Please Help- I Must Lose Weight!

[cinderr]

I have gained ten pounds by using the gabbapentin and can't do much in the way of exercise. I know the drill: eat less, workout more!
That is so hard to do because I am sort of homebound so I make many trips to the fridge all day long. And somedays, like today, I could walk--I had a great walk today, one cookie, and about eight glasses of poisonous diet coke! I need to lay off the diet coke and the sweets. I need to move everyday and I try.
Any ideas for quick loss of ten pounds?:?:

 

[1sweed]

Stop drinking diet soda if at all possible. Diet soda is worse for you then regular soda and can cause weight gain. Try switching to iced tea or crystal light or natural juices, or more plain water.

Try to find hobbies that can keep your mind off of food. I like doing jigsaw puzzles as it is time consuming and good for brain in figuring out what goes where. Do crossword puzzles or find some good books to read. Do dusting or simple housecleaning. Watch movies that make you laugh and keep you so interested you do not want to stop watching. Tell yourself to stop eating junk food and eat fresh veggies and fruit. this will lesson the amount of trips you make to the frig.

Often I get lost in doing web searches as I travel from one link to another. This can keep you from eating and at the same time help you learn more about things you are interested in.

 

[jcairns82]

For myself, I find it easiest to remove any 'bad' foods from my house. This way, I'm no longer tempted to eat any of it. If there's only carrots and water, then you'll eat that or not at all.

I understand that you're homebound, would you ever consider doing chair exercises? I know it sounds silly, but you can get quite the workout from it. Go to youtube and do a search for it. Yes, you'll find that it's mostly for seniors, but seriously, it's a good cardio workout.

 

[Chrispy93]

It's easier said than done I know.
My thoughts on it are, if you want it bad enough, you will do what it takes to get it.

My mother complained for years about not being able to loose weight. I always told her she just doesn’t want it bad enough. I hold this theory true because when i decided to quit smoking, i did. I wanted it bad enough. I made the decision and it was done. The same will power needs to be applied to food. Food is a necessity not a pleasure. We all know what we should be eating and not eating. I've started with artificial sweeteners and gluten. Eat smaller portions. As i eat a hershey kiss, i'll say i gained 30 pounds this year after i quit smoking. As i have another hershey kiss, i can tell you i must not want to loose weight bad enough because i'm going for another kiss. I eat a party bag of kisses a week. As for working out. There are many things you can do at home with no equipment. Look on youtube for those chair exercises. Sounds cool. Yoga and stretching will help. Do you have anyone to work with you on it; to help drive you?
On a side note, miralax (I use w-mart equate version) is an easy comfortable solution to keep things moving inside and could help with a pound or 3.

 

[Amalia]

I don't think such thing as 'lose weight quick' exists. First of all you must want this and then try to discipline yourself. My advice is eat more in the morning, a big healthy breakfast, a little less at noon and nothing in the evening. Snacks in between. This is not a myth, because it's actually very simple: what you eat in the morning will be easier processed by your body as you're going to be active during the day. I can't think about an easier way, but I think you should give this a try.

 

[Indianagal]

The aspertame in diet drinks is a poison. It can make you feel worse than better. I drink Propel water...it tastes good and doesn't have the aspertame in it. Also use stevia for a sweetener. I have lost 16 pounds in the last few months by just cutting down on portion size, trying to stay away from snacking in between meals and drinking alot of Propel. I do allow myself to have ice cream for dessert in the evening. My downfall is salty snacks especially potato chips. I have been doing very well staying away from these. I try to get out and walk even it is just a little bit each day. If it is too cold will go to the grocery store, Walmart...wherever just to get a walk in. Breakfast is very important and I like cheerios so usually have that with a piece of fruit or juice. And yogurt is also good.

 

[1sweed]

You might try going to youtube and looking up some raw food or vegan recipies. They make a lots of good food out of just vegetables and fruits. You might find some low fat recipies for making snack food that is good for you but at the same time won't cause weight gain. Some are really filling and so one piece will last you most of the day. Check out the off-topic section where I put in sharing recipies. There is a simple brownie recipe that is very tasty yet not high in calories. The mushroom balls are very good as well.

When you eat less fat and more foods that are rich in vitamons and minerals, it can help you lose weight. Also drink lots of water like Indianagal, says and it will give you a good start toward losing weight.

 

[Ben_Ellis]

Knowledge is power. Watch "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" on Youtube with Dr. Robert Lustig. Takes about an hour and a half to watch, but it is incredibly revealing about why so many are overweight and why it is so hard to lose.

And indianagal is correct! Aspartame is pure poison. Above about 86 degrees F (your body is at 98.6 ish), aspartame is converted to formaldehyde and formic acid among other terrible things. Formaldehyde is embalming fluid and formic acid is what fire ant venom is made of. That should be enough to pursuade anyone, but beyond that, diet drinks are worse for your waistline than regular cola (high fructose corn syrup) which is horrible to start with.

Edit: Crystal light also has aspartame, so avoid that as well.

 

[sassy13]

I have lost 35 lb in the last six months. One reason I lost is because I was on Prednisone and gained a lot of weight. I also had prednisone induced diabetes. Once I started medicine for the diabetes and stopped the prednisone, a lost weight.
I also made my dietary habits a lyfestyle and not a diet. I eat lean protein and vegetables, fruits, nuts, and avoid white flour and sugar. I do not keep tempting foods in the house because I will eat it! I exercise when I can. I only eat meals at the table. My sofa is a no no zone for eating unless it is popcorn during a movie. I allow myself a cheat day on the weekend where I will eat Pizza and ice cream- I love home made vanilla! I try not to consume calories from drinks. I drink lots of water. Now that I am used to it, water is all I really want. I also watch my portions.
It is certainly a continuous effort.

Just remember, if you mess up on your diet, you are only one meal away from eating right!

 

[Fran]

All I can tell you is this: the body is a math equation. 3500 calories is one pound. Here is the trick, you have to figure out how to get your body in to calorie burning mode. I think fibromyalgia slows the metabolism. So, burning calories will be slow going. There are calculators that tell you how much you may need each day. Play with that number and you can figure out how to get your body to respond.

Keep a piece of paper handy and write down your calories. I think the hardest part is finding the right foods to keep your house stocked with. I am homebound as well, so I know it is not easy to figure out stuff like groceries. If you can figure out your bodies personal math equation, you will lose weight.

 

[Ben_Ellis]

Fran is spot on with that advice. Before I knew much about what I was doing, my weight loss journey began with simple numbers and common sense. Calories consumed versus calories burned. It's not totally that simple, but it's a great place to get started.

Portion control, sensible nutritive foods and just a little increase in activity pay off. I lost 70 of my 100 lbs without really knowing what I was doing simply by cutting my (admittedly sizeable) portions in half and learning to stretch my meals over a couple days by eating them as leftovers. I consumed ridiculous amounts of water and started walking a couple miles a few days a week. The common sense things like reducing sugar (this is where almost ALL of your added body fat comes from), increasing fiber intake, and eating more plant-based meals really started to pay off after I started focusing on my nutrition a bit more.

The body naturally wants to reach what's termed homeostasis. There is an optimal level at which it is designed to run. The problem is we fail to feed it what it DOES need and we excel in feeding it what it DOES NOT need in order to run there. What I've found is that nutrition is without a doubt the biggest place we miss out on helping our body run right.

As an addendum to what Fran said about fibromyalgia and metabolism, there is very strong evidence that supports that statement. Many things point to hypothyroidism (and low-grade whole-body inflammation) as a very likely culprit in many fibro symptoms.

Toxins like fluoride in tap water, bromine in many bread products and even your very own estrogen production blunts the message that your thyroid sends out to every cell in your body. These chemicals occupy the hormone receptors on each cell giving the thyroid hormones no place to be received. Also, since women produce so much more estrogen than men, women suffer from thyroid problems at a much higher rate. Watching for these things can help as well as taking steps to detoxify your body.


Lastly, if you're only goal is to lose a quick ten pounds and it is truly important to you, there is no better place to start than with what you are drinking.
Drink ZERO glasses of soda of any kind and replace it with H2O. Not tap water and not the kind in the cheap, crinkly plastic bottles full of BPA that leaches into the water. You will learn to love water for all the good it does for you And you will absolutely lose weight by taking this simple step. If all other things are held constant, your body literally has no choice but to do so.

 

[jabeen100]

Best way is eat a big or medium breakfast, smaller lunch, and a tiny dinner. (this is bad but i sometimes skip dinner, but it actually works.if you eat too late in the day, once you sleep the fat stays on. i

 

[Ricky]

You are right.This is perfect meal idea that you shared. I also follow this meal during the day because it is good to eat well and healthy food in diet.

 

[dorann]

The best thing that I have ever done to help me to lose weight is not to eliminate foods that I love from my diet, but to instead moderate them. For example, I love ice cream. I don't say I can't ever eat ice cream any more, I just limit myself to having ice cream once or twice a week instead of more often than that.

In a desperate time I did put a lock on my fridge and the key up high so I had to work at getting food whenever I decided that I wanted to eat. It made me think about eating every time.

 

[DomDom]

As the posters before me already said - clean up your diet!

All the bad sugars (sweets, pasta etc) and trans fats, make them disappear from your diet.
At first start with a fixed ammount of calories and as the weeks go by lower them or icnrease your exercise levels, this way you wont get to a weight loss "wall"

Of course do alot of exercise - there are alot of youtube videos for home workouts which you can use!