I need to lose about 120lbs to be happy with myself. I still won't be at what the doctors call a healthy weight for my body, but who cares? We can't all be a size 2.
On mother's day 2010 I went through a hysterscopy because since I got my tubal ligation and LEEP in 2004, I have gained over 100lbs and I keep gaining with no changes in lifestyle or eating habits. Plus, my periods have been severely irregular (skipping for 5 months and then have it for 5-8 months straight and so heavy... It actually hindered me living my life). I was told to lose weight and they put me on metformin for high insulin and a few other medications. I am not a dietitian and everything I have tried has failed. So, I went about trying to figure out how to lose the weight myself. I started with a small goal - 15lbs in 2 months. I tried the 1200 calorie diet and I constantly felt starved and I knew that was not good if I wanted to stay on a diet. So, I put myself on a 1600 calorie diet (three meals a day, because for the most part, I only eat once a day) and I walked 30 minutes three times a week. Believe it or not, my Friday shopping were actually more like an hour and I counted it as my exercise. I lost 15lbs in a month. I lost another 10lbs the next month, but then I got sick of counting calories and stopped dieting.
Find what works for you. I discovered 1600 calories is a lot of food if you pick the good things. I went to Chinese 3x a week for lunch and still lost weight because I didn't eat anything fried or breaded. I'd eat small amounts of rice (6 pieces of sushi max) and I ate quite a few veggies, fruits and seafood. I gave myself around 300 calories for breakfast - two slices of lite wheat toast (70 calories) and three eggs over easy (210 calories) cooked in a tsp of olive oil; or the like. I gave myself about 800-1000 calories for lunch so I'd work off most of what I ate before night time. Supper was around another 300 calories unless I only had 800 calories at lunch - ham and lite wheat bread sandwich (150 calories w/ mustard) and the exact amount of chips or something "bad" for the remaining 150 calories. If I had 500 calories to work with, I'd make 2 veges and a protein with all fat cut off and cooked out of it's own grease (I am partial to chicken thighs and you can eat two of them if you take off the skin, trim the fat and roast it on a rack so the fat drips away). I did not eat diet food, I just controlled my portions and counted calories. The only major changes I made were the lite wheat bread and no rice/flour noodles/white bread/potatoes because of the diabetic aspect of things. I replaced those things with wheat, whole grains and sweet potatoes. I also tried cutting back on starchy veges like corn, peas and other beans/legumes. Losing bread was hard on me. That is my weakness - a warm, soft loaf of bread calls to me like nothing else! I already preferred water over sweet drinks, but I do like my coffee and unsweetened ice tea. I never counted my drinks as calorie intake, btw.
I will say that I would not recommend a 1000-1200 calorie diet to anyone who's just starting to diet. That kind of caloric change is a huge shock to anyone's system! Plus, if you feel like you are starving and you are miserable because of it, you will fail to stay on the diet. Start with something you can handle. Something else I did was tried to figure out how many calories I use to just live through my day. I believe you need to burn 2x what you take in to lose weight (you burn 4000 calories a day, you need to take in no more than 2000 calories), but don't quote me. I did this research some time ago.
Anyways, I hope some of this helps.
ETA: Make sure you eat breakfast, too! Your body won't burn calories until you put calories in it!
I'm checking that thread out as I type. I may post on over there! .....still, I was concerned about the OP and I'd like to hear how she's doing! Maybe she'd like to join us over there?
