I know better choices exist, but SlimFast for 2 wk

I need to loose a lot of weight (I am 265 and 5'7" - would love to be 190!) Reason for this post is to get comments, support, and positive suggestions, as well as positive experiences with Slimfast.

As I have gotten more serious in my weight loss, I have NOT been sucessful, So, I have said to myself, SCREW IT, Slim Fast for Breakfast and dinner, and something decent for lunch.

On the weekends, I will treat myself with one nice meal a day, maybe a nice steak grilled on the pit at home, or something at a restaurant, but just one big meal a day.

Now, the interesting thing about me, is that, for the last 14 years, I have worked as an I.T. specaliast in Nutrition and Food Services depts, for two very major hospitals (UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, both in Houston TX). I have had RD (Registered Dietitian) friends, Girlfriends, teachers, I have spend years coding food exchanges, and staying in touch with diet trends.

Heck, my office is in the middle of a kitchen.

I could talk forever about why slimfast is not the best choice, and there are better alternatives, but slimfast seems to work for people.

OK, what is not good about slimfast? Too much sugar (34 g sugar!), too much carb (40g), there are tastier options for 220 calories (soup, lots of lean cusine frozen foods, heck a bowl of fresh zucchini steamed, with a little seasoned salt and butter buds makes for a nice meal.

The one other time I did Slimfast (about 4 years ago), I did loose some serious weight, and really did keep it off for a while, so I thought I need to give it another try.

After I get bored, or am going crazy, I will start to do the steamed veggies, and campbell's soups, and frozen dinners, but I need to jump start this diet.

At lunchtime, I have a whole cafeteria full of healhy food, salads, soups, etc, so, I think this will work for me.

I just needed to post something somewhere, so thanks for reading, and for your comments.

BTY, Yes, I do walk for at least an hour a day, as serious, cardio walking, getting the breathing up and heart rate up, although, being heavier, hurts my back, and causes me to not be able to get a fast pace going. Loosing about 10 lbs will cause the back tension to go away, and I will be able to get a good speed up again.

This post was for me to commit, as much as anything else.

Thanks,

Bruce

I've had a lot of success with fresh juice drinks. The one time I needed to go from 215lbs to 175lbs (at 5'5, that's still not enough weight loss anyways), I was on a regimen where I would eat almost nothing but fruits for lunch and breakfast, cereal with skim or 1% fat milk, and then a dinner that's no more than 1000 calories altogether. Some times, I'd crush and puree the fruits I wanted and drank them.

The other thing that might sound gross, but is quite effective as well, are prunes. I can lose about 10lbs in 1 week after eating 1 1/2 lbs of prunes for that week...

Either way, you may want to do some light dumbell or leg/arm strap weights exercises. Get some resistence underway in addition to the diet.

The Golden Rule: You burn the calories you put in. The more you burn, the more you can eat. But the less you burn, the more fatter you'll get if you either eat more or work out less... And there's only one way to burn calories...

I know you already know this....but Slimfast is just a can of chocolate milk with a few vitamins added. The best way I've found to stay at a decent weight is regular weightlifting, at least 3 days a week of cardio (45 minutes), and just eating three normal meals a day. Don't eat anything after dinner, just drink water. Avoid sugar as much as possible. I know...easier said than done.

Heavy weightlifting really does help, and it makes you feel good at the same time, and at your height and weight, you'd probably be pretty good at it right off the bat.

First of all, you're off to a great start - you have the sound of commitment and that'll go a long way toward a healthier diet and lifestyle.

Several years ago, I too tried SlimFast - and it worked quite well. I just had to remember that variety was an important part of the overall program to maintaining a healthy diet. You're absolutely right about changing up to Lean Cuisine, soup (low sodium types) and steamed vegetables. I found much, much more success when I only allowed two servings of SlimFast 3 days out of a 7 day week. The rest of the time focused on variety with nutrition in mind. The options available can really go a long way:

[*] Smart Start or just plain Cheerios in the morning, and throw in an apple. I find that keeping yourself busy after eating the cereal by deliberately cutting up the fruit into bite sized pieces helps keep your morning hunger in check.

[*] SlimFast, soup, or several different helpings of fruit during lunch made things much easier for me than putting this type of meal toward the end of the evening.

[*] 30 mins to 45 mins of cardio about one hour prior to dinner was the biggest success ticket for me. It not only tamed that dinner hunger, but it helped me consume plenty of water and thereby making a meal more satisfying. I was just plain full from water. But I also made sure it was a healthy meal, as you mentioned earlier.

[*] Your experience dictates to me that you already know this: minimum three meals a day... or break them up into even smaller meals spread out throughout the day.

Budd, the only major obstacle I found to a sound diet (for me) was boredom. I found that boredom can be overcome by removing the constant barrage of stale and bland and introducing the variety of healthy foods and thereby keeping a healthy perspective on the daily benefits I received from pursuing this course of action. As you know, progress is always slow in this arena... so I believe it's a good course to shoot for the short term goal (i.e. SlimFast for two weeks, as you mentioned) and build upon that.

Let us know what we can do to help encourage this endeavor - I always find it helpful to make such an announcement because ultimately, you'll answer to yourself and to those you share your experience with.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Way to go, Budd...

-Jim

Wow, several informative, helpful posts already!

FalconX,

I forgot to mention that I was going to have a can o V8 every morning, and keep some Mineola Tangelos (love them more than oranges!) on my desk for afternoon hunger pains.

We also keep ground flaxseed on our salad bar, so I will try to work that into my diet daily as well also.

Oh, I LOVE prunes too, keep them in the fridge. Good eating!

FalconX and Stingray.
The weight lifting might be a little too much to start out, but the rubber stretch deals, or the pully devices might be a good idea. I have dumbells at home, nd you are correct, doing something is better than doing nothing, so I do need to do something in addition to my walking, that will eventually work it's way into weight lifting. The WMCA (I am a member) is 3 minutes by car away, so no excuse for not working out.

Stingray, yes, I know, and you are right, Slimfast is just a nice milkshake. Actaully boost might be a better choice, but I think this is going to work.

And EVERYONE, as much as I HATE Richard Simmons, he is right, it should not be a diet, but at LIVE IT, meaning you need to change your eating habbits for life.

Jim,

I LOVE cereal. Crunchy Raisin Bran, and I am in heaven. I know it fills you up better, and overall is much better than slimfast. I think that, after a few days, I will try to switch to a bowl of cereal, with skim milk, but keep the slimfast as a backup. What was happening, if I didn't have time (10 minutes!) to eat cereal, the eggs and sausage patties, or the breakfast pastries were an easy fast choice. If I keep the slim fast around for a backup, I should have no excuse for not eating a healthy breakfast.

Thanks everyone. Good thoughts. As much as I know it can't be done, I just want a pill to take, and all my weight will come off. Of course, that is not going to happen.

I DO know people that have success with Metabolife and Xenadrine (My brother in law does very well at keeping his weight down with that Xenadrine, available at Wal-mart), but that Efedra is hard on your body.

Bruce -

The University Medical Center here announced a program a few weeks ago that sounds very similar. They said it was important to jump start the diet not only to give notice to the body that things are about to change but to motivate the person as well. Nothing like dropping 10 lbs and feeling the britches ease up.

Good luck.

-Jeff

Bruce,

I just went to my first Weight Watchers meeting last week. I quit smoking a year ago (well it will be one year on April 22nd) and a chain reaction started that caused me to be very sick for almost a year now with all kinds of wonderful problems that have resulted in me gaining 40 lbs in two months, seeing three different specialists, being diagnosed with laryngeal pharyngeal reflux disease and having my tubes tied (don't ask! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif ) ... Needless to say, in my case, smoking may not have been such a bad thing... the cure has been much worse, I'm sure!

So here I am a year later with all of this extra weight (btw, I'm only 5 ft. tall) and I feel worse than I ever have in my life. So I finally bit the bullet and waddled my butt into a meeting. This past week has been amazing! I can't believe the food I have been able to eat! The difficult part for me has been in making sure that I use all of my points... going under is just as bad as going over. I've discovered all kinds of foods that I love and I can't even imagine getting bored. The best part is that I can have an entire bag of Jolly Time 94% fat free popcorn every single night, if I want. It's only 1 point!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif According to my scale, I've lost 5 lbs so far this week... and I have NOT been hunger!

Perhaps we should keep this thread going with our progress. I'd love to see what and how everyone else is doing on any diets they are on. Perhaps some healthy competition? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Budd, I found that the red rubber bands w/black handles you can find in places like Wal-Mart or your sports store do quite well for arm curls and leg pulls/pushes if weights aren't as viable an option. It's great if you've got some knee problems (like me) or back problems. There are creative ways to use rubber bands to provide a safe, small resistance so you can do some toning. And the more repititions you get in, even if they're based on small weights or just rubber bands, the more calories you burn. Remember that muscles burn fat.

I usually find that for the best motivation to work out, it's right after you get out of bed or right before you go to sleep. It took awhile for me to develop a habit of doing some situps when I got up or curl some weights before going to sleep, but the more I did it and forced myself not to miss a session, the better my health got... Patience is also a necessity in weight loss.

Everyone will talk about exercise, which I agree with. Everyone will talk about eating more healthy foods, which I agree with. But noone is willing to talk about simply eating less. Come on, people. Realistically, you don't become overweight from eating the wrong kinds of foods, you become overweight from eating too much. Cut back on what you eat, be it by counting calories or decreasing the number of meals you consume. I know its the willpower issue (I have same problem with purchasing things I really can't afford), so attack that issue rather than going around it.

It may feel like you're starving when you miss one meal but you'll get used to it. I learned this when I was stationed on an aircraft carrier and I frequently missed meals due to being on watch. Its just your mind playing tricks on you and your stomach will stop with the pavlovian reflex after you teach it to behave. Just think of all the money you'll be able to spend on flashlights rather than food. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Mark

Sasha,

I am a BIG believer in WW. My mom was a lifetime WW person. She lost her weight, and maintained it for the rest of her life. While she is no longer with us (died at 57 - that sucks big time), I am sure the WW gave our family many more years of her being with with family and getting to know her grandchildren.

The software company that I use professionally has developed some software for WW, so that they can develop custom diets for individuals, based on their lifestyle and preferences.

But for me, I already KNOW how to eat correct portions, and correct food choices, etc. It's ACTUALLY DOING IT that is the problem. Like tonight, I had (as my only meal) a nice grilled chicken breast sand with cheese, but no mayo, a caesar salad, Ice tea (and I DID SIT AT THE BAR!) and a oyster/shrimp wrapped up in bacon kabob, that was just heavenly.

With my tax refund, I am going to get a gas grill, so that I can cook healthy, and quickly at home.

Icebreak, that is good to hear, that is what I am needing to see. Thanks for that incouraging post. Too often I hear, "Loosing weight slowly is the best way", and I KNOW THAT IS TRUE, but I want it off NOW! Kind of like, "Lord, grant me patients, but GIVE IT TO ME NOW!"

For years, I thought that it was just a "Wive's tail" (Before urban legends) about eating late, than going to bed, but there seems to be some truth to that, and a quick slimfast will help me eat earlier.

You know, it is soo easy to make a grilled chicken breast, and steamed baby carrots and or steamed ***'t zuchinni's, sprinled with a little salt and butter buds, but so often, it seems like I start to do that, and 1.5 hours later, I am eating.

FalconX, I think I am going to walk through Wal-mart and see what easy stuff they have there (It's close to the flashlight section!)

Sasha, I am in for some competition, but maybe instead, mutual positive encouragement instead. After all, do I REALLY WANT to loose more weight than you? No! I want you to hit your goal, as much as I want to hit MY goal! There should be no loosers in this type of thing.

I did two competitions this year, and it did not help all that much.

BTY, congratulations on stopping smoking! In addition to making you feel better, you have given your family a GREAT GIFT, YOU living longer, and healthier!

5 lbs in one week, YEA!

OK, I am going to bed now!

I start work (light duty) Monday morning after about a year of workman's comp due to an injury at work. Couldn't walk on my left foot for months...gained double digits of lbs...gotta go to bed now, but look forward to reading & posting on this Monday.

Love the Bowflex and NordicTrack!! My mother just lost 35 lbs on the Reader's Digest "Change One" program. There's a book...says you do not get hungry with this plan (basically buy the book and/or look at the Jan or Feb Reader's Digest for details. I know, fads, fads, fads...we'll talk later.

BuddTX - thanks for posting this, I could use a little (ok, alot) of information/support also!

[ QUOTE ]
Minjin said:
But no one is willing to talk about simply eating less. . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

MARK,

ANOTHER GREAT POINT! You can gain weight from eating healthy food too!

The ironic thing about loosing weight, is that you will be able to eat MORE one you are maintaining your weight, not trying to loose it!

A frind of mine, a RD, who maintains her weight very nicely, but, believe it or not, has to work at it (She is not one of those perkey size 2 types, that will say"I just eat and eat and eat, and never seem to gain any weight!") has a general philosophy:

Take a HUMAN PORTION of a meal (another one of her pet peavs is restaurants that serve enought food for 3 people on one plate). Divide it into thirds. Did you exercise yesterday? If no, throw one third away. Are you dieting or maintaining? If you are dieting, throw another third away.

She won't eat "healthy choice" Ice cream, She will eat BEN AND JERRY's. BUT, she will only have a little bit, and will enjoy the gooey, decadent flavor, but in a small portion.

Very good point Mark. I had a RD friend who was counceling a patient trying to loose weight, and this was serious, because the patient was needing to loose weight for a heart transplant, and the patient was actually gaining weight, despite the RD's strict menu.

What the patient had neglected to tell the RD, was that he or she was eating some ungodly amount of grapefruits a day (like 10-20!) because they were told by someone that the grapefruit would help them loose weight.

Very good point, small portions!, or as my friend says, Human Portions.

Our RD's at St. Luke's (A leading Heart Hospital) are big believers in the Omega 3 fatty acid. The book that they are very very big on is this:
The Omega 3 Diet


The latest research says that FAT is not necessarly bad, but the wrong kind of fat is bad.

If I had 45 min per meal, I could cook and enjou healthy food every day!

This is an excellent thread. I agree that keeping this thread going for as long as possible can be very encouraging support for one another. I've read some very good points in here, all embedded in reality.

I'm giving this one 5 stars. Thanks Budd! PM me, email me, do whatever it takes and I'll always be ready to throw in some realistic and positive encouragement.

-Jim

Budd, I used slimfast when I was i high school. I was 6'1" 265lbs and a mid-fielders worst nightmare and my wrestling partner /goalie was 300+, we both used it for a summer and had good results. Good luck with your goal.

I gained some weight last year, and with my job it's very hard to regulate my eating habits while working. So I decided to controll the way I eat at home.

I have taken to drinking only water at home, having only 1 plate of food at a time for any meal (no seconds) and getting 100% of my fiber intake daily either by diet or pills like Metamucil. Going out to eat (which is rare now that I have a baby) I don't worry about eating low calorie. I just eat until I'm full and then take the rest home instead of trying to finish the plate everytime.

Since changing to this and doing nothing else, I lost 10 lbs in about a month and have been keeping it off. I know it's not much, but it got me back to my regular weight.

I think some of the suggestions above are a good idea. Eat sensible quantities, and eat S L O W. I try to distract myslef with reading or TV while I eat so I don't inhale the food like I usually do.

Although I don't do this, not eating anything ( nothing at all, including snacks) 3-4 hours before going to bed helps. I also heard that when you feel little hunger pangs you shoulden't eat. This is when your body goes searching for fat cells to use, and if you eat a snack (even a healthy one) your body doesn't comsume the stored fat. Just eat your regular 3 meals a day.

Good luck to everyone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

OK, instead of a contest, how about a COMMITTMENT!

I weighed myself this morning (Mon April 7th, 2003), and I weighted 267 lbs.

Let's be honest, and see where I am one week from now, and two weeks from now.

I think that a daily committment is too short of a goal (heck I could go without food for one day if I had to), and a final goal of 70-70 lbs is too long a goal, so, lets set shorter goals.

I should drop a lot in two weeks, if I stay on it.

Bruce

[ QUOTE ]
Sasha, I am in for some competition, but maybe instead, mutual positive encouragement instead. After all, do I REALLY WANT to loose more weight than you? No! I want you to hit your goal, as much as I want to hit MY goal! There should be no loosers in this type of thing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bruce... DEAL! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Mark... Yes, eating less is always good. Calories in versus calories burned. However, it is also counterproductive to undereat and/or starve yourself. After awhile, of course, you will lose weight but only because your body goes into starvation mode and becomes very, very unhealthy! This is the one thing that I do like about WW... you have a daily point range and you must stay within the range. If you go under or over, the program simply won't work.

Maybe I'm just in an over sensitive state right now because of all that I have been through and all of the strugling I've done over the past year with my health and weight... Ok, yes I AM over sensitive... anyway, I guess I read into your post that you feel that people are generally overweight 'cuz they have no self control and just keep stuffing their faces while straining the barkalounger and whining that they don't know why they are so fat. And I'll admit that once upon a time, I used to think the same thing. But I don't anymore.

There are many reasons why people put on weight. Many are not by our own choosing or actions. Lord knows that there is no way in hell that I could have eaten enough to gain 40 lbs in two months... it just ain't possible. In addition, I was eating very healthy and spending at least 2 hours a day at the gym during that time. No, my weight gain was not muscle. There are many factors involved.

And the thing that pissed me off the most is when I went to a doctor for help and they just looked at me and said, "You need to lose weight". Well now, no poop Sherlock! Don't you think I would if I could? What the hell do you think I'm here for? .... "Oh well, I don't do weight loss... you'll have to go somewhere else". So the problem is exacerbated by a medical community that is in denial. One doctor that I went to had no sympathy for me at all... she was twice my size... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

So I guess what I'm getting at is the implication that I am fat because I eat too much. I'm not. Please don't hink that of people. I don't anymore... I am walking (waddling) in their shoes now.

I will say this though... I do know people who are grossly obese and their health problems are such that they cannot even walk through the supermarket and need to use the little scooter. I look in their basket and see all of the wrong foods and yes, I hear them whine that they can't seem to lose weight. Those are the people who refuse to even help themselves. I have no sympathy for them. I am doing something about my weight. That's the difference between me and them.

Hello Bruce,

Let me try to shed some Light on this battle of the bulge... (OK really BAD joke)

I have heard that many times when we think we are hungry, we are only thirsty. I find that when I get that little pang of hunger, I first drink a glass of water. After a little while, I will eat something if I am still hungry, but I try to address thirst first. I know that drinking water can be a challenge, but it does help maintain a balance in your body. By the way, I drink water - not sugar water (pop, juice, etc) or caffeine water (coffee, tea, pop, etc.) or alcohol water (wine, beer, mixed drinks, etc,). I drink these other things during the day, but when I feel hungry, I have a glass of water.

I know of no magic pill, but you might do a search on Tonalin CLA.

Please remember that we are here to celebrate your efforts and support you during your challenges.

Good luck.

Tom

Things NOT to do when using Slim-Fast...

Back in the late 50's - early 60's Rosey Grier was playing DT for the Giants. His coach felt he'd play better if he were to lose a few pounds and gain some speed. At that time there was a new product on the market called "Metrecal" (the original diet drink, a bit like Slim-Fast). The coach gave him a boxful and told him to drink it lunchtime during the off-season. When he reported for summer camp, at weigh-in they discovered he'd not only not lost any weight, but that he'd actually gained weight. When questioned by the coach about the Metrecal, Rosey replied "But Coach, I did drink it. In fact, I liked it so much I had a couple with each meal!"
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif