People are funny

[DZoolander]

Once my wife and I had kids - I started gaining weight. Mostly it was because it changed around my schedule so much that I ceased finding time to be active - plus I started "grazing" at night before going to bed. So over about 6-7 years of that I gained a bit more weight than I was comfortable with.

About 6 months ago a buddy of mine saw this documentary called "fat, sick and nearly dead" and it inspired him to do this juicing diet thing. He lost something like 50 lbs in about a month and a half. Seeing him do it, plus recognizing that I'm not getting any younger, prompted me to put an end to that nonsense and get rid of my own excess weight. I toyed around with the idea of doing what he did for about 5 minutes - but after drinking a couple of kale apple smoothies - figured to heck with that.

So I did my own thing - and in the past 6 months or so have gotten rid of *most* of what I gained. Still have a little bit more to go to get back to my youthful weight (lol) - but for all intents and purposes I got rid of most of it.

There's this really obese lady at my work - and I guess she's been meaning to ask me about it for a while and finally did the other day.

"Have you lost weight?"
"Yeah, a little bit."
(she goes into some long explanation about how she just noticed/etc). "What did you do?"
"Truthfully, I just stopped grazing at night which was my biggest issue I think, became really regimented on what I ate, and worked out some."

Her eyes just glazed over when she heard that answer. lol Not sure what she was expecting to hear.

 

[Dave-W]

I doubt I could ever get back to what I was when we got married:

145 lb and 6" 2"

 

[*LILAC]

Saying "I worked out some" literally has the word work in it. Some people don't want to work harder than getting their paycheque. Just sayin'!

 

[mkgal1]

I've probably made a similar facial response in the past when I've heard that people dropped something like 50 pounds by "just giving up soda", because I haven't drank soda for years (so I couldn't use that tactic)!

Sometimes we want to hear something revolutionary

Several years ago I felt I'd tried doing everything I'd heard we're "supposed to do"....but wasn't losing a pound. I was only drinking water (for years)....and refusing sweets at parties....eating no red meat....working out for an hour at least 3 times a week, and not eating 3 hours prior to bedtime. I wasn't losing anything. I finally went to a doctor that was a "functional medicine" doctor. One of the main reasons I couldn't lose weight was b/c I was deficient in iodine and Vit D (and a few other vitamins/minerals). As I understand it.....without the proper nourishment, our bodies don't function correctly. Nutrition is so complicated as our bodies learn to adapt (if we eat too much protein--our bodies convert that to sugar....then store that as fat). My body seems to have a paranoid and irrational fear that I'm going to starve it to death (and it seems to try everything to store up fat for that impending starvation!). It's frustrating :/

 

[DZoolander]

I doubt I could ever get back to what I was when we got married:

145 lb and 6" 2"

Wow - what was your waist size back then? lol

I'm 6'03" - so basically the same height. When I was younger I always found the best size (for my build) to be around 195-200lbs. That was with a 32-34" waist.

 

[mkgal1]

I doubt I could ever get back to what I was when we got married:

145 lb and 6" 2"

That's probably a good thing to not get back to that weight.

 

[Dave-W]

Wow - what was your waist size back then? lol

30. Just try to find pants with a 30" waist and 32" inseam.

That's probably a good thing to not get back to that weight.

The thing was, I could not go over 155 no matter how much I ate or lazed about. I tried to gain for years. It finally all caught up with me in the later part of my 20s.

 

[*LILAC]

If I went back to my pre-pregnancies weight, I'd be ill. lol I'd have to shrink a few inches and go down to 98 pounds. My hubby's 6' 1" and around 155 mark. He doesn't gain weight, either.

 

[mina]

I used to work out A LOT- I didn't have time for it, but I made time and I had a trainer and went to an exercise group with co-workers an additional 3 days a week. I'm thin anyway, but this just made me into great shape. It was a lot of work and dedication. and I never talked about it b/c people were just mean about it when they found out. "Why do you need to work out? You are too thin already, eat a burger"- all things I heard. One girl spread a rumour about me having an eating disorder. So nice. People are just funny about putting work into something and about judging others.
Now I don't work out as much, I've had kids....I actually weigh less now than when before I was pregnant, but my old x-small/small clothes don't fit as well. It's like things have been repositioned, lol.

 

[Dave-W]

It's like things have been repositioned, lol.

Yeah - that happened to my wife after every pregnancy.
Especially after the twins ...

 

[akmom]

She probably wanted to hear something more specific.

I've told people I do stretch bands for ten minutes a day and quit eating bread. It's not that far off. It just sounds less intimidating than "working out" which kind of conjures a cumbersome trip to the gym or something. I find that substituting a lower-carb entrée or snack works at least as well as giving it up, and people seem less averse to it. I lost over 30 pounds a few years ago, and pretty much kept it off because we worked those tricks into our routine.

People are willing to make changes, not sacrifices, I think.

 

[Leah F]

I was never a thin person. Still people never believed me when I told them how much I weighed. When I was in High school I went on Jenny Craig and lost some of the weight. The I gain it all back and more when I was in college. In my late 20's I managed to lose 30lbs and kept it off till I met my husband last year. I gained some while we were dating but after the wedding I let myself go. I got back up to where I was in my 20s. All my pants stopped fitting. I used to wear jeans but now they are uncomfortable so I now wear yoga pants. Thankfully I changed jobs so I do not have to squeeze into work pants. With my new job I finally have the time to work out. I have been working out at the gym since September. I have only lost a few pounds so far. A woman the other day asked me how I could do an hour long workout on an elliptical and I really could not answer her. Also my husband said he has noticed my belly has gotten a bit flatter. I hopefully will keep losing the weight 1 pound a week. It seems to be where I am at right now except for the Holidays are going to throw it off some.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Once my wife and I had kids - I started gaining weight. Mostly it was because it changed around my schedule so much that I ceased finding time to be active - plus I started "grazing" at night before going to bed. So over about 6-7 years of that I gained a bit more weight than I was comfortable with.

About 6 months ago a buddy of mine saw this documentary called "fat, sick and nearly dead" and it inspired him to do this juicing diet thing. He lost something like 50 lbs in about a month and a half. Seeing him do it, plus recognizing that I'm not getting any younger, prompted me to put an end to that nonsense and get rid of my own excess weight. I toyed around with the idea of doing what he did for about 5 minutes - but after drinking a couple of kale apple smoothies - figured to heck with that.

So I did my own thing - and in the past 6 months or so have gotten rid of *most* of what I gained. Still have a little bit more to go to get back to my youthful weight (lol) - but for all intents and purposes I got rid of most of it.

There's this really obese lady at my work - and I guess she's been meaning to ask me about it for a while and finally did the other day.

"Have you lost weight?"
"Yeah, a little bit."
(she goes into some long explanation about how she just noticed/etc). "What did you do?"
"Truthfully, I just stopped grazing at night which was my biggest issue I think, became really regimented on what I ate, and worked out some."

Her eyes just glazed over when she heard that answer. lol Not sure what she was expecting to hear.

She must've thought you found that secret trick that doesn't involve changing diet habits or exercise.

 

[ValleyGal]

The older you get, the harder it is to lose. I stuck with my "diet" plan for several years, then when I got married, he did not want to eat the way I ate. I found myself making pastas, buying bread, etc. It made me physically ill, but I made it and ate it anyway. It was not a difficult diet once I was on it, but the first few weeks are the hardest. I lost 100 lbs on it, and kept it off till I met husband. Then I gained some - not all - back. Recently I found that some of what I gained is the result of a medical condition that affects adipose tissue and is triggered by hormonal changes. I'm hopefully seeing a specialist in the next few months to determine a course of treatment. That should help to a great extent, which will then make exercising easier (it has greatly affected my mobility). But the diet that worked for me is eating six times a day, about 150-200 calories in each meal, and each meal has protein. The other part is no flour, refined sugar, cornstarch or yeast. Easy!