Introduction and Protein Question

Thank you all for welcoming me to the group and for sharing. I've done pretty fair so far. I as able to cram in a 1 mile walk last night after work but before dinner and leaving for Bible study. I'm hoping the weather will hold out today so I can walk outside at lunch. If not, I work across the street from a major hospital and our building is connected by a skywalk. I can walk indoors for a bit. Its not as good as outside and I have to be careful not to plow someone over (ha, ha) but its better than nothing!

For breakfast I had oatmeal made with milk and added raisins, a total of 12 gr potein. I'm drinking water now and will have a planned snack, either cottage cheese or a protein bar about 10:30.

Have a great day!

 

Hmm... your breakfast sounds yummy.... but supper carby. For me that would set my body for a whole day of hunger and craving more carbs.

Hi Lisa.  Welcome to the group.  You have received some awesome advice already.  I chose to eat protein bars for lunch as I work through lunch everyday and this is a quick and easy meal for me.  Most of my meals are around 200 calories and my snacks are around 100 calories a day.  My calories are low right now as I am trying to lose my last 10 pounds and at this stage, I am losing only 1-3 pounds a month.  If I am maintaining, I will up my meal calories and add another snack.  I try to avoid all white products, (bread, pasta, potatoes, sugar, etc) and eat mostly good grains, high proteins, good vegetables.  I drink a lot of fluids throughout the day and try to exercise everyday in some form or fashion.  I take my vitamins daily as I feel this keeps us healthy and feeling good.  I had a regain of 70 lbs. two years ago from eating junk same as my family and friends were doing.  I stopped cold turkey, cut my calories to 800 a day, walked 2-4 miles a day, and started journaling everything that went into my mouth.  Even a tic tac mint.  It took me 8 months to shed those 70 lbs. and keep them off.  I still have days that I will eat something that I know I shouldn't, and it usually jacks my weight up about 5 lbs.  Then I start all over again to get it back off.  This is a never ending situation.  Your body will respect you only as long as your respect it.  This has been a hard lesson to learn, one that I am constantly repeating.  Until my guts start growling, I believe that we are dealing with head hunger.  I go and read different blogs on how people are losing weight and feeling good about themselves and this makes me want to do better too.  As for protein, I was up to about 120 grams a day but have cut back to 70 grams a day and added some good carbs to help shake up my system up and so far this has worked for me to drop a couple of pounds.  Good luck to you in whatever path you choose to go with.  Check in daily to post or just to lurk.  We love seeing everybody daily.

Hi Lisa and Welcome!

I am very opinionated, so bear with me on this. Let me start with we are all different and on our own journey. What works for one does not work for everyone. Add in how far out you are on your journey, starting weight, distance to goal and sex....which all affect loss and maintenance... you get the idea things can be very different for each of us. In my mind I try to sweep the table clear and start with the basics.

Shakes & Bars. I avoid them like the plague. The reason is that they are way too easy to consume and basically become slider foods as soon as they hit my pouch. Quite often I do not feel satiety at all when I eat these. While in my serious weight loss phases these can also add way too many calories to my total. For instance I love Pure Protein bars, but at about 200 calories that is the equivalent of one whole meal. I find that when I do have a bar I end up eating a meal as well. They have their place especially if you are challenged getting protein and of course if you are focused on maintaining they can be very useful.

Hunger. From day one I was plagued by hunger. Bother imagined and real. I still feel a *****eated that two weeks out of surgery I was hungry as all heck. Boy did I miss the foreshadowing right in front of me. It took me a long time to get my head around "head hunger" and to even be able to tell the difference between real and head hunger. A couple of tricks I used: I practiced being hungry. I would fast during the day until I was hungry. Just to learn the feel of it. Weird thing is that for me head hunger centers around my mouth and jowls physically. Real hunger hits me in the stomach. Now I can tell the difference about 80% of the time. I use water and water loading very effectively to help keep hunger down. I drink a lot of water and try to water load before each meal. I do not drink while eating and often wait 1 to 1-1/2 hours before drinking after a meal.

Chrispy