Dieting is Impossible!

I had to do a complete overhaul, I mean EVERYTHING.  Did that with a very strict calorie count journal for several months and this trained me to understand what serving sizes really are and how much is really in everything.  I also planned all meals ahead of time.  I took lunches to work and pre-planned dinner.  Neither of us cook, so I used a lot of those Progresso soups and then had little sides like fresh fruit and low fat cottage cheese.  I'm a picky eater, but when I find something I like I have no problem eating the exact same thing for each meal everyday.  Breakfast was usually a yogurt cup and granola bar, a fruit for snack, a sandwich and/or soup for lunch, soup with cottage cheese and a fruit for dinner, and fat free popcorn for snack.  I drank only water and 0 cal sugar free lemonade.  After a few months, I slowly weaned off the strict diet and the journal and now use neither, but I've maintained the 25lb loss since mid-April. 

Treats in moderation only allow your self to have treats once a week. And try not to do what we all like to do eat the whole block of choc instead of just having a row etc hehe.

Make sure you cook healthy meals won't kill everyone in the house to eat well all week & have a treat on a friday night or something like that. Make sure you have 3 meals a day but make them smaller than you would normally eat. If you get hungry thru out the day instead of reaching for something yummy and often fattening have a piece of fruit or a small handful of nuts.

Dieting and trying to behave food wise is hard work and if your the only one trying to do it it's even harder. Try to get everyone in on the act will make it easier for you to stick too.

But I find it easier for me cause I live by myself can cook meals in advance and be sorted for nearly a whole week instead of resort to takeaways or picking on junk food. Which is my normal choice but I have been really strict with myself. And make sure I get plenty of exercise at least one walk a day with the dog and I ride my horse nearly everyday.

Dieting is useless without a decent ammount of exercise.

 The accountability of WW is helping me get back on track.  Everything that goes in my mouth is tracked and if I want something "bad", I have to figure out the points and work them into my weekly allowance.  It's working so far (1st week), I'm down 3.8 lbs.

BCMixs

The accountability of WW is helping me get back on track.  Everything that goes in my mouth is tracked and if I want something "bad", I have to figure out the points and work them into my weekly allowance.  It's working so far (1st week), I'm down 3.8 lbs.

Do you do the meetings? I like the idea of the points system (because when I just count calories, I tend to go overboard on fat and eat too little fiber...so counting those without actually having to count them would be helpful, I think), but I can't see myself doing meetings, and can't afford them right now anyway...so I'm wondering if anyone's had success doing WW without meetings?

I'm working with a dietician right now- it's helping a lot. One thing to remember though, that I worry a lot about with some diets is that you're not supposed to lose more than 1/2 lb to a lb a week. What is important for me to remember that is making this work long term unlike any other diets is that it's specifically made for me and my medical conditions. Nothing is off limits, you just have to be a lot more aware of what you eat and how much you eat. You need to relearn serving sizes specifically. If you can, buy a food scale as that will help you realize how much you're eating. Instead of getting chips when you want to snack, get some veggies or fruits. After a few months you'll really not even want the chips often either. If I'm craving something sweet then I eat something small and sweet. This weekend was terrible- I was out of town traveling and helping people move and I ate fast food every day. So then you just have to get back on it and do better the next few days. You can't let one bad week bring you down.

 I did the meetings and made Lifetime several years ago.  I kept the weight off for 3 years so long as I attended at least 1 meeting a month.  I got cocky, stopped going to meetings, and well 40 lbs later, here I am.  So, for me, the meetings really work.  Walmart's RediClinics have a special going on right now and a monthly pass is $40.  That's $10/week and you can go to as many meetings as you need.  You could go every day if you wanted to.  And I figure, the number of german chocolate cakes I was binging on every weekend was costing me $10/week anyway.

They also have a plan called Core, which is what I do, I love it because you don't have to count so much, and you can eat as much as you want of certain foods which are the "Core" of the program.  It also puts you in touch with your hunger signals because you're supposed to eat more consciously and know when you're satisfied and not eat past that point.  It's been good for me to get back in touch with that because I was literally eating until I felt sick for no good reason at all, hating how I felt and looked, and already feel so much better, working out more, doing more active stuff with the dogs and the jeans are looser already. 

Hunterwayit

Dieting is useless without a decent ammount of exercise.

 

Nah, I workout 5-6 days a week, about an hour of cardio a day. I was lifting but have since cut back on that. Really it should be exercise is useless without dieting because I feel like I'm busting my butt and nothing is happening. I figure if its not in the house I won't eat it so I don't buy it, but somehow thanks to someone it ends up in the house. My self control sucks!!  I am not even at a bad weight, but when you have to wear a tank top and a pair of short shorts to work you tend to notice the little weight gains and such and it definitely wouldn't hurt for me to change eating habits a bit more.

I agree with Laurelin, working with a professional helped me.  I was not by any means overweight, but I gained weight steadily for a few years so I could have easily become overweight.  I met with our "wellness director" who does nutrition AND exercise science.  I told him where I was at, where I wanted to be, and made a plan from there.  Since it's based on me, it won't be like anyone else's plan.  I wanted to do a total overhaul and go hardcore from day one, but that's just the kind of person I am, I don't ease into things I either do it or I don't.  60 mins of intense cardio, consume 1200 calories a day.  Some weeks I easily lost 4-5 lbs a week.  I never got into that "drink tons of water" thing.  I'm not a very thirsty person and will have a drink once or twice a day.  Now I am reading new studies that say forcing yourself to drink more water isn't necessarily any healthier.  I drink maybe the equivalent of 2 20oz. a day and I managed to lose the weight and keep it off, the wellness director never told me to drink tons of water.  He wanted me to count calories because that's really what counts, burning more than you consume.  I was concerned about fat and other things but he said don't worry about it.  Now if I was choosing between two treats and one had less fat, then go based on fat, but really just count the calories.  I never did WW because I didn't want to pay someone to count something I can count for free.  But working with the professional gave me the accountability angle.  A few months after I started, he did a wellness exam.  My BMI was low and my HDL, cholesterol, glucose, and blood pressure levels were all low/optimal.  That is the proof I need, I did the blood tests and they say I am healthy across the board.  For working out, I also went against what a lot of people told me and haven't had any problems there either.  I do a long cardio workout, was 45-60 mins 6 times a week, now more like 30-45 mins 4-5 times a week.  Everyone said I wouldn't lose weight unless I did weight training with cardio.  Well all I did was the cardio, same speed and same resistance the entire time and I went from size 8/10 to size 2/4 so I must've done something right!

So yeah, find what works for you, get it verified by a professional, and have some way of holding yourself accountable. 

Liesje

Everyone said I wouldn't lose weight unless I did weight training with cardio.  Well all I did was the cardio, same speed and same resistance the entire time and I went from size 8/10 to size 2/4 so I must've done something right!

 

Ya, for awhile my husband was telling me that so I was doing more weights than cardio and I felt like my arms were way too bulky and I wasn't even lifting heavy weights. I told him I wanted to quit lifting and he thinks I'm crazy but my arms look better now (at least to me). He said last week I was thinner in the stomach which is always my problem area. My legs are amazing, my arms are fine, but my weight always hits my stomach! I definitely won't go back to lifting anytime soon though, if I do at all.

chelsea_b

so I'm wondering if anyone's had success doing WW without meetings?

ME!  I lost 70 lbs last year doing WW points plan and I didn't go to one WW meeting.  I knew the diet from several failed attempts in the past.  I made up my mind and just did it on my own.  I went from 196lbs to 124. 

jennyx0023

Liesje

Everyone said I wouldn't lose weight unless I did weight training with cardio.  Well all I did was the cardio, same speed and same resistance the entire time and I went from size 8/10 to size 2/4 so I must've done something right!

 

Ya, for awhile my husband was telling me that so I was doing more weights than cardio and I felt like my arms were way too bulky and I wasn't even lifting heavy weights. I told him I wanted to quit lifting and he thinks I'm crazy but my arms look better now (at least to me). He said last week I was thinner in the stomach which is always my problem area. My legs are amazing, my arms are fine, but my weight always hits my stomach! I definitely won't go back to lifting anytime soon though, if I do at all.

 

Yeah, I've lost the most weight on my thighs, butt, hips, love handles, and chest.  I don't think my arms or my lower legs have changed much.  My shirt size has not changed but my pant size has!  The hips/waist area is where I've been successful.  Again, I just look at it as a simple matter of burning calories.  For me, sprinting on an elliptical gets my heart rate a lot faster than doing short sets lifting or conditioning.  I used to be a competitive gymnast not too long ago, so I still have a good amount of tone left.  I was not worried about bulking up if I lifted, I just plain didn't feel like lifting, so I didn't.  I just ran and ran and ran.  After all, you cannot spot reduce anyway.  You can't get a flat stomach JUST by going the oblique machine, you HAVE to do cardio to really lose weight.  That was hard for me because I was out of shape cardio-wise.  I was still strong, but the first time I used my elliptical I think I lasted 8 minutes, with lots of changing paces and breaks.

I still don't look at myself in the mirror and see much difference, but having dropped so many pant sizes and comparing "before" and "after" pics, I can see the difference.  My friends and family say they could tell in my face as I was losing weight. 

willowchow

chelsea_b

so I'm wondering if anyone's had success doing WW without meetings?

ME!  I lost 70 lbs last year doing WW points plan and I didn't go to one WW meeting.  

 

 Me too !  I joined the online version of Weight Watchers in January.  I bought a treadmill too.  Weight Watchers is all about accountability and being honest with yourself on what you are actually eating.   I have learned portion control and to pay attention to only eating when I'm actually hungry.  My progress has been slow, 25 pounds so far...but I'm halfway to my goal
 

 I read an article once called The 10% Solution.  The idea behind it is to focus on losing only 10% of what you want to lose and then celebrating it.  So if you want to lose 100 lbs, and lose only 10 lbs, you can celebrate instead of feeling like a loser which is the way most of us think when it comes to weight loss.  Then you get to start fresh.  The next time you need only lose 9 lbs since you only need to lose 90 this time and 10% of 90 is 9 right?  This also helps because we all know that the more weight you lose, the harder it is to take off pounds.  Studies have shown that people that lose only 60% of their target weight loss, feel like they have failed, get depressed and end up gaining it back.  Focusing on the 10% solution helps beat that mentality. 

The idea behind weight training as an additive to losing weight is just that muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does.  So the more muscle you have on you, the more you will lose just sitting around.  

WW started doing that 10% difference thing too.  They give this key charm when you loose 10% (at least they used too) and then when you reach goal you get another one shaped like a lock.  If you have a lot of weight to loose it definately helps you feel less overwhelmed if you think of it in small amounts at first.