things to do that worked/helped

sarahsue001

My husband and I have lost a lot of weight. People often ask how we did it. We did it by talking to our doctor, hard work, counting calories, exercising, making better decisions and plain old common sense. We did get some help at first by prescription weight loss drugs. When I tell people this, they either focus on the drugs, or are disappointed that it wasn't a miracle, that it was hard, time consuming work. I read the articles of woman who weighed over 300 pounds and now weigh 120. This is not that. At my highest I was 5' 5” and 185 pounds. My goal is 145. I hit it and gained some back, but am recommitted to getting there again. I know how. I did it before. It's hard, which is how I slipped up. It is doable though. This article is a combination of advice I was given, stuff I have heard or read, and things I have tried which is what worked for me.

My wake up call.

I used to be really skinny as a kid, all the way through college, accused of having eating disorders due to my weight and my excessive eating. I was just a hungry, skinny girl. We all know them and we all hate them.

Then I started putting on a little weight and a little more weight, and so on. I averaged between 150-160 at 5'5”. I ate like **** but did get some exercise in here and there.

Then in my thirties I got married and I got fat. My husband and I had a year of gluttony after our wedding. Traveling, drinking, eating out, eating well at home... for a whole year. My husband's pant size rose with the months considerably. I also gained weight and got to my heaviest at 185. I didn't think I was fat, though I was technically obese. “Technically...” I now know I was OBESE and so was my husband.

I had excuses for myself but to me my husband was just fat. I have polycystic ovary syndrome. In my mind, I was allowed to have extra weight. But I went to the doctor, not to talk about my gains, but instead to talk about my husband's. Our doctor told us that we could both take some diet pills to get our weight loss started. I knew I had weight to lose but I was really there in my mind to stop my husband from dying (not saving both of us from extremely bad choices). Our doctor gave us some diet plans and pills, I took them in part to be supportive for my husband.

They were basically uppers and they made me crazy. The first day I took them I cleaned all the baseboards in the whole house, the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. I cleaned the whole house... I could feel my hair. I was amped as hell. I had joined My Fitness Pal awhile back because my sister told me about it. I never actually used it, but with all of the extra energy it was something I could dive into.

The weight just started to melt off both of us. It was only then, when I saw my body the way it used to be, that I knew I had gotten fat. Not pudgy, fat. The pills aren't a forever thing and after 3 months we had to go off of them. Calorie counting became very important. More weight came off.

My husband was enjoying the weight loss, but at first was only begrudgingly doing the healthy things that were changing our lives. I knew we need to exercise, so one day I went to the gym by our house. (Proximity is the only thing that works for me). I signed us both up for the gym and for a few training sessions with a trainer. This is where my husband flourished. He now loves the gym, loves riding his bike, loves being fit.

I had some injuries and learned to love physical therapy and sometimes the gym. While I love our trainer and she is great for Tom, she isn't for me. Our trainer pushes really hard, if you barely lift 50 pounds the next time she will give you 60. (She has a crossfit background). I just want to be healthy and fit. PT taught me how to build strength and avoid injury since I am very injury prone. Now that I am out of physical therapy, I go in and out of my exercise program and need to be more consistent. Overall though, I am so much stronger then I used to be.

That is why I am writing this article. To remind myself that consistency works. That I need to be more consistent. I want to see healthy when I look in the mirror. I want to maintain the same size clothes and have less fat days (in my case weeks). I want to be able to ride my bike with my husband, go up the stairs without panting. To keep doing these things I have to stay on track. These steps are how I started and the steps are how I will continue.


Weight Loss/ Maintaining Advice that works for me:

Talk to your doctor, there are medications, advice that can give you a jump start or help you all the way through. Since my husband and I were both obese but otherwise healthy (no high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart problems, breathing problems) our doctor gave us some pills to jump start our weight loss. We had to go in monthly to be checked out and were on them for about 3 months.

Get your calories in check before starting an exercise program. (It is hard enough to cut back on calories, but even harder after an hour of cardio).

Use apps to count calories, save recipes, make meal plans and make grocery lists. I use my Fitness Pal and PepperPlate. They are invaluable to me. But you only get out what you put in. It is time consuming and tedious but work.

Cook more at home. Do not rely on prepackaged and processed food. While it is easier to calculate calories, unless you plan on eating frozen meals or shakes for the rest of your life, how will you ever learn to eat right in “real” life? It mqy be a good way to jump start weight loss, but start incorporating home cooked food so you can maintain your weight loss when you hit your goal.

Get good recipes. (I have learned from experience of cooking over 100 recipes from Pinterest that the recipes don't always work out like the pictures, especially those pinned from blogs. However I have found amazing recipes on blogs as well). Cooking Light magazine has a variety of recipes. Every issue has easy, complicated but rewarding, and budget friendly recipes plus articles on being healthy (not just weight loss). Cookbooks are also great. Look for healthy and what works for you. If you have a hectic job, try to look for easy recipes or crockpot.

Don't do diet trends. Do not get stuck doing something with crazy rules or restrictions unless you plan on doing it forever. Eat better, count calories. That being said, I do try to eat more proteins and healthy fat and less unhealthy carbs. I still eat carbs though. I eat more in moderation now.

While it is a pain in the *kitten*, measure, measure, measure and record. Get a scale, extra measuring cups, and measuring spoons. Wine glasses are marked at 5 oz with chalkboard markers at my house (comes off in dishwasher) so I do not over serve myself, and shot glasses are used to measure mixed drinks. My husband had his morning juice out of a measuring glass at first until he got used to what 8 oz really looks like. Do not guess on calorie counting or find what you think is close on your app on home cooked meals. I put all the ingredients in the recipe portion of My Fitness Pal with correct amount of servings and that gives me the real calorie count. If I cook it again, I can reuse it or edit it with changes in ingredients if I want to changes something up. It is a pain in the *kitten* but it works.

Divide your portions. I cook for me and my husband. Instead of shrinking a recipe (cooking times are harder to predict), I often cook recipes that have 4-8 servings. As soon as I am finished cooking, I plate our food for the night, and the other servings immediately go into pyrex (before eating the meal) for lunches or other meals. If I am still hungry after dinner, I don't get seconds, since it is not an option. I wait an hour and if I am still hungry I have a snack around 100 calories.

Still eat out. Maybe not at first, when you are trying to get used to your smaller calorie allowance. But again if you are going to maintain in “real” life you got to get used to it or never eat out again. Use restaurant's websites. View menus online before going out. Commit to what you are going to eat (and drink) and estimate to the best of your abilities in your app BEFORE you go. Specials will be sometimes to hard to pass up and that's okay. Do your best. After you eat readjust calories accordingly to what you actually ate and portions you received.

Plan to have fun. If you over indulge on the weekends, be extra vigilant during the week. If you are a drinker you will have to work your *kitten* off or cut back. Again, in the beginning it is easier to cut out as much as possible, but plan days you are going to drink and stick to them. Even if you are having a bad day (especially if you are having a bad day).

Count, count, count... I have seen many people not count on their “bad” days. HELLO! Those are the days you need to count the most. I am not saying not to cheat. I am saying be accountable. I have eaten and drank so much in a day some of the graphs on my My Fitness Pal don't even go that high. Do not give up from the rest of the week or think you have to start all over because of one slip up. Don't make excuses, just do it.

Rally your friends. Have someone help you. Whether they have to lose weight or not, though preferably they are in the same position as you are. Tell them your calories daily, your struggles daily, your successes daily. (Hopefully it is already someone you talk to daily.) I lost the weight with my husband and we helped keep each other in line. It's best if they use the same apps as you.

Sign up. I have climbed the stairs all the way to the top of the tallest building in my area for the American Lung Association with friends and the next year with my husband. I enter weight loss competitions at work and with friends, even if I am only trying to maintain and not win. Doing healthy activities or sharing common goals with others is great. Competitiveness makes it even better for me. I love to talk smack.

Start an exercise program. (It is much easier to do this after you are able to stay at your calorie goal. My Fitness Pal lets you add in exercise and then lets you know how many more calories you can eat and still work towards your goal). This is a great thing to do with a friend. You can go on walks, get a gym membership, get a trainer, sign up for classes, but do something! After you get started, don't get stuck just doing cardio. Build muscle, it burns more calories.

Grocery shopping. Have a list. Bring the list. Shop by the list. I use PepperPlate to make my list from my recipes and my meal planner for the week. Healthier food tends to be more on the outside walls of the grocery store not in the aisles. When shopping in the aisles I pick items by calories, protein and fiber. I try to avoid artificial sugars as they upset my stomach. Be careful getting fat-free, low calorie, sugar free options. Almost all of these will have a much higher sodium content then their full flavored cousins which should be avoided by people with high blood pressure, kidney problems, and other health issues. There is always something else added when something is removed. Read the ingredients and make informed decisions. Don't forget the frozen food section! Vegetables and fruit often retain more of their vitamins and minerals when frozen (even more than the “fresh” in the produce section). Also frozen is easier to keep on hand, won't spoil, and cooks up easily.

Black coffee. Water. Unsweetened Tea. Learn to love these things. You will eventually get used to it and save calories and/or chemicals along the way. I prefer that the only calories I get from drinking are from alcohol. I do drink diet soda but try not to drink a lot (some weeks are better than others). If you are a soda lover, try to cut back. If you have the calories to drink non diet, drink regular. If you do not have the calories and really want the soda, drink diet.

Do what works. If something works for you and it is something you can maintain (and is healthy), then do it! I don't believe in drinking juice (there are better, more filling ways to get healthy vitamins and minerals) but my husband does great with drinking juice every morning and maintaining.

Deal with the ups and down. I sprained my ankle, had 3 herniated disk in my neck, an emergency appendectomy, totaled my car, went on several vacations, went through a major house renovation all in my first year of weight loss. These caused my weight to fluctuate (because I ate over my calorie count and I know this because I still recorded it). Every time I needed to lose weight, I recommitted myself to stay within my calories, exercise more and drink less. Every time this worked.

Originally, my husband and I counted our calories for over a year, everyday, almost everything (we slipped up here and there, especially trying to remember late night drinking and snacking but I continued my counting the very next day). Most people can only sustain counting calories for about a month, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. Once you hit 3 months, it is second nature. I tried to stop counting calories. I was getting a little crazy and obsessive over it, making my husband crazy. It didn't work, I started eating like ****, mostly by obnoxious snacking. I started counting again and I might have to forever. That's how lifestyle changes go though. Whatever way you chose to lose weight, you might be stuck with it forever to maintain. Such it is.
My husband enjoys fantastic health (which makes exercise easier), a great trainer, and a wonderful wife who still cooks healthy meals. As of right now he is doing good without counting his calories. I had to give up my weight loss/calorie counting buddy to maintain our sanity, but since I am now a veteran at calorie counting I believe I can do this.

Obviously almost all of this is common sense. I am amazed by others around me in weight loss programs or on their own journey who cheat constantly and give up because it is not working, who don't count their “bad” days, or who have one bad day and give up. When you go out to eat in a restaurant, the 12 oz of fettuccine alfredo with 8 oz of grilled chicken with butter and two rolls are not equivalent in calories to the lean cuisine version so stop checking it in that way. It may take more time but something closer is in there, find it, even if you have to break down your meal into each part. That is if you want your weight loss to work... which in turn requires a lot of work.

Hope this helps someone.

socioseguro

Hi

Congratulations on your achievement

Thanks for sharing your experience

I agree with you that maintaining a healthy weight is a journey , not a destination.

However, we are all human, the soul is ready but the flesh is weak

We all need to focus on keeping ourselves and our families as healthy as we can be

Good luck in your journey

kaseyr1505

Aside from logging food, I noticed that when I changed the way I ate my meals, I started feeling fuller.

Before, I started with the carbs, then veggies and (if I had room) all of the protein. I would get full, then stop eating.. only to snack an hour later.

Now, I eat protein, then veggies and finally any carbs. I've noticed I get fell, so I eat less of the carbs, and I stay full.

HealthyStartsHere

thank you for sharing!!!

krawhitham

Great post! Thank you for your advice. Consistency is key!