Fat Loss support thread

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I've been dieting and exercising seriously for about 2 months now - had a few episodes where I cheated but for the most part I've stuck with it. I don't weigh myself often (don't own a scale) and heaven only knows how consistent scales are but on different scales I've gone from about 151 to 136 lbs last I weighed myself (about 2 weeks ago). Main goal was to lose belly fat / love handles and am pleased with progress so far but still have a ways to go. Still, big difference when I look in the mirror, and its nice to have my pants button easily and even be loose for a change, instead of worrying that I'll pop the button or snap if I exhale or sit down.

Diet-wise, I've been having a meal replacement shake for breakfast, about 10 raw almonds morning snack, usually grilled chicken + steamed veggies for lunch, about 3/4 cup non-fat ricotta cheese or a protein bar for afternoon snack, and some sort of fruit for dinner (usually some grapes or a grapefruit). Not terribly exciting and I need to find a way to introduce more variety into it without torpedoing the nutritional / caloric aspect of it, but I've gotten used to it and can pretty much handle it now - the toughest is being in social situations where other people are eating whatever they please and I'm trying to be good. For me the toughest part is cutting out starchy foods - breads / pastas, corn chips, etc., but this is what I've made a point to do. Also made it a point to not eat after 6 or 7PM at the latest.

That sounds like an excellent plan. I have read numerous times that it is best to eat your biggest meal in the middle of the day, and dine lightly before 7 pm. I am hovering between 158 and 155, trying to get down to at least 140. Any more than that, and my boobs shrink. I also struggle with carb cravings.

Thats great!

Its very hard cutting out starchy food as they are so 'addictive' but I think it is the thing which makes the most difference.

wow I hope I get to be 136 lbs one day!

yes that boob shrinkage is the worst fat always goes off my boobs but grips to my belly, its very frustrating!!

Great thread! I just started another fatloss cycle and here are a few things that consistently worked for me when on a fatloss diet:

Eating smaller portions, more often. I eat every 3 hours, at least 6 times a day. This tricks the body into believing there is no danger of starvation, hence no reason to hold onto fat for survival.
Constantly drink water Same idea as eating more often... The more you drink water, the less you'll retain, the less you'll feel bloated.
No carbs before bed. This helps the glycogen levels drop significantly as you sleep so when you're ready to exercise on empty stomach, the body automatically starts attacking the fatty tissues for energy.
Cardio on empty stomach, preferably when you 1st wake up. This way the body's forced to mobilize fat and use it for fuel during cardio. If you eat and do cardio, the calories you'll be using up for energy will mostly come from food and not the fat stores.
Minimize intake of sugar, saturated fats, alcoholic beverages and carbs with high GI (simple carbs) This is self explanatory, it's all the bad stuff that should be avoided which all promotes fat storage.
Dont use BMI to figure out if you're healthy. Instead, use body fat calipers and a scale to figure out your fat to muscle ratio and customize a program that maximizes fat loss and minimizes muscle loss.
Keep cardio intense but under 45 mins Anything over 45 mins to an hour, the body slowly starts to shift from using fat as energy to using muscle as energy so we want to stop before this takes place.
Keep your calorie intake in check You have to take in less calories than you burn and you'll lose weight. If you take in more, you'll gain. Simple as that.
Stick with the program for 12 weeks Over the years, I've done fatloss for 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks at a time and thru trial and error, discovered that 12 weeks is MY sweet spot where I keep losing fat till then but then it tapers off and I basically hit my plateu at which time I take a 2 week break from dieting and exercise so my body normalizes from all the stress of dieting and high intensity workouts. After those 2 weeks, rinse and repeat.
Have a cheat meal once a week Allow yourself a cheat meal once a week where you can eat anything you want for that 1 meal only. This helps control cravings. Also, make sure it doesn't turn into a cheat day.. lol

I wish everyone luck with their fatloss goals, it's been almost 2 weeks now for me and I started at 172lbs, now at 170. My goal is 160, at which time I should be at single digit bodyfat levels and after a 2 week break, I'll get on a mass diet whcih has it's own set of rules.

hey Ruin, excellent post. Quick question - my schedule pretty much makes it impossible for me to work out in the morning, so I usually have something small to eat around dinner time (say 5 or 6PM) and then start working out at about 8pm. Do you think I'm getting good benefit this way (i.e. burning fat during exercise instead of food) or is it too soon?

I'm having a gastric band fitted late next week. Normally, I would agree that the best way to lose weight is by doing it of your own accord but in my case I have too much weight to lose (11st) and I've failed too often not to need some sort of help.

Wish me luck. I start the pre-op diet on Tuesday!

Golly. That's awful. Why haven't you been able to lose the weight in any other way?

Good luck, but I wish you didn't have to do it.

What's the pre-op diet? And how long do you have to go on it for?

Have you ever tried going on an exclusion diet/cutting out gluten for example, if only for five days to see how you feel? Food intolerance/sensitivities can be relatively hidden with the most noticeable, and classic, symptom being addiction to the very food you're sensitive to. So if it was gluten someone would crave and overeat pastries, or pizza, or bread and biscuits, etc. Gluten, ( in wheat, rye and barley ), is a very large plant storage protein which contains "food opioid peptides" which suppress our natural appetite suppressants, aswell as triggering/signalling for the "storage"/laying down of fat.

Best wishes.
.

That is awful! No wonder that when I eat anything containing wheat, I crave more and more. I am really struggling with this now, and despair of taking off the weight, ever.

A recent study ( 2010 ) also found that a subset of people on the autism spectrum have a hyper-reaction to the chemicals in gluten and casein which trigger the gut walls to increase permeability. ie. some of us may be particularly susceptible to the effects of the opioids/chemical signals.

The opioid peptides in both gluten and casein stimulate production of a chemical messenger in the gut called zonulin which causes intestinal cells to relax their walls, making it possible for larger molecules like proteins, ( eg. opioid peptides ) to pass between them ... everybody has this reaction, ... but this study found that a subset of people on the spectrum produce more zonulin and that their cell wall reaction lasts longer, ( a sort of "inertia" ), which means that more of the opioid peptides are able to enter the bloodstream, thus having more effect not just on appetite suppressants, and fat storage, but also on mood and cognitive function.

Yes, it's rather awful. The most awful thing is how few of the people struggling with weight problems, "diets" and cravings/overeating/bingeing/eating disorders, etc know about this. It doesn't help that the food and agriculture industries now routinely include "sub-products" of both foods, ( wheat/gluten and dairy/casein ), in so many processed foods. It makes them more "more-ish". Sugar of course is the other highly addictive substance, especially for people whose guts have been steadily ruined by chronic immune-system reactions to gluten and have lost absorptive capacity so that their body is short of essential nutrients such that they crave the quick "lift" that sugar gives.

I take it then that you didn't manage to carry on with the gluten exclusion diet which you started with me and some others in autumn 2007? It can be really hard to kick. I think that it can be as hard as, or even harder than, giving up better known drugs like heroin. I struggled for years to do so, often because I doubted the evidence of my own senses, ( that gluten caused my depression ), among other things ... But the support thread here at WP, and the amazing forum "Gluten Free and Beyond" and its sister site "The Gluten File" gave me both the facts/data and the emotional support that I needed, and I have been gf for the last three years, ( apart from a 9 day trial period in March 2009, which confirmed it once and for all ).

Perhaps you could start again?

NB. Another "trick" for losing weight relatively painlessly, that has worked well for me, is to eat concentrated proteins, ( fish, egg, meat, etc ), at separate meals to concentrated carbohydrates ( rice, potatoes, corn, and wheat and sugary things if you must! :lol ). Something about leaving at least four hours between the two different food groups seems to cause weight to fall off.

Best wishes!

PS. The "Gluten Free and Beyond" forum ( which has a brilliant section devoted to research ), is at:
http://www.glutenfreeandbeyond.org/forum/
and its sister site, stuffed with research papers, articles, etc, is at:
http://sites.google.com/site/jccglutenfree/
.

This morning I was 126 lbs, and I was at 147 a few months ago. I had to cut out the sugar because I started on Ritalin and the sugar + Ritalin made me far too jittery. After losing some weight from that I stopped eating the refined carbs and started with regular exercise too. Now I have 1 more pound to go to my goal. It isn't that big of a deal if I don't lose the other pound, but it is nice to meet a goal. I have built some muscle back up using weights and I do my cardio kickbox DVDs, which are huge fun!

I used to be fit before but in the past couple of years I got lazy- well I had an emotional breakdown, so I was not doing much, and I was not watching what I ate either. It wasn't really that hard to get back in shape because I had been there for so many years. It feels great!

I had some carbs today but I was celebrating.

Thanks for the refresher course in opioids! How quickly I had forgotten.

You take it right!

This is what I am longing to do. Slowly, I am losing the habit of turning to sugar and gluten when I get overwhelmed. One of the factors that make it difficult, is a new relationship. He is willing to cook supper every night, as long as he doesn't have to do the dishes. But often, I find myself sidetracked from avoiding gluten. He is aware of my sensitivities, but often forgets. Or, I myself decide to eat it on an occasional basis. Of course that doesn't work well.

That is interesting! I am going to try it.

I have eaten too much wheat and sugar for the past few days and I feel like my brain has shut itself down! I have done several spacey things ! Tomorrow will be a total "no card" day to get myself back to my regular eating habit.

I am trying to lose weight... I am a fat person who lives at her parents and thus cannot really influence her diet. Thus I started exercising religiously. Since I have heard that it is most important for the health to have endurance, but muscle per se, I walk every day for more than 2 hours. It feels good doing it but the morning after is always terrible. Even worse than mornings normally are.

Maybe you should cut back on how long you are walking? One of the biggest mistakes people make, who are trying to lose weight, is to do a lot of exercise early on, hoping to have quick results. If you are feeling terrible the morning after, you are going to get discouraged, and be in danger of quitting altogether. Get a pedometer, and plan to walk for thirty minutes. Take a day's break to see how you feel. Then slowly add more minutes to your walk, to see how much you can take. That way you are likely to stick with it. The idea is not to abuse your body, but gently coax it to handle more. Believe me, I suffer from Chronic Fatigue, and had to learn the hard way to pace myself. Before I had this, I used to jog every day, plus take dance classes. No wonder I burned out.

I was doing great with weightloss over the summer and being back at college for about a month now, I feel like I've lost progress. I do 20 minutes of core exeriises on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, I started doing an hour or so of Fencing on Monday night and sparring in "Fight circle" with the Renaissance Club on Thursdays. I also walk all over the place to get where I need to go and my calves are definitely burning by the time I reach my destination.

It's just the food at college is sooo fatty. Unless I eat a salad or a wrap for every meal, I'll end up eating something bad for me. I order grilled chicken sandwiches whenever I can but they take 15 minutes to make (they make grilled foods to order) and sometimes I don't have the time to wait because of the schedule. I feel like I'm gaining some of the lost weight back already, even if I'm eating smaller portions. I feel like I'll lose all the progress I made by the time this semester's over. I'm soo frustrated. How hard is it for schools to provide more variety of healthy foods? I get pissed at myself, thinking if I lost more over the summer, I'd be better off. I'm so discouraged right now I could cry. >.<