Weight loss - What's Your Plan?

[Jeslynb]

Just wondering what folks here are doing in terms of a weight loss plan.

I follow weight watchers myself, but I'm always interested in hearing what others are doing to be successful.

Please jump in and share your experience!

Jes

 

[bumbershoot]

I followed WW.

For me, it taught/teaches me how to eat like a "normal" person. Defining "normal" as someone who eats in a way appropriate for daily life and feeling and looking the way I want to feel and look. For me, a normal eater is someone who gets hungry and eats to their hunger. Not someone who gets their feelings hurt, buys a bucket of chocolate dipped cookies from Trader Joes and eats them hiding in the bedroom over 3 days. All of them. (that's just a little glimpse into my pre-WW days)

For some reason the whole calorie-counting thing, even though some would call it very smiple, never worked for me. I've dieted since I was 9 stinkin' years old, and gained with almost every year that passed. Calories don't help me. Translating fat/fiber/protein/carbs into Points (or points plus) somehow helps in a way that pure calories doesn't.

 

[walkdmc]

I did WW and My Fitness Pal (straight calorie counting) for about 1.5 years and lost about 35 pounds. Then I did (and am currently still on) Medifast 5&1 (5 meal replacements and 1 "lean and green" meal/day) where I lost over 70 pounds in a year. I love Medifast and could go on for days about it. The MF diet is very low calorie (less than 1000cal/day), low sodium, low carb (this is a ketogenic diet). For most people on MF, despite the low calories, they don't feel hunger after the first 3-5 days thanks to ketosis. I lost most of the 70+ pounds without exercising but recently started working out and running. To fuel for workouts, I switched to the Medifast 4&2&1 plan which increases the calories slightly, ranging from 1000-1300/day, still low carb and keto-inducing.

There are 3 ways to do MF. YOu can join a center and pay around $1000 joining fee PLUS the cost of foods. The second option is to do it alone by ordering the meal replacements from the Medifast site, or ebay or Amazon. The necessary information on actually doing the diet is floating around the internet in PDF format. Finally, (and this is my favorite way, having done all three) is using a health coach through Take Shape For Life (TSFL). You pay nothing more than the cost of the MF foods which you order through your health coach's site. If you pick a good health coach, you have someone you're accountable to, who offers support and information along your journey. My coach has weekly Facebook group chats, in addition to regular personal emails and texts.

I'm a firm believer it doesn't really matter how you lose the weight, it's what you do to maintain the loss that's most important. You can NEVER eat the way you used to and for some people, they can NEVER eat the same types of foods they ate before. For me, I need to avoid ice cream, cakes and candies for a long time, years maybe. Otherwise I start rummaging for more of that stuff and frankly, there's never enough to satisfy my cravings. I believe everyone who loses weight needs to workout regularly, or severely restrict their calorie intake for life. Since most people find severe calorie restriction a bummer, regular exercise is almost essential.

(As a side, Bumber, congrats to you! I remember you from way back when you started your journey as I too was starting mine. I'm so happy we both "made it", lol! It feels so unbelievably good to be a normal weight, I never would've imagined it could be this good. How about you? And look at us, running 1/2 marathons!! 4 years ago I was terrified of the thought of running a 5k!).

 

[bumbershoot]

My knees wouldn't have LET me run any sort of distance just a few years ago. I truly felt I was on the early path to getting to use a scooter (which is why I was and am highly empathetic to scooter/wheelchair users). Thought it was my joints. Ah, it was what I was carrying ON my joints.


It's definitely about maintenance, which is the scariest part of it all. I got home last night after the W&D and as of this morning I'm up 10 from the last time I weighed in. Given how swollen my ankles were last night, it would have been upwards of 5 lbs more than today.

Even a year ago this would have "hurt my feelings" so badly I would have lost my mind. This morning I guessed a number before stepping on the scale, and laughed when it was 2 pounds higher. I got a notebook and wrote it down, and now I'm going to write it down with each weighin I do at home for the week. I'm tracking today, I'm drinking my water. It'll be OK. I have until the 30th to weigh in goal range this month and not have any consequences with WW and Lifetime membership.

Beyond this being 10 lbs from the high end of goal range, it's actually 17 above my lowest weight during the goal/lifetime process. It still isn't freaking me out. And that is the NEW part. The part that comes with time and better choices. (ignore the three desserts I had on Monday at MK and then at the villa, please) The better choice is that I didn't have 4, and I won't be continuing that today! (or yesterday)

 

[walkdmc]

Just flying in a plane puts my weight up by 3-5 pounds so I haven't even stepped on my scale yet. I'll wait for my normal weigh in day, Friday. But I'm not going to lie, I also overindulged on my vacation. The key is limiting the indulgences to special occasions and getting back into my routine as soon as I return home.

I'm doing my first post 1/2 run tomorrow. Did you get back to running? I feel compelled to sign up for another 1/2 in a couple of months, just to keep running.