I need some encouragement (regarding weightloss)

[trilyn]

I'm doing weight watcher's and I love it. Drink your liquids, water, low calorie fruit juice, seltzers-but try and avoid diet soda's. They contribute to metabolic syndrome and keep all the fat around your middle. I stopped drinking diet months ago and feel so much better. The weight watchers rocks because instead of counting calories, you do the point system which is so much easier. I thought it would be a huge bore and it is actually quite exciting-especially when I step on the scale, 14 lbs in 4 weeks! I know that is a lot for so short a length of time, but I feel fantastic, am within my point range and I drink a ton of liquids, mainly water with Wyler's lemonade mixed in. Deelish!

I had struggled the first week with cravings and was told that if my urine was yellow, either light or dark-I was dehydrated and that would cause the cravings. They were so right-I started increasing my liquid intake and that killed the cravings and I am clear right now. Sorry to be so graphic, but sometimes that's the only way.

I feel your pain though-my dh is type 1 and it is hard to lose the weight, but again-not impossible. Keep your chin up and you'll get it done! Good luck!!

 

[Wifezilla]

The science of losing weight is to take in less calories than you burn

No, it isn't. Calories are not all created equal. They do not all have the same effect on your body and especially hormones. A person eating 5000 calories a day of meat and fat can actually lose weight while a person the same size eating 2000 calories a day high in carbohydrates can gain.

Your genes, thyroid function, sensitivity to insulin, blood sugar levels, etc... all effect weight gain and loss. The calories in = calories out formula only works if you are a mechanical devise that uses combustion. It doesn't work for the human body since it leaves out too many variables and we don't light our food on fire (which is what a calorie is...the energy from something after you light it on fire) to derive energy.​

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks guys. Again, really good advice. I will definitely try to look into it more.

Unfortunately I'm not a big meat eater, so that makes balancing meals a bit more difficult. I love seasoned ground beef, turkey kielbasi, white turkey breast, and white chicken. I probably don't eat it as much as I should though. I love beans and nuts though, and I've been trying to eat almonds as of late.

Wifezilla, i read over those links a bit and may look into some of the info more. I have a hard time reading informational books, but I may research the eating habits you brought up more. What do you consider to be healthy fats? I know there are all different kinds of sugars and carbs out there, but I'm not sure what kinds of foods I should be focusing on. What kinds of foods contain healthy fat?

I know I will have a difficult time cutting some carbs out of my diet, but I'm definitely interested in hearing meal and food ideas. I love my soups and those seem to be inexpensive to make. I'm on a college budget so sometimes shopping for very healthy items is difficult. Fresh veggies can be so darn expensive and they don't last very long, so I tend to stick with things I can cut up and freeze. My crazy school schedule doesn't always allow me to cook every night. On days that are very busy, I tend to eat campbell's or lipton soup, which I know has a lot of sodium in it, but I actually have been able to lose a bit of weight eating campbells. Not much, but more than I've been able to as of late.

A lot of people keep telling me that I will gain muscle weight as I'm working out, but there has to be a point where I begin to lose fat. I have seen a little bit of increase in weight without increase in size or fat and I am definitely stronger. I try not to weigh myself often, but I'd like to go down in clothes sizes.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm still stressing over a lot of things right now (mainly school work, assignments, and various things for my job) and that certainly doesn't help me at all. I know with the holidays coming up, eating healthy will be very difficult! My biggest problem is that I need to eat things that I can continue eating for my entire life, because I know I will always struggle with weight. I can't start eating things that I know I will not be able to keep up eating for a long period of time. (I guess this mostly applies to diets)

I'm interested to learn about weight watchers. I've heard a lot of people talk about the point system, but I'm not sure if that would work for me as I already have to count carbs. I don't want to have a list of things I have to count before I eat!

 

[Wifezilla]

Healthy fats come from olive oil, beef, coconut oil, butter, and full-fat dairy. Yes...saturated fats are healthy fats. Soy, canola, corn and anything hydrogenated isn't.