The Biggest LOOSER -- running weight loss thread

Back to between 210-215 after being as much as 226. Wanting to get back down to 205-210, but I still have almost two months of half-marathon training to do, so I think that'll happen.

 

You should post this on the "Take Care of Yourself" thread which has become guys comparing workouts. They can probably offer you some advice.

 

I'm now at the halfway point between my starting weight and my goal weight. I've lost a bit over 20 pounds.

I think my eating habits have permanently changed. It's no longer a major battle of willpower to avoid eating terribly, it's just what I feel like. Coming in below my calorie goal is more of an issue than coming in above.

Not doing anything fancy. I have three basic rules for eating: As little pre-processed as possible, vegetable with every meal, drink nothing but water.

For exercise, I bought some cheap dumbbells that I can use at home to add some heft to the workout each day. I do a rotation of cardio day/back and stomach day/upper body on repeat.

I had a shirt in the back of my closet that got put there because it had gotten too tight, causing the spaces between the buttons to spread out and my stomach showed. I was able to wear it yesterday with a little bit of bagginess.

 

my biggest problem now is not eating enough. for 18 months i had this mindset of lose weight, lose weight, lose weight. but now i'm to the point where my trainer is constantly telling me i'm not eating enough (particularly protein) to build muscle adequately. she says at my height, 250-260 is about right if i'm going to continue to work on building muscle. but what is really bothersome is way too much excess left skin on my gut from losing 140-ish pounds. and at my age, the skin doesn't recover the way it would with someone younger. so my options are go slow and build muscle mass in the midsection or spend $10,000 and have a surgeon cut away the excess skin. you can't tell it when i have a shirt on and i look pretty slim. but shirt off? um, no thank you.

 

Update: Weighed 202 on Thursday for our annual health screening, with a good BP (120/77). My BMI (30.2) is still a bit off where I'd like it to be, but on the right track. It was probably 36-something last year.

 

That's great, HH!!!

 

stronglifts.com.

 

I'm getting frustrated and starting to wonder if I'm doomed.
More than once in my life I have lost and regained a significant amount of weight. Most recently, I lost about 85 pounds in 2004/2005 and now I've regained about 60 of it.
When I lost the weight, I told myself my lifestyle had changed, that I was never going back. Then, almost without noticing it, the bad habits that got me to the point where I needed to lose all that weight crept back, along with the weight I lost.
I still work out 3-5 times a week, heavy weight training and some cardio. My bloodwork is a mixed bag. I don't remember the exact numbers, but my blood sugar is fine (I'm convinced the exercise is the only thing keeping me from being diabetic). My total cholesterol is OK, but the HDL is too low and the triglycerides are too high.
My problem is I eat too much and too much of the wrong things. I start off every day with the best of intentions, eating a good breakfast, taking healthy meals to work (usually salads, lean protein, vegetables and turkey sandwiches) but at some point each day, it all goes to shit. I end up eating chips or candy from a vending machine. I eat fast food on weekends. I'm not gaining weight anymore but I'm not losing either.
My doctor wants to see me in some sort of structured weight loss plan. I've tried Weight Watchers and didn't feel like it was for me. He suggested I work with a nutritionist at the hospital, but my insurance won't cover it unless I have diabetes and I don't know if I can afford it otherwise.
He suggested gastric bypass surgery, which I don't want to do. There are people in my family and friends of mine who have had it and benefitted from it, so I'm not judging anyone who has had it. I just don't want to do it. I figure even if you have the surgery, you still have to eat right and exercise so why not just eat right and exercise and lose weight that way. The trouble is keeping it off. I've heard that the body wants to defend a certain weight, even if it's not a healthy weight for you. I know from person experience, the odds are against anyone successfully losing weight and keeping it off for life. I've been through it. I know that once I lose weight, I can never go back to the habits that got me fat in the first place, but I don't know how to do that.
Is it possible that maybe I should think about gastric bypass and it may be the only way I could succeed?

 

Why does this happen? I'm not the best at food will power, either. I've found a few meals that are really flavorful and also in a reasonable calorie range. I have a feeling that perhaps you're bringing food that you're supposed to like, but when push comes to shove, you can't force yourself to restrict yourself to.

A couple other things of note:

* Weigh yourself every day. Or at least measure your waist every day. I know a lot of people advise against this, but it really, really keeps you honest, and prevents that creep from setting in where you let yourself have something, becuase you figure you'll just fix your habits "tomorrow."

* I'm concerned about the "heavy weight training and some cardio." Reverse that. Make it heavy cardio and some weight training. Unless you're playing high school football, cardio > weight training by a country mile.

 

As I understand it, there's no "tone" vs. "build muscle." If you lift weights consistenly, you'll build muscle. When you build muscle and lose fat, you look "tone." Everything else you've heard is just a myth, passed on and on and on until it has become received knowledge.

 

My blood work came back from the screening and I was delighted with my triglycerides, which were off the chart last year, are back in the clean-and-green territory now. I had read that a low-carb diet might help in that area and it certainly has.

 

Weighing yourself every day is key. Don't freak out over every fluctuation, but it really keeps you from getting out of hand and letting weight gain sneak up on you. I lost 45 pounds last year and while I'm kind of in maintenance mode now, getting on the scale every day lets me know if I'm putting on weight and then I kick things into gear for a couple weeks to lose anything I gained.