I need help desperately

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Replies

  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    I just started a program in August and it takes al lot of work and dedication. I would recommend a good scale and weigh yourself everyday. I purchased a feelfit scale, but I'm sure there are many to choose from. Be sure it is calibrated correctly. I also just started using the app happy scale hoping to see trends in my weight loss. I would not change your eating habits for a week and log everything you eat and I mean everything. I weight and measure anything I put in my mouth. Use a food scale and measuring spoons and cups. Be diligent. After a week see where you can adjust. I can't say how much fat, carbs, and protein you should have because it is unique to each person. I had genetic testing and am following a diet specifically for me. Start with small changes, like no soda. Drink half your body weight in water each day. I think this is the best habit you can start. Also, incorporate exercise. I walk 6-7 days a week.

    Good luck and stay positive. A positive mindset can go a long way. If you don't have support at home find it else where.

    The bolded sounds like a good way to get hyponatremia. I'm hoping you are using a conversion such as lbs ->oz/2. For instance a 200lb person drinking 100 oz of water a day may not be unreasonable, but drinking 100lbs of water would be absurd.
  • freda666
    freda666 Posts: 338 Member
    Personally, I find tracking what I eat is pretty key, and it does get easier and quicker as time passes and you become more proficient.

    It means you then get a good idea what foods are calorie dense and what you can eat more of and this I find leads to being able to adjust portion sizes so you can still get a good plateful of food while consuming a few less of those pesky calories.

    I also find logging before I eat hugely helpful rather than after the deed is done.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,394 Member
    ugh on the water stuff. Drink enough to be hydrated. Drink more if it gives you the illusion of feeling more full. I find that eating a soup does that well enough for me without having to chug water all day regardless of whether I feel like do so to hit some metrics! And, in any case, I prefer to chug coffee, so there's that!

    To the OP.

    There are many kinds of "big" changes one can make.

    There are the big changes where one just changes anything and everything at once because CHANGE IS NEEDED.

    To me that's sort of like grabbing pebbles from a sack and throwing them at a target hoping to hit a bull's eye. Sometimes you will get a hit. Most of the times you won't. And when your sack runs out you will have a heck of a time collecting all your pebbles and continuing to throw them.

    There are the other big changes which in the end boil down to just one single change: re-arranging life's priorities so as to carve out the time and energy to care for yourself.

    To me that's sort of like spending the next three to five years learning how to play darts in the hopes of being able to regularly throw your set of high end darts straight into the bull's eye. Chances are quite good that, with time and effort, you will learn to regularly hit at or around the bull's eye. And it is relatively simple to retrieve your darts and keep on throwing them again and again.

    The mechanics of weight control are actually quite simple: Use more energy than you're taking in over a long enough time period and you will lose weight. Do the opposite and you will gain weight. Be in an approximate energy balance most of the time and you will maintain your weight.

    Implementing the mechanics to our liking is NOT simple.

    You do need to ask yourself why you do certain things. You do need to learn to work with yourself on modifying and mitigating problem behaviour. You do need to figure out what is worth eating in terms of calories, nutrition and enjoyment and what is less worthwhile to you. And you need to be willing to spend the time and effort to do so if this is going to be more than a short term effort that will be abandoned when things are not going 100% as per plan and life's other issues start to intrude.

    One things I've discovered over the past few years is that humans seem to operate best in some sort of "medium" state. Neither too little nor too much seems to work well for most of us whereas both the top and bottom of the performance envelope often comes with a price!

    Take care of your current and future selves!
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    If you're overwhelmed then start simple an I mean really stupid simple. The good thing is managing your weight is a really simple process (simple, but not always easy).

    Eat more calories than you use an you'll gain weight. Eat fewer calories than you use and you'll lose weight. That's it. That's all there is to it. What you eat, when you eat, how you eat is all largely irrelevant when it comes to managing weight so don't over-complicate things

    1. Get your calorie target, buy a scale and log accurately. In order to manage your weight you need information, data. The first thing you need is your target calories based on how many calories you burn each day. MFP can do that for you when you enter your details. Next you need to know how many calories you're putting into your body and this comes from accurately tracking your food intake. It's a bit of a pain to begin with but quickly becomes second nature and takes no more than a minute or two each day.
    2. Eat food you like in quantities that let you maintain a calorie deficit most of the time. You don't need to 'eat clean', you don't need to 'meal prep', you don't need to change the food you eat. In fact I'd recommend not changing the food you eat. You're eating those things because they're what you enjoy so keep eating them with one caveat you need to track the quantity you're eating so that more often than not you're getting close to your daily calorie target.
    3. (Optional, but recommended) Start moving more. This doesn't have to be joining a gym, but it can if that's what you want to do. It can be as simple as finding an activity that you think you'll enjoy that gets you moving or just making an effort to be more active throughout the day (park further away, take the long way round, take the stairs, etc). This will help you start to improve your health and fitness and can help you burn slightly more calories. This is definitely optional though. Weight loss happens far more due to calories in than calories out and lots of people, myself included have lost significant weight with zero 'working out'

    That's it. Start there and build. As you go along you'll learn things about yourself that will make it all easier (what foods fill you up, what foods just aren't 'worth it', etc).

    G'luck
  • I had the most difficulty with figuring out healthy options mostly for breakfast and lunch. My favorite go-tos are, avocado toast, boiled eggs, almondmilk yogurt w/fruit or granola, tuna/chicken salad. For dinner I have made a hearty vegetable stew for the week and eaten it each day with rice or whole grain/wheat noodles. You just have to just find healthy but tasty options that you genuinely enjoy! My area of struggle is getting in the water I need and excercising regularly. Best of luck to you!!
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    You are the only one who can make this happen for yourself. People can come here and make a million great suggestions but ultimately, it's only up to you to incorporate change into your daily life. To lose weight you have to eat less, move more. It's much easier that way. Tracking what you eat isn't bad at all! That's the main reason why I've stuck to MFP and succeeded so far.
    I hate exercising. :( Wish I were one of those people who are driven to it or at least clean when stressed :/ but nope, I'm an emotional eater too. But I also want to live out the rest of my days healthier, being able to breathe going upstairs, have normal blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. I don't want to have retired only to suffer a stroke and become debilitated. Could it happen anyways? Sure, but I want to do everything within my own power to delay it. I simply walk for exercise. 2-4 miles at a brisk pace every day. I want to feel healthy enough so I can enjoy hiking come springtime. I want to go to the dr. and have her look at my chart and say 'wow what are you doing differently?' I want to go shopping for clothes just for fun. I've never done that because I've always had to shop L-XL-XXL sizes. I want to feel empowered and know I can do whatever *I* want to do. I want to travel. So in order to do all those things, I need to get out of myself that I've wrapped up in a safe comfortable cocoon all these years and change my self-image.
    For you, you need to find your path and the reasons why you want/need to make these changes. Then maybe you'll find the motivation to do it. I'm a binge-er too. :( Probably always will be. It definitely takes a lot of strong resisting temptation and avoiding your trigger foods completely. (I don't bring them in the house or if they do come in, I throw them away/make my dh eat them, whatever works to keep me away from them)
    Wishing you much luck and hope you find your way!!!!
  • Shortgirlrunning
    Shortgirlrunning Posts: 1,020 Member
    You just have to take small steps. Tracking isn’t hard or overwhelming. Most stuff you can just scan a barcode and you’re done.

    Put your info into MFP and set your weight loss goal to 1 lb a week. It will give you a calorie goal. If you exercise, eat those calories back.

    When I started losing weight (needed to lose 70ish lbs) I started very slowly. I didn’t focus on eating super healthy, I just focused on my calories. I ate a lot of pre-packages meals/foods because it was much simpler. I wasn’t exercising at all. Over time as things like tracking became more of a habit, I added in new health habits - like home cooked meals and more exercise. But you don’t have to overhaul your whole lifestyle overnight. Just start by tracking your food, don’t even set a calorie goal right now if that’s too much. Figure out what your base is, what do you eat on average. And then just try eating less than that. I promise this is not that hard if you take small steps/make small changes.
  • BlackBartBlues
    BlackBartBlues Posts: 5 Member
    I feel you. I was 365 lbs a year earlier, and today am 190lbs. I hate tracking (although I religiously did it). So the best thing to do is:

    a) Be consistent - with what you eat and your workout.
    b) Keep things simple - eat the same things everyday, so you dont have to track, and you dont have to overwhelm youself.

    The best diet thing that worked for me is:

    High fiber food (Fruits (in moderation), Greens, cruciferous veggies, tofu etc, low carb multigrain, wholegrain or protein bread, brown rice, quinoa), high protein (lean proteins such as eggs (preferrably egg whites), chicken breast, fish, turkey but no red meat), low carb, low sodium (nothing processed and nothing out of a can even if healthy), low sugar (no dairy, sugars, desserts etc) and moderate fats (eat healthy fats such as avocados, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil. No butter, ghee, cheese etc).

    My menu daily was (with intermittent fasting):

    Breakfast - Fasting + Decaf black coffee (no sugar or dairy but with Truly Zero keto sucralose drops)
    Lunch - 2 slices ezekiel bread or protein bread, veggies and 5 oz chicken
    Dinner - veggies adn 5 oz chicken.

    I ate a pound of veggies and 10 oz of chicken a day. And now and then included fruits.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    I feel you. I was 365 lbs a year earlier, and today am 190lbs. I hate tracking (although I religiously did it). So the best thing to do is:

    a) Be consistent - with what you eat and your workout.
    b) Keep things simple - eat the same things everyday, so you dont have to track, and you dont have to overwhelm youself.

    The best diet thing that worked for me is:

    High fiber food (Fruits (in moderation), Greens, cruciferous veggies, tofu etc, low carb multigrain, wholegrain or protein bread, brown rice, quinoa), high protein (lean proteins such as eggs (preferrably egg whites), chicken breast, fish, turkey but no red meat), low carb, low sodium (nothing processed and nothing out of a can even if healthy), low sugar (no dairy, sugars, desserts etc) and moderate fats (eat healthy fats such as avocados, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil. No butter, ghee, cheese etc).

    My menu daily was (with intermittent fasting):

    Breakfast - Fasting + Decaf black coffee (no sugar or dairy but with Truly Zero keto sucralose drops)
    Lunch - 2 slices ezekiel bread or protein bread, veggies and 5 oz chicken
    Dinner - veggies adn 5 oz chicken.

    I ate a pound of veggies and 10 oz of chicken a day. And now and then included fruits.

    So you were eating about 1000 calories a day; no wonder you lost weight.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    For what its worth - this is how I started, and I have lost 40 lbs. I started by just tracking what I was eating for 2 weeks, not planning to cut anything back or change anything. The next 2 weeks, I planned to add 3 servings of fruits or vegetables every day. The next 2 weeks, my plan was to stay in my calorie goal set by MFP. Then I started tracking my steps - my goal was to add 10% a week until I was walking around 9-10k a day. Then after a few months, I added in bike riding (this could be any activity YOU enjoy). I am now starting to add in weights. Nothing was added so quickly that I felt that I was changing my entire life and no longer having anything I enjoyed. If I started off trying to do what I am doing now I would have been horribly overwhelmed and would have quit the first time it got hard.
  • teresadannar
    teresadannar Posts: 199 Member
    freda78 wrote: »
    Personally, I find tracking what I eat is pretty key, and it does get easier and quicker as time passes and you become more proficient.

    It means you then get a good idea what foods are calorie dense and what you can eat more of and this I find leads to being able to adjust portion sizes so you can still get a good plateful of food while consuming a few less of those pesky calories.

    I also find logging before I eat hugely helpful rather than after the deed is done.

    I agree with this 100%. I waited a year before I took tracking calories & carbs seriously, but it makes a huge difference. Also planning your meals in advance as Freda mentioned contributes to shedding those pounds. It's an adjustment you will need to make, but it is worth it! MFP really does make it simple, there's lots of items you will be able to find when you're logging your food diary.
    It will take time & dedication, but remember,you are worth it!
  • EdDowning2
    EdDowning2 Posts: 11 Member
    As said above, the key is to knowing what you eat. Less calories in than you use and you burn fat. I've lost 50 lbs since the last of April. There are plenty of foods out there that are low on calories that can help you feel full.

    A typical breakfast for me is hard boiled eggs and some kind of fruit. The fruit starts my burn but doesn't last long then the fat burn kicks in. The eggs make me feel full so I don't really think about getting anything else.

    Every ten days or so I treat myself to a " I'm winning" meal. It helps me stay motivated. I hope you succeed as the weight gone really makes a difference in everyday life.
  • mpimental13
    mpimental13 Posts: 1 Member
    40 years old, emotional/stress eater as well. Need to lose 40-50 pounds. Let me know if you need an accountability partner - sounds like we are in the same boat!