Losing weight is HARD

[Anonymous]

Just a vent. Starting January 1, I started detoxing - no alcohol, no sugar, no simple carbs. Most days I also fast from 7 pm - 11 am.

I started at 158 and am down to 152. I'd love to be below 140, but I think a reasonable goal for me is to stay between 140 - 143. I'm 5'7.

An average day looks like this....

Wake up. Have coffee with sweetener and a splash of milk.

Eat something around 11 a.m. Sometimes 2 eggs w/ mushrooms and turkey smoked sausage, sometimes more lunch food -- a can of soup, cottage cheese and fruit, or dinner leftovers (meat like chicken or pork and some vegetables).

Dinner around 6 pm, usually meat and vegetables - salmon, chicken, pork, occasionally beef, and a vegetable on the side. Sometimes throughout the day I will also have a snack of fruit, a few nuts, or a Triple Zero yogurt.

As far as exercise, I get in 1.5 hours of cardio twice a week, get 30 minutes of cardio 3-4 times a week, do strength/flexibility 2-3 times a week, or on a really light day will just walk a few miles. It's very rare I do absolutely no exercise.

I guess I hoped to lose it faster because I was eating pretty poorly late last year. I don't drink much, but I had gotten very sloppy with sweets and simple carbs and mid-day snacks.

Does this sound like an ok pace? Am I expecting too much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a vent. Starting January 1, I started detoxing - no alcohol, no sugar, no simple carbs. Most days I also fast from 7 pm - 11 am.

I started at 158 and am down to 152. I'd love to be below 140, but I think a reasonable goal for me is to stay between 140 - 143. I'm 5'7.

An average day looks like this....

Wake up. Have coffee with sweetener and a splash of milk.

Eat something around 11 a.m. Sometimes 2 eggs w/ mushrooms and turkey smoked sausage, sometimes more lunch food -- a can of soup, cottage cheese and fruit, or dinner leftovers (meat like chicken or pork and some vegetables).

Dinner around 6 pm, usually meat and vegetables - salmon, chicken, pork, occasionally beef, and a vegetable on the side. Sometimes throughout the day I will also have a snack of fruit, a few nuts, or a Triple Zero yogurt.

As far as exercise, I get in 1.5 hours of cardio twice a week, get 30 minutes of cardio 3-4 times a week, do strength/flexibility 2-3 times a week, or on a really light day will just walk a few miles. It's very rare I do absolutely no exercise.

I guess I hoped to lose it faster because I was eating pretty poorly late last year. I don't drink much, but I had gotten very sloppy with sweets and simple carbs and mid-day snacks.

Does this sound like an ok pace? Am I expecting too much?

You started barely 3 weeks ago and you lost 6 pounds already. Part of it will be water but it is still good. You are definitely expecting too much. 1 pound per week of fat loss at your bodyfat levels is a good goal to have.

[Anonymous]

No, it is hard. But you are doing a great job!! Having it come off quickly is encouraging and feels great, but isn't good for your overall health. Your neck and skin will thank you for losing weight at an even pace.

[Anonymous]

You need to find a path that works for you and that you can maintain when you are where you want to be weight wise. I could lose weight by eliminating a ton of things but I could not maintain that weight loss. Elimination doesn't work for me because it doesn't help me change things that I am going to maintain for the rest of my life and I spend too much time wanting that which I am denying myself. It is why I gave up trying whatever the latest fad diet is, they might work but what happens when you stop with them?

My own path, I have dropped from 180-160 in a year, was to track what I eat in MyFitnessPal. I didn't stress about the macros too much and I did not weigh my food. I did make myself log everything I ate. That helped me focus on the choices I was making and to ask myself if I really want to write down that I ate a Snickers. It helped me see my patterns and pick one or two smaller things I could change. I ate a Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Kind bar instead of the Snickers bar. It had fewer calories, helped me with my sugar craving, and filled me up for longer so I did not feel the need to snack longer.

Once I go to 165, I stopped with MyFitnessPal. I know that I am not going to log my entire life and I felt that at that point I had made enough small changes that were leading to a healthier weight. I weigh in once a week and if I have 3 weeks of an increase, I open MyFitnessPal to help me focus on my decisions.

I also added at least 60 minutes of exercise a day, most days I get closer to 90 minutes of exercise, spread throughout the day. Last year it was 90% spin classes and walking. This year I am trying to be better about adding in strength and yoga.

[Anonymous]

6 points in 24 days is great!

I know losing weight can be very frustrating, but you’re on a really good trajectory.

Keep it up and remember that 1-2 lbs of weight loss per week is a terrific pace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:6 points in 24 days is great!

I know losing weight can be very frustrating, but you’re on a really good trajectory.

Keep it up and remember that 1-2 lbs of weight loss per week is a terrific pace.

Points = pounds

[Anonymous]

NP. I would like to rephrase what you said. Losing weight is not hard. It's keeping it off that is hard.

There are plenty of quick ways to lose weight - not all of them healthy obviously. For example, you could just fast for 3 days and drop 5 pounds or whatever.

But keeping the weight off is hard. The maintenance of keeping the weight off, eating right (not stress eating - for me), exercising consistently, sleeping properly so that I have more self control, etc.

All that being said, OP, you are doing great and keep up the good work! It's all hard but it is so worth it!

[Anonymous]

Get rid of that meat. It has too many calories. Become vegan for two months, no pasta or bread. You will lose 10lbs or more in 2,3 months. If you don't cheat more than once a week, and you keep up your exercise.
Make sure you work out is not the kind where you hold onto handles for dear life with hands, or where you are walking at 2mph. That is not exercise, it is hardly doing anything.
Eat cabbage, on pp, gave a recipe for a head of cabbage in an iron skillet in the oven with chicken on top. Don't make the chicken, make the cabbage, Delicious and you can eat it for half an hour and it delish.
The only thing I see from your menu is too many high-calorie meats. High calorie, low volume food.
Watch Greg Doucette on youtube. Best advice ever.
But, yes, weight loss is hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of that meat. It has too many calories. Become vegan for two months, no pasta or bread. You will lose 10lbs or more in 2,3 months. If you don't cheat more than once a week, and you keep up your exercise.
Make sure you work out is not the kind where you hold onto handles for dear life with hands, or where you are walking at 2mph. That is not exercise, it is hardly doing anything.
Eat cabbage, on pp, gave a recipe for a head of cabbage in an iron skillet in the oven with chicken on top. Don't make the chicken, make the cabbage, Delicious and you can eat it for half an hour and it delish.
The only thing I see from your menu is too many high-calorie meats. High calorie, low volume food.
Watch Greg Doucette on youtube. Best advice ever.
But, yes, weight loss is hard.

So your advice is her dinner meal should be...just cabbage?

[Anonymous]

Yes. It's hard to well-nigh impossible for people no longer young with slow metabolism.

I gave up from Christmas to now. Preparing myself mentally to start again.

Give me courage!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of that meat. It has too many calories. Become vegan for two months, no pasta or bread. You will lose 10lbs or more in 2,3 months. If you don't cheat more than once a week, and you keep up your exercise.
Make sure you work out is not the kind where you hold onto handles for dear life with hands, or where you are walking at 2mph. That is not exercise, it is hardly doing anything.
Eat cabbage, on pp, gave a recipe for a head of cabbage in an iron skillet in the oven with chicken on top. Don't make the chicken, make the cabbage, Delicious and you can eat it for half an hour and it delish.
The only thing I see from your menu is too many high-calorie meats. High calorie, low volume food.
Watch Greg Doucette on youtube. Best advice ever.
But, yes, weight loss is hard.

I'm not sure I can be vegan. I play a sport pretty vigorously (right now only twice a week but in the spring it will be 4-5 times a week) and if I don't eat enough protein beforehand I get really lightheaded. I think I have to keep the salmon, lean pork chops, chicken breast, in my diet.

I do find completely avoiding sweets and pasta/bread is the key for me. I have had a lot of problems in the past with just "one piece of birthday cake" that blends into leftovers the next day, and pasta the next, and so on. I have horrible willpower - I wish I could do moderation with sweets and carbs but I find it very, very difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of that meat. It has too many calories. Become vegan for two months, no pasta or bread. You will lose 10lbs or more in 2,3 months. If you don't cheat more than once a week, and you keep up your exercise.
Make sure you work out is not the kind where you hold onto handles for dear life with hands, or where you are walking at 2mph. That is not exercise, it is hardly doing anything.
Eat cabbage, on pp, gave a recipe for a head of cabbage in an iron skillet in the oven with chicken on top. Don't make the chicken, make the cabbage, Delicious and you can eat it for half an hour and it delish.
The only thing I see from your menu is too many high-calorie meats. High calorie, low volume food.
Watch Greg Doucette on youtube. Best advice ever.
But, yes, weight loss is hard.

^^ sounds like an eating disorder. OP ignore this advice. Especially if don't want major hair loss and sallow skin. 2 servings of meat per day is not "too much meat" OP isn't eating a platter of bacon. She said a piece of chicken or salmon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. It's hard to well-nigh impossible for people no longer young with slow metabolism.

I gave up from Christmas to now. Preparing myself mentally to start again.

Give me courage!

You can do it!! If my dad could lose 25 lbs when he was 55 years old and keep it off, you can achieve your weight loss goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I would like to rephrase what you said. Losing weight is not hard. It's keeping it off that is hard.

There are plenty of quick ways to lose weight - not all of them healthy obviously. For example, you could just fast for 3 days and drop 5 pounds or whatever.

But keeping the weight off is hard. The maintenance of keeping the weight off, eating right (not stress eating - for me), exercising consistently, sleeping properly so that I have more self control, etc.

All that being said, OP, you are doing great and keep up the good work! It's all hard but it is so worth it!

+1 !!!!

I have lost and gained weight plenty of times to know that it’s the keeping it off that is hard. It can be done, and many do manage to keep weight off, but I feel the difference in those that do and don’t is mainly in mentality and how you view yourself. A new you requires new and better habits. Can’t return to your old way of being and expect to keep the new you. Anyway, I’m on the path with you, so good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of that meat. It has too many calories. Become vegan for two months, no pasta or bread. You will lose 10lbs or more in 2,3 months. If you don't cheat more than once a week, and you keep up your exercise.
Make sure you work out is not the kind where you hold onto handles for dear life with hands, or where you are walking at 2mph. That is not exercise, it is hardly doing anything.
Eat cabbage, on pp, gave a recipe for a head of cabbage in an iron skillet in the oven with chicken on top. Don't make the chicken, make the cabbage, Delicious and you can eat it for half an hour and it delish.
The only thing I see from your menu is too many high-calorie meats. High calorie, low volume food.
Watch Greg Doucette on youtube. Best advice ever.
But, yes, weight loss is hard.

^^ sounds like an eating disorder. OP ignore this advice. Especially if don't want major hair loss and sallow skin. 2 servings of meat per day is not "too much meat" OP isn't eating a platter of bacon. She said a piece of chicken or salmon.

It is too much!
However, I missed the part where she just started and lost 6lbs. She is nuts for wanting to lose more than that per week. Nuts! So, I take back what I wrote. But, I stand by my cabbage statement. Eat cabbage to lose weight. Is it drastic? Yep. Will it result in a high volume, low-calorie meal? Yes. With cabbage, she can add some grain, and still have fewer calories than in the meat. However, given that I missed how much she lost in a short period of time. she is nuts and wants impossible. In fact, I change my advice. She should slow down her weight loss because this is not healthy nor sustainable.