Diet Community

Hi Felisha,
Losing weight doesn't have EVERYTHING to do with eating veggies, it has more to do with proper serving sizes and sticking to the daily limit of just under or right at 1200 calories. These calories should be quite low in fats and sodium, higher in proteins and med amounts of carbs.
All while getting your proper nutrients.
Think of it as making better choices. Like with condiments, light or low/no sodium, or fat free are what you are aiming for.
Same with canned veggies. Even though you don't like alot of them, what you DO eat should be no sodium added.
Try to eat fresh and raw if possible when it comes to veggies, and if you MUST have a dip, go for fat free and stay within the serving sizes listed on the back.
Things like your pot pies... make your own. Starting with defatted broth and adding 1/2 corn starch and 1/2 flour to thicken, will decrease some of the calories and you can up the amounts of veggies, like frozen peas and carrots and you won't even notice them.
Every time you reach for a food, think about the nutrients that it will give your body. Take the time and look them up online, it only takes a minute. If you don't get enough nutrients vs the calories you get from it, take it off your food menu list or make a substitution. Like say sweet potatoe (which is loaded with nutrients) vs regular white potatoe, which really isn't.
Skip fruit juices and have the real fruit. A glass of juice is the sugar equivalent of about 3-4 of the fruits. Like if you "juiced" apples, you'd have to have 3 of em for a glass of juice. That's alot of calories.
Really , anywhere you can make even a slight decrease in calories, do it. At the end of the day, you will be saving quite a bit.
I also strongly suggest signing up here on WebMD or elsewhere , for the food and fitness planner, they are easy to use and you can chart your daily intake and actually SEE where you are going wrong with your diet . Then make adjustments.
good luck

felisha,

I urge you to read the "Weight Gain After Gastric Bypass" thread on this same board...

After enormous weight losses achieved after the 12-18 months, a similar pattern seems to occur, time and time, again. There are a handful of accounts that even go so far as to explain what happened...they identify the "transition point" when the weight gain returned and what they were doing that caused it.

1. Bad food
2. Too much food
3. Not enough exercise

(1.) and (2.) and (3.) are interrelated, too. I have a vicious family history of Type 2 Diabetes (but, no obesity) and every food you listed, except for broccoli, would drive me to the insulin needle if I continued to eat large amounts, regularly. A high carb diet like the one you described, causes a roller coaster effect on my blood sugar levels that causes me to eat...

...more and more and more...


Diets don't work...I recently posted a video that was produced in 1978. The same issues, the same heartache, the same humiliation and defiance, too...The same diet books, the same issues of finding decent clothes to wear, the same issues with finding boyfriends (and girlfriends), the same trips to see the doctor, the same stereotyping...

34 years ago...Nothing has changed! In fact, it is far worse, now...

Diets don't work.

They are many people, here, that will advise you to eat 1200 calories/day. They'll say, "Eat lots of fruits and vegetables".
This is good advice.

But, who can sustain a diet like this after you've been on a high carb, heavily processed food diet for most of your life? If this works, why are we still talking about weight loss, year after year after year?


You say your kids are taking after you. I am very sorry to hear this but if it is any consolation, imo, its not your fault...

Your doctor has known since he studied in med school what is the cause of your obesity. He knows what you need to do...but, the profession continues to offer little help. Remember the video from 1978 (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57348478-10391709/fat-pride-obese-women-rally-in-the-70s/ ). The problem is worse. Obesity and Type2 Diabetes is epidemic not just in adults...its effecting our children, now.

All these people say, "Talk to your doctor". In 38 years, what good has that done? How's that working for ya? Prescription medications is a multi-trillion dollar industry...What has it done for the biggest health crisis in America: weight gain?


I believe that the people who have successfully lost weight
( > than 5 years), thoroughly understand how food works and why we eat certain foods and not others. They have learned.
They became educated.



Your post is the same as countless others, here, felisha. The reason being, nobody told you how to eat...What to eat. You eat what tastes good...You eat what makes you happy. You eat what your mother fed you.

Who in the world would fault anybody for that? Its not your fault. I know you feel its your fault (your comment about your husband). I don't agree.

With that said, what do you do? If diets don't work, what will work? If you've seen your doctor and the advice is always the same and you can't follow it, what do you do? If you know you're in trouble and your kids are eating, same, what do you do?


Its time to learn about food. Its time to learn about good health. And, if you're not willing to do that, at least take comfort in knowing this...

Its not your fault...Good luck.

Hi felisha
I was a real picky eater most of my life . I still am to some degree, what I did when I was faced with declining health was try to create a plan for better health I used a site called fiday.com. it helped me see what nutrients I was missing,,
then I would do a search to find out what foods had this nutrient
and on that list there was something I was willing to eat .
I added things to my food list everyso often to get what my body needed . I have been following this plan for 9 years the first year I removed almost 100 pounds been maintaining this for 8 years it wasn;t designed to remove weight it was designed to be healthier..the weight removale was a delightfull surprise
please help your body be healthy and along the way you can help your children to be healthy too. we have a great support group here on webmd
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-50-100-lbs-exchange

Hugs Judy:)

Judy,

I see you as one of the most influential members, here. Its because of the way you "repaired" your body through a series of dietary discoveries. It is one of the most empowering experiences to "heal" your own body.

"Healthy" is derived from the word, "heal".

Obesity is a disease of poor "health". Thus, to lose weight you must "heal" your body...not, go on a diet!



Two links to help people "learn"...

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/113/8/1681.full.pdf

This is an article to remind everyone, here, that diet and nutrition has been studied since the ancient Greeks and Romans. Its for general interest but I share this for one reason, alone.

Its not just how much you eat (ie. 1200 cals/day). It never was and it never will and, to think, otherwise, means you know very little about "diet"...


Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st centuryhttp://www.ajcn.org/content/81/2/341.full

Refined Sugars, vegetable oil, alcohol, cereals, dairy, salt, fatty meats...

then, you have words like Glycemic load, blood glucose, slow metabolism, fatty acid composition, protein thermic effect, vitamins and minerals, ph and metabolic acidosis, sodium-potassium ratio, fiber.


Most of us say, "Hey, I just want to lose 30 pounds; I don't want to win a Nobel prize..."

But, there are many that have learned about modern western foods, gained the knowledge necessary to stop eating them, and chose to "heal", instead.

I perfectly understand and this is the only appropriate advice I can give. Like I said, it's nobody's fault...



"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." Lewis Carroll

I agree with you about Judy, Brunosbud. And the reason she is one of the most influential is because she has shared her story and continues to share with those of us who are trying to follow in her footsteps. She shares her daily food log, her stuggles when removing weight and now in maintenance. Priceless!!

I, for one, enjoy reading everyones' posts, but I pay special attention to the posts by people who know/have lived the struggle and have stayed true to their "nutrition quest," to coin Judy's phrase.

PS: I believe that within the next 10 years, everybody will know the term "A1C"...


It will be the new "measuring stick" for the obese and that useless device, the bathroom scale, will be thrown out with the trash...

When this happens, when people swap the term "weight loss" for "lower fasting blood glucose"...

It will be a bold new world, baby.

Nutrition: the process of animals and plants involving the intake of nutrient materials and their subsequent assimilation into the tissues.

...in other words, we are what we eat...

A "nutrition quest" is about finally understanding what that means and why its so important to share this with others.

Thanks, abnersmom.

I agree. Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes was the best thing that ever happened to me. I now know exactly how carbs affect my blood sugar, and it has motivated me to change my eating habits drastically to keep my A1c within control (currently 6.6, down from a high of 9.4 three months ago). Taking my blood sugar twice a day keeps me accountable, and even though I slip every once in a while, I find that the way I have to eat now isn't all that hard to do. I eat more vegetarian meals, concentrating on plant proteins (beans, nuts) instead of red meat and full-fat dairy like I used to. I've lost over 20 pounds so far with many more to lose, but there's no turning back this time. My Dad had diabetes, and he lost his right leg, piece by piece, before he died at the young age of 71. I swore that wasn't going to happen to me, and to date, with God's help, I am winning the fight, changing my body, and gaining more control over my weight and my health. Whatever it takes to motivate you, use that energy to change what you have to change so you can live a healthier, happier life.