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Several years ago, I decided that my life had to change. I was very overweight, completely sedentary, and ashamed of what I had allowed myself to become. I had been on so many diets throughout my life and had always gained the weight back. This time it was worse than ever. 100 pounds to lose. I committed to losing the weight and making this the very last time. I lost 100 pounds and this year makes 3 years of maintaining the weight loss.
In this Instructable, I plan to give you an inside look at what it takes to lose a significant amount of weight (100+ pounds) without gimmicks or nonsense, no shakes or pills required. I also plan on telling you what it takes (mentally and physically) to maintain that weight for as long as you are willing to put forth the effort!
Take heart, friends! Stop reading diet books! There is NO secret, only science!
Disclaimer: I do not claim to have lost weight in the very healthiest or best manner possible. I ate processed food, I partook of sugar substitutes, and I indulged from time to time. This is the way that I lost weight. It worked for me and has made me into a very healthy person. I am at the correct BMI for my height and have a great body fat percentage. That's not to say that it will be the best way for you or that it can't be done in other ways. This is the experience of just one woman. I would also like to stress that you should be consulting your doctor before you begin any kind of new diet or exercise routine.
In this Instructable, I plan to give you an inside look at what it takes to lose a significant amount of weight (100+ pounds) without gimmicks or nonsense, no shakes or pills required. I also plan on telling you what it takes (mentally and physically) to maintain that weight for as long as you are willing to put forth the effort!
Take heart, friends! Stop reading diet books! There is NO secret, only science!
Disclaimer: I do not claim to have lost weight in the very healthiest or best manner possible. I ate processed food, I partook of sugar substitutes, and I indulged from time to time. This is the way that I lost weight. It worked for me and has made me into a very healthy person. I am at the correct BMI for my height and have a great body fat percentage. That's not to say that it will be the best way for you or that it can't be done in other ways. This is the experience of just one woman. I would also like to stress that you should be consulting your doctor before you begin any kind of new diet or exercise routine.
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Signing UpStep 1Prepare Yourself Mentally for Weight Loss
There are some things you need to consider before you begin any weight loss journey that is as big as ours.
-It will not be comfortable. You spent at least the last few years being comfortable and if you want to lose weight, you're going to have to switch up your routine. You will step WAY out of your comfort zone. You are changing your life and the way you treat your body.
-It will not be an overnight change. There is a reason that people say "weight loss JOURNEY". This is something that takes time, like anything else that's worth doing. It may be years before you reach your ultimate goals. You will have to remember along the way to celebrate the smaller milestones. Dropping a pants size, going up a resistance level on the elliptical, having a friend notice a difference, even just feeling better about yourself are all great reasons to celebrate.
-There will be temptation. The world will not stop because you are losing weight. Every restaurant you love is still open and the food still tastes amazing. Work is still stressful. Lounging is still easier than working out. The people you hang out with are still not making healthy choices. The only thing that's changing is you.
-Your goal needs to be healthy and realistic. A woman who has 100 or more pounds to lose should not strive to look like their favorite celebrity. Likewise a man in the same situation should not expect to look like the guy on the cover of a muscle magazine. Your primary goal should be health. Any physical changes should be completely secondary. Make sure to make your goal weight something within the healthy BMI range. We will talk about realistic time frames in the next step.
You need to ask yourself if you're willing to accept these facts. if you're not, you may not be ready. You will have to go into this thing willing to make changes, withstand temptation, and accept any setbacks or mistakes.
If you are going to do this, the first thing I suggest is to make a point of mentioning it to everyone you know. Tell them what you're doing and what your goal is so that you get asked about your progress constantly. Post it on your Facebook and Twitter. Don't give yourself a chance to cop out. Put it into your head that this is starting and there's no backing down.
Next up, let's talk basics!
-It will not be comfortable. You spent at least the last few years being comfortable and if you want to lose weight, you're going to have to switch up your routine. You will step WAY out of your comfort zone. You are changing your life and the way you treat your body.
-It will not be an overnight change. There is a reason that people say "weight loss JOURNEY". This is something that takes time, like anything else that's worth doing. It may be years before you reach your ultimate goals. You will have to remember along the way to celebrate the smaller milestones. Dropping a pants size, going up a resistance level on the elliptical, having a friend notice a difference, even just feeling better about yourself are all great reasons to celebrate.
-There will be temptation. The world will not stop because you are losing weight. Every restaurant you love is still open and the food still tastes amazing. Work is still stressful. Lounging is still easier than working out. The people you hang out with are still not making healthy choices. The only thing that's changing is you.
-Your goal needs to be healthy and realistic. A woman who has 100 or more pounds to lose should not strive to look like their favorite celebrity. Likewise a man in the same situation should not expect to look like the guy on the cover of a muscle magazine. Your primary goal should be health. Any physical changes should be completely secondary. Make sure to make your goal weight something within the healthy BMI range. We will talk about realistic time frames in the next step.
You need to ask yourself if you're willing to accept these facts. if you're not, you may not be ready. You will have to go into this thing willing to make changes, withstand temptation, and accept any setbacks or mistakes.
If you are going to do this, the first thing I suggest is to make a point of mentioning it to everyone you know. Tell them what you're doing and what your goal is so that you get asked about your progress constantly. Post it on your Facebook and Twitter. Don't give yourself a chance to cop out. Put it into your head that this is starting and there's no backing down.
Next up, let's talk basics!
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However water does fill you up, and makes you feel full so there is no harm in drinking a few glasses extra.
It has also been shown that, if you drink a glass of water with your meal the water quickly exists your stomach, but if you liquidize your meal, along with the same water, your stomach must keep the food and water in longer to process it, which means your stomach is full longer so you feel full for longer.
Of course you can't be expected to liquidize everything, but you can eat dishes where the water is in the meal, hearty soups, casseroles etc.
If I'm remembering correctly you want to space the workouts because working the muscle causes little tears and ruptures in the muscle tissue and it takes a day to heal itself. Which if you are eating enough protein will result in increased muscle mass. Again this is all if I'm remembering correctly as it has been over a decade since I first learned this all.
As for weighing yourself, do it the same time everyday. I've heard that the best time is in the morning, before you eat breakfast. I know I fluctuate about 2-3 pounds each day, so measuring weight at all different times would be confusing.
Using sodium as an example, the nutrition percentage is based on an intake of 2300mg daily, the upper limit for a healthy diet is around 2500mg and the lower limit is around 1200mg.
For things like fat and sodium it would be wise to shoot for the lower limit, and on the reverse fibre and protein are two things that you confidently fulfill you daily intake of.
The secret is a specialized diabetes diet for those with or without diabetes. Researchers showed when a specialized diabetes was used on those over 100 pounds the weight came off fast.
(This was not a typical sugar free diet but a specialized diabetes diet)
The drug companies hid the story from the public This was shown on
Philadelphia News See here http://www.phillyburbs.com/your_news/blogs/how-to-lose-weight-fast-yahoo-tells-you-a-secret/article_d3553c4c-d32a-11e0-b05d-0017a48e13f8.html
For diet-wise, If you make homemade tacos all the time, instead of beef, chicken tastes great too. I also like to add some tofu to it.
I try not to count calories as much as fat and carbohydrates. But still not overdo the calories.
Also, working-out is a great stress reliever. Just turn on some tunes and do it.
Stevia and xylitol are good alternatives to sugar. Artificial sweeteners are toxic crap that cause weight gain. Basically, the body knows it's being ripped off and goes out to find the sugar it now craves. It's all documented science. A good website if you're really interested in how all this works is "the healthy skeptic" which explains things such as how the hunger and satiety hormones function and how eating too many carbs (fruit, fruit juice, grain products and potatoes) switches your body into insulin and lectin resistance i.e. weight gain mode.
Half the adult population have the above resistances which is called metabolic syndrome. If you're a female and your waistline is greater than 100cm then you have this. My waistline is 70cm (I'm 53 and my partner who is 59 has a waistline of 85). A big waistline means fat is stored around your organs and you are pre-diabetic which means possible blindness, kidney failure, leg ulcers and amputations of feet or legs.
With the internet, there is now no excuse for ignorance. Also it's good to understand how the junk food industry engineers their snacks to be seductive. Sugar is addictive. Have you heard of the study that showed mice addicted to cocaine actually choose sweetened water in preferance to cocaine-laced water?
Don't be a sap for these and the other evil industries and take control of your health.
As you have correctly stated, they trick your body. They actually make you think you are hungry when you are not, even more than real sugar. Occasionally, I used stevia or agave or honey. But mostly, after the first week, I found that fruit suited me just fine.
Cutting the sugar did mean leaving out many things I liked such as sourdough bread that would not be considered sweets. I kept it up for about three months and after I lost the weight I went back to a more regular diet. I have kept all but 5 pounds off and plan to do it again.
I am in a similar position to where you were - about 100lb overweight. The difference is that I'm a 6'1" 36 year old male. Like you, I've been worse than Oprah - up and down over years and years. Another difference is that I have gone down the pill route. I am aware of the traps, having tried and failed once before, but this time around I am doing things very differently and I know what to expect. I am treating the pills (Duramine, or Government Speed as I call it) as like a crutch for my relationship with food while I heal it. Before I started on the Duramine I did a few weeks on "Lite n Easy" - an Australian home delivered diet food mob. This taught me how much food I could eat for sustainable weight loss and got me used to a balanced diet again. Then, when I started the pills, I just had to buy the right stuff and get pretty close, portion-wise. Now, 7 weeks in, I've lost 10kg (22lbs) and feel like I've made a proper start.
I warn people away from the pills however. Many doctors just throw them at you and in that situation, they are worse than useless - you will lose some weight, feel a bit better, then when the pills stop you will put it back on quickly and feel worse than when you started! They can only be of use as part of a full program involving all aspects of your life and you can not go off them quickly - you must wean off them slowly over a few months.
Anyway, aside from congratulating you and mentioning my story, the main reason I am writing is to talk about keeping a diary. I think it is essential. Seriously. I laughed at the idea but now I get it. A diary makes you take it seriously. You write down each days food, water, exercise and thinking. Then you plan tomorrow. Plus you'll probably include other stuff like what's happening in your life and other random stuff. For such a simple and somewhat onerous task, it is super powerful in reminding you all the next day where you are at and what the relevance is of everything you do. I started one as a gesture but I've kept it going since then and I attribute much success to it. Even when I'm feel a bit down and out, writing in the diary reminds me of the big picture and it's taught me to understand how my mood is varying during the weightloss process.
Once again, good on you for both your instructable and your success!
I am very glad that you have made some progress, congrats! I certainly hope that the Duramine is not there for the duration of your diet as I have heard about the side effects. Also any amphetamine product is amazingly addictive.
I keep a diary on my iPhone and I don't always write in it every day, but I do during stressful times. That is a very good suggestion. Many people don't realize how much their mood has to do with their eating habits.
I now mention the diary thing to anyone and everyone. I suspect that it is something I will keep up long after this phase has finished. I've been using my android phone to do it at times too - I just have it saved as a draft on my gmail that I can access from anywhere - means there's no excuse not to do it!
Again, all my best miss-ali - you rock!
I eat a high protein low carb diet that keeps me full most of the time so I don't crave sweets constantly (sugar is my last real addiction). In the last 4 months I have also cut out caffeine I drink a lot of water every day, and keep busy (when I sit around I eat).
I was the worst couch potato ever, if I can do you so can you, you just have to get out the and try.
Live long and be free.
However, you should still drink water when you're hot and sweating.
One bit of advice I'd like to add is that you should not let yourself feel deprived. Always denying yourself your favorite things is not positively reinforcing.
More on the topic here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eight-glasses-water-per-day