WOOOOHOOO!!! I am down to 187!!! 
I want that plate!!
Great job on the weight loss!!!
The only way I lose weight is to workout like crazy. I dropped 20 lb this year by training for 1/2 marathon. If I run about 3 to 4 miles a day then I can lose weight. I can’t lose just by diet because of diabetes.
Manny:
1a. Get a body fat percentage measurement done (or do it yourself with calipers)
1b. Liver Cleanse - do it. Or don’t do it. Everyone should know about cleaning the liver. (and other internal organs)
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Slow burn carbs - brown rice, oatmeal, yams
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Muscle mass - Keep (and grow) your muscle mass by lifting weights. Do not expect to ‘diet’ and do cardio, you will just lose your muscle mass. Do some cardio, but get the muscle fibers going, your metabolism is sluggish and needs to be jolted back to how it was when you were young. Concentrate on mass-group exercises: Squat, Deadlift, bench press, shoulder press. Concentrate on doing the simple exercises and work on your core strength.
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Protien - Eat enough protein to build the damaged muscle fibers. Quality Whey Protein with little ingredients as possible. No Maltodextrin. No artificial sweeteners. Shoot for 130-150 grams/day of quality protein. Organic cottage cheese, organic chicken. This is only if you are really hitting the weights. Don’t bother with this protein if you aren’t lifting the weights, you won’t need it and it will overload your kidneys and rest of your system.
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Water - good job on this one, you’re already there.
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Lots of fresh veggies. HUGE salad once a day.
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If you are doing the weightlifting, don’t worry about your scale as much. Use the mirror as a judge on your progress. Take a picture now and later. We all know muscle weighs more than fat (denser) so you might only lose 10 ‘pounds’ but you will look and feel much better.
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Weight watchers? Lean Cuisine meals? Forget them. They aren’t interested in your health.
I like the weight watchers online too. Most people that I know that have lost weight and successfully keep the weight off do it through weight watchers. It is one of the only “diets” that I have followed that I am not counting down the minutes until my next meal. One thing that I don’t like about it is on the website their recipes do not list the carb count though.
Here is my story, albeit unconventional…
So i went to university, got into a sorority, drank underage in all the bars on campus, found myself eating while drinking…which resulted in me balooning up to 265 at 5’9. I have a large frame, but that is no excuse. I was falling apart.
So I quit drinking (for the most part, no binge drinking anymore) and that resulted in me eating much less. I started working out slowly, eventually getting up to walking at 4.0mph at a 15% incline for 60 minutes (im really in shape now).
during the day, to aviod lows and excessive eating, i would decrease my basal rates to whatever % i needed it decreased. I went to the doc, a1c was at 7 instead of the previous 11, they cut my insulin needs in half and i dropped down to 180lbs.
Ive gained 20 since then, due to some relapse in the drinking, which i’ve quit again. Im currently trying to get back there.
unconventional, yes. potentially dangerous, of course.
I tried weight watchers in the past and wasn’t happy with the taste of the food. After I started insulin, I gained a few pound but I was able to trend the other way by eating salads. I switched from Balsamic vineger to wine vinegar, and low carbs. I stopped fruits and cereal. Now my BG is under 100 and I lost a little weight. I’m 1lb away from my lowest weight in 10 years.
I’m surprised not many people mentioned cutting back on carbs. I eat a strict low carb diet but my husband has lost 30 pounds just because he has been eating my lower carb meals in the evening. He eats his regular meals for breakfast and lunch but he has been happy to lose the weight so effortlessly. And the added bonus for those of us with diabetes is that low carb is kinder to our blood sugar.
Libby,
There was some very interesting research published recently that made it clear that if a person is insulin resistant, low carb dieting will work MUCH better for them.
If they aren’t insulin resistant, then it is just about calories and cutting carbs won’t make a difference.
Cutting carbs often results in a very swift initial weight loss, especially if blood sugar has been high enough to cause insulin resistance in someone who isn’t normally insulin resistant, but most of us who have gone on to lose significant amounts of weight with a low carb diet hit a plateau well above goal and can only get to goal by cutting calories. And quite a lot of people with Type 2 who low carb to maintain normal blood sugars report not losing any weight after the initial weight loss.
I think the most helpful thing about low carb dieting is that after the first couple days you stop being hungry, which makes it so much easier to cut calories.
Manny, I notice you posted this thread a long time ago. Did you manage to get anywhere with the diet?
gummy owls at gummyowlsdotcom. i have never used them, but people who have love them and say they work for weight loss, reducing cholesterol and helping maintain blood glucose levels. i just read a blog about them and if you go to the website and put in coupon code GFN0612D you can apparently get $10 off your order.
hi! have you heard of gummy owls at gummyowlsdotcom. i have never used them, but people who have love them and say they work for weight loss, reducing cholesterol and helping maintain blood glucose levels. i just read a blog about them and if you go to the website and put in coupon code GFN0612D you can apparently get $10 off your order.
Hi, I have lost 106 pounds through Take Shape for Life, and I cannot recommend it more. It's a program based on reclaiming health and building good habits of health. In fact, there is a book (and workbook) called Dr. A's Habits of Health that you can get through Amazon.
Everyone has a coach -- who you speak with on the phone. The coach is someone who can advise you and talk you through when you get stuck, etc. The food is Medifast. I NEVER thought I'd be on a food plan that was so restricted and so packaged, but my body LOVED it. Medifast has been used successfully by 20,000 people; it's the diet they use at the Cleveland Clinic. My blood sugar ran so steady on it; it was amazing. No cravings. Lost my taste (would take very little to kick it in again, though) for sugar (although never for bread, pasta, etc. -- that's just will power and desire to stay healthy). High energy. Really, it's amazing and -- no joke -- you could be complete in as little as three weeks. Can't say enough good things about it. GOOD LUCK!