Anonymous wrote:I am fat because I choose to be. There's no other way of saying it. I know what will make me skinny but I'm not interested in going that route.


I have decided that I don't want to give up carbs or sugar. I don't want to withhold those little pleasures from my diet. Hell, I waited all those years as a kid to be able to do what I wanted when I grew up. I want a brownie. I'm eating a damn brownie. I'm only about 5lbs over the weight I want to be and I'm not obese but if I get out of hand it could certainly spiral as I get older. I just need to use a little more self control and maybe eat less of the things I like. I refuse to eliminate them altogether though.

I've come to accept that I will not have the body of a twenty year old without depriving myself of foods I like or spending hours in the gym. For me the weight control happens in the kitchen not the gym. I would rather be happy than be obsessed with calorie counting or trying to psych myself up to go to the gym. I eat my veggies and grains but I like sugar. Not giving that up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carbs are not evil.
Sugar is not evil.


To lose weight, you need to cut down your calories, period. It doesn't matter if it's from meat, dairy, veggies, sugar, etc.

MEASURE what you are eating. EVERYTHING. If you put jelly on your toast, take out measuring spoons and measure how much jelly you are using. If you are going to eat a chicken breast, get out a kitchen scale and know how much it weighs.

RECORD what you are eating. Now that you know you ate 2 tablespoons of jelly or 5 oz. of chicken breast, write it down. Or find an online system you can enter it in.
At the end of the day you will know how many calories you ate total.

EXERCISE. Cardio is great, but don't forget about strength training. Don't try to go "all out" at once. Do what you can and have goals to increase it over time.

You don't need weight watchers or surgery (yes, I know OP didn't mention that, I'm just speaking generally) or a personal trainer.

FALSE!!!!!!!!!! A calorie is not just a calorie.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/opinion/sunday/always-hungry-heres-why.html?src=rechp&_r=0

Carbs and Sugar are evil for me. I've been on reduced calorie diet (with tracking) for nearly a year and only lost a couple of pounds. As soon as I reduced carbs and nearly eliminated sugar, the pounds started dropping off. I am maintaining my lean mass. 1500 calories of a "everything in moderation diet" didn't do it, but 1500 calories of a moderate protein, low sugar, low carb diet is working. Once I'm at my goal size, I plan on continuing a higher protein, lower carb diet. Potatoes, breads and sugars will have to be an occasional treat, rather than a daily part of my diet.

And to answer the question - I am fat because I sit at a desk all day, working out only made me hungrier and I ate too many carbs & sugars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carbs are not evil.
Sugar is not evil.


To lose weight, you need to cut down your calories, period. It doesn't matter if it's from meat, dairy, veggies, sugar, etc.

MEASURE what you are eating. EVERYTHING. If you put jelly on your toast, take out measuring spoons and measure how much jelly you are using. If you are going to eat a chicken breast, get out a kitchen scale and know how much it weighs.

RECORD what you are eating. Now that you know you ate 2 tablespoons of jelly or 5 oz. of chicken breast, write it down. Or find an online system you can enter it in.
At the end of the day you will know how many calories you ate total.

EXERCISE. Cardio is great, but don't forget about strength training. Don't try to go "all out" at once. Do what you can and have goals to increase it over time.

You don't need weight watchers or surgery (yes, I know OP didn't mention that, I'm just speaking generally) or a personal trainer.

FALSE!!!!!!!!!! A calorie is not just a calorie.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/opinion/sunday/always-hungry-heres-why.html?src=rechp&_r=0

Anonymous wrote:Carbs are not evil.
Sugar is not evil.


To lose weight, you need to cut down your calories, period. It doesn't matter if it's from meat, dairy, veggies, sugar, etc.

MEASURE what you are eating. EVERYTHING. If you put jelly on your toast, take out measuring spoons and measure how much jelly you are using. If you are going to eat a chicken breast, get out a kitchen scale and know how much it weighs.

RECORD what you are eating. Now that you know you ate 2 tablespoons of jelly or 5 oz. of chicken breast, write it down. Or find an online system you can enter it in.
At the end of the day you will know how many calories you ate total.

EXERCISE. Cardio is great, but don't forget about strength training. Don't try to go "all out" at once. Do what you can and have goals to increase it over time.

You don't need weight watchers or surgery (yes, I know OP didn't mention that, I'm just speaking generally) or a personal trainer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here -

I just started an exercise boot camp type class that combines cardio and weight training. I have been working out 3x a week for 15 years but it just never seems to be enough. I need to try harder and not phone it in. Showing up doesnt mean anything if I am not going to push myself.

I measure some food and generally try to stay
under my WW points for the day (or just not use the extra weekly pts, figuring it will work itself out as long as I am reasonable) but clearly this is not working and then I give up and eat a pint of ice cream. Its totally self-destructive bc I am so careful (and miserable) for a short time and then blow any progress I might have made.

I wish the fruits and dark chocolate tricks would satisfy my cravings but I dont like them, so its not helpful. (Thanks though!)

I am just complaining bc I hate it and I hate myself for how hard it is and how I am so weak.

Yeah - you really have to find food that you enjoy eating and that is good for you. Different for everyone. I'm the one who posted about chocolate. If you like chocolate at all but just don't like dark chocolate - start off with a lighter percentage of dark and then "practice" getting darker. Interesting book:
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Chocolate-Lose-Weight-Science/dp/1623361273/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400595055&sr=1-3&keywords=chocolate+is+good+for+you

I also try activity - if I want to eat then I go do something I really enjoy for 15-20 minutes. Distraction. And I track calories. Just keeping track makes you eat less because you are paying attention.

Good luck.

What is the benefit of trying to like dark chocolate? Just to have something thats not-so-bad to snack on? I like chocolate but it isnt really a trigger for me and if I like ice cream, I am very specific about only liking one flavor and 10 other flavors can sit in my freezer for months and I wont touch them, but then I will obsess about the flavor I want until I buy it and eat the whole thing.

Dark chocolate satisfies my cravings for something sweet and it is relatively good for you (in moderation). So, for me it keeps me from eating tons of other things like cookies, cake, brownies, chips, etc. And for some reason - I can stop eating chocolate after I've eaten my portion. It gives me something to look forward to eating but not feel guilty about. I realize this won't work for everyone but it has been the silver bullet for me. And yes, Ben & Jerry's double fudge brownie ice cream is never allowed in my freezer. Obviously, I have chocolate issues

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here -

I just started an exercise boot camp type class that combines cardio and weight training. I have been working out 3x a week for 15 years but it just never seems to be enough. I need to try harder and not phone it in. Showing up doesnt mean anything if I am not going to push myself.

I measure some food and generally try to stay
under my WW points for the day (or just not use the extra weekly pts, figuring it will work itself out as long as I am reasonable) but clearly this is not working and then I give up and eat a pint of ice cream. Its totally self-destructive bc I am so careful (and miserable) for a short time and then blow any progress I might have made.

I wish the fruits and dark chocolate tricks would satisfy my cravings but I dont like them, so its not helpful. (Thanks though!)

I am just complaining bc I hate it and I hate myself for how hard it is and how I am so weak.

Yeah - you really have to find food that you enjoy eating and that is good for you. Different for everyone. I'm the one who posted about chocolate. If you like chocolate at all but just don't like dark chocolate - start off with a lighter percentage of dark and then "practice" getting darker. Interesting book:
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Chocolate-Lose-Weight-Science/dp/1623361273/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400595055&sr=1-3&keywords=chocolate+is+good+for+you

I also try activity - if I want to eat then I go do something I really enjoy for 15-20 minutes. Distraction. And I track calories. Just keeping track makes you eat less because you are paying attention.

Good luck.

What is the benefit of trying to like dark chocolate? Just to have something thats not-so-bad to snack on? I like chocolate but it isnt really a trigger for me and if I like ice cream, I am very specific about only liking one flavor and 10 other flavors can sit in my freezer for months and I wont touch them, but then I will obsess about the flavor I want until I buy it and eat the whole thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you know what to do, you just need motivation.

What are the reasons you want to lose weight?

Look better
Fit into my clothes
Feel sexier
Be a good example to my kids

I am pretty healthy, so I dont feel like health is a real motivator and my DH seems very happy with my body as is, so I dont feel compulsion from him. I just hate the way I look in pictures.

Anonymous wrote:You know what did for motivation this may sound silly, but I had two jars on my table one filled with marbles labeled weight to lose. The other one empty labeled weight lost. Every pound I lost, I would transfer a marble from the pounds to lose jar into the pounds lost jar. Every time I looked at the pounds lost jar, I could see how far I had come especially as the the pounds to lose jar was becoming less than the pounds lost jar. I am a visual person, so I needed to see it. That is what kept me going. I was not going to destroy all my effort because then I would have to put marbles back in the other jar. I did have to do a couple of times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here -

I just started an exercise boot camp type class that combines cardio and weight training. I have been working out 3x a week for 15 years but it just never seems to be enough. I need to try harder and not phone it in. Showing up doesnt mean anything if I am not going to push myself.

I measure some food and generally try to stay
under my WW points for the day (or just not use the extra weekly pts, figuring it will work itself out as long as I am reasonable) but clearly this is not working and then I give up and eat a pint of ice cream. Its totally self-destructive bc I am so careful (and miserable) for a short time and then blow any progress I might have made.

I wish the fruits and dark chocolate tricks would satisfy my cravings but I dont like them, so its not helpful. (Thanks though!)

I am just complaining bc I hate it and I hate myself for how hard it is and how I am so weak.

Yeah - you really have to find food that you enjoy eating and that is good for you. Different for everyone. I'm the one who posted about chocolate. If you like chocolate at all but just don't like dark chocolate - start off with a lighter percentage of dark and then "practice" getting darker. Interesting book:
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Chocolate-Lose-Weight-Science/dp/1623361273/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400595055&sr=1-3&keywords=chocolate+is+good+for+you

I also try activity - if I want to eat then I go do something I really enjoy for 15-20 minutes. Distraction. And I track calories. Just keeping track makes you eat less because you are paying attention.

Good luck.