The struggle to lose weight

I posted a while ago that I had started Weight Watchers. It was the second time, but the umteenth time that I'd made an attempt to lose the weight that I'd packed on since menopause. I lost 13 pounds this time, before I got frustrated with tracking points again. I guess I'm just not one of those people that can track points, or count calories for very long.

So I decided to try something different. I remembered many years ago (early 70s maybe) when I wanted to lose a few pounds, someone mentioned the "no white foods" diet. This meant no white bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, crackers...you know, all those yummy carbs. It had worked for me then, so I thought I'd give it a try again. I do usually have a piece of really grainy bread (Dave's Killer bread) and an over easy egg, most mornings. Then I have a huge salad as my main meal, loaded with stuff like chick peas, or kidney beans, walnuts, broccoli, a hard boiled egg, anything to keep it interesting. And with this, I have a lean protein, like salmon, chicken, those beautiful pork chops from Costco, (with all the fat trimmed off) or shrimp. I've never been much of a sweet eater, so for dessert, I have some low fat, unsweetened yogurt with fruit. Any time I feel hungry, I have a big bowl of veggies with one of my "flavor bomb" cubes that I've posted the recipe for here earlier, or some of the new Hidden Valley Ranch powder sprinkled on top. I do have small amounts of brown rice, or quinoa occasionally, and also sweet potato, but I have to say that my thinking about food has drastically decreased. I rarely feel hungry. Cravings? Yes. But so far, I've managed to avoid buying "forbidden" foods at the grocery store. I just treat myself to beautiful veggies instead, like a container of heirloom cherry tomatoes. Being a veggie lover, this way of eating is right up my alley, just minus the rice or potatoes, etc. that I used to add before.

So far, by doing this for a few months, and not counting a point or a calorie, I've lost 25 pounds. I'm posting this because I know that many of us struggle with our weight, not just because we're unhappy with how we look, but for serious health reasons, and for so long I just couldn't find anything that worked for me, or something that I could stick to long enough for it to work. We're all different, and I believe that there's something out there that will work for all of us. If you haven't found it yet, don't give up. WW worked for me, while I was able to stick to it. It's a really good program, but I did notice that when I used my points to eat more starchy things, even though I stayed within my allotted points, I wouldn't lose, I'd just maintain, so that indicated to me that those starchy carbs were a sticking point for me. I still love them, and will eat them once in a while, but I feel so much better with the weight off, that it makes it easier to avoid them. I hope all of you who are struggling with this problem keep on trying until you find what works for you.

I'm a skinny-Minnie and so is our son, but Hubby, daughter, and granddaughter really struggle with their weight, so I can sympathize with all of you who fight this battle. Good luck to all of you.

The best of luck to you, Hammock Gal!  I have never struggled with weight problems, but many years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and struggled with diets to control it the best I could.  Then I got wonderful new Internal Medicine doctor who told me that "we" could reverse the Type 2 Diabetes with diet and exercise. When I asked how "we" could do that, she said the first thing was to eliminate white foods from my diet - no white potatoes, no white bread or other white flour foods (such as pasta), no white rice, and no white sugar. The second thing was to increase "weight bearing" exercise to 1 hour per day. 

I followed her guidance, along with monthly checkups, and in less than 1 year I had reversed the Type 2 Diabetes, and have not had a A1C reading above 5.5 since then. And, my love of gardening gives me not only a lot of fresh fruits & vegetables, but it gives me a lot of exercise - it has carried me into my mid-70's in good health, too!

Stick with it, Hammock Girl!  I was asked to lose weight and exercise consistently by my doctor because my A1c was creeping up to pre-diabetes range and diabetes runs in my father side of the family.  I did it and I'm happy to say that summer gardening keeps my very active.
R

Losing weight is frustrating because we all know how to do it...fewer calories, more exercise...but doing it is the hard thing. I never had a weight problem until menopause hit, and of course, being older means a slower metabolism, and so harder to lose the pounds. Some people are really good at measuring and keeping track of what they eat. Me, not so much. So this method doesn't feel like dieting, because I don't measure or count anything. Yes, I miss the rice, potatoes and pasta, but I can live with having them once in a while. I just feel so much better. I haven't been to the doctor yet, but I'm sure she'll be pleased, too. For those of you with diabetes and high cholesterol, weight becomes even more important an issue. Luckily, I don't suffer from either of those, but we all know that extra pounds are not good in a number of ways. My best friend's health crisis was the impetus for me to finally do something about my weight. I'd been putting it off for so long, it feels good to finally be making headway. Best of luck to all of us who are fighting the fight. Don't be discouraged, just take one day at a time.

Actually HG, the fewer calories, more exercise has pretty much been shown to be a guaranteed failure in the long run.  Diet changes and less sedentary lifestyle yes, but sometimes more is less and less is more.  Granted, it's really hard to out eat a starch based diet for raw calories.  Our bodies are designed to eat by volume, unfortunately modern farming practices have grossly changed those volume ratios.  A chicken leg and thigh with a cup of rice is 600 calories sans sauces.  The same leg and thigh can be combined with a medium apple (3 inch), 2 cups of green beans and 2 cups of mixed squashes like zucchini for the same 600 calories.

I feel stuffed just reading the second one and the first one will leave me hungry.

Don't get me wrong I feel where you're coming from I've struggled with it my whole life because  I was raised on meat and potatoes and meat and pasta.  It's hard to rewrite the conditioning of our youth.  I struggle to teach my son good eating habits as whenever pasta or potatoes are on the table, they're preferred for him.

I'm glad we are talking about veggies as part of health and losing/maintaining weight. Near-zero veggies can play a big part in that they can fill one without adding many calories. Add a protein and wella! dinner. They are mostly water and easy to digest before bedtime which can help acid reflux.

As an older woman, I'll vouch that fighting weight after menopause is real. I thank you for your post and replies to remind me to get back to large salads (vinegarette dressing) and small protein diet with raw fruit and maybe a piece of Dave's bread.

sanderson wrote:I'm glad we are talking about veggies as part of health and losing/maintaining weight.  Near-zero veggies can play a big part in that they can fill one without adding many calories.  Add a protein and wella! dinner.  They are mostly water and easy to digest before bedtime which can help acid reflux.

As an older woman, I'll vouch that fighting weight after menopause is real.  I thank you for your post and replies to remind me to get back to large salads (vinegarette dressing) and small protein diet with raw fruit and maybe a piece of Dave's bread.

Yes, as someone who never had to worry about my weight when I was younger, it's been an eye opener to find how stubborn the pounds can be now that I'm older. But after thinking that I'd never be able to lose, I'm delighted that I'm finally losing and still eating LOTS of food, just not the starchy carbs. And the things that I'm eating LOTS of are mostly vegetables, which I love anyway. The difference is that before, I was combining them with potatoes, rice and pasta, etc.

I wish I had realized all of this sooner. It took being on WW, and looking at my weight loss compared to the list of foods I had eaten. I was able to look back and see which weeks I had lost weight, and what I ate then, as opposed to the weeks when I hadn't lost anything, even though I had stayed well within my points. For me, the big difference was the starchy carbs. So I guess all of that tracking came in handy after all! It's just so much easier now, being able to lose without keeping track of every bite I eat. I'm losing faster than when I was on WW, and not tracking a thing, or paying a membership fee.  I posted this because I hope it may help someone else out there who's thinking they just can't do it. If I can...so can you!

I'm with ya, folks.  Salads and veggies for the duration as I'm  carrying around 15 extra winter lbs this summer.  All these years I've been able to lose my winter weight in the spring.  But last year it was stubborn and late to go,  and this year, at age 62, it doesn't want to budge.  Whatta a surprise this is...

If I were six inches taller I would be perfect. Then few small bulges I have would be stretched out and flattened.

Then I could reach the top shelf in the supermarket instead of looking around for someone to help me.

Since gardening ended for the year, I have gained 5 pounds.....less exercise, and less fresh vegetables on the table, bad combination! 

OG, I think many are in the same boat. Less exercise, less fresh veggies for most Regions, cold weather with a craving for comfort foods, rich in carbs and fat. We all know a veggie-heavy diet helps control calories but it's hard to find fresh produce.

I'm trying to combat weight gain by having one protein (yum, yum) and 2 vegetables for dinner. I love noodles, potatoes, and rice, and I'm trying to heavily curtail those. Then there is a neighbor who is always bringing us bakery goodies and Christmas candies and cookies.

I am on a diet this fall.  So far I have lost 15 pounds and need to loose another 15 pounds.  So far I have been on the Nutrisystem diet supplemented with fresh vegetables and Coke Zero instead of regular coke (I am a coke-aholic so giving up regular cokes is just as hard for me as quitting smoking nicotine loaded cigarettes.).

Wow, an honest woman. I was heading towards real osteoporosis so I had to quit diet coke after years of two big gulps (42-44 oz) a day. I told myself that I would have one small or medium one each week, and many times now I just go weeks without one. When I have a McDonald's 32 oz diet Coke it is heavenly.

I drink unsweetened ice tea now. I recently tried my new vodka stevia and it is actually good in ice tea. I just recently found out that it was just the colas that contributed to bone loss. Other soft drinks and other carbonated drinks don't. Congrats on the weight loss.

Around mid summer I started to cut out candy, cookies, chips and my daily glass of wine. Even before this I rarely drank soft drinks and I did not eat a lot of bread. I also stopped eating after 8 pm. My weight had been going up up. I am now down 20 pounds. Not sure it will stay that way over the winter.

I get it.  

I am on WW, and have been (for the 2nd time) since February.  I really like the program.  It allows life.  I made Lifetime in 2004, and kept it off for 4 years.  Then the slow creep.

It truly is mostly about produce.  SFG is a perfect companion to those of us who need to keep our heft in check, as well as general health!  Fruits and veggies are very filling, super healthy, and we all know this.

My biggest challenge, having grown up in the Midwest, is “centering my meal around the meat”. That is now over; we need to fashion our meals around non-meat, fruits, veggies, and stuff that we don’t over-eat!  

Great thread.