Obesity and weight loss: What weight loss plan worked for you?

@celia16
What a great tests.
You can read what the norm is for calories but does not specifically address the person on what is their numbers.

One thing that helped me finally lose weight was using protein drinks. That said, you have to be very cautious about their calorie counts. It used to be even a couple of years ago that there were choices of protein drinks that were more water like than milk like. They would have high protein levels and many of them Were relatively low calorie. I am having tremendous difficulty locating this type of drink now as many of them are no longer sold. I always read the labels and if a protein drink has high calorie it is not the protein drink for me. It seems that you can buy packets to add to bottled water That are not high calorie, meaning they may have 80 some calories when you add it to the water,. One of the benefits of increasing protein intake throughout the day at least for me was that it helped suppress my appetite. The other thing that I learned is that when I am stuck someplace, like an airport, hungry and need something quick to eat when there aren’t a lot of really good options my go to are peanut M&Ms. Sounds crazy that a candy would be helpful, but the biggest difference is that a lot of the calorie in a peanut M&M is in the nut. The amount of chocolate and candy coating is very thin. There have been very few other options like this that I have located. Often, energy drinks, energy bars, fitness drinks, fitness bars are all filled with calories, and based on the needs of men who are weightlifters! That’s my take on it. So I always try to look at the amount of protein of food contains, and the amount of calories it contains. Like with the peanut M&Ms or the calorie count may be higher than I would like, in a pinch, the higher protein from the nuts is a good thing. Meeting with a nutritionist is a really good idea to try to figure out how to live in a real world with real issues and balance, food intake, weight, calories, protein needs, etc.. It’s really complicated. Hope this helps.

50 years ago, I lost 100 lbs on the Rice Diet at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. I have kept off 70 lbs. I would like to lose more so I can have knee surgery. When I go to the bariatric doc, all she does is put me on protein shakes. I never lose weight on protein. I eat 1300 a day, and exercise (Pilates, walking, water aerobics), but all of those things are just to maintain weight. Don't know how to lose more. Frustrated.

@fatlikeus , Congratulations on your previous loss! Are you still near Durham? I ask because the Duke Fitness Center that is located on the Integrative Medicine Campus, has a machine that weighs you and determines not only BMI, but much more. I can’t recall the name but it’s something about Body…… It calculates calories you need to lose. I had it done last year and found it helpful. It’s available to nonmembers of the center for about $60.00.

I used that information when I met with two different nutritionists (Duke Endocrinology and Duke Gastroenterology) , who helped me tweak my diet. I lose almost 100 pounds (no surgery or shots, though there’s nothing wrong with those methods) and find the last few pounds very challenging. Good luck with meeting your goal!

You did not mentioned your age. It seems as we get older (per my PCP) our metabolism slows down and we just don't burn calories like we did when younger.

I was not doing well on losing weight. I want to lose 50 lbs. My PCP and heart failure doctor tell me they are not concerned with my weight if I can exercise like I do and my fitness level is so high.

You mentioned the exercises you do. My PCP warned me if you do the same exercises over a period of time your body gets used to that excercise and become more attune to it and burns less caloried. He suggest I add som weight training as muscle burns more calories that fat.

I was also told about interval training as helping burn calories. That is where your intensity of the excersie goes up for seveal minutes then comes down for several minutes and then repeats. I am trying to do that when I do water aerobics, walk, bike, swim.

What I found out that is helping me is drinking a glass of cold water prior to eating. It helps fill you up. When you reach a point that you say that is good but your body wants to eat not out of hunger but the taste of food, stop!

Eating slowly. Hard to do when hungry but chew your food until it can't be chewed any longer. It takes longer, burns more calories, and gets you close to reaching the 20 minute mark when eating that your body will signal full.

My downfall is not the portion size of my meals. It is snacking. I love nuts. Doctors and nutritionist say eat them. However are high calorie. A small amount of nuts just in palm of your hand will be over 100 calories. A 1/4 cup of nuts is 180. Put some nuts into a 1/4 cup measure and see just how small that is.

So it takes some realy planning and techniques that work for you. My suggestion is experiment with doing different things and see if any work. If they do incorporate them into your lifestyle and then continue to look for others.

The suggestion I made above I found worked for me and just had a office visit with my PCP yesterday. He like what I said I was doing and the weight coming off even though not as fast as I want at least coming off.
Good luck!

I walk every day.

i walk every day, i also want to lose 50lbs. i am menopausal and everyone says its much harder at our age....
i just started zepbound and i found a zumba class on youtube... we will see. keeping hope alive. wegovy did not work for me so this is not my first rodeo... but now i am working from the outside in... moving more is the key - so they tell me. keep moving! it keeps your body going. walking a couple of miles a day is wonderful.

@loresull
I too had not luck with WEGOVY. I had no weight reduction on any of the doses below maximum. A very very slight reduction at dinner meal for appetite. Then took high dose (2.4) and had severe reaction. Vomiting 3 times in one day, really bad headaches. PCP could not give me nausea medicine because of other medicines was taking.

So had to just wean my body off the affects which took several weeks. My diet, mashed potatoes and liguid protein drink.

My PCP suggested may want to tyr Zepbound as different and has to chemicals that address appetitite control in brain versus one in WEGOVY.

I agree if you can redude your calorie intake and exercise (walking is a wonderful way) you can lose weight.
Good luck!

@jc76 and others, I struggled with my weight most of my adult life until I was introduced to intermittent fasting. You might find it helpful to scan through the following discussion where I shared my intermittent fasting story along with other members.
-- Low-carb healthy fat living. Intermittent fasting. What’s your why?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/low-carb-healthy-fat-living-intermittent-fasting-whats-your-why/

@johnbishop
Thanks, going to really look into this. I have been reading so much lately about the benefits of intermittent fasting.