Writing Makes You Fat

No, Physicians Weight Loss uses meds and includes counseling. It's pricey. Most of the people I know who have done well recently use Jenny Craig or Nutri System or Food Addicts Anonymous. The first two include most of the food and are pricey; the latter is free and based on group counseling group.

I am going to a weight loss class at my physician's office. She emphasizes two low carb days a week and eliminating "white" foods - sugar, salt, white flour products. I've lost a little weight - but slowly. She also emphasizes portion control for calorie count. There are eight or ten people in the class - one man lost 72 pounds since September by using an online ap "myfitnesspal.com" I signed on to the ap but never recorded the daily stuff and lost interest. He found it very helpful. He said he would get to the end of the day and have 30 calories left in his quota - and go looking for something that was only 30 calories - difficult. :-)

You say PWL includes meds, do they give phenteramine, which I'm on, or something else?

I steam broccoli and cauliflower and eat that every day to fill up cheaply calorie-wise, along with lots of green tea. I just need to stop using that as an excuse to justify the peanut M&Ms at the end of the day. lol.

Eat your M&M's for breakfast.

lol, no, if I fall off the wagon early in the day, it sets the course for the rest of the day ("I'll start tomorrow!").

During one of my periods of prolonged successful loss, I gifted myself a Snickers bar from the machine in the teacher's lounge every evening during "lunch," (another whole story). It satisfied my need to cheat, and had enough good stuff in with the cr** that it kept me on track. [Our little school's only PE teacher, a former coach who was extremely chauvinistic (and who had a very fat wife) once admonished me that I had had my chocolate allowance for the day and didn't get it when I told him he was right - that the bar was exactly that].

That basic plan still works best for me, but since everybody's body is unique, it might be totally wrong for someone else. Jst FYI, it was based on Louise Gittleman's early books, like Eat Fat-Lose Weight and the 40=30-30 Phenomenon - before she got sidetracked onto Fat Flush - which totally blew me to pieces.

But, as I said, every body is different, so give that one a look, too - or not.

And, BTW, for everybody, these books and plans are all about lifelong changes.

Ann,
You are so right when you say lifelong changes. I portion out my chocolate for the day and when it is gone , it is gone.
I eat no fried foods- had maybe 5 french fries in five years. Do I miss them? No!

LC,
Do what you can always do. Otherwise you will be on a perpetual seesaw.

What Alice said.
Cutting out real fatty foods that you know are artery clogging is one thing. Cutting out the things that give you pleasure, like chocolate, is not recommended. As we age, why should we give up all the things that give us pleasure? I refuse. Chocolate is good for you, especially dark chocolate. There are chocolates that don't contain so much sugar. Try those.

Enjoy yourself. You earned it.

I don't know what meds PWL uses....they've changed as the meds have changed over the years.

Down 6 1/2 lbs! Woot! And been swimming at the gym almost every night. Haven't had a bag of peanut M&M's since I started this, just Skinny Cow ice creams, lol.

Exercise really does help the mind, too. I feel I've been more productive on the book. Now if I could just disconnect from the internet I'd be even more productive.

Alice -about portioning out. Great if you can do that, but there are some foods I just can't do that with. So it's best to just avoid.

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Now if I could just disconnect from the internet I'd be even more productive.

I hear that! Great news about the wt loss & swimming.

Whatever works for you, LC, Best wishes.

Holding steady at 7 lbs loss. Was hoping for more by now, but at least I'm not eating bags of peanut M&Ms each night anymore. lol The motivation IS making it easier to say no.

Those of you who want to lose weight should join me on this thread!

Writing makers me poor.

Alice -lol! Did you read the WSJ article I posted? I think the dystopia angle is what we all need to do.

Yes and I liked it. However I have no illusions about it happening to me.
I am an accountant and still have requests to work for folks.
My book is cheaper than cheap at 3.99 and I have had one sale and that was to myself. It will be free tomorrow. I am betting folks won't, even bother with it then, I am hoping I am wrong.
Both of my books have been a total waste of time MONEWISE.
I lost weight while writing them too.
Sorry, I didn't mean to go off topic.

LC wrote:

Well, it's making me fat, at least. In the past 7 years I've been writing pretty much non-stop. The sedentary nature of the job plus staying up in the early AM to make deadlines means I snack too much and exercise too little. I don't have the motivation to eat better and work out more that I used to, and now am 20 lbs overweight. Since what I'm doing (nothing) isn't working, I'm trying something else. Just got a script for phenteramine filled. Doc says it's not a long term solution (I know, I know), but I'm hoping it will jump-start things; if I can lose a fast 10 lbs, I'll be motivated to lose the other 10. We'll see...

Ann has her Joy thread, this will be LC's Losing Weight thread. lol. I am going to keep a public record of my progress, maybe that will help keep me on track.

You are doing a good thing here Nipping a problem in the bud is good strategy.

Down 8 lbs and holding. Swimming almost every night, snacking on good stuff instead of junk and feeling a lot better! Don't know how much of this is pills anymore or lifestyle change, probably a bit of both. Getting worried about going off them now... got another appt w/ the doc in a week. Am debating if I should ask for a refill.

You are doing great.

We are all creatures of habit. Developing the habits we want is not easy, but worth the effort.
Exercise is a good habit. Keep it up, LC.

Abe -I'm trying! Down 9 lbs! W00t!

LOL, my night snack now is pickled beets. Low calorie, they taste pretty good and are very filling. Used to be peanut M&Ms, toast and butter, other assorted junk.

Funny, the doc wanted to do a thyroid test when I first went to him. Maybe something's wrong with your thyroid! he said. I know that's the American go-to excuse, but I was kind of surprised he would suggest it, too. Esp. since I already told him I was sedentary and had developed bad snacking habits. I said go ahead, but you aren't going to find anything, I don't have an overactive thyroid, I have an overactive fork. LOL.

Got my tests results back, and yep, my thyroid is fine. So is most everyone else's, I bet.

That's good news, LC. I like the "overactive fork" thing. With many, it includes the knife and spoon.

I'm losing about two pounds a month...at least it's not staying the same. Your thread is a bit of inspiration.

I am a for real low thyroid person, but I did it to myself at a young age. In those times, diet doctors used thyroid medication to speed up metabolism. I was thin, but well-endowed and never felt thin. So, I took the meds and they stopped my thyroid from producing its own hormone because it was replaced. It never started up again.

Since, I spend the hyper-exercising years thin and the sedentary ones overweight. End story. This is the sedentary time. Can't seem to jive up that hyper-activity spirit yet. I was riding a bicycle 30 minutes a day, but I have a fractured toe and something wrong with the other foot and the cycling moves both wrong. Fortunately both are on the mend. I do have weights though to do upper body weight exercises - no excuses.

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Can't seem to jive up that hyper-activity spirit yet.

That was my problem and why I sought help. After seeing results, these phenteramine pills have kick-started my willpower again. Maybe you want to give them a try?

I'll ask my doctor next visit; she's sure hot on me losing a pound a week.

I know you love fox news, LC, so I chose to add this link instead of many other websites reporting the same news:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/03/15/picture-full-figured-retail-store-mannequins-goes-viral/