How to try to eat healthy?

SafariGalNYC

May I suggest reframing the negatives as positives? It’s all perspective.

Cruises don’t have to be about choosing to overeat, over drink - it can be about choosing healthy options. There are wellness cruises and fitness cruises… I personally love them. The food is also much higher quality.

Even Princess cruises have “holistic holidays” at sea. Virgin Voyages has wellness at sea.. there are tons! I usually come back feeling and looking better then I started personally.

On any cruise- you have a chef on board and you get to be the chief about making decisions. Instead of cake can you have fruit? Swap things out for a healthier choice.

In most cruises: there is a pool typically for swimming, a spa, a gym, -/ use it as a 7 day health retreat rather than a smorgasbord.

Instead of a booze cruise, choose one that’s more health minded and get the whole family in the act. Last one I went in had morning yoga on the deck.. use that to meditate instead of chemically blowing of steam.

Get a room with a patio and enjoy the peaceful bliss of the ocean air and solitude.

Being healthy doesn’t have to be just sitting home.. can you go for walks with headphones in to have some peace? Even if you start at 1 block… it’s a start.

You can still dine out, go out for entertainment etc.. just make some healthy swaps.

Instead of seeing only No’s / what are the yes’s ? What is in your control?

What are the blessings in disguise?

It’s getting warmer out… how about going on drives? National preserves ? It’s all about the view.

Instead of seeing limitations, what blessings can you embrace and honor? Get the family Involved for a healthier lifestyle all around. Let the kids know there are healthier attitudes and options out there and the world is your oyster.

rl2010

I guess those are the things I don’t see. For example I have zero feelings on wellness and myself. I do not see exercise as something to do or want to do at this point as it’s a chore and painful.

Example going for a walk at a park does nothing for me as entertainment and it never has. Not saying it’s not good for exercise but it’s a chore and not entertainment in my kind.

The cruise thing was more for the next 2 years that if I have the surgery I won’t be able to eat. So that would be a waste of money. Not sure a cruise can make me puréed foods for all my meals and the cost of a cruise would be wasted on not enjoying what they offer.

The surgery is a drastic change and full restrictions. This i do not know how to deal with.

Corina1143

Personal opinion only. Not trying to push my thoughts on you.
If you think you can follow the post-surgery diet for the rest of your life, why can't you do it without the surgery for a few months to get a big head start, then rethink whether you want to do the surgery or not? I understand they don't usually schedule the surgery immediately. If it's going to take a few months, you have the time.
My own personal experience with cruises. I've taken about 5. Lost weight every time. I loved the meals! But I can get pizza and greasy burgers and fries and chocolate cake at home. I can't get fish, exotic fruits cut in beautiful shapes, veggies prepared in a way I've never tried, all by professional chefs. If I'm not sure, I take a small amount, and if I don't like it, I don't eat it. There's so very much I do like, I'm not about to waste one iota of space in my tummy for something I don't like.
Before I went to bed each night, I laid out clothes easy to slip on quickly and quietly and go. If I woke up before my roommate, I would go to the gym cause it's really the only thing open. I'm the farthest thing from a gym rat, so I would find an unpopular looking machine in the corner and pretend. Got more exercise walking to the gym than I did after I got there. But I usually found some friendly soul to talk to who was probably there for a reason similar to mine.
Don't like the park, don't go! What do you like? Golf or bowling? Nintendo? (Am I showing my age and ignorance? I know nothing about those things. Don't care.) Tv? Movies? Do that. If it's something like TV, get some bands or light weights and play with them while watching. Get up during commercials and walk around your chair.
Walking is a good antidepressant. Getting outside is a good antidepressant. Maybe step outside during commercials.
Just a thought--possibility. I don't like to exercise. I was lucky enough to find a place where all the middle aged ladies met to gossip and share. Exercise was secondary. Most exercise I ever got in my life. I went every day. Looked forward eagerly to it. What can you find?

In other words, change your attitude. Open your mind to possibilities you can live with. Try things. If something doesn't work for you, try something else.

SafariGalNYC

Yes, most cruise lines can prepare pureed foods for you if you notify them in advance that you require a special diet with pureed meals; simply contact the cruise line's special needs department to make the request and discuss your dietary needs.
—-signed a traveler that requests very specific food choices. 😉

There are also forums with travelers who have gastric sleeves, etc who travel frequently. Perhaps those support groups will help.

Good luck! No matter which route you take, living miserably isn’t an option. I hope it gets better for you.

Alatariel75

rl2010 wrote: »

The dr recommended I look a surgery. While I await the 2 months to get an appointment I am researching this.

We currently dine out many nights a week for entertainment and the loss for cooking at home. I do drink alcohol to blow off steam. We also take a yearly vacation in a cruise.

Now reading the lifestyle after surgery, all of that stops. Not saying it’s a bad thing to stop dining out for stop drinking it’s just a complete abrupt change. And forget the vacation now as cruising is eating and drinking. Maybe in a few years but no more for the immediate future.

Don’t know what we would replace these with going forward. I can see this making me more of a couch potato as we won’t be doing anything besides sitting at home and going to work. Hopefully Health would be better but to watch tv?

Going the counting calories route is not working.

Not sure if Ozempic or similar will be enough as what I am reading it’s maybe losing 45 lbs vs the 120 I need to. It has to be all or nothing now. Losing 45lbs I am still obese. I can not see myself following through and getting more depressed/frustrated with just partial loss.

These are just thoughts as I go through this process.

Why wouldn't you take the money you're saving from dining out and do something other than sit and watch TV? Go to a class, take a walk, go to the gym, start pilates, or yoga, or dance - surely you can think of something to do other than say "well, we're not going out to eat, so I'll sit on my tukkas!"

Instead of cruising, take a holiday somewhere walking friendly with lots to see and have fun seeing the sights and making memories.

Your post made me sad - it's like you can't imagine doing anything aside from eating and working, there's so much more to life!!

springlering62

@rl2010 it sounds like you’re a boredom eater.

I found that forcing myself to get up and simply walk became less of a “force” each time I didn’t, until I looked forwarded to and finally craved my walks and other movement.

Again, the choice is yours. Sit back, be bored, take the injections but change nothing else, and waste away.

Is this what young you would have wanted older you to look forward to? Try an active cruise or vacation. One that requires even moderate walking to enjoy sights. You’ll get out of your comfort zone and see new things, instead of just another dinner plate.

avatiach

You might start by thinking what could substitute for alcohol. For “blowing off steam.” Playing games? Meditating? Walking even a short distance? Drinking a seltzer with lemon or lime?

rl2010

Could be but that has been our entertainment lately. We rarely eat home meals as I have lost the taste for it. Never comes out good. Used to love cooking/smoking on the BBQ, now I want to just give it away.

These are all things that will change. Just going through the thoughts of what lies ahead. After sitting in traffic for 1.5 hours to get home I need an escape. So we typically jump in the car to a restaurant or order takeout.

Just in a bad space and I know the 130 lbs extra I am carrying can’t be good but Got a few more Dr appointments to see if even weight loss will affect my health enough at this point.

Surgery equals strict eating for a long time but may or may not workout.

Shots equals better eating for a long time and on for life that may work out for a little weight loss.

Eating low calorie and weighing/counting nutrients/calories. I am not sure I could sustain that.

Back to low carb will result in weight loss but will come back once introducing carbs again. I am going to try this for now to see if anything improves while I wait a ridiculous amount to time to get the dr appointment.

Exercise is the farthest from my mind as walking up 5 stairs or even getting dressed as me out of breath.

AnnPT77

rl2010 wrote: »

Could be but that has been our entertainment lately. We rarely eat home meals as I have lost the taste for it. Never comes out good. Used to love cooking/smoking on the BBQ, now I want to just give it away.

These are all things that will change. Just going through the thoughts of what lies ahead. After sitting in traffic for 1.5 hours to get home I need an escape. So we typically jump in the car to a restaurant or order takeout.

Healthy and reasonable-calorie restaurant or take-out options exist, though I admit it can take a little effort to identify them. One thing I've done over time is look at restaurant menus near me at home ahead of time, and find those options. Now I know where to go, and what to order, if I'm in a time crunch or short on energy. I also thought through some at-home options I could eat with little prep or effort, and keep the needed ingredients in the pantry/freezer. They aren't necessarily glorious gourmet fare, but they're not misery, either. They're things I enjoy eating well enough to rely on them when short on time/energy, too.

Just in a bad space and I know the 130 lbs extra I am carrying can’t be good but Got a few more Dr appointments to see if even weight loss will affect my health enough at this point.

I'd bet it will affect your health positively, because it has done that for so very many people here, including people who started with amounts of excess weight like where you find yourself. Further, those benefits usually start to kick in part way through weight loss, rather than having to wait all the way to goal weight. On top of that, the typical experience is that there are big quality of life improvements beyond the health improvements, and those start kicking in along the way, too. I strongly doubt that you're a special case where those good things wouldn't happen.

Surgery equals strict eating for a long time but may or may not workout.

Shots equals better eating for a long time and on for life that may work out for a little weight loss.

Eating low calorie and weighing/counting nutrients/calories. I am not sure I could sustain that.

Here's the thing: Any of those three options involves eating fewer calories than you have been. If you want the end result - with what IME are huge benefits that come from that - then you will need to change your habits. That's required.

Loosely speaking, surgery reduces the size of your stomach, so potentially reduces appetite and certainly puts in you a place where overeating would have very negative consequences, for at least a long recovery period.

Loosely speaking, the drugs reduce appetite, are reported to reduce "food noise" or psychological focus on or obsession with food and eating. That may help you eat fewer calories more easily, but eating fewer calories is still what causes weight loss.

If you want to keep the weight off, you have to eat fewer calories, whether you count them or not. The surgery or the drugs may make it less essential to count the calories, but even without doing either of those things, calorie counting isn't essential. Eating fewer calories is. When I was a young adult, it wasn't practical to count calories. There weren't apps for that. (Yeah, I'm that old.) People lost weight anyway. They ate less, in calorie terms.

I'm not trying to suggest which option you should do, I'm just pointing out that the bottom line is always the same: Changing habits. The different methods may make it temporarily or permanently easier, temporarily or permanently less pleasant, but it's going to require changing habits no matter what.

Back to low carb will result in weight loss but will come back once introducing carbs again. I am going to try this for now to see if anything improves while I wait a ridiculous amount to time to get the dr appointment.

Exercise is the farthest from my mind as walking up 5 stairs or even getting dressed as me out of breath.

Consider something like standing up every half hour or so when watching TV or whatever you do when you sit, and marching in place until it starts to feel a very tiny little bit challenging. If that's 5 steps, that's fine. Repeat. In a week or so, make it 6 steps. And so on. Surprising things can happen from persistent, gradual effort.

I understand why you would be thinking about the challenges ahead, sincerely. But as others have said, keeping your thoughts there is not helping you. That's more of a "why I can't" focus. Yes, change is hard, maybe even scary. But there are rewards. What small things can you change, things that are a small step in a positive direction? Can you focus there, at least part of the time? That's more of a "find my path to a better future" focus. It's worth the effort, IME, even though it's hard.

Best wishes!

PAV8888

Between MFP crashing and me being unusually "harsh" (which is not something I usually do on MFP) this is the fourth time I am writing this. And it goes out on "first draft" of the fourth try... with no more than one correction after!

Dude stop mourning the lost lifestyle that got you to 300lbs. The lifestyle that has you a step from moving from being ON the ground to being INSIDE the ground.

It really is time for you to examine, confront, resolve, or mitigate, and slowly change the aspects of your lifestyle that have you systematically over-eating.

Yes. 2000-2500-3000 Cal is where your long term caloric balance will be. Probably around 2500 to 3000 while you're active. Probably closer to 2000 when inactive and older. That is PHYSICS. You can't change them.

So if your preferences are such that you're ingesting 4000+ calories a day (which is where you're currently at).... it is time to change your preferences unless you think you can change physics!

I don't care what sort of food you PREFER. It is time to look at the quantity, frequency and type and make changes. You can have anything you want. But you can't have as much of it and as often as you want. Because PHYSICS.

And you really should look at what is going on around you that has you in this "unchangeable" rut. All these things you are telling us that you can't change? The types of vacations? The daily restaurant eating habits? Guess what happens when you're in the ground? You won't be able to either go to a restaurant or a cruise.

You don't have the RIGHT to consume 4000 or 5000 Cal of food and alcohol a day. You have a habit of doing so because of everything that is happening in your life including work, family, friends, and your own skills and abilities to interact with everything.

Well. You will either have to make incremental changes. Or you will conk out. And no it is not all or nothing. Even a 10% reduction in weight means concrete health benefits.

PS: Personally once I decided that all aspects of my lifestyle were on the table and up for change I proceeded to lose ~125 lbs over the time period of 2+ years with the vast majority in the first 18 months. While in the beginning I dipped well below 2000 Calories, I did lose the majority of my weight eating 2500+ and losing at just under 1.5lbs a week. This was more than fast enough. And took place between 2014 and 2016. I am still in the 150-160lbs range. Went as high as 170 with the COVID reopening. Yes. My life HAS changed. I've primarily changed the way I eat. And the way I move. But I've also made changes to my work. And my entertainment. And my relationships. Sure many of my problems remain and some are even worse than ever. But they are in state where I can mitigate their effect on my weight. Overall I am much happier today. Even though I thought I was quite happy while obese.

PPS: You will make changes again and again over the years. Don't make changes you think won't last just for the sake of accelerating weight loss. View everything through a longer term lens. But don't hesitate to change what proves to no longer work.

PPPS: did your doctor refer you for a sleep apnea test? Do you snore loudly? do people mention you sound as if you stop breathing at times? Most of these tests are free because they then sell you a machine...

PPPPS: Time to invest in YOU my friend. To be selfish and view your HEALTH as your priority. And to separate what is health promoting from what is not. And if an outside advisor/therapist/counselor would help... consider the benefits of investing in you.

Best of luck