Diet Kickoff

I seriously need to start losing weight after the holidays.  I’ve been going to the gym for about 2 months now, usually about 3 times a week.  I try my best to fill up on fruit and veggies, but I have a massive sweet tooth and the holidays are killer.  I also find it very hard to stay on track when the boy and I are together.  We’re always trying to squeeze a month or so of dating into just a week! 

While he’s here (until the end of Jan) I plan on continuing with my morning gym routine and not eating dessert and cookies as best I can.  Once he’s gone though it will be time to get serious.  One of my major problems with weight loss in the past is that it just takes too long to see any initial results.  I would weigh myself once a week and nothing would happen for 3 weeks.  At that point I would just throw in the towel.  I was thinking that to help myself stay motivated I would do one of those quick weight loss diets for the first week, like the cabbage soup diet, or whatever.  I’m open to suggestions.  After that first week (and hopefully a couple pounds lost for motivation) I would switch to a calorie counting diet which I’ve done well on in the past. 

I know that those quick loss diets often lead to quick weight gain, but if I stick with a healthy normal diet after the first week do you think it would come back?
I need to lose at least 50lbs to be in the high range for my height.  Ideally, this will be a real life style change for me that will eventually end with me about 60 lighter than I am now.   I don’t expect that to happen overnight. 

I myself was a serious chocoholic before I started my routine. I don't recommend going cold turkey off Chocolate if that's your weakness I had a small & I mean a small piece of chocolate once a day for a while then I stopped having that eventually it helped alot with the cravings.    I had been doing the LO GI diet, Portion Control, & a brutal gym routine 4 -5 days a week an I lost 6 stone/ 84lbs in over a year. I was also seeing a Dietitian every 5 weeks as well she was very helpful & very supportive!!     I really like the LO GI diet because I don't feel like I'm a diet its just a healthier way of eating.     I will go back to doing the LO GI diet, portion control, & the gym after Christmas since it seemed to work for me. I only came off it cause Dh & I went home to the States for 2 weeks   then when we came back to the UK I was & still am indulging in my American treats & some Christmas treats as well.   

What's LO GI?

I don't have to have chocolate, so cold turkey worked for me before.  About 3 years ago I lost 30 lbs shockingly fast just by calorie counting.  Once I start eating something like chocolate, or potato chips, whatever, I can't can't stop.  Food around the office is entirely too tempting as well!

What kind of work out do you do at the gym?  I spend time on the bike, treadmill and elliptical.  Each week I go for a little bit longer and I'm thinking about doing longer workouts on the weekend and adding the stair machine too. 

Shugga's workouts are legendary: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=5304.msg916523#msg916523 she makes us all look like cream puffs  

Lo GI diets are good because it actively regulates the amount of sugars & foods that you consume that would 'spike' your blood sugar/insulin levels and cause cravings & such...as with all diets you just have to find one that you can live with & stick to...I've not personally tried it, by my DH has and it's worked for him.

I've lost about 4 stone this year just by calorie counting, not eating after 6pm, and going to bed by 10pm... it seems to be working for me. I still have a lot to lose (about another 4 stone) but I'm well on my way and hopefully in the new year I can continue the downward trend.

A lot of us have been chronicaling our struggles & accomplishments here: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=5304.0 Feel free to join in! & good luck on your weight loss 

OMG, I don't know that I'll ever get to Shugga's level!  But one can hope!

Thanks for the link WebyJ, I'll definitely be hitting that up in the coming months!

About 2 years ago I lost 45lbs before trying to get pregnant.  One of the things that kept me going was having a few 'cheat meals' each week.  If I had any cravings, I could tell myself that I only had to wait 1-2 days to satisfy that with a cheat meal.  It gave me motivation to stay strict on my diet and my cheat meal was like a mini-reward for being 'good' for the previous days.

I had a very strict diet for 2 weeks of only fruit and veg.  I used that time to detox my body and get all the nasties out.

After that I didn't monitor calories but I monitored fat intake.  I ate whatever I wanted to but at the end of the day I had no more than 20g of fat.  I could eat all the fat free angel food cake (with fresh strawberries and fat free cool whip) I wanted to satisfy my sweet tooth.    I even had Kit Kats and other sweets...but I would have to sacrifice fat from my main meals in order to have those sweet treats ever so often.

It probably doesn't work for everyone but it worked perfectly for me as I found it something I could live with for the rest of my life (I was pleasantly surprised by how many fat free foods are available now and I couldn't tell the difference in taste of a lot of them...others I got used to like some people get used to diet soda).  I plan to restart this diet after New Years as I have about 10lbs left to lose this time around (will be more like 20lb by then  ).

Congrats!  I'm glad to hear that you did a detox thing as well.  Did you loose a lot during it or did you stay stable?

Congrats!  I'm glad to hear that you did a detox thing as well.  Did you loose a lot during it or did you stay stable?

When I did the detox thing I actually fasted for 3 days.  I had the lemonade mixture from The Master Cleanse (but I didn't do the 'cleanse' part of that fast).  I didn't lose much during that time because you're body goes into starvation mode and starts storing everything.  I made sure to drink a minimum of 12 glasses of water to help flush the yuckies out of my body.  I can't remember but I think I lost maybe 2-3lbs in those first 3 days.  Then I did 2 weeks of only fresh fruit and veg (I tried to get as much organic as possible)...I didn't restrict amounts or calories but just ate whenever I was hungry and kept eating until I was full.  I made sure to eat something (even if it was just a handful of strawberries) every 2 hrs to keep my metabolism going...even if I wasn't hungry.  At the end of that 2 weeks I had lost 10-15lbs (I can't remember the exact amount but I know it was around there).  I never gained any of that weight back so I don't believe it was a fluke. 

It was encouraging to kick start my weight loss and see the scale going down everyday...but for me it was more about cleaning all the chemicals out of my system so I could start with a blank slate. 

I think the two week fruit and veg thing is great.  Do you cook the veg or eat it fresh?

When I did the detox thing I actually fasted for 3 days.  I had the lemonade mixture from The Master Cleanse (but I didn't do the 'cleanse' part of that fast).  I didn't lose much during that time because you're body goes into starvation mode and starts storing everything.  I made sure to drink a minimum of 12 glasses of water to help flush the yuckies out of my body.  I can't remember but I think I lost maybe 2-3lbs in those first 3 days.  Then I did 2 weeks of only fresh fruit and veg (I tried to get as much organic as possible)...I didn't restrict amounts or calories but just ate whenever I was hungry and kept eating until I was full.  I made sure to eat something (even if it was just a handful of strawberries) every 2 hrs to keep my metabolism going...even if I wasn't hungry.  At the end of that 2 weeks I had lost 10-15lbs (I can't remember the exact amount but I know it was around there).  I never gained any of that weight back so I don't believe it was a fluke. 

It was encouraging to kick start my weight loss and see the scale going down everyday...but for me it was more about cleaning all the chemicals out of my system so I could start with a blank slate. 

I'm not sure I could do the Master Cleanse, my bladder has me running to the bathroom quick enough, I can only imagine what it would be like if I doubled my water intake every day! However I could do the fresh fruit/veggies part that you spoke about. So that's all you had? Did you just drink water than? Also, do you think it matters if you eat them raw or not? I prefer raw vegetables myself. Thanks!!!!!  And congrats !!

I ate most everything raw but I'm not sure if it makes any difference.  There were a few occasions were I sauteed some veg in a dash of olive oil just to have something different.

I ate salads as my meals and snacked on veg sticks or fruit if I got a sweetness craving.  I used all-natural salad dressing which was really expensive (and probably over-kill) but the fact that it cost so much made me limit how much I used...which was a good thing because I usually drench my salads in dressing.

I would drink 12 glasses of water and I would also drink some of the Master Cleanse homemade lemonade (maybe 2-3 glasses a day...just for something different).  This was pretty hard for me as I have a tiny bladder and I usually only drink 2-3 glasses of fluids per day.  At that time I could buy a 20oz soda in the morning and still have some left over at the end of the day (without drinking anything else). 

I am going to try this after Christmas, only because I missed christmas at home last year and I am extremely looking forward to all the food my mum makes. Although I do have to say I had a fantastic Christmas with my love <3 miss him so much this time of the year.

But I'm definitely going to do this starting the day after christmas, thank you for the idea!

I've occassionally done the master cleanse for a few days, usually after a week or two of visiting friends, eating lots of rich foods, and drinking too much. I find it helps break the cycle of eating crap and feeling like crap.

Does anyone use workout DVDs? I am looking to get one but not sure which to get. I used to do the Carmen Electra Striptease workout and loved it! (I can't find it here) It was intense AND fun, so it didn't seem like work. Any recommendations?

ZUMBA! You can download Carmen and burn it for your DVD ;-)