I need advise from those who successfuly done it. I am already looking good but I need to drop those last 10-15 lbs! I have a genetic heart condition and any extra weight translates for me into trouble. I need to be thin! As thin as possible... I jog now 3 times a week, I do strenght workouts 2 times a week. I eat well. What else can I do? Eat less? Exersise more? Cut carbs? All of the above? But how sustainable is it? In other words, how do you stay very thin for life? If you are very thin - what is your sample daily food intake? I seem to have this very stubborn layer of fat that does not want to budge! Help if you know the answer.
Thanks to everyone.
Unfortunately, doctors are not trained in nutrition and the Nutritionists are not cardiologists, otherwise I would not have this issue. My cardiologist says - stay thin. He is quite happy with my weight but I think I could do better. Myself, the thinner I get - the better I feel, so I trust my body on that. I follow the guidelines when exercising and taking my pulse, etc. American Nutritionists have been trained to follow the guidelines currently available and most of their suggestions are not that healthy. The only thing I find useful is the portion size. There is never an advise on proper combination of foods, proper foods for your type of body or the exercise you are engaging in, herbal supplements, etc. Nutritionists are trained to make menus for sick people. I am talking prevention here. I do not consider myself sick and I am not planning on getting sick for a long time. I found it easier to manage the nutrition part on my own, I read tons and try different things to see what makes sense. I tailor it to my body's response and to my blood test results. Did you notice those old shriveled ladies in their 90s that come to see the doctors for the first time in 30+ years? I want to be like that when I get old. That is my goal to be an old thin agile woman for as long as I can.
As for my exercise, I think I should add something and change the intensity so the body does not get too comfortable :)
Thanks for all your support.
Hi. I lost the last 10 lbs over the past year in the followin way:
1. 2-4 servings complex carbs a day. max. and only before 4 pm.
2. no complex carbs and meat together.
for me, this worked.
Best, Jilly
Get your Doctor's advice.
You have a medical condition.
Or have your Doc refer you to a Nutritionist.
How "thin" does your Doctor say you have to be????
You should be going by medical guidelines. Not how "thin" you are.
Per working out, after about 6-8 weeks, the body gets used to an exercise routine, and can plateau. So then you need to mix it up. By doing different exercises or do "interval training" (look it up online).
And I assume you are eating healthily?
Eating healthy, does not mean depriving yourself. Or only eating a limited spectrum of foods. And it also has to do with how you cook your food.
You really need a Doctor "prescribed' advice for eating. And get referred to a Nutritionist so that YOU know, per YOUR condition, how many calories you need to be healthy.
And make sure, you are not overdoing, your "ideals" of what thin, is.
Being completely fat free, can also impact a woman's hormonal balance and/or your periods can disappear.
Also, do you know what "carbs" are?
There are good carbs and bad carbs.
Carbs are a wide range of foods. From sugars, to fibers, to starches.
And each one has a different "glycemic index."
You really need professional Nutritionist advice.
Also, you cannot go, according to what others may do or what they eat or their sample daily food intake is. Everyone is different. Physiologically.
And you have a medical condition.
You really should be talking to a doctor about this. There is no quick fix when it comes to weight or health. And of all places to ask the internet is the worst.
The fact that you have a heart condition also means that you should only work out or "diet" as a doctor, nutritionist and trainer who are all aware of your health issue prescribe. A doctor may even tell you that losing weight is not optimal.
Always remember: "Everyone thin is at war with the first 10 pounds." SO TRUE! No one just "stays thin" except VERY RARE people. We live in an obese area. Guess where I see the thin people? At the gym sweating their butts off. Even though they're thin. Yes, it's a constant balancing act between healthful eating, not too many carbs, sweets, calories, etc. and enough exercise. I'm always yo-yo-ing my ten pounds working out about as much as you, and recently, I somehow slacked off and gained 20!!!! and now I've lost 6, so 14 pounds to go. The last pounds are the hardest. They're always in the belly. You just have to cut calories and increase exercise until they're gone, EVERY TIME. For me, my vice is carbs and salt. When I get a little too enthusiastic with bread, crackers, etc-voila, the pooch pops up on the belly.
Hang in there. There's no permanent fix. It's an ongoing cycle. Good work on what you're doing just cut a little more and increase workout a little more, and soon you'll be in maintenance mode.
Also, I'm a little concerned by what you mean by "very thin". I'm not "very thin". I'm muscular and healthy with some excess pudge at times. I eat essential fats and oils for skin and brain, no "non fat" artificial stuff. Very thin, as in bony, can strain your heart. Be sure you get expert guidelines for your build.
***with all due respect, Riley, I don't get it. I only eat healthfully always, and I exercise a lot, always. Whenever I increase eating, even healthfully, (not intentionally) I gain weight, not lose it. If I started eating hash browns before my workout rather than some sort of healthy protein/carb snack (800 calorie step class, not military obstacle course) it would not help me lose weight. True, you can't fast and starve your metabolism, you must eat frequently, but I disagree that calorie increases are in order. And all my life-long fitness freak friends (who are thin) agree. Where are you getting that eating more is the answer? Everyone would be thin if eating more made you lose weight!
You're probably pushing yourself too hard. Perhaps being too thin and working too hard would be h*** o* your heart too. Karen Carpenter found that out the hard way. The body doesn't want to be in starvation mode - maybe your body is trying to tell you that.
Dawn
Eat MORE.
If you convince your body that famine is around the corner, it will NOT let go, and will try to gain and then it's the 'battle'. Surrender and let your body win and you win, too.
You have an INTENSE schedule. Doing the same schedule, I was eating about 4,000 calories a day. (Doinh an extreme schedule it was 4,000 per MEAL).
Military folk, who keep up an intense to extreme schedule eat BEFORE activity.
Weight lifters who need to bulk up eat after.
Athletes and military in the field eat CONSTANTLY.
What's the common denominator? Eating. A LOT.
But what's the common denominator amongst people fighting those last 10-30? NOT eating/ eating less.
The thing I hate the most about being in training is stuffing my face. Ugh. It's time consuming and expensive. But it works. Weight melts off.
ALSO (HUGELY IMPORTANT) do Not Not Not 'push' through plateaus. If you've plateaued it's your body 'resetting' normal. It lasts 1-3 months, and then even if you quit exercising entirely while you'll lose endurance and tone your weight will stay in the normal range, whatever it set at last. Thus is a big part of why people yoyo and 'fight'. Again. Don't. Let your body 'win', because you both want the same things just have a different way of getting there. Learn to LOVE plateaus and take them for the victories they are!!!
TRICK: eat fatty foods before running. Hash browns is my go to. Deep fried ones! Sausage, too. 3 ways:
1) fixes the craving
2) DUMPS bile and clears out your liver so no side cramps while running
3) burns off while running AND convinced your bod that you aren't in famine times / weightliss trick
3.5) if you run till puking, it doesn't really matter
Ok take it from someone with an eating disorder, there is a difference between being thin and healthy. That being said I with to argue the point another mom made about eating more, because of famine/starvation mode. If this was real then no one would ever starve to death and people who ate 3,000 cal a day wouldn't weight as much as they do. Yes if you eat a low cal diet your body will loose a bunch of weight at first then slow down, but it will do this with ANY diet. My advice is to figure out how many calories you need a day, (without exercise) then mutiply it by 7. This is how many calories you need a week. You need to create a deficite of 3500 calories to loose one pd a week. 7000 to loose 2 pds a week. You can create this with your exercise routine or by cutting out calories. And once again don't believe in the starvation mode idea, but don't try and cut your calories down to far because this will strain your heart if you workout alot (google, "the starvation mode myth.")
I've lost 21 lbs since March 1st and here's how I did it, counting calories. A lot of effort, yes, but the payoff is huge. I use calorie count.com, though there are other sites too. Plug in your height, current weight, age and gender and you will get a calorie count that takes into consideration what you burn on a daily basis just "living" and then you will get a weight loss calorie count which deducts about 535 calories from that number. A pound equals 3,600 calories, so by reducing your intake in this way, you should theoretically lose a pound a week. You can then record your exercise too, which will increase your calorie deductions leading to even quicker losses.
The thing that you will learn in doing this is what you are really eating. It is more than counting calories, the site also gives you a running daily count on your nutritional intakes. You'll see exactly how much fat, sodium, sugar, vitamins, minerals, etc that you are consuming against the min/max you should be eating. You may think you're eating healthy, but this site will reveal if that's actually true. I found out I was eating much more sugar and sodium than I ever imagined, even though my caloric intake wasn't bad. And now I see everyday what little saturated fat and cholesterol I am eating and it feels great. I not only look better, but I feel a ton healthier too.
I also work out 5x a week, 30 mins a day Monday-Thursday, then I run on the treadmill about 45-50 mins on Saturday. My weekly workouts are usually interval-type training videos that incorporate both weights for toning and aerobics for fat burning.
At the end of the day, there is no quick fix. But if you implement true healthy eating and exercise into your life, you will lose those last stubborn pounds. And by understanding what you are really eating by tracking your foods, you'll learn new habits that you'll carry on with permanently. Because once you understand what and how to eat, you won't go back to your old ways. You honestly won't want to. And the weight will stay off.
I wish you gave a little more information like how far you jog or how long you lift weights.
To me three days of jogging isn't enough.
I'm at the gym six days a week and MISS the gym on my 'off day.' I like the ME TIME. Those two hours are awesome without anyone doing the 'mom, mom, mom, MOM" thing. I too have an issue that makes SURE I keep my weight down otherwise major back surgery will be in my future. Working out is so much easier than getting cut open and having things fused together.
Weights is an every other day thing. Two days seems a bit low unless you're doing an hour of weight lifting on those two days.
I've found out cutting out food groups doesn't work. I drink water all day long. LOTS of water. There's REALLY no magic way to lose weight other than eat less, move more.
I am 51 and at 5'7" am 170 lbs. When I was thin (up to 15 years ago when I had my first) I was 145 pounds. I have started working out like you and have not consciously changed my eating habits, but just coming back from the gym after work I am less hungry (I wake up ravenous though!). I try to tell myself that I am getting healthier, and if I get thinner that will be great, but the main reason is to have a healthy heart and be able to take long walks that I enjoy. I try to do the little things as well: park far from the entry and take stairs instead of escalators, etc. So pat yourself on the back about all the hard work you have done. It is a life style change forever, not a diet, and you may need something like Weight Watchers meetings to help you over the last hump.
How much are you running? 3 x a week could be a lot, or not that much. How far? How long does it take you to do each run?
And you really should ask these questions of your doctor, since you have a known medical condition involving your heart. If 10 extra lbs is "dangerous" for you, then I've gotta think that ramping up your routine or drastically changing your diet without express approval of your doctor, has also got to be hazardous for you...
