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2009/10/08, 10:59 AM
Hello everyone. I'm in need of suggestions. :) My wife and I are trying to lose weight. We've tried this once before, but we kind of dropped it part way through. The first time we tried this, my wife insisted all we needed to do was exercise and not change our diet. We did lose weight, but it was painfully slow. This time I'm taking a little more control of our weight loss program, but I'm trying to our diet into it. Here's what we're looking at.
Our current stats are:
Me:
Height: 6'3
Age: 29
Weight: 298
Lost: 16 lbs
left to lose: 118lbs
Her:
Height: 5'7
Age: 28
Weight: 148
Lost: 6 lbs
left to lose: 33lbs
I calculate my current Calorie stats as:
Maintenance: 2886 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 2384 Calories/day
Extreme Fat Loss: 2384 Calories/day
What I generally eats a day: 1500-2000 Calories/day
And hers to be:
Maintenance: 1722 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 1378 Calories/day
Extreme Fat Loss: 1184 Calories/day
What she generally eats a day: 1200 Calories/day
My plan for myself is to reach roughly 260-270lbs before working out / cardio. The reason behind this is I have chronic back pain and I'm afraid I could really screw up my joints. For her, she has started a weekly cardio dance class, but hasn't started her jogging routine yet.
Here is my question: I want to make sure that we cut calories but in a diet that is maintainable. I keep a food/calorie dairy for her and I, and a weight loss tracker.
Question 1.) How concerned should we be about the kinds of food we eat, if our total Calories are still within range? Example: If my wife is sitting around 600 calories at dinner, is it ok for her to have a pasta meal if it only brings her to 1200 calories?
Question 2.) How important is '3 meals a day'. (generally we have 2 full meals, w/maybe a 100 calorie glass of V8 in the morning.)
Question 3.) Personal: Should I be concerned about my calorie deficit? Background: I used to drink a lot of pop daily I would guess it contributed upwards to 1500-1900 calories of my diet daily. I've completely removed pop from my diet, and replaced it with flavored waters w/0 calories. (I have 0 pop cravings thanks to this water.) This however puts me far below 'extreme weight loss' and I actually find it hard to eat 1800 calories or more. Should I be concerned?
Thanks for your help :)
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2009/10/08, 11:56 PM
First off, congratulations to both of you for changing your lifestyle.
Others are going to get down on me for saying this but it will work.
Stop counting calories. Your calorie intake will lower automatically by changing the foods you eat. I am assuming neither of you are diabetic.
Here we go, you must eat a minimum of 3x per day and have 2 snacks.
Cut out ALL processed foods and anything white, such as white rice, potatoes and pasta. switch over bread to whole grain and whole grain pasta. Eggs either hard boiled or poached. No fried foods. Whole grain cereals for breakfast oatmeal toast and jam, no butter or margarine just jam. Cut cheese. Eat chicken, fish and lean prork and lean beef.
Again NO processed foods. Citrus fruits, walnuts almonds.
Enjoy fresh veggies steamed.
See how this works.
The reason you have to eat regularly is to keep your metabolism going. By doing this, your body will cosistantly shed fat. If you don't eat often enough, your body will tend to hold on to the fat, therefor the slow progress.
I practice this lifestyle, and have lost 33pouns to date since April 28. it works.
Feel free to email me here if you have more questions.
Good luck to both of you.
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Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.
Ivan (GO HABS GO!)
Montreal Canada (City of Festivals)
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2009/10/09, 08:33 AM
Thanks for your reply. I was starting to think maybe I posted this in the wrong section. :-)
1.) You mention 'make sure you have 3 meals a day'. My normal routine is 2 servings of V8 in the morning (16oz), lunch is around 10:30 to 11:00, and dinner is around 5:30-6:00. Does the V8 alone constitute enough intake to count as a meal? (roughly 100 calories + other vitamins and nutrition)
2.) We have changed things as far as our snacks go. No pop. Instead of chips we've swapped to some soy chips to act as a filler. Do we really have to swap our diet to entirely different foods or can we achieve a similar result by portion control? (IE: Calorie watching) Example: You mention no butter or margarine. Even if we're controlling the limit of those substances down to only 100-150 calories?
Thanks
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2009/10/09, 05:21 PM
question 1= No, V8 is not a meal replacement. Eat food. You guys need fiber and need to get the metabolism going.
Question 2= Thats the bad news, if you want to feel good and be healthy (no meds) you have to eat healthy foods. If you are trying to reduce fatty tissue, you have to cut down on fat. Butter and margarine are fats. What do you have it with?
Instead of soy chips, try some natural almonds and walnuts, these contain good fats, and along with an apple (fiber), will keep you until your next meal.
Ready for more questions. You can also messgae me on here if you wish.
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Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.
Ivan (GO HABS GO!)
Montreal Canada (City of Festivals)
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