OT--new food regime....oatmeal and tea

You might try Basmati rice, Jeanne. It's got lots more flavor than the plain stuff. :) Best of luck on your new regime! :)

If you really get into it Jeanne there is good stuff you can eat. You just have to ferret through all the crap at the store to find it. There are some teas that have a sweet taste even without sugar. Once you get used to unsweetened tea you will think sweetened tastes funny.

I have an aunt that is miserable because she is overweight. Her knees don't work cause the weight and she can't move to lose the weight cause her knees. Watching her move is hurtful. She has gone on for so many years she is barely moving. No surgery cause she is too heavy. We aren't talking 400 lbs. here, just too big. Take care of yourself. It is so important for your quality of life and those that love you. Tomorrow I'll have a bowl of oatmeal in support ; )

Hugs, Taria

nzlstar* wrote:

...or a little applesauce is good, too. I've mixed low-fat yogurt with mine as well and find it's really good as well. Good luck with your "program" -- I've been working to shed about 40lbs myself. ::groan:: I admire your resolve!

Nancy in NS

giving up meat is easy... hard to eat it again though... I tried that diet myself, except I ate granola instead of oatmeal. But for the life of me I cant get back into meat. But The energhy I have wow I am up all night and awake early am. Its been good. Though I never did lose weight lol of course I have only been doing this since the start of July so maybe.... Good luck :) And I vote for the basmati rice as well

Hi Jeanne, good for you. Losing weight is terribly hard and I believe it takes more than will power. I lost almost 50 pounds and have kept my weight down for more than 6 months now. I had ballooned after being put on medication and losing my ability to be active. It took changing the way I eat and changing my attitude toward food. I stopped eating bread except for rye (doesn't matabolize the way other bread does), no rice, no pasta, no potatoes, nothing fried, no cereal except bran flakes. I ate bran cereal with fruuit, milk and plain tea for breakfast. For lunch and supper I had a salad. I put cheese on the evening salad and didn't worry about what dressing I used. And a couple times a week I let myself have a sweet -- ice cream cone or cookies or something. I lost one to two pounds a week. It sounds slow, but it was just about right. Nothing too drastic. And I took up an exercise class for people with physical limitations. I worked hard at not eating unless I was hungry. I have no idea if my way would be helpful to anybody else. I wish you good luck and you have all my good wishes and support. It's a hard goal, but a good one. After losing 25 pounds, my knee stopped swelling and I've not had to have another steroid shot in it. After losing 40 pounds, my blood pressure came down enough that I went off my medication for that. Now, I'm not anywhere near the thin little thing I used to be, but I'm still healthier and feel better about myself. I think your new regimen sounds good and sound and that you have a great attitude. Keep us posted on your progress. Sunny

sorry, when i said plain i meant basmati. that is our 'plain' rice in this house. so far so good today. oatmeal, plain tea, bowl of fruit(1 cooked apple w/cinnamon, half a mango, 1 kiwifruit) with plain unsweetened yogurt, some plain nuts as a snack with a cuppa plain tea again this arvo. dinner worrys me tho. smelling whatever dh is cooking might be my biggest hurdle. thanks for the good luck, i think i'm gonna need it later. hugz, jeanne

yup, got fruit on the menu but had it for lunch. i really like plain oatmeal. i have the consistency down to the fine art, lol. gotta love the microwave for speed too, eh. cheers, jeanne

nuked sliced apple w/cinnamon hot, half a cold mango, kiwifruit topped with plain yogurt for lunch. i loved the hot apple with the rest cold. cheers, jeanne

i'm not that big yet but realized that i can no longer put off the inevitable. i must lose weight now, theres a lot to lose as well. i reckon 50 lbs, omg, i'm outta my mind but damn it i have to. that will put me back to BC...not too much to do, eh. eeeeeeeek!! thanks for the support. i do appreciate it. hugz, jeanne

plain oatmeal has nothing else in it. i'd check that granola, often they hide honey, brown sugar etc and call it healthy. full of fibre etc but all that added sweeteners wont work for me now. i must lose weight, i must lose weight, i must lose weight. good luck on your quest as well. :) hugz, jeanne

Jeanne, I am also in a "must lose weight" mode. At the moment it is working just fine because it is just plain too hot to eat. So I have lost about 10 pounds in the last 2 months. (Of about 140 needed to be lost. sigh) Please make sure you are getting protein though. Need that to keep the body going, although not as much as many "Americans" tend to eat. And don't forget vegetables too.

For myself, I have learned over many years that to lose weight I cannot cut anything completely out. I just cut everything down. Drink more water, less soda. And most importantly, don't eat if I am not hungry, but eat what I am hungry for. At one point when I was in college I got to the lowest weight I had been since about age 10. I did it with that method..... most of the time I had a half sandwich and something sweet at lunch. And frequently no dinner. Made dinner for DH but only ate if I felt like it. Of course we were also square dancing several times a week then too.

Good luck and let me know if you need suggestions/nudges/support.

Pati, > plain oatmeal has nothing else in it.

WOOO HOOO good for you Jeanne! you*can* do it!

do remember all beans have lots of protein and do remember that you *need* a teaspoon of fat (marg/butter/oil) every day to keep you regular not doing so can be painful :-s

I've been missing you on the mssgr - but the good news is that the clocks will change "soon" and we will be back in sync again ;-)

Jeanne, GOOD FOR YOU for taking this momentous step!

I joined Weight Watchers, and have stuck to the program pretty well. It allows for occasional treats as well as celebrations, and teaches you how to eat a healthy balanced diet that allows weight loss at a steady rate (they recommend 1-2lbs a week - slow and steady!). Now, I'm NOT saying you must join them, or proselytizing or anything, but some nutritional guidance might be a good move. Look into what's freely available on the net, but read with caution.

The potential trouble I see with your current regime is that you may lack essential nutrients like iron and potassium (and haem iron from meat [even from white meat like chicken] is far easier for the body to absorb and use than plant based iron). You are possibly being a little TOO restrictive. And if you try to ban ALL treats, you may end up craving them, which is soul destroying. Cut them out for a while, so re-train that sweet tooth, but don't ban them forever! You'll find as time goes on that even when freely available, you will want them far less. Unless you have a milk intolerance, SOME milk every day is very good for weight loss. Use skimmed rather than semi if you like. I have a VERY low fat diet (partly the gall bladder thing, in that while I no longer have one, I can no longer digest significant amounts of fat either!), but still eat lean meat (mostly chicken). Portion control was also a BIIIG factor! One reason I find WW so good for me: they teach portion control! I'm useless at that on my own! So far I've lost 65lbs and gone from this:

this: If you want to know anything about what worked for me, just ask! :)

I love good old fashioned Scots porridge, made with water and a pinch of salt, but I float it in a little semi-skimmed milk, and sprinkle a teaspoon of Demerera sugar on it. I sometimes use just oat bran, and sometimes jumbo oats, as well as regular porridge oats and old fashioned oatmeal - which takes longer to cook! But I also vary my breakfast with things like a banana smoothie, toast and jam, Wheetabix, banana sandwich...

DH also eats the WW way (I cannot be bothered to cook different meals for each of us, and the recipes are excellent), and just yesterday had his six-monthly blood tests and MOT (he's type one diabetic). He was told that he had the best cholesterol levels they'd ever seen! So I KNOW this way of eating is good for all of us! And on it James has reached 5'3" (my height!) at age 11! ERK! I'll be paying VAT on his shoes next!

Oh, and try red Camargue rice - very tasty!

((((((((((LOTS OF HUGS AND ENCOURAGEMENT))))))

And if the menfolk start trying to sabotage your efforts with sweet treats and fatty meaty things, whack them with the frying pan. Start at the toes and work up...

Good Luck Jeanne! You can do it!

I am in a weight loss program too. For me the most important thing was to get some exercise. I had a sitting job for 14 years and never moved more than absolutely necessary. That has changed now. I signed up with Sparkpeople, that is a free online diet program, that helps a lot to keep me motivated. I have lost ca. 14 pounds but now I am stuck on a plateau, mainly because I am not always eating right. But every new day is a chance for a new start. At least I am not putting it back on again.

Hugs,

Maria

In the small village where I lived most of my life (Walton, Hants County, NS) Parker was a very common name -- one of the founding names of the community, actually. :) Small world!

Nancy in NS

I didn't mean to imply you were Jeanne. ; ) Just gaining a lb a year means a lot when you put all the years and pounds together. I have a lot of nervous energy that burns a lot of calories, but I love to eat too. I just have to keep stuff out of the house since my self control is nil. Pass the rice cakes.

Taria

nzlstar* wrote: