I hope you guys won't mind if this becomes my biweekly weight journal :P But if you don't understand what my topic title means, I'll explain it this way:

Last night I was getting ready to go see The Sound of Music at my college. I had recently bought a dress, but I didn't realize it was so ill-fitting on me. I put it on and it looked like I was wearing a Hawaiian bag over myself. I was mortified and disgusted with myself. I had gained 30 pounds since September, but I suppose the way you look really doesn't hit home until you have to go to public events xD

In any event, I had a fallout with my parents over it and I got super depressed. My BMI is 39.1, severely overweight, but not obese enough to qualify for gastric bypass surgery. I've always had a problem with overeating, so the decision seemed to make sense to me. I wanted the RNY procedure, which basically involves reworking your stomach into a small pouch and shortening the intestinal line the food travels (which reduces calorie intake). It changes your life forever, you have to stick to a certain diet and cannot eat like what you used to. But it's 80-100% successful.

I know I'll never get to have this procedure done. So I wanted to pretend like I had the surgery. I know that would seem really stupid, but I want to pretend like I had the procedure and just follow the strict diet. It's basically the same diet if I had the smaller stomach. It's really restrictive, and it doesn't allow you to eat much meat or dairy. But this is good for me. As part of the diet you have to at least walk everyday. You also have to take vitamins. The diet also stresses sipping water throughout the day and staying hydrated.

So today I went grocery shopping and bought organic chicken broth, fresh vegetables, greek olives, and other organic, vegetarian options to eat. I'm not going to be eating meat (which is super hard for me since I love it) but occasionally seafood.

For dinner tonight I had a cup of hot chicken broth, water, a slice of chopped leek, a turnip, and two cobs of unbuttered corn. I have a yam that I cooked but I don't know if I honestly want to eat it, I'm kinda full.

My family had steak..... ><; They tried offering me some but I was like "NUUUU! DO NOT TEMPT!"

I think this could really work for me.
For one, I'm not really starving.
Secondly, I don't feel bad about what I ate because it was mainly vegetables with no extra seasonings (if you don't count the sodium in the broth).
I'm going to go for a walk tomorrow too.

Does this sound like I have the right idea? xP

(Oh, and earlier I has an apple, a few carrot sticks, a cup of carrot juice, and an artichoke heart ^^;)

Water aerobics and bicycling (stationery bike @ the gym is fine) might help too. Diet is one thing, but exercise is crucial!

I'm not consistent with exercise and I can't try to pretend like I am.
I used to be active in high school (Varsity soccer, cross country, lifeguard) but if I'm left to exercise by myself without any motivation, I simply won't do it.

Long distance walking is a good start for me.

(and I should mention I don't have a working bike and I'm super paranoid about being in a bathing suit with many people around)

For me most of my problem with eating is I have a serious oral fixation--as dirty as it sounds, I always want something in my mouth. Om nom nom, and the tastier, the betterrrr.

Before my teeth went to hell, I chewed on gum instead of snacking.

Protein is good for muscle building. So if you're going to be exercising a bit more... I would actually say don't cut out all meat--but stick to chicken or fish instead (just be careful about super fatty marinades or other nonsense people smother meats in).
If you really don't want to eat meat, here is a list of foods with protein in them.

n__n There is such a thing as "good fats" by the way (in case you wanted to try some of the protein rich foods--it might help you pick between the variety).

I hope that helps--I'm trying to work on eating less, and eating better because I have a terrible habit of overeating until I get sick (especially now since I have nothing to curb the oral fiaxtion) myself.
good luck!

Walking is great and so is swimming. Actually, I find swimming therapeutic. I could swim for hours non-stop if I could...

Yeh, I really enjoyed water aerobics for this reason. There are things that are a strain to do on land that are a breeze in water.

I really wouldn’t suggest it. One of the biggest health issues associated with WLS is malnutrition. Plus, it’s like any other diet – it’s very possible to gain all of the weight back and then some.

With something like this, it might be better to seek the advice of a nutritionist, rather than the internet.

I'm anything but malnourished. BAHAHAHA.
I've been taking vitamin supplements to counter anything I wouldn't get out of the foods I've been eating.

I like the diet I'm on right now. I exercised yesterday. I haven't eaten meat or dairy in three days, and tonight I made really delicious stuffed mushrooms with an herb salad. I've been drinking mainly water throughout the day too.

Nutritionists are really overpaid lectures IMHO.
And they are very bad in the area I live in because there is no awareness in our community for younger people with weight problems. I did ask my physician to see a "nutritionist" once, it was about two years ago. I went into a hospital only to find out that the "nutritionist" was really only a diabetic "nutritionist" meant to council old, diabetic people on their diet. The person was rude and didn't say anything that I hadn't already read online or in a magazine. I think the diet I have will work better than some "diabetic nutritionist" whose only advice was "not to eat two pieces of bread."

Originally Posted by Explodey

Yeh, I really enjoyed water aerobics for this reason. There are things that are a strain to do on land that are a breeze in water.

It's so amazing how easy it is to do exercises in the water -- your joints don't hurt at all.

And if you can malnourished even if you are overweight -- if you are missing vitamins and minerals, you can really have empty calories.

There are good calories and bad ones -- you can have calories from vegetables that give you energy, and the ones from fatty food that just drag you down.

A good way to start losing weight is to get more sleep -- your body stores excess energy because it panics because it is run down from a lack of sleep...

Originally Posted by alexandrakitty

It's so amazing how easy it is to do exercises in the water -- your joints don't hurt at all.

And if you can malnourished even if you are overweight -- if you are missing vitamins and minerals, you can really have empty calories.

There are good calories and bad ones -- you can have calories from vegetables that give you energy, and the ones from fatty food that just drag you down.

A good way to start losing weight is to get more sleep -- your body stores excess energy because it panics because it is run down from a lack of sleep...

But obviously I'm not if I'm taking vitamins everyday. -shrug-

I already know what my problem is and I addressed it. The fact was that I was overeating on too much dairy and red meats which are very high in fats, and drinking sugary drinks instead of water. It's day three on my veggie diet and I've already lost 4-5 pounds, and I'm staying very hydrated on water.

It's been hard trying to get out to go for walks recently though because of all the rain. But walking on campus and going up a few flights of stairs is probably sufficient until the rain clears up.

Originally Posted by Deviant

But obviously I'm not if I'm taking vitamins everyday. -shrug-

I already know what my problem is and I addressed it. The fact was that I was overeating on too much dairy and red meats which are very high in fats, and drinking sugary drinks instead of water. It's day three on my veggie diet and I've already lost 4-5 pounds, and I'm staying very hydrated on water.

It's been hard trying to get out to go for walks recently though because of all the rain. But walking on campus and going up a few flights of stairs is probably sufficient until the rain clears up.

Sometimes your body does not absorb vitamins in pill form -- I tend to go for vitamins, but I know I should get my nutrients from food instead.

And nothing makes you gain weight more than fizzy drinks -- I only drink mineral water or club soda -- getting all the fizz, and none of the calories.

I wasn't lecturing you or anything -- my weight goes up if I am on a major writing project, and goes straight done when I'm not...

I know. I've been drinking water, and I also bought light pomegranate juice, which is super delicious and only 75 calories per serving.


I tried running three miles today. I used to do it for cross country in under 25 minutes. Now, just running one mile with some power walking in between takes me 15 minutes :/ The timing will probably get better as I work at it more and get into shape again. I can't wait to buy a new pair of roller blades for summer.

Vitamin supplements only work so well, a lot of the vitamins in them are better when you get them through the food you eat. More effective, your body will absorb more of them. Annnd there is such a thing as an "overdoes" of vitamins--so be careful to balance what you eat, with the supplemental vitamins you're taking in. n__n

Also some vitamins are fat soluble.

I'm not taking any of those fat soluble vitamins, specifically anyway.

Everyday I take a generic multivitamin. Then /maybe/ a low-dosage iron pill, zinc pill, and vitamin B12 pill.

Okay, I just wanted to make suggestions because sometimes people diet and end up malnourished. Shit, I eat every day, ALL kinds of foods, but because of my stomach problems I end up malnourished sometimes.

Yeah, I definitely did some research before I went to go buy pills because I read about vitamin toxicity. That would not be good xD

Originally Posted by Deviant

I'm not taking any of those fat soluble vitamins, specifically anyway.

Everyday I take a generic multivitamin. Then /maybe/ a low-dosage iron pill, zinc pill, and vitamin B12 pill.

Be careful with iron pills, even at low dosage, although if you are low on iron, they can be great. And not everyone can absorb zinc. :(

I find eating a lot of fish helpful, but not fried. I'll bake it or BBQ it and I lose weight like nobody's business...

Yeah, I read about the iron too.

I love baked fish, it's excellent. I never really cared for the fried fish either. I feel like they put way too much batter on it. I taste more oil than I do the fish, yuck.


But since Monday I lost 8 pounds so far ^-^

aaah, this is a genius idea, and the very best of luck to you. (:

Though I will say a word of advice from experience. My doctor put me on a crash diet because of my thyroid and I lost 15 lbs in the two weeks I had to eat extremely healthy. I'm not overweight, never have been, and as a general rule, I eat somewhat healthy (with the occasional cookie or other candy). But after a few months, I gained all that weight again.

If you wanna do this diet, that's great, but this is not just something you do until you reach the desired weight, this should be a permanent life-style change, otherwise you'll just end up back where you started. So be careful in the future when you get to the weight you want ;)

Oh, and walking is great exercise. I lost weight after I started university simply because I have to walk around so much now haha (:

I hope it wouldn't be too much of a personal question, but what was your "crash diet" like? Were you limited to certain portions? Did you have to eat certain things?

I've lost 20 pounds so far ^-^ It's going really good.