My Success story, and advice for weight loss

Alisha_countrymama

My biggest piece of advice, take it or leave it. Is this. Diets don't work! You have to make a change for life. You will have to eat this way for the rest of your life, and until you come to terms with that you won't succeed. You have to change your mind set from "I can't have that" to "I can have that but I don't want it"

Stop being obsessed with restricting calories.

The biggest lie you can tell you self is this : Everything in moderation is fine.
NO!

Junk food is junk food and should be avoided. Junk food is high in calories and has little to no nutritional value, and leaves your body starving for nutrition.

Eat Whole Real Natural food. Grow up put your big girl/boy pants on. Eat vegetables. You may hate it at first. But your tastes WILL change. You have to heal your unhealthy relationship with food.

Stop saying eating healthy is to expensive, have you priced having cancer lately?
If you can't afford Organic, do your best buy it when you can. Buy local, go to farmers markets. Do a little research.
OR better yet grow your own. It's amazing what you can grow even in a little bit of dirt on a patio, or in pots!

You will lose weight, and experience an overall improvement of health issues you may have. When your body heals it heals completely!

Get away from Sugar! Artificial sugar, real sugar any kind of sugar. It's killing you. We consume way to much sugar. 2-3x as much as we consumed 100 years ago. (in some people even more than that)

Fat does not make you fat! - Sugar does! We live in a fat phobic society. Do some research and find out what's really making you fat. Carbohydrates from processed crap, and sugar.

You can't out exercise a bad diet, and until you get your eating under control you will never be successful!! Processed foods are full of chemicals, like MSG. These foods are designed to make you crave them! They create these foods in labs, to make people want them, so they will continue to buy them. They don't care about your health.

I have lost over 140lbs, and kept it off for 4 years. I may not be a doctor or a nutritionist, but I have read and read and read and trial and error of my own journey. and these are the basics of what I feel will help anyone be successful at losing weight. I won't reply back to arguments. This is just my own thoughts on weight loss.

zyxst

So in.

OKfarmgal

I agree with you completely!! I was raised on a farm and we ate the freshest food on this Earth, but when I went to college, I found all the processed foods and completely forgot how a fresh vegetable tasted. Now I'm training myself to like them again. I can't believe it came to that. My next task is getting my children to love fresh and not from a box on under 5 minutes in the microwave.

jkramsey42

Science says organic food has no additional nutritive benefits.

http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1355685

Yurippe

So in. I hate the word, but I expect the response will be epic. Might get locked before I get back to it.

Isakizza

Congrats! Inspired by your success :flowerforyou:

Alisha_countrymama

Science says organic food has no additional nutritive benefits.

http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1355685

I agree. But they aren't sprayed with crap.

_Zardoz_

Science says organic food has no additional nutritive benefits.

http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1355685

I agree. But they aren't sprayed with crap.

Fields are where they grow veggies though.

mswoodsy

Well done you seem to have a firm grasp on the concept of fitness, and I nearly completely agree!

Junk calories are empty calories. They provide no nutritional value and should be avoided. Although an indulgence every blue moon is perfectly fine. And not eating junk doesn't mean not eating (4example) pizza. Pizza can be healthy, if made right. There's almost always a healthy alternative to the junk we love.

That and diets don't exists in the way people use the term. A diet is simply what you eat, healthy or not. The trick to losing weight is to change your diet to a healthier one, that includes less calories than what you burn. No matter age nor height, eating 3,000 cal is a diet, eating 500 cal is a diet. What you eat, no matter what, is your diet. That's where the "lifestyle" word comes into play.

As far as the organic thing goes, it's opinion. I would rather eat organic. But I have no proof or argument against non-organic foods.

zoeysasha37

So in before this goes bad.....lol!!

I heart Junk food ( I learned moderation so haven't eliminated anything from my diet ;-)

Sabine_Stroehm

Congrats on your weight loss, and on finding what worked for YOU. It won't be remotely popular on here (a calorie counting site), but good for you for knowing what you believe. And good for you for knowing it's about more than a number on a scale. :drinker:

Alisha_countrymama

Thanks everyone!

Laurenloveswaffles

Oh this is going to be good.

HeidiCooksSupper

HappyAnna2014

My biggest piece of advice, take it or leave it. Is this. Diets don't work! You have to make a change for life. You will have to eat this way for the rest of your life, and until you come to terms with that you won't succeed. You have to change your mind set from "I can't have that" to "I can have that but I don't want it"

Stop being obsessed with restricting calories.

The biggest lie you can tell you self is this : Everything in moderation is fine.
NO!

Junk food is junk food and should be avoided. Junk food is high in calories and has little to no nutritional value, and leaves your body starving for nutrition.

Eat Whole Real Natural food. Grow up put your big girl/boy pants on. Eat vegetables. You may hate it at first. But your tastes WILL change. You have to heal your unhealthy relationship with food.

Stop saying eating healthy is to expensive, have you priced having cancer lately?
If you can't afford Organic, do your best buy it when you can. Buy local, go to farmers markets. Do a little research.
OR better yet grow your own. It's amazing what you can grow even in a little bit of dirt on a patio, or in pots!

You will lose weight, and experience an overall improvement of health issues you may have. When your body heals it heals completely!

Get away from Sugar! Artificial sugar, real sugar any kind of sugar. It's killing you. We consume way to much sugar. 2-3x as much as we consumed 100 years ago. (in some people even more than that)

Fat does not make you fat! - Sugar does! We live in a fat phobic society. Do some research and find out what's really making you fat. Carbohydrates from processed crap, and sugar.

You can't out exercise a bad diet, and until you get your eating under control you will never be successful!! Processed foods are full of chemicals, like MSG. These foods are designed to make you crave them! They create these foods in labs, to make people want them, so they will continue to buy them. They don't care about your health.

I have lost over 140lbs, and kept it off for 4 years. I may not be a doctor or a nutritionist, but I have read and read and read and trial and error of my own journey. and these are the basics of what I feel will help anyone be successful at losing weight. I won't reply back to arguments. This is just my own thoughts on weight loss.

I think this is great advice. Thanks for the inspiration!

mcpostelle

I completely agree with you about all your points. I was using my on the road, long hours job as an excuse to eat out, but I haven't eaten out in 3 weeks and I don't miss it. I don't even have a microwave since I don't want to fall back into that unhealthy lifestyle. Empty calories and nutrients are not worth it. I eat as organic as possible since I believe that there's no price that can compete with good health. Congrats on your weight-loss and maintenance! :drinker: :happy: :drinker: :happy: :drinker: :happy:

kimba1958

Thanks for sharing and congrats on the weight loss!

beautifuldisasta

You can't out exercise a bad diet, and until you get your eating under control you will never be successful!!

THIS!!

Exercise is important for so many reasons, but if you eat badly you'll cancel out all the good you did from your exercising!

Thank you for sharing all your advice and congrats on your weight loss!

Alisha_countrymama

I just wanted to clarify my point about organic, if all you have access to is conventionally grown veg, its better than eating junk. But conventionally grown are often sprayed with toxic pesticides that the govt wants us to think are safe. Just like they want us to think the chemicals and other toxic ingredients they use in processed foods are safe. But there not, and frankly some of us dont care, or at least dont know. We are so addicted to them, that it doesnt matter. Even if they are making us chronicly ill, doctors will never tell you its the food your eating thats making you sick.

ForeverCharlie

Great post, dear friend

yc4king

I just wanted to clarify my point about organic, if all you have access to is conventionally grown veg, its better than eating junk. But conventionally grown are often sprayed with toxic pesticides that the govt wants us to think are safe. Just like they want us to think the chemicals and other toxic ingredients they use in processed foods are safe. But there not, and frankly some of us dont care, or at least dont know. We are so addicted to them, that it doesnt matter. Even if they are making us chronicly ill, doctors will never tell you its the food your eating thats making you sick.

Your advice in the original post was great and I agree with all of it, but this clarification was a little tin-foil-hat'esque.

I applaude your lifestyle change and weight loss though. Great work.

gotogirl81

8sep2014

You're my hero! Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing!

gotogirl81

also.. OP, what does your daily diet consist of?

are you Vegan/vegetarian?

MKEgal

Junk food is junk food and should be avoided. Junk food is high in calories and has little to no nutritional value, and leaves your body starving for nutrition.

If eaten in moderation, it's fine.
The person won't "starve for nutrition" if their intake is otherwise healthy & they have a serving of potato chips or ice cream.
If you don't have the self-control to handle eating in moderation, then yes, you have to completely avoid certain foods.
That's really sad.

Get away from Sugar! Artificial sugar, real sugar any kind of sugar. It's killing you.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23815799
"nothing in the biochemistry suggests that sugar is a toxin."

I just wanted to clarify my point about organic, if all you have access to is conventionally grown veg, its (sic) better than eating junk. But conventionally grown are often sprayed with toxic pesticides that the govt wants us to think are safe. Just like they want us to think the chemicals and other toxic ingredients they use in processed foods are safe. But there (sic) not, and frankly some of us dont (sic) care, or at least dont (sic) know. We are so addicted to them, that it doesnt (sic) matter. Even if they are making us chronicly (sic) ill, doctors will never tell you its (sic) the food your (sic) eating thats (sic) making you sick.

Please post links to / citations from research which backs your opinions.
You could start looking on PubMed, using the link to the study above, just put your search terms in the box at the top of the page.

Allegi32

Alisha_countrymama

also.. OP, what does your daily diet consist of?

are you Vegan/vegetarian?

No I'm not vegan, or vegetarian. I eat meat also and try to get it from humanely raised, local farms when possible. My diet consists of mean fruit and veg. Healthy fats and nuts and seeds.

mswoodsy

Junk food is junk food and should be avoided. Junk food is high in calories and has little to no nutritional value, and leaves your body starving for nutrition.

If eaten in moderation, it's fine.
The person won't "starve for nutrition" if their intake is otherwise healthy & they have a serving of potato chips or ice cream.
If you don't have the self-control to handle eating in moderation, then yes, you have to completely avoid certain foods.
That's really sad.

yes and no, my opinion, i think people use the term "moderation" very liberally.
its hard to determine how you specifically view the word....
junk food should not be eaten every single day in small amounts.
maybe one soda a month or a serving of chips a week. not a little bit every day.
its called junk food for a reason.
no you won't nutritionally starve from it BUT you certainly wont gain anything either
and i'm much better off fueling my body with what it needs, not what it wants (craves) because she's right.

you don't fill a diesel truck with gasoline, and they run much cleaner on biodiesel.

Yurippe

Get away from Sugar! Artificial sugar, real sugar any kind of sugar. It's killing you. We consume way to much sugar. 2-3x as much as we consumed 100 years ago. (in some people even more than that)

No I'm not vegan, or vegetarian. I eat meat also and try to get it from humanely raised, local farms when possible. My diet consists of mean fruit and veg. Healthy fats and nuts and seeds.

There is a lot of real sugar in fruit.

He1loKitty

Great advice, OP. I have learned very similar things in the last six months, through trial and error. Eating fresh, whole foods is better than eating processed crap and sugar and leads to more sustainable weight loss. Eating everything in moderation certainly does not work for me! Congrats to you on your major loss and successful maintenance!

j4nash

Let's see.. she lost 144 pounds, so it obviously worked for her, just like it can work for others. There isn't just one way to do this.. do what works for you.

Good job OP and congrats on your loss!