The Biggest LOOSER -- running weight loss thread

One of the (very few) advantages in being single is that it let me be hardcore in my diet. I went on a 1850-calorie-a-day+exercise diet back in January 2022. I eat the same stuff every single day. Tuna, chicken breast. fruit and veg, a pint of whole milk.

I've lost over a hundred pounds but I can't see any girilfriend - no matter how supportive - sticking around for it.

 

I’ve gone the hardcore route before. It was great for getting the weight off. It wasn’t so good for keeping it off. It just wasn’t sustainable for me.

 

Same here. Did the strict low carb thing, lost a bunch of pounds. Decided I wanted bread, rice and potatoes again, and all the pounds came back ... and brought friends along.

 

You have to do whatever works for you. Don't go crazy about anything, and you'll probably be fine, as long as you keep your sights set on actually losing weight. It's not supposed to be hard. But it just is, usually, because it goes against our habits, and what we want to do. What we want to do is eat what we want, without gaining weight. But that's just not going to happen -- not for most people.

 

I lost 130ish pounds nine years ago with a massively restrictive diet and have kept 100 off (90 after vacations). My wife and I met after the weight loss. We essentially just eat separately during the week. My concession was to eat carbs on weekends. It meant gaining back a little, but made life livable. I’ll never have time for the 1200 calorie, six-hour workout days to get down to 167 again. I just try to stay under 195 and me and my doctor are pleased. My wife would get suspicious if I ever got back to complete fanaticism of being actually in shape again. That sort of dedication only comes from existential fear of being alone or planning one’s divorce in advance.

During the week, I cook for myself only and we alternate cooking for our son. He likes my wife’s days better because he gets to eat more carbs.

I do miss the freedom of eating the same meal every day in some ways, however. Like Jim Harbaugh and his pants, it is freeing to de-emphasize choice and the enjoyment of stylishness (or in this case taste). It’s just difficult to convince another person that restriction can mean freedom. It’s a tough sell to a brain that craves calories evolutionarily in the same way pain as an avenue to fitness is a hard sell to others.

But when you’ve mastered it and it is real, not a TickTok display, but an actual code you live by that you keep to yourself? It is a zenlike state.

 

Yeah. It was really surprising that I didn't get tired of the same stuff every single day. And it's saved a whole bunch of money too.

This is so true. I have a friend who say's he'd get real worried if his wife started going to the gym but not if she started tunning. That meant she was just scared of dying.

 

I think a lot of people who go through significant weight loss find the things that work for them, diet-/eating-wise, and tend to just stick with them, creating the nearly daily routines that, in turn, help them to lose the weight.

I still am a very habitual eater, even 15 years past the most substantial part of my weight-loss efforts, and I could literally live on chicken/ground turkey, vegetables and a little unsweetened applesauce that I use like a dip. In fact, I still do, almost, still regularly eating that dish for supper as much as four or five times a week. Now, though, there is also occasional pasta, and Chinese food, that is thrown into the mix every so often. And, I like a taco-sized, plain refried bean and cheese burrito on a low-carb tortilla for lunch most days.

Nowadays, it's more about portion control than what, specifically, I'm eating. Nevertheless, I learned to love my usual dinner meal enough that I've always kept it on the menu.

 

I’ve been literally begging my wife for years to exercise more.

Since we’ve been married, I’ve quit smoking and drinking and got into good enough shape to run multiple marathons. Most of it started after my dad passed away in his 60s, but still.

It’s a stark contrast. She gets sick all the time, and it lasts forever, so basically, she’s always sick. I never get sick, even when she and the kids cough all over me for weeks on end. She never has a ton of energy, and I always do.

Exercise just changes so much in life.

 

It really does. I don't run marathons. I don't even think I could, because my knees are bad. But I love to swim, and I use the spin and recumbent bikes regularly at the gym. I don't love going to the gym, but I am always glad that I've done it afterward. The activity keeps the joints more loose, and moving -- something that becomes more appreciated once arthritis starts to set in. Once that happens, moving, as much as you comfortably can, is what keeps you moving. It's reciprocal, but you can't realize that until you do some activity.

Besides that, I also like being surprised by what the body can do, usually after not too long, even. Strength- and stamina-wise, I've gone from barely being able to ride the bikes for five minutes to doing it for an hour (although I usually do about 35 minutes, and spend the rest of the time on strength and toning machines). But, usually surprisingly to people who haven't previously exercised, this sort of thing can happen within weeks, or certainly within a couple of months of starting an exercise routine.

 

At one point I ate so cleanly and exercised so much that I only required three hours of sleep. It was the weirdest thing, but I was completely refreshed and full of energy after a few hours. I miss having that springiness. I don’t miss spending six hours a day lifting and running. The only weird thing was my body radiated heat. I couldn’t even use a sheet in bed. It became an all-efficient nuclear reactor core.

 

I’ve asked my girlfriend about ground turkey and she said “no way. Too dry.”
When I’ve bought turkey sausage she’s asked “What part of the pig does it come from?”
She wonders what’s put in fat-free cheese when they take the fat out.
Light mayonnaise “Not real food. Use full-fat just less.”
I tell her this is hard enough as it is without making it any harder.
Whatever chemicals she’s worried about couldn’t cause more damage to my health than staying fat.
But maybe I’m the problem if I think I need those things to be successful.

 

Just as with ground beef, there are percentages of fat in ground turkey. Use some with a higher percentage (and don't overcook it!) if you're worried about it being too dry. The common percentages of fat in turkey are 7 percent, 9 percent, 15 percent, and occasionally, you'll see 18 percent. I do OK with 9 percent, because I've learned how to cook it, and eat it. If you want to use ground turkey just like ground beef and make, say, a hamburger with it, just add the mustard, mayo, ketchup, dressing, pickles and whatever else to it, and that will go a long way toward mitigating any complaints of dryness.

Now, I don't eat ground turkey as an actual hamburger on a bun, although you certainly can. I eat it in the dish, with a side of unsweetened applesauce that I use sort of like a dip, and I love it. You could do the same with Thousand Island or Ranch dressing, or make a honey-mustard dressing or dip, or use salsa, or anything, for the same effect. You'd be surprised. You might even come to prefer ground turkey over ground beef. It is certainly lighter (good for the waistline) and easier on the digestive system.

I've never eaten turkey sausage, just because I'm not a sausage eater. But I've used turkey bacon; it's OK -- not bad, especially once you get used to it. It is something you could, at least, probably learn to like. But I don't eat bacon and eggs enough to have to use it in place of regular bacon, and so, I don't. (I've eat very little pork, or any kind, since my weight-loss surgery 15 years ago because it is one of my few "problem" foods that just don't go down well for me. Keeps me away from anything except just the occasional piece or two of bacon, hot dogs, pork chops, sausage, etc.)

As for mayo, I don't know about you, but I certainly don't eat spoonfuls of it at a sitting, like soup, or anything. Of course, I'm not especially a mayo fan -- I'll use it a little bit on sandwiches, but that's about the extent of it -- but my point is that, it's a spread. It's not one of those items that it should matter that much whether you use the light version or the full-throated version, except that the former saves you wasted fat/calories. Taste-wise, the difference is minimal, but, to me, better, for being lighter because it's less oily/greasy. I've found the same applies to sour cream, and now I much prefer Daisy Lite sour cream to the original, full-fat version of it.

Reduced-fat and non-fat cheese, on the other hand, definitely is not as good the regular stuff, and unless you have a different reaction to it, it is one item I would recommend just watching the portions/frequency of it, rather than getting laser-focused on buying/eating the light versions. Unless you tend to eat loads of it, you should be OK. (I don't think they put anything else in it when they take the fat out; that's why it's dry, and pretty tasteless and not worth using, in my opinion).