Old dieter/New questions

[QuestionsQuestions]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

You make a really good point about "set point" and losing slowly. I think there might also be a psychological advantage to losing slowly...your mind get accustomed to living in a smaller body. How many times have we read about people losing a lot of weight or getting close to their goal weight and getting scared... almost panicking and letting it all go to sh-t? I, myself, have done this more than once after dropping a lot of weight in a short time.

[jenivieve74]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

I was just thinking about all that stuff this morning. I was thinking back to how many times before I started atkins at 176-180 pounds. Durning induction I would get to 170, I just couldn't break to 169. I would stay there for a month not lose any and give up. That must have happened 10 times. Back then I had heard that your body has a weight it wants to maintain. I aways thought I was jsut meant to be fat. Finally it got through to me to just keep eating this way and exercise no matter what and something will give. I remember getting to 169 finally. i think I almost cried at 165. It took forever to make it to 159. Then I finally made it to 149. I just went a month with no weight loss until a few days ago. I finally dropped 2 more pounds so now I am at 140. I want 139 so bad. I was thinking maybe my body is ok and wants to stay at 140. But I don't want to so I am going to keep pressing on. The 2 pounds in one month was driving me crazy but I have 15 pounds left and it is supposed to come off slower now.
I was also wondering if there is anything on this board to deal with the mental aspect of losing weight. A couple people at work called me skinny last night, which I enjoyed, but the way they said it made me uncomfortable. I remember in high school I was skinny and I would call myself fat all the time. My friends would say no your not, your so skinny. It never bothered me then. Now for some reason it really bothers me. I want to yell, well a few months ago I was fat so there. Or I want to yell, well, you get eat doritos everyday and candy while I eat salad. I don't want to feel bad for reaching my goals and being healthy.
I had to eat before bed last night. I was starving and I can't sleep if I am hungry. I ate a kolrobi. Then I laid down to read. I stayed up unitl after midnight though. If I was going to bed early around 9 pm then I usually don't eat after 7. I don't think anyone should eat a big meal before bed. I used to eat a big bowl of ice cream before bed and get heartburn really bad.

[QuestionsQuestions]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

I, too, have issues with people noticing when I am losing weight. I want to tell them I'm not doing it so that they can notice, and I want to tell them that it's really really hard, and that it feels precarious, and that I wish I could be naturally thin without having to diet. And the "feel good" after someone telling me I've lost weight is so fleeting. And then later, in the past when I've gained it all back, I've wanted to move to another country so that I would never run into anyone who knew me in my thin state. It's so complicated. I'm really hoping this is going to be the last time.

My parents are staying with me now. My dad is such a glutton. He is sorely overweight, doesn't believe in changing anything about the way he eats. He is paranoid and thinks the government and food industry are pumping hormones in our food supply that makes most people fat. He insists on eating a big dinner every night at 7 or 8, and everyone else is obligated to sit with him and eat.

[jenivieve74]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

My mother-in-law was a very large lady who ate a lot everyday. She would have donuts for breakfast, mcdonalds for lunch and other fast food for dinner. Dessert with every meal too.Everytime we went to visit, we would get some type of take out and she would usually have a pie. She got blueberry one time because she heard it was my favorite. That was nice of her, but I had been doing atkins and didn't want any. She got really mad at me and said if she knew I didn't want any she would have gotten something else. She would try to guilt me into eating stuff. It is definately about your lifestyle. I just transfered to a new store but I have known the girls I work with for awhile now. The one has recently put on weight because she goes out drinking 4-5 times a week. Both of them eat chips and drink a ton of pop all day long at work. I am struggling trying to lose weight and be healthy. It doesn't come easy for me at all. I don't like it when people make comments like,"you must not eat or you eat like a bird." I do eat. and I exercise, even if I don't want too. I would never look at someone and say,"You must eat alot, or you eat like a pig," so why do people make comments to us when we are losing weight?

[QuestionsQuestions]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

Gosh it's so true that the people around you can have such an impact. I'm so glad that my work schedule follows the academic calendar and that I have my summers off from the college. I work with a bunch of psychologists who think that any attempt at losing weight is a sign of an eating disorder and who get suspicious if you turn down someone's cookies.

I've decided not to let others dictate any more. Yesterday I ate my dinner early the way I like to do and when they all sat down to eat, I went down and exercised for 45 minutes. It felt a whole lot better than stuffing myself and then feel icky all night.

[jenivieve74]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

Good for you. I am trying to be proud of what I have done so far and not feel bad when people make comments. I am sure it has a lot to do with low self-esteem on my part for being so heavy for so long. That's funny about the psychologists.

[QuestionsQuestions]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

I know... psychologists are a funny bunch. I guess the group I work with is especially sensitive to ED's because of the college population we work with. Have you ever read Michael Pollan's writings? He wrote somewhere that the entire country suffers from a national eating disorder. I take this to mean that the standard American diet results in a mind and body that doesn't know how to handle food and eating. Food and eating cause people such great anxiety.

I signed up to go to a free demo "power plate" class today. It's this thing where you do exercises on a vibrating plate and it's supposed to be like twice as effective as other forms of exercise. I figure it's free so why not try?

Take care. I like checking in with you.

[Fatalblue]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

3) I seem to be dropping more weight at times when my ketosticks are showing small to moderate ketones (light to deep ping) rather than large amounts (purple...). I'm not quite sure why that is, but perhaps it's because I'm burning more as fuel rather than excreting it through urine? I don't know.... But it's just something I've observed in the past two weeks.

It sounds like you have it figured out but it might be that you are losing more when the ketone strips are light not because you are releasing less ketones but because you are drinking more water/fluids. Water is extremely important for me in terms of losing. When you don't drink enough, you may be showing more ketones but you may be retaining water weight as the body's defense against lack of hydration. Sometimes I really have to force myself to get all my water in but it seems to help me lose!

[jenivieve74]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

I have never read his writings. It sounds interesting. I guess maybe all of us do have some kind of disorder. My mom used to be heavy before she had my brother and me. Then she got very tiny. Mostly due to drinking coffee all day and smoking cigarettes too. We were never aloud junk food when I was growing up. We even got fruit baskets for easter. When I was about 6 I asked her if it was tatteling if I told her daddy bought me a candy bar. Anyway, whenever I went to a friends house that had junk food I would binge. Then in high school I had a babysitting job. I would spend my $ on mcdonalds and other junk. Thankfully I was so active I never gained any weight. My mom would always comment on my eating and told me one day it would catch up with me. She was right. I did watch a study they did with children. They let them have raisins and the kids didn't eat very many. Then they put them(raisins) in a jar and told them they couldn't have any. They only got to have them when the teacher blew the whistle. When the whistle blew, the kids ran over like crazy and ate as much as they could. That is how I was. Because I could never have it, when I got the chance I ate as much as I could. It is funny how food can cause so much anxiety.
I have never heard of the power plate. it sounds cool.
My dad and his girlfriend picked my kids up early this morning. I haven't seen them in a year. They both complimented me on my weight loss. His girlfriend said,"Wow, you must have been working really hard at that." That meant a lot to me that someone thought I was working hard instead of starving myself.(Which I could never do.) I like talking to you too, thank you.

[BuxominBeverly]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

Several years ago I was in a hospital, in the elevator and I overheard two Drs discussing the Atkins diet and how much weight they had lost! So (since they were Drs) I took their unsolicited advice and lost a bunch of weight, the diet was different then and Dr. Atkins was alive and you could buy all kinds of Vitamins and even frozen foods. I am also a newbie on this websit of just a few days, so good luck to both of us!

[QuestionsQuestions]

Re: Old dieter/New questions

Welcome! Here's to a successful journey to all of us!