Diet & Exercise

[Christine]

I didn't read the whole thread so I apologize if I am repeating what others may have said. But, I understand how you feel. I am not a very motivated person. I love food. My only blessing in life is that, despite having a hefty appetite all of my life, I've managed not to get seriously overweight. I'm also not a physically minded active person. It's all a chore. There's nothing I enjoy doing. I have no motivation generally. But...I hate when I go a little bit too high and I start feeling fat. That's my motiviation. It's appearance and I don't like the way I look.

Between the years of 2017 and 2019, I couldn't exercise at all due to a posterior tibial tendon injury. I decided to just eat better, no exercise. I dropped to 1450 calories which is what an older, sedentary woman needs to go to lose weight. It worked. Over a period of 3-4 months, I dropped about 13 lbs. That's all I needed to lose. Had I needed to lose a lot of weight (upward of 30-40 lbs), my caloric limit would have been higher and I probably would have dropped weight as well. All that is to say is you don't *have* to exercise if it's hard for you. You don't need to throw in the towel because you can't get to the gym, or it's too hot out. Weight loss starts and ends in the kitchen. But you have to be serious of how much food you are eating and you have to get comfortable with feeling hungrier for several weeks.

Now, I'm not against exercise, I just haven't been able to do it. It does make me feel better and when I can do something, it motivates me to continue to eat better and move more. But just to start out? Find one thing and start out that way.

 

[sam_gordon]

you have to get comfortable with feeling hungrier for several weeks.

DW & I were talking tonight. I now want to eat everything, mainly because I'm told I can't.

 

[snappy]

what works for me is drinking lots of water, along with lots of hot liquids, for me that is herbal tea. We also eat from salad plates rather than dinner plates. It is hard to put large portions on a salad plate. We also eat lots of fresh fish since it is readily available here, and salads. Seems to be working to do the dinner type meal at lunch and a salad for dinner. And we don‘t eat late.

We also walk a lot. We don’t speed walk but go for distance. Right now since it’s so hot, we have to go early in the morning. We love to walk on the levee, always something to see come up or down the Mississippi river.

 

[trivan]

If you do go to Disney Springs stay away from Gideons. Lol
Seriously thou, go but 1 cookie is enough for at least 4 people if not more.

My trainer and I don’t believe in feeling hungry. If you eat the right foods, you can feel very full and still shed the pounds. There are some very good tips in above posts.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...you have to get comfortable with feeling hungrier for several weeks.

DW & I were talking tonight. I now want to eat everything, mainly because I'm told I can't.

I don't think you necessarily need to feel hungry to eat better. If you "spend" your calories/carbs on things that you can eat more of (for instance, 15 grams of carbs is only 5 Hershey's kisses, but it's 3 cups of popcorn) you'll feel more full. And adding protein to your snacks keeps you feeling full longer than carbs do!

Instead of putting the list of banned foods on the fridge, put the list of suggested foods there, and make a game/competition of trying new things on it.



Speaking of substitution, I also read recently that we should be going for "commitment" rather than "motivation". They're not the same.

Here's a little bit of the article:
"When we go on a diet we tend to start off with great enthusiasm and we feel very motivated. Over time this enthusiasm wears off...

Motivation relies on our feelings and feelings change...

Motivation is helpful and can drive us on when the reward is something that we really want, but it is a commitment that will keep us going and bring us the success we desire."

And here's the whole thing: link

 

[unrequited23]

I pay myself for doing things I 'should' do. Stuff like walking on the treadmill for 45 mins, drinking 100 oz of water a day, or when I was nursing pumping milk to freeze. Once I hit 100 tally marks I can get what ever I was saving for. One time it was a pair of birkenstocks another time it was a fancy face serum. I realized I need a tangible reward beyond being healthier.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

DW & I both need to lose weight. We have motivation (health, vacations, etc), but neither of us has the will power. The motivations we have aren't "strong enough", so to speak, to stick with a diet and/or exercise plan. Of course, we've never really sat down and come up with a plan, but we know us. We'll be "good" for a week, maybe two, but then it's too easy to slide back into bad habits (fast food, lack of exercise, sugary snacks).

We don't belong to a gym (we have in the past but never really used it), we don't have a treadmill/exercise bike (because it will become a clothes rack), and don't have confidence that we can stick to a diet.

So, short of saying "you just have to do it" (sorry, not helpful), any suggestions?

I have lost 16.1 lbs since May 18th, simply by walking 5x a week (2-3 miles each time) and cutting back on my diet.

I bought a Fitbit, and got a year of the premium service for free. I track what I eat and drink and it tells me how many calories I can have per day. I don't skimp on what I want to eat, I just eat less of it (and if it's high calories, like pasta, I reduce what I eat the rest of the day). The plan has me on 1400 calories on days when I don't do any exercise, and it goes up with the amount of walking I do., so some days are 1800 or 2000 calories. I'm on the 'push the weight loss' plan, though.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I don't think you necessarily need to feel hungry to eat better. If you "spend" your calories/carbs on things that you can eat more of (for instance, 15 grams of carbs is only 5 Hershey's kisses, but it's 3 cups of popcorn) you'll feel more full. And adding protein to your snacks keeps you feeling full longer than carbs do!

Instead of putting the list of banned foods on the fridge, put the list of suggested foods there, and make a game/competition of trying new things on it.



Speaking of substitution, I also read recently that we should be going for "commitment" rather than "motivation". They're not the same.

Here's a little bit of the article:
"When we go on a diet we tend to start off with great enthusiasm and we feel very motivated. Over time this enthusiasm wears off...

Motivation relies on our feelings and feelings change...

Motivation is helpful and can drive us on when the reward is something that we really want, but it is a commitment that will keep us going and bring us the success we desire."

And here's the whole thing: link

That's so true...I promised my son I'd do what I could to make it to 102...so in the 12 months (since my diagnosis), I have missed my 2.5 mile walk only 3 times - 1 for ice (and I got umbrellas and boots and walked the snowy/rainy days, but ice was a little too much to handle when I couldn't leave my porch), 1 for Christmas, and 1 for Mother's Day (yes, I walked my birthday...and did my mileage in Florida, although that's easy - I actually did 3-4x y mileage there, depending on the day...

It's a promise I made, and I'm gonna do what it takes to keep it. It also made dropping diet soda cold turkey much easier - that doesn't help inflammation and thus, it doesn't help my immune system and my cancer, so it had to go. I did that 3 months after I got my walking established, so it was my "next thing" to work on.

 

[Southernmiss]

Losing weight is definitely not easy.

A long road, but great rewards.

 

[neverlandsky]

What's working for us as a lifestyle change:
*We threw out the scale. There's absolutely no pressure when you don't know how much you weigh.
*Walking, hiking, swimming, skating, biking, for a wee bit of cardio. Weight lifting and Yoga for majority of your exercise. As we age, we lose strength. Live with stairs, take a few extra trips up and down.
*Always park as far out as possible and walk.
*Challenge yourself of how much groceries you carry inside. Lessens stroke risk.
*After dinner cleanup, go for a 10-20 minute walk.
*Nothing in the freezer but ice, frozen fruit, & yes even ice cream. Nothing else. Yes you can even have ice cream. Not an every night dessert, yet Me & DH like to split a bowl about once a week.
*Split fast food meal or ditching the sides and sugar drinks from fast food.
*Smaller portions and eating off of smaller blue plates.
*Eating out at a sit down restaurant - look for smaller portion items. A la carte, small salads, cups of chili, etc. Focus on veggies as your sides.
*Drinking a liter of water daily.
*No TV in the bedroom = going to bed on-time. Good sleep reduces stress and weight.

 

[maxaroni]

It truly is a lifestyle change, not a diet. I remember my grandfather saying, watch what you eat for your life, as when you get older and told you can’t have something, it’s far worse.

We’ve had to make changes in our life as well. It certainly isn’t easy. After I had DS28, I went to WW and lost 70 lbs. My instructor said to keep baby carrots in the fridge as they are sweet. You can open the fridge and take a couple. To me, I’d open the fridge, see them and say no thanks. That was not a motivator at all. For me, it was finding ways to make it work my way. It was more of eating healthier and portion control, tweaking WW to fit me. It worked.

DH was pre-diabetic, was very good for awhile and then things started slipping. He went over the line and is now diabetic. He’s on metformin but his cardiologist thinks he can come off of it. It’s not his call so the next time he goes to the endocrinologist he will talk to her. His A1C is constantly at 5.5, at its worst it was 7 something. He will always be a diabetic but he has learned how to control and manage it.

DS28 belonged to a gym for quite a few years, however, his wife felt uncomfortable going with him as she felt self conscious. They found a gym connected with a hospital and they love it. It’s a different crowd and she doesn’t feel as though people are staring at her.

My point is, everyone has different suggestions and sometimes it’s trial and error to find what works best for you. I found that the WW meetings were motivation enough for me. DH needed to wind up with diabetes to take it seriously enough to make a difference. We started out small and worked our way through it. We are there for each other to help each other on making better choices.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Like many others in this thread I needed to change what I was doing due to a diabetes diagnosis. My doctor told me early this year I was diabetic, with a A1C at that time of 6.8. He wanted to put me on medication, but I asked him to give me some time. His recommendation- exercise more and reduce carbs. Shortly afterwards I found out that my employer covered a program called VirtaHealth 100% which claimed to reduce or reverse type 2 diabetes.

This is a ketogenic program with testing and supervision. I've been on it since early/mid March and my results are and A1C of 5.5 and I'm currently down about 30 pounds. However, the weight loss is a side effect of the program as the primary purpose is changing eating habits to simply allow the body to do what it does naturally the best way possible. The premise is simple : low carbs, moderate protein and a decent amount of natural fats and a number of servings of vegetables. You want to low carbs to allow your physiology to reach moderate ketosis, the protein as an energy dense source and the fat also provides this while contributing to the feeling of satiety. The vegetables round this out by providing other nutrients.

The best way to explain my experience is that I spent most of the last 60+ years telling my body what it needed and the last 3 to 4 months listening to what it wanted. I still enjoy eating and I still go to the same restaurants as before, I just think more about what I eat and spend a minute more making a different choice that I made in the past. I done this with the only exercise being walking when I have the time, and I've not counted a single calorie during this process. In fact, during this time I did a trip to WDW. Over the course of my time down there I did Boathouse 2x, Bonefish, Cracker Barrel, Earl of Sandwich, I made sure that my eating experiences were tasty and enjoyable - and I lost weight over that time and kept my daily readings well under control.

I find I enjoy my food more now because I eat for different reasons than before. I also find that day to day I'm happier, calmer and more focused than before.

 

[Corien]

I've been obese for almost all of my adult life, so I can recognize a lot of things people have said in this thread. My tips are probably not helpful as I'm also still struggling a lot of the things people mention here.

In the end I know it comes down to changing your mindset and your lifestyle and that's the hardest part I feel. Even if I tell myself that the changes I am making are for the rest of my life, I know deep down I'm not. I've been contemplating for years to maybe go into the process of getting bariatric surgery , but I've been scared about it because then I would never be able to eat a lot of food at a restaurant or whatever.

What I am trying to do now is making very small changes and making them very slowly, so they don't feel overwhelming. One change I made is not allowing myself to have food that have not been portioned out for grabs while I'm sitting on my sofa or at my desk. Since then I've not eaten a bag/pack of snacks in one sitting, because I'm not mindlessly eating and have to consciously get up to get my food.

They are small changes but in the end I hope they will slowly change my mindset to be healthier, or make me realise that the changes I'll have to make before and after bariatric surgery aren't that scary.

 

[nycdisneygal]

I would try to look at the carbs you eat and try to remove some. Even simple as no juice or soda. Whole fruit instead and flavored seltzer. Look up low carb snacks and substitute existing ones. I had gest diabetes with 2nd preg and had to carb count and learned a lot. And you know just one cup of plain popcorn is a free snack! I actually lost a lot of weight while pregnant.

We bought a nordic track and the iFIT program (1st yr free). I feel more motivated since I can pick an interesting workout. Even my laztyteen started doing it. (she gained a lot of weight this last year).

 

[easyas123]

My point is, everyone has different suggestions and sometimes it’s trial and error to find what works best for you.

Excellent point-

 

[slo]

I didn’t read all the other posts, but I suggest putting My Fitness Pal on your phone and count your calories. Once you get in the habit of this you can advance yourself into counting other things like carbs too (the app will help you with that).

For exercise, if you decide to go to a gym or buy a treadmill of something else (I use an elliptical) try watching a TV show instead of listening to music. Don’t watch any episodes of the TV show anywhere else - only when working out to give yourself something to look forward to.

I do both things I suggested and it’s a very doable plan - I’ve been doing it for a long time now. Good luck!

Edited to add……Don’t go crazy with the workouts and do it every day for 2 hours at a time. Find what‘s doable with your life so you can stick to it - remember that this is a life change. I workout 3 times a week for about 90 minutes. 45 minutes of cardio, 15 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of abs and 15 minutes of weights or exercise bands (I switch those every other workout). If there’s a day that I only have time for the cardio then I just do that. I can’t stress enough to make it doable with YOUR life. Not everyone’s schedule is the same, so make it best for you.

 

[winterwhite]

DW & I actually went for a walk at a park yesterday. We'll occasionally take a walk in our neighborhood, but we live at the bottom of a hill. When I was going into work at 9:30 (it's now 8:30), I used to walk the neighborhood after the kids got on the school bus. My fitness app said I had climbed 21(!) flights of stairs during that walk. I used to do that every day until I had to come into work earlier. And as @loves to dive says, it's hot.

Yes, I know I'm making excuses.

I used to drink two 20oz sodas every day. About 4-5 years ago I quit cold turkey. Now I might have a soda once a month. I do water, sports drinks, and sweet tea. I snack out of boredom usually. I'm lazy and don't want to pack a lunch. It's just easier to hit the fast food places.

I'm sure a lot of you are saying "stop making excuses and just do it". And that's probably what I would tell my kids or anyone else. I just can't seem to tell myself. Well, I can, I just won't listen.

Action creates motivation and not the other way around.

If you wait for motivation to just strike you, it never will.

You have to do it because you know it’s a chore you have to do for your health. There’s nothing stopping anybody from sitting on the couch all day eating and watching tv except some people recognize that doing that will kill them and they’d prefer to be healthy. That’s really it.

liking the work comes later, after you’ve started.

 

[GreatLakes]

His recommendation- exercise more and reduce carbs.

That is pretty much the best advice. I'd make it processed carbs more than just carbs but short and sweet. Basically if you can't go out and pick or pet it it is probably a bad idea to eat it.

 

[tzolkin]

Of course you should exercise because it's good for you, but if you're really looking into this now because you're concerned about diabetes your diet it probably the more important factor to start so you can quickly get your blood sugar under control.

You mentioned that portion control and carbs are your biggest issues. So that's a great place to begin to cut back.
-Use smaller plates and only take one serving of something.
-Add in more vegetables and things that will fill you up that are not carbs.
-Have some healthy snacks already prepared in the fridge or cabinet (in little containers or ziplock bags) so if you're hungry or want to grab something on your way out the door to snack on in the car you're not grabbing something carb/sugar based.
-See where you can cut back on the sugar in your drinks. I think you mentioned sweet tea. A good substitute is to get raspberry or some other herbal tea bags that have some flavor to them so there's some taste, but you can omit the sugar.

These are all small things that will have an impact, but won't make you feel like you're "on a diet" or forbidden from eating things you love completely.

 

[sam_gordon]

All I can think about right now is the things I like that I can't have...
* Carbs
* Grapes
* Watermelon
* Pineapple
* Cheese
* Sweets
* Chips

Yea, yea, I know, it's "portion control". So I'm going to be hungry ALL. THE. TIME. That's probably not accurate, but that's where my brain is. I'm feeling sorry for myself right now. I don't have confidence I'm going to stick to anything for much more than a week, if that long. A nutritionist is supposed to call me at some point. Maybe they'll give me some hope. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the encouragement and suggestions everyone has posted. As many have said "it's mental" and I've got a mental block against this. I feel like I'm not going to enjoy eating. That's it's going to be a "chore".

Part of the issue is I feel fine. No, really. I find it similar to when I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. I was told when I go on a CPAP, I'd sleep SO much better, I can lose weight, I won't be tired, etc, etc. Two years of using the CPAP 9.9% of nights, and it's still an annoying device that I have to wake up to adjust 2-3 times a night. I don't feel any better, obviously haven't lost weight, have and no more energy than I did before starting it. The ONLY reason I use it is so I don't snore and keep my family awake.

As I said, I'm feeling sorry for myself and getting grumpy.

Thank you for all the input, it is greatly appreciated.