Hello- everyone. I am a long time subscriber to the magazine and I have a couple of the cookbooks.
Looking for support about using the way of eating suggested on this site to lose about 30 lbs and hopefully- get off the statin my Dr. put me on.
I tried all the "diets" South Beach being the last one and the weight came back.
I am back at the gym - weights/aerobic and started a food log this week, just to get my bearings.
Has anyone had successes?
I would like to hear from men too but know there might not be too many on this site.... I could be wrong.
Look forward to chatting with all of you.
I love the magazine!
Thanks, Greg

Not trying to sound smart alec about this but have you ever heard the quote,"The reason the diet stopped working is the fact that you went off of it". I think that is why it is so important to have a healthy eating plan that works for you and you can stick to it and enjoy it for life. Exercise is just as important. It needs to be something you enjoy and do every day that is outside the normal range of activity that you have.
I bought a cheap pedometer and wore it around the house on a "busy" day. Not near the 10,000 steps (5 mi) that is suggested /day. Plus I know I didn't get my heart rate up and the heart is a muscle that needs work just as a bicep does. I swim, yoga and do weights.
South Beach for the first two weeks will make you aware of how much you turn to carbs (good or bad) in your daily eating plan. We did it 2 1/2 yrs ago and both have kept the weight off. We eat breakfast every day and always include the 2 snacks and dinner dessert usually centers around berries or some other fruit. Cookies are the ones I wrote about in the kids section and they are very good.
A friend recently told me he did Weight Watchers and his cholesterol did not budge (family history) until he got to his goal weight and then it shot down into a good range. Good incentive to keep you going on your plan.
Think of it in smaller goals than the 30 lb. Start off with getting rid of 5lb. Nice weather is around the corner and will help with exercise plus more daylight in the evening.
EW's recipes are generous portions and a variety of vegetables, fish, vegetarian etc.
There is knowledge which you get from reading EW and then there is understanding which comes with your"ah-ha" moment. When that happens, you can look back at all the articles, recipes etc. and say none of this is new, but now I understand. Cook EW style and exercise daily.
You are doing so many things right. The journal will help esp. when you look back on it.

You are exactly right- no offense taken.
Do you think it is worth going back onto South Beach? Phase One? Do you still follow that way of eating? Have their cookbooks?
Thanks so much- Greg

I do own a SB cookbook but I really do cook mostly from EW. Only you know how many carbs you are wanting and we do need them. After we did Phase 1(didn't cheat once) for 2 weeks and the beginning stages of Phase 2, we did our own thing keeping all their principles in mind. They aren't telling you anything different than a zillion other articles- veggies, fruit, beans, whole grains, lean protein(meat and fish), and good fats, snacks- on heart health, diabetes, cancer prevention etc.
Nike has a saying I really like, "Just do it".
If I eat a "fatter" lunch then I aim for a veggie dinner with less protein so it balances out at the end of the day.
Last year at a health resort, I attended a lecture on metabolic syndrome where a Dr. said she had several patients who lost weight by eating their evening (dinner) meal for breakfast. So most calories were consumed early in the day. Whatever works! Just do it and try to figure things out while you are doing it. How much time and energy do we all waste trying to figure things out to the "n"th degree and when we actually do it, none of the stuff we stressed about actually happens.
Good luck.

Thanks for the response.
There are many paths, trick is to stick to one and jog your way down it!
I have probably read too much and gotten myself tangled up in theories and latest books.
Very true that South Beach isn't anything new, just great packaging and marketing dollars.

This is a great site with terrific info and it is free! Hope more people discover it.
Best- Greg

I just now joined this forum, and I have to agree with what the other writers say. I was obese from the age of 7 to 36, when I weighed 290. I am a woman, medium frame, 5'8" 42 years old. That's 140 pounds overweight, morbidly obese. For the past 3 yrs, I've averaged about 175, and pass for thin. I did it by Weight Watchers and reading magazines like this. I eat very few refined carbs, mostly lean meats and veggies. I've played with running, lifting weights, etc. Luckily, I love to cook and shop, and frequent my local farmers' market. I think weight management is a lifetime thing. I know that I'll always be either monitoring my food intake (like counting "Points"/calories, carb grams, journaling, etc) or gaining weight. sometimes I choose one, sometimes the other. I've recently re-joined weightwatchers, and lost 15 lbs after a year of pretending I didn't have to pay attention and gaining 30 lbs. I want to be another 20 lbs lighter by the end of the year. I think it's just what you choose. By the way, my blood pressure, heart rate, cholesteral, and blood sugar were all high when I was heavy, and now, they are all normal. Pretty cool. It's much more fun being "normal", even though I can't eat "normal."

What is normal? If what you were eating was causing your body to gain weight and me more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes etc., is that normal.
Change in our bodies is usually slow and unnoticed on a daily basis. Throughout the years, our eating habits have changed in this country and we lost sight of what was normal. Looking at the size of people in this area of PA, I realize they are not normal.
Accept your changes and realize you have returned from abnormal to normal. Continued good health. After all, isn't that why we stay "normal"?

Well I have struggled with weight for the past 10 years or so...I did loss 40 pounds last year and it was from just really watching what and when I ate and getting back into exercise...but then in Nov. last year ...although I was still doing all the right things I stopped lossing...have struggle from then to now...I am %'1" and holding at 158lbs....I can not stand it...so I am looking to do something new and get going on getting more fit...I was looking into weight watches ...but pre package food would be rather rough for me ...as I have a husband who can eat any thing and never gain an oz...and I also care for my 17 month old grandson...who by the way will not eat any type of meat ...which is fine by me...I only eat chicken and fish .....I walk any where from 2 to 5 miles 4 to 6 times a week in the mornings ...some on the tredmill and some at the local parks...I also do some weight work out ...I use my balance ball with this..OK so I am in hopes to get a bit of advice..I am glad to see this thread..Thanks all

We attended a keynote speakers address by Dr Mehmet Oz (co-author of You: the Owner's Manual)last night. Three things I remember that may be of some help. He explained how we can reduce our intake of food by 100 calories per day (5 weeks to lose a pound with not changing exercise) and the body doesn't catch on and plateau for us thinking we are going into starvation mode( minus 400 cal/day). Secondly, he showed a chart for exercise. They do go hand in hand. The greatest weight loss and sustained weight loss for the remainder of time shown on the chart (1 yr) was from increased weight bearing where we build more muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat. Third, a question from the audience about high fructose corn syrup, he reminded us what it was and how it shuts down leptin production which tells the brain the body has had enough to eat. So, a soft drink with 120 cal. from high fructose corn syrup allows you to eat another 130 cal more than you would have without the soda. If you add 250 cal./day to your diet, you will gain a lb. every 2 wks.
He has a great article in Esquire magazine for May- www.esquire.com. There is a quiz and then 9 points to the article.Be sure you catch all of it. It is the BQ Quiz on the home page.
Just so you know, Weight Watcher's is not a packaged food diet plan. There are WW products, but they are always optional. You never know when you will hear that one point from the moderator or someone in the group that gives you your ah-hah moment.

You totally can lose the weight by keeping to the recommended amounts of veggies and choosing lean protein sources and cardio to burn some calories. i went from 320 pounds to 147 pounds in about 18 months. good luck to all and never give up. it is a new lifestyle.

Twenty six years ago I read a book about heartrate training. There were a lot of interesting things in that book. The author of the book did the physical fitness program for the astronauts. Because there is no gravity in space the astronauts ride a stationary bicycle and and get their heartrate into a prescribed range. When my husband asked me what kind of exercise equipment I wanted to buy 12 years ago I told him a heartrate monitor. Then I read about a doctor in Orange County who had a fitness program for executives and bicyclists based on heartrate training. His moto is train smarter not harder. I went to the doctor for a physical. He did a VO2 Max, they measure the volume of air that comes out of your lungs. . You go on a treadmill they put ekg leads on you. The computer comes up with recomended heartrate ranges to exercise in. The doctor says that you can calculate the heart ranges with a formula based on age and weight but 50% of the time the calculations are wrong. You can see the ranges on treadmills and eliptical trainers at gyms. The lower one is for weight loss and the higher range is the cardiovascular range to build up your heart muscle. Most people think you have to run real fast and sweat a lot to lose weight but my doctor says if you go too fast you burn the sugar or carb you just ate and not the fat on your body. We asked the doctor what kind of exercise equipment to buy. He said a Precor treadmill. I bought a heartrate monitor and a treadmill. The next year my husband went. It is 10 years later now. My brother said we would never use the treadmill. Last year my husband did 740 miles on the treadmill. (We total his miles every year.) I do weight training and work out at a gym and we bought an elitical trainer (a rebuilt, like new Precor) so we don't total my miles. We go back to this doctor every couple of years to adjust the heartrate ranges we workout in. We went a couple of months ago. My husband was walking a little too fast, I was going a little too slow to be in the fatburning range. So with our new ranges we have adjusted our speeds. One way to tell what range you are in is if you are walking and talking and you are comfortable talking you can be in the weight loss range. If you are walking and talking but it is not that comfortable you may be in the cardiovascular range. If you are exercising and are out of breath you are probably in an anaerobic range. A year or two after we started the program with this doctor we found out that he did the heartrate training for Lance Armstrong. That was the first year Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France. The doctor also told us to keep our fat intake in the 20% range. If you have read the articles in Eating Well about Dr Walter Willet he says in their studies they had a hard time keeping people on 20% diets, the people would always give up the diet. Weight watchers is based on a 20% fat diet. We keep our fats calories low and eat a small amount of nuts now.
In the print out the doctor gives us it says how many fats grams we can have in a day based on the weight he recommends for us. For example for me I am 5'6", he wants me to be 120 lbs so I get 20 grams of fat a day and he recommends a 1200 calorie diet for me.

If any of you would like to lose weight slowly, and increase your healthy eating habit(s), pick up the book " THE HILTON HEAD METABOLISM DIET", by DR. PETER M. MILLER. I've been on it before and did well on losing weight. Only gained my weight back when I QUIT the healthy eating diet/lifestyle. I'm going back on it now, and plan to stick to it this time (hopefully FOREVER). It can be obtained at Amazon (USED), and doesn't cost but a FEW dollars. It contains different MEAL PLANS and EXERCISE PLANS, and is based on eating the certain combination(s) of foods, along with specific exercises, BASED on: EATING, THEN waiting 20 minutes, THEN exercising for 20 minutes. It's very good. You eat 3 MEALS and 2 SNACKS daily. There is such a varity of food(s), that I NEVER felt deprived of food. And the foods are COMMON, EVERYDAY FOODS. That's what makes it so great! See, I have encouraged myself, while encouraging you. God bless! LOL, In Christ Karen S.

I'm a total foodie. Love Food. Love to read about it, shop for it, cook it, eat it, share it. That said, a super simple mantra that I try to live by is this:
"Less Input, More Output"
aka
Eat Less and Exercise More

May the wind be at your back...

HI,

This is my personal experience. This may help you a lot.I have struggled to lose weight for years, I guess I am what's known as a yo yo dieter. With so many different diet available, I didn't know where to turn until I visited www.losingweighteasily.com they have downloadable products to help you decide. I went with Weight Watchers in the end, the recipes of which there were over 100 made me decide, to me it was normal eating. I have now lost over 30 pounds, I am thrilled.

Greg-from one man to another-it's not as hard as you might think.

Right at new years '07, all the women in my family decided they needed to go on diets to get ready for the family trip to Cozumel. My girlfriend made it till February before she decided she couldn't let her sisters look better than her. I decided I was up for the challenge, and we were in.

One sister was doing some diet where she had a list of 7 foods for the day, and she could eat as much of any one of those, so long as she didn't allow herself to get full. Another wasn't eating ANY sugar in anything. Both of them would do okay for a while, and then end up at a birthday party, and go absolutely nuts over all the cakes and ice creams, etc.

I knew that for me to do it, it couldn't be a diet in the typical sense, I had to literally change the way I/we ate. I sent an email to a girl I went to school with, who was just finishing school to be a RD. She gave me a few good tips for lunches, etc. And suggested a piece of software called FitDay. Now I'm not trying to steal people from EatingWell, fitday is simply a logging software. You can log what you eat, what you weight, what your moods are, as much as you want-or as little as you want. To us the biggest impact, was making sure every single thing we ate, was accounted for. EatingWell had an article (and I think a book?) that talked about the same thing. You have to change how you eat, and not just what you eat.

Using EatingWell, we were able to find a never ending collection of recipes, that we all love. I always serve these healthy dishes for my friends, and they never realize how well they are eating. As you start finding the dishes that you can quickly cook, and those start to replace your fast food nights. We have our indulgent meals, but even those ENTIRE MEALS are better for us than a single bigmac.

I managed to drop 30lbs in 3 months, just by counting calories, and making sure I didn't go inside with what I ate. Subway became a favorite place for lunch (not trying to pull a Jared, we just eat a lot better there!). We stopped counting what we ate about 3 months ago (just in time for an indulgent week in Mexico) and to this day I'm still 27lbs lighter then I was in January.