Anyone had success without WLS???
Hi!
I'm not sure there is ever a time at which we'll be through with weight loss. Perhaps we can consider ourselves done at our goal weight but I know if I think like that I'll end up back at square negative two a year later! It seems whenever I lose weight I always gain it back times two! My doctor had me on a <1500 calorie diet at one time. I couldn't seem to stick to it. I kept trying to convince him that he originally told me 1500 calories per meal! 
I've also heard about eating the snacks in between meals but it seems I'm never hungry at snack time. By the time the meal comes I'm usually not all that hungry...Until I see and smell the food then it's hard to stop myself. For example, today I promised a co-worker (who also suffers from obesity but hasn't decided to lose yet.) that I would go to lunch with her. We both love Indian cuisine and decided to go today. I told myself I wasn't going to gorge myself but that's exactly what I did. So I flunked for the day but I'm not gonna dwell on it. I should be full for quite sometime and perhaps I can skip dinner.
My sister also suggested I eat a can of tuna before bed, around 8pm. She suggested using olive oil or vinegar and to avoid mayo. She explained it's hard to digest and your body ends up burning calories trying to digest it. I don't know how true that is but I figure I could try it. Perhaps if I'm hungry tonight I'll eat some. She recently returned from Iraq where she lost about 85lbs. She said she ate whatever she wanted but she excercised for 1-2 hours a day and drank tremendous amouts of water. So I know exercise and definitely work! It was either that or the desert!
In 2003, I used water, high protein, portion control and ephedrine to lose 50 lbs. That worked quite well, I wish I wouldn't have stopped. (I also quit smoking in 2004 which may be the reason I started eating so much again.) I attribute most of the weight loss to the ephedrine and water. The ephedrine really curbed my appetite well. My appetite next to the lack of exercise seems to be my achilles heel. Since ephedrine is no longer available I know I'm going to have to pick up exercise. I'm just not sure how I can get myself into a routine.
I think I can find time for exercise. However, I'm afraid I can't develop the self discipline to do it like I should. The cold hard truth is that I am a quitter and I'm lazy. I keep looking for a panacea, a simple 1 liner answer to my weight problem. I know it doesn't exist but I have hope!
Nonetheless, I think I'm going to succeed this time. I have a new motivator. When I met my wife she was 114lbs. Since then she's acquired my overeating habits. She got up to 180lbs recently and is back down to 170lbs. The good news about that is now she's completely understanding about my weight and how hard it is to lose. But that's not the kinda good news I like to hear. As much as I value her sympathy I never wanted her to have to go through this. I never thought that obesity was contagious! Anyway, It's that guilt that's driving me to change in hopes that she'll follow suit.
I think I'll stop rambling now! Good luck to you as well in your journey!
on 3/21/07 5:00 am - OR
Good Job
I just started this process and it is going to work this time I was so close to
the RNY and cancled 1 day before...
Can you tell me with NUT stands for
LOL I don't know and i see
it all the time..
Virgie 
Have I had success? snort....only about one million times! Kept it off, you say? Now that's a diffferent story. The overview: I was up to 230# at one time - my highest recorded weight. (21 years ago). Today I am 190. I balloooned close - 220 recently and now on the down side. Most of these past 21 years, i hovered around 200-205 Here are the changes I have implemented over the past 21 years: walking one hour daily 5x weekly biking periodically gym membership (free weights) 12-15 years swimming class hiking ate semi-vegetarian for 7 years cut portions went to OA for four years. tried every stinkin diet known to man. (well excpet optifast) tried most legal and illegal drugs to cut appetite journaled whined been a member on two health sites (this one and oanother WW 3x cut soda, all caffeine, for like 4 years but then brought both back eventually does not make one whit of diff on my fatass.
I think there must be fifty ways to do this with success. It's a matter of changing up and trying it til ya hit what works.
hi chris - i haven't been reading this forum much as i've been doing crappy and feeling sorry for myself but i wanted to write back to you and let you know that YES it can definitely be done. and you don't need xantrex or ephedrine to help you get there. like you wrote, if there was some magical cure or panacea, we would have all figured this out by now and no one would need WLS. i have been in "maintenance" mode since 2003 with 110 lb weight loss (i bounce around between the 110-120 mark depending on the cir****tances, time of year, time of month etc). i went to the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, which is a very moderate lifestyle-change oriented program. in fact, they just launched an online program for people who cannot come to the center at www.dukediet.com - they are also coming out with a book of the program in april. my sister also lost weight with this program (and is "laura" under success stories on the website.) bottom line is that it must be a total commitment to a different kind of life. one that involves DAILY movement of some kind and an increased awareness of what you are putting in your body. you also need to work on the emotional issues related to food and growing up/living obese. you need take the word DIET out of your vocabulary. break it down into small steps. no, you wil not suddenly wake up one day wanting to run a marathon. start with 10 minutes on the treadmill or a walk around the block every day. then the next week try 20 minutes, maybe twice around the block. i will often walk up the 7 flights of stairs to my apartment on the days when i don't feel like going to the gym. set small realistic goals. wanting it is not enough. you must be ready for it and prepared to make a lifetime commitment. i had to accept that as unfair as it is, this is the genetic card i've been dealt. i will never be able to just eat freely without consequences. that was a hard realization for me. you must be patient and not give up - you didn't put the weight on overnight and you won't lose it overnight. and even if you eventually do decide to have surgery,you still will NEED to change your eating and exercise habits to find long-term success with that method. duke promotes 3 signature components to love term succes: - monitoring - writing down your food in whatever way you can maintain it, whether that is using a palm pilot program or a blank notebook, you must hold yourself accountable. you can do it by calories or by using more intuitive methods, like a hunger/fullness scale - exercise - as you said, it is a must. preferably daily cardio but at the very least ADLs - activities of daily living such as parking further away from the store, walking up stairs instead of using the elevator - support - again, whatever you need. whether than is weigh****chers meeting, this forum, a personal trainer, a walking buddy etc these is no easy way out but i know their methods are well researched and have a proven track record - i know several individuals myself who have gone there, lost more than 100 lbs and kept it off for 4, 8 , 12 years. anyway, now i'm just babbling, but i wanted to chime in. i do consider myself a successful weight loss story (even though i tend to forget about this and get hard on myself - i'm working on that). good luck is reaching your goals.
