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  1. #1
    bisous is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Default Lost Five Pounds so sharing my tips

    I've posted in the lounge about my struggles to lose my baby weight after this last baby (she's 3.5!). I'm finally successful at dropping some weight though I'm only part way on the journey. Here's what I'm doing.

    First, I bought a scale. I needed to be able to track what was happening.

    Second, I'm using MFP.

    Third, I'm following the principle of intermittent fasting. This has been the greatest thing. I don't eat until 11:30 every day and after dinner, around 6:00, that's it, only tea. It helps me TONS and although sometimes I'm hungry in the morning, I find it easier to eat nothing than to try to think about what is good to eat and all the psychology behind the food I'm eating.

    Fourth, the first thing I eat every day is vegetables. As many as I can. All I need for the day, actually. I eat a giant salad filled with raw veggies. I feel like then no matter what I eat during the day I've set the tone properly.

    Fifth, with the rest of my calories I'm eating food that I really enjoy. I've been tweaking things. Some foods simply aren't tasty enough relative to how many calories they consume. When I find a food that I really enjoy eating and it makes me feel good and I feel full after and I have plenty of calories left over, that is winning for me.

    Sixth, i'm not giving up any particular category of food. Even dessert. If I know I'm going to have dessert then I eat less during the day and save room for it. This is huge for me. I feel like I could eat like this everyday for the rest of my life. I don't feel like I'm on a diet. I feel like I'm just eating right for my body.

    Seventh, this is not a positive thing, per se, but I'm drinking a protein drink per day. I worry that I'm consuming chemicals in this frankenfood and eventually I hope to move over to a more nutritious source of protein but for now it is easy and they make me feel really good.

    I'm still working on the exercise piece of this. I really should just get up at 6:00 to exercise but I haven't been doing it. I tried the fitness blender videos recommended by somebody on this site and I do love them. I don't love doing them early because I go to bed too late. I also can't do them during the day without my littlest one climbing all over me and night isn't really ideal either. I need to get to bed earlier and wake up earlier. Now that I feel like the eating part is making sense, I feel like I can work on exercise next.

    Any, I really think the key to losing weight for all of us over age 40 is to realize that we need to start eating in a way we can follow for the rest of our lives. Our metabolism won't be getting better any time soon. Then we need to figure out if we are more comfortable eating sensibly and watching portions, or doing something like whole 30 or low carb, or counting calories or intermittent fasting. I think that dieting is so individual because not only are bodies highly individual as to what food and exercise feels best, but every personality is different too.

    I have 25 pounds to go before I'm back to my ideal. That's kind of hard to type. But even having lost five pounds I feel better. I also feel like I'm in control.

  2. #2
    Philly Mom is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Awesome job! Keep it up!

    For autoimmune reasons, I have changed my diet. It has only been a week but I have already lost weight. It is doing nothing for my arthritis, but it is curing me of my bad eating habits, i.e. eating lots of dessert during the day and eating well past 8pm at night. I also ate just to eat during the day, making poor choices. I think I have already lost a couple pounds. I cut out gluten, refined sugar and dairy and am pretty much eating a Whole 30 diet most of the time with some other non gluten grains thrown in for one or two meals this week. I am eating many more vegetables and fruit as well as lots of protein. If I had to guess, I won't stay with this forever but I do like how I have changed my habits and hope I can keep the same discipline. I just miss pizza . I am going to stay like this for about 5 more weeks, until the end of Passover. I may do another month after to coincide with my HS reunion . At that point, I will see how I am feeling.

    So proud of you. You are doing great work!

  3. #3
    baymom is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Congratulations--great job!

    I also have some weight I need to loose and though it's going slowly, it's going. I found out about intermittent fasting from some co-workers who do the 5:2, meaning for 5 days you eat normally and for any 2 (non-consecutive) days a week, you eat 500 calories only. DH and I both did this for a while and it worked really well (didn't feel deprived/easy to follow and effective). Unfortunately, I've fallen off the wagon in the past 6 months and need to go back to it. I've read about and 16:8 method of intermittent fasting where you eat only 8 hours per day and don't eat for 16. I plan to start this and it's nice to know it's working for you! I figure if I stop eating at 8pm (at the latest), that means I can eat lunch at noon. I typically don't wake up hungry anyway, just 'eat to eat' in the morning, so it would fit into my life style better. Of course, you can't go crazy the 8 hours that you DO eat. My big thing to work on is not mindlessly eating after dinner.

    So impressed by your success and inspired to make some of your changes! Keep it up!!

  4. #4
    bisous is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Philly Mom View Post
    Awesome job! Keep it up!

    For autoimmune reasons, I have changed my diet. It has only been a week but I have already lost weight. It is doing nothing for my arthritis, but it is curing me of my bad eating habits, i.e. eating lots of dessert during the day and eating well past 8pm at night. I also ate just to eat during the day, making poor choices. I think I have already lost a couple pounds. I cut out gluten, refined sugar and dairy and am pretty much eating a Whole 30 diet most of the time with some other non gluten grains thrown in for one or two meals this week. I am eating many more vegetables and fruit as well as lots of protein. If I had to guess, I won't stay with this forever but I do like how I have changed my habits and hope I can keep the same discipline. I just miss pizza . I am going to stay like this for about 5 more weeks, until the end of Passover. I may do another month after to coincide with my HS reunion . At that point, I will see how I am feeling.

    So proud of you. You are doing great work!
    Thank you! Congrats to you too! Glad the new diet seems to be working out. That's a big change but sometimes it is really nice to have strict rules. For me at least it takes the daily guesswork out of what to eat or not eat. I don't do too well at "moderation".

    I will say, I'm not sure this is what you want to hear but I did make pizza for my kids with gluten free crust and rice cheese when we were doing gluten and casein free. It didn't look that delicious to me but the boys seemed to like it. I hope you continue to have success and start feeling much better too.

  5. #5
    bisous is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by baymom View Post
    Congratulations--great job!

    I also have some weight I need to loose and though it's going slowly, it's going. I found out about intermittent fasting from some co-workers who do the 5:2, meaning for 5 days you eat normally and for any 2 (non-consecutive) days a week, you eat 500 calories only. DH and I both did this for a while and it worked really well (didn't feel deprived/easy to follow and effective). Unfortunately, I've fallen off the wagon in the past 6 months and need to go back to it. I've read about and 16:8 method of intermittent fasting where you eat only 8 hours per day and don't eat for 16. I plan to start this and it's nice to know it's working for you! I figure if I stop eating at 8pm (at the latest), that means I can eat lunch at noon. I typically don't wake up hungry anyway, just 'eat to eat' in the morning, so it would fit into my life style better. Of course, you can't go crazy the 8 hours that you DO eat. My big thing to work on is not mindlessly eating after dinner.

    So impressed by your success and inspired to make some of your changes! Keep it up!!
    To me it feels really sustainable. I do find that sometimes I'm hungry in the morning. But usually in the mornings I'm busy enough that noon comes soon enough. I also have to watch what I'm eating during the 8 hours still but it is easier if for no other reason than a shorter duration. What works for me is that first meal to eat my veggies and then eat whatever I feel like eating. I might put down 800 calories at lunch but then I feel FULL. I then eat a "sensible dinner" and really I haven't been too hungry. It also hasn't really gotten in the way of my lifestyle. Good luck!

  6. #6
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    essnce629 is online now Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Great job!

    I've always been naturally thin but I definitely was able to start putting on weight after I turned 30 (I'm 35 now).

    I've never been a breakfast person and naturally fast for about 18 hours a day. I just don't get hungry at all till about 1pm. That's when I make an iced coffee drink with 2 shots of espresso and about 1/4 cup of cold frothed heavy cream. I eat pretty low carb (no gluten or grains) so I eat a lot of fat and never count calories. I eat a big dinner, usually getting seconds, but dinner is protein and lots of veggies plus a salad sometimes. I don't really eat after 7pm because I've eaten so much at dinner. I do drink tea at night. I rarely snack and if I do it's on cherry tomatoes, snap peas, or cheese crisps (just baked cheese, nothing else) with cream cheese.

    I weigh the same as I did when I graduated high school. I definitely had more muscle then though. I've never really exercised. I believe what you eat is way more important than exercise for weight loss and studies show that. I believe sleep is more important than exercise lol! And if you're asleep, you can't eat! 😂

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  7. #7
    bisous is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by essnce629 View Post
    Great job!

    I've always been naturally thin but I definitely was able to start putting on weight after I turned 30 (I'm 35 now).

    I've never been a breakfast person and naturally fast for about 18 hours a day. I just don't get hungry at all till about 1pm. That's when I make an iced coffee drink with 2 shots of espresso and about 1/4 cup of cold frothed heavy cream. I eat pretty low carb (no gluten or grains) so I eat a lot of fat and never count calories. I eat a big dinner, usually getting seconds, but dinner is protein and lots of veggies plus a salad sometimes. I don't really eat after dinner (so past 7pm) because I've eaten so much at dinner. I do drink tea at night. I rarely snack.

    I weigh the same as I did when I graduated high school. I definitely had more muscle then though. I've never really exercised. I believe what you eat is way more important than exercise for weight loss and studies show that. I believe sleep is more important than exercise lol! ��

    Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk
    Oh I used to be like you! As a kid, teen and young adult I could eat absolutely anything and be completely skinny. I had to "adjust" my eating around age 30. But it was nothing like I have to do now, after I had baby number 4 at age 37. Funny that you can eat a lot of fat. I'm realizing that my body just doesn't use fat very effectively. Eating fat is supposed to provide satiety but for me it just does not. My diet right now is pretty low in fat but pretty high in carbs. I've added more protein and veggies and now I feel really good but it isn't terribly low carb. I am actually eating a ton of fiber too. I really think every body is different.

  8. #8
    MamaSnoo is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    The most successful thing I ever did while using MFP was to eat salad first (no dressing). So much salad that I did not really want anything else. And then, don't starve, but have a sensible portion with protein and a small amount of whole grain.

    The key, though, was the massive pile of arugula (or spinach or whatever) that I ate first. After that, I was so tired of chewing that I was not tempted to get excess portion of anything else.
    Bug-a-wug 3/2008

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  9. #9
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    very inspiring bisous!

  10. #10
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    Congrats! And I just want to say I'm so jealous of all of you who aren't hungry in the morning. I think I would die if I didn't eat breakfast within an hour of waking up. And a lot of days that is before 6 a.m. When I'm not pregnant I'm good about not eating after dinner (which is usually 5:30-6:00) but I have a rough time with things like fasting until a 10:00 appointment!
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