Here's what I'm doing...

[magenta321]

An area doctor who is a friend of the practice I work with has a study of a combination of drugs for weightloss. I have been on a roller-coaster of "I'm in" "I'm out" "I'm in." Couple this with my boss and a coworker doing the study, and my mom too (because I told her about it). All of them are in the study.

We all kind of felt like "yeah, I know I can lose weight on a diet and by exercising more, but then I go off track." We all felt like a pill would be a crutch to help us through that. The pill is supposed to curb appetite. We were all thinking that if we were not hungry, we would not eat as much.

Since I'm disqualified for the study, I don't get the crutch. Everyone else is in the study. 1:3 is getting a placebo. 1:3 is getting "the drug" at a high dose. 1:3 is getting "the drug" in half the dose of the high dose. Some or all of the people I know doing this study could be getting the placebo. Some or all could get the real thing.

So, I'm going to do the same "plan" they are, without taking a pill. I'm not in the study, but, everything they are doing, beside the pills, are readily available. I don't get the reinforcement of going for an official weigh-in every so often, and I don't get the reinforcement of reporting my eating and exercising to the doctor, like they do.

The first thing I've learned so far is not to think I'm on a diet. I'm also not supposed to give ANYTHING up. If I want milk in my coffee, I get to have milk in my coffee. Of course, it would be better if I cut it down to 2% or skim, or reduced the amount. But, if that's something I can't compromise on, then so be it.

I sort of like that. I"m empowered to make my own choices. They're choices I will have to make on every day of my life. That's why I'm not on a diet, I'm improving my life style.

I got my mom to take a walk with me and the beast yesterday. It was a short walk, but, at least we did it. It was cold though. It really wasn't fun, I won't lie. I don't know how I'm going to work exercise in yet. So I'm really not, haha. (For now...)

The other thing I'm going to change is that I am going to be concious of a serving size. I'm going to eat as much as my body wants, until it's full. But because it takes 20 minutes for your body to tell you it's full, I'm going to try cutting my serving sizes by 1/3 initially. If I'm still hungry later, I can have a little more, but chances are I won't need it.

That's all I figured out so far... but I'll let you know if I figure out more as I go

Anyone else need to get back on the wagon? We can do it together

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

My goal is to not gain weight between now and January 1. I think losing is too much to ask when the holidays are here. So I'll try to be careful of serving sizes, try to have protein and produce in every meal or snack, and spend time with my local friendly treadmill.

[theworm[$]]

sounds like a great plan, Margaret. I know that service sizes are my downfall. I need to start with less and take seconds if I'm still hungry, and I need to eat more slowly so my body realizes its full. Restaurant and Brian make servings too big. I think I need to start eating dinner from dessert plates so there is less room for food.

[phoenixx]

I have lost two pant sizes this summer. I have only changed a few things in my diet (more fiber, more whole grains and organic choices, more water, but pretty much the same diet as before, no portion control or low fat stuff) and I've walked nearly every day since August 1 either outside (2 - 4 miles) or on a treadmill (generally 1 or 2 miles - it's boring on the treadmill - lol). 4 pant sizes to go until I'm happy, 5 to really be where I want to be. And no, I don't weigh myself.

[naomie]

Okay. What I do is a mixture of workouts. I have a low impact workout 5 days a week. I do 15 minutes on the Bun and Thigh Master, then another 15 minutes on Red, along with basic toning exercises. Then I alternate a stretching and aerobic workout. About twice a week I do yoga. Three times a week I go to the gym where I do 30-45min on an elliptical cycle, 10 min on the rowing machine and then a cool down an toning workout with weights.

It is good. I'm fairly muscular. It is hard to stick to though, because muscle weighs more than fat. So my weight went up, when it should be going down. Eventually it did go down. I wear a size 10. I won't tell you my weight.

Another cool thing is SupplementWatch. It has scientific product reviews of all the available supplements on the market today.

[mtomm[$]]

Sounds like a perfect plan, Margaret.

I've spent a year changing how I eat. I'm finally getting pretty good at it. I weigh a few pounds less this year than last year and maybe in two years I'll be at goal of 10 pounds less than that! Since I don't have a ton to lose I want to do it the easy way.

[magenta321]

Here's the downside to losing weight:

I bought new suits last year. I need to wear a suit today. They don't fit me. I have some seperates I can put together to make a suit that is not laughable, but it's not the same. I looked like a clown this morning. Seriously.

Buying new (or used) clothes at this point is not an option. I think I need to go clothes "shopping" to try on clothes to figure out what size I am. Then maybe someone on freecycle will have something for me to wear.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

It can be less expensive to take the clothes to be altered. Check with your dry cleaner to see if they offer tailoring.

[magenta321]

They do, I paid to get the pants and sleeves shortened already. Not an option right now expense-wise, but I do have stuff I can wear... just not much in the IBM-look.