Need advice.

noodles919 · July 2016

I'm 33 years old. I'm 6'2" and weigh 300lbs. I'm tired of looking at myself in the mirror. I work the night shift 10pm-6am but more often than not find myself working til 10am cuz of the people at home that depend on me. I'm lucky to get 5-6 hours of sleep a day. My only exercise is playing with the kids or walking the dog. My wife works so I just really do not have time for the gym. My goal weight is 240 and I've been told that at first it should be easy to lose but after around 5-7 pounds I plateau and this is very frustrating. I eat healthy I've cut the pop and such out of what I eat. Don't know what to do. Need help, suggestions, something. Thanks for reading!!

iamgunz · July 2016

Hello, I understand you have is a very hectic schedule and a night job which really mess with the biological clock. I have twosuggestions, hope you find them useful ;

firstly start moving around , like you have not specified if you have a desk job or not. If you have a desk job start moving out of your chair every hour, may be for five minutes if not more. Take only stairs (no exception). Stairs is like the best strength exercise you can get and it is very useful. I use to climb the stairs and come down around 5 times a day at a stretch for 5 floors. It will take not more then 5-7 minutes. Do it anytime you want and then try to increase the number of times you are climbing the floors.

secondly, just focus on no sugar and low carb food. Even bread and biscuits are high in carbs, try to replace them with eggs or lentils as they are high in protein and low in carb. Food portion is also something you need to watch out for and yes no alcohol and loads of water. Please don't go for fruit juices, they are loaded with sugar.

Hope you consider these two points and make the small changes accordingly. trust me you will see results soon.

Best of Luck!!!

MoveitlikeManda · July 2016

do you weigh all your food and measure your liquids?

the ONLY way you are going to loose the weight is by sticking to your calorie goal and doing it accurately.

you do not need to go to they gym to loose weight, exercise is for health and fitness not weight loss so obvs try getting moving about more because its good for you but make your calorie counting your priority.

how long has the scale not moved for?? if its less than 3 weeks dont panic and just carry on as you are for another few weeks then if there is no change you know you need to adjust your calories.

llbrixon · July 2016

You have to make this a life style change. Watch your portion sizes. Weigh your food. Check weight each week. Limit alcohol. Limit breads. Get rid of junk foods you cannot control eating. Log all foods good or bad. Make small changes in your life each day. You are in control, you make the choices in your life. So, what is it going to be?

ponycyndi · July 2016

You don't have to exercise to lose weight. When I first cut calories, I had no energy, and avoided the gym for a month. I couldn't even go for a 10 minute walk. But I started with small stuff, like mentioned above, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and I park far, instead of circling for a spot. Walk instead of driving thru (for rx, library, etc Not food, lol)

MoveitlikeManda · July 2016

limiting alchol is obvs a good idea but you dont need to limit bread as long as its weighed, logged and fots in your calories.

dont cut out anything you intend to eat in the future, you can eat whatever you want...good or bad again as long as is weighed, logged and fits in your calories

RoxieDawn · July 2016

OP there is completely no need to not eat carbs or anything that contains sugar. The person that posted this information is really posting some sort of fear mongering that carbs and sugar are the devil. You can eat exactly what you already love to eat right now, just less of it to loose weight.

What you do need to do is make a commitment to your weight loss. Stop listening to or reading about plateaus and/or weight stalls. Weight loss is not linear, this is a fact. The more you loose the less calories you will need, so when you get closer to goal, it might slow down some. But it never stops if you are in a continual deficit each day to loose weight.

It is a great best idea to consider the food scale. You should integrate weighing foods as a good practice to aid you in loosing weight and even maintain your weight after you get to goal. No need to exercise one minute if you do not have time or cannot. You can start taking the longer route by parking farther away from entrances, taking stairs, avoid drive through and actually walk through, take a walk around the house, up your stairs if you have them, walk the dog with your kids, run around the yards with your kids, play tag with your kids, etc.

Your weight is one of the single things you have complete control of. Think about that for a minute? There are so many things in life out of our control, but your weight is not one of them. It just takes a commitment from you to start taking complete control of it and embrace the process. You can only get a "better version" of your current self out of the deal!!

atitagain1958 · July 2016

I agree with RoxieDawn. This is a lifestyle change so don't stop eating things you like to eat, just plan them in your calorie allowance. Don't eat the same foods every day. Some people find this a "no brainier" but I find it slows my weight loss down. I have a couple higher calorie days and a couple lower calorie days every week to steadily lose. Just don't go below 1800 calories (I think that's the current low for men). MFP will yell at you if you go too low anyway! Everybody loses weight at a different pace so don't compare yourself to others. I can't exercise either but for different reasons. I'm still losing weight. I eat bread, potatoes, ice cream...you don't have to go extreme to lose weight. We just need to learn what "normal" is.

cee134 · July 2016

I lost 100 lbs (around the same specs as you) but gained it back when I started eating like I use to. I even knew not to do this, but it's done now. Anyway.

The Dash Diet (which is really just a healthy way to eat, I don't follow the sodium restrictions, but it helps) is how I lost the last 30 lbs, which was the toughest to lose. I also calorie cycle alot (all with in reason and I don't fast). Since I restarted my lifestyle change, I have lost 10 lbs, so, not too bad.

or

You can get all your food from a box, you will know exactly how much you eat, and stop drinking for a while. That was my uncle's diet; it does work. The problem is, what happens when you stop eating that way?

One guy lost over 100 lbs by eating the same group of foods every day. Meaning he had the same meals every day. It worked for him.

Koldnomore · July 2016

I also lost a ton of weight - some is back but that's because I got lazy ;p

I didn't work out at all until I'd lost almost 60 lbs so don't feel you HAVE to do it to lose weight. The only thing that matters (for most people) is calories in must be less than calories out. The only thing you really need to do is weight and log, every day. Drink as much water as you can, it will help you to eat a little less because you will feel a bit fuller, it will also help with cleaning some of the sodium out of your system.

Some great suggestions regarding taking stairs, parking further or simply getting up for a small walk around every hour. Every little bit will help. You don't need to starve, but you do need to eat a little less, move a little more, and be consistent. It will come off

Also, regarding eating the same thing every day..I do this every week day for breakfast and lunch I have basically the same thing. It helps a lot to know that I don't have to worry about what to eat. Dinner is different and I also vary more on weekends but in general it's very static. I have found that many people who have been successful with weight loss also eat this way though YMMV. Good Luck!

iamgunz · July 2016

Hey some correction here... I completely agree that sugar and carb should not be omitted from the diet. May be I did not explain it correctly. What I meant was restrict your intake of sugar and if possible go for less carbs. See carbs are essential for your body and must be eaten to ensure smooth running of body, but since we age the metabolism rate comes down ( I am also 30 plus) and since you are not frequent with exercise your sitting metabolism rate is slow and thus digesting curb will be a lot slower for your body. But since it is essential for your body, you must take it. Sugar on the other hand you can easily reduce considerably. (do not omit Sugar as well). If possible get stevia, a good replacement for sugar and try to go for honey based sweets whenever you crave something sweet.

Weighing food works. But since you are starting to loose weight, weighing food will mean less calories and it might make you feel weak. Considering you have a family to take care of, I would like to suggest start educing portion size and slowly and steadily when you reach a certain level of weight loss/portion size, start weighing.

All the best again!!

Need advice.

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