I need Help :(

mdrngypsy

I'm a diet coke drinker.. There is just nothing that replaces that taste no matter how hard I try to give it up. Plus it's the only thing that makes taking the prednisone somewhat tolerable. Otherwise the bitter taste lingers forever.

Anyways, I thought the problems with drinking Diet drinks was the fake sugars trick your body into thinking you're hungry thus causing you to eat more? If you have the ability to say within the amount of calories you should be eating to lose weight why would the drink cause problems?

As for insulin levels ... I'm diabetic because of the prednisone and have to check my sugars on a regular basis. If I drink just a pop and check my blood sugar afterwards, it doesn't affect my blood sugars much, if at all.

LynC33

I ate almost 2kg of carbs last week and I still lost 2 pounds on the scale Monday morning. Low-carb is very unnecessary.

Start strength training, focus on hitting your protein goal and getting as close to your calorie goal as possible (eat over BMR, but under your TDEE), and let the rest of the chips fall where they may.

I eat carbs too, but usually in the form of Fibrous veges or grain bread. Hardly eat rice or pasta anymore and when I do its about a quarter of the prtion I used to have. Love my good carbs!

nikki91950

that suggestion i can totally understand and agree with. i personally can't stand hot tea or even regular iced tea, but i can't function without caffeine and don't drink any kind of coffee, so it leaves me with few options =/

I'm actually addressing this comment, as well as the OP's first call for help.

I, like you, needed my caffeine fix for years. I literally could not function without it. I'd been a barista for a long time and I also had a bad Coca Cola habit. However, you CAN wean yourself off of caffeine. It took my husband and I about two weeks to be totally free of it. It's an addiction, not as serious as some but still an addiction.

The funny thing is, when we got a coffee maker (and we brew decaf), my husband realized that he had the same 'need coffee' feeling he'd had back when we were caffeinated. Drinking a cup of decaf coffee actually gives him the same morning boost that regular coffee used to do, but without the side effects of raising blood pressure or jitters. Turns out it wasn't the caffeine we were after--the 'wake up' feeling is so entrenched in us that the mere smell of fresh-brewed coffee is enough to switch it on. Talk about a psychological addiction!

There's an excellent article here that outlines the issues diet sodas create. http://www.kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2011/12/01/8-dangers-of-diet-soda/

My point is, you CAN escape the Diet Coke hold on you. And this goes for any food--if there is something in your diet that you think you MUST ALWAYS HAVE, something that you think you cannot live without, you may want to reexamine your attachment to it. How would you react if you discovered you were allergic to something about it? What if you developed a sensitivity to the sweetener or the food coloring? What would you do if you couldn't have it?

I say this as someone who has been there, and has given up some things that I did love, but they were just plain bad for me (beef jerky--killed my teeth and omg SODIUM; caffeine and alcohol for the most part; hostess cupcakes). I don't miss them the way I thought I would. I am also not sitting here all miserable because those things are no longer in my life. I've rediscovered a thousand new things to drink and eat that give me the same satisfaction and I don't feel like I've deprived myself of the joy of eating.

as i mentioned in a previous post, i did give up DC for 6 weeks, and i did just fine, but i saw no benefit to keeping it out of my diet.

boggsmeister

It's hard to give any kind of real advice without seeing your diary. I know you posted a foods list, but this site works when you are actually counting calories. So, if you open diary we can maybe give you some clues.

I have found that Chipotle and Panda Express have surprisingly few calories if you educate yourself on the choices, and Subway is almost always more calories, and less satisfying, than I had hoped for.

kylas7

I can say Subway can be bad, depending what you put on the sandwhich- I personally like there 6 inch on wheat,roast beef, no cheese, and just add onions, baby spinach, pickles, vineger and oil)

I can understand where you at as I'm have a hard time as well, I think the problem can also be sugar, As I love to have snacks so cutting it down to something, like couple snacks that are more healthier, is a good thing) definitely agree on fruits and vegies) snacks that are portion better)
Water, lots of it- It may take time for your body to get adjusted , but keep looking forward and don't be discouraged everyones different so try to stay with what works for you) as in calories and exerscise.

nikki91950

I'm a diet coke drinker.. There is just nothing that replaces that taste no matter how hard I try to give it up. Plus it's the only thing that makes taking the prednisone somewhat tolerable. Otherwise the bitter taste lingers forever.

Anyways, I thought the problems with drinking Diet drinks was the fake sugars trick your body into thinking you're hungry thus causing you to eat more? If you have the ability to say within the amount of calories you should be eating to lose weight why would the drink cause problems?

As for insulin levels ... I'm diabetic because of the prednisone and have to check my sugars on a regular basis. If I drink just a pop and check my blood sugar afterwards, it doesn't affect my blood sugars much, if at all.

oh Lord, thank you for sending someone to back me up!

steinbok

Does anyone have any tips for me?

Things I eat and enjoy..please give me feedback if you want and maybe any tips or things I should change.
*Diet Coke - usually 3 a day - Only caffeine I drink and love it
* I enjoy eating at Chipotle, Subway if I do eat out. (Typically order the rice bowl and eat half for lunch and half for dinner and at Subway Steak egg white and cheese on wheat)
*Usually have 8 - 10 glasses of water a day.
* I typically exercise 5 days a week 30 minutes of cardio.
*I work at a hospital where I am on my feet all day usually 2 to 3 days a week as well.
*I have a weight watchers scale and weigh myself daily and don't seem to see the numbers change.
*Typically eat breakfast, lunch and dinner
*I do drink and go out typically twice a week but do alot of dancing. I never drink beer, usually a liqour and Diet coke..

my 2cents, though, I'm sure they've all been covered....
Open up your diary, we will be able to help you out easier.
Lose Subway... Any of their breads are 400-500 calories... and many carbs... There's more bread there, than in a bagel and that's 300.
8 is better for water, not 5.
Eat more during the day, less at dinner. You're more active during the day..
Lose all sodas. Diet Coke is POISON. Read the label sometime, then look it up on the web.
If you're serious about losing weight, go all the way. Eliminate things that are large contributors to your daily caloric intake.
Set a goal number.. Get it in your head, and then stick to it.
Enjoy the process... Just to clarify something, I did weigh myself daily, but I was so into getting to my desired weight, that I had set a plan and followed it to the 9s.
Keep up the activities.

mdrngypsy

for some people aspartame, the common sweetner in anything diet, stalls weight loss. I am one of those. Even one aspartame drink a day and i dont lose weight on a 1000 calorie diet plus exercise. If you want your coke switch to coke zero. Thats made with sucralose which is better than aspartame and does not interfere with weight loss

Also caffiene interferes with sugar levels (scientifically proven) so it would make sense to replace your caffiene and aspartame laced drink with sucralose (splenda) sweetened ice tea.

Uhm, your lack of losing weight on 1000 calorie diet plus exercise could have had more to do with the starvation effect, no?

Sarahkittymeoww

if the water doesn't have any subs, then what flavors it? are you referring to the carbonated Walmart brand water? i prefer Nestle, since it's not carbonated, but it's made with Splenda. and i totally agree with that last statement. i do drink a lot of diet soda, but i also make sure to drink more water every day than anything else. it's all about compromise for me.

Well it's got "natural flavors" which is literally what it says on the ingredients, lol. But no sugar additives or subs. I usually get lemon. It is good although it's clearly less sweet than others, but maybe it's an acquired taste, I don't know. I will also go for the wally brand, I just make sure I drink at least three times more water in a day than any other beverage. Water is just fantastic for our bodies, everyone should try and get in a little more a day

nikki91950

for some people aspartame, the common sweetner in anything diet, stalls weight loss. I am one of those. Even one aspartame drink a day and i dont lose weight on a 1000 calorie diet plus exercise. If you want your coke switch to coke zero. Thats made with sucralose which is better than aspartame and does not interfere with weight loss

Also caffiene interferes with sugar levels (scientifically proven) so it would make sense to replace your caffiene and aspartame laced drink with sucralose (splenda) sweetened ice tea.

Uhm, your lack of losing weight on 1000 calorie diet plus exercise could have had more to do with the starvation effect, no?

lol, i was JUST thinking the same thing...

drink a diet coke and eat about 1000 more calories per day, and then we'll talk.

steinbok

I ate almost 2kg of carbs last week and I still lost 2 pounds on the scale Monday morning. Low-carb is very unnecessary.

Start strength training, focus on hitting your protein goal and getting as close to your calorie goal as possible (eat over BMR, but under your TDEE), and let the rest of the chips fall where they may.

I eat carbs too, but usually in the form of Fibrous veges or grain bread. Hardly eat rice or pasta anymore and when I do its about a quarter of the prtion I used to have. Love my good carbs!

Ditto, sure, I eat carbs.. There are plenty of unnecessary, processed ones that are BAD, cause you to gain a bunch of weight, and then there are others that are good.(like natural ones occurring in food)

I've lost 22# (so far), eliminating all those bad carbs.

Eat sensibly, exercise, just don't overdo either one.

divinebird

as i mentioned in a previous post, i did give up DC for 6 weeks, and i did just fine, but i saw no benefit to keeping it out of my diet.

Aside from preventing bone loss, insulin overproduction, caffeine addiction, tooth decay, and all the other problems associated with it?

I know I'm not going to change your mind, but since this IS a thread originally about asking for suggestions about changing a diet that currently isn't working, I stand by what I said. Diet sodas are horrible things all around, and IMO, there's no benefit to keeping them IN one's diet. Especially if we're talking about multiple servings a day.

nikki91950

as i mentioned in a previous post, i did give up DC for 6 weeks, and i did just fine, but i saw no benefit to keeping it out of my diet.

Aside from preventing bone loss, insulin overproduction, caffeine addiction, tooth decay, and all the other problems associated with it?

I know I'm not going to change your mind, but since this IS a thread originally about asking for suggestions about changing a diet that currently isn't working, I stand by what I said. Diet sodas are horrible things all around, and IMO, there's no benefit to keeping them IN one's diet. Especially if we're talking about multiple servings a day.

touche, but diet soda is the only pleasure i have left for the moment, so that's the benefit i get out of it. i'll think of this thread when i finally break a hip and lose all my teeth.

BaconMD

for some people aspartame, the common sweetner in anything diet, stalls weight loss. I am one of those. Even one aspartame drink a day and i dont lose weight on a 1000 calorie diet plus exercise. If you want your coke switch to coke zero. Thats made with sucralose which is better than aspartame and does not interfere with weight loss

Also caffiene interferes with sugar levels (scientifically proven) so it would make sense to replace your caffiene and aspartame laced drink with sucralose (splenda) sweetened ice tea.

…correct me if i'm wrong, but, doesn't tea have caffeine in it?

No correction necessary. Herbal teas don't have caffeine, but actual tea leaves do, and you can get decaf tea and decaf coffee, and not all of it is terrible nasty crap, either. But anyhow, it's not surprising the person you are replying to has their weight loss stalling on a 1000-calorie diet... I think I had a pet turtle that ate more than that in a day.

I ate almost 2kg of carbs last week and I still lost 2 pounds on the scale Monday morning. Low-carb is very unnecessary.

Start strength training, focus on hitting your protein goal and getting as close to your calorie goal as possible (eat over BMR, but under your TDEE), and let the rest of the chips fall where they may.

I eat carbs too, but usually in the form of Fibrous veges or grain bread. Hardly eat rice or pasta anymore and when I do its about a quarter of the prtion I used to have. Love my good carbs!

What's wrong with rice and pasta? Sunday night at 11pm I ate a plate of rice... and a bowl of pasta... 169g of carbs right there, am I insane? Some days, I even combine the two and make a bowl of - you guessed it - delicious rice pasta. It's pretty great stuff! Now, I do eat whole grain pastas and long-grain brown rice and I avoid the white stuff as much as possible. But nobody will ever make a compelling enough argument for me to give these up, nor my sprouted grain bread, nor my granola, nor my quinoa, and the list goes on..

--

Anyhow, to the OP - don't make this overly complicated. Figure out your BMR, your TDEE, and choose a figure somewhere in between and eat that. Track your exercise (using a Polar HRM, ideally) and eat back at least some of your burn (I typically eat all or most of mine back) and just keep doing it. You will see results.

Your diary is closed and you didn't mention anything relating to tracking your actual food, so this is just advice I'm throwing out to you. Maybe you already do this, I have no idea. But it seems like you're just trying to find a cause of your lack of progress in assorted and random things. There is really not just one random food product or exercise or whatever that will stop you from losing weight. You're either not eating enough (you are quite active, judging by your post, so your needs will reflect that), or you're eating too much. It's really that simple, but if you're not tracking it, you will never know.

[ Also, some scales have a "handy" memory feature that will prevent weight fluctuations from showing. Maybe your scale has this problem if it never changes? I'll echo the earlier statements, though - weigh yourself only once a week or every other week, on the same day, in the same clothes (or none), and at the same time of day (morning, before eating). ]

Missaprilnichole

Thank-you all for your input!!

I opened my diary..this is a big step for me..However, I am fed up an determined. I know if I have it open i am really holding myself accountable!

Just got back from Fry's and planned my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow and it is packed and ready to go for my 12 hour shift at the hospital!

Again thank-you and please if you look at my diary , constructive crticism is nice
I had a bad day as it shows in my food diary

nikki91950

looked at your diary- you're consistently over on your fat intake, and though it doesn't show, i'm sure your sodium levels must be off the chart. AND WHERE ARE ALL OF YOUR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES?

BaconMD

You can see the sodium levels if you go to the full report. I looked, and in the last week there's enough salt to sterilize a medium-sized swimming pool.

I'll be honest, it doesn't look like you cook much at home. You can lose weight eating as much processed foods and eating out as often as you do, but it's going to be quite tricky.

I would start by making all the stuff you currently eat out yourself, at home, with fresh ingredients. And then work on improving them for health.

I wouldn't worry TOO much about fat levels. I am always over on fat intake, but mine comes from better sources, like nuts and eggs and such, and I use less and less for frying my foods all the time.

This is where I would suggest you start, anyhow. Make tacos at home, burgers, etc. and then start doing what you can to improve (bake instead of deep fry, etc).

It's hard, I know. My diet used to be even worse than yours, and that's how I ended up at Err2 pounds.

divinebird

Thank-you all for your input!!

I opened my diary..this is a big step for me..However, I am fed up an determined. I know if I have it open i am really holding myself accountable!

Just got back from Fry's and planned my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow and it is packed and ready to go for my 12 hour shift at the hospital!

Again thank-you and please if you look at my diary , constructive crticism is nice
I had a bad day as it shows in my food diary

Good on you! You'll have good days and bad. Tracking everything (EVERYTHING) is a huge step that will help you understand where the problems might be. I know my issues cropped up with bored eating and also...at first, I wasn't entirely honest on my diary. I found myself skimming off an ounce of food here, a cup of something there. Be totally honest and put everything in your list, even if you're pretty sure it doesn't count. Trying to make your diary look good is the same as cheating at solitaire--YOU are the only person who suffers. I'm not saying you do this--I'm saying that it's really easy to fall into that trap.

You can also add other things to track. Fiber is a good one to watch at first, as are sodium and sugar. Those trackers may help you change your habits and steer you toward more healthy choices in general.

Aside from my earlier suggestion about diet sodas--try to get away from processed foods. They contain way more ingredients than necessary, and often the calorie count is much higher than the same thing homemade. Today looked good on that count but some recent days show lots of brand names and prepackaged foods.

I'm adding you as a friend; feel free to add me back! I am good about nudging people because I'm totally a busybody.

JBsCrazyGirl

Subway foods are actually very high in calories.

I haven't been to Subway since starting this because I can find a lot of other fast foods for less calories.

It's deceiving, you think it's healthy because it's a sandwich.

100% true.

You can have a very nice healthy meal at home, I am talking MEAL. For what you would use your allowance on for even a 6" wheat turkey sandwich with out cheese and that's it.

Most the sandwiches are very high in
calories, fat, carbs and sometimes sodium.

You can make an amazing sandwich, for much cheaper at home that is MUCH better for you

Susabelle64

Sodium has been my enemy personally............before I started MFP I lost 12lbs doing nothing but making my food choices based on 3 criteria.

meals under 500 cals
snacks under 200 cals
low sodium choices.

I found that when I started reading labels the bad, high fat foods where always high in sodium as well. I would encourage you to add sodium to your daily tracker.

If you absolutely love a food, then use it with moderation. I'm a coffee drinker myself so I understand your attachment to diet coke. If you feel you can reduce it by one diet coke this week, drop it by another next week and ween yourself off. I dont know if you feel you can or not it is totally up to you. I only have one coffee a day now in the morning.

I agree with the others about not weighing daily, take your measurements and track those weekly as well as a weekly weigh ins is a better and less stressful way to check your progress.

If you look up the foods you love at fast food places you can see the difference in sodium levels it may open your eyes as to some better choices, even at Subway. Just be aware of what you are putting in your body and that fast food has a lot of hidden pitfalls and fat is only part of that.

Pick one day a week to have a cheat meal, this does not mean to go totally overboard, but have something that is a favorite but isnt part of your daily routine any more with your new healthy choices. I realize some people cant do this without feeling like they just sabotaged themselves, but I think it is important not to feel you are deprived, after all you do have to eat like this for the rest of your life.

Just remember, loosing weight is not about depriving yourself but making better choices within your calorie goal. This is a journey to learn about your body and how it reacts to what you are putting in it. Experiment a little with it, try cutting something out for a few weeks, try new vegetables or fruits. Some people will tell you carbs are the enemy, some (like me LOL) may say sodium, some may say diet soda......yada yada yada........We are all right, but we could all be wrong too. This is an excellent site to get ideas on what to try to get our weight loss going, but the reality is what will work for you may not be what has worked for me or others, but I bet there is someone on here that has a plan that will work for you.

Good Luck!!