Hello!

[LucyBC80]

Hi there! I've been a long time lurker but now is the time to act! I'm 30, 5'6 and I weight 195lbs. I'm just starting a diet, went to the doctor and everything but the thing is: she wants me to reduce my weight to 150. And I think that is still insanely high. I want to weight at the most 130 but she says my body could shut down if was that thin.

What do you guys think? I know she's a doctor and all but really, 150lbs? That is like a size 6, isn't it?

 

[lovetoscrap]

You certainly need to listen to your dr. That does seem a little high, but 130 is pretty low. However I would suggest that you not really focus so much on an ultimate goal. Set a realistic short term goal, like losing 25 pounds and see how it goes. You should only be losing 1-2 pounds a week for a healthy sustainable loss. Get to 150 and see what you think. You may realized that you are happy with your body and it is an easy weight to maintain and stop there. You may try to lose some more and like it better at 140 or decide that is too hard to maintain. It is possible your dr is just giving you a very conservative realistic goal to work towards so you aren't overwhelmed.

While I know what the charts say I should weigh I am taking things one short term goal at a time. When I am asked how much I want to lose I honestly say that I don't know. I haven't been at a healthy weight for so long that I am not sure what will work out best for me. I plan to just see what happens. It is at least a year away (probably more) so no need to stress about it now. The next 10 pounds are what I am focusing on.

Good Luck! Do you have a specific weight loss plan you are going to follow?

 

[LucyBC80]

You certainly need to listen to your dr. That does seem a little high, but 130 is pretty low. However I would suggest that you not really focus so much on an ultimate goal. Set a realistic short term goal, like losing 25 pounds and see how it goes. You should only be losing 1-2 pounds a week for a healthy sustainable loss. Get to 150 and see what you think. You may realized that you are happy with your body and it is an easy weight to maintain and stop there. You may try to lose some more and like it better at 140 or decide that is too hard to maintain. It is possible your dr is just giving you a very conservative realistic goal to work towards so you aren't overwhelmed.

While I know what the charts say I should weigh I am taking things one short term goal at a time. When I am asked how much I want to lose I honestly say that I don't know. I haven't been at a healthy weight for so long that I am not sure what will work out best for me. I plan to just see what happens. It is at least a year away (probably more) so no need to stress about it now. The next 10 pounds are what I am focusing on.

Good Luck! Do you have a specific weight loss plan you are going to follow?

Sadly, I've been overweight my whole life, never weighing less than 170 even as a teen. When I got to college I blew up to 195 and the scale never went back down.

Since I started this diet I lost 6 pounds but I can't deny it has been a struggle. I don't eat red meat and I cut down my carbs ingestion to three portions a day. I've also cut on the snacks. I spend most of my days seated behind a desk and people at work seems to love their pastries. I started to bring some fruit to munch on, which is helping a lot.

I AM kind of lazy, I won't never tell you otherwise.It's not much the exercises that bothers me, it's starting them that seems to be the problem. Nonetheless, I'm committed to be healthy and I will go to walk every afternoon.

I truly want to achieve at least the main goal of 150. I gave myself 9 months to do so, I have a wedding in January where I am a bridesmaid and the bride said she will wait for me to tell her what size of a dress will I use till December 9th. I really want to look pretty for this wedding.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Sadly, I've been overweight my whole life, never weighing less than 170 even as a teen. When I got to college I blew up to 195 and the scale never went back down.

Since I started this diet I lost 6 pounds but I can't deny it has been a struggle. I don't eat red meat and I cut down my carbs ingestion to three portions a day. I've also cut on the snacks. I spend most of my days seated behind a desk and people at work seems to love their pastries. I started to bring some fruit to munch on, which is helping a lot.

I AM kind of lazy, I won't never tell you otherwise.It's not much the exercises that bothers me, it's starting them that seems to be the problem. Nonetheless, I'm committed to be healthy and I will go to walk every afternoon.

I truly want to achieve at least the main goal of 150. I gave myself 9 months to do so, I have a wedding in January where I am a bridesmaid and the bride said she will wait for me to tell her what size of a dress will I use till December 9th. I really want to look pretty for this wedding.

It sounds like 150 may be very reasonable for you. Not all of us are made to be supermodel skinny and to try to force it can be miserable and unhealthy.

I am lazy too-- big time! I hate to exercise. I have been trying to walk a few times a week but I am a fair weather person. If it is too hot or too cold or not sunny enough then I don't want to go outside. I did get the Walk Off the Pounds DVD and have been enjoying that-- you might see if you can check it out from your library and try it. There are quite a few different versions of it. I put the DVD in my laptop with no sound and do it while I watch TV.

Are you following an eating plan from your doctor or a specific program? You really shouldn't be cutting out snacks-- in fact you may need to be increasing them! Most every "diet" plan suggests 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. The key is to make them healthy snacks. I personally love the South Beach Diet which focuses on lean protein, veggie and good carbs. A lot of people here use Weight Watchers and I have done it in the past but I am just not interested in going to (and paying for!) meetings at this point. They have an online program also.

A snack high in protein will keep your body from having those sugar highs and lows that can make us hungry and lethargic and send us running to steal a coworkers pastry! You really want to eat BEFORE you get hungry. I know once I feel I am starving I want to eat everything I see, to heck with the diet! And be sure to drink plenty of water.

Good things for snacks:
celery and Peanut butter
celery and Laughing cow light cheese
apple and pb
apple and cheese (love it with some sharp cheddar)
non fat plain greek yogurt with fruit or I put in sugar free Jello powder-- just enough to make to make it taste good
light yogurt
cheese sticks
a few pieces of deli meat with cheese
small salad
small cup of soup
veggies and dip
a serving of nuts
good quality protein shake
cottage cheese


I could go on and on! You need to be sure that you are eating enough food. It seems counter intuitive but if you don't eat enough you won't lose weight. Initially you will see great results but your body will decide that it isn't getting enough food and start holding on to the fat so it doesn't starve.

You might think about joining our Biggest Loser Challenge here too. You can join anytime and it is so great to have others to talk to about how your day has been, good and bad and with you. The biggest thing I think we have to remember is that there WILL be bad days-- sometimes bad weeks-- but you have to just get right back to what you were doing and keep moving forward. I have let a bad day or week send me right back into unhealthy habits so many times in the past. When I finally allowed myself to just put a bad day behind me I started to really stick with it. I am down 50 pounds from where I was 2 years ago and my goal is to lose 25 this year.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I think at 5'6" 150 is a good weight. I'm 38 and 5'1" and my weight should be 135. I think 130 for you would probably be to low.
I wouldn't worry about the weight so much as how you feel. What your cholesterol levels are and what your Blood pressure is at.

 

[Rose&Mike]

I am 5'7". I started out at 189. My goal weight was 150, but I am maintaining at 140 (I'm actually up a few pounds right now, but still in my maintain range.) I actually got down as low as 137.

Anyhow, I definitely have a "large frame" and I am pretty comfortable in the 138-144 range. I wear between a 4 and an 8 depending on what it is. I could definitely lose a few more pounds and still be healthy, but I don't feel like I need to.

I would work on losing and see how you feel. I think a lot of it has to do with how much muscle you are carrying, how much you are working out, how fit you are. I weigh ~8 more pounds than I did in high school (20+years ago) but I am a smaller size I guess because I am in much better shape. (I have a few things leftover from then that I can actually fit into, so its not just the current trend of vanity sizing.)

It took my brain a long time to get used to the new me. I still think of myself as big sometimes even after maintaining for over 18 months. Someone this week told me I was tiny and I wasn't sure who they were talking about.

Whatever you do, watch your calories. Stay in a healthy range and let the weight come off at a reasonable rate. There are tons of side effects when you aren't getting enough nutrition and that's what you want to avoid.

Good luck!

 

[JCH]

I don't want to sound offensive, but I don't think you are being realistic. For one, I am 5'6'' and 153 pounds...and a size 10. So no, being 150 does not necessarily mean you will be a six. I was also completely taken aback by the fact that it seems you think a six is not okay! As though it is "only a 6" and still somehow too big. That thinking has got to be thrown out immediately if you want to be successful!

Secondly, this is a website I like because it breaks down by frame. You basically wrap your fingers around your hand to figure out if you are large, medium, or large frame, and it gives you the most appropriate weight.

http://www.healthcentral.com/diet-exercise/ideal-body-weight-3146-143.html

Even if you have a "small frame", the least you should weight and be in the healthy range if 132. If you are large framed, 150 is the very low end of healthy.

Also, please look into sustainable, healthy dieting techniques. I see too many people thinking they are going to lose 60 pounds in 2 months, and when they don't, they give up. I was pretty much in your boat. Went to the doctor and weighed in at 194 (ahhh!!!) and said, oh no, that has to be fixed! I started weight watchers and signed up for a 5k (at Disney, of course!) to get myself running. I lost the 42 pounds over about 6 months, slowly but surely, and have kept it off. Yes, I am a size 10, but I am healthy, and running a half marathon in about a week.