the rest of the time.

(I chose Saturday lunch for my one cheat item each week.
One time I had an 8 oz. hamburger with fries.
Another time I had a plate of pasta carbonara.
Another time I had vegetable tempura with dipping sauce.
Another time I had caesar salad with heavy dressing, freshly grated cheese and 2 pieces of french bread to sop up the extra dressing.
You get the idea:)

Your exercise with walking and strength training sounds really good.
Yes, try to drink at least 8 glasses of filtered water a day. Maybe add some fresh squeezed lemon juice or fresh squeezed lime juice then you can to enhance the taste? (not canned or bottled juice - that stuff is horrible!) Drinking water helps you feel full too - which is super helpful to avoid cravings most of the time.

Hope that is reassuring to you, Purple.
Best of luck!!!

Fricka10

Congratulations! I am the same height as you and approximately the same weight, and found your insights helpful. Would you please provide some example of sample meals? Were you eating a lot of salads?

HRHJoDee

Good morning Fricka!

I took the vegetables I like (carrots, celery, cucumbers, multi-colored bell peppers, some red onion, tomatoes, green chiles) as well as 1/4 of a small seedless watermelon and some organic red wine vinegar - diced them up and out them in the blender and left it on low for about 2 minutes, making gazpacho soup with it. I poured that equally into 3 individual pyrex glass bowls with lids, and put it in the refrigerators for 2-3 hours for the flavors to meld.

I also did the same things with fruits and berries I liked - cut the fruit up in bite size pieces, and mixed it together and put the mixture in 3 individual 6- 8 ounce pyrex glass bowls with lids.

So you could do the same thing with whatever vegetables and fruits/berries you like.
I don't think it matters at all what kind of vegetables of kind of fruits and fresh berries.

So I'd have vegetables in the form of the chilled gazpacho soup, either with or without a bowl of the diced fruit. Often I had the gazpacho 2 or even 3x a day.

Of course, you could eat veggies raw or steamed or even cook them into a hot soup - I just did it the way I liked to.

For a 'fat' snack, I'd have either 2 tablespoons of skippy creamy peanut butter, or 1/4 cup of whatever salted nuts I liked each day.
Sometimes I would have 2 queen olives with pimentos in them if I was just craving more fat at some point - and chew them VERY very slowly, making them last.

If i wanted carbs - I would make steel cut oats with water, and one half of a banana sliced fine and cooked in it (makes the steel cut oats naturally sweet), and 3 strawberries sliced on top right before I ate the oats.

For a sweet snack if I was craving it, I would just have one half of a sliced banana.
Or two medjool pitted dates.

For typical proteins, I ate:
4 ounces of grilled chicken once a week with salt & pepper
4 ounces of citrus cured, cold smoked salmon once a week, with 1 cup of fresh watercress salad with 2 ounces of a lemon based dressing
6 ounces of filet mignon once a week, with 2 ounces of demi-glace sauce, cracked pepper (coarse ground black pepper) and steamed asparagus (you could do whatever sauce or vegetable you wanted - the filet mignon is a very lean meat relatively, so that's why I chose the filet mignon)

In general I totally avoided:
1) sugar, desserts, artificial sugars, syrup, honey, pastries, cupcakes, cake, pies, pancakes, waffles, syrup, etc.
2) oils of any kind (so avoided making anything where I would need to put oil in the pan or the water; and no salad dressing except for the 2 ounces once a week when I had the watercress salad),
3) dairy of any kind; milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, etc.
4) white flour, pasta, bread, potatoes, rice, croissants, waffles, pancakes, etc.
5) junk food

I only drank filtered water or a cup of hot tea, sometimes adding a squeeze of fresh lemon to the water for more taste.
If I was having hunger pangs, drinking a glass of the water filled me up.

I did 16:8 intermittent fasting at the same time every single day no matter what;
and ate everything s-l-o-w-l-y, and chewed a lot more than usual, to make it last longer.

I was able to stick to this consistently EXCEPT:
I gave myself permission for once every other week to have ONE cheat item with a meal (a plate of carbonara pasta with grated cheese, or a ceasar salad with lots of dressing and croutons, or some chinese food with white rice, or an 8 oz. hamburger with fries, or an entire bowl of microwaved kettle korn popcorn, for examples.

I walked six days a week.
In the beginning my unused muscles were weak and I got out of breath extremely easily, and could do a very slow half mile walk twice a day and that was it.
I gradually got stronger and faster and now I am up to a 60-75 minute walk once a day.

Good luck, Fricka!

Fricka10

Thanks so much! This is really helpful. I'm so impressed by what you accomplished!

Lietchi

While very fast weight loss may be appropriate in some cases where certain health risks outweigh the risks of extreme weight loss, it should happen under medical supervision and promoting weight loss like that is irresponsible IMHO.
There are significant health risks involved in eating that little and losing that fast.

JustSomeEm

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