THE 50+ POUNDS CLUB

PeachTree

Thu, Jan 15 2009, 1:09 am

I need to lose 50 lbs. I never has a serious weight problem. Not even after having babies. with my last one I joined Start Fresh when the baby was 6 weeks old, and managed to lose 30 lbs in 3 months! I'm sure nursing played a big role. But then came Erev Pesach and I got busy with the Yom Tov preparations. I did an extremely dumb thing by not returnig to Start Fresh after Pesach! I slowly started to gain back what I've lost. I've tried many diets but somehow couldn't stick to any. I was upset, frustrated and.....

GOODMOM,
Last weeek I decided to join Start Fresh again. I think it's one of the smartest decisions I've made!! I dont know where my head was?!?! Why look for something else when you know something's already worked for you in the past?!?!?! What I get is a weekly menu with a detailed daily menu. Except this time I'm doing it online at startfresh.com. It might work for you as well!
Hatzlucha to all!!!!

Chani

Thu, Jan 15 2009, 6:54 am

Okay, weighed in this morning...lost an additional 3.6 lbs! Yay! So this makes my total for the two weeks of 8 lbs..

Still need to exercise more. I got on DH's elliptical for a pathetically short amount of time twice last week. This morning I did again, and went for a couple of minutes longer than I did last week. I'd like to be doing it 3-4 times a week at least.

As far as the diet, 1,500 calories seems like a reasonable level for me. For the most part I'm pretty satisfied (okay, there was one day when for whatever reason I was starving but it was an anomaly). We're definitely eating much better. So, I guess I just need to keep it up.

cassandra

Thu, Jan 15 2009, 8:24 am

su7kids wrote:

I'm not sure why it would have to be private? Can't people who also have lots of weight to lose gain from this?

Anyone who has a lot of weight to lose can join, but I don't want it to be people who think they are fat but really aren't, someone who wants to go from the high end of normal to model thin or even someone who is on the low end of overweight and wants to lose five or ten pounds, or someone who gained some baby weight and is desperate to get back to pre-pregnancy size. The forum I have in mind is for people who have struggled with weight for a while, maybe lost a lot of weight and gained it back, and struggle with it constantly. People like this have been dealing with food issues for so long and it is part of our psychological makeup and even diets can be dangerous if they aren't approached with the right mentality. It is also the reality for most people who even have the ability to be 70 or even 100 lbs overweight that we have a genetic component which means that even if we lose weight we will have to work very hard to keep it off--- there is no such thing as losing a weight loss battle for someone like me at least. (That's actually what I'm grappling with now and something that I'd love support for-- that losing weight is hard, but this struggle I have will be with me forever. I want some peace for that but haven't found it yet.) It's a battle that we will have to fight for the rest of our lives and my idea is to have support from people who recognize this. I cannot relate to most of the dieting threads here because they aren't speaking to people like me.

Chani

Sat, Jan 17 2009, 10:00 pm

Hi Y'all,

Haven't heard back yet from Yael, but hopefully will soon.

How was shabbos? Shabbos for me is the hardest day because I'm home around food all day long. Made a salad for DH and me that looked really good in the cookbook but didn't turn out that great IRL. On the other hand, the WW chocolate cherry trifle was terrific - angel food cake, light cherry pie filling, a little chocolate syrup and nonfat whipped topping in a trifle - 200 calories per 1 cup serving. Friday night was simple - vegetable soup (140 cal), broiled chicken breast, brown rice, sugar snap peas and carrots, and a blueberry crumble (basically blueberries baked with a little thickened water and granola on top).

I would really love to hear what everybody else is fixing, especially on shabbos and kid-friendly meals...

Chani

Sat, Jan 17 2009, 10:12 pm

Quote:

It is also the reality for most people who even have the ability to be 70 or even 100 lbs overweight that we have a genetic component which means that even if we lose weight we will have to work very hard to keep it off--- there is no such thing as losing a weight loss battle for someone like me at least. (That's actually what I'm grappling with now and something that I'd love support for-- that losing weight is hard, but this struggle I have will be with me forever. I want some peace for that but haven't found it yet.) It's a battle that we will have to fight for the rest of our lives and my idea is to have support from people who recognize this.

I so totally agree. The only times when I have been thin - high school through law school - were when I was exercising hours daily. Literally hours. I ran daily, played soccer, raquetball, squash, etc. etc.. I must have the metabolism of a sloth and I really like food to be totally honest. If I had 3 hours a day to spend at the gym I could be thin and eat what I want, but barring that, I'm always for the rest of my life going to have to watch every bite. I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that eating almost vegan 3-4 days a week, cutting way back on refined sugar, sodas, and the like, is the reality of my diet forever, not just until I reach a goal weight. It is a daunting thought in some respects. The thought of my mortality is in front of me, too, though. Heart disease runs in my father's family (through my paternal grandfather), and stomach cancer is very common in my paternal grandmother's family. Talk about two diseases where there's good reason to avoid junk food...now I just have to do it.

zissy2004

Sun, Jan 18 2009, 4:45 am

shabbos was ok bh, I gained 200 gr (which is ok for after shabbos)
I dont eat anything till the meal shabbos by day and most weeks I dont eat home (either by mom or mil)
so I eat usually 2 pieces of challa, piece of salmon and a little bit of egg, some potatoes and a plate of compotte. the I nashed on some crackers and pretzels shabbos afternoon, which I shouldnt have..

motse I was hungry so I ate a few spoons of farfel and 2 soya puddings (didnt have anything else in the house)

hopefully I lose some more till friday.
I have lost 3 kg so far.

good luck to all.

amother

Sun, Jan 18 2009, 7:26 am

OP:

I handle Shabbos by having my own personal 1.5 quart crockpot...I put it up early Friday morning w/ chicken, zucchini, sweet potatos, carrots, yellow squash, and sugar-free tomato sauce. Before Shabbos I take out a portion for Friday night and keep hot on blech. The rest I then have for Shabbos day. My meal typically is:

-one whole wheat matza
-one portion stew as described above
-the yummiest fruit I can find

I know it doesn't sound like much, but I find it filling. I drink tons of water (I have a 3 liter seltzer bottle that I keep refilling to keep track) and I am not so much hungry as craving a really great dessert...gooey chocolate mudpie or sheet cake w/ vanilla frosting or cinnamon buns...I find the best thing for me is to acknowledge (not deny) the cravings and drink water.

Today is day 15 for me (out of 90 total that I am determined to make it through. I will weigh in week 2 on Tuesday and post.

amother

Sun, Jan 18 2009, 9:18 am

cassandra wrote:

amother wrote:

I actually contacted the moderator of the Eating Disorders forum to see if overeating issues were covered but no (this may be just as well).

I never got that since overeating and anorexia/bulimia are two sides of the same coin. Our issues are exactly the same but our responses are different. I guess us fat people might be too scary over there.

I 100% agree with you that overeating and anorexia/bulimia are different manifestations of a similar disorder. I have been on both sides. I spent my late teens desperately maintaining a 95lb weight with some disastrously unhealthy results. When my weight started creeping up during and after childbirth I realized that I could not jeopardize my health again, and somehow to me that meant indulging in food completely. I went up to over 200lbs. I gained over 100lbs - double my weight - in about 7 years. I have been working with a therapist and nutritionist for the past year and am getting closer to my target. The problem is, as a former anorexic, I have a severely distorted body image. Now that I have started to care again about my appearances, it is difficult for me not to take it to the extreme. I try not to look at my weight loss as a diet. I am trying to develop healthy eating habits and a mentally sound way of relating to food that will carry through for my lifetime. Thinking about dieting is an unhealthy trigger for me. I have been avoiding clicking into this thread for a while. Last night I had a crazy binge at 2am, eating ALL the Shabbos leftovers while standing in front of the fridge. I was hoping this thread might address that so here I am. But I usually try very hard to avoid reading about dieting. The eating disorders forum is meant to be a safe and supportive thread for people with certain disorders. But I do agree that you need your own forum, protected from the "I need to lose ten pounds" and "eat cabbage soup for two weeks" posts.

farfromhome

Sun, Jan 18 2009, 11:27 am

I am so happy to have found this thread (is that what it's called? I'm still very new to all this...) because I have fifty pounds or a little more than that to lose. I was never thin, but in seminary I was the thinnest I ever was, and in the years after that I gained more than ever....my lowest point (highest point!) was getting the pictures back after my sister in law's wedding, and I didn't even realize that that was how I looked...so I went to a nutritionist and in this past year I have lost 25 pounds! I have a long way to go, and my problem is that even though I know what to do, doing it without support is really hard!! so I will definitely be checking this thing a lot...

cassandra

Sun, Jan 18 2009, 11:39 am

amother wrote:

cassandra wrote:

amother wrote:

I actually contacted the moderator of the Eating Disorders forum to see if overeating issues were covered but no (this may be just as well).

Thanks. Dieting and thinking about my weight as an end in itself is really dangerous for me too.

(About the anorexia vs. overeating-- many overweight people tend to have body image issues also, not necessarily in terms of not seeing themselves accurately but in terms of the feelings of self-hate that arise based on how they appear. Underlying psychological issues get mixed up in body issues, which they try to solve by dieting, which ends up making them hate themselves more, which is then once again projected onto their bodies... I have tried so hard to break this cycle in myself but I'm not there yet!)