New to this forum

Hi to all,
I am new to the maintenance forum but not to the board. Some of you have probably seen me around on other forums.

I think I am done losing and need your thoughts. I have been staying the same within 5 # since June 2011,no matter what I do,what I eat or how I tweak.

I must say that i don't exercise regularly and never have since the beginning. I get over 64 oz of liquid a day, up to 80 gm protein,(restricted to 80 gms by Dr order) nearly no carbs,30 or less a day,no recreational sugar or any wheat products(I am addicted and just can't go there), no rice,pasta etc etc etc.oatmeal daily ,also Dr orders),which is the bulk of my carb consumption. i eat meats,eggs,cheese,greek yogurt,cottage cheese,nuts and non starchy vegetables.

Does it sound like I am done to ya'll? I know I at least need to try a serious exercise program just to make sure that is not what is lacking.

Interested in all thoughts.
Thanks,
Holly

It sure sounds like you've reached your stability point, being in a narrow band for so long. That's not to say that the loss is over, but it seems like you certainly need to do something different to pick it up again. Unless you are really going overboard on the fat side of things, it doesn't sound like you're overdoing the calories, so it sounds like your suspicions are right that you need to try something on the exercise end of the equation. Strength/resistance training to build/rebuild some muscle mass will increase your metabolism 24/7 while cardio will help burn some fat while you're doing it but not significantly alter your metabolism. I know that casual exercise like walking lost a lot of its value for me after 3-4 months because I had lost enough by then that it was no longer challenging my body - before, a brisk walk at near jogging pace could easily get my pulse up into the 130-140 range (the 80% of max heartrate for my age) thats usually advised for optimum fat burning and cardio exertion but by that time I could barely break 100 unless I really hit the hills.

Good luck in your continued efforts,

Thanks for your reply.. I think the walking is not enough for me either since losing 98 # .I eat full fat foods since I am so low carb,but even then it is usually 30-40 % of calories for the day.  i vary between 800-1000 cals on a given day.

We have some exercise equipment but I don'r really know what to do to get maximum results. Could use a personal trainer but it is not in the budget right now.

Know of any good DVD's that walk one thru a program?

I have lots of hills around my house and I will check out a maximum heart rate advise online somewhere.

Thanks,
Holly

I understand the cost of the trainer - my wife and I are sharing one now. Sorry, I don't know of any DVDs, though my wife keeps adding to the reading library (med research junkie, and she even reads some of them!)

The classic rule of thumb for heartrate during exercise is that your max rate is about 220 minus your age (which makes a little under 170 for me in my early 50's), and around 80% of that is where one should be for a good cardiovascular workout and fat burning. Typical warnings about check with your doctor, etc.

A lot of people here like the 600-800 calorie level for weight loss, and that might be appropriate for you as well with the goal weight that you have in mind; I was losing well at 1000-1200 calories, but I'm now on the skinny side at 190, with a metabolic rate to match. What is the source of your goal weight - BMI, body composition, doctor/nutritionist advice? Have you had any kind of body composition analysis done to see where you are (% body fat or lean mass) from that perspective? I aimed to this 190 range because that put me into the middle of the normal range on body fat % for men, even though it is still "overweight" on the BMI scale - so maybe you are closer to a reasonable goal than you think. If you are doing full fat on that side of the equation, perhaps you can cut that back some without going crazy - drop to lowfat yogurt and cheese as a step down and see drops the calories enough to make a difference (and as a bonus, most of the lowfat dairy are a bit higher on the protein count, so you get some help there, too.

Good luck,

thanks for the heart info. I will figure that. I picked 100# goal weight as it was in the middle of the :height and weight" chart for a female at 4'11" tall. the range given for that height was 95-115 #.

I have had no testing as I had my surgery in MX. I will try using lower fat products for a while ans long as they don't have su gar added to replace the fat as I am totally addicted to sugar/carbs and have to treat them like an addictive substance. I have two months abstinance from recreational sugar and don't want to mess with my abstinance,yannow?              

thanks for your help.

Dairy seems to be a convenient place to tailor one's calorie input, as fat content is a fairly simple process to for them to adjust - remove some or all of the fat from the milk and use it in butter or other diary products, but they generally don't go adding a lot of other stuff to make up for it, unlike a lot of more heavily processed foods that can turn into frankenfoods when they try to make them low fat or low carb. Low/non fat dairy is mostly thinner and less rich which is a taste/texture adjustment one has to make but for the most part is not something that they really compensate for by adding a bunch of junk (though the low/nonfat icecreams will have more artificial thickeners and crap added, but so do most of the mainline icecreams these days) Low or nonfat dairy might be slightly higher in milksugar and protein than the fullfat version, but that's more of a mathematical function than a chemical one. I'm doing the reverse at the moment with adding dairyfat to increase my calorie load in a controlled manner.

 I hear you on the addiction front - peanuts and some nuts will do it for me and I have to ration them now that I am using them again so that I don't go overboard on the calories. To me, breads, starchy veg and sugars are just other foods that have some nutrition which have their place where needed and have to be balanced against their caloric cost but don't particularly drive me to overconsume them. We all have our crosses to bear - wouldn't live be boring if we were all the same?

how long do you exercise at 80% capacity?

I target (and almost always meet) and hour or so per day of fairly vigorous exercise which may be primarily cardio like swimming or hiking or strength/resistance/stretching oriented exercise at the gym or with the trainer. On a swimming or hiking day, there is a mix of strokes or terrain and elevation, so I'm running at that 80% area around 70-75% of the time, say 40-45min per hour. This morning it took me about 40 minutes to hike up the hill to the highway and about 20 minutes back down. When I do strength training, I generally do a circuit type routine where I quickly move from a set for one muscle group to a set for another group rather than resting for a couple minutes between sets of the same group, so I keep the blood pumping a bit more that way, say, in the 60% range.

thanks

 Hi holly,

Our surgery was one day apart.  I don't know how tall you are.  Was 100 pounds a realistic goal based on your body size?  You've she'd a lot of weight and I know your body is thanking you.  When I wanted to lose 10 pounds last year, I had to really be willing to make changes in my eating.  For me it was taking even more carbs out of my plan and doing my best to keep calories as low as possible.  I was exercising seven days a week.

I think that your plan to challenge yourself more physically is a good one.  The trick is to not add more food, or add good veggies to compensate for any additional hunger.

I saw my surgeon last week and asked him if he thought I should shed more pounds.  His response was that I could try but at this point it would be tough.  He thought maintaining would be work enough.

Only you know if you're done or not.  What are you willing to do if you decide you aren't done?