My Latest Weight Loss Journey

jeffpopple

I recently went to the doctor and I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I am sure I am pre diabetic too. I am 51 years old, 207lbs, and 6'1". Just under the obese mark. So, I am kicking off my weight loss journey (again). It is pretty frustrating. I saw when setting up MFP that I have been a member since 2013. I have lost and gained weight so many times, I can't keep track. This time I have kicked it off with the help of Zepbound. I have to say it is amazing and really shuts down the food chatter. However, I am sure I can't be on it forever and will have to figure out lasting habits. I have also gotten back on the Peloton (again, I get the in the habit and stop) What are your keys to lasting habits and keeping the weight off for good?

Tammie0018

Hi Jeff, I am 57 and have struggled with my weight my entire life and went up and down just like you. Zepbound has been such a lifesaver for me. I started in mid-September at 193.8 pounds and am now down to 169.5 as of this morning. My best advice is to log everything you put in your mouth in the app to understand your eating habits. Follow a 500 calorie deficit and you should lose weight effortlessly on this medication. Eat 3 meals a day. Half of your plate should be vegetables. Cram as much protein in as possible to retain muscle and feel full. If you are struggling with no appetite then eat the protein off your plate first. Drink 8 glasses of water a day minimum. Shy away from processed and oil fried foods. That was the hardest for me because I love fried food. If you are a soda drinker, switch to zero. Coke zero tastes great and does not have that tinney aftertaste. In time the changes become new habits and when you step off the healthy eating path you notice you don't feel as good as you do when eating right.

Corina1143

Knowledge.
When I knew better, it was easier to do better.

AnnPT77

Hi, Jeff, and welcome (back? )!

I think there's no one set of specific eating/activity rules that's going to work universally for everyone. I think one path to success is treating weight management like a fun, productive science fair experiment for grown-ups - individualized - trying new tactics, and seeing if they work for you personally.

If a newly-tried strategy makes weight management easier for you, keep it in your routine. If it makes things harder or triggers an oopsie of any type, throw it out and try something else. Those things that don't work out aren't personal moral failures, they're just learning opportunities that narrow down the list of possible things that may work.

I predict that as long as you keep going, chipping away at improvements, you'll succeed. Only giving up the effort results in actual failure.

"Lose weight fast and go back to normal" is a fairly common mindset, but I think that's the recipe for yo-yo weight loss and regain, and the regained pounds/kilos often bring friends on each successive round. Many people adopt extreme, restrictive eating rules, and maybe stack punitively intense daily exercise on top of that.

I think that's unrealistic, kind of miserable, and unlikely to continue long enough to reach a meaningful total amount of weight loss. Slow but sustainable loss can get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than extreme, unpleasant, theoretically fast-track methods that cause deprivation-triggered bouts of over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

Instead, I'd suggest focusing on finding sustainable new routine habits, things that are ideally enjoyable, but at minimum are tolerable and practical. That goes for eating and activity both. The majority of our days are going to cause the majority of our results, so figuring out an improved day-to-day set of routine habits is a power tool in the process. From experience, that one rare day when I eat too much cake, or work out for 5 hours, is a drop in the ocean. The ocean is my daily humdrum routine.

As context, I'd been overweight/obese for around 30 years when I finally seriously committed to losing weight at age 59-60. I told myself I wasn't going to do anything to lose weight that I wasn't willing to continue forever to stay at a healthy weight, except for a sensibly moderate calorie deficit until I reached goal weight. That was 2015-16, and I'm still at a healthy weight 8+ years later, now age 69.

I used to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol/triglycerides. My blood pressure became normal part way through weight loss, and now even trends on the lower side of good. At a recent appointment, my primary care doctor literally said my blood lipids are "phenomenal" and wished all her patients' levels were that good. Those, too, hit the normal range during loss, improved further, and have been consistently good for those 8+ years.

That was what worked for me. I think the generalized idea may help some other people, too . . . but I also believe that my specific eating/activity habits are right for me, but wouldn't be for others. Other people can give you ideas to try, sure. But I don't think they can give you solutions.

TL;DR: I think focusing on relatively easy, gradual, practical, enjoyable (at least tolerable) changes is the key to lasting habits and keeping the weight off long term. I need revised, positive daily routine habits that can continue almost on autopilot when other parts of life get challenging, because they will. For me, so far, so good. I hope it's permanent, and it's looking good so far.

I'm cheering for you to succeed, and for this to be your final and successful round, because IME the resulting quality of life improvements are more than worth the effort!