Advice and Suggestions--be gentle please

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Restybaby2012
Restybaby2012 Posts: 568 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Im kinda new to this site. I need the advice and input of others here for various reasons. Here's the scoop:

Im female....a tad over 40 ::::koff koff::::::..just shy of 6' tall with a sedentary lifestyle owing to major health
issues (read this as, among other things, I have several titanium steel joints, pins plates and screws...from
my shoulders to my ankles. Ive also had a broken back twice)

I have major UARS and SDB from years of untreated OSA making breathing somewhat difficult on a good day.
I AM under the care of doctors and specialists so please understand Im not stepping out in this without medical
care.

I do have type 2 Diabetes that is very well controlled.

Ive only just started keeping a food diary/journal here and Im trying extremely hard to be accurate. Here's how
and what I'm trying to eat because it's something I can maintain long term not just to lose weight;

I love vegies....fresh, raw, steamed etc.
I love fruit equally as much.
I dont do much in the way of meats though I want to change that
I avoid almost all breads and pastas, the only potato I eat is baked with lemon juice (NO butter etc.)
I avoid all sugar forms ('cept for the fruit)
I drink 1 Latte' mug of coffee with Southern Butter Pecan Creamer a day (at like 3am..my day begins about 2-230am)
I drink at least 10, 16 oz bottles of water a day
I drink sometimes 2 Crystal Lite lemonade in a day (2x16oz)
I also drink a can of diet root beer now and then but not regular.
Ive been told to keep my Carb limited to less than 60 per meal

I was recently in the hospital and it was a huge wakeup call. Im determined to do this as a life style change
not a diet. I feel better keeping my carbs limited and eating better. I dont do prepackaged foods, fast
foods, or junk foods etc. I had an apple fritter this morning with coffee and grossed myself out....SOOO
SWEET and greasy. Not something I'll repeat anytime soon that's for sure.

I plan to start walking again as soon as Ive regained a little strength and perhaps swimming. With as bad
as Ive been busted up over the years there isnt a lot of other exercise I can do.

Can anyone offer some advice or ideas in general to help me to be successful at this? What if anything should
I change in my eating to help lose weight? Any tips or tricks are welcome.

Replies

  • dnunny
    dnunny Posts: 125
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    The first step was admitting you need to make lifestyle changes. It is going to take time.

    I'm not an expert on the food aspect, except due to my medical needs I try to limit to sodium. I find that logging what I eat is an eye opener!!!

    As far as exercise goes, swimming, water fitness classes are awesome. I have arthritis in my knees so walking on a treadmill/exercise classes are very painful. I love the water fitness classes and I've lost weight and inches from doing it. I think what I like most about it though, is that I feel EMPOWERED. I can do lunges, jumping jacks, squats, running, jogging etc. in the water!

    I'm 42, and have 100+ to shed in order to gain ME back. Feel free to add me as a friend and welcome!
  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
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    First off you lose weight by diet and not exercise so don't stress about that part.

    Since you have diabetes you should clear any advice from here with your doctor first. You can likely benefit from a higher protein diet to assist with keep muscle while you cannot exercise. It will also fill you up and prevent you from overeating carbs.

    You can't go wrong with more meat and more veggies (unless a medical reason). Because of the diabetes I would try to limit your fruit to one serving a day and potatoes to once every so often.

    I was able to lose 70 lbs with no exercise by following a lower carb/restricted calorie and sodium diet. I didn't do any exercise until a few months back and then started that very slowly because of knee issues.
  • vvanm
    vvanm Posts: 157
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    With your medical issues and restrictions I'm glad you have qualified doctors supervising your weight loss pursuit. My impression of your list is that you are really putting a lot of thought into this which is excellent. Also, you are drinking a lot of fluid so is that because you are that thirsty? Diabetes increases thirst so I wonder if there is a correlation. A diabetic diet is excellent for weight loss because of the glycemic index and insulin control. I do hope weight loss vastly improves your Type 2 diabetes. Don't worry about hard exercise. Just move any way you can to begin with and good luck with restoring good health. Portion control and nutrition are where the focus should be for now.
  • Restybaby2012
    Restybaby2012 Posts: 568 Member
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    I drink a lot because nothing is as good for as fresh cold water. Ive always been a water drinker, I prefer
    it over most other things. I totally prefer vegies and fruit over anything else. I have a good sized salad
    every evening for supper followed by a meat and vegie of some kind. We dont eat fried or deep fried
    foods of any kind.

    I am determined to be a success at this. I cant afford otherwise.

    THANK YOU all for the input.
  • adbohls
    adbohls Posts: 156 Member
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    It sounds like you have all ready made some major changes in your diet. Keep that up!! I have found it extremely helpful to log my food every single day, no matter what. I've lost weight before and that is what helped me then. I have just restarted my journey because once I stopped logging what I was eating, I gained all that I had lost back.

    As far as exercise, do as much as your body allows. If you can't do anything on a particular day, that's okay. With all that you have going on, you will have those days. Just watch what you eat very carefully those days.

    I understand the health issues. I have so many diagnoses and doctors that I had to create a heathcare resume that I carry with me. I have days due to my PCOS that I am bed ridden because I'm in so much pain. Everyday I have my fingers crossed that I don't develop more symptoms with my Leukemia that will signal the need to start chemo. As you can see I"m right there with you.
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    You sound like you are more than prepared for this! Your food sounds great! I think you're going to be more than successful in this and would love to support u. Idk why, but what you said, ur determination...it really touches my heart.
    Sum1 else already touched on this, but you don't have to stress ab exercise. Weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. You can lose w/o doing anything major. I totally recommend water aerobics. My meme (grandma) does it. She has bad everything. She's broken her back, rotary cuff surgery 4 times, knee surgeries umpteen times, back surgery. I think she's had well over 20 surgeries in her lift. She has arthritis and osteoporosis. Doing it in the water is a bit easier on her, so I recommend that. You can even buy these weights for the water. My aunt uses them when she goes with meme
    Diabetes runs in my family. My dad has is and his dad had. It's on my mom's side as well.
    Anyways, even of my rambling, I'm gonna send u a friend request :)
  • brjustice2000
    brjustice2000 Posts: 33
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    Your health issues make the road to success a little tougher to travel but not impossible to arrive at your goal. Absolutely involve your doctor. Sounds like doing exercise may be a little difficult. Even if you eat overall healthy, you have to watch your sugars. Fruit is full of natural sugars. I now only eat fruit as a treat because of the natural sugars.

    Check your diet soda and the Crystal Light to see if Aspartame is listed as an ingredient. If so, drink something else because aspartame causes you to retain belly fat. I used to only drink diet Mtn Dew, no water. I would bike 10 miles, run 2 miles, do pushups, situps, lift weights and couldn't lose the fat. Diet soda is now a treat. Since March 2012 I lost right at 5 inches of belly fat. I was sick for a while and had stopped working out and gained back 2 inches before starting again in March. Overall I am almost 9 inches less around the gut. The biggest change that I've made was giving up diet soda and letting it be a treat. Now and then I drink a Mtn Dew. I do drink Diet Cheerwine because it doesn't have Aspartame or salt. I try to drink 8 or more glasses of water a day; today I drank 10 glasses of water.

    What is working for me is to have carbs, fats, and sugars let over at the end of the day after putting everything into MFP. I usually plan the entire day. If I really do a lot of exercise that day then I can have a treat if I really want one. Today was 1522 calories burned from exercise. I had a fat treat, Pillsbury icing with no sugar satisfied my sweet tooth and still kept my consumed sugars at 52% for the day. My weekly calorie deficit could say I should lose 2 or 3 lbs but if I've had too many sugars I have gained weight when the calorie count says I should have lost.

    What I miss the most is my big navel oranges (I would eat 3 or 4 oranges at a time) and my plate of tomatoes which also have a fair amount of natural sugar. I have a tomato now and then but not a 10 inch plate piled high with tomato slices.

    I still have plenty of beef, about 1/2 lb a day instead of the 1 1/2 lbs a day. My cholesterol has decreased as has blood sugar. My exercise routines burn off the food.

    Basically, I can eat any food that I want but have to control the portion. I am not on a diet. I have made a lifestyle change which will remain permanent to keep the weight off. Now and then, I overeat on portions. Overall, I continue to lose weight, more importantly body fat.

    You can do it.
  • LadyChay
    LadyChay Posts: 6
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    I don't have any medical issues, but when I started my diet this past June I sort of combined the metabolic diet with the diabetic diet. Basically - I've cut my sugar intake and eat only healthy fats. Lean meats, fish and poultry - nuts, greens, eggs etc. The reason? Because everyone I know who has been told they are diabetic or borderline diabetic - automatically loses 30 or 40 pounds by cutting their sugar intake. I have lost 22 pounds in 6 weeks and I eat a lot of food and haven't been doing really anything except walking from the parking lot and taking the stairs at work. (3 flights up and down 3 or 4 times a day) Now that my bike is fixed I will increase my carb intake maybe with some fruit cuz I will need them to keep fatigue at bay. Apples, bananas, grapes and watermelon are high in sugars so watch those. I just tried the 0 fat Greek yogurt yesterday with a small portion of frozen mixed berries (blueberries, raspberry and blackberry (good antioxidants)) and a packet of Stevia sweetener. AWESOME even though I really don't like yogurt. I've been tracking my food for the past several days on here (GREAT TOOL) and it seems I'm keeping my fat intake at around 30 per day, sugars are around 20 and my Carb intake is averaging 70 or so a day. After 2 weeks you don't even crave some of the stuff you didn't think you could ever live without. Pizza for example - doesn't smell appetizing any more and my son will sit in front of me eating away while I enjoy a baked salmon dinner (no rice) with veggies. All the luck to you - it sounds like you have a good start. You may want to check out some breathing exercises for weight loss - they're good for starting out and will help start toning your muscles without all the pain of physical exercise.
  • VogtAndrea
    VogtAndrea Posts: 236
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    Check and find out if there's a aquafit that's mostly stretching and gentle working out for arthritics and for people with health issues in your area, check and see if they also have a discount for people with medical issues then make an appointment with your doctor and ask if you are able to go ahead and try it. IF the answer is yes, then I'm betting your pool will also allow you to do it in shorts, a sport bra and a tank top if you're not into wearing a swimsuit in public to start with.
    If your doctor says it's okay but there isn't, maybe you could start with water walking or water jogging. You do not have to "be one with the cardio nazi's victims" till you're ready for it. Pick a time and please..... talk with the instructors for pointers. They're happy to give them.
  • VogtAndrea
    VogtAndrea Posts: 236
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    Oh yeah... the only real advice I can give you that you aren't already taking is to be very careful with the amount of fruit you eat. It's already full of sugars that want to be fats so if there's a raw yummy veggie beside the fruit, you might want to grab that first
  • Scubanana7
    Scubanana7 Posts: 361 Member
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    I am 57 and also type ii. I'd love to be your friend, if you like.

    While your health issues cut out a lot of exercise, anything in the water would be great. also there is a sit and be fit program on pbs that might work. Don't worry about big exercise....if you can just get in a little. join a gym with a pool, if possible.

    your diet sounds pretty darn healthy....cept for the protein. that is a must for diabetics and for me to lose weight. i eat chicken, fish, eggs, egg whites, and turkey constantly. I also enjoy whey protein shakes. They satisfy my sweet tooth. I add in berries or an apple to the shakes so that I have protein with my fruit to keep my sugars down.

    you are already doing so many healthy things that if you just change your protein and carb ratio, I'm sure you will start dropping weight.

    good luck and send me a friend request if you like.

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