Sick of being overweight - diet alone is not cutting it.

[Anonymous]

I would also second the recommendation to start weighing some of the items you eat instead of relying on sizes like 'cup' or 'serving size' as they can vary quite wildly. You may think you are doing 1500 calories but forget one thing and have a mismeasure of 5-10% on another and you're not really cutting back as much as you thought.

[Anonymous]

Stop paying attention to calories. Stop eating all those white carbs. You won't overeat green, red, yellow, and orange vegetables (plus cauliflower) and high quality protein. Eat as much of that stuff as you want. Don't add salad dressing with sugar. Eat enough fat. Olive oil and coconut oil in particular are good for you.

Limit dairy. A serving of milk is a serving of sugary carbohydrate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I tried everything I could regarding to diet. None of it worked. I was eating 1250 calories per day and couldn't lose a pound. I wasn't doing much consistent exercise, though. I started going to OrangeTheory 3 days/week and although I haven't lost any weight, I've lost inches and my clothes fit a lot better. It's only been about a month but I'm seeing results where I wasn't seeing any before even when my diet was virtually perfect. I think the weightlifting part of OT is really helping.

You've lost inches and your clothes fit better because you've lost fat? Then who cares what the scale says. Your goal is to lose fat, not weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you still nursing (if you did)? I couldn't for the life of me lose the baby weight until I stopped-and that was with a healthy diet and daily exercise.

Otherwise, get a physical to check things like thyroid function, and get a solid exercise program, including weights, going. You'll almost certainly feel better if nothing else, and that's not nothing. Good luck.

Didn't lose weight nursing, nor after nursing.

Thyroid issues run in my family, so that's a good idea. Thanks for the reminder!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I tried everything I could regarding to diet. None of it worked. I was eating 1250 calories per day and couldn't lose a pound. I wasn't doing much consistent exercise, though. I started going to OrangeTheory 3 days/week and although I haven't lost any weight, I've lost inches and my clothes fit a lot better. It's only been about a month but I'm seeing results where I wasn't seeing any before even when my diet was virtually perfect. I think the weightlifting part of OT is really helping.

Thanks for this! My husband does Olympic weightlifting and is always begging me to do it with him. Maybe I should give it a try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop paying attention to calories. Stop eating all those white carbs. You won't overeat green, red, yellow, and orange vegetables (plus cauliflower) and high quality protein. Eat as much of that stuff as you want. Don't add salad dressing with sugar. Eat enough fat. Olive oil and coconut oil in particular are good for you.

Limit dairy. A serving of milk is a serving of sugary carbohydrate.

I don't eat dairy - it doesn't agree with me. Agree I would probably do well by eliminating processed carbs. I always only use my own salad dressing - evoo with balsamic or lemon, with salt, pepper, and herbs. Thanks for the tips!

[Anonymous]

Have you tried Weight Watchers? Lots of tried and true advice there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop paying attention to calories. Stop eating all those white carbs. You won't overeat green, red, yellow, and orange vegetables (plus cauliflower) and high quality protein. Eat as much of that stuff as you want. Don't add salad dressing with sugar. Eat enough fat. Olive oil and coconut oil in particular are good for you.

Limit dairy. A serving of milk is a serving of sugary carbohydrate.

I don't eat dairy - it doesn't agree with me. Agree I would probably do well by eliminating processed carbs. I always only use my own salad dressing - evoo with balsamic or lemon, with salt, pepper, and herbs. Thanks for the tips!

I would bet you money and a huge hug that you will lose more by cutting out the white carbs (includes white potatoes, too much oatmeal, too much rice, etc., not just processed) and eating any amount of calories you felt like eating than eating the way you are now with serious calorie restriction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would also second the recommendation to start weighing some of the items you eat instead of relying on sizes like 'cup' or 'serving size' as they can vary quite wildly. You may think you are doing 1500 calories but forget one thing and have a mismeasure of 5-10% on another and you're not really cutting back as much as you thought.

What do you mean by this? Are we not supposed to eat the serving size of whatever food item it says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's in your diet? Do you measure things or estimate calories?

I quit alcohol two months ago. Quit coffee a month ago. Generally do not eat bread/pasta (once or twice a week). Minimal intake of processed foods. Drink only water, sparkling water, green tea, and herbal tea (no added sugar or honey).

My diet is about 75% plant based. I eat granola or steel cut oats with fruit and almond milk in the morning. Sweet potato, beans, greens, squash, brown rice, root vegetables, etc - some combination thereof - for lunch. Salad for dinner, maybe with some cooked vegetables or brown rice. I DO have a sweet tooth, though, and since quitting booze eat a candy bar or some kind of sweet most days of the week. Is this enough to kill the (mostly) good stuff I eat?

I was very diligent about measuring and tracking calories from about May through August. It didn't make a difference. Since December of last year I've walked several miles several times a week (though this has fallen off in the past month and a half). Yoga. Running. CrossFit. The issue, though, is that - outside of walking - I have not been at all consistent with exercise. This is why I think I have to exercise consistently.

Get rid of the granola (loaded with calories), steel cut oats and brown rice. Too much starch and carbs. You need more protein. How about a green smoothie with unsweetened almond milk and an egg for breakfast? And no processed sugar, no candy bars. Just cut them completely out. Have a piece of dark chocolate instead, a small piece.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's in your diet? Do you measure things or estimate calories?

I quit alcohol two months ago. Quit coffee a month ago. Generally do not eat bread/pasta (once or twice a week). Minimal intake of processed foods. Drink only water, sparkling water, green tea, and herbal tea (no added sugar or honey).

My diet is about 75% plant based. I eat granola or steel cut oats with fruit and almond milk in the morning. Sweet potato, beans, greens, squash, brown rice, root vegetables, etc - some combination thereof - for lunch. Salad for dinner, maybe with some cooked vegetables or brown rice. I DO have a sweet tooth, though, and since quitting booze eat a candy bar or some kind of sweet most days of the week. Is this enough to kill the (mostly) good stuff I eat?

I was very diligent about measuring and tracking calories from about May through August. It didn't make a difference. Since December of last year I've walked several miles several times a week (though this has fallen off in the past month and a half). Yoga. Running. CrossFit. The issue, though, is that - outside of walking - I have not been at all consistent with exercise. This is why I think I have to exercise consistently.

Get rid of the granola (loaded with calories), steel cut oats and brown rice. Too much starch and carbs. You need more protein. How about a green smoothie with unsweetened almond milk and an egg for breakfast? And no processed sugar, no candy bars. Just cut them completely out. Have a piece of dark chocolate instead, a small piece.

Steel cut oats and brown rice are fine...you just need to avoid the "white" carbs. You need some level of carbs especially if you are building muscle. Obviously don't make them your primary calorie source, but a serving of brown rice to go with your chicken is perfectly fine. Keep protein intake to about double your carb intake and you should be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would also second the recommendation to start weighing some of the items you eat instead of relying on sizes like 'cup' or 'serving size' as they can vary quite wildly. You may think you are doing 1500 calories but forget one thing and have a mismeasure of 5-10% on another and you're not really cutting back as much as you thought.

What do you mean by this? Are we not supposed to eat the serving size of whatever food item it says.

The serving size the manufacturer gives you has no real meaning. If you multiply it by the servings in the box or container, you'll know how many calories the entire thing holds. That's what matters. Then think about how much you're likely to eat and you'll know how many calories.

But I agree that calorie counting is not the effective long-term strategy. Healthy-weight people with working metabolisms don't count calories or at least many of them don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's in your diet? Do you measure things or estimate calories?

I quit alcohol two months ago. Quit coffee a month ago. Generally do not eat bread/pasta (once or twice a week). Minimal intake of processed foods. Drink only water, sparkling water, green tea, and herbal tea (no added sugar or honey).

My diet is about 75% plant based. I eat granola or steel cut oats with fruit and almond milk in the morning. Sweet potato, beans, greens, squash, brown rice, root vegetables, etc - some combination thereof - for lunch. Salad for dinner, maybe with some cooked vegetables or brown rice. I DO have a sweet tooth, though, and since quitting booze eat a candy bar or some kind of sweet most days of the week. Is this enough to kill the (mostly) good stuff I eat?

I was very diligent about measuring and tracking calories from about May through August. It didn't make a difference. Since December of last year I've walked several miles several times a week (though this has fallen off in the past month and a half). Yoga. Running. CrossFit. The issue, though, is that - outside of walking - I have not been at all consistent with exercise. This is why I think I have to exercise consistently.

I didn't read the whole thread, but your diet is 75% sugar. Yes, complex carbs with good nutrients. But still sugar.

It's not really a wonder why you're not losing any weight.

You need to eat less than 100 grams a day in carbs if you want to decrease body fat (and yes, that's carbs from ALL sources), sufficient protein, good fat, and electrolytes. You also need to lift weights twice a week, and you need to lift heavy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Get rid of the granola (loaded with calories), steel cut oats and brown rice. Too much starch and carbs. You need more protein. How about a green smoothie with unsweetened almond milk and an egg for breakfast? And no processed sugar, no candy bars. Just cut them completely out. Have a piece of dark chocolate instead, a small piece.

Steel cut oats and brown rice are fine...you just need to avoid the "white" carbs. You need some level of carbs especially if you are building muscle. Obviously don't make them your primary calorie source, but a serving of brown rice to go with your chicken is perfectly fine. Keep protein intake to about double your carb intake and you should be fine.

I disagree. Once her system is hormonally balanced and not insulin resistant, she can add a sensible amount of rice a day and it doesn't even need to be brown. For now she's looking to make the weight loss happen, and would welcome diminished cravings and no hunger, I assume. She can get plenty plenty of carbs from really healthy vegetables. Rice every other day with one meal should be fine but at this stage rice twice a day not good.

[Anonymous]

Work with a Registered Dietitian. A friend of mine (who was seeing the same RD as me) didn't lose weight until she increased her calories. Her body thought she was starving and held on to every calorie.
Also don't make any changes that you can't do forever. Don't give up chocolate unless you can do it forever. Because once you get to your ideal weight, you don't want to gain it back once you do start eating it again. So work in 100 calories of dark chocolate every couple of days.