People who need to or have lost weight this is a question for you. Please read entire question before answering. Thanks?

People who need to or have lost weight this is a question for you. Please read entire question before answering. Thanks!

If you have weight to lose...You are an intelligent person. You know the health risks of being overweight. You don't eat terrible but you don't eat great either.

You are extremely overweight. What is the mechanism that makes you not just eat right and exercise? Is it your life experience?

Have you had some emotional trauma that makes you want to eat? Is it psychological? Why don't you just do it?

Please be brave and share the honest truth. If you have lost weight... successfully and consider yourself healthy now, can you please share with us how you accomplished that and give us some tips? Please, no diet endorsements or surgery endorsements.

I am trying to discuss natural weight loss and people doing it with determination. Thanks! Asked by Sophiethedog 48 months ago Similar Questions: People lost weight question read entire answering Recent Questions About: People lost weight question read entire answering Health.

Similar Questions: People lost weight question read entire answering Recent Questions About: People lost weight question read entire answering.

Fatty in the House In my experience, food has always been a control factor. In my teens, I avoided food due to stress at home and developed anorexia as a result. In my adult years, I looked at food as a comforting friend when I was stressed or lonely and gained a lot of weight because of it.

Recently, I am realizing that I can control what I eat and when I eat it. When I'm stressed, I head right for the food cabinet but I make myself stop and say "Am I really hungry or am I trying to comfort myself? ".

Then I'll drink a glass of water or hot tea instead. The urge to eat is still there, but it lessens as your stomach fills up with liquid. Why do we gorge ourselves and not exercise when we know it is unhealthy?

It is to fill an emotional need. If we can find alternative things to meet our needs besides food, the habit will eventually be replaced. If you have a treadmill, just walk for 10 minutes to start.

You'll have a feeling of accomplishment and triumph afterwards. People tend to overdue it and burn out in the first couple days. If you don't have a treadmill, go outside, walk and breathe the fresh air!

At night, don't eat while zoning out watching TV...that is the worst time to eat without realizing how much we're eating. Also, if you stop eating at 7:00 p.m. , your body has a chance to digest the food without letting it lay there and turn to fat.

My experience I lost 50 lbs in 1996-1997 by working with my doctor and improving my eating and exercising habits. I don’t know how I ended up needing to lose 50 lbs. Just bad habits, I think.

Most of it happened over about 5 years, while my kids were teens and my job was increasingly demanding, so I suppose there was a stress-eating component to it. I think some of it was compulsive as well. Once I started eating, there was no stopping me.

Over the last two years, I let 20 lbs creep back on. To be honest, I believe a large quantity of that regained weight came from one source. When we retired, we started having wine with dinner pretty much every night.

That one thing introduced a significant source of new calories, and the scale showed it. I joined FANOMOs and made a New Year’s resolution to take those 20 lbs back off. As of this morning, I’ve taken off 15 of them in just over three months.

FANOMOs is just a group of us on Askville who post our daily healthy eating and exercising activities on the discussion board. I find the times I have been successful at sustained weight loss are the times I’ve worked with an outside source of motivation. Here’s more information on FANOMOs: http://askville.amazon.com/FANOMOS/DiscussionBoard.do?requestId=8433652&page=1 A sustainable diet is not eating some weird or unnatural way for some period of time.

That will work. You will lose weight. But you can’t sustain that for the rest of your life without damaging your health (or your sanity!

). If you haven’t adopted healthy eating habits in the process, when you go back to your old eating patterns, you’re pretty much guaranteed to regain the weight. Some specific tips that have helped me: The first and most important step, and the most important tip I can give, is to make the commitment and truly understand and believe that you will be on a "diet" for the rest of your life.

That diet consists of eating moderate quantities of healthy foods and exercising. We all know this, but it’s hard work. It means avoiding the foods we’d probably really rather be eating (and the ones everyone around us is eating) 95% of the time.

There are no silver bullets. Just a commitment, a lifestyle change, and a lot of hard work. The second important thing that helps me is to eliminate virtually all sugar and refined carbohydrates.

Much of what feels like "starvation" is actually a blood sugar crash. I find by not eating sugar and refined carbohydrates, I rarely feel hungry until mealtimes. The third important thing is to realize that getting back to a normal weight is a slow and steady, not overnight, thing.

Aim for about 1200 calories a day and a loss of about 5 pounds a month. That’s a sustainable rate, and a regime anyone should be able to follow. If you’re eating healthy foods, 1200 calories is a lot of food.

Some say that once you get in the habit it becomes easier. But to be honest, in my experience, I struggle every day to make the right choices, and I will for the rest of my life. SharonW's Recommendations Diets Don't Work: Stop Dieting Become Naturally Thin Live a Diet-Free Life Amazon List Price: $12.95 Used from: $4.80 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 22 reviews) Diets Still Don't Work Amazon List Price: $9.95 Used from: $1.99 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) .

Well, complex question and I am not sure I know the answers I am a big (fat) guy. I weigh over 350 pounds and I am under 6' tall. I do know the health risks of being overweight.

I don't eat terrible anymore, but I used to. I don't eat great either, but much better than I used to. What is the mechanism that makes you not just eat right and exercise?

I come from a family where food, and lots of it, was always served at family events. Good times and happiness was always associated with food. I did not excercise a lot as a child and developed poor habits.

Is it your life experience? Yes, to some extent. Have you had some emotional trauma that makes you want to eat?

No, not really. Is it psychological? Probably somewhat.

Food makes me happy, when I am unhappy I eat to give myself a boost. Why don't you just do it? I am doing it now.

I work out for 2+ hours a day at a local gym (45 minutes cardio, 1 hour weights, 15-30 minutes misc. ). Usually 2 raquetball games a week.

Weekly volleyball. I have totally changed my eating habits (NO fast food, more fruits and veggies, less carbs, etc.) I am feeling better and starting to see some of the weight drop off. I have gained a LOT of muscle weight and I do feel great.

It just takes time and patience. Mr.Chairman_is_Gone's Recommendations Eat This Not That: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds-or More! Amazon List Price: $19.95 Used from: $9.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 270 reviews) Making the Cut: The 30-Day Diet and Fitness Plan for the Strongest, Sexiest You Amazon List Price: $15-300 Used from: $5-301 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 76 reviews) The Biggest Loser Cookbook: More Than 125 Healthy, Delicious Recipes Adapted from NBC's Hit Show Amazon List Price: $25-300 Used from: $5-301 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 97 reviews) You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management Amazon List Price: $25-300 Used from: $5-301 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 663 reviews) .

For me it mostly just snuck up on me. My weight gain is a fairly complex matter. In my teen years I could eat like a horse and not gain weight.

Between about 16 and 21 I averaged 6k calories a day, and if I went below 4k I'd start losing weight. Shortly before my 22nd birthday I gained about 50 lbs in a month. The docs sent me to get tests and determined that my thyroid had mostly shut down.

(I was mild hyperthyroid before, I went to mild hypothyroid. ) I gained weight so fast that I had stretch marks from it. (But I had a large enough frame that it wasn't obvious.

) Going from 6k calories a day to 2k takes a ton of training. You're hungry all the time, have little energy, etc etc. I went from being a professional soccer referee (Which I did all my years in HS and into college) to not having the energy to do much of anything. This was all physiological, and had nothing to do with psychology.

Eventually I was able to start feeling satisfied at around 2k calories and my weight stabilized. I still didn't look fat, merely "big" (again, helps that I have a large frame. ) At this point I was appx 240 lbs and 6'1" I started getting physical again, did some martial arts, got back into cycling.

While I was technically "obese" I still had a 3' vertical jump (to the annoyance of basketball playing friends) and had crazy-strong legs. (Not surprising, as in addition to soccer I did ballet and long distance track. ) I lost a couple inches of waistline during this period, but no weight.

Kept burning fat into muscle. It is a little discouraging to work out, and lose inches, but not lose weight. Then I moved to Alaska.

From a weight standpoint this was a bad idea. Little to do during winter, and winter lasts 8-9 months. Because I had already stabilized by caloric intake, reducing my activity caused me to SLOWLY gain weight.

I never even noticed really. Two lbs a month 9 months of the year isn't a big deal until you multiply that by several years. Eventually I switch to a job where they required a physical in order to work.

I got my physical, and while they found that I was in excellent shape, I weighed 284lbs. At that point I essentially said "This far, and no farther. " I knew I couldn't change my activity level too much (Though I did as much as I could within the confines of indoors) I could modify my diet.

I cut out all caloric beverage; I drank only water, and the occasional crystal-lite. This change was sufficient for me to lose 40 lbs over about 6 months. Then spring rolled around, and I attacked it visciously.

Doing as much as I could outdoors, pushing myself to lose more weight. I had talked extensively with my doctors, and while my BMI claims I would be "obese" at 220lbs, my body-type would be quite comfortable at that weight. So that was my goal.

I haven't quite reached it yet, but I am within sight of the goalpost. I think the biggest thing that held me back from losing weight in alaska as a roomy I had. She was morbidly obese, and had a host of minor mental and self-image issues.

She fought against any sort of "fitness" the way one might fight against being lowered into an acid pit. And she had no consideration for anyone that was trying to remain fit about her. She'd guzzle soda, and eat high calorie snacks in front of me while dieting, and essentially made no effort at all to assist me in my goal.

I only started losing weight when I moved to a schedual where I had minimal interaction with her.

Losing weight for me, planning my meals around vegetables and not meats, lots of hard work outdoors (we have horses and a large yard), and switching a few things: cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil now replaces butter a rice cake instead of toast for a mid-afternoon snack 1/2 grapefruit every day 1 apple every day lots of spices in our meals. I don't know why this helps, but it makes a meal seem 'fuller. ' It's also very good for you For me a MAJOR change was to make sure I was getting enough sleep.

When I am tired I tend to eat for energy. Lots of soups, low on meats, very careful about 'whites' -- white foods, like potatoes, pastas, white breads, etc. Desserts are homemade yogurt and fresh fruit usually. Once in awhile for guests I will make a Pavlova and enjoy a piece myself.

For the most part, it's the big three: enough sleep, plenty of physical work, and meals majoring in vegetables. I've lost 30 pounds in the past three or four years and, because I am diabetic (primarily due to heredity -- my dad was diabetic, but I was also kicked by a horse when I was 21 and lost half my pancreas), I would like to lose maybe ten or fifteen more, but a pound or two a month is fine for me. That's 12-24 pounds in a year and that's quite good.

I do gain a 'winter ten' pretty consistently. I lose it just as consistently in the spring when I get outside and do a lot more work again. I have never been obese, but the weight did creep up during a very painful marriage before.

The divorce, when he walked out, helped with the weight loss, and then it started back up again. Then I got sick of it and started to take better care of myself. The weight gain after the loss was primarily due to a lack of sleep.

I was raising six kids myself and getting up at five in the morning at a run and was just about unconscious before I was horizontal about 11 at night. So having life even out, and now having a wonderful marriage has made a world of difference. I'm not eating for energy when I'm too tired, I'm not eating to comfort myself because I am lonely, and I really enjoy the energy I have being at this much more reasonable weight.

In other words, you can do it! .

Read on... (Please read the entire question before answering. Thanks)" "Why do people have to be so rude here on askville? I mean just read the question if nothing helpful comes" "Please respond only if you have really read the entire 6 volume novel - Proust's "In Search of Lost Time"..." "Not a question, just a shout out to those answering BQ's!

Holy H-E double toothpicks you people are funny! " "Sensitive health related question. Don't read if you're easily grossed out.

" "Why are you not answering this question? " "Here's A Question I Never Thought I'd Ask - It Has To Do With A Baby Gift - Read Details Before Answering! " "Why would somebody ask a question anonymously?

! (read details before answering and answer anonymously)" "To the people who are following me around, voting unhelpful no matter what I say, and aren't even answering the question" (10 answers) "Why do some people "comment" instead of answering the question? I'm talking about a question that does.

Read on... (Please read the entire question before answering. Thanks).

I mean just read the question if nothing helpful comes.

Please respond only if you have really read the entire 6 volume novel - Proust's "In Search of Lost Time"...

Not a question, just a shout out to those answering BQ's! Holy H-E double toothpicks you people are funny!

Sensitive health related question. Don't read if you're easily grossed out.

Here's A Question I Never Thought I'd Ask - It Has To Do With A Baby Gift - Read Details Before Answering!

! (read details before answering and answer anonymously).

To the people who are following me around, voting unhelpful no matter what I say, and aren't even answering the question" (10 answers).

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.