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I have lost over 50 pounds in just over a year with one very simple formula. Set a number of calories you will eat each day for weight loss, and just eat LESS food. I did not give up anything at all. I eat exactly what I want. It is no harder give up some food and count calories and lose weight that it is to give up something that you like to eat. I have tried that method, and all it got me was the weight back after the diet was over and I could eat whatever I wanted again. Eating as much as you want is the problem, you need to rethink how much food you actually need, now how much you want. After a few weeks, it just is automtic and you eat less. I bought a computer program called "Calorie Companion" which helped a lot too, it has logs that you enter all your food into and it adds up the calories, makes you think about what you are eating as well as how much. You can download it from the Internet I think it cost me $39 or so but can't remember. Their website is www.caloriecomanion.com I also have a book that I got at my pharmacy (Kaiser) that they charge $7.00 for that is printed by Calorie King, they also can be reached online at www.calorieking.com. Both of these are helpful because you can see how many calories you are using. I also use a website called Allrecipes.com, almost all of their recipes have a nutrition analysis at the end, and even if they aren't exactly the same as something I have cooked you can get a pretty good idea of how many calories you are cooking into your food. We rarely eat out (maybe once every year, less most years), so I use that website for recipes, as well as nutrition information. I am a couch potato though, so it is slow going!!! I need to change my metabolism so I can be more energetic, any suggestions?

Hi Jan, That sure sounds like a formula for success! Congratulations!! If you've seen my posts, you know that I'm on week 3 of the Weight Watchers plan, and I think it's really similar. I'm not giving up any foods that I love. But when counting the calories (in my case, points) I find that I tend to make better choices so that I don't use my whole day's allotment at one meal. :) But I'm definitely doing better on this plan than on those in the past where I had to totally give up certain types of foods. I just couldn't stick to them! This plan seems to be working for me. :) With WW, I know that the points get adjusted (lower) as you lose weight. Are you doing the same with your calorie count? Was just wondering how you came up with your daily caloric goal? I am also a couch potato but have made it a point to walk for 30 minutes every day that I am at work. This is working for me for a couple of reasons: 1) weekends are too busy, and I don't have to worry about trying to fit in the walk, though just keeping up with house maintenance sometimes seems to give me plenty of exercise. 2) work is stressful and it really helps me to get away for 30 minutes and walk some of it off. Some days I even go longer than 30 minute. 3) There is minimal investment ... just a pair of good walking shoes. And now it has just become a habit. At lunchtime, I'm out the door. 8) Best wishes for your continued success on your program!! - Joan

I have a computer program, Calorie Companion. When you set up the program you enter your weight, age, height, activity level, etc, along with how many pounds you want to lose per week. The program's maximum loss for the week is 2# which is also the max for most health professionals, and my maximum is 1000 calories per day which is the minimum the program recommends (and also the health professionals). The program then shows how many calories you can eat to maintain your weight, and also the number you need per day to lose weight. As you enter the calories for each meal or snack the program tallies them and shows the total at the end of the day. Their philosophy is that if you maintain the total calories for the week that you can have days when you actually go over by a few calories. At the end of each week you enter a new weight gain or loss and just continue on. I downloaded the program off the internet, and they upgrade it periodically, I believe it cost me about $40, and I have been using it for about a year and a half. I don't know how much weight watchers costs, but the only thing I could see that would be an advantage with WW is the moral support from others trying to lose weight. Once I made up my mind I had to lose the weight I just went about it and did not worry about getting any moral support, although once I began to lose weight my daughter started using the same system and has lost about 30#, so I do have moral support too. You are right about keeping track though, it does force you to make better choices of how you want to "spend" your calories for the day. Because I cook at home, I have a better chance to keep the calories in check. I am 66 and my husband is 76, and sometimes it is hard because he will get on a kick of wanting something that is really full of calories, and since he doesn't care how much he weighs I have to be careful about checking the amount of calories before I eat so I can take just the right amount for keeping my count at 1000. It is really simple, and I don't feel like I have been deprived of anything at all. Jan

I don't know what I did wrong, but the post above this "jan stephenson" is really from Jan who started this post. Sorry, I need to pay more attention to what I'm doing here!!! Jan

:D

It sounds as if that is very helpful tool in attaining your goals! Things like that can make things a bit easier. Just make sure that you are getting all of the nutrients that you need in a day. 1000 calories isn't a lot. I hope that you are taking a good Multi vitamin every day!!

Yes I do take a multi-vitamin and supplements. At my age even when not dieting I don't eat enough of some foods to get all the nutrients I need, and neither does my husband, so we have been taking vitamins, etc. for a long time. By cooking at home I have an easier time controlling the sorts of things that go into our diet, so we eat pretty healthy foods most of the time. Getting my 76 year old husband to give up a lot of things isn't easy, but I am making slow and steady progress, I even have him eating Tofu! Popcorn is my main snacking food, I keep a big bowl popped up all the time. Now almost everyone who comes into our house begins looking for the popcorn to snack on! I pop it from "scratch" just like the rest of our diet, so it is really easy to control how much fat and salt is in it. I need to find ways to get more fruit into our diet, we are not big fruit eaters, so I need to be creative, any ideas? Now that the fresh fruit season is almost over it will be a challenge!

I like to think it's never to too late to teach an old dog new tricks! :D Is there a reason that you normally don't eat fruits?

Hi Symbiosis: I guess partly because they are never ripe unless I let them sit out, and sometimes they look perfectly good in the store but are all bruised up or moldy on the inside. For the price they charge, it simply isn't worth the effort to try to find good fruit. I do eat canned fruit on occasion, but it is expensive for the amount of fruit in a can, and there is usually a bunch of sugars and other stuff I don't like in there. If I can find nice melons I will buy them though. I was raised in Los Angeles, and there were fruit trees in everyone's yard, so I just got used to eating it from the tree, and everything else just isn't the same! Jan :lol:

that is really cool :D

We have Fresh fruit stands around here, seasonally of course, so I know what you mean by enjoying fresh fruit. Bananas are an excellent fruit. I like them when they are RIPE. Green bananas bum me out!