Back on the horse…

horror_mama

Lifelong struggle with my weight. No support from hubby (who can eat anything and not gain weight) who thinks if I just eat salads for every meal, how can I not lose weight? I’ve done vegetarian, prescription medication, veganIsm, keto and low fat diets.
I am open for new friends and to be a friend to others that struggle.

nanastaci2020

Hi! I'm back at it - again. Lost 50 in 2014, maintained a while. Gradually put back on 15-20 and then cycled between taking off that 15-20 and putting it back on! Gained 25 approximately from January-June this year, and I'm now down about 4 pounds in the past 4 weeks. I'm purely a calorie counter. I do need to make efforts to eat more fruits & veggies, but the heart of it is calories in, calories out. I feel that over the past 3-4 weeks I've gotten back into the habit of eating less food and that is a big step. My target is roughly 1500 per day.

I have a hard time focusing on multiple things, but I do better with weight loss if it is not my PRIMARY objective. I know how the math works, but it is still hard to be patient and give the process TIME to work. So I will focus on my activity level and endurance-For July I am committing to brisk walking 2-3 miles a few times a week, and then I'll start a couch to 5k program. Then will extend it to the 10k program.

I'm 47, 5'5" and right now 154.4 pounds. My ideal is about 130. I use a food scale, work a desk job and spend 30-60 minutes each after walking at a standup desk at about 2.0 mph to get some extra movement in.

horror_mama

Way to go! I am presently taking care of my MIL full-time on her home and traveling back and forth to my home and my son. I don’t have much of sn appetite, but know I need to eat. I’m usually way too busy these days.
My smallest weight was 157lbs at 5’6”. My goal is 140, I’m in the 220 range now. I’m consistently moving all day with lifting, moving, cooking, cleaning, etc. My day starts at 9am and I’m able to unwind around 10pm.

Decoy152

Hello, what you describe as a "life long struggle with weight" coupled with trying the various nutritional strategies is reminiscent of my own experience. I am curious to know what your take away from each of those approaches was. Did one work better and/or feel better than the other and do you plan to utilize any one of them going forward?

horror_mama

For me, keto worked the best, but it is so hard to maintain. Presently, I’m a vegetarian and vegan at times. When I had my greatest weight loss was when I was vegetarian and working out 2 hours a day. I got pregnant in 2010, lost my son, got pregnant almost immediately and while pregnant, began to eat more animal protein. I do plan to incorporate some cardio when I have more time to dedicate to it. I work a split 12 hour shift a day and then come home and be mom to my 11 year old during summer vacay.
What do you do? Any tips that have worked for you?

Decoy152

horror_mama wrote: »

For me, keto worked the best, but it is so hard to maintain. Presently, I’m a vegetarian and vegan at times. When I had my greatest weight loss was when I was vegetarian and working out 2 hours a day.
What do you do? Any tips that have worked for you?

Not sure I have direct tips but maybe sharing a bit of my experience will be insightful? Coincidentally I spent approximately 17 years of my adult life eating a vegetarian diet and engaging in cardio as a primary or central part of my exersize. It wasn't until I stumbled across a 1 hour and 45 minute lecture on YT titled "Readdressing Dietary Guidelines - Dr. Peter Attia" that I broadened my horizons and became willing to try something new. That led me to Keto, which like you, has worked most effectively for me. I started Keto in Dec. 2019 and was down more than 50lbs by Nov. 2021. Another thing I did was try leaning away from my love of cardio and got into resistance training, weights etc. For me as an individual, this combination of keto and weights was completely different than anything I had tried in the past and has produced the results shown in my current profile pics. Which btw I am frankly still feeling disassociated from as I have never been this lean yet strong in my life. I am 56 years old btw. Never had abs/definition before. I was cyclically skinny-fat, hungry and cardio exhausted in the past.

allaboutthecake

Think focus on setting your macros correctly and hitting those targets daily will help achieve your goal. For myself I found was too much fruit and not enough veggie, so switched my lunch up to 3 veggies and another veg at dinner (or breakf, sometimes all meals) and that helped to move the scale a bit more. For fruit, I also targeted higher fiber ones, such as raspberries and pomegranate seeds just because the frozen was easy for me to toss into whatever I was cooking/making. the higher fiber fruit was a key. So between these 2 simple changes, very effective in my own personal experience for weight loss. As for cardio, I love it. Cycling, swimming, elliptical. Gives me a serious endorphin rush. Its not to say weights aren't good because honestly they are and the benefit outweighs cardio hands down. This just to say do what you love to do and enjoy.