looking for weight loss ideas/rotations

K

kaybell

Active Member
Hello!

I really want to focus on getting rid of some fat. I have 20 to 30lbs to lose at 5'4" and 157lbs. What I'd like to know is what workouts would help my diet efforts?

I've been Firming since the end of October and have seen little, if any weight loss, tho I do feel stronger. I've been following weight watchers since mid December, with occassional slipups, and a 6lb loss. I'm recommitted to eating 'clean' and keeping the calories around 1500-1600.

I like working out, cardio and strength. I just picked up the CTX series, the PS series, MIS, MIC and Interval Max. Am ready willing and able to get more tapes, if needed.

Not interested in drugs or surgery or anything goofy that I wont be able to stick with. I do NOT want this weight coming back, so I want to lose it by doing something I can live with.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!
Karen
 
I lost 77 pounds a year ago (from 187 to 110 at 5'6") and have not gained any of it back. The one thing that I did that I would tell anyone wanting to lose weight is to cut out sugar and white flour products. Just suck it up and cut them out. Completely. I found that if I did that, I could eat much higher amounts of calories (say 1600 - 2000) and still lose weight vs. having to stay around 1,200 - 1,300 if I ate those things AND being hungry all the time.

You have a couple of bad days when you first cut out the sugar, where you're mad at the world and hate life. But once you get past that, the feeling of being more awake and energetic is amazing.

I'll leave the rotation and workout advice to others who are more experienced than I am. I did Cathe's tapes and still do them and they've done amazing things for my body. But I did want to pass along my best weight loss idea (which is nothing new) because my loss was so fast and so dramatic that people were constantly asking me how I did it. That's how I did it. No sugar, no white flour. Other than that, 1600 calories (average) per day (and not fanatic about it). Oh, and try to eat a protein and carb together, or at least when you eat a carb food, try to balance it with a little protein, like maybe a half and orange and a 1" chunk of cheese for a snack, for instance.

Good luck!
 
Kaybell, I'm in almost the same boat as you. I can't wait to hear some answers to this one.

K60, I KNEW you were gonna say that!! LOL. So hard, but I know it's the answer. You're testimonial has fired me up!! (110 lbs? Really? I'd love to be there).

Robin.
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-17-02 AT 09:15PM (Est)[/font][p]The weird thing about that is, you can eat so much more food if you make that one sacrifice. For instance, I would eat a pretty darn big bowl of oatmeal every morning for breakfast, along with an egg white omelet with 5 egg whites, and a quarter of a cantaloupe or a cup of strawberries. Now that will fill you up until lunch! Or it did me anyway. Then, for lunch, I would eat a big salad of mesclun greens for instance, topped with shrimp sprinkled with the Paul Prudhomme seafood seasoning and broiled under the broiler, half an avocado chunked, and a little Italian dressing over the whole thing and a piece of fruit. Or a Boca Burger on a sprouted wheat bun (Eziekel or Alvarado Street both make them, totally unrefined and very good) with half an avocado, mustard, lettuce and onions and some black bean soup. You can eat so much more if you cut those two things out. I'm not going to pretend it's easy in the beginning. It sucked for about two days, but when those two days were over, it felt like night and day. Also, you just don't get those darned blood sugar spike and drop things if you stay away from them. That's what makes dieting so hard, I think.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. Also, the water thing is important. I drank a gallon of water every day and still do. Just try to get an office as close to the ladies' room as possible! LOL

P.S. I can wear a size 2 jeans now. A year ago, I refused to buy jeans because I didn't want to know how big a size I had to get. I'm 42 years old and when my DH and I go out together, people think I'm his daughter! LOL
 
Now I'm really paying attention. You're 42? Whem I read your first reply (tho I heartily agree with it) my first thought was she's probably < 30 to see that kind of loss by just doing that. Me? I just turned 40 and my metabolism has turned off, I swear!!! Just a couple years ago, putting forth half this effort would have netted me at least 20lbs lost by now.
In all seriousness, I'm truly committed to giving clean eating an honest try. I actually have two loaves of Ezekial bread in the freezer and just picked up some hamburger buns. I'm even doing the freshly ground flax seed thing!! And water? I'm shooting for 120 oz/day. So, it sounds like I'm on the right track as far as that goes.
I've been hearing (even from the exercise fanatics) that it really is 75% diet, so, I'm pretty resolved to this. Thanks for confirming my newest efforts. (I'm clean as of yesterday morning, and I'm very surprised at how much I like it actually.)

One more question for you K60:
How long did it take you to lose the weight? I mean, was it kind of slow, like a couple lbs a month or what? I'm in this for the long haul, even if it takes me 2 years to get this off! I guess I just want to be prepared for slower results if that's the case. Thanks for the input! I'd love to hear anything else you encountered, or other food ideas. (I miss chocolate, but that should pass shortly, right? And, are raisins the only 'candy-like' food that is ok to eat?

thanks again!
Karen
 
5 months. And most of it was gone in 4 months.

Now mind you, I did a lot of cardio. I was trying to lose the weight fast. And one bad thing about losing it that fast is you get that loose skin thing sometimes in the stomach area or on the thighs. Mine has just now tightened back up. So, unless you have an "event" you're shooting for (mine was a Caribbean vacation), I'd go a little slower. I was a maniac. Did not touch one drop of sugar or anything with sugar in it the entire time. When I got back, I ate a brownie and it made me feel gross. Now and then very infrequently, I'll eat maybe an oatmeal cookie or something but I don't keep stuff in the house because I can't trust myself not to eat it.
 
K60 - I am SO impressed !!!

I am 31 and struggeling with 20 lbs for so long (and I was never even pregnant once...). Your weight loss is amazing ! I'm jealous !
I think I will try and adopt your advice to cut out sugar and white flour. The problem is that I love pasta, rice and all kinds of sweets and it will be hard for me, but I am ready to give it a try.
One question, do you use products with Sweet n Low (such as yogurts) as a subsitute for sugar-based ones ? How do you sweeten your food ? for example, your oatmeal ?

Keep up the good work !!!

Anat.
 
K60,

Just curious....where did you find information for meal ideas and recipes? I would like to reduce/eliminate sugar in my diet but I am unsure where to turn for the best information.

Joyce
 
Here's one. Go to the "Canyon Ranch Spa Recipes" on the right side of the page. This is a great site also for people who like to cook:

http://eat.epicurious.com/

Also, there is a lot of good information on the Zone website.

http://www.zoneperfect.com/site/content/guide.asp

TOC on the left. Now, I did not follow this diet exactly but used the principles in choosing my own meals. I didn't buy their products or anything.

Search "glycemic index" and you'll find good information about how to choose carb foods that are lower on the index and thus you can eat more of them.

As for sugar substitutes, I was a very heavy consumer of diet soft drinks (I don't drink coffee) so I cut those down to 2-3 per day of Diet Coke and greatly increased water consumption. As for sweetening foods such as oatmeal, I don't like sweet oatmeal, so I just make it with salt and put some 1% milk on it (maybe 1/8 - 1/4 cup). I know a lot of people like it sweet and I guess if I did, I would have put fruit on it. I tried to get away from the "sweet" thing altogether. I did eat and still do eat a lot of Fiber One cereal, which is very tasty with some strawberries or a nectarine cut up on it (the cereal does have some aspartame in it) as a snack. I think a cup of the cereal is 120 calories and I figure another 60-80 for the fruit. Not a bad snack with a little skim milk or 1% to add protein and balance it out.
 
RE: K60 - I am SO impressed !!!

K60, I came back to asked more questions, but it looks like Anat. has asked them for me. I was also curious re: white rice and pasta. Did you cut them out, too? What about potatoes? She already asked about artificial sweeteners. Do you use those?
TIA. Robin.
 
Thanks for the links K60!!! You've inspired a bunch of people, I'm sure!
What did you do for cardio?

Karen
 
K60,
I've learned so much from your resonses here. I think I will try to cut out sugar and white flour. I do make my own bread and eat brown rice, and am going to start to make my own pasta and trying it with whole wheat flour. It's hard, I'm a carb and sugar junkie. I also have 20 - 30 lbs to loose. I've already lost close to 60 in 9 months and I'm 33. I was thinking of cutting out meat, but I'm eating more fish so that is helping. How much cardio did you do a day may I ask? I do 2 hours of exercise a day (normally) and 30 - 45 min is cardio (depending on the weight training schedule that day) and end it all with ab work.
Thanks
Faythe
 
Wow K 60! I'm 36 and have struggled just to lose 15 lbs in last YEAR! I know my diet could be cleaner, but you really give me hope. Is there anymore to it? I'm just so floored by your loss, and hopeful. How much cardio did you do, and I assume you pumped some iron? Just an idea would be great. Thank you for the links!!!

Renee
 
K60,

Thanks for sharing your phenomenal story. It is good to hear someone eat sensibly and really loose weight. Congratulations.

Kathy
 
I TRIED IT AND POSTED A 4LB LOSS THIS WEEK!!!!

I just wanted to thank you again, K60, for sharing your success with us all. It was just the story I needed to hear to push me over the edge and give clean eating an honest try. After working at losing weight since the end of October, and seeing very little happening, I just posted a 4lb loss, after one week of no sugar and no white flour, eating 1600-1700 cals/day, working out 6 days, and upping my water intake to at least 100oz. I'm hooked. And the thing is, it's healthy! Nobody can tell me that I have to eat this stuff to be healthy. Quite the opposite is actually true. I also had tons of energy all week and my workouts showed it.

Just wanted to say thanks again for the best 'diet' advice yet.

Karen
 
>I TRIED IT AND POSTED A
>4LB LOSS THIS WEEK!!!!
>
>I just wanted to thank you
>again, K60, for sharing your
>success with us all.
>It was just the story
>I needed to hear to
>push me over the edge
>and give clean eating an
>honest try. After working
>at losing weight since the
>end of October, and seeing
>very little happening, I just
>posted a 4lb loss, after
>one week of no sugar
>and no white flour, eating
>1600-1700 cals/day, working out 6
>days, and upping my water
>intake to at least 100oz.
> I'm hooked. And
>the thing is, it's healthy!
> Nobody can tell me
>that I have to eat
>this stuff to be healthy.
> Quite the opposite is
>actually true. I also
>had tons of energy all
>week and my workouts showed
>it.
>
>Just wanted to say thanks again
>for the best 'diet' advice
>yet.
>
>Karen
 
>>I TRIED IT AND POSTED A
>>4LB LOSS THIS WEEK!!!!
>>
>>I just wanted to thank you
>>again, K60, for sharing your
>>success with us all.
>>It was just the story
>>I needed to hear to
>>push me over the edge
>>and give clean eating an
>>honest try. After working
>>at losing weight since the
>>end of October, and seeing
>>very little happening, I just
>>posted a 4lb loss, after
>>one week of no sugar
>>and no white flour, eating
>>1600-1700 cals/day, working out 6
>>days, and upping my water
>>intake to at least 100oz.
>> I'm hooked. And
>>the thing is, it's healthy!
>> Nobody can tell me
>>that I have to eat
>>this stuff to be healthy.
>> Quite the opposite is
>>actually true. I also
>>had tons of energy all
>>week and my workouts showed
>>it.
>>
>>Just wanted to say thanks again
>>for the best 'diet' advice
>>yet.
>>
>>Karen
 
Karen
Did you have some sugar? If so, how many grams would you be able to have and still lose the weight?
 
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