Eat Healthy; Get Fit; Lose 100+ New Group 1st Weigh in Jan.

Count me in, I'm looking at losing 90 to 100 pounds!!

sskera, thanks for sharing your story and the encouragement. These stories of success I've read today do my heart good and give me hope. I'm so sorry for the loss of your first son, but what a wonderful legacy that you have been working so hard to be a strong, healthy mom for your second son. It strikes me that there is so much in life that we cannot control, but for most people weight is not one of them-- we DO have control in that area-- and that's actually a wonderful thing.

Hi ... I would like to join your group. My signature says I have 45 lbs to go but that is just a chunk. If I look at the whole number I get overwhelmed. I am working on eating healthy and balanced (from a nutrienist) and getting some exercise in each day... weights or cardio. I recently had knee surgery so the cardio is limited to about 15 minutes a day.

I need all the support I can get!

Hi Everyone,

Question for you all? How many of you eat your excercise calories? MFP has me at 1900 calories a day, but when I workout, I can easily burn 1200 + calories (because I'm also training for my next triathlon). That puts me at about 3100 calories for the day. It seems like alot. Don't get me wrong some days I could eat that and more if I'm not careful, but other days it's hard to get my calories in. I have wondered over the past year if I'm not eating enough calories because of my high calorie burn, and wondered if this why I haven't been losing. One of the ladies says her doctor has her on only 1,000 calories a day. Am I going to be successful eating my excercise calories back? I committed to trying for at least 3 weeks while eating back my calories. I'm hoping it will work. I guess I just have to wait and see, but wanted to know what are you all doing?

Kim, what you described about the cookies yesterday really hit the nail on the head, at least for me... that if we can just learn to stop with a smaller amount, we can still eat the goodies. That's going to be the big challenge for me, giving up the mindless eating and discovering that a whole bag or box of something is gone.

I did okay yesterday (my first day), but I opted to bump up the number of calories MFP assigned me. They had me at just over 1400 and that's just not enough, I don't think, for a body that's as heavy as mine; I subscribe to the kind of philosophy that Weight Watchers and other plans use, that your calories should start out higher if you're a higher weight, and go down as you lose weight. So I'm starting at 1800 and every time I lose 24 pounds I'm going down 100 calories a day. I may or may not use all of these calories, but bumping up the daily amount now will help a bit with avoiding plateus in the future, and make it a little easier for me to stay with it here at the beginning.

Marle-- if you're training for a triathalon, 3100 calories is NOT a lot. You're probably burning calories right and left. I actually didn't know that we had regular calories and exercise calories, though... that's good to know.

WOW! That is fabulous! I am so impressed. Are you doing anything special?

Thanks guys! I'm not really doing anything special at all, just being careful about what I eat. I've been having a high protein slimfast shake for breakfast and then usually one other one at some point throughout the day. That helps a lot with the chocolate cravings! I also cooked up some turkey chili, some french onion soup and grilled chicken breasts. I had it all portioned out into an ACTUAL serving size (and was shocked at how much more than a serving I had been eating!) so when I was hungry there were healthy choices available. I also made a batch of smoke house almonds so I had a healthier option for when I was craving chips or something. I've also been making sure to drink plenty of water. For me spending a day cooking and portioning out meals really helps. Its easier to plan my calories and it makes it possible to grab something good for me when I get that "I'm starving and have to eat NOW" feeling instead of stuffing my face with cookies and chips.

2 days late but not a dollar short. I to need to lose 100+ lbs but my goal is 56lbs because I don't want to get frustrated. This is the first message board I have applied to. I think it is because I am afraid of what people might think, but I think if I can became friends with people in the same boat as me it wont be so hard. I mean I have the support of my friends and family but I dont want them to hear the bad things I have done or judge me if it doesn't work (again).

My mom got the lap band and lost 100 pounds but now all she can eat is junk food. My brother has lost 50 in the past year just eating right and exercise. So my little brother (of 10yrs) is my inspiration.

So if any of you need support please add me cause I know I need it too. I have yahoo messenger, myspace, and facebook. Screen name to all Thicansxy would love to share receipts, fun and new exercises, and encouraging words.

Good post, jlb. Since you've had success I'm going to ask you about something I posted yesterday. I said I bumped my starting daily calories up to 1800 so that I could go down as I lost weight and maybe avoid plateaus. Sounds like you have done the same thing via MFP recommendations, but have just gone down in smaller increments than I was talking about. Can you tell me whether you've had any problem with slowdown or plateaus? If it has worked well for you, I think I may take my calories back down to the originally recommended amount.

Good post, jlb. Since you've had success I'm going to ask you about something I posted yesterday. I said I bumped my starting daily calories up to 1800 so that I could go down as I lost weight and maybe avoid plateaus. Sounds like you have done the same thing via MFP recommendations, but have just gone down in smaller increments than I was talking about. Can you tell me whether you've had any problem with slowdown or plateaus? If it has worked well for you, I think I may take my calories back down to the originally recommended amount.

I've just been following what MFP recommends for the most part except that at this point I pretty much never eat all my exercise calories. I almost always eat 1200-1400 calories a day regardless of how much I exercise. But I know that after I get down to about 180 I'll probably start eating more exercise calories & expecting my weight loss to slow.

I haven't really had too many issues with plateaus. I've had a couple weeks I've lost a pound or less but those usually follow or are followed by a week where I lose 3+ pounds so it evens out. Whenever I feel like my weight loss is slowing, I consider having a a day when I "shock" my metabolism (which basically means I eat a meal of something I've been craving like Mexican food. yummm). Shocking my metabolism hasn't failed me yet & my weight loss always peps up after I do it.

DavesGal - MFP calculates your calorie recommendation based on whatever information you put into the system. When you were setting up your goals, if you put that you were moderately active, MFP factors those calories into your calorie allotment. For example, when I set up my goals, I entered that I was sedentary under activity level. In reality, I'm pretty active because I exercise for 60-90 minutes most days. BUT, since I enter in that exercise into MFP under the "exercise" tab and it allots me those calories when I enter them, I don't want to essentially count them twice by telling MFP I'm moderately active in my settings.

So, if you're already counting your exercise and enter yourself as anything other than sedentary when you set your goals, you shouldn't count your exercise again by logging it under the exercise tab otherwise you'll be counting your exercise calories twice (and eating your exercise calories twice which, of course, wouldn't be a great idea if you're trying to lose 2#/week). What you enter as your "activity level" under settings should involve what you do on a normal daily basis omitting any exercise. That way, when you exercise, you can add it to the exercise tab. If I sit behind a desk 8 hours for my job, I'm probably sedentary. If I'm a waiter, I may be lightly active. If I'm a construction worker, I may be moderately active. Then I would add my exercise as I do it, no matter what my normal daily activity level is. Make sense?
So, I think most of us have a job that involves sitting most of the time, so we're probably all sedentary. If you're a construction worker, you'd be allotted more calories than the rest of us because you'd normally burn a lot more calories just doing your job.

Thanks, jlb, that's really helpful. I like your idea of the "shock" days, too... I have heard that changing things up both calorie-wise, carb-wise and exercise-wise keeps the body more responsive. And clearly, you're having great success.

This group is exactly what I have been looking for!! I weighed in this morning at 258lbs and would like to be some where between 150 and 125. With all the support on the site I believe I might have a chance.:flowerforyou:

Thanks for all the support
Lisa

Becca - I haven't lost anything yet. I think my signature was deceiving so I made a different one.

I changed the settings and they are still suggesting 1725-1780 calories for me per day. Maybe this is good because I have been struggling with dinners pushing me over the top. My husband is such a great cook! I think I am going to leave it as is for now and then, when I start losing, bump it down or let MFP recalculate it for me.

Thanks for the input

2 days down, 2 days of exercise

Allison, are you set to lose 1 or 1.5 pounds a week? I'm set to lose 2, so that could very well be the difference. :flowerforyou:

I set mine to sedentary and lost 2 lbs a week when I joined in late October. I am losing about 10 lbs a month. I used to be a Taco Bell loving, total carnivore, downing a gallon or two a week of milk. I have made major changes in my diet, including going cold turkey on both milk and soda. I now drink water instead, and easily get 60-120 oz in a day. I also eat a whole lot more fruit and veggies. Taco Bell has been replaced with homemade stir fry (new fave). We (my husband & I) have also discovered that it's a lot healthier, and cheaper, to make all our favorite restaurant goodies at home. We bake our own pizzas, conjure up our own Chinese foods, and mimic Tex-Mex. Let's see Pizza Hut beat 600 calories and 800 sodium in half a large, 6" deep pizza!

Anyway... one more thing to watch on your journeys, friends, is sodium. You can customize your meal plan to lower the sodium MFP allots you. Personally, I think MFP gives waaaay too much. I lowered mine to 1500 a day. It's a struggle, but you find your way around it. I eat a lot of Healthy Choice meals (many which have less than 600 sodium for their whole meal, and are very filling!), and Ensure. I've also found a really yummy, sodium free cranberry cashew mix at Target. It's expensive, but worth it!
I recently discovered sodium free/low sodium breakfast cereals. Check out & compare Malt O Meal frosted mini wheats to cheerios or rice crispies some time, you might be surprised what you find!

So I feel like I'm rambling now, but just wanted to share some of the things that have really helped my progress so far.

I have several yummy recipes that are super easy to make. Stir Fry is probably easiest.

Super Easy Stir Fry:

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken
1 bag frozen stir fry veggies
1 jar La Choy duck, plum, or sweet & sour sauce (or make your own)
1/2 cup La Choy crunchy Chow Mein Noodles
1 cup rice (will make 2 cups)

Chop up chicken, toss in pan with olive oil. Cook through. Add veggies. Add sauce (or make your own). Cook rice as directed.
Place 1 cup rice in bowl, top with meat, veggies, and sauce. Add crunchy noodles on top. Enjoy!

The way I've found easiest to keep my calories & sodium under control is to know what my biggest, baddest meal of the day is going to be, and log that first. Then you just plan everything else around it.

Any time you need an idea for dinner, drop me a line. We plan our meals out for 2 weeks at a time, and I'll be happy to give you one of the recipes.