The DIETING ENCOURAGEMENT thread

[MrsAbe]

I did strict keto for 18 months and only lost 15 pounds, it was 20 carbs or less each day. Protein plus lots of vegetables (plus wine). I then heard about the carnivore diet for autoimmune diseases, and I thought “why not try it for 30 days?”. The 30 days turned into almost 3 years, and I feel better than I have for the last 30 years. I lost 35 pounds in the first 4 months and 3 years later I am still feeling good. This zero-carb diet (including wine) includes about 2 pounds of beef, lamb, pork plus other animal food, with the exception of none of any type of poultry, plus about 1/2 stick of butter plus other fats a day. This is not a diet for everyone, but it has improved my health dramatically.

 

[cenk57]

I’ve watch my weight increase steadily through my 30s. I’ve tried the fad diets, Keto, Adkins, even the smoothie diet. Yes, they worked while you followed them. But the weight came back on as soon as you eased off of them. Finally, I decided to get serious. My mother in law had good luck with weight watchers, so I tried it. While, like most diets, it is not for everyone. You must track most of what you eat. But, it has worked for me. When following it, it’s good for 1.5-2 pounds per week consistently. I did mess up during Christmas, but who doesn’t

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I lost approx 50 pounds in 2.5 months using Optavia - Very similar to a Keto - but also regulating how much you eat. This actually shrinks your stomach and mentally it is easier when you go off the plan. It has been 2 years since dieting and I gained 5 pounds - with covid and retirement and such -

Here is a pic of before , during and after dieting.

 

[Dan M]

Here's my $0.02:
Back in the day I had success with "The Zone" diet. This is a low carb, balanced carb/fat/protein diet. Now I tend to stay away from diet fads.
1. Walking - The pandemic has allowed me to work from home and take time out to walk 3 days per week. I started with 1 mile and am currently at 5 miles. This burns a lot of calories but is hard to keep motivated.
2. Count calories - At my age/size, I can drop roughly 1 pound per week if I stay below 1500 calories/day. This is also hard to maintain, but I allow an extra 200/day for wine. I'm not a savage...
3. Fasting - I.F. is a fad thing, but I break it down to be much simpler. Start by eliminating late night snacks. I eat nothing after 7pm. Next, delay your breakfast until after 7am. This is a 12-12 fast and is super easy to do. If you screw up, just start over tomorrow. I have been able to take it to a 14-10 fast over time, which works even better. I find with a 10 hour window for eating, I eat less and want less.

And yes, I plan to screw up over holiday breaks or any time my kids come to visit. They think tequila shots are a family Thanksgiving tradition! Cheers

 

[NorCal]

@jswordy, @cmason1957, @ChuckD, @hounddawg. Just a question for the heck of it. How many of you were raised with "the poor people in Europe (or wherever) are starving" guilt trip so that you had to finish everything on your plate? To this day, as I approach 80 years of age, I cannot leave anything on my plate, even if I hate it!

Yup. Mine was more of a childhood self responsibility lesson. Us kids got to serve ourselves, which had to include the required vegetables. However, if we took it, we had to eat it. As a hungry child, my eyes were always bigger than my stomach, but I couldn’t leave the table until the plate was clean. Good life lesson, but still can’t get it out of my head decades later that it’s ok to finish everything on the plate.

 

[Rocky]

Yup. Mine was more of a childhood self responsibility lesson. Us kids got to serve ourselves, which had to include the required vegetables. However, if we took it, we had to eat it. As a hungry child, my eyes were always bigger than my stomach, but I couldn’t leave the table until the plate was clean. Good life lesson, but still can’t get it out of my head decades later that it’s ok to finish everything on the plate.

We were pretty much the same way. There were four boys plus our parents and food was served "family style," i.e., bowls and platters on the table. It was "serve yourself" but everyone had to have a serving of the entree and some vegetables. Incidentally, I am talking about the late 40's and early 50's, just for a time frame.

I was never a problem and would eat anything that did not eat me first. However, I had one brother who was very picky and would refuse some foods, even at gunpoint. My mom used to say, "He will sit there until he eats it." In most cases, this had no effect, and he would sit there until bedtime and then be sent up to his room. He was always thin until he enlisted in the Marines and, wow, did they fill him out.

 

[jswordy]

All of the successful diets seem to target carbs. WW, Keto, Mediterranean, I’m sure there are many more. In 2020 I lost 45 lbs then got my COVID 19…. More like COVID 25! I have been getting serious about carb reduction again in the last three weeks and am already down 7 lbs. to keep it off you need to permanently change your lifestyle! For me that’s no sugary drinks (except a wine or two each day) very limited pasta, bread, and sweets.

it’s not a vanity thing. I just feel like when I’m eating too may carbs. That and I want to stay healthy so I can enjoy the grandkids. WW helps keep me on track (all fresh foods. none of their processed garbage) Within a week of limiting carbs I feel much better.

Congrats on the weight loss!

I am right there with ya. I feel better staying off the carbs, though my senses are attuned to crave them as "good." I use them as a rare treat. But it is hard not to drink beer. I make sure to limit that to stay within by 25 grams a day. Keto gurus I have read say the best alcohol with the diet is straight ooze on the rocks (1 shot max per day), and #2 is wine (2 max per day). The amount is restricted because the alcohol conversion takes resources from fat burning and due to the inflammatory effects.

The lifestyle change for me, I hope, will come from not having a diet goal. In my 30s and early 40s, I was into bodybuilding and so I have become used to the goal paradigm for physical fitness. Problem is, you reach your goal and that's that. Backslide. I have to break that in order to sustain. That's why I don't have a weight goal and I'm not doing any extra exercise this time. I am just gonna lose until my body says it has lost enough. One thing where my past experience bodybuilding has helped me is in easily viewing food as fuel only. It makes the conversion smoother.

 

[jswordy]

I am on what I call my "3 bowling ball" diet. I hope to lose at least 48 pounds and I am using NutriSystem's program. I started about a month ago and I have almost lost my first bowling ball (16 pounds). The program is okay, food is passable (no danger of a Duncan Hines rating). What it amounts to is about 1100 calories per day plus all the low carb (starch and sugar) content vegetables that you can eat. My progress is not as impressive as some, perhaps, because of the way I cook my vegetables (steam, then saute' in olive oil and herbs) and the amount I can eat.

I just received my 2nd month's delivery of NS food and I plan to suspend deliveries going forward. I have been scoping out store bought items that mimic the NS products. I believe that as long as I eat lean meats, fish, chicken and lots of vegetables and try to limit my daily caloric intake to 1500-2000, I should be okay. I have lost thousands of pounds in my lifetime. The problem is I have gained a net 245 more over the same period. I would like to get down to something that approaches my high school/college weight of about 190 and maintain it, which is normally the struggle. I have reached goals in the past and then I, "Well, it's only one pound" myself back up to the 240's.

Congrats on the weight loss. I would say 126 pounds in less than a month is a very good, steady rate of loss. Check out a keto diet as a way to continue and sustain. I agree, sustaining the loss is the hard part.

 

[jswordy]

@jswordy, @cmason1957, @ChuckD, @hounddawg. Just a question for the heck of it. How many of you were raised with "the poor people in Europe (or wherever) are starving" guilt trip so that you had to finish everything on your plate? To this day, as I approach 80 years of age, I cannot leave anything on my plate, even if I hate it!

I was raised in the late '50s and early '60s, when a fat baby was a healthy baby, you were told to clean your plate, and Hi-C fruit juice, Kool-Aid and Tang were all acceptable, good for you drinks for kids. Sugar-bombs (name your brand) were accepted breakfast cereals. The one thing we did not get a lot of was sodas/pops. Otherwise, it was a carb-loaded diet.

BTW, IMO there's nothing wrong with cleaning my plate. I do it even during my diet, and I am never hungry as I diet. The challenge is to put food on the plate that I can clean off and still be healthy and at a lower weight eating.

 

[jswordy]

the best way IMHO IS set your time like no food from 6;pm till 6am
Dawg

You're talking about intermittent fasting, which can work too. But I'd rather be full while I diet. My wife has had great success with fasting for weight loss, though.

 

[jswordy]

Not so much. Although we were encouraged to clear our plates. In actuality I have lost 40 lbs in the last year the old fashioned way a pound or so every week. Have about another 40 or so to go. Now if I could just figure out how to increase my exercise time that would be much faster, but sedentary are me. New knees, can't run, can't exercise much.

Congratulations on your weight loss, Craig!

 

[jswordy]

I completely agree with the calories in less calories burned equation. If > 0 equals weight gain, if < 0 equals weight loss. I also think if one examines any of the popular diet plans, they all come down to depending on calories consumed and calories burned in the end.

I think the difference for me with ketogenic is that it gets ride of inflammatory effects that carb loading launches throughout the body, including insulin resistance over time. You can actually lose quite a bit of weight just by getting rid of the inflammation, and the associated fluid retention that comes along with it. That's why I feel better eating this way, I think, and feeling better is a powerful motivator. it worked for me in the past, before it was a fad diet, too – back when I was using it to goal diet for bodybuilding. The best benefit for me is that I am never hungry. I can eat as much as I want of the proper foods (though I am playing with my satiety, trying to lower the amount of food that makes me feel full). And what's not to like about steak and any veggie you want except those that grow below ground and corn? Or venison and the same?

Weight Loss Equivalents (Making that number mean something!)
10 pounds - Average 3-month-old baby. Large watermelon.
15 pounds - Vacuum cleaner. Bowling ball.
20 pounds - Shopping cart. Sledge hammer. Patio table.
25 pounds - Two-year-old toddler. Two car tires.
30 pounds - Finnish Spitz dog. Four gallons of water.
35 pounds - Cinder block. A four-year-old child.
40 pounds - Cat food bag. Black oil sunflower bird seed bag.
45 pounds - American bison newborn calf. 2000-watt generator.
50 pounds - Bag of concrete mix. Small square bale of hay. Dorm room refrigerator.

 

[hounddawg]

You're talking about intermittent fasting, which can work too. But I'd rather be full while I diet. My wife has had great success with fasting for weight loss, though.

no fasting, if you don't eat from 6 to 6, or pick your sleep and inative hours, . i got a brother that every time he goes on a diet he gains 20 to 40 lbs, it boils down to you controlling your own mind , same goes for smoking, years ago,, i tried many times to quit smoking, one day i bought a pack of camels, set them on my night stand, they laid there for over 20 years, then one day i threw them away, most things boils down to mind over matter, I HAVE NO MIND SO IT DOESN'T MATTER,, lol
Dawg

 

[jswordy]

no fasting, if you don't eat from 6 to 6, or pick your sleep and inative hours, . i got a brother that every time he goes on a diet he gains 20 to 40 lbs, it boils down to you controlling your own mind , same goes for smoking, years ago,, i tried many times to quit smoking, one day i bought a pack of camels, set them on my night stand, they laid there for over 20 years, then one day i threw them away, most things boils down to mind over matter, I HAVE NO MIND SO IT DOESN'T MATTER,, lol
Dawg

What you describe is exactly what is known as intermittent fasting. Look it up. Though it can be part of dieting, mind over matter doesn't explain the various rates at which people lose on the exact same diet. Men, for example, will lose far faster than women on the same diet plan. Me? I'd rather not be hungry and lose weight anyway.

 

[Sage]

4 yrs ago I hit 233 and decided time to drop some wt. Got just under 230 and had a heart attack!! Doc said lose weight, well I had already started down that trail.

No fad diet, no quick loss plan. My opinion of those is that they are designed to fail... My opinion only!

I basically changed my diet (or, my wife did!!). Less fatty foods, cut back on doughnuts (that's tough!). Eat more cow food. Eat a little less and walk more. I am quite active, weather permitting, and rarely in the house before 5 pm.

My wt dropped fairly fast over the next 6 months after the heart thingy. Went under 200 (first time in years). Then slowly came down to 190.

I get on the scale every morning. I do not let it go over 190. The past few months it's been averaging around 188.

My advice...... Get off your butt, eat more cow food, don't drink your calories, stop eating before you feel full.

Second advice.... Forget the fad\diet plan of the week. When you quit it, you lose, actually more likely you gain. Permanent change of what caused the weight is the only way it's going to stay off.

And, yes I occasionally over do it but I know it's temporary. I\you can control what you eat. I still eat about everything and have a glass of wine. Limit it and it will come off and STAY off!

 

[jswordy]

4 yrs ago I hit 233 and decided time to drop some wt. Got just under 230 and had a heart attack!! Doc said lose weight, well I had already started down that trail.

No fad diet, no quick loss plan. My opinion of those is that they are designed to fail... My opinion only!

I basically changed my diet (or, my wife did!!). Less fatty foods, cut back on doughnuts (that's tough!). Eat more cow food. Eat a little less and walk more. I am quite active, weather permitting, and rarely in the house before 5 pm.

My wt dropped fairly fast over the next 6 months after the heart thingy. Went under 200 (first time in years). Then slowly came down to 190.

I get on the scale every morning. I do not let it go over 190. The past few months it's been averaging around 188.

My advice...... Get off your butt, eat more cow food, don't drink your calories, stop eating before you feel full.

Second advice.... Forget the fad\diet plan of the week. When you quit it, you lose, actually more likely you gain. Permanent change of what caused the weight is the only way it's going to stay off.

And, yes I occasionally over do it but I know it's temporary. I\you can control what you eat. I still eat about everything and have a glass of wine. Limit it and it will come off and STAY off!

Congratulations on your weight loss!

 

[hounddawg]

What you describe is exactly what is known as intermittent fasting. Look it up. Though it can be part of dieting, mind over matter doesn't explain the various rates at which people lose on the exact same diet. Men, for example, will lose far faster than women on the same diet plan. Me? I'd rather not be hungry and lose weight anyway.

maybe for some, when i was told i had diabetes i was drinking a gallon of sweet tea a day with 3 coffee cups of sugar in it, a 12 pack of mountain dew a day, i was buying sugar in 25 lb bags , that doctor said i could not stop cold turkey, i did, after 11 years taking oxycodone 10 mg 4 times a day my next doctor said i had to be weaned of, never took another from that day forward, i don't need to look up anything, i was om 5 mg Hydromorphone 4 times daily thru IV for a year, that doctor again like the last two. yet i did, you speak for what your mind can do or can't do,,, because obviously you aint a clue what a mind can do, and in my OP on this thread i said nothing but a time frame, you posted back, speaking about what you have no clue about, so now i identify as a kitty cat,,,
Skoal = to your health and well being
Dawg

 

[Rocky]

As many are intimating on here, the key is to find something that works for you and to stay with it. I have a role model with whom I have lived for the past 56 years, and I should be more like her, my bride. Bev weighed 108 the day we got married and the most she has weighed was 124 when she had our daughter (7 pounds 3 ounces at birth). Today, she weighs about 114. She eats just about everything that I do but in more modest amounts. Interesting how she got this way. When she was in Pharmacy School at Pitt, one of her classmates teased her, "When you get older, you will be like all those Italian women, 5' 3'' by 5' 3"!" I believe that so affected her that she became manic about weight gain. She monitors her weight 3 or 4 times a week and if she gains a pound or two, she will reduce her intake until it is gone.

Lastly, something that has worked for me was a four-step process that I saw on TV years ago and the developer had a program call "I can make you thin" or something like that. It had four basic steps (and there are paraphrased):

It begins by rating your hunger lever from 1 to 10, 1 being famished and 10 being so full you can barely move. You should try to keep your level between 4 and 6 and not go over 8. Then,

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat anything you want to eat.
3. Eat consciously, i.e., set aside a time to eat, eat at a table and not while watching TV or reading, etc., tasting the food and being aware of the taste, chew thoroughly (15 to 20) times, put your fork or spoon down between bites. In other words, do not just shovel food into your mouth.
4. When you are no longer hungry, stop eating.

I am trying to use this in conjunction with Nutrisystem's plan.

 

[hounddawg]

did not mean to ruffle any feathers to day has been ruff i'm on my 3rd sugar crash of the day, best i can guess is i got my insulions backwards and tripled my fast acting insulin and only 1/3 of my my 24 hour insulin, been doing many years so far this would be my second time to do that, the other time i awoke after a 8 day coma , since then i keep 100 count bottle of sugar/glucose tablets,, i keep 3 of them bottle's, 1 in my bedroom, 1 in my kubota, and one that i fill old medicine bottles so i can carry 10 tablets on me at all times, hehe. i've put a dent in my bedroom bottle today, hands shaking head sweeting, lol took me awhile to type this, hands shaking hard to hit correct keys, just the same i apologize for getting cranky @jswordy ,,,
Dawg

 

[Jovimaple]

Hope you are feeling better, Dawg!